Lamentations Overview

Author: Anonymous Date: Earliest 586 B.C. Latest 516 B.C. Title: Hebrew is ‘ekah which literally means “How…!” History: Following the captivity of Jerusalem by the Babylonians (2 Kings 24-25, 586 B.C.) Literary Structure: Poetic. Chapters 1-4 Acrostic using Hebrew Alphabet. Chapters 1, 2, 4 contain 22 verses, each beginning with a letter of the Hebrew Alphabet. Chapter 3 has three verses for every letter of the Hebrew Alphabet. This tells the reader that even though the laments contain passionate thoughts, they are careful and purposefully placed together. Outline: I. Jerusalmer’s Misery and Desolation (Chapter 1) II. The Lord’s Anger against His People (Chapter 2) III. Judah’s Complaint – and Basis for Consolation (Chapter 3) IV. The Contrast Between Zion’s Past and Present (Chapter 4) V. Judah’s Appeal to the Lord for Forgiveness and Restoration (Chapter 5)

Lamentations’ ordered structure is in contrast with the disorder of pain. The Book of Lamentations is trying to express something that is inexpressible. In the midst of the greatest pain lies confusion that cannot, many times, be put into words. There are three purposes for these laments: Form of Protest, Processing of Emotion, and Voicing Confusion.

CHAPTER 1 The Devastation of Jerusalem is personified in a widow – Daughter of Zion. This chapter brings to light the emotional and psychological pain as in an experience of a funeral. Daughter of Zion is grieving for her loss.

She is described with vivid images: - (vs. 2) Bitterly she weeps at night, tears are upon her cheeks. - (vs. 5) Her foes have become her masters; her enemies are at ease. - (vs. 6) Her princes are like deer that find no pasture. - (vs. 7) Her enemies looked at her and laughed at her destruction. - (vs. 8) All who honored her despise her, for they have seen her nakedness; she herself groans and turns away. - (vs. 9) Her filthiness clung to her skirts.

At the end of the chapter Daughter of Zion is asking for God’s judgment to also come upon her enemies (vs. 21-22)

CHAPTER 2 This chapter describes the Wrath of God against Jerusalem. The fall of Jerusalem is described as a breaking of covenant. God made his covenant with Israel. Israel broke their end of the covenant. Therefore, the wrath of God that is poured out on Jerusalem not in volatile anger, but it shows God’s justice.

Isaiah 55:3-5 gives a picture of what God desired for Israel to be, “Give ear and come to me; hear me, that your soul may live. I will make an everlasting covenant with you, my faithful love promised to David. See, I have made him a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander of the peoples. Surely you will summon nations you know not, and nations that do not know you will hasten to you, because of the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, for he has endowed you with splendor.” God desired for other nations to be drawn to him through what they saw through his chosen people. Instead, the people of Israel did evil in the eyes of the Lord and worshipped other gods. God’s righteous anger burned against the nation who had forsaken him.

God is slow to anger but will judge human evil. God’s wrath is justified. The poet is asking for God’s judgment against Israel to end, “People have heard my groaning, but there is no one to comfort me. All my enemies have heard of my distress; they rejoice at what you have done. May you bring the day you have announced so they may become like me. Let all their wickedness come before you; deal with them as you have dealt with me because of all my sins. My groans are many and my heart is faint. (vs. 21-22)”

CHAPTER 3 The poet uses the image of one man to represent the whole of Israel. More imagery is seen with references such as:

- (vs. 2) driven me away and made me walk in darkness rather than light - (vs. 4) He has made my skin and my flesh grow old and has broken my bones. - (vs. 7) walled me in so I cannot escape - (vs. 9) barred my way with blocks of stone - (vs. 10-11) Like a bear lying in wait, like a lion in hiding, he dragged me from the path and mangled me and left me without help. - (vs. 12) drew his bow and made me the target for his arrows. - (vs. 16) broken my teeth with gravel The poet makes a clear statement in vs. 18, “So I say, ‘My splendor is gone and all that I had hoped from the Lord.’” Then in vs. 21-23, “Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”

If God is consistent enough to bring his justice on evil; he is also consistent enough to keep his covenant promise of not allowing evil to get the final word. “For men are not cast off by the Lord forever. Though he brings grief, he will show compassion, so great is his unfailing love. For he does not willingly bring affliction or grief to the children of men. (vs. 31-33)”

CHAPTER 4 The Siege of Jerusalem happened in 586 B.C. The poet in this chapter uses contrast to shock his readers by comparing the before and after image of Jerusalem. - Fine gold become dull and lost its luster - Sacred gems scattered - Once ate delicacies now destitute in the streets

CHAPTER 5 This chapter breaks the Hebrew alphabet acrostic with an explosion of grief again. A communal prayer for God’s mercy is expressed through the twenty verses. Intertwined in this prayer is a list of those who have been devastated from the fall of the city. These include: princes, elders, young men, mothers, and virgins.

