Read Lamentations Five We’ve come to the final day of our study in the book of Lamentations. This book, if I’m honest, has been a hard study for me. It’s been dreary and difficult. As I have shared the study with others, I’m quick to remind them: “It’s not an upper!” But, as we have
Read Lamentations Five God is still on the throne. He is still Yahweh. Even in the worst of circumstances, God does not cease to be exactly who He is: יְהֹוִה. And this reality that the nation of Israel confesses in verse 19, reorients their entire world. We see this reflected in two little phrases
Read Lamentations Five There’s something important that is happening in chapter five that we must address. To do so, we need to zoom out of our verse-by-verse study for just a moment and take note of the overall tone of the poem. When you read Lamentations five, does anything seem different in tone from
Read Lamentations Five Israel has communally confessed that she has sinned, and that she is bearing the results of her sin. And, as she reflects on her current situation, we can’t help but notice some familiar language for Israel. As the nation is led off into exile, we see familiar landmarks for this nation
Read Lamentations Five For our final week of study we are embarking on the final chapter in the book of Lamentations. This final chapter isn’t going to offer us the tidy ending we may have hoped it would. Remembering that the book of Lamentations is an acrostic poem, we are going to see today a
Read Lamentations Four Israel has entrusted Edom to God. And now, with the “cup” of God’s judgment fully in view, the nation considers her own sin: The punishment of your iniquity, O daughter of Zion, is accomplished; he will keep you in exile no longer; but your iniquity, O daughter of Edom, he will punish;
Read Lamentations Four The people of Israel have voiced towards God a hint at repentance. They have acknowledged the nations they trusted, rather than God. They have confessed that they preferred to live in the shadow of their kings rather than dwelling under the shadow of the Almighty. Their corporate voice gives words to something
Read Lamentations Four When Israel fell to Babylon, historians lapped it up. It was a historic event, a well-documented victory for Babylon. It is tempting for us to read the Old and New Testaments with a sense that they are all illustrative in their meaning. We (read: I) can get into the habit of studying
Read Lamentations Four Chapter four opens with the poetic prophet’s lament for his people’s situation. He is lamenting that their city has been destroyed, their nation defeated, and now their people carried off into exile. And he recognizes this all as the result of their communal sin – their corporate rebellion against God. But, in