Edward Hatch, Pastor. Palermo Christian Church. September 11, Lamentations. Introduction

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1 Lamentations Edward Hatch, Pastor Palermo Christian Church September 11, 2016 Introduction Lamentations is a study in grief. To lament is to express our grief passionately and with emotion. Grief describes our reaction to loss. We might have lost a mother or father, a brother or sister, a husband or wife, a child or a very dear friend. Our grief might be over the loss of a job, a broken marriage, or children who no longer speak to us. Whatever the cause, grief hurts deep. If you have deep grief, I would encourage you to come to Celebrate Recovery on Tuesday nights and join supportive people who will give you the freedom to grieve. The grief that Jeremiah writes about is a national grief. We experienced this kind of grief at Pearl Harbor and also on 9-11 fifteen years ago today. The grief we see in Lamentations is grief brought on by sin. When Israel turned their back on God, nothing happened...immediately. Almost every page of the Old Testament refers to sin. Almost every page of the New Testament refers to the savior. Read Judges and you see people following God, rebelling, facing problems, repenting, and returning to God. Look at the kings. Saul, David, Solomon and the kings of the divided kingdoms. The spiritual life of Israel was always a roller coaster. You may be living with this kind of grief. Decisions you made several years ago have come back to bite you. People may have said to you, "Don't take that drink..." but you laughed it off. They may have said, "Don't smoke that cigarette." But you did and now you are living on supplied oxygen. They may have said, "Don't hang around those people" but you did and look where you are today. You might have had someone who said to you, "Trust Jesus, follow him." But you were too involved in living your own life. It is not until recently that you discovered what the proverbs tell us that "There is a way that seems right to a man, but the ends thereof are the ways of death." As someone once said, "Hindsight is " Page 1. Exported from Logos Bible Software, 10:16 AM September 7, 2016.

2 Having said that, it doesn't help. You are suffering the consequences of poor choices. You look at what life could have been like and what it is now and you sense deeply and emotionally all that you have lost. Lamentations is that kind of book. This morning I want to cover some territory as we introduce the book of Lamentations. I want to give the present situation, the Bible background, the outline, and the methodology that Jeremiah uses to make his points. The present situation The immediate cause of grief was the Babylonian invasion and capture of the city of Jerusalem in 586 B.C. Jeremiah, the author of this book, Habbakuk, Ezekiel and Daniel would all have been alive at this time. The Babylonians did terrible things to their prisoners. The sacred city was destroyed. Jeremiah either heard this or saw it in person and wrote this as an expression of his grief. It wasn't the first lament Jeremiah had written. When King Josiah died 2 Chronicles 35:25 "25 Jeremiah also uttered a lament for Josiah; and all the singing men and singing women have spoken of Josiah in their laments to this day. They made these a rule in Israel; behold, they are written in the Laments." This lament was different. Jeremiah, writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, saw the sacking of Jerusalem as a direct result of God's punishment for Israel's sin. We are nervous when people attribute God's punishment over certain cities. Many said that God was punishing New Orleans during the massive flooding in August of Others said that 9/11 was God's punishment of New York City or the United States for her sins. Jeremiah affirms that can happen. My problem with those who point to New Orleans or New York City is that I know of worse cities and I don't know any prophets who affirm God's direct intervention as I do in this case. I am not ready to make those pronouncements without a direct message from God. Bible background There is a direct message from God. We find it in Deuteronomy 28. Deuteronomy 28:58 59 (ESV) 58 If you are not careful to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, that you may fear this glorious and awesome name, the Lord your God, 59 then the Lord will bring on you and your offspring extraordinary afflictions, afflictions severe and lasting, and sicknesses grievous and lasting. Page 2. Exported from Logos Bible Software, 10:16 AM September 7, 2016.

