LESSON 1, INTRODUCTION:

The next few days will lead us to the Old Testament Book of "Lamentations," the Lord willing. Perhaps the "saddest" Book in the Bible. Five chapters, one hundred fifty-four verses, sorrow upon sorrow!

But not undeserved pain, rather ... all because of blatant disobedience to Almighty God!

Let me share with you some foundational facts about Lamentations today. Then, tomorrow, we shall wade into the Book. I do not intend a total verse-by-verse exposition. Rather, a survey.

First, the Book is almost an appendage to the great Prophecy of Jeremiah. It begins where the "Fall of Jerusalem" occurs, carefully depicted by Jeremiah himself. He being an eye-witness!

National sorrow!

The Book is one of the most lucid "laments" in all world literature, except divinely inspired by the Holy Spirit of God.

Traditionally the Prophet Jeremiah is credited as being the writer as well. Though his name is not in the Book, per se. One reason for this "authorship" idea is that Jeremiah's personality "matches" that of the Book of Lamentations. That great man of God "wept" much. "Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!" Jeremiah 9:1

The Book is certainly among the Bible's less studied Documents, too.

It's not "popular" these days to think of sorrow. Or to highlight suffering. We'd, in many areas of Christendom, rather hear about "blessings!" About how God can lavishly provide all our needs! About "health" and "wealth," not the sure "consequences" of sin!

It looks to me like part of the Book is written from the "sufferers" point of view. And part written from "God's" perspective. And there just might be therein a note of "Revival" too!

Plus, one of the greatest paragraphs in all Scripture about the absolute faithfulness of God! "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." Wow, hope from Lamentations 3:22-25, from God's Very Character!

Join us for these Lessons!

After all, to every single nation on earth, the Message from God is still "Repent or face Judgment!"

Psalm 9:17 in fact states it. "The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God."

More tomorrow, the Lord willing.

                  --- Dr. Mike Bagwell

LESSON 2, INTRODUCTION TO CHAPTER 1, A SAD CITY:

Think of the planning necessary to write a story, any story, letting each new sentence begin with a certain predetermined letter of your alphabet!

That's what has been done in the Old Testament Book of Lamentations!

And it is not a story! Or not just a story. It is history! A factual account of a Nation suffering then nearly dying!

Writing non-fiction, that precisely!

And still being accurate.

Really, four of Lamentations' five chapters are so arranged. Perhaps not without exception, but nearly so. Close enough that it is apparent, the goal in the author's mind.

Why?

Why write prose in such a poetic manner?

The most common answer is that such a pattern aids memory. And yes, Jewish boys and girls (along with every priest, rabbi) did learn by heart these words. All 154 verses!

Yet does such consistency also "hint" that the judgments being so clearly described are also "in precise order?"

God warned His people, both in Deuteronomy and Leviticus, what would happen if they persistently disobeyed.

And in Lamentations ... God unfolds His litany of "punishment for sin" ... exactly as He promised it!

Lamentations chapter 1 gives us an overview of the City, Jerusalem, during her lowest moments, during and after her "Fall" to Babylon. Here's verse 1 for a sample: "How doth the city sit solitary, that was full of people! how is she become as a widow! she that was great among the nations, and princess among the provinces, how is she become tributary!"

The first word in Hebrew, the "how" in English, begins with a "aleph," the "a" in Hebrew! It's "silent," but it's there! Like "aeykah."

It's an interjection!

A cry of surprise, shock!

Jeremiah, the writer, is "overcome" by what he sees! "How doth the city sit solitary, that was full of people! 

"Solitary" means "in isolation!"

She who was the daughter of God ... now a widow lady! Her Husband, because of her rebellion, has forsaken her! She is here called a "widow" because all her men are dead, killed in battle or tortured to death after the battle!

"How doth the city sit solitary, that was full of people! how is she become as a widow! she that was great among the nations, and princess among the provinces, how is she become tributary!"

The adjective "tributary" is "mas" in Hebrew. It means "forced into slavery." Made to pay "tribute" to an invading power!

Why this suffering, which here is just beginning?

Lamentations 5:16 most succinctly tells the answer. "The crown is fallen from our head: woe unto us, that we have sinned!"

We have sinned.

Nations, beware!

              --- Dr. Mike Bagwell

LESSON 3, LAMENTATIONS 1:20-21, TELL IT TO JESUS:

We have all sung the old Hymn "Tell It To Jesus," probably many times. But today's Text from Lamentations chapter 1 illustrates that admonition is a new way. A sad way, really.

Jerusalem, corporately, I mean as a City, her whole people ... are under God's Hand of chastisement. Because of many years of unconfessed sin.

An enemy nation has overrun her.

She is under attack.

She is starving.

She is dying.

And she knows God has done these things to her. She is the subject of His Wrath. Punishment for iniquity!

And what do the people do?

Or at least what does Jeremiah (the writer of Lamentations we believe) do? Speaking for his City?

They bring their woes to God!

The omniscient God, already knowing everything, must be told of her sufferings!

Again, "Tell it to Jesus!"

Lamentations 1:20-21 loudly cries: "Behold, O LORD; for I am in distress: my bowels are troubled; mine heart is turned within me; for I have grievously rebelled: abroad the sword bereaveth, at home there is as death. They have heard that I sigh: there is none to comfort me: all mine enemies have heard of my trouble; they are glad that thou hast done it."

Wow!

What a commentary on the "wages" of sin!

"Distress" means a "narrow, tight, cramped" place.

"Troubled" means "boiling, foaming up, fermenting!"

Yet she (the City) does confess her wrong! "I have grievously rebelled." In Hebrew it's "marah marah." Like "stubbornly I fought and contended" against Almighty God.

Death by sword ... outside her walls.

Death by starving ... inside her walls!

The verb "sigh" means "to groan," here in agony!

And to top it all, she has "none" to "comfort" her!

Implying, God too has forsaken her!

It's Isaiah 59:2-3 come alive! "Your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear. For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, your tongue hath muttered perverseness."

Wow!

God does "whip" His erring children!

And Israel just can't help it! It's Jeremiah's second nature. Tell the Lord all about your heartaches.

He sent them.

He can stop them.

He knows our hearts.

Oh yes, "Tell it to Jesus."

Whatever "it" is.

                  --- Dr. Mike Bagwell

LESSON 4, SOME GENERAL FACTS:

One cannot help but notice that the Book's five chapters are "stamped" with the number twenty-two! Chapter 1 has 22 verses. So do chapters 2 and 4 and 5. And the middle chapter, number 3, has triple that number, 22 x 3 = 66 verses! Yesterday I learned that to the Hebrew mind that was the number of "completeness." Possibly because or partly because there are 22 letters in the Hebrew alphabet, I suspect.

Therefore I assume that Lamentations is the Bible's most "complete" Book on sorrow and grief and the expression of suffering.

Wow!

And, except for chapter 5, each of the units of Lamentations is a "poem." For that reason, some of the teachers of the Book call its author a "poet." Indeed he is!

Also one teacher discovered that the Book is not one of "self-pity," but of "confession" of sin, of guilt, of rebellion against God!

Another called Lamentations a "supplement" to the great Book of Jeremiah! That's why it (a little Book of poetry) is positioned next to Jeremiah (a big book of prose, of prophecy) in our Bibles.

And the Jews today still read Lamentations, out loud,  both privately and publicly, every single year! In mid-July, at a time when they commemorate the destruction of the Temple and the sacking of Jerusalem by the Babylonians back in 586 BC.

Then someone said that Lamentations is a "theodicy." A Book defending God's actions against His people, because of their wicked behavior.

And through the years, we Preachers seem to have shunned the Book of Lamentations. Seldom does its amazing Passages get preached. Yet it is the inspired Word of God!

Today I have inserted this list of "facts" about Lamentations. Tomorrow, the Lord willing, we shall "wade" into chapter two. A chapter where GOD seems to be in focus, much more than in chapter one anyway.

See what I mean. "How hath the Lord covered the daughter of Zion with a cloud in his anger, and cast down from heaven unto the earth the beauty of Israel, and remembered not his footstool in the day of his anger! The Lord hath swallowed up all the habitations of Jacob, and hath not pitied: he hath thrown down in his wrath the strong holds of the daughter of Judah; he hath brought them down to the ground: he hath polluted the kingdom and the princes thereof. He hath cut off in his fierce anger all the horn of Israel: he hath drawn back his right hand from before the enemy, and he burned against Jacob like a flaming fire, which devoureth round about. He hath bent his bow like an enemy: he stood with his right hand as an adversary, and slew all that were pleasant to the eye in the tabernacle of the daughter of Zion: he poured out his fury like fire. The Lord was as an enemy: he hath swallowed up Israel, he hath swallowed up all her palaces: he hath destroyed his strong holds, and hath increased in the daughter of Judah mourning and lamentation." Lamentations 2:1-5, count the times the "Lord" is mentioned!

Wow!

              --- Dr. Mike Bagwell

Yes, sin does have "wages!"

