Deeper Commentary
Lamentations 5:1 Remember, Yahweh, what has come on us: look, and see our reproach-
Lamentations 1-4 each have a clear acrostic structure, but Lamentations 5 doesn't- possibly because Lamentations 5 is a transcript of Jeremiah's actual prayer, from the heart, not poetry after the event, but a transcript of his words as they were. For man doesn't structure his desperate prayers as acrostics. And yet Lam. 5 has 22 lines, the number of letters in the Hebrew alphabet. We get the impression, bearing in mind that the other chapters are all acrostics, that he began intending to pray in an acrostic but emotion and passion took over. That said, there is some poetic element to it- 45 words end in the sound 'oou' sound. This is the only one of the laments that is specifically a prayer to God; but he wanders off to the same old complaint and lament about God's judgments, mixed with recognition of some degree of guilt, but still concludes without hope and in despair. It is all a model of how not to respond to sin and the inevitable judgment it brings. We need to keep asking, What should Jeremiah have been saying? He himself had prophesied of the future restoration after 70 years, but he fails to mention that. He wanted the restoration of fortune here and now, and ends disappointed he didn't get it. He wants God to "look and see" from his perspective; of course God saw, but Jeremiah isn't willing to look and see from God's perspective, even though he knew His position so well.
The invitation to "look" must be understood in the
context of how Jeremiah has complained that God placed a cloud between
Himself and His people, through which no prayer could pass (Lam. 3:44). And
in Lam. 4:16 he has just stated that God was not looking at His condemned
people. He said that in depression, just spot staring at the reality of
suffering they were then experiencing. If it felt like God had permanently
cast them off, then that was how he felt it was. But now he accepts that
although God apparently will not look at them, yet He can be appealed to.
But still he is asking God to simply take pity upon the tragedy of suffering
people; he still must factor in the critical aspects of repentance and
forgiveness.
Lamentations 5:2 Our inheritance is turned to strangers, our houses to
aliens-
To
lose an inheritance was a major tragedy in the thought of those times.
The
loss of inheritance was not a tragedy unfelt by God. God
was losing His inheritance in that He was allowing it to be consumed (Jer.
12:9), 'polluting it' (Is. 47:6). No man would ever spoil his own
inheritance like this; but God did, such was His belief in the need to
punish His people for their sins. And yet the metaphor of lost / spoilt
inheritance reflects how painful this was for God, felt as a personal
loss. The whole idea elicits sympathy for God in this tragic loss.
The lament about lost inheritance connects with the complaint that they
had lost their fathers (:3), and this somehow also cut off their
inheritance. I have suggested that when we read of "We... our" in
Lamentations, this is all the same Jeremiah, but strongly identified with
his people. But all this showed a studied disregard of his own prophecies
that the inheritances of God's people had been as it were gambled away by
them; but it would be restored. Jeremiah himself had
bought a field in order to inherit it eternally at the resurrection. The
same word for "inheritance" is used in Jer. 12:15: "After I have plucked
them out I will return and have compassion on them, and bring them again,
ever man to his inheritance and every man to his land". Ez. 36:12 repeats
this. It was no surprise that they had temporarily lost their inheritance,
because Jeremiah had clearly told them: "You shall discontinue from your
inheritance that I have given you, and I will cause you to serve your
enemies" (Jer. 17:4). Mic. 2:2 had lamented that the leadership of Judah
had taken away the inheritances of the people. They had done this loss of
inheritance to themselves.
We note the continual references by Jeremiah to the curses for breaking the covenant: their land inheritance was now in the hands of Gentiles (:2 = Dt. 28:30-33); "heat and famine" (:9,10 = Dt. 28:22); abuse of the young men and elders (:12,13 = Dt. 28:50). But it was this "book of the law" which had been discovered some years before, and which had become "the joy and rejoicing of my heart" for Jeremiah. But now he alludes to that book, and bitterly laments that the curses had come. Despite earlier being so concerned that these curses would come, and trying to get reformation in Judah so that they would not. Perhaps Jeremiah just couldn't accept that all his ministry of reformation had been fruitless. Or more likely, that he just couldn't accept that these punishments were commensurate to Judah's sins, which he continually downplayed. He was just staring at a spot on the wall, as many do... and refusing to see any wider context.
