A People's Honest Confession - Brad Anderson
Lamentations is a book that explains the experience of a suffering people trying to understand their present circumstances both historically and religiously. Lamentations not only seeks to validly and faithfully express the grief and despondency of the exile, but attempts to understand and make sense of what happened.
Israel's exilic future is seen in Moses's prophetic song (Deut. 32). This text was a reminder to the people of Israel: the pain they were experiencing was due to their violation of the terms and conditions of the Sinai covenant (Deut 31: 19-21).What Moses foreshadows, Judah experiences.
If Judah were to remain faithful to God, she would experience blessing. The beginning of Deuteronomy 28 explains that God's people would be a great nation set high above all others (Gen 12:2; Deut. 28:1) and were to be made into great nations (Gen 17:6). By Israel, all the earth was to be blessed (Gen 28:14; Deut. 28:2-4, 11). Israel was to be served by other nations and those nations were to bow down to her (Gen 27:29, Deut. 28:7). Their descendants were to be as numerous as the dust of the earth (Gen. 13:16, Deut. 28:11), a special people (Deut. 7:6) set apart by and for God (Deut. 26:19). They were to be a special treasure if they were to keep his covenant (Ex. 19:5, Deut. 28:12). Blessings would come if his people were to call unto him (Deut. 28:2).
We can see, in light of Deuteronomy 28, that covenant curses are now being experienced in Lamentations due to Judah's unfaithfulness. She dwells among the nations but she has found no rest (Lam. 1:3 & 5:5; Deut 28:65). Judah's adversaries rule over her (Lam. 1:5a; Deut 28:44), and the young are taken as captives (1:5c & 18c; Deut. 28:32, 41). Israel is taunted by other nations (Lam. 2:15; Deut. 28:37). Children are used for food (Lam. 2:20, 4:10; Deut. 28: 53-57), and the young and old are not respected (Lam. 2:21; Deut. 28:50) along with their elders (Lam 5:12; Deut. 28:50). Their homes are given to strangers (Lam. 5:2b; Deut. 28:30). There is great famine (Lam. 5:10; Deut. 28:24), and their bodies are taken by beasts (Lam. 5:18; Deut. 28:26). Depression and despair have taken them over (Lam. 3:17-20; Deut. 28: 69). The physical signs of the covenant, which Judah heavily relied upon, are ruined. These curses display the very opposite of what humanity was intended to experience from the beginning. There is no communication with God, no fruit of the ground, animals are eating the dead, elders are disrespected, and they have no home or land of their own. God's people are truly suffering.
Lamentations, along with expressing grief, is an account of Judah confessing her sins. The Hebrew people do not try to explain away or escape the truth that they are the cause of this great calamity. This is another sign that Israel's rebellion is comprehensive on an individual level as well as a communal level. Statements of guilt and sin are understood in three perspectives: the poet's description of the city (1:5d, 1:8a, 4:6, 4:13), as direct indictments to the city (2:4, 4:22), and confession by the city and people (1:14, 18, 22; 3:42; 5:7, 16).When this type of suffering is observed, it should lead to confession rather than complaint (3:40-47), and confession leads to repentance (Psalm 51).
Though it is expressed in the first person, the means of confession in the first poem is communal (1:18-19). Judahrealizes that what she is experiencing is the “blessing/curse” choice of long ago (note Deut. 30: 15-20)” and God has faithfully kept his promise of judgment.
The Lord has done what he purposed;
he has carried out his word, which he commanded long ago;
he has thrown down without pity;
has made the enemy rejoice over you
and exalted the might of your foes. (1:17)
The community expresses a call to repentance, admits its own apostasy (3:42-47), and concludes they have not been forgiven. They realize this experience as covenant unfaithfulness in the past guilt of their fathers (5:7) and that the crown has fall from their own head: “Woe to us, for we have sinned” (5:16). This sentiment is echoed in the book of Jeremiah (3:25), “Let us lie down in our shame, and let our dishonor cover us; for we have sinned against the Lord our God, we and our fathers, form our youth even to this day; and we have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God.” This provides an example of what God's people must do in order to regain a proper relationship with him and experience his promised covenant blessings.
God's people (past, present, and future) who face troubling and grievous times do not only suffer, they wait. Having realized and confessed her sin, Judah finds herself in a renewed position: trusting the character of God rather than depending on the physical symbols of the covenant. What does Judah expect for her future?
Yet this I call to mind
and therefore I have hope.
Because of the Lord's great
love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail. (3:21,22)
As the acrostic nature of each poem in Lamentations emphasizes experienced sorrow from “A to Z”, the central poem focuses on faith and hope, calling God's people to remember the love of Yahweh and his sovereign goodness (3: 55, 58). Where does the author find this hope?
Any comfort and hope is found in God's faithfulness (3:23), goodness (3:25) and love (3:32). For “it is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord” (3:26). This collection of poems tells God's people that their faith in him should not rest in the visible and tangible signs that they can take pride in; it is on God's faithfulness and his word that they are to rest. Clearly it has been shown that God's people find themselves to blame for the present trouble-- for God is doing what he promised to do (1:17) and they are bearing the burden of their own sin (3:27).
In the progress of redemption, Lamentations finds itself at that point of confession; between fall and redemption. Judah’s restoration is in progress as God’s people are experiencing his discipline, realizing the implications of sin, and the necessity to remain covenantally faithful to God. The peril of exile made Judah examine her true position. The people thought they were worthy of God's glory, but in Lamentations, we see they came to realize that the covenantally faithful God is solely worthy of receiving glory. The experience of Lamentations is Judah realizing what it means for God to be faithful to himself and allhis promises.
It would be many years later where God’s people would see what it means for God to be faithful to himself and all his promises yet again. This time, however, he would send his Son to suffer the Father’s wrath, to be exiled, experience separation from him, and die the death they deserved—Jesus would bear the burden of sin once for all. He would express the grief of Lamentations from the cross, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” He would raise his voice again for their redemption “Father, forgive them…” and the redeemed can only echo the words of Jeremiah in the third poem of Lamentations:“because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed… it is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.”
Soli Deo Gloria!