|
lamentations 1
Haystack bible commentary"Stacks and stacks of commentary...."
|
Lamentations
Ronald B Allen
"Lamentations is one of the most highly crafted of all biblical books, the Hebrew poetry developed in a complex acrostic pattern. It seems as though the very crafting of the poem was an outworking of his [Jeremiah's] grief, as a grieving mother might fashion a collage of pictures of her deceased child." --Ronald B. Allen, A Shelter in the Fury, p. 72
November 13, 2023
Zorek Richards
The book of Lamentations is a book I neglected for a long time. Kind of like Job. They just didnt make any sense to me. Back in about 2005 I started reading Job and suddenly it was making sense. In fact, the whole world made more sense by reading it. Lamentation was the same. Until a few months ago. With Job it's almost like two bookends of wisdom.
Pain has a way of awakening us to our need for God’s help. It shines a spotlight on our powerlessness to control everything. We are never more aware of our frailty than when hardship comes our way. This is one of the blessings of suffering if we allow lament to lead us. The various trials of life can become a platform to reaffirm our dependence upon the Lord. The requests of lament can become the place where we celebrate our need for God’s help.
I have battled being a "control freak" most of my life. It's a real killer, BTW, for true and honest relationships. I had to learn to reach out to God as opposed to reaching out to myself for power to get through many things. It is much much better to be on the non-controlling side and learning how to complain (i.e. lament) and overcome weaknesses. Peace Through Strength? Yes...but not the nuclear military buildup kind....Peace through His strength.
Pain has a way of awakening us to our need for God’s help. It shines a spotlight on our powerlessness to control everything. We are never more aware of our frailty than when hardship comes our way. This is one of the blessings of suffering if we allow lament to lead us. The various trials of life can become a platform to reaffirm our dependence upon the Lord. The requests of lament can become the place where we celebrate our need for God’s help.
I have battled being a "control freak" most of my life. It's a real killer, BTW, for true and honest relationships. I had to learn to reach out to God as opposed to reaching out to myself for power to get through many things. It is much much better to be on the non-controlling side and learning how to complain (i.e. lament) and overcome weaknesses. Peace Through Strength? Yes...but not the nuclear military buildup kind....Peace through His strength.
"Protestant Christians, one regrets to say, have too often neglected the reading of these solemn poems. Yet in these days of personal, national, and international crises (and disaster) the message of this book is a challenge to repent of sins personal, national, and international, and to commit ourselves afresh to God's steadfast love. Though this love is ever present and outgoing, a holy and just God must surely judge unrepentant sinners." -Ross Price, "Lamentations," in The Wycliffe Bible Commentary
Robin A Parry
"Lamentations never asks, 'Why has this happened to us?' This is because the 'why' is already known—Israel has broken the covenant law. Rather, the anguished questions behind Lamentations are, 'Why punish so severely?' and 'How long until you save?'" -Robin A Parry; Lamentations. The Two Horizons Old Testament Commentary series. Grand Rapids and Cambridge, U.K.: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2010.
Charles H Dyer
"Several Hebrew abecedaries (alphabets scratched on pieces of broken pottery by Hebrew children learning to write) have been found by archeologists. Some of these alphabetical lists are in the normal order for the Hebrew letters but others are in the reverse pe-'ayin order. Evidently both arrangements of the alphabet were acceptable. Thus the writer of Lamentations was merely employing two forms of the Hebrew alphabet, both of which were used in his time." ---Charles H. Dyer, "Lamentations," in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: Old Testament, pp. 1210-11.
==lamentations 1:1:
|
How doth the city sit solitary, that was full of people! how is she become as a widow! she that was great among the nations, and princess among the provinces, how is she become tributary!
|
 Charles Swindoll
“While the author of Lamentations remains nameless within the book, strong evidence from both inside and outside the text points to the prophet Jeremiah as the author. Both Jewish and Christian tradition ascribe authorship to Jeremiah, and the Septuagint—the Greek translation of the Old Testament—even adds a note asserting Jeremiah as the writer of the book. In addition, when the early Christian church father Jerome translated the Bible into Latin, he added a note claiming Jeremiah as the author of Lamentations.
How lonely sits the city / That was full of people!” (Lamentations 1:1), so goes the beginning of Lamentations. The city in question was none other than Jerusalem. Jeremiah walked through the streets and alleys of the Holy City and saw nothing but pain, suffering, and destruction in the wake of the Babylonian invasion of 586 BC. It also makes sense to date the book as close to the invasion as possible, meaning late 586 BC or early 585 BC, due to the raw emotion Jeremiah expresses throughout its pages. --Chuck Swindoll |