LESSON 5, LAMENTATIONS CHAPTER 2:

I'd like to focus on chapter 2 today, Lamentations. To me it seems to focus on God Himself, perhaps a little more so than the Book's other 4 chapters.

I've scanned the 22 verses, chapter 2, and find God doing some "strange" things! And that's the precise adjective Isaiah uses of God's acts of judgment! "For the LORD shall rise up as in mount Perazim, he shall be wroth as in the valley of Gibeon, that he may do his work, his strange work; and bring to pass his act, his strange act." Isaiah 28:22, where God twice visited remarkable judgment upon the wicked, both at Perazim and Gibeon.

Yes, God does judge sin!

Especially long-abiding sin.

Unconfessed sin.

Habitual sin.

In Lamentations 2 alone ...

Verse 1 ... "The Lord covered the daughter of Zion with a cloud in his anger, and cast down from heaven unto the earth the beauty of Israel." Then more, God became so "angry" He "remembered not His footstool," his very place of abode, the Temple itself!

Verse 2 ... "The Lord hath swallowed up all the habitations of Jacob, and hath not pitied: he hath thrown down in his wrath the strong holds of the daughter of Judah; he hath brought them down to the ground." Wow!

Verse 3 ... "He (God) hath cut off in his fierce anger all the horn (strength power) of Israel: he hath drawn back his right hand from before the enemy (no longer withholding the enemy)."

Verse 4 ... "God slew all that were pleasant to the eye in the tabernacle of the daughter of Zion." Killed so-called worshippers!

Verse 5 ... part of it ... "The Lord was as an enemy: he hath swallowed up Israel, he hath swallowed up all her palaces." This time the rich people, dwellers in "palaces," are "hurt" too!

Verse 6 ... the whole text ... "And he, the Lord, hath violently taken away his tabernacle, as if it were of a garden: he hath destroyed his places of the assembly: the LORD hath caused the solemn feasts and sabbaths to be forgotten in Zion, and hath despised in the indignation of his anger the king and the priest."

Verse 7 ... more tragedy ... "The Lord hath cast off his altar, he hath abhorred his sanctuary, he hath given up into the hand of the enemy the walls of her palaces." Turned against His Own Temple, because of the wickedness of the Jews!

Verse 8 ... said of God of course ... "He hath not withdrawn his hand from destroying." God the Destroyer!

Verse 9 ... God has quit speaking to His men, to the Prophets ... because of their insincerity ... "Her prophets also find no vision from the Lord."

Verse 17 ... "The LORD hath done that which he had devised; he hath fulfilled his word that he had commanded in the days of old: he hath thrown down, and hath not pitied: and he hath caused thine enemy to rejoice over thee, he hath set up the horn (power, strength) of thine adversaries." God always keeps His Word!

Verse 22 ... a summary ... "In the day of the LORD'S anger none escaped nor remained." The total dismantling of a nation!

God is "more" than just Grace and Love and Joy!

He is also "Righteousness!"

And One Who punishes sin, blatant sin, rebellious sin.

And surely Lamentations chapter 2 is proof.

By the way, Psalm 9:17 seems to suggest God is no "Respecter of Nations," either. "The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God."

Indeed.

                  --- Dr. Mike Bagwell

LESSON 6, LAMENTATIONS 3:1-14, WHAT WORD PICTURES:

If Jeremiah is the writer, and we believe he is, he opens his heart in Lamentations chapter three, as few people have ever done!

I am really beginning to believe we learn as much about that great Prophet from this "small" little Book of Lamentations ... as we do from the "long" massive Book of Jeremiah itself!

He's quite an author, too! He knows how to write using "word-pictures." Graphic, pitiful as well, are his opening verses in Lamentations' middle chapter.

"I am the man that hath seen affliction by the rod of his wrath. He hath led me, and brought me into darkness, but not into light. Surely against me is he turned; he turneth his hand against me all the day. My flesh and my skin hath he made old; he hath broken my bones. He hath builded against me, and compassed me with gall and travail. He hath set me in dark places, as they that be dead of old. He hath hedged me about, that I cannot get out: he hath made my chain heavy. Also when I cry and shout, he shutteth out my prayer. He hath inclosed my ways with hewn stone, he hath made my paths crooked. He was unto me as a bear lying in wait, and as a lion in secret places. He hath turned aside my ways, and pulled me in pieces: he hath made me desolate. He hath bent his bow, and set me as a mark for the arrow. He hath caused the arrows of his quiver to enter into my reins. I was a derision to all my people; and their song all the day." Lamentations 3:1-14, nearly a random sampling, but very typical.

I think here, too, that Jeremiah wavers between his grief at the collective suffering of his people, the Jews ... and his own personal pressures, persecutions for following Almighty God.

Let's review our Text ...

God's wrath had indeed fallen upon Judah, Jerusalem! Jeremiah "identifies" with his townspeople. "I am the man that hath seen affliction by the rod of his wrath." The "his" is God, for sure. God is "beating" His people! "Affliction" here means "poverty, misery." And the Prophet is an "eyewitness" to these calamities! "Hath seen" is the verb used of shepherds watching their flocks!

The great Prophet of Truth has now, via suffering and pain, been brought into "darkness!" At least temporarily! "The Lord hath led me, and brought me into darkness, but not into light."

The Old Testament is replete with the image of God's Hand being "for" His people. Jabez prayed for such! So did Nehemiah. But with Jeremiah ... "Surely against me is he (the Lord) turned; he turneth his hand against me all the day." Wow, "against" me, the Prophet moans!

Can God control the "aging" process? Does constant pressure, stress, sorrow ... make a man or woman look older? "My flesh and my skin hath God made old; he hath broken my bones." Wow, not psychosomatic, either!

This line speaks for itself. "He hath builded against me, and compassed me with gall and travail." The verb "compassed," just like it appears, means "surrounded." The noun "gall" can mean "venom, poison!"

It is apparently like Jeremiah is already in the "grave" ... prematurely. Read this. "He hath set me in dark places, as they that be dead of old." The Old Testament does not have as clear a view of Heaven as the New Testament. But rest assured, Jeremiah is in darkness no longer! He lived those last few years in an atmosphere of death!

Now he's bound in chains, like a prisoner! Hemmed in, by the hand of God. "He hath hedged me about, that I cannot get out: he hath made my chain heavy." The City was under Babylonian siege for months and months!

It is as if God no longer even "hears" Jeremiah's prayers. Or the Nation's wailings! "Also when I cry and shout, he shutteth out my prayer." How forsaken that sounds. Praying even "louder" to be heard, yet to no avail!

Now the frequent, beautiful Bible metaphor of walking a "straight path" is here overturned. "He hath inclosed my ways with hewn stone, he hath made my paths crooked." Blocked in and confused, made to walk "crooked" or "twisted, distorted" paths!

Wow!

Now, having just read those nine verses, can anyone still believe that sin has no "wages?"

Not counting the rest of the Text, five more verses! "He (God) was unto me as a bear lying in wait, and as a lion in secret places. He hath turned aside my ways, and pulled me in pieces: he hath made me desolate. He hath bent his bow, and set me as a mark for the arrow. He hath caused the arrows of his quiver to enter into my reins. I was a derision to all my people; and their song all the day."

The last sentence is more personal, I think. Not just the nation collectively, though that's true, but the man himself. "I was a derision to all my people; and their song all the day."

Once again I suggest, if God did THIS to His very Own people, Israel and Judah, because of their habitual, adamant sinning ... might He not also do this to other nations?

He did such to the whole wicked world in Noah's day.

And think of Sodom.

And Egypt.

And Babylon.

I'm just wondering, what about America?

                  --- Dr. Mike Bagwell

LESSON 7, LAMENTATIONS 3:19-21, A PROGRESSION:

Today I'd like us to see three short verses near the middle of chapter three of Lamentations. They introduce the theme of "hope" into the book! Yes, Jeremiah was the "weeping" Prophet, but he was also a "trusting" Prophet! Trusting in the Lord.

"Remembering mine affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall. My soul hath them still in remembrance, and is humbled in me. This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope." Jeremiah 3:19-21

In the first verse of this precious little "trio" we see the heartache again, a Nation ruined. And its last major "man of God" heartbroken. "Remembering mine affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall." And knowing too, that all this is because of sin! The idea of "affliction" is being "pressed down" with weight, heavy burdens, multiple problems. "Misery" has the idea of a person being "restless," even "homeless." Cast out, in reality a "refugee." And "wormwood and gall" are both "poisonous." Bitter, too!

In the next verse we see the proper response to such circumstances. Not anger at God! Not "dropping out" of life! But "humility" of heart! Learning from one's hard times. "My soul hath them still in remembrance, and is humbled in me." The verb translated "is humbled" means "bowed down," willingly. "To sink down," in the present tense. Hence, "lowly" before Almighty God! It is the "humble" man God can use. The "proud" man, humility's opposite, is an affront to the Lord.

