Overview

The book of Lamentations is a collection of poems reflecting Jerusalem’s siege and exile. The book follows in the Biblical tradition of lament, of taking all your grief, pain, frustration, confusion, and hurt before God and wrestling through them with him.

Tradition says that Lamentations was written by Jeremiah. He’s a likely candidate as someone who lived through the siege of Jerusalem and wrote poetry. Many of the themes in the two books line up. However, the book never claims it was written by Jeremiah and we have no evidence either way. Most scholars see the book’s author as anonymous. Similarly, we have no evidence for the dating of this book, though there’s little reason to think that it wasn’t written by someone who experienced the exile shortly after Jerusalem’s fall.

The structure of the book is very intentional, which almost seems at odds with the idea of someone wrestling with the chaos they are experiencing. The first four chapters are acrostics, with Lamentations 1-2 and Lamentations 4 having one verse dedicated to each letter of the Hebrew alphabet, while Lamentations 3 has three verses dedicated to each letter. These four chapters almost serve as an A-Z of wrestling with grief and suffering.

But by the time we get to Lamentations 5 this structure disappears as though the author’s pain and confusion have built to the point that they can no longer hold themselves together.

Lamentations 1 - The destruction of Jerusalem

Lamentations 2 - God judgment on Jerusalem

Lamentations 3 - One man suffers, struggling through to hope

Lamentations 4 - The lamentation of the people

Lamentations 5 - The call for mercy

This book, as with the rest of the lament tradition, gives voice to the deepest pain and suffering of God’s people. It acknowledges their pain and confusion. It highlights that this is not okay. This should not be happening. And it gives those who are suffering their dignity back as they wrestle through these difficult issues.

Lamentations 1-2

The first poem is focused on the city of Jerusalem, sometimes described as Zion, or daughter of Zion. In this poem, Jerusalem is depicted as a widow who has lost both her husband and her children. The poem opens on Jerusalem, who was once full of people but now sits lonely. Who was once like a princess among the nations, but is now like a widow and a slave.

She weeps for her pain, and all the friends and lovers she once turned to are now enemies to her. Where there were once festivals, there is now mourning. Her enemies prosper while her children are led into captivity. All the goodness in Jerusalem has gone; its people and its riches. They have all landed in the hands of her enemies and have been taken away.

The reason for all this is that "Jerusalem sinned grievously" (Lamentations 1:8). The mention of her skirts being unclean is drawing on this imagery of Jerusalem being a promiscuous wife, committing adultery against God with the foreign nations and their foreign gods. We've seen this imagery throughout many of the prophetic books.

Now, Jerusalem has had her enemies grab hold of her precious things and enter her temple and sanctuary against her will. Contrasted with Jerusalem's promiscuity in the previous verse, the unspoken imagery in this verse is one of rape. The groping with hands and entering without permission. This violent imagery is likely to cause uncomfortable feelings.

We have to remember; the person writing this has likely seen the literal slaughtering and rape of the people in Jerusalem. They are already hurting and grieving, and so their language and imagery will reflect the harsh reality they're already facing. God's a big God that isn't unaware of the brutal realities of this earth. When we come to him in prayer, we don't need to clean up or sanitise our prayers. We can bring him the full, ugly force of emotion that is going on inside of us.

The writer goes on to accept the realities of what has happened. God has caused metaphorical fire to descend on his people. He has trapped them with nets and bound them with yokes. He has rejected his people and crushed them. The writer grieves this situation, weeping and reaching out to comfort that doesn't come. This grief points them to recognise their sin; how they had rebelled against God and chased after different lovers.

This, I believe, is one of the most productive purposes of grieving the wickedness and brokenness we see in the world around us. As we allow ourselves to see it and experience it, rather than just ignoring or suppressing it, it naturally points us to the wickedness and brokenness in our own lives, so we can start by addressing it there. And so the writer ends with a plea to God to once again intervene. To remove Jerusalem's enemies and bring his people some relief.

The second poem is much more focused on God's wrath being poured out on Jerusalem. When the Bible talks about God's wrath, it is not talking about a spontaneous outburst of anger. Instead, it is more of a reference to God's justice. All of Israel made a commitment, a covenant with God. A covenant was a legal contract between two parties. The covenant was made all the way back when Moses lead the people, and can be summarised in God's promises to be their God, and the people’s promise to be his people.

But for hundreds of years, God's people broke the contract. They ignored his commands. They chased after and worshipped other gods. They oppressed and hurt one another. And so for years, God has tried to encourage and guide his people back to living rightly and to being his people. But they ignored him. So after many, many years of the people breaking this contract, God is now finally ready to let the people face the consequences of breaking that contract.

This is expressed through his wrath, where he will punish them and removed their wickedness, one way or another. So when you read through this second poem, keep that in mind. This isn't some angry God that is just pouring out his anger (though that is often the imagery that is used). This is a God that has tried to protect his people from the negative consequences of their actions for many years, and the people haven't changed, so he is now allowing them to experience the full effect of their actions.

Psalm 26

This psalm is attributed to king David, and some might describe it as a psalm of lament. The issue with that is the complaint or struggle that is brought to God isn’t the focus of this psalm. Instead, the main focus is the psalmist’s innocence. A similar psalm might be Psalm 5. 

It is likely that Psalm 26 was used as a liturgy, where an individual would declare their innocence before entering God’s presence. It is structured in a chiasm where the passage mirrors itself.

a) Psalm 26:1-3 - Test me Lord

b) Psalm 26:4-5 - I have avoided wickedness

c) Psalm 26:6-8 - I love being in your presence

b) Psalm 26:9-10 - Do not count me with the wicked

a) Psalm 26:11-12 - Redeem me Lord

The psalm opens with a request to be tested. The psalmist has walked with integrity and trusted in God, so he asks that God test both his heart and mind to prove his faithfulness.

He points out how he has kept away from those who do wickedness. He does not want anything to do with them. Instead, he pursues innocence and praised God for all he has done. The psalmist enjoys the presence of God and wants to live in a way that makes him acceptable before God.

He then closes, asking God not to remove that access from him. Don’t count him along with the wicked people who do evil things. Instead, he asks God to continue to redeem so that he may remain in God’s presence. 

As many of the psalms before it, Psalm 26 is an important reminder of the magnitude of God’s presence. As an individual would recite these words before entering God’s presence, they would be a simple litmus test. If at any point these words felt hollow, then something was wrong.

If I have allowed myself to take part in wickedness, or if I no longer hold God’s greatness with reverence, then I need to repent and change.