1. FEED 210/213 Mentoring Through The Old Testament/ Major Prophets SESSION 8A: LAMENTATIONS Dr P. Marshall phillip.marshall@sim.org phillip.marshall@sim.org Bartley Christian Church: 19 Sep 2015

2. Learning objectives  Be able to explain where Lamentations sits in the history of the OT and the OT canon  Elaborate the impact of the exile on the faith of Israel, and the theological crisis provoked by the exile  Identify key themes in Lamentations and what these tell us about God and His purposes  Develop applications from Lamentations on how to live as a child of God in a broken world

3. Introduction The destruction of Jerusalem with its Temple was as significant for God’s people, deeply affecting:  Their relationship to God  Their personal identities and relationship to one another  Their relationship to the nations  Their relationship to the earth (created order)

4. Introduction  The destruction of Jerusalem and exile were a catastrophe that almost destroyed God’s people ... While it would transformed them, in Lamentations that working out is still future  Lamentations is a record of the final generation of Israel, the Holocaust

5. Author & Date – post 586BC The Hebrew title of the book is ‘ekah (“How …!”), the first word of Lam 1:1; 2:1; 4:1. The book is also referred to in Jewish tradition as qinot (Lamentations), as in LXX (Greek Septuagint) and Vulgate (Latin).

6. Author & Date  Lamentations is anonymous; Jewish and Christian traditions ascribe it to Jeremiah the prophet  Jer 7:29; 8:21; 9:1, 10, 20  Similarities in vocabulary and style in Lamentations & Jeremiah. Jeremiah the prophet is an author recognised for this lament style (2 Chr 35:25).  Jeremiah the prophet as eye-witness to these events  Dated soon after the destruction of 586BC

7. Author & Date “Lamentations poignantly shares the overwhelming sense of loss that accompanied the destruction of the city, temple and ritual as well as the exile of Judah’s inhabitants” (Ronald Youngblood)

8. The world of Jeremiah

10. Outline Lament Verses Lines per verse [lines] 122Acrostic 3 (except 1:7) [65] 222Acrostic3 [66] 33 x 22Acrostic1 [66] 422Acrostic2 [44] 522 1 [22] 19 I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. 20 I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me. 21 Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Lamentations 3:19-42

11. Lam 3:19-42 22 Because of the L ORD ’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. 23 They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. 24 I say to myself, “The L ORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.”

12. Lam 3:19-42 25 The L ORD is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; 26 it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the L ORD. 27 It is good for a man to bear the yoke while he is young.

13. Lam 3:19-42 28 Let him sit alone in silence, for the L ORD has laid it on him. 29 Let him bury his face in the dust— there may yet be hope. 30 Let him offer his cheek to one who would strike him, and let him be filled with disgrace.

14. Lam 3:19-42 31 For no one is cast off by the Lord forever. 32 Though he brings grief, he will show compassion, so great is his unfailing love. 33 For he does not willingly bring affliction or grief to anyone.

15. Lam 3:19-42 34 To crush underfoot all prisoners in the land, 35 to deny people their rights before the Most High, 36 to deprive them of justice— would not the Lord see such things?

16. Lam 3:19-42 37 Who can speak and have it happen if the Lord has not decreed it? 38 Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both calamities and good things come? 39 Why should the living complain when punished for their sins?

17. Lam 3:19-42 40 Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the L ORD. 41 Let us lift up our hearts and our hands to God in heaven, and say: 42 “We have sinned and rebelled and you have not forgiven.

18. Outline Lament Verses Lines per verse [lines] 122Acrostic 3 (except 1:7) [65] 222Acrostic3 [66] 33 x 22Acrostic1 [66] 422Acrostic2 [44] 522 1 [22]  Lament 1: Jerusalem’s misery and desolation  Lament 2: The Lord’s anger against His people  Lament 3: Judah’s complaint, and basis for consolation  Lament 4: The contrast between Zion’s past and present  Lament 5: Judah’s appeal for God’s forgiveness

19. Style of laments/Lamentations “the lament is to give outward physical and verbal expression to the inner emotions of grief at the loss of something or someone of inestimable value to the mourner in a personal and collective sense”

20. Power of laments/Lamentations “Psychologically it has the power to allow the person lamenting to cultivate and enter into events which may or may not include the person. In a healthy sense it gives a sense of identity and becomes an outlet for deep emotion. In a negative sense it can maintain harmful anger and the need to restore honour”

21. Use of laments/Lamentations “Lamentations was written to express these tensions of faith and doubt through the catharsis of confession … It was written also to encourage acceptance of God’s judgment while affirming hope beyond that judgment.” (WS LaSor)

22. Why read Lamentations?  To appreciate and identify with the horrors experienced by God’s people down through history  God as Judge, even using pagan armies to discipline His people  Rebellion (= sin) against God has consequences

23. Why read Lamentations?  Lamentations gives meaning and hope in a world falling apart  We serve a God of hope, of love, of faithfulness, of salvation  The proper response to God’s discipline is repentance

24. Lam 3:40-42 40 Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the L ORD. 41 Let us lift up our hearts and our hands to God in heaven, and say: 42 “We have sinned and rebelled and you have not forgiven.

25. Lam 1:1-2 How deserted lies the city, once so full of people! How like a widow is she, who once was great among the nations! She who was queen among the provinces has now become a slave. 2 Bitterly she weeps at night, tears are on her cheeks. Among all her lovers there is no one to comfort her. All her friends have betrayed her; they have become her enemies.

26. Lam 5:21-22 21 Restore us to yourself, L ORD, that we may return; renew our days as of old 22 unless you have utterly rejected us and are angry with us beyond measure.

27. Lam 3:22-23

28. Lam 3:1-2 “I am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of the L ORD ’s wrath. 2 He has driven me away and made me walk in darkness rather than light”

29. THE FIRST AUDIENCE OF LAMENTATIONS “When one considers the magnitude of the calamity that overtook her, one marvels that Israel was not sucked down into the vortex of history along with other little nations of western Asia” (John Bright)

30. And who is my neighbour? “Do we hear the songs of Lamentations rising from the debris of Jerusalem?” If we are honest we will have to say that it is hard to hear the pain of Lamentations. We might hear more clearly if we listen against the background of the humanitarian disasters of recent years” (D L Smith-Christopher)

31. THE FIRST AUDIENCE OF LAMENTATIONS  The Babylonians took those people whom they regarded as potentially the most useful  Life in exile apparently had some semblance of normality (after a time)  Distinct Judean settlements in Babylon Emp.  Able to retain a sense of religious identity and perhaps a limited sense of political identity

32. KEY THOUGHTS IN LAMENTATIONS  “Yahweh has abandoned us”  “Yahweh is my enemy”  “The nations are gloating over us”  “We are mocked”  “Our enemies have destroyed everything“

33. KEY THOUGHTS IN LAMENTATIONS  “We are unable to worship”  “Should women eat their children”?  “Our women have been violated”  “We are in the wrong; Yahweh is in the right”  “Your mercy is ever new”

34. THE AUDIENCE OF LAMENTATIONS “Hope can only be in a return to the Lord... God’s love and compassion. These are the things that endure, and which remain the hope of Christians, who have seen them revealed in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Even in Christ, however, the church needs to know in its heart that its peace lies in trust and obedience” (G. McConville)