Then, in the last verse it happens! "Hope" appears! But it will only come if the first two verses are applied. Remembering one's chastisements, whippings from the Lord! Letting them bring us "low" before the Him, more humble. And then ... "This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope."

Hope!

The adverb "therefore" means "as a result, consequently, thus, so." It's spelled "chen" in Hebrew.

And "I have hope" is "yachal" in Hebrew, as Jeremiah would have written it. It means "to wait, to expect," thus "to hope" for here ... the Lord!

For the Lord to intervene!

The Lord to change things!

Even if it means changing Jeremiah!

Or the situation in Judah!

Or absolutely nothing!

This hope is not attached to any particular set of results ... but a fixation on the Lord God alone!

A trusting in His Character, His Person, His Essence!

I believe you will see the progression, the growth, the maturity in these verses! "Remembering mine affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall. My soul hath them still in remembrance, and is humbled in me. This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope."

See if you can!

Not only is growth "possible" during one's afflictions, it may be "most rapid" during those times!

Here's what the Psalmist says about our theme. "It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes." Wow, Psalm 119:71

               --- Dr. Mike Bagwell

LESSON 8, LAMENTATIONS 3:22-24, THE "HIGH POINT" OF THE BOOK:

I quote a godly author, concerning the Book of Lamentations, chapter three. "Jeremiah now turns from contemplating his misery to remembering God's Mercy!" That's exactly what happens, especially in today's Text!

"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." Lamentations 3:22-24

The "high point" of the Book, in many ways!

"Consumed" means "to be completely at the end!"

Israel was chastened severely ... but she survives!

Because of God's "Mercies!" The Hebrew noun used here is "hesed," found 248 times in the Old Testament. It means "kindness, favor, goodness." And here it's plural! Mercy after Mercy after Mercy! A cascading Waterfall, multiple Showers of Blessings! "Not giving Judah what she really deserved," another definition of "Mercy!"

"Fail" not means "cease" not. These kindnesses typically never end. They don't even "faint!" They never "waste away."

God is whipping Judah for her sins ... yet He too is still loving her! "Because His Compassions fail not. The noun "racham" means "bowels" or "womb" quite often. From "deep down inside" ... God cares!

God's mercies and compassions are here said to be "new" every morning! And "chadash" means "fresh!" It can be translated "repaired, renewed, made new!" Wow, what a Revival thought!

"Great is Thy Faithfulness!"

No wonder they write songs about Him! "Great" is an adjective meaning "many, much, multiple, more and more, longer and longer!" Nearly "ever expanding!"

And "faithfulness" is a derivative of the Hebrew word for "Truth!" Anything God does is founded upon Truth! He keeps His Word! He is dependable, sure, established!

Then Jeremiah gives his testimony. The "secret" of His life in God, in Christ we would say. The LORD is my portion, saith my soul."

The noun "portion" is "cheleq," actually "inheritance!" Or "territory, part, parcel." It's a surveyor's term too, "my lot, my homestead."

It's similar to what Jesus meant when He told the Disciples, "I have meat to eat that ye know not of." John 4:32

Jeremiah "lives" in God!

God is the Prophet's "Everything!" Psalm 87:7 quips this idea, "Lord, all my springs are in Thee!"

Therefore, "consequently, as a result." Jeremiah is resolved to "hope in God!" With the verb "yachal" meaning "to wait, to expect, to tarry, to trust." Absolutely amazing!

"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." Lamentations 3:22-24

Folks, this Text is worth memorizing!

In the darkness of midnight ... circumstantially ... Jeremiah finds noontime sunlight ... spiritually! Where? In Almighty God, who is ultra faithful! "Omni-faithful," if the word exists!

Here's God's well-known Self-Description: "The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin." Exodus 34:6

Wow!

               --- Dr. Mike Bagwell

LESSON 9, LAMENTATIONS 3:25-40:

I admire Bible teachers who see "principles" of truth embedded in obscure Texts! Of course the Holy Spirit is our Teacher in such fertile areas. And today I'd like to share an example of such "incisiveness."

I will use Lamentations chapter 3 again. But today as a "Lesson in Bible Study" paradigm. So our "pericope" (a paragraph "cut out" from its entire chapter, not divorced from its context, "cut out" to allow some brevity of discussion) encircles verses 25 through 40.

I shall not print here all 16 verses, but will refer to each "point" as I share the appropriate "principles." I hope this makes sense. If not now, it surely will as I begin the exposition.

Principles taught in Holy Scripture about our enduring Suffering, Hardship, Trials in the Christian Life:

One, never lose hope! No matter how bad things get! "Bear" the yoke, endure suffering as a good soldier! Watch your words! Yield to the trails if they are a result of one's sins! Do not resist, a lesson Jeremiah tried to relate to Judah in her last days! These thoughts are taken from Lamentations 3:25-30. See how "close" you think I am. "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. It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth. He sitteth alone and keepeth silence, because he hath borne it upon him. He putteth his mouth in the dust; if so be there may be hope. He giveth his cheek to him that smiteth him: he is filled full with reproach."

Two, affliction for the child of God is temporary. God's Mercy always prevails, ultimately. Either here on earth, or afterwards in Heaven. Lamentations 3:31-32 is the basis of such a thought! "For the Lord will not cast off for ever: but though he cause grief, yet will he have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies."

Wow!

Three, God does not delight in affliction! He is not some kind of a Heavenly Sadist. Lamentations 3:33, an easy-to-remember reference! "For he doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men." Isaiah adds: "In all their (the Jews) affliction he (the Lord) was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them: in his love and in his pity he redeemed them." Isaiah 63:9

Four, God does not approve and will not sanction "wrongful" suffering. If we're being "whipped, chastened" for our wrongs ... God will usually allow it. If we are suffering for righteousness' sake ... God will sooner or later intervene. Or handsomely reward in Heaven! "To crush under his feet all the prisoners of the earth, to turn aside the right of a man before the face of the most High, to subvert a man in his cause, the Lord approveth not." Lamentations 3:34-36.

Five, no matter what's happening, God is in control. No Higher Power exists beyond Him. "Who is he that saith, and it cometh to pass, when the Lord commandeth it not? Out of the mouth of the most High proceedeth not evil and good?" Amazing, Lamentations 3:37-38!

Six, why complain when what one is undergoing, terrible trials, is the result of his or her own sins? We do reap what we sow! "Wherefore doth a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins?" Lamentations 3:39

Seven, the last of our Text, suffering and persecution are designed, if we have erred from God, to turn us back to Him! Lamentations 3:40 "preaches" this! "Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the LORD."

In one elongated Text ... seven "theorems" of Truth!

Mercy! The power and scope and depth of Scripture! The Bible, indeed a God-breathed Book!

                   --- Dr. Mike Bagwell

These Truths work to encourage us. Not simply as they sit on paper ... but as lived day by day in the furnace of affliction.

May God bless our suffering brothers and sisters in Christ today, and tomorrow and forever more!

LESSON 10, JEREMIAH AT PRAYER:

Jeremiah was not only a "weeping" Prophet, but also a "praying" one! And in Lamentations chapter three, the last half of the chapter, is recorded one of the man's many Bible prayers.

Really a long prayer, Lamentations 3:41-66.

In verses 41-47 of his intercession Jeremiah urges the people to repent. To turn from the many sins which brought God's judgment upon them in the first place. Read this. It's nearly self-explanatory. "Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens. We have transgressed and have rebelled: thou hast not pardoned. Thou hast covered with anger, and persecuted us: thou hast slain, thou hast not pitied. Thou hast covered thyself with a cloud, that our prayer should not pass through. Thou hast made us as the offscouring and refuse in the midst of the people. All our enemies have opened their mouths against us. Fear and a snare is come upon us, desolation and destruction." Praying in first person plural!

Then Jeremiah prays more personally, more experientially. Listen to his broken heart: "Mine eye runneth down with rivers of water for the destruction of the daughter of my people. Mine eye trickleth down, and ceaseth not, without any intermission, till the LORD look down, and behold from heaven. Mine eye affecteth mine heart because of all the daughters of my city." He will not quit praying (or crying) until God intervenes, verses 48-51.

Next the man of God uses himself as an example. He too had suffered, been chased by enemies! But he took all those events to the Lord, in prayer. So must the Nation! "Mine enemies chased me sore, like a bird, without cause. They have cut off my life in the dungeon, and cast a stone upon me. Waters flowed over mine head; then I said, I am cut off. I called upon thy name, O LORD, out of the low dungeon." Verses 52-55, Lamentations 3, a man who "lived" right!

Did God answer Jeremiah? When he was in that dungeon? Can God answer Judah in her extremity? Verses 56-58 tell us. "Thou hast heard my voice: hide not thine ear at my breathing, at my cry. Thou drewest near in the day that I called upon thee: thou saidst, Fear not. O Lord, thou hast pleaded the causes of my soul; thou hast redeemed my life." Victory!

