Lamentations
– cf. the loss of the [flour] mill [by fire] in Keewatin – or any major loss for that matter. Perhaps those people can fathom the depth of that loss in the way others can't.
1:14 – (new translation) – i.e. "God has taken my acts of rebellion and placed them around my neck as a necklace, which instead of adorning (and giving magical strength?) Weighs me down and weakens me." See also regarding our rebelliousness and how with enough rope "we hang ourselves". (Sandy Lake, Kenora, Ikitowinan, etc.". Couple this with Isaiah 52:2.
1:18 – confession of sin for rebellion. Seems to be an old problem.
2:11-17 – especially verse 14 – God and prophets mourn over the ruins and the people's having blown it, and the prophets before didn't warn you, they just tickled your ears – when will we ever learn?
2:18-19 – beautiful summons to prayer of supplication.
2:20-22 – supplication prayer regarding aftermath of war. Those who think it somewhat expedient to use war might refresh their memories on the realities of it. All because of community rebellion as they saw it – breakdown of social fabric nationally and human fabric internationally. "Those whom I dandled and reared, my enemy destroyed.
3:1-9 – this lament is from Jerusalem community just prior to the return. No hope in sight although the horrors (chapter 2) had eased. Contrast to the developments in the second part of Isaiah which were taking shape at the same time.
3:21 – "but this I call to mind and therefore I have hope..." beautiful! Hope springing up in the ruins. This is a poster! God's steadfast love bursting through ruins and what follows – wow!
3:36 – not approve – literally not see in the Hebrew active sense of not take into the personality versus our passive "not see". Yahweh does not "see with approval" injustice and oppression.
3:41 – on worshiping with "dirty hands and hearts" – left them to God for him to cleanse and therefore allowing us to approach him. We think we can wash them and clean ourselves up.
3:37 – "who has commanded and it has come to pass unless the Lord has ordained it?" Similar to the proverb about the king's mind in the hand of the Lord and he bends it like a river."
3:42 – one theological approach to disaster: not forgiven yet, therefore need deeper repentance – cf. transition from verse 54-5.
"Thou hast wrapped thyself in a cloud that no prayer can pass through"
3:54f – "water closed over my head; I said ‘I am lost’". The view from the bottom of the pit, with rocks coming in – thrown by people! Nice situation! You approached and said "do not fear".
4:2 – the fine gold of the looted Temple is the sons – the people of God! That's the real loss.
4:13f – the clergy let them down – really? Or were they just part and parcel of the whole corrupt situation?
4:17 – Egypt never came through with assistance. So much for allies!
5:1f – 25 years later – midpoint in the exile a snapshot of life in the ruins.
5:7 – the sins of our fathers is "part of it" (the problem comes when we say "all of it". We have to take responsibility for our share of our problems – but only that much.
5:10-18 – note to the picture of life with no good local government. They were of no consequence as long as they were not a center for insurrection.
5:10f – note also how the memories of the horrors of war were a problem here.
5:19-22 – summary of faith in the midst of a horrible situation – a first-hand record of people in physical suffering, material destruction, and religious despair.
– some of them found the source of hope and renewal of life in the midst of despair and death and exercised their pastoral office to bring a dying people to a living God.
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