Lamentations - "Oh Jerusalem! Jerusalem! Your house is left unto you desolate!"

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  1. A Look at the Book

    1. Author - Jeremiah of Anathoth, eyewitness to the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar (Jeremiah 52:12-23)

    2. Date - shortly after the destruction of Jerusalem @ 586 B.C.

    3. Name - Septuagint - "Tears of Jeremiah" - contains this preface, which is wailed every Friday in the wailing wall in Jerusalem:

      4. "And it came to pass, after Israel was taken captive, and Jerusalem made desolate, that Jeremiah sat weeping, and lamented with lamentation over Jerusalem."

    4. Composition:

      1. Each chapter is a separate lament.

      2. Each chapter is written as an acrostic poem, each verse beginning with the letters of the Hebrew alphabet:

        1. chapters 1-2, 4-5 contain 22 verses each.

        2. Chapter 3 contains the style in triplicate, thus there are 66 verses in the chapter.

      3. Frank Dunn divides the book into 5 sections: ch 1 - the way of wickedness; ch 2 - the wrath of God; ch 3 - the weight of sorrow; ch 4 - the want of help; ch 5 - the wreck of iniquity.

  2. Key Verses and Thoughts

    1. 1:3-8 — Judah has sinned greatly, she will now reap the wages of her transgressions (cf Hos 8:7; Gal 6:7-8)

    2. 1:12 — no one recognizes the power, majesty, sovereignty, and righteousness of God in the whole matter.

    3. 1:19; 2:20; 4:10 — the indescribable sufferings

    4. 2:5 — though accomplished by men, Jerusalem’s destruction was beyond doubt an act of God (Jer 25:9).

    5. 2:15 — unrighteousness among God’s people causes the heathen to blaspheme God (1:7).

    6. 3:22-24 — All the calamity testifies to the integrity of God

 

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