Then Jeremiah prays something quite strange. But he "relates" it here for Judah's sake. God eventually punished those who so hated Jeremiah. And God would too punish those who have tried to annihilate Judah and Israel! This is called imprecation. "O LORD, thou hast seen my wrong: judge thou my cause. Thou hast seen all their vengeance and all their imaginations against me. Thou hast heard their reproach, O LORD, and all their imaginations against me; the lips of those that rose up against me, and their device against me all the day. Behold their sitting down, and their rising up; I am their musick. Render unto them a recompence, O LORD, according to the work of their hands. Give them sorrow of heart, thy curse unto them. Persecute and destroy them in anger from under the heavens of the LORD." Wow! And God did all that and more to the Babylonians for their mistreating the Jews! Verses 59-66, the last of the chapter.

And as I close today, just a reminder. God answers our prayers too!

Even during the hard times.

                       --- Dr. Mike Bagwell

LESSON 11, LAMENTATIONS 4:1-11, PARALLELISM:

It's called "parallelism." And the Old Testament employs this little literary device a lot! Two sets of thoughts laid side by side, and matching in several ways. And Lamentations 4:1-11 provides us a good example of such.

Let me show you.

First, Lamentations 4:1-6 ...

¹ How is the gold become dim! how is the most fine gold changed! the stones of the sanctuary are poured out in the top of every street. ² The precious sons of Zion, comparable to fine gold, how are they esteemed as earthen pitchers, the work of the hands of the potter! ³ Even the sea monsters draw out the breast, they give suck to their young ones: the daughter of my people is become cruel, like the ostriches in the wilderness. ⁴ The tongue of the sucking child cleaveth to the roof of his mouth for thirst: the young children ask bread, and no man breaketh it unto them. ⁵ They that did feed delicately are desolate in the streets: they that were brought up in scarlet embrace dunghills. ⁶ For the punishment of the iniquity of the daughter of my people is greater than the punishment of the sin of Sodom, that was overthrown as in a moment, and no hands stayed on her.

Then its "matching" set of thoughts, Lamentations 4:7-11 ...

⁷ Her Nazarites were purer than snow, they were whiter than milk, they were more ruddy in body than rubies, their polishing was of sapphire: ⁸ Their visage is blacker than a coal; they are not known in the streets: their skin cleaveth to their bones; it is withered, it is become like a stick. ⁹ They that be slain with the sword are better than they that be slain with hunger: for these pine away, stricken through for want of the fruits of the field. ¹⁰ The hands of the pitiful women have sodden their own children: they were their meat in the destruction of the daughter of my people. ¹¹ The LORD hath accomplished his fury; he hath poured out his fierce anger, and hath kindled a fire in Zion, and it hath devoured the foundations thereof.

Conditions "before" and "after" the Babylonian siege, a horrible time of judgment because of years and years of unconfessed sin on Judah's part.

Now watch the similarities.

In both verses 1 and 2 as well as 7 and 8 ... devaluation because of sin! "Gold" is now "dirt." And "clean" is now "dirty."

In verses 3-5 as well as verses 9-10 ... the children especially suffer! Innocent children, I might add. Because of the sins of their forefathers!

And then in verse 6 as well as verse 11 ... a conclusion is reached. GOD is the Author of such suffering! He is punishing His wayward, backslidden children!

Wow!

Each "glimmer of though" is repeated!

For emphasis.

As a memory aid.

And to warn future generations!

By the way the Psalms are classic examples of "parallelism" as well. All Hebrew poetry is. Come to think of it, Lamentations is composed of five poems as well!

I stand amazed.

At what the Bible says.

And how beautifully, skillfully it says it!

                   --- Dr. Mike Bagwell

LESSON 12, LAMENTATIONS 4:12-20, A LIST OF SINS:

In Lamentations chapter four there is a "list" of reasons, of sins, responsible for Judah's suffering. And the three-fold litany is impressive.

So let's survey Lamentations 4:12-20 and see if we can glean, learn Truth that will help us live more godly.

First Jeremiah begins with the City, Jerusalem. Impregnable, it was thought. But sin can bring down any place! "The kings of the earth, and all the inhabitants of the world, would not have believed that the adversary and the enemy should have entered into the gates of Jerusalem." Lamentations 4:12, God's Holy City!

Then immediately the first cause of trouble is listed ... "For the sins of her prophets, and the iniquities of her priests, that have shed the blood of the just in the midst of her. They have wandered as blind men in the streets, they have polluted themselves with blood, so that men could not touch their garments. They cried unto them, Depart ye; it is unclean; depart, depart, touch not: when they fled away and wandered, they said among the heathen, They shall no more sojourn there. The anger of the LORD hath divided them; he will no more regard them: they respected not the persons of the priests, they favoured not the elders." Lamentations 4:13-16, the Nation's leaders! Especially the prophets and priests, religious figures, have sinned grievously. So much so that God has turned His favour from them. God will "regard" them, respect them, no more!

Second, Judah refused to look to God for help! She trusted on foreign powers, flaunting God's protection. "As for us, our eyes as yet failed for our vain help: in our watching we have watched for a nation that could not save us. They hunt our steps, that we cannot go in our streets: our end is near, our days are fulfilled; for our end is come. Our persecutors are swifter than the eagles of the heaven: they pursued us upon the mountains, they laid wait for us in the wilderness." Lamentations 4:17-19, historically Israel (Judah) sought help from Egypt, but such trust was "vain." Yet God would have delivered her from every enemy had she just trusted Him and lived properly, according to the Law of the Lord. The wrong allies! (America lately has been following this silly path as well. Turning away from Israel and toward anti-Semitic nations.)

Third and last, was the ultimate political leader himself, the King. Wicked to the core! The Book of Jeremiah best details the sins of the last few Kings of Judah. None trusted the Lord. "The breath of our nostrils, the anointed of the LORD, was taken in their pits, of whom we said, Under his shadow we shall live among the heathen." Lamentations 4:20, God's "anointed" here is the King. Also called "the very breath" of Judah! Talk about highly honoring a leader!

There you have the list.

Sinful preachers.

Sinful alliances, friends.

And sinful politicians.

And the result?

Sinful people.

Thus ... God's Wrath eventually fell upon the whole crowd.

Wow!

Grieving ... yet wisely realizing WHY such intense suffering has come. "Behold, ye have sinned against the LORD: and be sure your sin will find you out." Numbers 32:23

                  --- Dr. Mike Bagwell

LESSON 13, LAMENTATIONS 4:21-22, EDOM TOO:

In God's promise to Abraham, to all the Jewish people really, the Lord pledged to bless all the people who blessed Israel. And also to "curse" those who hated Israel. Read it. "Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee. And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing. And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed." Wow, Genesis 12:1-3, King James Version.

So when we read Lamentations we must recognize the fact that although God IS INDEED punishing Judah for her own sins ... definitely ... He also plans to punish those who have so violently mistreated Judah!

"For thus saith the LORD of hosts ... he that toucheth you (the Jewish Nation) toucheth the apple of his eye." Do not harm those people, Zechariah 2:8.

Again, God will "curse" you if you do!

This now leads us to today's Bible Lesson, Lamentations 4:21-22. "Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom, that dwellest in the land of Uz; the cup also shall pass through unto thee: thou shalt be drunken, and shalt make thyself naked. The punishment of thine iniquity is accomplished, O daughter of Zion; he will no more carry thee away into captivity: he will visit thine iniquity, O daughter of Edom; he will discover thy sins." The chapter's last two verses.

The people of "Edom" were distant relatives but bitter enemies of Israel! When the Babylonians were attacking and destroying the City of Jerusalem, the Edomites "helped" them!

Watch what that crowd did to Judah and Jerusalem when the Capital City fell. "For thy (Edom) violence against thy brother Jacob shame shall cover thee, and thou shalt be cut off for ever. In the day that thou stoodest on the other side, in the day that the strangers carried away captive his forces, and foreigners entered into his gates, and cast lots upon Jerusalem, even thou wast as one of them. But thou shouldest not have looked on the day of thy brother in the day that he became a stranger; neither shouldest thou have rejoiced over the children of Judah in the day of their destruction; neither shouldest thou have spoken proudly in the day of distress. Thou shouldest not have entered into the gate of my people in the day of their calamity; yea, thou shouldest not have looked on their affliction in the day of their calamity, nor have laid hands on their substance in the day of their calamity; neither shouldest thou have stood in the crossway, to cut off those of his that did escape; neither shouldest thou have delivered up those of his that did remain in the day of distress." Obadiah tells us this, verses 10-14. Obadiah does not have chapters, just one series of thoughts!

So what will God do to Edom? The Divine "cup" of Wrath is coming to her as well!  "Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom, that dwellest in the land of Uz; the cup also shall pass through unto thee: thou shalt be drunken, and shalt make thyself naked."

Wow!

