The Book of Lamentations was written by the prophet Jeremiah. He
predicted the final fall of Judah during the reign
of Zedekiah.
Toward the end of Lamentations, he also predicts God’s restoration of
the nation.
Most of the book, as you would expect from the title, expresses
Jeremiah’s mourning for his fallen nation. He understands that God has
abandoned Judah to a predatory empire because the nation had long abandoned
him. As he mourned the nation, he wept for it. As he preached to the captives,
he wept for their condition. He knew that his country would suffer under a long
occupation, and he wept for that.
The different sections of the book have overlapping themes. Some of
these themes are: the catastrophe coming to Judah is a result of the people’s sins, that God loved
them but they rejected His love, the horrors
of the siege of Jerusalem,
and the time to come when God would relent and restore the nation.
Even in the midst of all this gloom, Jeremiah holds onto a glimmer of hope. He trusts in
God’s mercy. He
knows that when the people turn their heart to God again, he will gladly gather
them back together and restore them.
The book is organized as five poems. In the
original language, four are acrostics with each verse starting with a letter of
the Hebrew
alphabet in order (similar mnemonic devices are used elsewhere in the Bible,
especially in poems).
If you’re interested in this book, you may also be interested in
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