Lamentations 5:3 We are orphans and fatherless; our mothers are as widows-
Again we note Jeremiah's intense identification with those who had
suffered. For he speaks of "we" and "our", rather than of "they" and
"theirs". Surely Jeremiah means to remind God of His special care for
these categories in His law.
Lamentations 5:4 We have drunken our water for money; our wood is sold to
us- Perhaps the Bedouin tribes took over Jerusalem after it fell, and
sold water and firewood to the Jews. See on :9.
Lamentations 5:5 Our pursuers are on our necks: we are weary, and have no
rest- Again his depression leads to exaggeration; there is no evidence
that the Jews were moved around the Babylonian empire, making them find no
rest. He himself had urged them to build houses in Babylon and settle down
there. Being restless was a result of breaking the covenant (s.w. Dt.
28:65) which Jeremiah had repeatedly accused them of doing. They were
suffering far less than their iniquities deserved. They refused to repent
and in that sense they had no rest to their souls. If they had accepted
the yoke of Babylon, then they could have rested in their own land (s.w.
Jer. 27:11). Jeremiah had advocated accepting this yoke; and yet again he
seems somewhat out of step with God as he complains about it.
Or as Rashi, "But nothing remains for us", an allusion to the heavy taxation imposed by the Persians which the books of Ezra, Nehemiah and the restoration prophets allude to.
Lamentations 5:6 We have given the hand to the Egyptians, to the Assyrians,
to be satisfied with bread-
In line with all the prophecies about this, he ought to have been
repentant for this instead of just lamenting the failure. Jeremiah appears to be writing here at the
time of the siege or even after it, when Egypt was already no longer a
viable help, having been crushed at the battle of Carchemish. And yet even
then it would appear from Ez. 29:16 that they still vainly looked to Egypt
for help, and the survivors of the siege fled there despite being warned
not to. The attraction of trusting human strength rather than Yahweh was
so great. Instead of watching or looking to Egypt they should have looked
to and waited upon Yahweh.
To give the hand was a metaphor for making a covenant agreement. Ez. 17:18 roundly condemns it as unfaithfulness to God. Yet Jeremiah appears to justify the way Judah had done this by saying that they did it "for bread" (Lam. 5:6), as if the famine sent by God to bring about their repentance was so severe that the alliances were not just for political and military protection, but for basic food. This was how low the one time beautiful prostitute of Ez. 16 had fallen; just "for bread" she made the agreements which meant that she had to have the idols of these people in the Jerusalem temple. Clearly these 'givings of the hand' were wrong, and yet Jeremiah laments as if they were somehow justifiable. But Ez. 17 clearly condemns them as immoral acts. For God as Judah's husband would surely provide her with bread. The lack of it was to bring her back to Him, but instead she responded by madly making more spiritually adulterous covenants. We too can respond to God's chastening hand either by total repentance and casting ourselves upon Him, or by madly seeking to get around His chastisement by yet further sin and unfaithfulness.
But perhaps here we have the beginnings of a sense of repentance; for now finally Jeremiah begins to look back at their spiritually adulterous covenants with the nations, and recognizes that their exile is due to that. See on :16.
Lamentations 5:7 Our fathers sinned, and are no more; we have borne their
iniquities-
"And are no more" suggests Jeremiah thought sinners should be punished in their lifetime and there should be no further consequence. And only they should suffer for their sins. He overlooks how sin does have consequence beyond ourselves and beyond our time. He failed to accept the lesson of Adam and Eve".
Lamentations 5:8 Servants rule over us: there is none to deliver us out of
their hand- The servants who ruled over them on behalf of Babylon
were the likes of "Tobiah the servant" (Neh. 2:10,19). It seems that they
made the remaining Jews work for them as slaves and day labourers (:13).
But this was exactly the abuse which they tolerated in their society even
during the siege of Jerusalem; and it was exactly because they refused to
release their servants and stop abusing them, that they became abused
labourers and slaves (Jer. 34:17). So there was in fact a potential
deliverer "out of their hand"; but that depended upon repentance, which is
a theme Jeremiah is so loath to raise.
LXX "there is none to ransom us out of their hand". Isaiah's prophecies are clear that there was a redeemer who would come to Zion, Yahweh Himself was their go'el; but that was to be yet future, and so Jeremiah discounted the wonder of those promises because nothing was happening in the here and now.