Yes, some day Judah will have been punished sufficiently! "The punishment of thine iniquity (Judah) is accomplished, O daughter of Zion; he will no more carry thee away into captivity." (Continuing Lamentations 4:21-22)

Then God "turns" against Israel's enemies, here "Edom" being the main focus. "He (the Lord) will visit thine iniquity, O daughter of Edom; he will discover thy sins."

Wow again!

Deuteronomy 30:7 certainly is true! "And the LORD thy God will put all these curses upon thine enemies (Judah's enemies), and on them that hate thee, which persecuted thee." Oh, yes!

Absolutely, God judges!

But ultimately, He judges righteously!

He whipped Judah with a "stick" named Edom, one of many "sticks" really. But what a "dirty" stick! Then God picked up that dirty stick (Edom being the example in our Text today) and "broke" it to pieces!

Justice indeed!

                --- Dr. Mike Bagwell

Revelation 16:7 declares: "Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are thy judgments."

And I declare: "Amen!"

LESSON 14, LAMENTATIONS 5:1, JUDAH'S PRAYER:

All the helpful literature on the Book of Lamentations mentions the fact that chapter five is a prayer. And that's the approach we will take as we analyze its content.

Beginning with verse 1. "Remember, O LORD, what is come upon us: consider, and behold our reproach." If you recall, back in chapter 1:20 Jeremiah asks God "to look" at the terrible plight of Judah. But the subject there is singular, "Behold, O LORD; for I am in distress: my bowels are troubled; mine heart is turned within me."

But now the subject is plural, "Remember, O LORD, what is come upon us." Yes, "us" demands more than one! Maybe, the more the Nation has suffered, the less stubborn and rebellious she has become ... toward Almighty God.

Maybe what she has endured is finally achieving its proper goal, bringing the Jews closer to God. To repentance and ultimately forgiveness!

The verb "remember" is "zakar" and not only means "to call to mind," but also "to think upon the fact you have brought into consciousness." The verb is too, typical of nearly all Old Testament praying, an "imperative." Urgency clearly being implied!

And "come upon" as in "come upon us" translates the verb "hayah," what "is." Or what has "come to pass." It's the Hebrew verb "to be." Thought by most scholars to be the "heart" of God's Very name "Jehovah!" Almost as if God is putting His Name on his people, either in blessing or in chastening! They do belong to Him!

Then our verse for today, very short, concludes: "Consider, and behold our reproach." Here the imperative "consider" is "nabat" in Hebrew. It means "to study intently!" To "show special regard" to them! Then "behold," spelled "raah," means "to look over," like a shepherd does his flock! "To see with understanding and comprehension!" And maybe a bit of "compassion!"

But to see what? "Our reproach," they beg. And "cherpah" means "scorn, shame," the way others are "browbeating" us! Our "disgrace!" The root word here is "charpah," implying "taunting, blaspheming, jeopardizing, defying, upbraiding," terrible!

The nation, brokenheartedly, has finally (and genuinely) brought her suffering to God. She is about, though I'm using an anachronism, to obey First John 1:9. "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

The suffering she has endured from God may be about to "exercise" her toward the One Who loves her so! "Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby." Hebrews 12:11

Chapter five, dear fellow students, should be very interesting!

                    --- Dr. Mike Bagwell

LESSON 15, LAMENTATIONS 5:2, FOREIGNERS:

I hope no one thinks today that I'm overly "xenophobic." A Greek word indicating a morbid fear of foreigners. But one of God's "punishments" for a sinful Nation seems to always have been allowing a foreign power to overtake said Nation's assets.

And this is exactly what happened to Judah, as to her Sister Israel many years earlier. God allowed Babylon to dispossess Judah of her valuables, her treasures.

Lamentations 5:2 tells us. "Our inheritance is turned to strangers, our houses to aliens." Wow, Judah cries aloud.

The noun "inheritance" is one which means "possession, property, portion," one's lifetime earnings!

The noun "strangers" is "zur" in Hebrew, "foreigners." Literally, folks "different" than oneself.

The parallel clause "our houses to aliens" simply renames the elements of the first statement. Now instead of "possessions" it's one's very "home." And "foreigners, strangers" have simply become "aliens." That's "nokriy," meaning "unknown" or even "outlandish!"

Yes, this is a genuine lament. "Our inheritance is turned to strangers, our houses to aliens."

The Jews have lost everything material. To an invading army, an ungodly one as well. The Babylonians in this case.

Sad.

The wages of sin.

But many years earlier, via the pen of Moses, God warned  His people of such. "Obey" the Law, the Word ... or be "chastened!"

In Deuteronomy 28:43, that long ago, God promised: "The stranger (foreigner) that is within thee shall get up above thee very high; and thou shalt come down very low." Pretty clear!

And even the Psalmist echoed the truth, the fact. "O God, the heathen are come into thine inheritance; thy Holy Temple have they defiled; they have laid Jerusalem on heaps. The dead bodies of thy servants have they given to be meat unto the fowls of the heaven, the flesh of thy saints unto the beasts of the earth." Psalm 79:1-2

Here's Isaiah 1:7 complaining to God. "Your country is desolate, your cities are burned with fire: your land, strangers devour it in your presence, and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers."

This happened to Israel and Judah ... more than once.

I wonder if it could happen to America?

Or has it already started?

Sinful America.

                  --- Dr. Mike Bagwell

LESSON 16, LAMENTATIONS 5:3-5, FROM BAD TO WORSE:

At first this Series of Bible Studies was designed to be more of a "survey" of the Book of Lamentations than a detailed analysis. With that in mind we need to notice more than one verse today. Let's try three!

The Nation, suffering Judah, is speaking. "We are orphans and fatherless, our mothers are as widows. We have drunken our water for money; our wood is sold unto us. Our necks are under persecution: we labour, and have no rest." Lamentations 5:3-5, yes three!

Here the most helpless members of society, orphans and widows, have become more and more numerous, prevalent. This at least tells us that "death" is everywhere, particularly claiming the men. The fathers and the husbands. Though, as we have seen and will read yet again, even "children" and "wives" are not exempt from the enemy's wrath. Yes, this is accurate: "We are orphans and fatherless, our mothers are as widows."

Let me show you something, folks. Here's a summary paragraph about the fierce Babylonians God has allowed, really commissioned, to overrun Judah. "For, lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, which shall march through the breadth of the land, to possess the dwellingplaces that are not theirs. They are terrible and dreadful: their judgment and their dignity shall proceed of themselves. Their horses also are swifter than the leopards, and are more fierce than the evening wolves: and their horsemen shall spread themselves, and their horsemen shall come from far; they shall fly as the eagle that hasteth to eat. They shall come all for violence: their faces shall sup up as the east wind, and they shall gather the captivity as the sand. And they shall scoff at the kings, and the princes shall be a scorn unto them: they shall deride every strong hold; for they shall heap dust, and take it. Then shall his mind change, and he shall pass over, and offend, imputing this his power unto his god." Habakkuk 1:6-11, God here even knowing the very "mind" of Nebuchadnezzar!

Wow!

But back to our triune Text. "We have drunken our water for money; our wood is sold unto us. Lamentations 5:4, suggesting that nothing is any longer "free." Not even water! Or fire wood ... for warmth or cooking or flickering light at night! The economy is spiraling out of control!

Then perhaps the worst thing of all, especially the last clause. "Our necks are under persecution: we labour, and have no rest." The noun "persecution" is "radaph," meaning "behind," as in always running from a pursuer! A threat always "behind" you! Chasing you! Targeting you! And the verb "labor" means "to toil wearily!" To faint! Then "We have no rest." So sad, "nuach," the root stem behind "Noah's" name, means "quiet, calm, repose." Translated "rest" here in our Text.

Watch what "terror" does to Judah! And God promised them as much ... if they persistently disobeyed Him and His Word. "And among these nations shalt thou find no ease, neither shall the sole of thy foot have rest: but the LORD shall give thee there a trembling heart, and failing of eyes, and sorrow of mind: and thy life shall hang in doubt before thee; and thou shalt fear day and night, and shalt have none assurance of thy life. In the morning thou shalt say, Would God it were even! and at even thou shalt say, Would God it were morning! for the fear of thine heart wherewith thou shalt fear, and for the sight of thine eyes which thou shalt see." Deuteronomy 28:65-67, sheer misery!

Why such anguish?

Because of sin.

I read a book, "Ideas have Consequences."

Better today we remember, "Sin has consequences" as well.

Ask Judah.

               --- Dr. Mike Bagwell

LESSON 17, LAMENTATIONS 5:6, LEANING ON THE LORD, ALWAYS:

Just a single verse again! But what an important Lesson it conveys. It is both a statement of fact ... and a confession of sin!

Lamentations 5:6 relates the following words. In the first person plural, Judah herself speaking, as a Nation: "We have given the hand to the Egyptians, and to the Assyrians, to be satisfied with bread."

Doesn't sound so bad, does it?

Our people were hungry.

We sought help anywhere we could find it.

Even our former enemies.

We entered into covenant with them.

But STILL God has chastened us sorely.

