This will be the last post on Lamentations at this time. It
has been very insightful to study this short book, especially at a time when I
was not feeling particularly joyful myself. If misery loves company, then
Lamentations is a worthy companion in dire times. It reminds me that I am not
the only one who has ever wondered where God is and whether He is
watching and knows my struggle. To a certain extent, I have been in a pit of my
own making, yet somehow I still feel like I was pushed into this muddy hole
too. So often in life, our despair and trouble is our own doing AND that of the
world. But if there is one thing I have learned from Lamentations, it is that
all the focus on death and destruction makes the life and beauty of the cross
so much more real, beautiful, and hopeful.
In this last installment of Lamentations I would like to
look at the first seven verses of the last chapter. I’ll even give it away, it’s
all about death and destruction. Are you surprised? But as I said before, God
has an answer to this.
Remember, Lord, what has happened to us;
look, and see our disgrace.
2 Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers,
our homes to foreigners.
3 We have become fatherless,
our mothers are widows.
4 We must buy the water we drink;
our wood can be had only at a price.
5 Those who pursue us are at our heels;
we are weary and find no rest.
6 We submitted to Egypt and Assyria
to get enough bread.
7 Our ancestors sinned and are no more,
and we bear their punishment.
look, and see our disgrace.
2 Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers,
our homes to foreigners.
3 We have become fatherless,
our mothers are widows.
4 We must buy the water we drink;
our wood can be had only at a price.
5 Those who pursue us are at our heels;
we are weary and find no rest.
6 We submitted to Egypt and Assyria
to get enough bread.
7 Our ancestors sinned and are no more,
and we bear their punishment.
The poet of Lamentations confesses that they have been
completely stripped of everything. Their inheritance,
the land flowing with milk and honey that God won for them during Joshua’s time
is gone. Their livelihood is gone.
When the Lord your God brings you into the
land he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you—a land
with large, flourishing cities you did not build, 11 houses filled with all kinds of good things you
did not provide, wells you did not dig, and vineyards and olive groves you did
not plant…
Deuteronomy 6:10-11
Deuteronomy 6:10-11
Now others live in those homes and cities. Now strangers
work those fields and eat the produce of them. Just as God dispossessed the
Canaanites of their land, so the Judeans have been dispossessed. Verse three
continues by stating showing that the children have lost their parents, their
providers, and the ones who were supposed to teach them the ways of the Lord.
Just before the above verses in Deuteronomy, God commands His people, “Impress them on your children. Talk about
them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down
and when you get up.” The parents have failed the children, and now they
are gone.
The next three verses show that they suffer from thirst, the
cold, exhaustion, and deliberate pursuit from the nations that are invading
them. Rather than trusting in the God that rained down bread from heaven to
provide for them as they wandered in the dessert (Exodus 16:4), they turned to
the nations around them for assurance and provision. Then, finally, when God
would no longer tolerate the hardened hearts of His people, they received
judgment. Our ancestors sinned and are no
more, and we bear their punishment. It was not just the latest generation
of people that caused the exile, it was everyone, from when God rescued the
descendants of Jacob out of Egypt, all the way up to that fateful day. There
was no generation that was better than any other. All had sinned, all had
fallen short, and all had passed a tainted legacy onto the next generation,
until finally God acted and enacted the consequences of failing to keep the
covenant.
During this time, the time of the exile, there was a saying
that made the rounds, “The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s
teeth have been set on edge.” This phrase is quoted in both Ezekiel 18:2 and
Jeremiah 31:29. Basically it means the fathers are the ones that ate the sour
grapes, but the children are the ones who pucker up and who feel like they have
to gnash and grind their teeth as a reaction to the harsh taste. The previous
generations didn’t feel the effects of their sin like the current one did. But
in Jeremiah 31:28-30, this saying is used to show how things will soon be
different.
“The days are coming,” declares the
Lord, “when I will plant the
kingdoms of Israel and Judah with the offspring of people and of animals. 28 Just
as I watched over them to uproot and tear down, and to overthrow, destroy and
bring disaster, so I will watch over them to build and to plant,” declares the Lord. 29 “In those days
people will no longer say, ‘The parents have eaten sour grapes, and the
children’s teeth are set on edge.’ 30 Instead, everyone will
die for their own sin; whoever eats sour grapes—their own teeth will be set on
edge.
Justice will be served in a way that is different. Every
person will know the effects of their sin in a way that is real and realistic.
The good will not suffer for the vile deeds of the evil. God will bless those
who are faithful, and judge those who are not. How is this going to happen?
Jeremiah 31:31-34 continues:
31 “The days are coming,”
declares the Lord, “when I will make a new
covenant
with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah.
32 It will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors
when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt,
because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them,” declares the Lord.
33 “This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time,” declares the Lord. “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts.
I will be their God, and they will be my people.
34 No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’
because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,”
with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah.
32 It will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors
when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt,
because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them,” declares the Lord.
33 “This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time,” declares the Lord. “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts.
I will be their God, and they will be my people.
34 No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’
because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,”
declares the Lord.
“For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”
“For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”
Wow. The Law will be written on the hearts and minds of God’s
people. This is reflected in the ministry of the Holy Spirit who gives us the
gift of discernment of our choices. That feeling I get in my gut when I know I
am doing something not quite right, like not making eye contact with the
homeless guy on the corner, is my heart being sensitive to God’s law stored
within it. Lamentations talks about death and destruction and despair, but as I
have said before in these posts, this small book has to be taken in the context
of the books that surround it.
God is going to bring Israel and Judah back to life. He is
going to resuscitate them, and give them new life. When they were exiled, it
was as if they had been put to death – the punishment for their sins, and those
of their ancestors. Only a God who raises the dead can minister to a broken and
exiled people.[1] Only a God who raises the
dead can restore the dignity of those who have been stripped of everything. The
passage of death to life is something that should be very real to us. We need
to talk about death and dying. We need to think about it, because without
experiencing it, we cannot truly embrace and stand in awe of the new life that
is given to us in Christ Jesus.
The images in the book of Lamentations are meant to remind
us of our own death and despair without Jesus. Paul reminds us in the strongest
terms, “As for you, you were dead in your
transgressions and sins (Ephesians 2:1).” We need a God who has mastered resurrecting
lifeless bodies and infusing them with value, worth, and purpose. And this is
exactly what God has done. He has made us new creatures, He has given us new
lives, callings, and purposes in His Kingdom. We cannot live the same as we
used to. We cannot pretend that this doesn’t change everything, because it does and it should. Do we really want to go
back to the place that was destroyed and put to death? Do we want to continue
to bear the pain, suffering, and consequences of our ancestors? Do we really
want to live—no be dead like we were
before?
Lamentations is a call to remember that we don’t ever want
to go back. There is too much ahead of us to take steps backwards towards
death. Colossians 3:1-3 reminds us, “Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on
things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly
things. 3 For
you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.” We died, but we are not
dead anymore. In the darkness of the destruction and despair of Lamentations,
the cross shines even more brightly. It calls us to live life fully, joyfully,
and enter into the light. When I am down and depressed, that is when the truth
of God is so much more amazing: that He loves me, chose me, raised me to life,
and walks beside me daily. We will all have down days, but the cross cannot be
conquered, because Christ is already victorious over death, depression,
desperation, and dread. Hallelujah!
[1]
J Andrew Dearman, Jeremiah/Lamentations,
The NIV Application Commentary, (Grand Rapids, Zondervan, 2002), pg 476.
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