Lamentations 1

Study Guide 63: Lamentations MOURNING IN A STRANGE LAND Overview Times of discipline are never enjoyed — by children or by God’ s people. The Book of Lamentations, written during the years Judah spent in exile in Babylon, shares the inmost feelings of the Jews who had been torn from their land and separated from the now-destroyed temple because of their rebelliousness and many sins. This Old Testament book is composed of five somber poems. They were probably written within a few years of Jerusalem’ s destruction. Tradition says that Jeremiah himself found his way to Babylon from Egypt, and wrote these anonymous words. These poems were read aloud by the Jews in mid-July, on a date set to commemorate the fall of their Holy City, Jerusalem.

Outline I. Jerusalem in MourningLam_1:1-22 II. Jerusalem in RuinLam_2:1-22 III. Call for RenewalLam_3:1-66 IV. Restitution to ComeLam_4:1-22 V. A Cry for ReliefLam_5:1-22Each chapter of Lamentations has 22 verses or a multiple of 22 because each verse or group of three verses begins with a different letter of the 22-consonant Hebrew alphabet.

Commentary When Jeremiah finally made his way to Babylon, he found the Hebrew people in far better condition than most of us might imagine. There were no concentration camps. There was no slave labor, as there had been in Egypt. Instead, the exiles were settled in southern Mesopotamia near the river (canal) Chebar, southeast of Babylon. They enjoyed royal protection and a great amount of self-government. They married, kept in touch with Jerusalem (Jeremiah 29:1), met to worship and discuss, and kept the Sabbath. A.C. Schultz describes their lives in the Zondervan Pictorial Bible Encyclopedia (Vol. 2, p. 427). Some of the captives were used to supply labor for Nebuchadnezzar’ s building projects, at least in the beginning of the Exile. Some of them enjoyed special prerogatives. They could own their homes and land, and enjoyed the produce of their gardens (Jeremiah 29:5, Jeremiah 29:7; Ezekiel 8:1; Ezekiel 12:1-7). This would enable them to provide for some of their physical needs. Some of the captives apparently made an adequate living in other ways (Zechariah 6:9-11), and even entered business in the “ land of merchants,” as Babylon was known (Ezekiel 17:4, Ezekiel 17:12). The Hebrew banking house of Murashu appears in the inscriptions. The lists of captives receiving royal support includes along with the Hebrew names the skilled trades in which some of them worked. Jeremiah 29:5-7 indicates that they were so successful financially that they were able to send money to Jerusalem, and when the exiles were given permission by Cyrus to return home, they refused because according to Josephus, “ they were not willing to leave their possessions” (Antiquities XI.i.3). This materialism on the part of some of the exiles led to conformity to the customs of the Babylonians and cultural assimilation. The tendency to assimilate included the adoption of the Aramaic language and the acceptance of idolatry and participation in pagan ceremonies, even to sacrificing their sons on pagan altars (Ezekiel 14:3-5; Ezekiel 20:31). Yet the experience was for many of the exiles an increasingly bitter one. After the destruction of Jerusalem and its temple, when all hope of return seemed gone, the people of Israel began to realize how much they had lost. The birthright they had so lightly traded away for pagan Baals and Asherahs suddenly seemed precious. Israel realized at last that if they were not God’ s people, they had no identity. If they no longer retained the promises, life had no meaning. This sense of loss is communicated in the brief Book of Lamentations, which tradition tells us was written by Jeremiah himself. 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 a queen among the provinces has now become a slave. Bitterly she weeps at night, tears are upon her cheeks. There is none to comfort her among all her lovers. All her friends have betrayed her; they have become her enemies. After affliction and harsh labor, Judah has gone into exile. She dwells among the nations; she finds no resting place. All who pursue her have overtaken her in the midst of her distress. . . . Her foes have become her masters; her enemies are at ease. The Lord has brought her grief because of her many sins. Her children have gone into exile, captive before the foe. All the splendor has departed from the daughter of Zion. Lamentations 1:1-3, Lamentations 1:5-6Looking at the change, the captives finally appreciate the lifestyle that God had planned for them under His own care. Lamenting now, the people sorrowed for what they had once scorned. The Law is no more, and her prophets no longer find visions from the Lord. The elders of the daughter of Zion sit on the ground in silence; they have sprinkled dust on their heads and put on sackcloth. The young women of Jerusalem have bowed their heads to the ground. My eyes fail from weeping, I am in torment within, my heart is poured out on the ground because my people are destroyed. Lamentations 2:9-11Suddenly the material things that had tempted Judah seemed meaningless to many. In setting their hearts on wealth, they had seemed for a time to gain the whole world. But they had lost themselves.