Or maybe partly because of those heathen alliances ... God has punished us in an unprecedented manner!

"We have given the hand to the Egyptians, and to the Assyrians, to be satisfied with bread."

The expression "to give one's hand" equates to some sort of "treaty." Or having "shaken hands" in a business deal perhaps!

Judah here is not asking WHY she was hungry in the first place (because of unconfessed sin) ... but HOW she can relieve the discomfort (even if being confederate with an exceeding sinful, godless society).

Both the Egyptians and Assyrians had previously sought the decimation (destruction) of Israel! As in Psalm 83:4. "They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance."

Furthermore, these Nations are enemies of Almighty God! Both are polytheistic, magnifying gods and goddesses galore.

And Judah "leans" on such wicked allies?

All because of "hunger."

Physical hunger.

This is another time the Bible suggests that spiritual hunger should surpass physical hunger in priority!

Pleasing God should be more important than pleasing the flesh!

Plus this ... our God is a jealous God! Not in a sinful way, but in desiring our allegiance so that we might enjoy His blessing! And avoid His chastening!

Exodus 20:5, God here forbidding idolatry of any kind. "Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God."

Exodus 34:14, too. "For thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God." But verses 15 and 16 immediately add the reason: "Lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they go a whoring after their gods, and do sacrifice unto their gods, and one call thee, and thou eat of his sacrifice. And thou take of their daughters unto thy sons, and their daughters go a whoring after their gods, and make thy sons go a whoring after their gods."

God wants to be Judah's Provider, her Sole Provider.

And He will ... if she obeys His commands!

And to look to anyone but God ... is sin in His Eyes!

Back to our Text, Lamentations 5:6. "We have given the hand (our hand) to the Egyptians, and to the Assyrians, to be satisfied with bread."

The Prophets have preached against such alliances for many years. Both Isaiah and Jeremiah come to mind.

Isaiah 31:1, for example. "Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help; and stay on horses, and trust in chariots, because they are many; and in horsemen, because they are very strong; but they look not unto the Holy One of Israel, neither seek the LORD!"

Then in Jeremiah 2:36 God asks: "Why gaddest thou about so much to change thy way? Thou also shalt be ashamed of Egypt, as thou wast ashamed of Assyria." The devil's crowd always disappoints!

Even a Minor Prophet lifts his voice! "When Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah saw his wound, then went Ephraim to the Assyrian, and sent to king Jareb: yet could he not heal you, nor cure you of your wound." Hosea 5:13, no help apart from the Living God!

One more. "Ephraim (Israel) also is like a silly dove without heart: they call to Egypt, they go to Assyria." Hosea 7:11

Let each of us learn the lesson.

Trust God.

Him alone!

Let, as said the Psalmist, all our "springs" be in the Lord! He longs to be our Everything! To be our very "life!"

Do not look to the world.

Look to Jesus.

                  --- Dr. Mike Bagwell

LESSON 18, LAMENTATIONS 5:7, THE SINS OF THE FATHERS:

Some will try to refute today's verse. The people of Judah cry ... "Our fathers have sinned, and are not; and we have borne their iniquities." Lamentations 5:7

The "trickle-down" consequences of sin!

The verb for "sin" used here is "chata," meaning "to miss the mark." To "fall short" of God's Standard, God's Glory.

And the noun for "iniquities" is "avon," meaning "perversions, depravities, twisted or crooked ways!"

That sin has "weight," an inherent "burden," a "ton" of punishment built right into itself ... is illustrated by our verse as well. The survivors "have borne" the "punishments" of their erring fathers! "Avon" is directly translated "punishment" 5 times in the Old Testament!

All that has befallen Judah is not "bad luck." Or mere "reversal of fortune." No, nor "terrible politics!" It is the result of sin!

If this is a foreign thought to you, read Exodus 20:5-6. "Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them (graven images), nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; and shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments."

Even Daniel says so. "O Lord, according to all thy righteousness, I beseech thee, let thine anger and thy fury be turned away from thy city Jerusalem, thy holy mountain: because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and thy people are become a reproach to all that are about us." Daniel 9:16

Back in Lamentations 5:3 their "fathers were no more" ... and the people had to face the terrible Babylonians alone. Now their "fathers are no more" (basically the same Hebrew wording) ... and the Jews must face their God alone, His Wrath!

In case you're thinking "Not fair!"

Clearly, the fathers did wrong ... but so did the children! Lamentations 5:16 illustrates. "The crown is fallen from our head: woe unto us, that we have sinned!" Not just the old folks!

Apparently one might conclude ... "Past sins eventually catch up with us!" As Numbers 32:23 says: "Behold, ye have sinned against the LORD: and be sure your sin will find you out."

Wow!

Any parent or grandparent reading here today (as well as the one writing here today) needs to take heed!

Oh, how we need to live godly lives!

Primarily for the Lord's Sake.

Then for the sake of others, especially the family.

And lastly, for our own sakes.

                     --- Dr. Mike Bagwell

Who would have thought that Lamentations would be so very practical? But then again: "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness." Second Timothy 3:16

Amen!

Further supporting Scripture for today's Lesson. "Then shalt thou say unto them, Because your fathers have forsaken me, saith the LORD, and have walked after other gods, and have served them, and have worshipped them, and have forsaken me, and have not kept my law; and ye have done worse than your fathers; for, behold, ye walk every one after the imagination of his evil heart, that they may not hearken unto me. Therefore will I cast you out of this land into a land that ye know not, neither ye nor your fathers; and there shall ye serve other gods day and night; where I will not shew you favour." Jeremiah 16:11-13

Again, Jeremiah 32:20. "Thou shewest lovingkindness unto thousands, and recompensest the iniquity of the fathers into the bosom of their children after them: the Great, the Mighty God, the LORD of hosts, is his name."

And in Second Kings 23:36 God is still punishing Jerusalem for the sins of wicked King Manasseh years earlier! "Notwithstanding the LORD turned not from the fierceness of his great wrath, wherewith his anger was kindled against Judah, because of all the provocations that Manasseh had provoked him withal."

Yet in every foregoing case the children, the younger generation, had sinned as well! These are not totally innocent sufferers! Isaiah 65:7 again proves so. "Your iniquities, and the iniquities of your fathers together, saith the LORD, which have burned incense upon the mountains, and blasphemed me upon the hills: therefore will I measure their former work into their bosom."

Thus Jeremiah can also preach: "In those days they shall say no more, The fathers have eaten a sour grape, and the children's teeth are set on edge." Jeremiah 31:29

And lastly, Ezekiel 18:2-9 balances the whole issue. "What mean ye, that ye use this proverb concerning the land of Israel, saying, The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge? As I live, saith the Lord GOD, ye shall not have occasion any more to use this proverb in Israel. Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die. But if a man be just, and do that which is lawful and right ... and hath not eaten upon the mountains, neither hath lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, neither hath defiled his neighbour's wife, neither hath come near to a menstruous woman, and hath not oppressed any, but hath restored to the debtor his pledge, hath spoiled none by violence, hath given his bread to the hungry, and hath covered the naked with a garment; he that hath not given forth upon usury, neither hath taken any increase, that hath withdrawn his hand from iniquity, hath executed true judgment between man and man, hath walked in my statutes, and hath kept my judgments, to deal truly; he is just, he shall surely live, saith the Lord GOD."

God is Holy, absolutely so!

LESSON 19, LAMENTATIONS 5:8-10:

Lamentations chapter 5 is amazing. Today we notice 3 more of its "sad" verses. "Servants have ruled over us: there is none that doth deliver us out of their hand. We gat our bread with the peril of our lives because of the sword of the wilderness. Our skin was black like an oven because of the terrible famine." The results, spoken by Judah herself, of extended disobedience to God Almighty, Lamentations 5:8-10.

A verse at a time:

"Servants have ruled over us: there is none that doth deliver us out of their hand." The noun for "servants" is "ebed" in Hebrew, really meaning common "slaves!" A reference to the "Babylonians" I think, who were under cruel despotism themselves! Nebuchadnezzar was a tyrant. The verb "rule" is "mashal," the same word used for the "Proverbs" of Scripture! Live by God's Word ... or face equally stringent rule by the heartless heathen! None to "deliver" us! "Paraq" is the verb, "to tear apart, to break away, (once) to redeem!" They spurned the Real Redeemer, their God!

"We gat our bread with the peril of our lives because of the sword of the wilderness." No food! Certainly not in the city, because of the siege! Looks like they had to "sneak" out of town to scavenge for morsels of nourishment! There are dangers in the country, too. Either outright robbers or bands of patrolling Babylonian soldiers. God's threats in Deuteronomy 28:48 are happening! The consequences of disobedience to the Lord. "Therefore shalt thou serve thine enemies which the LORD shall send against thee, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in want of all things: and he shall put a yoke of iron upon thy neck, until he have destroyed thee."

Wow!

Then maybe the saddest verse of all. "Our skin was black like an oven because of the terrible famine." Hunger in the extreme, starvation, produces fever, excessive heat in the human body. The skin dries completely, turning "black" as if scorched, burned in an oven! Even the adjective "terrible" means "raging as intense heat!"

No wonder they call the Book "Lamentations!"

Yes indeed, more than ever I see that sin has "wages."

What an impetus to live godly!

The Lord willing, more tomorrow.

                     --- Dr. Mike Bagwell

LESSON 20, LAMENTATIONS 5:11-16, BECAUSE OF SIN:

In today's Lamentations Lesson we study a paragraph written in the third person. "They," the enemies, did some things. Keep in mind, all this "suffering" is a result of sin.

"They (the Babylonian army) ravished the women in Zion, and the maids in the cities of Judah. Princes are hanged up by their hand: the faces of elders were not honoured. They took the young men to grind, and the children fell under the wood. The elders have ceased from the gate, the young men from their musick. The joy of our heart is ceased; our dance is turned into mourning. The crown is fallen from our head: woe unto us, that we have sinned!" Lamentations 5:11-16

The women were "raped," the obvious meaning of "ravished." So much for the morality of the attacking hordes! Both older and younger women, married ones and virgins! "They ravished the women in Zion, and the maids in the cities of Judah."

The princes are the young men, especially the ones belonging to society's upper classes! They are typically killed, murdered, then hung up in the air in some shameful way. The elders, the older men, were no longer honored, rather mocked and persecuted ... then likely killed as well. "Princes are hanged up by their hand: the faces of elders were not honoured."

Forced labor, slavery in essence! "They took the young men to grind, and the children fell under the wood." Grinding meal, what or barley. And the young folks were merely full-time wood gatherers! (Remember Judges 9:21, the Gibeonites? "And the princes said unto them, Let them live; but let them be hewers of wood and drawers of water unto all the congregation; as the princes had promised them." Like slaves!)

Then all joy is lost too! "The elders have ceased from the gate, the young men from their musick. The joy of our heart is ceased; our dance is turned into mourning." Sounds like Psalm 137:1-4, written in basically the same time period. "By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion. We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof. For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song; and they that wasted us required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion. How shall we sing the LORD'S song in a strange land?"

Why, again, we ask?

The Jewish people themselves tell us, the citizenry of Judah. The last verse of our Text today: "The crown is fallen from our head: woe unto us, that we have sinned!" No longer "rulers, leaders" ...  rather "ruled, governed" by hard taskmasters!

And "sinned" here simply means "missed" God's Will. Erred from His Law! Fallen short of His Commandments. Spurned His Love!

What lessons to be learned!

Is the old adage true any longer? "To be fore-warned is to be fore-armed?" I am beginning to wonder!

                   --- Dr. Mike Bagwell

LESSON 21, LAMENTATIONS 5:17-18, LAMENTATION'S END:

Lamentations chapter five consists of a number of woes pronounced upon Judah. Sentenced to her by God Himself, because of the little Nation's persistent sinning.

In case you missed the last few Lessons, here is the Text I have in mind. "Our inheritance is turned to strangers, our houses to aliens. We are orphans and fatherless, our mothers are as widows. We have drunken our water for money; our wood is sold unto us. Our necks are under persecution: we labour, and have no rest. We have given the hand to the Egyptians, and to the Assyrians, to be satisfied with bread. Our fathers have sinned, and are not; and we have borne their iniquities. Servants have ruled over us: there is none that doth deliver us out of their hand. We gat our bread with the peril of our lives because of the sword of the wilderness. Our skin was black like an oven because of the terrible famine. They ravished the women in Zion, and the maids in the cities of Judah. Princes are hanged up by their hand: the faces of elders were not honoured. They took the young men to grind, and the children fell under the wood. The elders have ceased from the gate, the young men from their musick. The joy of our heart is ceased; our dance is turned into mourning. The crown is fallen from our head: woe unto us, that we have sinned!" Lamentations 5:2-16

Now today, we notice the Unit's two concluding verses. Placed just prior to that last expansive prayer Jeremiah has located at Book's end. "For this our heart is faint; for these things our eyes are dim. Because of the mountain of Zion, which is desolate, the foxes walk upon it." Lamentations 5:17-18, with Judah speaking collectively.

The pronouns "this" and "these" refer to the list of catastrophes enumerated above. "For THIS and for THESE things ... our heart is faint and our eyes are dim." The Hebrew word "daveh" means "faint" here, as in "unwell, sick," and once "menstruous," in Isaiah 30:22.

A sick heart, diseased.

And "dim" eyes, "chashak" Jeremiah wrote, are eyes losing their "sharpness," growing less able to see "distinctly." Likely malnutrition in its extreme forms does affect one's sight. "Darkness" is on the way, physically as well as spiritually!

"For this our heart is faint; for these things our eyes are dim." BUT, WHY? "Because ... of the mountain of Zion, which is desolate, the foxes walk upon it."

The "Mountain" of the Lord represents the Temple area of Jerusalem. Where that reverent Sanctuary once sat! And this great  Temple is now destroyed, by the invading, heathen Babylonians! The verb "to be desolate" translates "shamem" in Hebrew, meaning "stunned, stupefied, wasted, destroyed." Wow!

Ruins ... where now "foxes" live! Why these specific animals? "Shual" means "foxes," but also any number of "burrowing" animals. In other words, "unclean" animals now roam freely the Place of God's Holiness!

Pollution instead of Purity!

How sad!

"For this our heart is faint; for these things our eyes are dim. Because of the mountain of Zion, which is desolate, the foxes walk upon it."

The House of the Lord has fallen!

When a Nation's spiritual heritage, godly strength, moral fiber ... has unraveled, has dissipated ... the people are indeed rightly faint hearted and dim eyed!

God, help America.

                  --- Dr. Mike Bagwell

LESSON 22, LAMENTATIONS 5:19, BOTH ETERNAL AND ROYAL:

Near the end of Lamentations Jeremiah makes a doctrinal statement that's worthy of the Book of Psalms. Or Moses' pen, from the Pentateuch. Even the New Testament does not surpass it!

"Thou, O LORD, remainest for ever; thy throne from generation to generation." Lamentations 5:19

Men come and go, are born then die. But not God, He being Eternal! Human life is temporary, God's Life ... permanent.

Even civilizations, governments are fragile (like Babylon who has so mistreated Judah and her people) ... while God outlasts them all!

And while many of our problems also eventually "dissipate," others will follow us to the grave. But they will not conquer our God! He "remains for ever."

Look at the first clause of our Text: "Thou, O LORD, remainest for ever." The address here is spoken directly to the Lord. Not about Him ... spoken to Him. In fact, this is a prayer, a statement of fact, of praise even! God is everlasting. The verb "remainest" is "yashab," used over a thousand times in the Old Testament. It means "to dwell" in a place. Or "to abide" or "to continue" as an Entity. And the "action" the verb requires as written here is "linear, durative, on-going, constant, unending!" God IS!

"For ever" translates "olam," meaning "everlasting, perpetual," but also "ancient" and "evermore." Specifically, "as far as one can see, to the vanishing point!"

There is real peace in knowing such a God.

Deep peace.

And if He lives in my heart too (via the saving Grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the indwelling Holy Spirit) there is an eternal dimension added to my being as well!

I also enjoy such life, eternal life!

But God is not only alive, His Throne lasts for ever too! "Thy throne remainest from generation to generation."

He's a King, too!

His Throne, in the Heavens, overlooks (thus oversees) everything on earth, including our heartaches!

Then "generation" is a noun, but developed from a verb, "dur." A bunch of somethings (here years) "piled up" on top of one another! And God has seen them all ... decades and centuries and millennia! Both the years and the people who inhabit them!

Yet He has never been overthrown by a single rebel. The Lord is still reigning and always will.

Thus, my life is not chaos.

There is One Who cares!

He knows about me.

And you.

Especially if you are in His Family!

Tell us again about Him, Jeremiah. Talk to Him. We will listen. "Thou, O LORD, remainest for ever; thy throne from generation to generation."

The BIGGER our God ... the smaller our problems!

Worship Him today.

                  --- Dr. Mike Bagwell

LESSON 23, LAMENTATIONS 5:20 QUESTIONING GOD:

Lamentations 5:20 asks a question. Posed toward the Lord. In the last chapter of a whole Book absolutely full of tears and suffering.

Here's the inquiry. "Wherefore dost Thou forget us for ever, and forsake us so long time?"

Currently under military invasion, Jerusalem and Judah were experiencing a tormenting siege ... by the whole Babylonian Army! Yet our writer here knows beyond doubt God is the real Author of the present calamity! Truly so.

Not these foreigners!

Not a "mad" King!

"Thou," O Lord, hast allowed these "punishments" to come our way ... for our years and years and years sinning against Thee.

But still, God ... "Wherefore dost Thou forget us for ever, and forsake us so long time?"

