Overview of the Book of Lamentations

Overview of Lamentations as a Lament for Jerusalem

The overview of the week for this Sunday is the book of Lamentations. A lament is defined as a passionate expression of grief or sorrow. So when we're talking about Lamentations here, we're talking about loud cries of anguish by the prophet Jeremiah as he cries over the destruction of the city of Jerusalem.

So the main focus of Lamentations is on God's judgment in response to the nation of Judah turning away from God. The series or this series of poems teaches believers how to view and deal with suffering.

The book begins with these words, how lonely sits the city that was full of people. How like a of the provinces has become a slave. She weeps bitterly in the night. Her tears are on her cheeks. Among all her lovers she has none to comfort her.

All her friends have dealt treacherously with her. They have become her enemies. Judah has gone into captivity under affliction and hard servitude. She dwells among the nations and finds no rest. All her persecutors overtake her in dire straits.

Jerusalem’s Fall, Babylonian Exile, and Jesus’ Lament

And the city of Jerusalem fell to the Babylonians in the year 586 BC where the Jews then spent 70 years of captivity in Babylon. Hundreds of years later in Matthew 23, Jesus would weep over the city of Jerusalem before it was destroyed again by the Romans.

So in conclusion, the book of Lamentations, like the book of Jeremiah, it does have a very negative tone for obvious reasons. But there was still hope. There was still hope because while the majority turned away from God, while the city was destroyed, God always preserves for himself a remnant.

Jeremiah 3 and the Hope of God’s Mercies

As Jeremiah writes in chapter 3, he says through the Lord's mercies we are not consumed because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning. Great is thy faithfulness.