Study From the Book of Lamentaions: Introduction

Study From the Book of Lamentations

Today we start a new book of the Old Testament to study, which is the Book of Lamentations. And as usual we begin with the introduction.

Lamentation describes the funeral of the city of Jerusalem.  In a five-poem dirge, Jeremiah lays bare his ragged emotions. A death has occurred; Jerusalem lies barren and desolate. Lamentations records the horrible aftermath of the overthrow of Jerusalem and the exile of the Jews at the hands of the Babylonians. It laments what has happened to the city, to its inhabitants and Jeremiah’s own persecution.

But even in the midst of this holocaust, Jeremiah triumphantly cries out, “Great is Your faithfulness.”  In the face of death and destruction, with life seemingly coming apart, the prophet turns tragedy into a triumph of faith. God has never failed him in the past, and God promised to remain faithful in the future. In the light of the God he knows and loves, Jeremiah finds hope and comfort.

Themes: when we refuse to repent of our sin, affliction is the inevitable consequence.

Author: Jeremiah the prophet.

Time: Lamentations is set at the time of the Babylonian exile (586 B.C.), which left the city of Jerusalem in ruins and its inhabitants dead or in exile.

Structure

Jeremiah writes his lament in acrostic or alphabetical fashion. Beginning each section with the first Hebrew letter, Alpha, he progresses through the entire Hebrew alphabet four times in the first four chapters (in the initial letter verse by verse in chapters 1,2,and 4, and every three verses in chapter3}, weeping literally from A to Z.15/12/2024