INTRODUCTION

Is our Heritage forsaken, and if so what happens next?  or What happens after we do evil? or

What do we do when trouble strikes?

One writer suggests this interesting title:

“The prayer of the afflicted, when he is overwhelmed and pours out his complaint before the Lord”.

Probably the most interesting title comes from the Hebrew Bible which has as the title of this book: “Ah, How”, or “Alas”.

The title in the Septuagint however is “Wailings”. The title in the Talmud is “Lamentations”.

As we look at our lesson today, we will assuredly come to some conclusions which will give us some answers and help us choose our own title if we wish. 

The word ‘Lamentation’ is an elegy, which is a form of poetry exemplified by the lament of David over Saul and Jonathan recorded in 2 Samuel 1:17-27.  Another example is found in

2 Samuel 3:33-34 when David mourned over Abner. A dirge is a funeral lament, the expression of ultimate sorrow and mourning at the death of someone beloved. 

The Jews are said to read this book at an annual fast to remember the destruction of Jerusalem, but very importantly its reading acts to remind the people that God will bring the Deuteronomy 28 predicted punishment to His people, when they are unfaithful to the covenant.  Subsequent generations of Jews would then appreciate the importance of faithfulness to the covenant. 

The book serves to remind all the people of God that though sin is very attractive and exciting and it is very appealing to eat, drink and be merry, that attitude and practice inevitably brings with it a heavy load of misery, grief, pain and sorrow. 

The book of Lamentations is designed to teach that God is faithful to the covenant he has established with men.  Though there are many oppressions and miseries which will come to both men and the nation when men break the covenant, it should be remembered that chastisement will bring good to the people of God.  In addition, a better day will come. 

For the child of God there is hope.  When the consequences of sin hit the people, first they bewail their downfall shedding many tears, saying “how”, or “oh”, or “alas”, but with all that comes the assurance of God that he will bring comfort both in the times of distress and following.

SUFFERING IN SCRIPTURE

The two main books in Scripture that deals with the problem of suffering are the book of Job and the book of Lamentations. In both Books we are taught that the difficult lessons we should learn are that mankind has to examine deeply and carefully the matter of God's justice as well as that of His love.  Associated with these we should consider the matters of God's divine sovereignty, as well as human responsibility.  Our study today should give us an understanding of suffering. While Job deals extensively with issues of personal suffering, Lamentations deals primarily with that of national suffering, though it does also deals with intense personal suffering. 

The prophet Jeremiah, who we consider to be the writer, looks at the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple and the exile of the people of Judah to Babylon, as the result of divine judgment. This was the ultimate tragedy for the people of God; for it is not just that someone invaded and won a war.  Sometime people lose wars because they are not prepared, have inferior technology, or are simply caught by surprise.  But this is not the case here. This national and personal tragedy occurred because of divine discipline and hence there is cause for lament, intense prayers and crying out to God almost in despair. 

In such a case where great destruction has come by divine judgment, we can understand that it is easy for many to forget, or simply not bring to mind, that God has promised a great future after the tragedy of conquest. 

This book of Lamentations should remind us that sin has consequences. These consequences are personal, national and international. 

People of God are challenged to examine themselves often, repent of personal sins, national sins, and international sins, especially those in which they participate directly or indirectly. 

We are reminded that those in the covenant are the beneficiaries of God's steadfast love. This love is ever present, never deserts the remnant, but since God is holy and just, he will certainly judge unrepentant sinners. 

In addition, we should remind ourselves as one commentator puts it, that even when God takes the nail out of the hole, the hole still remains and even if it is covered, the scars will still be there and scars do itch sometimes.  It is clearly better not to sin.

CONTEXT

To understand the book of Lamentations we have to remind our self of the second invasion of Nebuchadnezzar. The second invasion occurred after Jehoiachin king of Judah, otherwise called Coniah behaved treacherously to the Babylonians and was taken captive to Babylon.   

His father had himself not only been treacherous to the Babylonians but he had acted contemptuously to God, brazenly cutting to pieces a scroll written by Jeremiah to warn the nation of God’s judgment and casting the pieces into the fire. For that insolent act, God sent a message to him that his body would be thrown out into the blazing heat of the sun and the cold of the night and he would be eaten by dogs.   