Impact of the Exile The tears shed by Judah in Babylon proved fruitful. The repentance of the people brought many benefits to God’ s people, and in significant ways shaped the nation up to, and even beyond, the time of Christ. A remnant. As Josephus pointed out, the materialists among the Jews found in Babylon a place to prosper financially. Those wealthy men and women settled down to enjoy their wealth, untroubled by questions about the ultimate meaning of their lives. When the time came for God’ s promise of a return to be fulfilled, only those who were moved by a great religious commitment were ready to go. These returned, eager to lay the foundation of a new temple, and to rebuild Jerusalem. They believed that only when God’ s people were again in the Promised Land could Messiah come. Thus the decades in Babylon, like the destruction of the wicked in Jerusalem some 70 years earlier, served to cleanse and purify the nation. That the purification process was accomplished is demonstrated by the fact that, in spite of tremendous pressures later, the Jewish people successfully resisted every effort to make them give up their Law and accept Hellenic (Greek) culture. The tendency to chase after the gods of the people around them was thoroughly purged by the Exile. The written Law. Prior to the Captivity, the Levites had been responsible for teaching the Law to the people. This function was shared with the priests, who were the Law’ s official interpreters. But the religious life of the people had centered around the festivals and the temple and its sacrifices. With the temple now destroyed, and no place where sacrifices could be offered, the emphasis of the exiles shifted to the study and interpretation of the Law and the Prophets. God’ s Word, which the people had refused to hear, was now studied intently and devoutly. An example of this revival of biblical studies is seen in Ezra, who “ devoted himself to the study and observance of the Law of the Lord, and to teaching its decrees and His laws in Israel” (Ezra 7:10). Later scribes would amass volumes of traditions supposedly containing an “ oral law” given to Moses on Sinai. That tradition would, by the time of Jesus, rob much of the written Law of its power and meaning. But during the Captivity and the years immediately following, the hearts of many in Israel were set to study, to do, and to teach God’ s Book. Clearly, all that had happened to the people of Israel and Judah had happened in accordance with what had been written. Clearly too, if one wished to live in harmony with God and to experience blessing rather than judgment, the Word of God must be taken to heart. This fervor for the Law, even though later twisted and misguided, was one of the positive outcomes of the Exile. The synagogue system. While there is no definite evidence of the existence of the synagogue as an institution prior to the Hellenistic Age, it seems most likely that its origins go back to the time of the Babylonian Captivity. With the temple gone, groups of faithful people met in homes in their Exile, and when Israel returned to its homeland, this new institution seems to have been retained. Many modern excavations indicate that before the Christian era the synagogue was the center of town life. Here the sacred Books were read and often interpreted by a rabbi. Here the townsmen gathered to work out legal-political problems, guided by the books of revelation. In fact, on the return from Babylon by Persian royal decree, the Law of Moses was made civilly binding on the Jews living west of the Euphrates. By Jesus’ day, each town was also responsible for seeing that the children learned to read the sacred Word, so that on becoming an adult, each male might take on responsibility for himself and community welfare. The synagogue system has continued to our own day. This institution, springing from the Exile, maintains a continuing impact on Judaism. In each of these ways, the Captivity proved of lasting benefit to God’ s people. It purged Israel of her tendency to idolatry. It refocused Israel’ s attention on the Word of God. It shaped institutions which in the future would hold the Jewish people together when a much greater and longer exile should come. God’ s punishments, like His blessings, are designed to bring good to His beloved people.

Demonstration of Principle It is helpful to look at Judah’ s experience in Babylon as a demonstration of a basic principle of God’ s dealing with His Old Testament people. The Deuteronomy warnings (chaps. 28-29) made it clear that responsiveness to God’ s Law was the condition for blessing of a given generation. The promises contained in the covenants would one day surely be fulfilled. But in the meantime, blessing for each generation was mediated through obedience to the Law. That same passage made it clear that a physical relationship to Abraham was not enough in itself to guarantee blessing. Each link in the line of descent must exercise an obedience-producing faith in God. And whatever might happen to a given generation, it would in no way change God’ s commitment to the purposes announced in His Word. In Jeremiah’ s time, the Jews were led into captivity. But God’ s promised purposes were unaffected. Much later, just after the time of Christ, a Roman invader would destroy Jerusalem and another temple. As a result, the Jewish people would again be scattered through the nations. There, “ among those nations you will find no repose, no resting place for the sole of your foot. There the Lord will give you an anxious mind, eyes weary with longing, and a despairing heart” (Deuteronomy 28:65). The words of Deuteronomy have echoed through our centuries, describing in mournful tone the experience of the Jewish people in the last 1,900 years. In Spain, in Poland, in Russia, in Nazi Germany — in whatever land — God’ s people have found no rest. Only in our day, with the return to Palestine and the establishment in 1948 of a Jewish state, have we heard the bones rattle and watched the flesh and sinews and skin take shape. The announcements of Jeremiah and his contemporary Ezekiel, repeating the promises of God on which Israel’ s identity was founded in a time of Exile, give renewed assurance. God will surely do for His people in our day all that His Word reveals is our destiny. It seems clear that the messages of the prophets who first warned Judah, and then shared great promises, help us as we study the Old Testament. God is faithful. Surely God will hold fast to the purposes He has announced. In some way, though the details are known only to Him, all that He has promised in the Old and New Testaments will undoubtedly come to pass.

Teaching Guide Prepare Think of a time when you were aware of being disciplined by God. How did you feel during this time?

Explore

1. As your group members arrive, have on the chalkboard: “ How does it feel to be disciplined by God?” Ask each person to jot down one or two feeling words in answer to that question. Then ask each to find phrases in Lamentations which reflect those feelings. When all have scanned the book and found several illustrations, come together to share the emotions and the verse selected from Lamentations.
2. Or, read Psalms 32:3-4, and ask group members to guess why the writer had those feelings. Then read Psalms 32:5, and point out that while being disciplined by God a believer experiences many difficult emotions. Ask: “ How would you describe feelings you have had when you felt God’ s discipline?” When feelings have been expressed, read selected verses from Lamentations so members can sense the depth of the Jews’ feelings of guilt and suffering.

Expand

1. In a minilecture cover the situation of Judah in Babylon, and outline the good things which resulted from this time of discipline. Discuss: “ How does the history of the Exile help us gain perspective on our own times of suffering or discipline?”
2. Review Deuteronomy 28:1-68 and its description of what would happen to the Jews if the nation sinned. How might God’ s faithfulness to His Word of warning bring comfort to people undergoing discipline?

Apply Share any good things that have resulted in your own life from times when God has disciplined you.