Lamentations 1-2 as Preached by Lee Tankersley

Remembering the Seriousness of Sin and Lamenting Washington, D. C. is home to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. It covers four floors and walks you through the very beginnings of a tragic period where Jews, people with disabilities, and others suffered such atrocities that it would be difficult to speak of them. To walk through the museum itself is not an exciting trip. It will leave you speechless, astounded at the depth of evil, and perhaps even physically sick. One might wonder, then, if that’s the case, why have such a museum? The answer, of course, is found in its name. It’s not simply a museum but a memorial museum. It’s there so that we might remember, learn, and never repeat these tragic events again. The museum’s website notes that part of its mission is to “advance and disseminate knowledge about this unprecedented tragedy . . . and to encourage visitors to reflect upon . . . their own responsibilities as citizens of a democracy.”1 That, I would imagine, is the purpose for a number of memorials. They cause us to remember, to reflect, and to examine ourselves. The book of Lamentations is one such memorial that I think has a similar purpose in the Scriptures. Much like the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, I think one of the purposes of this book is to provide the readers knowledge about this tragedy and encourage us to reflect on our own lives and responsibilities before our God. It should be seen as a memorial because it was written, most likely by Jeremiah, after the destruction of Jerusalem in 587 BC as a lament over this tragic event and lasting memorial of what happened in that year. Jews to this day will gather and read the book of Lamentations aloud on the anniversary of Jerusalem’s destruction. We’ve noted it before when studying through other texts in the Old Testament (e.g., Jer 52, 2 Kings 25, and 2 Chron 36), but the destruction of Jerusalem was a horrifying scene. In 605 BC, the Babylonians defeated the Egyptians in battle, and from that point forward became the world power. At that same time, Judah was showing itself to be in deep rebellion against the Lord. In fact, in that same year that Babylon rose to power, Judah’s king, Jehoiakim, burned the scroll of Jeremiah, demonstrating his rebellion against God’s Word. Only a few years later, Jehoiakim showed himself to be as foolish as he was defiant against God’s Word by leading Judah to rebel against Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar (king of Babylon) led an attack in response and not only were the Israelites defeated, but Jehoiakim was killed. His son, Jehoiachin, surrendered to Babylon, and they were spared. But it was only a matter of time until another king, Zedekiah, would lead Judah in rebellion again... You can read the rest of the manuscript here: https://cccjackson.org/sermons/lamentations-1-2-remembering-the-seriousness-of-sin-and-lamenting