Zedekiah, the last king of Judah was installed on the throne by Nebuchadnezzar after the exile of Jehoiachin, but he too behaved with deceit and foolishly rebelled despite the warnings of the prophet Jeremiah.  Jeremiah had told him that if he stopped his rebellion he and the people would be saved. 

The evil and cowardly Zedekiah was frightened when the Babylonian army approached, so he tried to find ways to get God on his side.  He knew that the nation was disobeying the law of the covenant in Deuteronomy Fifteen, that the Jewish people should never be made permanent slaves but should be freed in the seventh year and so he issued a royal order that all household slaves should be released. However, soon after his swearing an oath and issuing the order, when he heard that the Egyptian army was approaching Judah to challenge the Babylonian army and that the Babylonians had lifted the siege of Jerusalem to meet the Egyptians, he cynically and immediately withdrew the order to release the Jewish slaves.  He now felt safe and decided that he did not have to live up to his vows and obey the ordinances of the covenant.   

This of course brought the rebuke from God through the prophet Jeremiah which is recorded in Jeremiah 34:15-17. In His rebuke, God told Zedekiah that he had ‘profaned his name’, that is, defaced and wounded the unspeakably holy and righteous name of God. His act was one of blatant disrespect, and there would be a price exacted.  

The final days of Jerusalem had come with the return of Nebuchadnezzar’s army. The dark days of terror and horrors with its predicted famine, pestilence, and butchery had come to the city. Everyone crowded into the fortified city of Jerusalem for safety and there were people everywhere.  The city was crammed with people and it simply could not accommodate them.  The internal water supply soon ran out and despite the rationing, the limited supply of food was soon exhausted.  There was tremendous inflation and no attempt to observe the rules about defilement.  God had described to the prophet Ezekiel, who had been taken from Jerusalem in the first exile, what would happen during the siege of Jerusalem and had told him to act out the horror.  In Ezekiel 4 we read:

“But as for you, take wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet and spelt, put them in one vessel and make them into bread for yourself; you shall eat it according to the number of days that you lie on your side, 390 days.  Your food which you eat shall be twenty shekels a day by weight; you shall eat it from time to time.  The water you drink shall be the sixth part of a hin by measure; you shall drink it from time to time.  You shall eat it as a barley cake, having baked it in your sight over human dung…..Moreover, He said to me, “Son of man, behold I am going to break the staff of bread in Jerusalem, and they will eat bread by weight and with anxiety, and drink water by measure and in horror, because bread and water will be scarce; and they will be appalled with one another and waste away in their iniquity.”

.So in these final tragic days the situation was desperate, there was no garbage collection, no sanitation and hygiene, no collection of human waste, corpses were simply left on the street with no one to gather them and manifold horrors took place. 

So we will simply give some quotations from some passages in Jeremiah’s Book of Lamentations to show what actually happened right before the prophet’s eyes.  In the Revised Standard Version chapter 1: 11 we read: “All her people groan, they seek bread; they have given their precious things for food to restore their lives themselves. “See, O Lord, and look, for I am despised.” 

Jeremiah said in chapter 2:11-12.

“My eyes fail because of tears, my spirit is greatly troubled; my heart is poured out on the earth because of the destruction of the daughter of my people, when little ones and infants faint in the streets of the city. They say to their mothers,” Where is grain and wine?” As they faint like a wounded man in the streets of the city, as their life is poured out on their mother’s bosom.” 

Then Jeremiah describes this unspeakable horror of cannibalism in Jerusalem in his desperate appeal: “ Arise, cry aloud in the night at the beginning of the night watches; pour out your heart like water before the presence of the Lord; lift up your hands to Him for the life of your little ones who are faint because of hunger at the head of every street. See, O Lord and look!  With whom have you dealt thus?  Should woman eat their offspring, the little ones who were born healthy? Should priest and prophet be slain in the sanctuary of the Lord?

Lamentations 2:19-20. 

Note that Deuteronomy 28:53-57 predicted that this cannibalism and other horrible suffering would happen as a consequence of the disobedience of the people. This entire chapter clearly states the consequences of covenant unfaithfulness.

“The tongue of the infant cleaves to the roof of its mouth because of thirst; the little ones ask for bread, but no one breaks it for them.  Those who ate delicacies are desolate in the streets; those reared in purple embrace ash pits”. (Lamentations 4:4-5).