The Book of Lamentations ends with this paradox: “You, Lord, reign forever; your throne endures from generation to generation. Why do you always forget us? Why do you forsake us so long? Restore us to yourself, Lord, that we may return; renew our days as of old unless you have utterly rejected us and are angry with us beyond measure. (vs. 19-22)”

Week 1

Bottom Line: There is true hope when placed in God

Song: You are My Hope by Skillet

Game: Deathball Materials: Chairs Ball

Make a circle of chairs for each player, minus one. Students sit in chairs, one player in the middle of the circle is it. One student in the circle holds the ball and throws it to another player in the circle. The player in the middle’s goal is to either tag the person who has the ball or catch the ball when it’s thrown to another player. If either of those attempts are successful, then the player in the middle switches with the player in the circle. When starting a round, players cannot throw the ball to the person directly next to them. If the ball doesn’t touch a player in the circle when thrown to them, they cannot get up and get the ball. The only person chasing the ball should be the person in the circle who touched it last and the person in the center.

Connect the Dots from Game to Lesson: Have you ever felt hopeless? Was there a time when you were the person in the middle of the circle and you felt like there was no way you were ever going to get the ball no matter how hard you tried?

Lesson: Movie Clip: Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope Princess Leia, “Help Obi Won Kenobi, you’re my only hope.”

Boy did Leia have it wrong. In her fantasy world she thought that Obi Won could save her loved ones and herself from the Evil Empire. Little did she know that the only one who can save us from evil is God.

Have you ever put all your hope in a friend and they have let you down? Have you ever put your hope in your parents and they have let you down? Have you ever fallen through a floor or fallen out of a broken chair or…(Gather some good stories!)?

In the case of the Israelites, they thought for sure that God had let them down. God allowed destruction to come upon them because he had warned them and warned them to turn away from their false gods to follow him. He made a covenant with Israel. Israel broke their end by chasing foolishness. Israel found themselves in this never ending cycle with God where they would turn away from God and do their own thing. Then went things when wrong they would cry out to God again. The same thing would happen over and over.

(Take a look at 2 Kings 24-25 for the destruction of the cities and the temple)

Have you ever felt as if you are feeling so much emotional pain that you cannot express it in words? The people of Israel understood this same emotional anguish. Israel and Judah had been conquered by foreign nations. People had been abused and carried off to slavery. The temple had been destroyed. Everything had been taken from them. Lamentations is the cry of Israel. Throughout the five chapters of Lamentations there is great emotional confusion trying to be expressed for three purposes:

A Form of Protest: We do not like what is happening. This is unfair. Why is this happening? (Insert your own whining) Processing of Emotion: I cannot believe this is happening. My emotions are all over the place. I feel confused, hurt, abandoned, vulnerable, ashamed, repentant. Voicing Confusion: In the midst of all these events and emotions, I am just confused. While I am confused, I know that there is hope because: God, you are consistent enough to bring justice where evil has been allowed to take control and you are consistent enough to restore what is broken. You can bring healing to the deepest parts of our hearts that can only be touched by you.

We could write our own book of Lamentations because sin has carried many of our friends and family off to slavery. Not only that, sin has ruined things for us personally (Insert your own personal story) Take a piece of paper and write your own lament about something that has made you feel the way the Israelites did.

Paul, in Romans 6:6, talks about freedom from sin for those who belong to Christ, “For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin – because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.”

What does this mean? When we begin a new life with Christ we put our old life to death. In our old life we were slaves to sin. Sin, selfishness, greed, idolatry, lust, dishonesty…all these things were holding us captive. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”

In Lamentations we see a group of people devastated by the destruction of their cities, the abuse and slavery imposed on their people. This is to the extent that Lamentations 3:18-20 says, “So I say, ‘My splendor is gone and all that I had hoped from the Lord.’ I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me.” This statement is of utter defeat.

Then the author goes on to say in Lamentations 3:21, “Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”

Those words were penned hundreds of years ago but they are still true for us in our battle with sin. When it seems like everything is falling apart, we are defeated, there is no hope, that is when our soul can cry out that we have hope. This hope is not based on our selves but solely on who God is. He can be trusted. We can rely on him.

