Untitled Sermon (4)

Lamentations of Jeremiah

Outline

I. The Misery and Desolation of Jerusalem (1:1–22)

1. A Description of the City’s Destruction (1:1–11)

2. The City’s Plea for Compassion (1:12–17)

3. The City’s Confession of Sin (1:18–20)

4. An Appeal for Punishment of Jerusalem’s Enemies (1:21–22)

II. God’s Judgment on the City (2:1–22)

1. God’s Wrath Expressed in Jerusalem’s Destruction (2:1–9)

2. The Suffering of the People (2:10–13)

3. Misleading Advice of False Prophets (2:14)

4. Ridicule by the Enemies (2:15–17)

5. An Anguished Appeal to God (2:18–22)

III. Hope of Relief through Loving-Kindness (3:1–66)

1. An Individual’s Description of the Suffering (3:1–20)

2. God’s Past Mercies as the Basis for Future Hope (3:21–39)

3. An Appeal for God’s Mercy (3:40–51)

4. An Appeal for Deliverance and a Call for Vengeance (3:52–66)

IV. Sorrows of the People Resulting from the Siege (4:1–22)

1. Remembrances of Better Days (4:1–11)

2. The Sins of Prophets and Priests (4:12–16)

3. A Vain Search for Help (4:17–20)

4. Edom’s Coming Punishment (4:21–22)

V. A Prayer for Mercy and Deliverance (5:1–22)

1. The Affliction and Suffering of the People (5:1–13)

2. The Loss of Joy and Hope (5:14–18)

3. An Appeal for the Lord’s Restored Favor (5:19–22)

Reading : city plea for compassion

The City’s Plea for Compassion (1:12–17)

12 “Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by?

Look around and see.

Is any suffering like my suffering

that was inflicted on me,

that the LORD brought on me

in the day of his fierce anger?

13 “From on high he sent fire,

sent it down into my bones.

He spread a net for my feet

and turned me back.

He made me desolate,

faint all the day long.

14 “My sins have been bound into a yoke;

by his hands they were woven together.

They have come upon my neck

and the Lord has sapped my strength.

He has handed me over

to those I cannot withstand.

15 “The Lord has rejected

all the warriors in my midst;

he has summoned an army against me

to crush my young men.

In his winepress the Lord has trampled

the Virgin Daughter of Judah.

16 “This is why I weep

and my eyes overflow with tears.

No one is near to comfort me,

no one to restore my spirit.

My children are destitute

because the enemy has prevailed.”

17 Zion stretches out her hands,

but there is no one to comfort her.

The LORD has decreed for Jacob

that his neighbors become his foes;

Jerusalem has become

an unclean thing among them.

Book of lamentation background

The tradition that Jeremiah was the author of Lamentations is quite ancient among the Jewish people (m. B. Bat. 15a; Josephus) as well as the church fathers,Lamentations is a skillfully structured book of five separate poems.

historical facts

The Babylonians’ capture of Jerusalem in 587 B.C. was not the first time the city had experienced invasion and plunder by enemies (cf. ; ; ; ; ; ). However, no previous enemy had wrought such total destruction on the city that included the razing of Solomon’s temple. In 588 King Zedekiah, with some encouragement from the Egyptians, rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar in an attempt to reassert Judah’s independence. After an eighteen-month siege by the Babylonian army, Jerusalem was taken, looted, and then destroyed. Many of its inhabitants were put to death, enslaved, exiled, or fled to Egypt. King Zedekiah and other leaders were taken to Babylon (; ).

6. Theological Values

More devastating to the morale of Judah than the destruction of the temple and loss of independence was the theological crisis created by the catastrophe. Human suffering always precipitates probing questions about God. The faith of many Jews must have been shattered by the events. They had believed that Jerusalem was inviolable and that God’s temple could not be destroyed because he dwelt there (cf. ). Also he would surely fight the battles of his people. This may have been prompted by the deliverance of Jerusalem from Sennacherib in 701 B.C. (). Because of the disastrous defeat, some must have concluded that God had been powerless before the gods of the Babylonian armies (cf. ).

Others, who could not believe God was powerless to help them, concluded that he had abandoned them, an equally devastating conclusion. However, there must have been a few who realized that recent events were God’s punishment upon a nation that had refused to heed the repeated warnings of the prophets of God’s coming wrath if they did not repent. Those few began to understand the prophets’ announcements that a purged remnant would be spared to rebuild the nation (; , ; ; ).

Can a book written centuries ago about the downfall of an ancient city be of value or interest to a twentieth-century audience? This issue was of great concern to the Jews in Babylon years later (cf. ). It serves as a reminder that God keeps his word concerning judgment. Also justifies a search for a contemporary message in this ancient book.

Contemporary applications that can be made from the Book of Lamentations include the following: (1) the wickedness of any people will eventually result in the disintegration of that society; (2) we should never take God’s past blessings as assurance that they will continue when we continue in sin; (3) our nation and our churches are subject to God’s judgment when they are no longer faithful; (4) God fulfills his word;

(5) though many solutions for human suffering have been proposed, ultimately the only satisfactory way to deal with it is through deep and abiding faith in God in spite of the circumstances.

