29 August

Bible In 365 Days                                    

Lamentations 4-5

Lamentations 4

The fourth poem is for the most part a dirge of desolation, which nevertheless ends in a song of hope. Jeremiah first described the disaster in Zion, declaring that it all arose as the result of the sin of the people, which was greater than that of Sodom. He then described the degradation of the people. From the perfection of health her nobles have degenerated into men on whom the stamp of an unutterable disease is clearly set.

All this has resulted from the sins of the prophets and the iniquities of the priests. Those who have guided men in the purity of their lives were blind and polluted to such an extent that the people held them in contempt, cried after them, "Unclean," and besought them to depart. The prophet then proceeded to deal with the folly of the men who had sought help from the nations, describing the useless looking of the eyes for help, and then the remorselessness of the enemies who hunted and pursued them to death. He ended with a satirical address to Edom, calling upon her to rejoice, but declaring that the cup should pass to her also, and a final word of hope for Zion in that the punishment of her iniquity was accomplished.

Lamentations 5

The final poem is an appeal out of sorrow to Jehovah. Speaking on behalf of the whole nation, the prophet called on Jehovah to remember. He described the actual desolation, telling of the affliction of all classes of the people-the women, the maidens, the princes, the elders, the young men, the children, and of the consequently prevalent sorrow, recognizing that all this was the result of sin.

Then, in a last brief and yet forceful word, he prayed Jehovah to turn the people unto Himself. This he introduced by a declaration of his confidence in the perpetual enthronement of Jehovah. It was a cry which recognized the last helplessness of man, namely, his inability even to repent. "Turn Thou us unto Thee, O Lord, and we shall be turned."

The final word of the Lamentations was a wail out of the then existing distress. "But Thou hast utterly rejected us; Thou art very wroth against us."