Our Lament and Weeping is a 5-part series taking most text from the Prophet Jeremiah as a lament for Lent in these last days. READERS may continue to the NEXT post at the bottom of each post by clicking NEXT.
Table of Contents
Have you ever considered the connection between Jeremiah’s two books or the cause of our lament and weeping?
You may know Jeremiah as the weeping prophet. And perhaps you realize that he is also the author of Lamentations. “Why has this happened,” he would seem to ask the Lord? Yet to consider Jeremiah’s calling and the failure of God’s chosen to hear him shows both good reason for his lament and our weeping.
Jeremiah’s Call as a Prophet
4 The word of the Lord came to me:
5 I chose you before I formed you in the womb;
Jeremiah 1:5
I set you apart before you were born.
I appointed you a prophet to the nations.
6 But I protested, “Oh no, Lord God! Look, I don’t know how to speak since I am only a youth.”
7 Then the Lord said to me:
Do not say, “I am only a youth,”
for you will go to everyone I send you to
and speak whatever I tell you.
8 Do not be afraid of anyone,
for I will be with you to rescue you.
This is the Lord’s declaration.
Prophesies Fulfilled
These are the people Nebuchadnezzar deported: Altogether, 4,600 people were deported.
Jeremiah 52:28a,30b CSB [WLC hebrew on link]
Jeremiah’s unheeded warnings from the Lord caused him much lament and weeping. And well he should have wept for those lost souls and the defeated chosen people led from Jerusalem into exile.
He had first warned them in his early days during Josiah’s reign in about 626 B.C. Jerusalem would finally fall nearly four decades later to Nebuchadnezzar, in 587 B.C. Plenty of time to repent, but they do not.
Lamentations
INTRODUCTION
The commentary by A. R. FAUSSET explains:
In the Hebrew Bible these Elegies of Jeremiah, five in number, are placed among the Chetuvim, or “Holy Writings” (“the Psalms,” & c., Luke 24:44 ), between Ruth and Ecclesiastes. But though in classification of compositions it belongs to the Chetuvim, it probably followed the prophecies of Jeremiah originally.
He also helpfully explains the form of this poetic cry of lament and weeping later incorporated into synagogue worship on the ninth month Ab.
How?
The title more frequently given by the Jews to these Elegies is, “How” (Hebrew, Eechah), from the first word, as the Pentateuch is similarly called by the first Hebrew word of Gen 1:1. The Septuagint calls it “Lamentations,” from which we derive the name. It refers not merely to the events which occurred at the capture of the city, but to the sufferings of the citizens (the penalty of national sin) from the very beginning of the siege; and perhaps from before it…
The lament and weeping heard in each Hebrew letter:
Referring to the alphabetical Hebrew letters beginning each stanza of the lament, Faussett continues quotes of an 18th c. scholar most pointedly:
“Every letter is written with a tear, every word the sound of a broken heart.”
Robert Lowth, Bishop of London
Lament over Jerusalem
א Aleph
1 How she sits alone,
the city once crowded with people!
She who was great among the nations
has become like a widow.
The princess among the provinces
has been put to forced labor.
ב Beth
2 She weeps bitterly during the night,
with tears on her cheeks…
Jeremiah’s cry for the lost glory of the Lord’s own chosen people and fallen city continues. So we hear the heart of this former priest and persecuted Prophet as he wails out words of lament and weeping.
ד Daleth
4 The roads to Zion mourn,
for no one comes to the appointed festivals.
All her gates are deserted;
her priests groan,
her young women grieve,
and she herself is bitter.
ה He
5 Her adversaries have become her masters;
her enemies are at ease…
And how has this happened? Why?
Because the Lord’s own worshipers failed to listen to the Lord.
… for the Lord has made her suffer
Lamentations 1:5b
because of her many transgressions.
We understand the relationship between transgressions and our sin, right?
Our sins are punishable offenses. Consequently our rebellions against God justify our punishment, pain, suffering and even death.
ח Cheth
8 Jerusalem has sinned grievously…
Is there any pain like mine,
Lamentations 1:12B
which was dealt out to me,
which the Lord made me suffer
on the day of his burning anger?
Isn’t that how we finally feel once the Lord allows our punishment? Yet in fact, look around you as did Jeremiah. Many suffer. Therefore others weep with you, even for you.
ע Ayin
16 I weep because of these things;
my eyes flow with tears.
For there is no one nearby to comfort me,
no one to keep me alive.
My children are desolate
because the enemy has prevailed.
Why
צ Tsade
18 The Lord is just,
for I have rebelled against his command.
Justice requires fair punishment. But this lament and weeping cries out to the listener pleading for mercy:
Listen, all you people;
look at my pain.
My young women and young men
have gone into captivity.
ק Qoph
19 I called to my lovers,
but they betrayed me.
My priests and elders
perished in the city
while searching for food
to keep themselves alive.
ר Resh
20 Lord, see how I am in distress.
I am churning within;
my heart is broken,
for I have been very rebellious.
Outside, the sword takes the children;
inside, there is death.
The Holy City cries out to the LORD!
Their own lament and weeping with sorrow now includes confession.
We brought on our own demise, therefore our lament and weeping have cause.
Punishment for sin and death will surely follow as justice.
For what hope have any who have turned against the Lord?
To be continued...
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