Small Group: Who would you say our “only hope” is?

Have you found freedom from sin in your own life?

When everything is going wrong in your life, do you put your hope in God? Why or why not?

How can we pray for you to discover the hope that God has for you?

Week 2

Bottom Line: Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.

Song: Mercy by Amanda Cook

Key Scripture: James 1:2-4

Game: Worm Race Materials: Two sleeping bags

Make two lines relay race style. Each team has a sleeping bag. The first person in the line gets inside the sleeping bag. Laying on the floor they must wiggle like a worm or crawl to the other end while staying completely covered by the sleeping bag. Only their head can be out of the sleeping bag.

Connect the Dots From Game to Lesson: It was very difficult to move across the floor while being consumed by the sleeping bag. Many times we feel the same way in life when we are surrounded by troubles and trials of life. The great thing about following Jesus is that we are promised that we will not be consumed by what this world has to throw at us. It will not be easy but it is possible to keep going towards the finish.

Lesson: Lamentations 3:22 says, “Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.”

Have you ever felt like your circumstances are consuming you and there is no way out? Have you tried to get out of your circumstances but just get knocked down again?

This is not uncommon. It is actually promised in Scripture that trouble is going to come your way. Would you say that is a good thing or bad thing? Is there something wrong with you when trouble comes your way? Should you be doing something to stop it or can you stop it?

There is a guy named James in the Bible. He is actually Jesus’ little half-brother. He was Mary and Joseph’s son. Remember Jesus was God and Mary’s son. He did not have any full brothers or sisters. It was pretty risqué. James was a reluctant believer in Jesus. He spent a lot of time following Jesus around and watching his every move. Finally, he believed that Jesus really was Messiah. James became the early leader of the church in Jerusalem. He was thrown down from the pinnacle of the temple and then stoned to death after he survived the fall. Once he believed in Jesus he did not go back. He gave up everything. He wrote his own book in the Bible. It is said to be the Proverbs of the New Testament because it is one of the most practical books in the Bible.

James 1:2-4 (Message paraphrase): Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides, you know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows it’s true colors. So don’t try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-delivered, not deficient in any way.

This is exactly why the early Christians were so dangerous. When they were under persecution and things were hard they saw them as a chance to become stronger instead of being defeated.

Trials are expected. There is a huge difference between trials and temptations. Trials are hard life circumstances. They are out of your control. Temptations are when your own evil desires lure you away from God’s plans. Here are some things to keep in mind when trials come your way: 1. God is not punishing you. (Jesus already took the punishment on the cross.) 2. God is not failing you. (He walks with you through every trial.) 3. God is not abandoning you. (He will not leave you nor forsake you.) 4. God is not acting evil towards you. 5. God is not going to fix it all for you. (God promises to go with you. That does not mean that he will fix it. The trials have a purpose, to grow your faith. He will not take the opportunity for you to grow away from you.)

Growing in Christ = endure trials.

We see in Lamentations that when these trials come they will not consume us. God’s compassions never fail. If you give into defeat it is like a person in a hospital who does not move. They will develop bedsores. Their skin will begin to rot. Nurses must rotate them and keep them clean. Eventually they will lose their muscle strength because they are not using it. Their range of motion will get worse and worse until finally they will basically be paralyzed. That is the exact state the enemy wants us to be in spiritually. It is easy to allow life circumstances to consume us. But we should look at things the way that God does, he sees great opportunity for growth.

There was special needs girl who grew up in some neglectful circumstances named Sissy. Her family thought that she was dumb. They “protected” her by doing everything for her. She did not know how to bathe herself, dress herself, read, write, communicate without repeating what others were saying, and wore diapers. She did not even know how to eat. At 7 years old she only drank milk out of a bottle. Eventually, she was taken from her home and placed into foster care. Her foster family committed to teaching her all the things she needed to know. She fought them every day. She called them names, hit them, kicked, and screamed. Her foster family saw her potential. They knew that she could be more. Even though each task was difficult, they continued to expect more out of her. Over time she learned to bathe herself, dress herself, communicate, and eat. She still struggles today to do many things that come easy to most. If she did not have people pushing to her potential, at 13 she would still be drinking from a bottle. She would still allow others to do for her what she was capable of. She would still be a baby in a teenage body. This is exactly how it is in our spiritual lives. If we are to grow to maturity, we must take God’s instruction. We must listen to the wise Christians that God has placed in our lives. Even when we feel like fighting back, we must give in to trials so that we can become mature and complete, lacking in nothing as James puts it in chapter 1 verse 4. Sissy was not rejoicing as she was taught the things that she was capable of. But now, she can look back and be thankful for the progress she has made. She can rejoice in her independence and maybe be encouraged to continue to learn even more.

