07.28.08
Lamentations (3)
The third article based on This lecture.
The ABC of Sorrow.
There is a very particular alphabetic structure underlying each of these poetic laments which is hidden from the English reader. There are 22 letters in the Hebrew alphabet and each lament is built around this. Chapters 1, 2 & 4 each have 22 verses and each verse begins with the subsequent letter of the alphabet. Chapter 3 is three times longer than the other laments having 66 verses but the same pattern is followed here with groups of three verses. Chapter 5 is different. It has 22 verses (the number of letters in the alphabet) but it does not follow the alphabetic sequence as the others do.
This alphabetic structure is not specific to Lamentations. It is found elsewhere in the Bible e.g. Ps 119, and when it is used by the Spirit of God we should take note as there is a reason for it. We suggest three possible explanations for the alphabetic structure of these laments.
Conscious sorrow.
Sometimes in grief we can lose control and are not quite sure what we are saying, or how to describe our pain. Lamentations is not the product of such uncontrolled grief. Instead each lament is the product of conscious reflection not impassioned outbursts. The grief expressed is no less painful for being reasoned. That pain would rather be increased as the full extent of the city’s destruction has been considered and digested. Time has been taken to evaluate the situation fully and describe the emotions of the heart.
Comprehensive Sorrow.
Jeremiah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem were brought to great depths of grief. As one reads these laments a picture of comprehensive grief is also painted. The various causes of grief are described in detail together with the extent of the emotional responses provoked in the afflicted soul. In the underlying alphabetic structure of Lamentations the Holy Spirit may be suggesting that what is given here is a brief compendium of spiritual grief, an A-Z of sorrow.
Commemorative Sorrow.
The design of this alphabetic pattern is also an aid to memory. The destruction of Jerusalem was monumental in the history of the Jewish nation. They must never forget the reasons for this devastation and the consequences of it. So God gave them a book in a format that could be easily committed to memory from childhood, a book of commemorative sorrow. Although we do not benefit from these features in our English Bible, the fact that it exists in the original ought to impress upon the Church in all ages the importance of this neglected book.
Why Study Lamentations?
Because we need to be schooled in the Art of Godly Sorrow.
The contemporary Church appears not to understand the place of grief in the Christian life. What should we grieve for and how should we grieve? In Lamentations God teaches us vital lessons about the place of godly sorrow in the life of the Christian and it should be studied in preparation for when sorrow comes, and to help those who sorrow now. We also learn about the place of godly sorrow in the life of the Church. We are not just to be individualistic in our sorrow but the broader interests of the Church and our nation should be kept on our hearts.
07.21.08
Lamentations (2)
The second in a series of articles on the book of Lamentations which stem from this lecture
How did it get its Title?
The title of Lamentations in the Hebrew Scriptures is the first word ‘ekah’ which means How. This is not a question but an exclamation of astonishment ‘How doth the city sit solitary that was so full of people!’ 1:1. Chapters 2 and 4 also begin with the same exclamation. In the 3rd century BC the Hebrew Old Testament was translated into Greek (The Septuagint) and there the title is ‘The tears of Jeremiah.’ The Latin Vulgate follows the Septuagint, calling it ‘the Lamentations of Jeremiah the Prophet’ and it is from this tradition that we get the title in our English Authorised Version.
Who Wrote Lamentations?
Whereas other books of the Bible clearly identify their author, Lamentations remains anonymous. Traditionally Jeremiah has been recognised as the author. We traced this tradition above when dealing with the title, and learned that Jeremiah has been identified as the author from at least the 3rd century B.C. To the title in the Septuagint was added a preface which reads ‘And it came to pass, after Israel was taken captive, and Jerusalem made desolate, that Jeremiah sat weeping, and lamented with this lamentation.’
It was almost universally accepted that Jeremiah was the author of Lamentations until the 18th century. Since then it has been objected that certain differences in phraseology, style and theology between the prophecy of Jeremiah and Lamentations mean that they could not both have the same author. E. J. Young critiqued a number of these objections and found the arguments offered against Jeremiah being the author to be of insufficient weight to reject the traditionally held view that Jeremiah wrote the book of Lamentations.
What Kind of Book is it?
It is not immediately obvious in our English Bible but Lamentations is a Poetic book. Its position in the Hebrew Bible hints at this, where it is found in the 3rd division of the scriptures known as ‘the writings’ or more generally as ‘the Psalms’ Luke 24:44.
