Lamentations was a book many attribute to the prophet Jeremiah. Many believe that after witnessing the destruction of the city of Jerusalem, Jeremiah could not contain himself and wrote these 5 poems of lament.
There are essentially 3 players in these poems:
The Narrator – This person starts off an impartial observer but breaks down later in the book as he looks at Jerusalem’s pain at being cast down.
The City – She is seen as a woman that goes from the extremes of Harlot/Whore to Virgin daughter.
The Gehber – He is a man who has seen the destruction up close and personal.
The 3 characters help us understand what it means to reflect and grieve. That God does offer healing but this healing, most often, takes place within community.
One of the recurring questions from the book is “who can heal you?” In the New Testament, when Jesus arrives on the scene, this question is plainly answered then as it is today. Jesus redeems, He heals, He renews, He restores. As we go through the book you may have many questions about the misery of not only the book, but also the hard times in your life. Scripture is constantly pointing somewhere, to someone, who can heal us.
If you are taking this journey through the book of Lamentations with us, awesome…if you are trying to figure out why, well, the answer to the book of Lamentations is Jesus.