Study Questions:

1. How did false messages affect Jerusalem? (Lamentations 2:14)

2. How does the prophet feel amid his trial? (Lamentations 3:8)

3. When are the mercies of the Lord renewed? (Lamentations 3:22-23)

Commentary and Reflection:

Jews and Christians attribute the authorship of the Book of Lamentations to the prophet Jeremiah. This assumption is well-founded, as Jeremiah was deeply grieved over Jerusalem’s situation during the Babylonian invasion and the impending captivity. In Hebrew, the book’s title is “EKAH,” meaning “How!”—a word that begins chapters 1 and 2.

Jeremiah is often called the “weeping prophet” because of his constant sorrow. It is a reality that every leader of God’s people—whether a prophet, elder, deacon, or pastor—must grieve over the condition of the church. Today is no exception.

The book comprises five poems corresponding to the five chapters in modern Bibles. These are elegies—lyrical compositions lamenting the death of a person or a tragedy. The writing style is like the Psalms and other prophetic books like Daniel, written in poetic form.

In Lamentations 2:20, Jeremiah cries out to God to see His people’s suffering. This does not imply that God caused the suffering but acknowledges that the nation’s sins brought these consequences. Jeremiah’s plea reflects an appeal to the only one capable of showing compassion.

When we face inexplicable problems today, we often cry out in prayer, saying: “Lord, look at my anguish; I can’t bear it anymore! What will become of me if You don’t rescue me?” This does not represent a lack of faith but rather deep pain and the acknowledgment that only God can provide the solution.

Read all of Lamentations 2, comparing Jeremiah’s anguish with your own. Update his expressions with your experiences today. Perhaps you are crying out for a wayward child, a marriage on the brink of collapse, or a legal situation causing fear of separation from your family. Maybe your doctor recently told you that your health condition has no easy solution, and you fear for your life and wonder who will care for your young children. In such moments, it is time to cry out with tears to the only one who can save you.

In Lamentations 3, the faithful lament their calamities but are filled with hope through God’s mercies. They acknowledge the Lord’s justice and pray for deliverance and vengeance on their enemies.

“When called to drink of the cup of tribulation and sorrow, and when tempted in his misery to say, “my strength and my hope is perished from the Lord,” he recalled the providences of God in his behalf and triumphantly exclaimed, “It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is Thy faithfulness. The Lord is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him. The Lord is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him. It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord.” Lamentations 3:18, 22-26.” (Prophets and Kings 421)

Beloved, tough times lie ahead for God’s people. Only those hiding in the Lord’s pavilion can endure what is coming. Only then will we withstand the powerful deceptions that will captivate the world.

I wish you all a joyful day near Jesus!