Lamentations 5:9 We get our bread at the peril of our lives, because of
the sword of the wilderness- A reference to marauding Arab Bedouin
bands. See on :4. Or, "the heat of the wilderness", leading on to
:10.
Lamentations 5:10 Our skin is black like an oven, because of the burning
heat of famine- After the siege was over, Jerusalem was burnt and the
survivors almost perished of hunger. But famine was a punishment for sin
and breaking the covenant. The prophecies of judgment implied at times
that none would survive. The fact some came out of the fiery oven of
Jerusalem, albeit with blackened skin, was to be seen as a sign of God's
grace- and yet Jeremiah laments it.
Lam. 5, the final prayer, has many references to "our" sufferings, e.g. "we get our bread at the peril of our lives" (Lam. 5:9) means Jeremiah was part of this; whereas initially Jeremiah describes the sufferings of the people: "her people sigh, they seek bread; they trade their treasures for food" (Lam. 1:11). Identity with others is perhaps the peak of spiritual maturity, and was seen in the Lord's death identified with us, which was the peak of His maturity. See on Lam. 1:20. All this is the more wonderful when we realize that God had offered Jeremiah a respectable retirement in Babylon, but he had instead chosen to suffer affliction with God's sinful people. This is the spirit of the cross.
Lamentations 5:11 They ravished the women in Zion, the virgins in the
cities of Judah- "Virgins" can mean simply 'young women'.
Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Hosea have all presented Judah as a prostitute and
unfaithful lover. She had made covenants of unique loyalty with the
nations, undertaking to worship their gods. And then they discovered that
she had made such covenants with multiple nations, and her temple in
Jerusalem was full of the gods of her various lovers. She is therefore
presented as a suffering the judgment of a prostitute, being burnt by
fire; after having her skirts pulled above her head and being gang raped
beforehand for good measure (Jer. 13:22,26 etc.). This is the shocking
picture of her judgment which we find in the prophets.
But Jeremiah so
takes the side of his people that he presents this as meaning that she as
an innocent, upright woman who was raped by some heartless beast.
Lamentations 5:12 Princes were hanged up by their hand: the faces of
elders were not honoured- Hanging up by the hands may have
been in some public humiliation ritual. But this was just as Jeremiah had
foretold: "the princes of Judah, and the princes of Jerusalem... I will
even give them into the hand of their enemies" (Jer. 34:19,20).
The judgment of the royal family and
elders was a major part of Jeremiah's message. And yet he seems to
lament that they were not more respected by their conquerors. On one hand,
his almost fanatical taking of Israel's side, totally identifying with
their feelings, represents the passionate love and pity of God for His
condemned people. And yet on the other hand, Jeremiah appears to be out of
step with God's own perspective on the princes and elders as expressed in
His own word through Jeremiah. Perhaps in this we see Jeremiah revealing
to us the deep tension within God Himself when it came to judging His
people; see on Hos. 11:8.
Lamentations 5:13 The young men were made to grind at the mill; the
children stumbled under the wood-
We note how every member of society is affected. Lam. 5 mentions so many categories: orphans, virgins, young boys, mothers, princes, old men, fathers, elders, young men, women. Jeremiah is particularly concerned about the shame of it all- he speaks of "disgrace" (:1), women raped (:11), young men made to do the work of animals or women (:13), princes hung up by their hands (:12). He is definitely more concerned with the shameful consequence of sin than with the sin itself.
Jer. 52:11 LXX says that the captive Zedekiah was put "in the mill", as if he was in hard labour, now blinded, exactly like Samson (Jud. 16:21), and as the young men were made to (Lam. 5:13). And the similarities continued, in that it seems Zedekiah likewise did finally repent. Perhaps the young men did likewise.
It seems that they made the remaining Jews work for them as slaves and day labourers (:8). But this was exactly the abuse which they tolerated in their society even during the siege of Jerusalem; and it was exactly because they refused to release their servants and stop abusing them, that they became abused labourers and slaves (Jer. 34:17). So there was in fact a potential deliverer "out of their hand"; but that depended upon repentance, which is a theme Jeremiah is so loath to raise.
Lamentations 5:14 The elders have ceased from the gate, the young men from
their music- But there was great corruption in "the gate"; and the
music of the young men was a reflection of their rejection of God. These
young men and elders were those condemned in Am. 6:1-7: "Woe to those who
are at ease in Zion... Those who put far away the evil day, and cause the
seat of violence to come near; who lie on beds of ivory, and stretch
themselves on their couches... who strum on the strings of a harp; who
invent for themselves instruments of music, like David did; who
drink wine in bowls, and anoint themselves with the best oils; but they
are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph. Therefore they will now go
into captivity with the first who go captive; and the feasting and
lounging will end". So again we see Jeremiah in depression focusing just
upon the immediate experience, without wishing to recall the wider
context.
Lamentations 5:15 The joy of our heart is ceased; our dance is turned into
mourning-
The joy of their heart was Zion, which had intended to be called the joy of the whole earth (Lam. 2:15). Ez. 24:25 is clear that the temple was their joy: "I take from them their stronghold, their joy and glory, the delight of their eyes and their soul's desire" (ESV); "I will take away from them the strong Temple that was their pride and joy, which they liked to look at and to visit" (GNB). This reflects their obsession with the building which God had come to despise. Jeremiah had himself spoken of this: "Do not trust in these deceptive words: ‘This is the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD'" (Jer. 7:4). But Jeremiah at this point can't get over the tragedy of it all. Their joy should have been in their relationship with Yahweh and in the Hope before them. Instead it was merely in the symbols of religion and culture. So many forms of Christianity are no better, hence the bitter arguments about any kind of change to the traditions or forms of worship. Being free from this and seeing to the essence is one of the huge advantages of a non denominational view of Christianity. Jeremiah is now at the end of his Lamentations, and he hasn't moved forward in his perceptions of things. Jeremiah had twice prophesied that Zion would dance again at the restoration (Jer. 31:4,13 s.w.). But all he can see is that she is not now dancing. It's like lamenting that now our bodies are weak and mortal, and ignoring the hope of resurrection. The word is used in the Psalms of restoration, when Judah will be called to eternally praise God with dancing (Ps. 149:3; 150:4).
The lack of joy is exactly what Jeremiah had said would happen: "I will silence their shouts of joy and gladness and the happy sounds of wedding feasts" (Jer. 25:10). That their joy should cease was specifically prophesied for their disobedience, in these very Hebrew words (Is. 24:8; Hos. 2:11). And yet Jeremiah laments it. But he surely saw the connection with these prophecies, and that his feelings of lamentation were in fact their fulfilment; and so this leads him to the obvious conclusion: that the real problem is Judah's sin, and they need to repent. As he lamented that the girls were no longer dancing but mourning, his thoughts were led to his own earlier words of Jer. 31:4,13- that a restored, repentant Israel would again dance, and when David repented, his mourning was turned into dancing (s.w. Ps. 30:11). OMIT: And thus we come to the climax of the book, in the unreserved, unqualified repentance of the next five verses.
Lamentations 5:16 The crown is fallen from our head: woe to us! For we
have sinned-
Ez. 21:25-27 had explained that the crown would be restored at Messiah's coming. Jeremiah had prophesied of the ultimately eternal covenant with David, fulfilled in that his great Messianic seed would reign eternally. That didn't mean that the current throne was inviolate or that there wouldn't be a hiatus in Davidic kinship until that time came. But for Jeremiah it was all about the here and now, and the loss of the throne meant the end of everything. In :19,20 he cites the promise of an eternal throne and accuses God of breaking by overthrowing the current throne. He is missing totally the role of the future Messiah.
"We have sinned" is not at all specific; rather like we may
generally accept "We're all terrible sinners" without the specific
repentance God seeks for. And this en passant confession of sin
is nuanced by the comment in :7 that they are suffering because of the
sins of their ancestors. Lamentations 5 offers no climax, no satisfactory
ending, no closure, no voice from God. Jeremiah often addresses God as
"You...", but there is no answering voice from Him. Jeremiah continues to
wallow in the sense that Zion is a victim, and particularly a victim of an
unreasonable God. It makes sense that the book of Lamentations is used by
the Jews at Tisha b’Av
(the Ninth of Av), the day when Jews mourn
the destruction of the first temple and other tragedies. Israel need to
repent and accept their Messiah... not wallow in victimhood. Which is what
Jeremiah is doing in Lamentations.
OMIT: As noted on Lam. 1:1; 3:40, Lam. 5:16-21 is the climax of the book of Lamentations. And the point is that we have here a total confession of sin, and appeal for God to turn them to Himself (:21) and restore His relationship and Kingdom with Judah as before (:21). The book of Lamentations begins with Jeremiah bitterly complaining that God is as good as dead (see on Lam. 1:1), with him looking solely at the tragedy before his eyes, and progresses to a climax of unconditional repentance in Lam. 5:16-21. But the progression is a jagged graph. There have been points at which he does recognize that the sufferings are directly due to Judah's sins, he increasingly sees that there is a future hope and the God of judgment is also a God of grace. And he vaguely implies that repentance is needed, but always quickly returns to accusing God of unreasonable behaviour; and as noted on Lam. 3:40-42, the appeals for repentance are very qualified and still accuse God of injustice. But now in these verses he does speak clearly of the need for repentance, without excuses, justification, reservation or qualification. The path of Jeremiah was intended by God and himself to be that of Israel; for he had so intensely identified with them throughout the Lamentations.
Ezekiel had made it clear that the crown would be removed from Zedekiah until the coming of Messiah. Zedekiaj had sinned and been rejected by God, as Jeremiah had himself pointed out. It was because of this that "the crown" had fallen and the royal family had been ended (s.w. Jer. 13:18; Ez. 21:26). This may appear obvious to us, but in depression and focus upon the immediate tragedy, it was not so obvious to Jeremiah. OMIT: But now he grasps it.
Throughout the book of Jeremiah, and often in Ezekiel, I have made the point that so much hinged upon whether Judah repented after Jerusalem fell. If they did, then the new covenant would have been accepted by them, and the promises of the restored Kingdom would have come true. They generally did not repent, but it was Jeremiah's heartfelt desire that they did, following his own example. And so he wished them to identify with his feelings of anger with God, his struggle with God, his confusion... and thereby to be led to this conclusion of the matter in repentance and desperate appeal for restoration. But it seems Judah got caught up in the early stages of grief, never moved on from them, and failed to follow through to this confession of sin and appeal for restoration which we have in Lam. 5. The last verse of the book (Lam. 5:22) appears starkly out of context with the immediately preceding verses, with their appeal for restoration and confession of sin: "But You have utterly rejected us; You are very angry against us". I suggest this is purposeful, because this is as it were Judah's response to the book and the appeal to repent and appeal for restoration. They remained caught up in their grief and refused to repent and return to God because they considered He had removed Himself too far from them. And so the great prophetic potentials for a repentant Judah, described in such detail in the book of Jeremiah, didn't then come about; although the prophecies are reapplied and rescheduled to fulfilment in the last days.
Lamentations 5:17 For this our heart is faint; for these things our eyes
are dim- The stress is upon "for this"- their sins (:16). Jeremiah's
faint heart (Lam. 1:13 s.w.) was our heart; his sudden
realization of sinfulness and repentance was to be a pattern for them. It
was because of their sin that dimness had come upon them, and they could
not see their way; specifically because they had not given glory to Yahweh
in repentance (Jer. 13:16 cp. Josh. 7:19). And therefore repentance would
give glory to Yahweh, and lift the dimness upon their hearts and eyes.
Or we can simply read this dimness of eyes as another allusion to
the curses for disobedience to the covenant as listed in Dt. 28.
Lamentations 5:18 for the mountain of Zion, which is desolate: the foxes
walk on it- Now he recognizes that the tragic desolation of Zion,
with unclean animals wandering around it, was not so much due to God nor
the Babylonians, as Jeremiah has previously lamented; but was essentially
due to their sins (:16). The sanctuary would be "desolate" because of
their sins (s.w. Lev. 26:31). And after a period of desolation there would
be repentance and restoration (Lev. 26:35,43 s.w.). And so- 'let us repent
right now if we want to see that restoration'. That was the glaringly
obvious conclusion, and now Jeremiah grasps it. The unclean foxes wandered
upon Zion because her prophets had been as foxes (s.w. Ez. 13:4).
Lamentations 5:19 You, Yahweh, remain forever; Your throne is from
generation to generation- If God's rulership would be "forever", then
He must rule or be king over someone. He must therefore always have a
people; and so Jeremiah reasons that God should not forsake His people
"forever". See on :20. Solomon had imagined that Yahweh would "remain
forever" in the temple (s.w. 1 Kings 8:13). The temple was now in ruins,
and so Jeremiah was driven to the conclusion that because Yahweh Himself
would "remain forever", therefore He must indwell not a sacred space, but
a group of people in whom He would dwell by His Spirit. And so He asks God
in :20,21 not to delay, but to revive that people spiritually so that He
might dwell in them. God's eternity was therefore of itself an implication
that He would revive Zion (Ps. 102:12,13). Zion, however it might be
redefined, would "remain forever" as God Himself would (Ps. 125:1).
Jeremiah himself had taught earlier that if Zion repented, then like her
God, her people would "remain forever" (Jer. 17:25; 25:5, also Ez. 37:25).
But this remaining forever was related to entering the new covenant, and
that required repentance; and it required an acceptance of a Messianic
seed of David, whose throne like Yahweh's would be from generation to
generation (Ps. 89:4 s.w.).
Ezekiel 19 had prophesied that the kingdom was to be overturned, "until he come whose right it is". But Jeremiah cannot get over the sense that if the visible throne of the house of David had been overturned, with foxes wandering over Zion (:18), then God's promise of eternal kingship had somehow been falsified. He failed to look to fulfilment in the future Messiah and His Kingdom. Despite having prophesied about it in great detail. Jeremiah will go on to accuse God of forsaking His people for ever... as if to say that God's eternal rulership is irrelevant. He rules for ever but He has chosen not to reign for ever over His people. This ignores the fact that they had rejected the good news of His Kingdom / kingly dominion over them; and that His eternal reign over His people, His Kingdom, is not so much of this world but of the age to come.
There is a marked contrast with the prayer of Ps. 102:12,13, which may even be a corrective to these words of Jeremiah: "You are enthroned forever, Your Name is for generation upon generation. You will rise up and have compassion on Zion". However, rather than reading this as a corrective, I suggest that Jeremiah knew this psalm well [he was after all a priest, and his prophecies make many allusions to the psalms]. And he pointedly refuses to quote the relevant part- that ultimately God will restore Zion. The truth was, that the restoration was not to be in Jeremiah's lifetime. He himself had spoken of at least a 70 year period being necessary. But again, he is hiving off in his brain those parts of God's word that weren't convenient to his desire to remain sitting within his bubble. A bubble of living only in the immediate present, lamenting what was before his eyes, and not looking to the past for explanation nor to the future prospect of eternal restoration. After all, he had himself bought a field, with the implication that he would inherit it after the resurrection in a restored Kingdom.
Likewise Lam 5:22 "But you have utterly rejected us" is a quotation from Ps. 44:9, “But you have rejected us and abased us”. But that Psalm concluded: “Rouse yourself! … Awake! … Rise up! … Redeem us!” (Ps. 44:23-26). Jeremiah puts out of his mind any such possibilities. He prefers to wallow in the present, and his sense of victimhood.
Lamentations 5:20 Why do You forget us forever, and forsake us so long
time?- As explained on :19, this is more of a rhetorical question.
Because Yahweh was to remain forever, and forever have a people; therefore
He would not forget and forsake His people forever. The period between the
fall of Jerusalem and this lamentation was hardly a "long time". Perhaps
that was how Jeremiah felt, as every moment of desolation appeared to drag
eternally. Jeremiah was urging God not to forsake and forget the people,
but to take the initiative in spiritually reviving them (:21). Yet perhaps
Jeremiah was inspired to use this term "so long time" because his words
and feelings here were to be the template and prototype for Judah's final
repentance, whenever that would be, perhaps a "long time" in the future.
In reality, Jeremiah was complaining
that the 70 years was a "long time". But it was only so long for those who
failed to believe in Jeremiah's own prophecies of the restored Kingdom,
and the resurrection to eternal life which they implied.
God envisaged that His suffering people would come to Jeremiah with the "Why?" questions. And he told Jeremiah how to answer them. But instead Jeremiah becomes like the people, feeling and asking the same questions when he on one level knew the answers: "When they ask why I did all these things, tell them, Jeremiah, that just as they turned away from me and served foreign gods in their own land, so they will serve strangers in a land that is not theirs" (Jer. 5:19 GNB).
The language of Lamentations is so similar to that of Isaiah 40-65. If we hold that "Isaiah" didn't really write Isaiah and is a later prophet, then we could say that Jeremiah's depressive laments and false accusations against God are corrected there. But I suggest that Jeremiah knew Isaiah; and is here alluding to those words of Isaiah, saying that indeed this is how it is. But he fails to make any reference to the message of restoration, just as he refuses to allude to his own message about it. Here in Lam. 5:20, Jeremiah sums up his accusations- God has forever forgotten and forsaken Zion. Is. 49:14,15 clearly stated that God never forgot His beloved Zion throughout the exile, and the message of restoration was that He clearly had not forsaken her. Isaiah describes Zion feeling forgotten and forsaken- but answers that. Likewise Lamentations frequently complains that there is no comfort for Zion; in Is. 40 and throughout second Isaiah we have the very clear message that Yahweh will indeed comfort Zion. Lam. 2:10 has weeping Zion sitting on the ground having lost her children- exactly the image of Zion in Isaiah, although it is nuanced with the wonderful message of restoration and the return of her children. See on Lam. 4:1 for another example.
Lamentations 5:21 Turn us to Yourself, Yahweh, and we shall be turned.
Renew our days as of old- This is the climax of the Lamentations. The
appeal is not just for Judah to repent as Jeremiah, their representative,
had done. Recognizing how critical is repentance in the return and
restoration, it is asking God to take the initiative and give the people
repentance. There is again the play on the word shub; returning /
repenting would be the basis for God's returning and restoring of His
people. The new covenant involved an offer of God's direct working upon
the heart of His people, turning them so that they repented (see on Jer.
31:19). Repentance itself [not just forgiveness] is therefore a gift (Acts
3:26; 11:18)- to those who want it, or for those who have the likes of
Jeremiah praying for them to receive it. And those who accept the new
covenant today experience this same gift of the Spirit. And now Jeremiah
begs for this gift of the new covenant to be given to his people, so that
the restoration of the kingdom as in the "days of old" can begin. "Renew"
is also translated 'rebuild', and is used of the rebuilding at the
restoration (s.w. Is. 61:4). He asks "return us", and Ibn Ezra
interprets "To the city of the dwelling place (sanctuary) of your name,
and we shall return to serving (worshipping) You as in days of old". The
reality was that when the call to return was made under Cyrus, most
weren't interested; and those who did return were poorly motivated and
repeated the essential sins of their ancestors, as the restoration
prophets make clear. Jeremiah is asking that the prophecies of renewal or
restoration be fulfilled immediately. He is asking that the prophecy of
the 70 years exile be somehow not fulfilled. We know from Jer. 1:3 that
Lamentations comes after all Jeremiah's prophesying had finished, and he
laments in Lamentations that now no more visions were being given to the
prophets.
We noted earlier that Jeremiah argues that 'We have sinned- but You haven't forgiven'. It's rather the same here. "Restore us that we may return" is totally overlooking the repeated requirement for the Jews to return to God and then they would return to their land and their God would return to them. The exiles were told this clearly in Zech. 1:3: "‘Return to me,’ declares Yahweh of Armies , ‘and I will return to you’". Jeremiah will conclude with the comment "But You have utterly rejected / despised us" (:22). The "but" suggests that God had refused to return the people, to make them repent, because He was so angry with them and even despised them. Jeremiah concludes by blasphemously blaming their lack of repentance upon God. Despite his occasional references to Judah's sin, his focus is on the consequences of the sin being so huge- just as so many people today. Like Lamentations, they lament sin's consequences rather than repent of the sin. There is absolutely no taking of personal guilt. Whilst Jeremiah commendably identifies with his people, to the point he feels their suffering, he doesn't identify with their guilt. Here we see the supremacy of the Lord Jesus, who did identify not only with the judgment for sin, but with our sin- to the point he became the guilt offering.