“Their appearance is blacker than soot, they are not recognized in the streets; Their skin is shrivelled on their bones, it is withered, it has become like wood. Better are those slain with the sword that those slain with hunger; for they pine away, being stricken for lack of the fruits of the field. The hands of compassionate woman boiled their own children; they became food for them because of the destruction of the daughter of my people.” (Lamentations 4:8-10). 

Finally when Nebuchadnezzar’s army broke through the walls into the city the slaughter began.  The houses of the rich were destroyed, the Temple was destroyed, the women were raped, Zedekiah was finally captured after a fruitless escape attempt, his children were killed before his eyes, his eyes were gouged and he was put in chains. The nobles and many of the leaders of Judah were killed and every one of any value was taken in chains to Babylon. 

The prophet Jeremiah was freed from his imprisonment and the Babylonians gave him the choice of going wherever he wanted.  He chose to stay in the land of Judah with his people.

So as we begin the text let us remember what the people of God can do and often do to blunt the will of God.  This nonsense continues today. First, they can refuse to listen to God and seek to satisfy themselves with following the life led by the ‘flesh’.

Second, they try to prevent the disaster of ultimate judgment from happening by sundry manipulations, cover-up, pretences of piety and manoeuvrings. 

Third, they pretend to submit to God, be outwardly religious, constantly quote the words of Scripture, but compromise in their life, thus indicating that their hearts are still evil.  There is no acknowledgment of guilt, recognizing that they have strayed from the path, no true cry to God for change and forgiveness and no submission or humiliation before God. 

Fourth, they callously and with unswerving determination persecute those that bring the true message of God. 

Fifth, they lose the fear of God and forget the law of retribution which states that when evil is done there is no way to escape the consequences.

THE TEXT

Verses 1-25.  Jeremiah lamented over the events in Jerusalem and in chapter one gives us a very factual description of the events. Then he declared that it was God that had brought the destruction which he so vividly described. Jeremiah used many words to describe how God behaved to his people.  He said God had “swallowed up”, “thrown down”, “profaned”, “cut off”, “burned”, “bent his bow”, “destroyed”, “rejected”, “despised”, “abandoned”.

This was the wrath of God at work.  This was the direct will of God. God had determined to do this, had warned that he would do it and he had done it. 

Jeremiah was devastated by what had happened and was overwhelmed with grief.  Despair and depression had come to him personally. He felt that he was experiencing the darkness of judgment and discipline, for he was suffering with his people. He felt pain and it was for him like a ‘living death’. God had imprisoned him and he could not escape from his afflictions.  He had prayed to God, but God was not listening to his expressions of grief. God was like a wild animal waiting to devour him, opposing him and tearing him apart. God was using him for target practice and he was severely wounded. 

He was an object of ridicule and his experiences were bitter like wormwood.  God had ‘broken his teeth” because he had given him stones to eat instead of bread.  He had lost all hope, happiness, strength and peace.

He remembered the miseries of the siege and the bitterness caused by sin was in his mind.  He was humbled in spirit. Because of this sense of humility however, he realized that there was ground for hope. It is instructive for us to see why this was so.  Humility is a great thing to be desired and is very beneficial for a believer.

Verse 22.   Jeremiah now remembered what God's loyal love was all about.  In his new state of humility he recalled this ground for hope. It was important for him to note that what he had undergone before might have been bad, but it was more important to think about what was coming after.

It was because of the mercies of God that things were not worse.  There could have been much more distress and suffering. In fact, the people of Judah could have been totally wiped out with no survivors.  The Babylonians were such fierce warriors that they were quite capable of the liquidation of his people which today we call ethnic cleansing.

‘Streams of mercies’ had always been flowing from God and the ‘streams’ which originated in the Father would never end.  Though they had been unfaithful He had remained faithful and though they had been burnt, they were not consumed. God had not forsaken them.  Other nations had been wiped out, but they had been dealt with according to God's mercies. Given their suffering, they might not have believed that God was being merciful to them but in fact he was being merciful.  His divine compassions were inexhaustible for he is the Father of mercies.

Verse 23.  With each and every day God had shown his compassion and loving kindness, his magnificent and unbelievable faithfulness.  Every day he provided and each day God showed his nature.