Should we be happy that bad things happen to us or around us? No way. It is terrible that bad things happen. God grieves the evil in the world. But instead of being absolutely defeated we can watch to see how God is growing our faith. “Then we will be strong in character and ready for anything.” (James 1:4 NLT)

“You cannot keep the birds from flying over your head but you can keep them from making a nest in your hair.”

Small Group: Do you think it is possible to rejoice when bad things happen to you? Why or why not?

How has your faith grown through trials?

What do you do to keep from being consumed by the things that go wrong in your life?

Week 3

Bottom Line: God’s mercies are new every morning.

Key Scripture: Prodigal Son Luke 15:11-32

Game: Walk the Plank Materials: 2x8 18 inch pieces of wood. One for each person. Markers, Paint, etc. to write on wood

Take pieces of 2x8 Wood that are about 18 inches long. Create a line of boards to walk across help by a guy on each side. Before walking across have students decorate the boards with words or pictures that represent the mercies of God that are new every morning. Remind them that God’s mercies are solid. They can stand on them. Be sure that the guys holding the boards can really hold the people walking across to ensure that the illustration makes sense. If someone falls, remind them that people may let them down but God can be trusted.

Connect the Dots From Game to Lesson: Just as you could trust the guys holding you up with the boards, God can be trusted to not let you down. Not only that but his mercies are new every morning. Lamentations 3:22, “Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”

Lesson:

Would you or someone you know describe God as boring? Do you ever feel like God is just a set of rules to follow that never change? It is just the same thing every day. Are you tired of going to church and knowing exactly what is going to happen next in the service? Are you in a routine of saying the same prayer to God? Do you have a check list when it comes to your relationship with God?

Or have you felt that your life circumstances will never change? Every time you go to school you see the same bully who makes fun of you? Every morning you wake up with the same feelings of loneliness and depression? Every evening your parents are silent because they do not want to fight in front of you or you go to bed hearing the yelling while wondering if it will stop? Every afternoon you come home to an empty house and watch the same shows on TV like a zombie? Are you in a rut that you cannot get out of?

A life like that sounds boring. When we allow God to be a checklist in our life or expect to only see him in certain ways then life just stinks like stagnant water. Here is an acronym using the word STAGNANT to combat the stench:

Stop expecting nothing out of God. (Watch for where he is at work.) Take along a friend. (Ask someone to journey with you and share the good and the bad.) Appreciate the ways that God is working around you. (Take time to notice how other’s lives are changing as they follow the way of Jesus.) Get going. (Be on mission for God. Remember that you are working for a Kingdom that is bigger than you.) Negotiate for the things that bring God glory. (Be an ambassador for God’s Kingdom.) Allow yourself to look beyond yourself. (Change the way you think about things.) Navigate through your struggles to allow God to heal open wounds. (Allow God to bring healing as you move forward in your relationship with him.) Take risks for the sake of the Gospel. (Join the crazy adventure that God has for you.)

Here is the truth about God. He has already written your story and you get to join him. Psalm 139 talks about how God knows everything about you including all the days ordained for you even before one came to be. This does not mean that God has written the exact same story for every person. He is way too creative for that. He has uniquely written a plot that only fits your life. Here’s where free will comes in, you have a choice to allow him to direct the play he has written or do this your own way.

Luke 15:11-31 tells the story of the Prodigal Son. In this parable the father had plans for his son. After he passed away his son would receive his inheritance that the father had prepared for him. Everything was in place but instead the son took matters into his own hands. Take a look…

This parable gives a great glimpse into the way that God treats us as his sons and daughters. Luke 15:20 says, “So he [the son] got up and went to his father. But while he [the son] was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.”

God does the same for us. His love is already there waiting for us. It does not wear out. It does not have an expiration date. Mercy means that God does not give us what we deserve. Many times, we deserve punishment and even death. God’s mercies are new every morning. They never fail. He is quick to forgive. Every morning before the day begins, before things can go wrong, before we make yet another mistake his mercy is already at work on our behalf. There is no need to wait. The newness of his mercy means that we cannot expect to see God in the same places. It is a new adventure, new risks, opportunity to open things within you, new relationship, and new passions.

