Lamentations Part One Deep Dive

A PLACE FOR GRIEF | KATIE HALDANE

The Bible allows the reader to run through an array of emotions without God having to cover His ears and leave the room. Passion is celebrated in Song of Songs, suffering and injustice is explored in Job and in Lamentations, mourning, grief, and complaining are put on full display. I know, as Christians and especially as Charismatic or Pentecostal Christians, these emotions are often either ignored or banished as if those who feel them don’t have the faith to stand strong in the time of testing. I’m here to tell you that is neither Biblical nor healthy!

The Bible shows that humans have emotions and teaches us how to have those emotions in a healthy, God-fearing way. Lamenting is a natural, normal part of our human make-up, it’s how we use it and where it leads us that we need to be careful of.

WHAT IS LAMENT?

Today we think of lamenting like complaining and we know that the complaining nature of the Israelites is what frustrated God in the wilderness (Exodus 16 and Numbers 11). But complaining and lamenting in the Bible are two different things. NT Wright outlines the differences perfectly:

‘a complaint is an accusation against God that maligns His character, but a lament is an appeal to God based on confidence in His character.’

Mark Vroegop defines ‘lament’:

‘A lament is a prayer in pain that leads to trust. It is a uniquely Christian prayer formed as people look to God for help in the midst of their sorrow. Most laments contain four elements: turn, complain, ask, and trust. Each is designed to move the weary-hearted saint toward a renewal of hope in God’s character, even when dark clouds linger.’

Now Lamentations is full of lament. Known in the Septuagint as ‘Threnoi’ and ‘Lamentationes’ or ‘Lamenta’ in the Vulgate, its Hebrew name, taken from its opening, is simply the exclamation Ekhah, ‘Alas!’[1]. An ancient Near East lament was common and a way for someone to grieve and mourn over the death of an individual, deity or city. In Lamentations, we have a lament over a city, which was common in literature in both Sumerian and Hebrew texts. There are five Sumerian Lament texts including one from 2004 BCE, lamenting over the destruction of the Ur III kingdom, vividly depicting the terrible bloodshed, the temple’s demolition and city gods’ deportation.

LAMENT OVER A CITY

Lamentations is that type of genre, mourning over the loss of the city of Jerusalem. Ancient Near East laments all have certain qualities; they will depict the disaster and express severe grief as they portray the story, and they will depict the mourning by either an individual or by parts of the city (Lamentations 2:18-19). It will have a highly emotional tone and an essence of shock and questioning of how this incredible loss has occurred (Lamentations 1:1, 2:1 and 4:1). This is definitely portrayed in Lamentations, and the Encyclopaedia of the Bible states that the very text itself has a ‘broken weeping’ rhythm written into it:

‘Following Budde, scholars used to believe that biblical laments make use of a unique qinah meter. This alleged lament meter consisted of the ratio of 3:2 accents in each verse, a poetic asymmetry which supposedly imitates broken weeping or rhythmic funeral march.’

The lament of Lamentations is not meant to be written to come to a hope-filled conclusion at the end, it was intended to search the depths of despair over the loss of this great city and dwell on the complete essence of the finality of this death. It is allowing Jeremiah, as a very emotional prophet of God, to have his moment of grief over a city that he tried to save. Jeremiah is given permission to lament as God is lamenting at the rebellion of the people that caused the city to be lost. 

Trashing Tip: This book reveals so ,much about God’s heart in the midst of the exile. Look at Chapter 3:33, ‘For He does not willingly bring affliction or grief to anyone.’ Write in your margins the heartache of God found in this book. What does this show you about the nature of Father God?

PERMISSION TO MOURN

For Christians today, the text gives us permission to lament and mourn when we need to. Going through the process of mourning is not anti-Christian or signifying a lack of faith. It is, in fact, very healthy and very Biblical. Lamentations wasn’t removed as a embarrassment of anti-faith behaviour, it was honoured and included to show us that the emotions Jeremiah experienced for the city of God and its destruction were valid. God was mourning with Jeremiah in this text. How much more should we honour God by including in our Christianity in our own mourning lament when we experience loss. Lament is not complaining and God is right there with us, understanding and wanting to walk with us through our grief and loss.

[1] Encyclopaedia of the Bible and It’s Reception Volume 15: Walter de Gruyter, Berlin/Boston, 2017, page 692

Further Reading

It Takes Theology to Lament by Mark Vroegop

Five Things to Know About Lament by N T Wright

recommended

An Introduction to the Old Testament

Lamentations part one

Hebrews part three