I will only be posting once on Lamentations because it is such a depressing book to me and is a dismal expression of sorrow and pain. The post will be on Lamentations 3 which is the most optimistic and "light" of all the chapters. Although it still starts out (literally) as a funeral dirge in slow motion it eventually changes its tone towards the 20th verse. It is the one chapter that would be least inducive to needing anti-depressants or therapy sessions for depression after reading it because it paints a razor-thin silver lining on an otherwise pitch black cloud. Lamentations in general is hard to slog through as it is Jeremiah pouring out his heart at the fall of Jerusalem. The only levity and fleeting chimera of hope is at the end of chapter 3.
As mentioned above this chapter and Lamantations in general is like reading an overdrawn funeral dirge played at half speed rather than full speed. The second half of chapter at least paints an overall dark shade of grey rather than the void black used for the rest of Lamentations.
Jeremiah Shares Israel's Affliction:
The first third of this chapter starts on a clear downer. From verse 1 to approximately verse 20 we see personal pain, misery and affliction perhaps physical, most certainly spiritual. It certainly isn’t upbeat. Some cases in point: “I am the man who has seen affliction”, “made me walk in darkness”, “He has turned his hand against me again and again”, “made my skin and my flesh grow old and has broken my bones”, “broken teeth”, “bitter herbs”… on and on it goes. It is like reading a suicide note while the person is still writing it. Utterly depressing (unless read in context with Jeremiah).
Then *---BANG!* we hit the brakes on verse 21. What is that? Is that...nah...it can’t be...it is! It’s hope! [it then goes all the way through to verse 40]
“Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.” ~Lamentations 3:21-22
Jeremiah then goes on to sing the praises of God’s merciful loving-kindness that looks down on wretched sinners such as we and has compassion. It is a forgiving type of compassion like the type that is exuded by the loving father in the Parable of the Prodigal Son. The son did not deserve forgiveness by human standards but God’s standards forgiveness is “assertive” and “takes the initiative”. It is unconditional love. Without love we have nothing, with love we have a glimmer of hope (even in Lamentations). As 1 Corinthians 13:5 says: “love…it keeps no record of wrongs” and that is what God does here with Israel. Jeremiah then lists things that he has to be thankful for and things that are good for rebuilding hope in the worst of the worst situations:
(1) It is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.
(2) It is good for a man to bear the yoke while he is young.
(2a) Let him sit alone in silence for the LORD has laid it on him.
(2b) Let him offer his cheek to one who would strike him.
(3) For men are not cast off by the Lord forever. (He doesn’t cast them off and forget them)
(4) Though he brings grief, he will show compassion so great his unfailing love. (In pain we know He loves us)
(5) For he does not willingly bring affliction or grief to the children of men (God takes no pleasure in chastising us)
(6) To crush underfoot all prisoners in the land, to deny a man his rights before the Most High, to deprive a man of justice— would not the Lord see such things? (God sees how people treat us)
(7) Who can speak and have it happen if the Lord has not decreed it? Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both calamities and good things come? (God’s in control!)
(8) Why should any living man complain when punished for his sins? (God punishes us because He loves us)
Jeremiah then goes on to a repentance phase in the last third of chapter 3 (v 40-66). It also appears to be a summarization of Jeremiah’s prophecy: He is hunted, verbally abused, etc. It exhorts the listener/reader to hold tight…God will lift us up in the end. We will be redeemed. Perhaps not in this life but definitely in the next.
(1) Let us examine our ways and test them and let us return to the LORD. (honest moral inventory)
(2) Let us lift up our hearts and our hands to God in heaven, and say: "We have sinned and rebelled and you have not forgiven”….and about a dozen more analogies like this.
(3) By verse 55, after quite a few more laments about deserved punishment for wickedness we again see a cry to the Lord and the Lord acquiescing in mercy and grace “You came near when I called you, and you said, ‘Do not fear.’...
(4) And then we have the clincher in (v. 58): O Lord, you took up my case; you redeemed my life.
Even at the very bottom of the pit of despair there is hope. If there is a breath left in a man he could potentially be saved. When you are dead your choices are gone. Everything before then is either a life that is a testament to sin or a testament to the saving grace of God. Praise His glorious name. Jesus.
Addendum:
When we look at Lamentations 3 from a distance it takes on a familiar pattern that we can’t see at close range. Actually if we look at the entire Book of Lamentations the same exact pattern is repeated at a larger scale. Chapter 3 and the entire Book of Lamentations as a whole is structured as a piece of Hebrew poetry. Hebrew poetry unlike English poetry has its main point in the center where English has it at the end. SO the main point of Lamentations is Chapter 3 and the main point of Chapter 3 is in the center of the chapter. They are an encapsulation of an encapsulation like Russian stacking dolls or Matryoshka dolls. The whole point of the misery of Lamentations is that there is hope in all this suffering. That is the point of Chapter 3. If we delve even further we see the center verses 21 to 40 as mentioned above that there is a kernel of hope like the inside of a seed waiting to bust forth from its interior. The very center verses in Lamentations 3? In the Hebrew would’ve been Lamentations 3:33 a single trite statement.
“For He [God] does not willingly bring affliction or grief to the children of men. To crush underfoot” ~Lamentations 3:33
So why does God bring affliction then? Read the entire context of verse 33 in the verse 21 through 40.
This is very similar to the pain in suffering humans go through in life until they find Jesus Christ and the seed of our salvation is planted within us in the form of the Holy Spirit to help us work out our salvation in an act of sanctification just as it is mentioned here:
“No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God's seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God.” ~1 John 3:9
Before Christ and salvation, our suffering seems nearly pointless and in vain. After Christ we understand that it is for the working out of what is best for our eternal salvation. It brings forth the life that has been placed inside us pushing out the sin that had resided their previous to the Holy Spirit taking residence there at our behest.
Dyer, Charles., John Walvoord. "Lamentations." Bible Knowledge Commentary Old Testament: An Exposition of the Scriptures (Bible Knowledge). Acambaro: Victor, 1985. 1216-1219. Print.
Wiersbe, Warren. "The Prophets Distress." Bible Exposition Commentary: Old Testament: The Prophets (Bible Knowledge). Acambaro: Victor, 2003. 157-158. Print.
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