WHEN WALLS FALL

Lamentations

“LAMENT”

“Crisis language”

​

A place for protest, confusion

A way to process emotion

An opportunity to articulate pain in hopes of finding rescue

Psalm 13

How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever?

How long will you hide your face from me?

² How long must I take counsel in my soul

and have sorrow in my heart all the day?

How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?

Psalm 22

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning?

² O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer, and by night, but I find no rest.

BACKGROUND OF LAMENTATIONS

2 Kings 24-25; 2 Chron 36; Jer 39-40

​

• Babylonians laid siege to Jerusalem in 586 B.C. and ransacked it. Led inhabitants off in captivity
• killed Zedekiah’s sons, put out his eyes
• Turned the walls of the city to rubble. Stole temple treasures, burned the Lord’s temple to the ground
• No food, no houses stood, only a remnant of the poor left (Jeremiah, included), to work the depleted fields, under captivity to the Babylonians

​

AUTHOR & STRUCTURE

​

• Most scholars ascribe Jeremiah, though some ancient manuscripts leave it anonymous.
• Written in a series of 5 poems, acrostic style in first 4 chapters, sentences beginning with each letter of Hebrew alphabet (22 letters/verses) – scholars believe to emphasize their full sorrow from “A to Z.” Chapter 3 does this three-fold, with 66 verses
• Called ”Lamentations” to describe misery and shock
• God’s silence is withheld by inspiration, “intentional restraint”

HEBREW TITLE

​

Eikhah (אֵיכָה)

​

cry of shock, despair, or grief,

usually translated as

"How!" or "Alas!"

LAMENTATIONS 1

• 5 times – ”no one to comfort” (v. 2,9,16,17,21)
• 5 times – “groaning” priests, the city, all her people, Lady Zion (v. 4,8,11,21,22)
• 17 times – “all” to show totality of the tragedy. lovers, friends, gateways, splendor, her people, warriors, sins

​

• 3 times – cries out to God

woman sitting in the dust, stretching out her hands, disgraced

Lamentations 1:1

How lonely sits the city

that was full of people!

How like a widow has she become,

She who was great among the nations!

She who was a princess among the

provinces has become a slave.

Jeremiah is weeping

because he sees the stark contrast between

the blessing of

God’s favor and

the pain of losing it.

Lamentations 1:2

She weeps bitterly in the night,

with tears 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.

Despite Jeremiah’s 40 years of warning, Judah had given her heart to other gods, but those gods and their nations could not save her from the discipline of God’s hand.

Lamentations 1:3

Judah has gone into exile

because of affliction

and hard servitude;

she dwells now among the nations,

but finds no resting place;

her pursuers have all overtaken her

in the midst of her distress.

The people whom God had brought out of captivity into the land are now thrown out of the land and

back into captivity.

Deuteronomy 28:62-63

Though you become as numerous as the stars in the sky, few of you will be left because you would not listen to the Lord your God.

​

⁶³ “Just as the Lord has found great pleasure in causing you to prosper and multiply, the Lord will find pleasure in destroying you. You will be torn from the land you are about to enter and occupy.

Lamentations 1:4

The roads to Zion mourn,

for none come to the festival;

all her gates are desolate;

her priests groan;

her virgins have been afflicted,

and she herself suffers bitterly.

In the first four verses we discover that Judah lost:

​

HER STATUS

HER ALLIANCES

HER DWELLING

HER RITUALS

​

THE WALL OF SECURITY

HAD FALLEN

​

WHY?

​

“because the Lord has afflicted her for the multitude of her transgressions . . .” v. 5

NOT BABYLON?

​

The Lord inflicted sorrow in His anger v.12

He sent fire, spread a net v. 13

He fastened the yoke, strength failed v. 14

He rejected, assembled my enemy v. 15

He trod us like a winepress v.15

STATUS

​

city full of people v.1

a princess among provinces v.1

Zion in her majesty v.6

precious treasures of old v.7,10

​

Heritage alone does not equate a healthy relationship with God.

ALLIANCES

​

betrayal of lovers and friends v. 2

enslaved, finds no resting place v.3

none to help her v. 2,9,16,17, 21

rejoiced, mocked her downfall v.7, 21

passers by looking at the misery v.12

Idolatry and a

love for what the world offers is a path to betrayal and emptiness

DWELLING

​

Taken into exile, servitude v.3

roads/gates are closed v. 4

no food, no pasture v.6, 20

led by a yoke on the neck v.14

protectors have been taken. v.15

houses like death v. 20

Thinking walls and structures are all we need for security is spiritually short-sighted

RITUALS

​

none come to the festivals v. 4

priceless temple emblems taken v.10

temple ruined, defiled by heathens v.10

Priests and elders perished v.19

​

Resting in our rituals creates a heartless false sense of connection

Jeremiah speaks on behalf of Judah

“The Lord is in the right, for I have rebelled against his word . . .” (v.18)

​

“Look, O Lord, for I am in distress;

my stomach churns; my heart is wrung within me, because I have been very rebellious.” (v.20)

Jeremiah speaks on behalf of Judah

“Let all their evildoing come before you,

and deal with them as you have dealt with me because of all my transgressions;

for my groans are many,

and my heart is faint.” (v.22)

SILENCE

“LAMENT”

A place for protest, confusion

A way to process emotion

An opportunity to articulate pain in hopes of finding rescue

A time for silent contemplation

WHERE DO YOU PLACE

YOUR SECURITY?

​

​

WHEN WALLS FALL

Lamentations