3 Deuteronomy 28 is worth reading. It is an early warning shot from God as to what will happen if Israel does not live life his way. There are consequences for our actions. God is gracious enough to spell them out for Israel 900 years before he has to act on them. He even wrote them down so that He would be clear. The outline of Lamentations reflects this. One author entitled the chapters this way. Chapter 1: Catastrophe Chapter 2: Cause Chapter 3: Cure Chapter 4: Consequences Chapter 5: Cry Another way of looking at this is from Jeremiah's perspective. Chapter 1: Awful Chapter 2: Avoidable Chapter 3: Answer Chapter 4: Animosity Chapter 5: Anguish The outline I would like you to consider deals with pronouns. These pronouns are dominant in each respective chapter. They focus on the people who are part of this grief process. Chapter 1: She (Jerusalem) Chapter 2: He (God) Chapter 3: I (Jeremiah) Chapter 4: They (Enemies) Chapter 5: We (Jeremiah and Israel) As we look at the "we" we need to understand that Jeremiah's letter may make it to Babylon. People like Daniel, Ezekiel and Habbakuk would read it and join in the grief. Nehemiah grieves at a different time over the same issues, the ruin of Jerusalem. Methodology Jeremiah uses two different methods or ways to make his points. Dirge A dirge is a funeral song. Most people don't want sad music at funerals. They want to celebrate, not lament. The Bible takes a different path. If we are sad, we should embrace the sadness. We don't do so in a morbid way, but we do so in the sense of facing reality. We have lost something and it makes us sad. Page 3. Exported from Logos Bible Software, 10:16 AM September 7, 2016.

4 Acrostic poem Lamentations is not only a sad song, but Jeremiah uses an interesting pattern to get his point across. Chapters 1-4 are arranged as an acrostic poem. In other words, verse 1 of chapter one begins with the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet, verse 2 the second letter, verse 3 the third and so on. There are 22 letters in the Hebrew alphabet as they don't write vowels, so we find 22 verses in chapter 1 and 2, 22 x 3 or 66 verses in chapter 3 as the first verse in each section begins with the corresponding Hebrew letter, and 22 verses in chapter 4. Chapter 5 has 22 verses, but for some reason he didn't use this acrostic method. He might have run out of time to revise his work. He might have chosen not to do so. We don't know why. Why did he use an acrostic method in the first four chapters? First, it's easier to memorize. Second, it shows a totalness, similar to our expression, "from A to Z." Third, he may have used the acrostic method to express his grief. I got this from a Bible scholar I saw on YouTube named David Pawson. He wondered if Jeremiah used, and these are my words, the alphabet as a grief tool. In other words, when you are going through deep grief, you can express that grief if you have some nails to hang your thoughts on. Let's try this for a moment. Think of a word or a sentence that starts with the letter "A" that would describe someone's grief. Then move on to the letter "B" and so on. In your bulletin is a worksheet that you can use in any grief situation to help you express how you are feeling. Shared grief Jeremiah was not the only one grieving. I recently read a review of a book by Kenneth Ching entitled, "Shattered Prayers." In this book he tells of the thought struggle with the death of his son. His purpose in writing the book was to help others who might experience what he is experiencing. Daniel, Ezekiel, Habbakuk, and all those who survived the four deportations were grieving as well. Nehemiah is grieving over the ruins of Jerusalem at a little later time. These songs or poems would express in words thoughts that many had but didn't know how to say. Page 4. Exported from Logos Bible Software, 10:16 AM September 7, 2016.

5 Many of our songs do that. One of the attractions of country-western music is that it hits at the heart of real problems by real people. Poems do the same thing. Jeremiah is writing this as a pastoral prayer for all the people of Jerusalem asking God for mercy and for help. He is putting perspective on the horribleness of all that is going on. And through this, the Holy Spirit is helping people who have been affected by the sins of the nation, find hope, understanding and comfort. You may have come here today and your sin has caught up with you. You may wake every morning with a sense of grief and loss over what could have been. This book is for you. God is in this book. He is in your situation. If there is any hope for you, that hope will not be found in the changing of your circumstances, but your hope will be in God. Psalm 42:11 (ESV) 11 Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God. Page 5. Exported from Logos Bible Software, 10:16 AM September 7, 2016.

The Book of Lamentations

The Book of Lamentations Hebrew/Greek meaning of book name: Hebrew How! Greek Lamentations Hebrew/Greek meaning of book name: Hebrew How! Greek Lamentations Who wrote it? Unknown, but probably Jeremiah