Getting Biblical in Daily Life
Jewish Perspective
In the Hebrew Bible, Lamentations comes up in the last third. Jewish scripture is divided into three sections—Torah, Nevi'im, and Ketuvim. Lamentations makes an appearance in the Ketuvim (which means "writings" in Hebrew). It's kind of a catchall category for everything that doesn't fit with the first two—the books of law and the books about the prophets. Lamentations is in pretty good company with loads of other famous biblical texts—Psalms, Proverbs, and Job just to name a few.
It's also one of the five books know as Megillot (that just means "scrolls" in Hebrew). Along with the Song of Songs, Ruth, Ecclesiastes, and Esther, these books are generally read on important Jewish holidays. Lamentations takes center stage on Tisha B'Av, which is a day that's all about fasting and remembering the destruction of the first and second Temples in Jerusalem and the Babylonian exile. It's pretty much the saddest day on the Jewish calendar, so Lamentations is perfect for setting the mood.
Because of its mournful tone, Lamentations is also just right for anyone who's "sitting shiva". In Jewish tradition, when a person dies, their loved ones spend seven (sheva) days at home saying prayers and meeting with visitors. Mourners aren't supposed to read the Bible during this time, but they can break out some of the sadder texts. Lamentations definitely qualifies.
The theme of Lamentations is pretty consistent with what's called the "Deuteronomic" perspective. In the Book of Deuteronomy, God lays out very clearly what he expects the people to do or refrain from doing. And he makes crystal clear what the consequences for disobedience are: curses of famine, disease, conquest, locusts, cannibalism, plus all the plagues of Egypt. Not a pretty picture. The people of Jerusalem were familiar with Deuteronomy, so the Poet probably saw their tragedy in the light of those curses. But in the following verses, God promises redemption if his laws are obeyed. So there was light at the end of the tunnel, even for the shell-shocked inhabitants of Jerusalem.
Christian Perspective
Even though Lamentations is part of Hebrew Scriptures, Christians today still embrace it as a holy and sacred text. They've even got it tucked away for safekeeping in a little section they like to call the Old Testament.
There aren't too many allusions to Lamentations in the New Testament, but Matthew does explain how Jesus is directly descended from the Jewish kings who were exiled to Babylon (Matthew 1:11-17). Revelation also has this gem:
The angel swung his sickle over the earth and gathered the vintage of the earth, and he threw it into the great wine press of the wrath of God. And the wine press was trodden outside the city, and blood flowed from the wine press, as high as a horse's bridle, for a distance of about two hundred miles. (Revelation 14:19-20)
That sure seems like a reference to Lamentations 1:15 where the Poet tells us "the Lord has trodden as in a wine press the virgin daughter Judah." Revelation is a lot like Lamentation, but with monsters.
Some of the early Christians also liked to secretly call out the power-that-be who liked to persecute them—otherwise know as the Roman Empire—by comparing them to those original baddies, Babylon:
- Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! She has made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication. (Revelation 14:8)
- God remembered great Babylon and gave her the wine-cup of the fury of his wrath. (Revelation 16:19)
- Babylon the great, mother of whores and of earth's abominations. (Revelation 17:5)
- Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! It has become a dwelling place of demons, a haunt of every foul spirit, a haunt of every foul bird, a haunt of every foul and hateful beast. (Revelation 18:2)
- Alas, alas, the great city, Babylon, the mighty city! For in one hour your judgment has come. (Revelation 18:10)
- With such violence Babylon the great city will be thrown down, and will be found no more. (Revelation 18:21)
The Babylonian slams don't end there, though. In the 14th century, Pope Clement V was elected Pope, but he decided to set up shop in France instead of Rome. Because the Pope declined to run things from St. Peter's seat in the Vatican (along with all the French popes for the next 67 years) that period is sometimes referred to as the "Babylonian Captivity of the Papacy".
You can bet that you'll hear a lot from Lamentations during Holy Week, too. That's when Christians remember the crucifixion of Jesus. It's the saddest time of the whole year, so Lamentations is great for setting the mood.
Biblical scholar Heath Thomas sees the phrase "until he looks down and sees" (3.49) as a central verse for Christians in interpreting Lamentations as part of the entire scope of the Hebrew and Christian scriptures. While not ignoring the reality of the suffering in Jerusalem back then, he believes that this verse looks forward to a time when all suffering will be relieved in the Kingdom of God through Jesus. In Lamentations, God's answer is hoped for but not yet received. Christians believe that their pleas were eventually answered by Jesus's sacrifice.
Islamic Perspective
The Qur'an, the Muslim Holy Scriptures, doesn't reference Lamentations. But along with Christianity and Judaism, Islam is one of the Abrahamic religions. That just means that all three faiths can trace their origins back to Abraham in the Book of Genesis. Coincidentally, they also consider Jerusalem (called Zion in Lamentations) a holy place.
Jerusalem is home to the al-Aqsa Mosque, which is also called the Noble Sanctuary. According to Islamic tradition, the Prophet Muhammad took a physical and spiritual journey into Heaven in 621 CE from the very spot the mosque is built on. That means it's the third most holy place (after Mecca and Medina) in Sunni Islam.
Well, the al-Aqsa Mosque also happens to be built on a site Jews call the Temple Mount. Some Jews believe that this is the place that Solomon's Temple (the one the Babylonians destroyed) once stood. On the foundation of the Temple Mount is the Western Wall, which is a remnant from the wall that stood around the courtyard of the Second Temple, the one destroyed by the Romans in 70 CE. It's also known as the "Wailing Wall" because people go there to pray and lament the destruction of the first and Second Temples. Anyway, squeezing so many religious traditions into one holy place has led to a whole lot of conflict.
Deciding who gets to control which sites and what land has been a huge barrier to establishing peace in the region. Today, the "Old City" of Jerusalem is divided up into quarters with Muslims, Jews, Christians, and Armenians each getting a slice of the pie. Sometimes things are peaceful and sometimes they aren't.
Seriously, guys. Can't we all just get along?