More specifically it is a collection of Funeral Dirges or Laments. There are 5 in total and these are marked by the chapter divisions in our Bible. Together they sing of the destruction of Jerusalem as though she had died. Those of us familiar with Scots Irish culture have an illustration in the piper. He plays for the fallen in battle, you may find him at the head of a funeral procession but his strain is not a reel, it is a slow painful lament. Here are five laments for Jerusalem and to this day the Jews turn to them to read on the anniversary of a later destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70.
07.16.08
Postmodernism: What is it and Does it Matter?
A while back some addresses on Postmodernism and other current worldviews were given by G.B. at a young peoples weekend. We linked those addresses at the time, along with various comments of interest. A few Sabbaths ago David Silversides, in one of his ‘fellowship’ addresses, gave a very useful introduction to Postmodernism entitled Postmodernism: What is it and Does it Matter? This address is particularly useful, because it goes into many of the practical areas of modern life where this worldview has caused havoc. Also, in answer to ‘Is it important?’, he shows, as Gavin did, just how pervasive this false philosophy is in our popular culture.
Of especial interest is the section that looks at the effect Postmodernism has had on our national politics.
Somewhat related is a sermon given on Sabbath evening past, in which it is shown how confidence in God’s sovereignty is the only antidote to compromise of principle – something our politicians desperately need to learn.
G.M.
07.03.08
Looking Back to Spur Us on in Seeking a ‘Third Reformation’
The following was received as part of emails from Still Water Revival Books. It makes as excellent and as timely a call to all the true ‘lovers of Zion’ now as it did in 1880. May the Lord be pleased to use it to strengthen weak knees, and lift up weary hands.
“James Kerr, on the Sabbath, June 20th, 1880, in a sermon preached in Greyfriar’s Churchyard, in Edinburgh, titled A Third Reformation Necessary: or, the Piety, Principles, and Patriotism of Scotland’s Covenanted Martyrs; With Application to the Present Times, makes the same point concerning the monumental character of the international transactions that transpired during the Covenanters’ combat with the forces of antichrist. While also giving us great insight into some of the most important battles of Second Reformation warfare, Kerr proclaims, regarding the combat of these faithful witnesses:
‘They stood for the Supreme Authority of the Holy Scriptures; for the Exclusive Headship of the Lord Jesus over the Church; for the Church’s independent spiritual jurisdiction and power; for the Divine right of Presbytery; for the purity of worship in the Church and the Church’s freedom from all unauthorized rites and ceremonies. They stood for every pin of the tabernacle, for every item of truth to which they had attained… “Whose faith follow.”
Let us embrace those doctrines affecting the Church’s existence, privileges and prosperity, for which the martyrs suffered, and let us imitate their fidelity to the high attainments of a preceding period. The great Scriptural doctrines for which they were honoured to contend and which constituted the Church’s glory, are still more or less lightly esteemed by even many professing Christians and ecclesiastical denominations…
The doctrine of Christ’s Exclusive Headship over His own Church, and of the freedom of the Church under her exclusive head, requires to be vindicated and testified for against all modern departures therefrom.
There is need to maintain and propagate the doctrine of the Divine right of the Presbyterian form of Church government…
There is a need to maintain the high scriptural doctrine concerning the modes of worship in the Church, that no rite or ceremony is to be introduced into the forms of worship for which an express prescription, direct or indirect, cannot be produced from God’s Own Word. The additions to the Church’s worship of forms of human invention, and called for in order to the gratification of mere religious fashion, constitute one of the saddest signs of the present time. “As though God has been defective,” as Charnock writes with reference to such innovators, “in providing for His own honour in His institutions, and modelling His own service, but stood in need of our directions and the caprichios of our brains.”
In this they do not seem to climb above God, yet they set themselves on the throne of God, and would grasp one end of His scepter in their own hands. They do not attempt to take the crown from God’s head but discover a bold ambition to shuffle their hairy scalps under it, and wear a part of it upon their own.
This duty [to stand for the same] may draw down upon us reproach and shame, but, as the doctrines are Scriptural, the shame, like that of the martyrs, is transformed into glory.
These doctrines are not now popular or fashionable; still they are in advance of this age and prevailing ecclesiastical opinions, and they shall be popular and fashionable in the Church everywhere when “God shall help her, and that at the breaking of the morning.”
They shall have a resurrection with power, when Zion shall be set upon the mountains, and when the glory of her King shall array her, they shall be triumphant when the whole banner for the truth shall wave upon the battlements of the Millennial Church of Jesus.’ (Cited from Sermons Delivered in Times of Persecution in Scotland [1880 ed., SWRB reprint 1996 at http://www.swrb.com/catalog/c.htm ], pp. 32-35)”
G.M.
