Day 253: Lamentations of Jeremiah
Jeremiah 45:1-5 This personal prophecy for Baruch promised that he would be spared the imminent chastisements as a reward for his loyalty.
Ch 46:1-28 The last major section of Jeremiah consists of prophecies against several nations. Jeremiah warned Judah to refrain from forming alliances with neighboring nations against Babylon rather than counting strictly on divine assistance. Furthermore, the prophet stated clearly that a failure in reliance on God would lead to Judah’s destruction. As always, the people were reminded that repentance and conversion would prevent their imminent defeat. The predicament of Judah was irreversible and, therefore, their only option was to surrender to the Babylonians and accept their punishment on account of their sins, which punishment was meant to encourage conversion and obtain purification. These prophecies argue further against an alliance with Egypt given their military weakness demonstrated by two major defeats at the hands of the Babylonians.
The Lamentations of Jeremiah
Author and Date:
Jeremiah is traditionally considered the author of Lamentations, and the five poems of the book were sometimes attached to the Book of Jeremiah as a kind of appendix as late as the sixteenth century AD.
The sacred writer who composed this work likely did so soon after the destruction of a city or temple even among pagan cultures of the day.
The book mourns the fall of Jerusalem but expresses a measure of hope for the people of Judah that God will bring about good things out of the suffering of the people.
Audience:
Lamentations is a set of laments-poetic literature commonly composed after the destruction of a city or temple even among pagan cultures of the day.
The book mourns the fall of Jerusalem but expresses a measure of hope for the people of Judah that God will bring about good things out of the suffering of the people.
Main Themes:
The setting of Lamentations is one of utter desolation in the face of extreme tragedy.
Israel is lost, Jerusalem is in ruins, the Temple is desecrated and destroyed, and most of the citizens of Judah are taken away into exile.
Everything that symbolized God’s presence and blessing upon the people of Judah had been taken away.
The grief-stricken Sacred Author lamented the situation as well as the sins of the people that led to the disaster.
Amid the suffering the people turned to faith and trust in God.
Thus, they were purged through their pain and brought to repentance.
God may seem absent, but he is indeed present even in the suffering of his people.
By acknowledging his Providence, his people could begin the process of conversion and begin to rebuild their relationship with him.
Because of the strong theme of the redemptive power of suffering, Lamentations is often read in meditations on the Passion and Death of Christ, particularly during Holy Week in the Office of Readings of the Liturgy of the Hours.
Its message also relates to the need for detachment from worldly goods to become aware acutely of our complete reliance upon God and to allow nothing in the way of temporal matters or sin to obscure our relationship with him.
(*The Didache Bible RSV-CE Ignatius Edition, 2006)
Lamentations 1-5 This book is comprised of five poems that mourn the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians in 587 BC. It is closely associated with The Book of Jeremiah, which ends with a mention of the siege. It often is attributed to Jeremiah himself and may once have been included in the book bearing his name. The first four chapters are acrostic poems with the first letter of each verse corresponding to the Hebrew alphabet. The first, second, and fourth chapters have twenty-two verses, i.e., the number of letters in the Hebrew alphabet, while Chapter 3 has sixty six verses in which groups of three successive verses follow each letter. In spite of the somber tone, The Book of Lamentations is rooted in the unshakable hope and trust that God would ultimately restore Israel to its former glory.
Ch 1:1-11 The first chapter has two distinct sections of eleven verses each. The first section surveys the sad condition of Jerusalem. In biblical times, a widow was reliant upon her children for support, and, if she was childless, she would have to count on the charity of others. During the Babylonian Exile, Jerusalem was likened to a widow who had been abandoned totally.
Ch 1:12-22 The aggrieved widow mourned without relief and, at the same time, maintained her hope in God; she realized that this pain and sorrow was the penalty incurred by sin. These verses have been read in liturgical celebrations during Holy Week since the ninth century because they express so poignantly the grief befitting the Passion of Christ.
Ch 1:12 This verse, or an adaptation of it, is often inscribed on the Crucifix used in the Stations of the Cross devotions and processions.
Proverbs 17:23 Bribery is not the same as a legitimate incentive to perform a particular action well; rather, the briber seeks influence through dishonest methods. Moral corruption in business, politics, or in the workplace invariably leads to a society afflicted by injustice and poverty.
(*The Didache Bible RSV-CE Ignatius Edition, 2006)
So Jeremiah Ch 45 is a little word of comfort to Baruch who is discouraged and disheartened
It is a flashback
Remember, the Book of Jeremiah is NOT CHRONOLOGICAL
So this is going back to BEFORE the destruction of Jerusalem and BEFORE Baruch and Jeremiah were carted off to Egypt
Jeremiah Ch 46 is God’s words of CONDEMNATION AND JUDGMENT against the nations surrounding Judah
Lamentations Ch 1 takes place when the Babylonians besieged the city of Jerusalem and it was HORRIBLE
There was so much death and destruction and hunger
There was cannibalism (🤮🤮🤮)
This was the lamentations of Jeremiah as he was walking around the city in the middle of the siege
It’s HEARTBREAKING AND LIFEBREAKING for the Jewish people in Jerusalem
AND HEEEEERE WEEEEEE GO!.....😉
Let’s continue with our theme of looking at the Proverbs
There are so many good things
We can honor our parents
Proverbs 17:25, “A foolish son is a grief to his father and bitterness to her who bore him.”
