After a long siege, the city of Jerusalem fell to Nebuchadnezzar in 587 BC, and her citizens were deported to Babylon (Jeremiah 52). The next book in our Bibles then begins with these haunting words: “How lonely sits the city that was full of people!” The melancholy tone of Lamentations is established from the very first verse, which laments the triple disaster resulting from the Jewish exile: childlessness, widowhood, and slavery (v 1). Though the author does not identify himself, the book has long been attributed to the prophet Jeremiah (see 2 Chronicles 35:25). Lamentations was certainly written by an eyewitness of Jerusalem’s fall. Its descriptions are fresh and vivid, bearing all the marks of firsthand experience. But Lamentations is not so much a sequel to Jeremiah’s first book as it is a response. The storyline doesn’t advance, but the prophet mourns the tragedy that has occurred, and tries to make sense of it all. More than venting his feelings, Jeremiah is also reflecting on the meaning of human suffering. In some ways, this book is similar to the book of Job. However, Job deals with the problem of personal suffering, while Lamentations addresses the problem of national suffering. Another key difference is that Job’s sufferings were undeserved, but the fall of Jerusalem came about because of her great sin. Each of the five chapters in Lamentations is a complete poem in itself, and four of the five are composed in the form of an acrostic. In 22 rhythmic verses, one for each letter of the Hebrew alphabet, the first poem describes the sufferings of God’s people from A to Z, from aleph to taw. In a world of overwhelming catastrophes, Lamentations gives voice to our deepest agonies and griefs, with the hope that God will provide comfort as we cry out to Him for mercy. Jerusalem had received just punishment “for the multitude of her transgressions” (v 5), having reaped what she had sown. So she confesses her sins, acknowledging, “The LORD is in the right, for I have rebelled against His word… I have been very rebellious” (v 18, 20). Thankfully, God has made a way for us to escape His wrath, though we too have rebelled against Him. In v 15 we find a foreshadowing of the cross of Christ, where our Savior experienced a sorrow unlike any other sorrow. Though it meant nothing to those who passed by, the crucifixion of Jesus was the most severe of all sufferings, for He bore the wrath of God against our sin. Trust in Him, and receive forgiveness, peace, and everlasting life. For further meditation: