THE BOOK OF LAMENTATIONS
Theological Bites
Lamentations, as I mentioned in the previous introductions, is poetic in form and for that matter I consider the book to belong to the Ketuvim (wisdom writings) section of the Bible. The thing about the wisdom books of the Bible is that they are designed to deal with the big theological questions of the community. The book of Job deals with the question of suffering, that of proverbs deals with the question of philosophy (wisdom), Songs of Solomon handles love, Ecclesiastes is about life, etc. what then does lamentations handle and why do we have this book in the period of the destruction of Judah (as Israel’s last man standing) and the exile? The answer to this question unlocks what the book is about.
Poem Interconnectedness
As poetry, Lamentations consists of a series of independent yet interrelated poems. This is the best approach for reading this short but a complicated book of the Bible.
They are independent poems in each chapter but which have way too much to do with each other. To break this conceptual relation is to destroy the story and the plot altogether. Each poem in each chapter has a specific idea it presents in a particular image to contribute to the same narrative about the same event. This is why in the first introduction to this book I outlined the book in an ideological coherence and correspondence manner. I pointed out that chapter one was about THE PROBLEM, chapter two was about the CAUSE, chapter three was the RESPONSE, and four was the EXPERIENCE and chapter five the way forward which was a FORGIVENESS APPEAL.
This is the far I could simplify the book’s idea. The lamentation poetic form in relation to its outline I present above implies that while each poem in each chapter is independent, it develops its own idea and image to communicate the idea about the same event and experience, it juxtaposes it with the idea and image in other poems in other chapters.
Poem-Content Outline
Chapter one describes a collective and indiscriminate sufferings of priests (1:4), young women (1:4), children (1:5), princes (1:6), and the people as a collective (1:7, 11). Daughter Zion speaks of her warriors and young men (1:15), desolate children (1:16), young men and women (1:18), and priests and elders (1:19). Her suffering as a personification of the community extends to her entire body: nakedness (1:8), genitals (1:7, 8, 10), bones and feet (1:13), neck (1:14), eyes (1:16), bowels (1:20), and heart (1:20, 22) this chapter paints a picture of the violence and the magnitude of the problem. It is further mentioned in chapter 2 by stating that “rulers” are dishonoured (2:2); “king and priest” are “spurned” (2:6) prophets no longer see visions (2:9), and elders are silent in the dust (2:10). And chapter 4 as well, infants and children (4:4, 10), the wealthy (4:5), princes (4:7), women (4:10), prophets, priests and elders (4:13, 16).
While chapter one concludes by confirming there is a surviving she’erit (remnant), chapter two explains the quality of the remnant (Sher’rit) as starving children (2:11c-12, 19c), desolate and grieving mothers (2:12, 19-20), and discredited prophets (2:14).
In addition to that, chapter two poem tells the cause of this problem to be Yahweh. It is Yahweh himself Against Zion and her sanctuary (2:1-8). The destruction of Judah is due to Yahweh’s actions.
Chapter three in response to the events that have taken place evaluates and in response categories those who have suffered Yahweh’s actions. The chapter presents three categories of the sufferers of Yahweh’s violent activities in Judah. These are 1-the Geber (3:1-33), a male individual who suffered greatly in the destruction. 2-the Golah, these are recent Judahite captives and the former ten Israelite tribes living lost in the diaspora (3:34, 45, 52), 3- the dead of war (3:43) = priests and prophets (2:20), young men, young women and elders (2:21) and finally 4- the oppressed she’erit (3:35, 51). These four categories of the victims of Yahweh’s inescapable (4:17-19; 4:21-22) violent actions on his people, justify the lament.
Chapter four is a rejoinder poem about the entire experience of the people of God. Apart from those who have perished in the war (4:5-6), many survivors have starved (4:3-4, 9-10). A she’erit community includes starving babies (4:4) as well as debased princes (4:7-8). The living golah and Diaspora communities are constantly disgraced in Babylon and abroad (4:14-16). chapter five explains the problem of the new foreign authorities (5:2, 5:4, 6, 8-9, 5:7, 5:12, 14) and appeals for forgiveness from the source of their problems (5:1-3, 19-22). This is the content outline of the five poems and the poems end with a very important question that says: Or hast thou utterly rejected us? Art thou exceedingly angry with us? (5:22 RSV)
Lamenting God’s Behaviour in their Desperate Hours
All the poems in the five chapters of the book have their conclusion in the question; ‘God, have you utterly rejected us and are you exceedingly angry with us?’ What we have in the book of Lamentations is God responsible for all the evil and bad things that have befallen the people of God. This is the theological question addressed in the book. The book presents God as a key player in the events that take place towards the determination of the future of the nation.
The lament is not so much on what Judah has suffered but rather the lament is on the behaviour of the God of Judah. It is not true that all this has befallen Judah and Israel in the absence of God. The devil did not take opportunity of God’s absence to attack God’s people, the lament, therefore, is not about God’s abandonment of his elect. The Lament of God’s people is about the reality that a present God in the time of disaster has blocked his hear with blocks of stone not to hear the cry of his own as they perish (3::9). The Lament is that God has covered himself with a cloud so “no prayer can get through” (3:44).
God has not actively blocked their petitions but he has been actively involved in the destruction of his own. His Wrath (hot nose) has been poured unto his people intentionally (2:4; 4:11) and the strongholds of Judah being torn down (2:2), king and priest have been spurned (2:6), and young and old have been slain (2:21) is but a product of God’s expressed anger to his beloved. While it was doctrinal truth that God’s compassion and love do not fail (3:22) and that God is fundamentally unwilling to bring about grief (3:33) especially to his elect; the prophets (Jeremiah inclusive) juxtaposed that message with another that warned Israel and Judah about the severity of God’s anger should it be unleashed (Jeremiah 30:23-24; Amos 1:3-5 Amos 1:6 Amos 1:10 Amos 1:11). The Lamentations are therefore about these mixed feelings about the same God. Next, we will look at this God in the lens of the destruction of Judah and the Lament thereof.
God bless you I invoke TRUTH, WISDOM, and FAITH (2Tim 2:7)
Priest TIM WHITE (+256-775 822833 for further inquiries)
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