God is patient and compassionate, not willing that any should perish (; ); but when all warnings are ignored, nothing remains but his judgment. We should never presume upon God’s mercy and compassion. The Book of Lamentations contains the implied warning that sometimes it is too late to weep and repent; nonetheless, God is always faithful (3:23).

Huey, F. B. (1993). Jeremiah, Lamentations (Vol. 16, pp. 442–447). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.

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Jerusalem afliction

1:1 Lamentations begins on a mournful note that is sustained throughout the book. Jerusalem had been destroyed by the Babylonians. The once-thriving nation’s commercial and religious center was now devastated and largely deserted. Formerly a “princess” (śārâ, a noble lady), Jerusalem was now compared to a widow bereaved of husband and children. The widow is a frequent biblical figure for loneliness and despair (; ; ; ; ; ). She who had once ruled nations such as Moab and Edom during the reigns of David and Solomon was now reduced to the status of “slave” (mas; a word that means forced labor, “vassal”; cf. , ; ). The verse is a graphic picture of before and after.

1:2 One of life’s most painful experiences is to be deserted or betrayed in time of need by those we thought were friends. Judah had frequently put its trust in other nations rather than in the Lord (; ; ; ; ; ; ). The phrase “among all her lovers” sounds like . Judah had not listened to the prophets’ warnings and now was suffering the consequences of misplaced trust. Egypt’s promise of help had proved to be undependable (); and Judah’s long-time enemy, Edom, joined in the plunder of the fallen city (). “She weeps at night” expresses the unending grief of the city, the result of foolishly relying on human support rather than on the Lord.

1:3 The interpretation of this verse depends on a correct understanding of how the preposition min is used. If causal (“because of,” KJV, “from,” NAB), it means that Judah went voluntarily to Egypt (cf. ) and other lands to escape the servitude imposed by the Babylonians. and are cited in support of this interpretation of exile (gālâ) as voluntary migration. NIV and JB prefer a temporal translation of the preposition (“after”). They understand the verse to mean that after a long period of trouble and hardship prior to the exile, calamity had now fallen on Judah. NRSV translates “with.” “She dwells among the nations” has been understood as a reference to the scattering of the people through exile () or simply as a statement that once Judah had been a sovereign nation among other nations.

1:4 This verse is a reminder that the roads that led to Jerusalem once were crowded with pilgrims but were now deserted. The priests groaned because the temple, formerly the center of their life and activity, was no more. “Her maidens grieve” because their chances for marriage and family were now precarious.

1:5 Judah’s enemies had now become its “masters” (lit. “head”). The verse makes clear that it was the Lord who had brought “grief” on Judah as punishment for its sins (lit. “rebellions”; cf. , ). The verse is also a painful reminder that innocent children often suffer the consequences of the sins of parents ().

1:6 This verse probably is a reference to Zedekiah and his courtiers, who fled the doomed city (; ) like frightened deer. They were not concerned for those they left behind but were so weak from fear and hunger they could not escape their pursuers. The leaders who could have averted the disaster if they had surrendered as Jeremiah advised them to do () now only thought of themselves.

1:7 Jerusalem remembered its past glory and present misery. The Babylonians had laughed at the destruction they left in Jerusalem.6 The verse serves as a warning against smug confidence that affluence and security can never be taken away ().

1:8 Jerusalem’s sin, first mentioned in v. 5, is now considered more closely. It is a major theological emphasis of the book. The image is of a woman once honored and sought after but now shunned as an unclean person (, ; ). Nakedness probably refers to one of sullied reputation, one who has become a harlot and shamelessly flaunts her nakedness (i.e., her sins). Judah’s harlotry was its participation in the immoral Baal rites (, ; cf. ; ). The people now recognized their sin and turned away in shame to hide themselves.

1:9 This verse continues the figure of the harlot whose sins have now caught up with her and are visible to all. “Her skirts” is a reference perhaps to , (cf. ). Jerusalem was indifferent to its covenant responsibility to reflect the holiness of God in daily living. The people serve as a warning to those who weaken the credibility of the Christian witness by their immorality. Jerusalem’s devastating fall seems to have brought the need to cry out to God for relief from suffering and from the mockery of enemies (an appeal repeated in v. 11). Like Judah, many turn to God only after a time of affliction and suffering.

1:10 Jerusalem remembered how the Babylonians broke into the city after an eighteen-month siege and plundered it of its “treasures.” No greater abomination or humiliation could befall the Hebrews than for pagans to enter their beloved temple (; ; , ). Even an Israelite who was not a priest could not enter the sacred building.

1:11 To their spiritual affliction was added the physical affliction of hunger. The inhabitants of Jerusalem were forced to give up their prized possessions (including their children, who were eaten or sold as slaves) in order to procure “food” (cf. ; ; ; ) “to keep themselves alive” during and after the siege.