LAMENTATIONS

• In the Jewish Talmud

“Eikhah” - “How!”
which expresses dismay
• In LXX or Septuagint
“Threnoi” - “Wailings” or loud cries
• In English
LAMENTATIONS
to lament or passionate expression of grief or sorrow
• The book is a poetic book that expresses emotion

• It records the despair felt during the destruction of

Jerusalem in 587 BC

• discovery that it was God himself who let this

happen and not totally the Babylonians
 “Lamentations expresses
the psychological and spiritual
anguish over God’s abandonment
of His people and
His hostility toward them.”
According to the perspective of the biblical historians and
prophets, the exile was the climax of a long struggle that
pitted the people of Israel and Judah against their God.

God had warned them long before through Moses that their
presence in the land depended on their obedience to the
covenant relationship that He established with them on
Sinai (Deut. 28:15–68).

Nonetheless, He remained faithful to them through long

years of rebellion and sin, sending prophet after prophet to
call them back to a sincere and vital relationship with him.
1. Anonymous Work
2. Tradition - Jeremiah
• an eyewitness to the destruction of Jerusalem
• suffering of the author of Lamentations
• writer of laments ( 2 Chronicles 35:25)
• LXX or Septuagint - “Lamentations of Jeremiah”
3. Multiple Autorship
H. Von der Hardts argued that the five chapters were
written by Daniel, Shadrach, Meschach, Abednego and
King Jehoiachin.
 HEBREW TEXTUAL
TRADITION

Eikkah is found in the

Ketuvim (Writings)
not in the Nevi'im (Prophets)
 GREEK OLD
TESTAMENT

 placed lamentation

immediately after Jeremiah

 words to the beginning of the book

 • written during the exilic period

• probably written near the burning city

perhaps in Anathoth
or Jeremiah's hometown
 The book has five chapters
or five poems
 The first four are acrostics.
 The fifth poem is probably a
personal prayer.
 Only the book of
Lamentations is composed in
this literary style.
 Purpose of the acrostics is
unknown
According to Herman Gunkel,

chapters 1, 2 and 4 - FUNERAL SONGS

chapter 3 - INDIVIDUAL LAMENT
chapter 5 - COMMUNAL LAMENT

but according to Ferris,

It is to be classified as a COMMUNAL LAMENT

similar to those found within the Psalter.
COMMUNAL LAMENT
“a composition whose verbal content indicates
that it was composed to be used by and/or on
behalf of a community to express both complaint,
and sorrow and grief over some perceived
calamity, physical or cultural, which had befallen
or was about to befall them and to appeal to God
for deliverance. “
The content of the book of Lamentations makes it clear
that it is defeat in battle that evokes the poem’s
composition.
Setting : Wartime Defeat

 Solomon’s prayer at the time of temple dedication in 1 Kings 8.

“Solomon envisions Israel turning to God when
they experience military defeat.
The book of Lamentations is just such a prayer.“
acknowledge God's judgment against Jerusalem and
move God to intercede for and restore His people
 GOTTWALD (1954)
 he proposed that the theological
message of the book may be found in
the contrast between the
Deuteronomic version of faith and
historical reality as represented in the
destruction of Jerusalem.
 Deuteronomy promises blessings,
security, and prosperity to the people
of God, but the people experience
God’s presence as an enemy (Lam.
2:4).
ALBREKSTON (1963)
 stated that Gottwald has a facile
understanding of Deuteronomic
theology.
 Nowhere does Deuteronomy promise
Israel unconditional blessing. When
Israel sins, they will be cursed,
and Lamentations recognizes that
God’s movement against them is
the result of their sin
 In the place of Deuteronomic
theology, he simply places Zion
theology. When impregnable Zion
fell, so did the people’s faith.
 you do not obey the LORD your God
and do not carefully follow all his commands
and decrees I am giving you today, . . .
the LORD will bring a nation against you from
far away, from the ends of the earth, like an
eagle swooping down, a nation whose language
you will not understand, a fiercelooking nation
without respect for the old or pity for the young.
(Deuteronomy 28:15, 49–50)
 But the theological message of Lamentations is not purely
negative.
There is also hope, but it is of minimal significance in the book.
In the heart of the book (3:22–33) the poet expresses his assurance
that God does not abandon those who turn to him for help.

Although Israel has sinned in the past (1: 8, 14, 18; 2:14; 4:13), they
appeal to God for help, expecting that he will forgive and restore.
His compassion is greater than his anger
(3:31–33; Krashovek 1992).
Lamentations 2:17
“The LORD has done what he planned; he has
fulfilled his word, which he decreed long ago. He has
overthrown you without pity, he has let the enemy
gloat over you, he has exalted the horn of your foes.”

Lamentations 3:22-23
“Because of the LORD's great love we are not
consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are
new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”
Lamentations 5:19-22,
“You, O LORD, reign forever; your throne endures
from generation to generation. Why do you always
forget us? Why do you forsake us so long? Restore
us to yourself, O LORD, that we may return; renew
our days as of old unless you have utterly rejected
us and are angry with us beyond measure.”
Lamentations pinpoints God as the enemy. He has
waged war against his people because of their sin. The
note of hope expressed in the book finds partial
ful_x0002_fillment in the restoration to the land
following the decree of Cyrus. However, although the
people return to the land, they do not have political
independence.
Although the temple is rebuilt, it does not reflect its
former glory. The people are left expecting more.
The prophets of the exilic and postexilic periods look into the
future and have a vision of a future intrusion of God the Warrior
into history to fight on behalf of his people (Dan. 7 and Zech. 14).
The New Testament identifies Jesus Christ as the Divine
Warrior who defeats the forces of evil on the cross.
(Col.2:13–15)
the one who will come again in the future for the final battle
against all human and spiritual enemies of God. (Rev.19:11ff.)
Jesus Christ is the Divine Warrior who fights on behalf of his
people against the most powerful enemy of all, Satan.
In Job, the individual’s suffering was not caused by his own
sin.
By contrast, the corporate suffering of Lamentations was
the direct result of the guilt that the nation had incurred
through the centuries.
However, as Job’s suffering anticipated the suffering of the
truly innocent sufferer, so the suffering of Israel at the time of
the exile also anticipates.
 “Christ’s hanging on the
cross. In this case, however,
the sin is not his; it is ours.”
(Gottwald 1954, 112).
 Babylonians were God’s tool for bringing judgment on
Jerusalem (Lam. 1:12-15; 2:1-8; 4:11).

 Lamentations makes it clear that sin and rebellion were the

causes of God’s wrath being poured out (1:8-9; 4:13; 5:16).

 Lamenting is appropriate in a time of distress, but it should

quickly give way to contrition and repentance (Lam. 3:40-42; 5:21-22).