Small Group: In what way have you left God just like the prodigal son?

Do you believe that God is waiting with open arms?

What would it look like for you to come “home”?

What areas of your life have you seen God’s mercies being new every morning?

Does your life have the stench of stagnant water? If so, what do you need to do to get some fresh water?

Week 4

Bottom Line: Great is God’s faithfulness

Key Scripture: Lamentations 3:23; Book of Exodus

Game: Egg Head Battle Materials: Two Helmets At least two Eggs Tape At least two Pool Noodles

Tape a raw egg to the top of two helmets. Using pool noodles players must beat each other’s heads until the egg breaks. Winner is the person with egg still intact.

Connect the Dots From Game to Lesson: Does God beat us down until we cry out? Is God aiming to break us and will not give up until we are broken and he is declared the winner? This is not consistent with who God is.

Lesson: The Bible is one big story of God’s people. From creation to Adam and Eve sinning, to Noah’s ark, to Abraham and the promised land, to the Israelites in slavery in Egypt, to the Israelites entering the promised land again, to judges, to kings, to captivity, to freedom, and eventually Jesus. There is a pattern of God’s people loving God and following his commands. Then there are years where they do things their own way.

One of these instances can be found in the Book of Exodus. The Israelites found themselves in Egypt 430 years in slavery to Pharaoh. They cried out to God and God answered their prayer by using Moses. God told Moses to go to Pharaoh and ask for the people to be able to take a 3 day journey into the desert to worship and sacrifice to God.

God hardened Pharaoh’s heart for the purpose of proving his might not only to the Egyptians but to the Israelites. They needed to see that he was greater than their oppressors. It was better to leave the “safety” of slavery to pursue true freedom. God’s freedom was worth the risk.

After leaving Egypt Moses goes up on the mountain to receive instructions from God. The people had already experienced God’s great power with the plagues in Egypt (blood, frogs, gnats, flies, livestock, boils, hail, locusts, darkness, firstborn) and they saw God part the Red Sea for them.

Here they are free, but they begin to doubt. That doubt turns into distrust of who God really was and what they had just experienced. They made a Golden Calf to worship just like their former slave masters. They chose slavery over freedom. This is what God had to work with.

This story in Exodus is our story for multiple reasons. One reason being that we are also God’s chosen people. The other reason being that we are prone to the same waywardness of the Israelites. They quickly forgot all that God had done for them. God could have destroyed them on the spot but he instead showed his faithfulness. He could have beat the Israelites down but instead he took them to the Promised Land where they became a great nation.

Name some ways that God is faithful…what are some things about God that you can stand on and will never change?

Does God’s faithfulness mean that we can do whatever we want? (No, in the case of the Israelites God disciplines them. First, he allowed them to wander around in the desert for 40 years before they were allowed to enter the Promised Land. This was the result of their lack of faith in God that he would defeat the giants that were on the other side of the Jordan River in the Promised Land. Later God allowed them to be captured by their enemies and taken to foreign lands [Take a look at the history in Week 1].)

Did the Israelites have to suffer because of the decisions they made to worship other gods?

How did God show his faithfulness as he disciplined his people? Was God faithfully loving, merciful, and just when he disciplined his people? Why or why not?

This is what God’s faithfulness does: 1. God’s faithfulness changes us. (He makes us into a new creation) 2. …is enough for us (in our weakness his strength is made perfect) 3. …is revealed in us as we pray (He moves us beyond requests and into his perspective and how he is working for his glory) 4. …is beyond us (His kingdom is greater than our everyday struggles and schedules) 5. …is shown through His love for us (God loved us even when we were his enemies)

The truth about God and his faithfulness is consistent. Many times our emotions get in the way seeing God for who he really is. Who God is, is not based on how we see him or how we have experienced life. It is based solely on who he is. He never changes or casts shifting shadows as James writes in his first chapter. His faithfulness is great.

Small Group: Have there been times in your life when you felt like God had abandoned you? What did you turn to in those times?

How can you see God being faithful to you?

The writers of the Book of Psalm speaks of God’s faithfulness over and over. Take a look at the book of Psalm and make a list of the Scriptures that speak of God’s faithfulness. Especially look at Psalm 36:5, 86.15, 89:8, 91:4, 119:90. What does God’s faithfulness mean to you? When have you experienced God’s faithfulness? How can you purposefully see God’s faithfulness in your everyday life?