Our father and mother are honored when we strive to be wise
And that’s a good thing
Proverbs 17:28, “Even a fool who keeps silent is considered wise; when he closes his lips, he is deemed intelligent.”
There is that secular proverb that says, “Better to stay silent and be considered a fool than to speak and remove all doubt.”
We are so often tempted to SPEAK and say, “Here’s my opinion on this, that, and the other thing.”
(says the man who is giving a daily podcast and offering his opinion on this, that, or the other thing.)
It would be a lot easier to not say anything
IN FACT…
When we get to the Letter of James Ch 3 in the New Testament, one of the things that James says is, “Not many of you should aspire to be teachers because teachers will be liable to a greater judgment.”
Anyone who takes upon themselves of that role of teaching is putting themselves in a dangerous spot
Because there is a HIGHER STANDARD FOR THOSE WHO ARE LEADING
WHICH IS GOOD!!
WE NEED TO TAKE ALL THIS SERIOUSLY!!
As we take the NEXT STEP seriously in The Book of Jeremiah
Baruch is in Ch 45
Remember, Jeremiah is not chronological
So in the STORY we have the destruction of Jerusalem, Jeremiah and Baruch are uprooted and brought to Egypt
BUT…
Now we have a FLASHBACK to when Jehoiakim is still the King of Judah
In the midst of this, Baruch is REALLY TROUBLED
Baruch is SUFFERING A LOT and saying, “Woe is me!”
We forget that Jeremiah gets thrown into the cistern and sinks into the mire
We forget that Jeremiah gets arrested and gets treated horribly
AND YET…
Here is Baruch who is also getting a lot of this horrible treatment
We don’t get as much focus on Baruch because of the fact that he is the SCRIBE to Jeremiah the Prophet
This is really interesting
Jeremiah 45:2, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, to YOU, O Baruch…”
THIS IS SO GOOD!!
Why?
Because Baruch has been writing down the words of the prophet Jeremiah for OTHER PEOPLE
And here is the Word of God coming through the prophet Jeremiah for HIM PERSONALLY
WHAT A GIFT it is to be able to understand Scripture IN CONTEXT
WRITTEN FOR A PEOPLE IN A CERTAIN PLACE AND A CERTAIN TIME
BUT ALSO FOR US!
Baruch has not only heard the words to the people of CALL TO REPENTANCE
And BRACE YOURSELF FOR THE COMING DESTRUCTION
BUT ALSO…
“Baruch, not just them. YOU. This isn’t just for others. This is also for YOU.”
WE NEED TO TAKE THIS PERSONALLY
Jeremiah 45:4-5, “Behold, what I have built I am breaking down, and what I have planted I am plucking up-that is, the whole land. And do you seek great things for yourself? Seek them not; for behold, I am bringing evil upon all flesh…”
THIS IS WHAT IS COMING
EVEN MORE DESTRUCTION
“...but I will give you your life as a prize of war in all places to which you may go.”
JUST THIS WORD OF CONSOLATION
Again, it’s not a word of saying, “Baruch, you know the time of suffering is over.”
“Baruch, the time of distress, the time of trial, the time of pain, is done for you. Don’t worry about it. I’m on your side”
God is saying, “No, that time is still coming. That judgment still has to come. This world in which we live is still fallen. But you, Baruch, I want to let you know that I am going to continue to BLESS YOU.”
THAT IS SUCH A GOOD WORD FOR US
Because here we are living in the middle of this BROKEN WORLD
DISASTER WILL STILL COME UPON US
EVERY. ONE. OF. US.
Not just some suffering
DISASTER WILL STILL COME UPON US
THE PEOPLE THAT WE LOVE THE MOST WILL STILL DIE
WE WILL STILL DIE
THE PEOPLE THAT WE LOVE THE MOST WILL GET SICK
WE WILL GET SICK
AND YET…
In the midst of that disaster, WE HAVE THE LORD!!
God says, “I will still bless you.”
God says, “I am still in your midst.”
God says, “I am still present to you.”
We’ve heard this Book of Jeremiah where he is speaking to the nation of Israel multiple times basically saying, “You have got to repent, or King Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, God is going to use him to BRING YOU TO REPENTANCE. He is going to use him to BRING YOU TO YOUR KNEES because you have NOT LISTENED TO THE LORD.”
That is basically ALL OF JEREMIAH so far
Now here is Jeremiah in Chs 46-51 speaking to the NATIONS
Jeremiah speaks to Egypt and says, “Ok, God is also going to use Nebuchadnezzar to bring judgment upon you, O Egypt, because you have not given your heart to the Lord. You have also been in rebellion against God. Even if you are not in covenant.”
Now Egypt is NOT a covenant people
BUT…
At the same time, they have lived WICKEDLY
So here is God who says, “I’m going to use Nebuchadnezzar to bring my judgment upon YOU AS WELL.”