The opening word here is "Wherefore," in Hebrew spelled "lammah." This is not an alphabet chapter, as are the other 4 chapters in Lamentations! Not an "acrostic." So the first letters of each verse are not that logically arranged, not in "abc" order.

Still, this verse begins with the letter "L." The Hebrew student would say "Lamed." And Lamed means "a goad." A shepherd's staff! It's the instrument the Master would use to "chasten" or "prod" his lambs into obedience!

The question in our verse is nearly answered as it is asked! "Wherefore," or "Why" ... because God still has the "goad" in His Hands! His "Lamed," to demand purity from his people!

Hebrews 12:10 fits well here. "For they (our earthly fathers) verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but He (the Lord) for our profit, that we might be partakers of His holiness."

He "pricks" us to make us closer to Him, to guide us into more paths of Righteousness!

Wow!

Lamentations 5:20 again. "Wherefore dost Thou forget us for ever, and forsake us so long time?" 

The verb "forget" is "shakach," meaning "to ignore." Or "to allow to wither!" To forget in a "careless" sense!

The proposed answer, "for ever," in Hebrew "netzsach," means "constantly, perpetually," to the point of "record-breaking" length!

Then "forsake" is "azab," literally "to leave destitute!" Twice in the Old Testament, "to fail" someone! Strong language!

The noun "time" is "yom," many days!

The adjective "long" is "orek," that is "drawn out, lengthened, deferred" ... so long we're growing "old!"

"Wherefore dost Thou forget us for ever, and forsake us so long time?" 

This nearly sounds "smart-aleck!"

God, how long will You not keep your Word? How long will  You not "bless" us? For ever?

Sounds just like the Psalmist ... at times anyway! "How long wilt thou forget me, O LORD? for ever? how long wilt thou hide thy face from me? How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart daily? how long shall mine enemy be exalted over me?" Psalm 13, but only the first two verses.

Folks, sin has consequences!

It brings pain and sorrow!

If not confessed and forsaken.

And when God "whips" ... it can seem like a long, long time!

What an honest lamenter here! O God ... "Wherefore dost Thou forget us for ever, and forsake us so long time?" 

We too can tell God what we feel and how we feel.

He invites our heart's cogitations.

"Casting all your care upon Him; for He (our dear Lord) careth for you." First Peter 5:7, all your "burdens, distractions," even "grumblings" and "questions" as well! Roll them over ... deposit them with the Lord Jesus! He will still love you, "care" for you!

And also Hebrews 4:16. "Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need." Where "come boldly" means to come in prayer ... "telling God everything" on your heart! "All" of it!

What a Verse today!

                     --- Dr. Mike Bagwell

LESSON 24, LAMENTATIONS 5:21, THE "APEX" OF THE BOOK:

Lamentations 5:21 is very interesting. And it MAY be the most significant Verse in the whole Book! Or at least be the "culmination," the "apex," of all the previous material.

It's a prayer, but so are the previous 20 verses of chapter 5 as well. (Each of the first three chapters ends with prayer. But not chapter 4. Therefore I assume, I wonder, maybe chapter 5 is the closing prayer that really completes the thoughts of chapter 4.) If so, Lamentations is absolutely full of prayer! Even though it is a dirge, a constant expression of sorrow.

So I will unashamedly say ... the praying, sincerely, of our Text today, can bring Revival! Genuine Revival! To any child of God, anywhere!

"Turn thou us unto thee, O LORD, and we shall be turned; renew our days as of old." Word for word, King James Version, Lamentations 5:21.

Wow!

Look. James 4:8 promises us, teaches us: "Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded." This thought is certainly not far from our Lamentations Verse for today! "Turn thou us unto thee, O LORD, and we shall be turned; renew our days as of old."

Wow again!

Listen also to First Chronicles 28:9. "The LORD searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts: if thou seek him, he will be found of thee; but if thou forsake him, he will cast thee off for ever."

And Psalm 145:18 adds: "The LORD is nigh unto all them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth." Call on Him ... He will be nigh, if your heart is right, truthful, not hypocritical.

Even Isaiah 55:6-7 says: "Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he (the lord) will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon."

Here's the same principle in Hosea. "Come, and let us return unto the LORD: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up. After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight." Hosea 6:1-2, if we return!

But maybe Zechariah 1:3 is clearest of all. "Therefore say thou unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Turn ye unto me, saith the LORD of hosts, and I will turn unto you, saith the LORD of hosts."

But back to our base Text. "Turn thou us unto thee, O LORD, and we shall be turned; renew our days as of old." Lamentations 5:21.

The prayer is here expressed with an imperative verb. "Turn" Thou, O Lord! This is not merely a request. Judah is now urgent! Demanding, but reverently so. Actually insisting God be true to his Character! "Lord, reverse thyself. Forgive our sins. Convert our chastening into blessing!"

It's as if we cannot turn ourselves! He must initiate the process. Indeed! Second Timothy 2:25, along with Acts 5:31 both use that expression. God "giving" repentance to those who come to Him. "If God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth." Paul instructing Timothy about certain hesitant believers.

So ... "Turn thou us unto thee, O LORD, and we shall be turned; renew our days as of old."

Unto Thee ... using the preposition "el" in Hebrew. It most often indicates "motion toward" a certain person or object. "Lord, do not turn us away!" Draw us unto thyself!

It's almost as if Judah is saying, "Lord, if Thou wilt start the process ... 'turn us' ... we will follow through! We will 'be turned' unto Thee. We are hungry for Thee. Now we are."

The verb, used twice here in this little clause, is "shub." And it is translated as both "to restore" and "to recover" in the Old Testament!

Lord, restore us!

Lord, recover us!

Lord, perform that great miracle of repentance in our lives.

Then our Verse, the prayer continues. "Turn thou us unto thee, O LORD, and we shall be turned; renew our days as of old."

The verb for "renew" is "chadash," clearly meaning "to renew," but also "to repair!" "Chadash" occurs 10 times in the Bible, 7 as "renew" and 3 more as "repair!"

God can "fix" the broken pieces!

Here's "chadash" as used in its "rebuilding" sense. "And they shall build the old wastes, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the waste cities, the desolations of many generations." Isaiah 61:4, repairing waste cities!

God can repair broken lives, too!

Amazing!

"Turn thou us unto thee, O LORD, and we shall be turned; renew our days as of old." The Book of Lamentations indeed ends on a positive note, the possibility of getting right with God!

What Grace!

                 --- Dr. Mike Bagwell

LESSON 25, LAMENTATIONS 5:22, THE BOOK'S LAST VERSE:

Lamentations 5:21 is true, bright as a sunshine filled morning. Prayer, repentance, forgiveness is available with God, the God of all Mercy! Here's the Verse: "Turn thou us unto thee, O LORD, and we shall be turned; renew our days as of old."

But that's not how Lamentations ends!

One Verse remains.

Though God does forgive ... at times one still must endure the consequences of the problems he has created, created by years and years of sinning!

Judah does get "right" with God ... to some extent anyway ... during the hard years of the Babylonian Captivity.

But she still suffers ... agonizingly so!

So, today, the last verse of Lamentation's 154 "lines," of its 5 chapters.

Hard times to be endured.

Lessons to be learned.

Really, tears to be cried.

Judah "laments" directly to God! "But thou hast utterly rejected us; thou art very wroth against us." Lamentations 5:22

In the Hebrew language an "extreme" situation is soften depicted by a doubling of words. (Jesus' two dozen or more "Verily Verily" sayings come to mind.) That's what we have in today's Verse.

"Utterly rejected" is, in Hebrew, "maas maas." The verb means, as well as "rejected" ... "despised!" In fact, that's how it is most often translated in the Old Testament, "despised" 25 different times! It is "refused" 9 times and "abhored" 4 times. Once, Psalm 58:7, it is rendered "melt away!"

Sounds pretty rough!

That's the first "line" of our Verse, which is a "couplet." The second line is "parallel" with the first, of course. (As is true throughout all of the Book of Lamentations.)

"Thou hast utterly rejected us."

"Thou art very wroth against us."

This second line or clause uses the verb "art wroth," spelled "qatzsaph." It means to "fret oneself!" Or "to be in a rage!" In the Old Testament it is rendered "displeased" three times.

God had rejected them because He was angry at them ... because of their many sins!

Even the preposition "against" is significant. "Al" means "towering over!" Then "against" in a mighty sense. Overwhelmingly "against!"

And "how" wroth is God?

"Very" wroth! Where the Hebrew adverb is "meod," meaning "exceedingly, diligently, sorely so!"

Take your "whipping" Judah!

You must learn this Lesson well.

Here's how Lamentations ends ...

She prays ... "Turn thou us unto thee, O LORD, and we shall be turned; renew our days as of old." Lamentations 5:21

She suffers ... "But thou hast utterly rejected us; thou art very wroth against us." Lamentations 5:22

Best of all, God reigns! "Thou, O LORD, remainest for ever; thy throne from generation to generation." Lamentations 5:19

The Bible, what an amazing Book!

                     --- Dr. Mike Bagwell