© David Staume 2008

Lamentations looks back on the destruction of Jerusalem, the Jewish capital city. It is written as a sorrowful song or poem. The author is said to be Jeremiah, but there is no evidence to support this.

1. Jeremiah mourns the fall of Jerusalem, drawing a simile between Jerusalem and a Queen who has become a slave. He attributes her destruction to the sin of her people, saying that she had become 'unclean'. Jeremiah writes in the first person sometimes as himself and sometimes as if he were Jerusalem.

2-3. Jeremiah details the results of God's anger at Jerusalem's sin – the dead in the streets, and the hungry children. Yet in the midst of this he sees God's compassion. Jeremiah reveals that when he was placed in the cistern (see Jeremiah) he called out to God, who instructed him not to be afraid, and saved him. 

4-5. Jeremiah says that those who died by the sword were better off than those who are dying now of hunger. He laments the loss of music and dancing, and asks God to return to Jerusalem and renew it.

In the previous book 'Jeremiah', Jeremiah seemed to relish the prospect of the destruction of Jerusalem, because it is the will of God, and just punishment for idol-worship, yet here the tone is sorrowful and regretful. Jeremiah's God is like a father who beats his children mercilessly then weeps as he bandages their injuries.

Back to Jeremiah. Forward to Ezekiel.