Another Bible Commentary: Lamentations

We haven’t left Jeremiah yet. People listened to the Snake, it’s time to leave the Garden, and the weeping prophet has a demo tape for you to hear. Lamentations are funeral songs. This book is similar to the Sumerian city laments. There are a few of these in the Bible for cities like Nineveh (Nahum), Babylon (we’ve seen a few so far), and “Babylon” (Revelation). The first four chapters are written as acrostics. Therefore, chapters 1, 2, and 4 each have 22 verses, corresponding to the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet, and the first line of poetry begins with the first letter of the alphabet alef, the second with the second letter bet, and so on.

1:8 War captives were led away naked. Hookers were sometimes stripped to discourage people from paying for in the dark what they had seen for free in the unflattering light of day. Heirs stripped divorcees to make sure they left with nothing. In verse 10, we see that all the good material things had been taken away; Jerusalem was “despised” as there was nothing left to envy.

1:9 “consider her future” They did not heed Deuteronomy 28:15-68.

1:10 God’s glory had already left the Temple, as we will see in Ezekiel 11:22-23.

1:13 “sent fire” like Genesis 19.

1:15 “winepress” like Revelation 14:19 and Isaiah 63.

2:3 Horns symbolize power.

2:8 Jesus is a carpenter. A plumb line can be used to see if a structure is vertical/level. A leaning structure may need to be torn down (Isaiah 28:17, Amos 7:7-8).

2:12 In this verse, you can see what we translate as “bread and wine” as “staple food and drink”. The Bible in other languages sometimes features different food/drink combinations relevant to the cultures we’re trying to reach. If the islanders you just converted have something vaguely yamlike to eat and only water to drink, you don’t have to wait for special Communion elements via mail. Jesus said to remember Him and His death for us as often as we eat and drink (See 1 Corinthians 11:23-26; no matter what we’re eating, He sustains us per John 6:33-35), and we’ve predictably turned it into a ritual.

2:20 “Should women eat their offspring, the children they have bounced on their knees?” Deuteronomy 28:53-57 was right there the whole time. Many prophets gave many warnings (including in Ezekiel 6:10 about empty threats). Remember Job’s lesson that judging God is above your pay grade.

2:22 “summon” like Ezekiel 39:17 and Revelation 19:17-18. “Terror on every side” was a favorite phrase of Jeremiah (Jeremiah 6:25, Jeremiah 49:29, and many more in between).

3:7 The national feeling resembled Jeremiah’s time in the cistern (Jeremiah 38). Again, rescue would come from a Gentile, this time Cyrus the Great of Persia.

3:8 Jeremiah becomes aware that God is listening in Lamentations 3:55-56.

3:15 “gall” like Matthew 27:34.

3:22-23 As the old hymn says: “Great is Thy faithfulness, oh God my Father. Morning by morning, new mercies I see. All I have needed, Thy hand hath provided. Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me.” Jesus did everything that needed doing; Christians are complete (Colossians 2:10).

3:28-29 Playing dead, letting go, and letting God handle it.

3:30 This is the teaching about accepting insults and turning the other cheek from the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:39).

3:31 Here’s the “hope spot”. This is Jeremiah saying this in a poem, much like the things Job said in his grief that were later seen to be of questionable value, so its use in refuting the permanence of going to Hell seems limited in the context of the verses that follow.

3:32 He showed it at the Cross.

3:33 “willingly” Even the things in Lamentations 2:20. His motivation is found in the next three verses.

3:34-36 It seems that because some people’s rights were violated, some kids got eaten. I don’t make the rules.

3:38 like Isaiah 45:7.

3:40-42 Here’s a bit of perspective and self-examination…

3:43 …then right back to sinning (Job 1:22).

3:44 He’s listening (Lamentations 3:55-56).

3:53 in Jeremiah 38.

3:58 He did.

4:1 See Exodus 28:21.

4:2 See 2 Corinthians 4:7.

4:8 “blacker” Possibly necrosis. See Job 30:30.

4:10 See Lamentations 2:20 note.

4:13 Bad shepherds.

4:20 “The LORD’s anointed” Their Davidic rulers.

4:21 See Isaiah 51:17 note.

5:1 This is no longer an acrostic poem. Order has given way to chaos.

5:8 like Proverbs 30:21-22.

5:21-22 “restore us” like Job; “angry with us beyond measure” like Jeremiah 3:5.

A brief history recap before more prophecy: In 605 BC, a dominant Babylon took the best captives including Daniel (2 Chronicles 36:6-7). In 598 BC, the king was replaced with a puppet, and there was a second deportation which included Ezekiel (2 Kings 24:14-15). Then in 586 BC, Jerusalem fell, and the last deportation happened (2 Kings 25:11).

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