Lamentations Made Easy
Lamentations Made Easy
1 While Book of Jeremiah is more about warnings of the Judgement, Book of Lamentations is about mourning over the judgement; The book is a collection of mournful songs, poems,
laments.
2 Authorship is traditionally attributed to Jeremiah; it was written after 586BC; probable place of writing – Jerusalem or Egypt (where Jeremiah was exiled)
3. Political/Historic context of the book is same as that of Book of Jeremiah; Judah was taken into exile by Babylon in 586BC (Babylonian Crisis); the temple was destroyed, walls of Jerusalem are broken; major political powers – Babylon and Egypt Deserted (1:1), Mourning (1:4), Darkness (3:1), Heavy chains (3:7), Homelessness (3:19) is the imagery about condition in Jerusalem;
4. Purpose of the book: Lamentations was annually recited on anniversary of the destruction of temple (Zech 7:3, 5); it gives a mute reminder of gravity of the consequence of sin; it shows the fulfilment of punishment pronounced in Deuteronomy 28 for disobedience;
comparative study of the book and Deut 28 brings this out very clear;
5. Theological context – The book is a clear indication of the inevitability of punishment as a consequence of sin; it also brings out there is hope even in the time of mourning; this hope
is based on God’s Character – steadfast love (which never ceases), mercies (new every morning); Ch 3:22;
6. The Content – The book consists of 5 chapters; one lament per chapter; each lament is with 22 stanzas/verses (except the 3rd which is 66 stanzas).
There are 22 Hebrew alphabets. Each verse begins with one alphabet (acrostic)
Lament/Ch 1 – Focus on People (desolate condition) – (1-11, 17, 19)
Lament/Ch 2 – Focus on God – (it’s God’s act) – (v1-8, 17)
Lament/Ch 3 – Hope in the time of mourning – (v22)
Lament/Ch 4 – Focus on God – (past glory vs present condition) – (v1-10, 22)
Lament/Ch 5 – Focus on People – (prayer for restoration) – (v1-22)
7. Literary Style – the laments have structural symmetry; Ch 1&5 Focus on People/Jerusalem; Ch 2&4 Focus on God/His act; Sandwiched between these two is Chapter 3 which talks about hope in the time of mourning; observe outline in point 6 for symmetry
8. NT Connections Like Jeremiah, Jesus mourned over the sins (its consequences) of Jerusalem (Mat 23:37-38; Luke 13-34-35);
Contributed by Chanty and edited by Godwin for ScribeS