Verse 24.  Jeremiah was reminded by his soul that the Lord was the one who provided for him and was his foundation for hope.  God, as Psalm 16:5 states, was his inheritance, his patrimony. Whatever God provided was eternal, non-perishable and inalienable.  He was the all- sufficient God, the one from whom ‘milk’ and all good things essential for life and luxury constantly flowed.

Verse 25.  God's goodness was constant over all His works and those who were patient would be delivered by God and experience His goodness. 

Jeremiah seems to be here calling on Psalm 27:13,14 which states:

“I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.

Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord.”

So we are taught that waiting and seeking the Lord is the way to experience the goodness of God.  Even when we are in trouble for a long time and God does not deliver us, it is required that we wait patiently on God for He is gracious and will come to us in due time. 

We should be praying while seeking and waiting on God. This spiritual activity will be good for us  as it will comfort and bring satisfaction.  We know that the will of God must be done and so  we know that our hope will end to our welfare.

Verse 26.  Jeremiah teaches us that when we silently wait for the deliverance of God, something that is certainly contrary to the pressures of the flesh, good will come. It is good to be kept under trouble and kept in the yoke. It is dangerous to quarrel with the government of God. One should talk to God, resist discontenting thought and beware of distrusting God, for that will only add to one’s affliction. 

The salvation of the Lord is certain and will come in His time. 

These are greatly important messages to man. It is difficult to keep these things in mind when one is under great pressure. However to benefit from Jeremiah’s message a believer should practice considering the small, daily good things which God has brought to them, to make life less stressful and more pleasant, at the same time thinking what life would be like if these little ‘streams’ of good things had not happened.  It is generally our practice to ignore the many little things that God has done for us and to focus our attention on wanting big giant sized blessings.

Verse 27.   Here Jeremiah gives practical advice to those that are young.  He began his prophetic ministry when he was quite young and God had kept him throughout the difficult forty years of his work.  So he knew what he was talking about.  When he was young he could handle the pressures much easier. 

So he now advises that God's disciplinary training, which best begins from youth was best for a man.  A man should become accustomed to submit to God from his youth.  A similar idea is expressed in Psalm 90: 12 and 119:9-16. 

It is therefore important for young people to begin shouldering the burden of God's will, especially when it is revealed in their young days.  Those who would do that will become more dependable when they get older.

Verse 28.   Submitting to God from the youthful days will enable that believer to deal with standing alone as the representative of God, supporting his truth and his word, keeping silent before God and treating God’s government and providence with the respect that it deserves.  When there is early recognition that it is God that has placed a burden on the believer, there should be no complaining.

Verse 29-30.   Jeremiah is advising that there must be humble submission and entreaty to God.  That person who has learnt submission in early life will leave his situation into the hand of God and he will place his hope in Him. 

Here we have the behavior of those that are ‘meek and mild’. Those who are meek and mild, who know that they should bear reproaches for Christ, they will turn the other cheek and not retaliate. This verse recalls the example of Jesus who was reproached and treated with derision, but who did not return bitterness for bitterness, attacked for attack, gave blow for blow, but being disciplined, had turned all of this reproach back to God to render justice on his behalf. 

For Jeremiah who had suffered much antagonism, reproach and affliction during his ministry, this was extremely valuable advice and also for those who are called to the service of God.  It is also good teaching for every believer, for it is better to allow others to reproach us, patiently bearing afflictions from God and often bear afflictions from men, rather than retaliating. 

Jeremiah was aware that Psalm 17 also speaks about the ‘testings’ of life which come from wicked men and that David prayed to God to keep his tongue. 

Jeremiah seems to be telling the people of Judah that they should place themselves under the discipline of God, just as he had been under the discipline of God.  Since they were assured that the discipline was beneficial, bearing of the reproach of their enemies should guide their behavior during the time of exile under Babylonian rule.  They would find that it was good spiritually to bear the yoke, for they would be rewarded and taken by God through the time of suffering. 

God never disciplines without a cause and He always has a good and beneficial aim in view.  His discipline is never arbitrary.  God acts in correction and He will never be in controversy with us forever.

Verse 32.  God will reject or turn his back on his own for a short period of time, but since he is a compassionate and merciful God, these qualities will eventually allow Him to replace the grief of His people with comfort. He will certainly cause grief for those of His people who are sinning.  He might even bring grief to those who are not sinning.  But in any case all things will work together for good. 