So that’s going to happen over the next several chapters
We have the Philistines tomorrow and Moab later
Now, we also have the beginning of the Book of the Lamentations of Jeremiah
This is Jeremiah as he walks through the streets of Jerusalem and sees INCREDIBLE SUFFERING
It is going to get worse and worse as we get deeper and deeper into this book
BUT…
There are also these POWERFUL WORDS
Lamentations 1:12, “Is it nothing to you, all who pass by? Look and see if there is any sorrow like my sorrow which was brought upon me, which the Lord inflicted on the day of his fierce anger.”
Lamentations 1:11, “All her people groan as they search for bread; they trade their treasures for food to revive their strength. Look, O Lord, and behold, for I am despised.”
This is a time of GREAT SUFFERING
The way that Jeremiah wrote this is VERY UNIQUE
He basically follows the Hebrew alphabet
Every verse starts in order of the Hebrew alphabet (So it is an ACROSTIC POEM!! Remember when we had to write those back in our school days? Maybe some of you write acrostic poems today! 🤓)
We get the word ALPHABET from the first two letters of the Hebrew alphabet…”Aleph” and “Bet”
So why would Jeremiah confine himself to this ACROSTIC way of writing?
Was it just for the challenge of starting every verse in the order of the alphabet?
Someone explained it like this, “Jeremiah’s grief over seeing the suffering of his people is in some ways constrained by him constraining himself to this alphabetic acrostic. If he just dumped out his emotions onto the page and that was all it was, then it would be OVERWHELMING. It would just be this mess on the page.”
If you would try to capture the worst season of your life on paper, it might just be this spew of words that would make no sense
How do you capture that kind of grief and suffering?
The theory is that maybe one of the reasons Jeremiah chose this alphabetic acrostic is to maybe give himself some constraints
Or else he would just bleed all over the page with his GRIEF AND AGONY
So we have this image of a weeping widow who is overcome with misery in Lamentations Ch 1
In the next couple of chapters is going to connect those miseries with the sins of the people of God in Judah
As we move forward, we will recognize that not only, just like Baruch, were these words written for a CERTAIN PEOPLE IN A CERTAIN TIME
THEY WERE ALSO WRITTEN FOR US
Especially in our GRIEF AND MISERY
Remember when we began this, the words of Job as he was CRYING OUT TO THE LORD
Job said, “I just wish...it would have been better if I never had been born.”
And here is that image of the city of Jerusalem under siege who is saying, “Look upon my suffering. Is there any suffering like my suffering? Is there any grief like my grief? Is there any heartbreak like the heartbreak I am going through?”
The visuals are going to get VERY VERY GRAPHIC of what the people of God were living through during that siege
So we wonder, “Is that possible?”
YES IT IS POSSIBLE!!
There is a grief THAT YOU KNOW
There is suffering THAT YOU KNOW
These Lamentations don’t merely capture and express the suffering of the people during the siege
They also are meant to SPEAK TO YOUR SUFFERING
They are meant to SPEAK TO THE REALITY THAT YOU HAVE PAIN
Here is a way to SPEAK OF THAT PAIN AND TO MAKE IT A PRAYER!!
Too often we let our pain simply become JUST PAIN
Too often we let our pain be
But here is Jeremiah who shows us that we can ALLOW OUR PAIN TO BECOME A PRAYER
When we don’t JUST EXPERIENCE IT
BUT…
We also RELATE IT TO THE LORD (OFFER IT UP TO THE CROSS!!)
EVERY. ONE. OF. US.
Our lives are MARKED WITH PAIN
BUT…
Our lives are NOT ALWAYS MARKED WITH PRAYER (🤯🤯🤯)
So the more pain we have, the more prayer we have to bring to the Lord
BUT THAT REQUIRES TRUST AND THAT IS NOT THE EASIEST THING IN THE WORLD
SO WE NEED EACH OTHER
KEEP LIFTING EACH OTHER UP ON THESE HARD DAYS AND DIFFICULT SEASONS
“Ok I'm in a difficult season and it is going to end in destruction.”
We realize that Jerusalem, under siege, is not just a difficult season that is going to end in victory
Right now, this is a difficult season that is going to end in the destruction of the city
WE KNOW THIS IS COMING BECAUSE WE HAVE READ THE STORY A COUPLE OF TIMES NOW
AND YET…
God says, “But that is not going to be the end.”
For your life as well, IT WILL NOT BE THE END!!
PRAY FOR FR. MIKE
PRAY FOR EACH OTHER
Prayer by Fr. Mike: “Father in Heaven we give you praise. Thank you so much for your Word. Thank you for introducing us to the cries, the experience of Baruch, who was this kind of silent partner with Jeremiah, who was the scribe; Jeremiah, thank you for introducing us to his suffering. Thank you for introducing us to Lamentations, this heartbreak of the people of Jerusalem, the heartbreak of Jeremiah as he walked through the streets and saw such great suffering. And thank you for the wisdom that you offer us in Proverbs. Help us to not just hear the wisdom, but to live wisdom with our whole heart, mind, soul, and strength. Help us to love you with all of our heart, mind, soul, and strength. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.”