"Renew our days" is a big slip back from Jeremiah's fleeting perception that God's mercies are renewed every morning (Lam. 3:23); the very gift of life means we are in receipt of His grace. David asked "Renew [s.w.] a right spirit within me" (Ps. 51:10), but this was after his specific repentance.
Lamentations 5:22 But You have utterly rejected us; You are very angry
against us-
This could be read as by the LXX in the past tense: "For thou hast indeed
rejected us; thou hast been very wroth against us", as if it is yet
another statement that God's judgments of them were just. But as explained
on :16, it may be an intended juxtaposition with the preceding impassioned
statement of repentance and begging for restoration; and the point would
be that because they did not repent, God's rejection of them continued.
Jeremiah’s prophecies of gracious restoration were known by the exiles;
but many passages in Isaiah, the Psalms (e.g. Ps. 137:7-9) and
Lamentations indicate that the exiles had little conviction they would be
fulfilled, considering Judah as “utterly rejected” by God, and just
getting on with their lives in Babylon without any real hope in God’s
salvation. Considering the prosperity of their lives there, this was an
all too convenient conclusion for them to draw. Once again we see that
false interpretation of Scripture invariably has a moral subtext to it.
And the belief that God is so angry with our sins that we have no real
chance of revival... is attractive because it enables us to remain in our
status quo, no matter how miserable it is. The conservatism of human
nature makes this sadly so attractive to many people, as it was to Judah.
At best, Jeremiah concludes in confusion. He leaves the entire, oft promised "Hope of Israel" as open to question: "renew our days as of old- unless You have utterly rejected us, and are angry with us beyond measure?". This at best is manipulative. Unless there was immediate restoration, Jeremiah considered God's anger as "beyond measure", totally out of proportion to the sin. And thus he concludes. Jeremiah's inability to understand what was happening contrasts with the assurances that finally God's true people would understand: "The LORD's anger is a storm, a furious wind that will rage over the heads of the wicked. It will not end until he has done all that he intends to do. In days to come his people will understand this clearly" (Jer. 30:23,24 GNB). The other four laments all conclude with imprecations against Judah's enemies, wishing judgment upon them. Chapter 5 doesn't feature that, concluding simply with a crushing sense of Divine rejection.
The sense could be "Although we have sinned, [nonetheless] You should not have been angered as much as You have been" (Rashi). In which case, this is a sad conclusion to the book. Like Job, Jeremiah feels Judah had been hard done by. He accepts they had sinned, but feels such judgment is not commensurate. He had failed to learn the lesson of Adam and Eve, that "just" one sin leads to judgment and rightful suffering and death. This is likewise the problem of relatively pious religious church going folks who consider their sins as surface level, and discount sins of youth [as Job did]. Jeremiah here in this final statement doesn't make some humble statement as we perhaps are built up to hope for and expect... Nor is there here any clear statement of future hope, despite Jeremiah himself having given such hope in his prophecies of the new covenant, and arguing in Lam. 3 that his salvation from the dungeon meant that Judah likewise could be saved. We rather expect, in the spirit of many of the psalms, for the conclusion to be of future hope. But we are disappointed. The feeling that "there is no possible hope" (Lam. 2:13 GNB) pervades most of the book and it is here at the end. There is no sense of progression. Chapter 3 introduces a ray of hope for Jeremiah personally, and he hopes that his hope will be Judah's hope for some immediate reversal of their fortunes. But that isn't what happened; his own prophecy of 70 years exile had to be factored in. Which raises the question of why we have Lamentations in the Bible, or indeed, why Lamentations was written. For it isn't simply an out pouring of grief. Each chapter has 22 verses, the number of letters in the Hebrew alphabet; apart from chapter 3 which has 66, i.e. 3 x 22. And apart from chapter 5, the chapters / laments are all acrostics. They are not, therefore, simply the raw record of Jeremiah crying out to God. That raw nature still comes through, but it has been carefully written down in a memorable form. Why? Quite possibly in the spirit of "lest we forget"; for as the exile went on, the memory of what happened at the temple's destruction would have receded. Why do we need to read it? Quite possibly because as with much of the book of Job, it stands as a record of how not to deal with suffering; it remains a challenge to us all to take responsibility for our sin, to humble ourselves beneath it. And yet also, like Jeremiah, to be able to identify with those who suffer, even if they are very different from us and even if they have been our enemies.
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