Note that God has so much compassion that He's ready to pour out these on those children of His that He has grieved, being mindful that it is not that people deserve the mercies of God.  Generally, people are quite unworthy and even when God causes grief to bring people back on the path of righteousness, people will still go back to their old ways as soon as God provides relief from their troubles.   

This is amply demonstrated in the last chapter of Jeremiah where even though the people had been disciplined, the rebellious remnant went back to Egypt to escape the hand of God and forcibly took Jeremiah with them.  When Jeremiah warned them that they would not escape God's judgment, they told him to his face in their insolent rebellion that he had not heard that message from God, that they would not listen to him and that he was telling a lie. 

God is abundant in mercies, pities His creatures and will heal after He has inflicted the pain.

Verse 33.  God takes no pleasure in bringing pain, affliction and grief to people.  He does not delight in our calamities.  He does not bring unnecessary discipline but only as  we deserve and  need. 

God seems to punish reluctantly.  So He allows man to sin for a long time, sending His prophets day after day to show them the path to repentance. 

God will always do right and is quick to forgive.  Once there is repentance in the heart and even before the fruits of repentance are demonstrated, God will often bless. 

Jeremiah knows that God does not delight in the death of sinners and he does not enjoy when Israel suffers.

Verse 55-56.  God is gracious and so Jeremiah in the desperate times draws near to God from his low estate.  He is at bottom, ready for death, he is in prison and has no way to turn, but he knows that God is his refuge and deliverer and that he must call on the name of the Lord.  He does exactly what Jonah did when he was in the belly of a fish. When he was cut off, seemingly abandoned by God, he prayed the prayer of faith.  He's in a desperate condition but he is certain that the Lord will hear his prayer and so he begs God to pay attention to him and deliver him. 

When Jeremiah shows this kind of magnificent faith and testifies that God is gracious and has delivered him in the past and will deliver him when the nation has been captured, he presents this as a lesson to his countrymen and encourages them to place their trust in God.

Note that weeping does not hinder prayers. No matter where we are there is always access to God.

Verse  57.  God had graciously come to Jeremiah’s aid when he called on Him and God told him not to fear. God had already answered his prayers and since He was the God of the covenant He would always be there to answer the prayers of his people.  He would deliver them from destruction.  God had seen Jeremiah’s affliction and He would always be fair in His judgment.  He would be the same when judging His people.

CONCLUSION

We should understand that God prefers to show mercy.  God is a God of terror only for the moment. He loves when men repent and turn to Him.  God has always been merciful in the past and he would be merciful in the future.  He always welcomes sinners. 

So we must constantly consider that God's loving kindness will never cease.  His compassion never fails. 

Jeremiah could shift quickly from his deep despair to recognizing that God is most merciful.  He can complain about God's slowness in listening to his prayers to quickly speaking about his hope, because of the nature of God and His faithfulness to His covenant. 

We too must start by recognizing that God can rescue us from every situation. We will only know this and be able to shift in a moment from despair to hope, if we understand the character of God.  We are human beings and subject to despair, but we must quickly shift from this to hope. 

It is not something that we can sit and reason about.  We must believe that God is and that He is a ‘rewarder’ of those that diligently seek Him.  There is consolation and hope in the grace of God.  Suffering is never forever, for God is good to seekers. Let us connect ourselves to the truths of God. 

We might not have ever gone through anything as disastrous as the children of Israel who were dispersed among the nations and whose homeland was left desolate for many years. The book of Lamentations overflows with grief and it teaches us how to handle catastrophe. 

Note that nothing is outside of God's control.  He can destroy and exile his people, but He can also effect rehabilitation.  So if we are in exile and feel spiritually dry and forgotten by God take special note.  

We should not repress our tragedies.  Tell God about the pain and the grief and recognize that God is so merciful that He will strengthen us to face up to these memories, as well as to what is happening now in your life. 

Like Jeremiah let us pay attention to the suffering of others; use our personal experiences with God to show others that just as God renewed His mercies and loving kindness to us, He will do the same for them.  Just advise and encourage others to seek Him. 

We should recognize that we live in an age where we will likely be full of tears.  This was Jeremiah's experience.  He knew the sins of his people and he knew that judgment was determined  but he always looked to God for the salvation of his people.