“Don’t Go There”

              With God there is always hope, mercy and compassion.

Who Wrote This Book?    Prophet Jeremiah, it is said that Jeremiah retired to a cavern outside the Damascus gate, where he wrote this book.  It was probably composed after 586 BC.

Written To:  People of Jerusalem

Why It Was Written.   The Book of Lamentations was written with this purpose in mind, to primarily warn us.  Lamentations is about Mourning Israel’s sins because Judah ignored God’s warnings.

Over 70 times in Jeremiah he used the word “disaster”. A disaster is coming. (See Jer. 11:11-13, 17; Jer. 16:10-14; and Jer. 26:1-6 noting the word ‘disaster’).

The book of Lamentations is composed of 5 well-crafted poems of grief from 5 different perspectives.  Each chapter is an individual poem that stands on its own. Each poem speaks from a different angle. Ch. 1 speaks from the city of Jerusalem’s perspective. Ch. 2 speaks about God’s anger. Ch. 3 speaks from Jeremiah’s personal observations on how he sees this disaster from God’s perspective. Ch. 4 speaks from the perspective of what Israel had and lost. Ch. 5 is a prayer for God to rescue and remember His promises.

Secondly, Lamentations was written to describe Israel’s suffering from ‘A to Z’ [aleph to taw] as a way of saying it was complete. Everything was destroyed or as a way of thorough cleansing. They were opening their hearts for a thorough cleansing from A to Z. So Lamentations was meant to be very therapeutic for the soul. God had thoroughly destroyed the city because of our sins so we must thoroughly clean ourselves from our sins to get right with God.

Key Verses:

Lamentations 1:20 –

 “See, LORD, how distressed I am!
   I am in torment within,
and in my heart I am disturbed,
   for I have been most rebellious.
Outside, the sword bereaves;
   inside, there is only death.

Lamentations 2:17 - 

The LORD has done what he planned;
   he has fulfilled his word,
   which he decreed long ago.
He has overthrown you without pity,
   he has let the enemy gloat over you,
   he has exalted the horn^[e] of your foes.

Lamentations 3:40: 

Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the LORD.

Lamentations 3:55 –

 I called on your name, LORD,
   from the depths of the pit.
⁵⁶ You heard my plea: “Do not close your ears
   to my cry for relief.”
⁵⁷ You came near when I called you,
   and you said, “Do not fear.”