One of the podcasted preachers I listen to has spent this lent leading his people through the book of Lamentations. Each Sunday, a different chapter has been highlighted, with the longer third chapter taking up 2 Sundays. I have joined in this more fully by reading a chapter of the book each day (with the exception of Sundays) during this season, which means that today I read that third chapter for the eighth time since Ash Wednesday. Lamentations has an interesting structure. The first 2 chapters are each 22 line acrostic poems, as is the fourth, with the fifth mimicing the form in its 22 lines. The third is a 66 line poem that breaks the typical acrostic style, but has a repetitious nature that would have helped the Hebrews in their oral tradition. This symetrical structure has also led me to believe that this book, as a whole, is a chiasm. In a chiastic structure, often times, the center of the symetry is the main point. The center of this book is this:
"31 For the Lord will not cast off forever,
32 but, though he cause grief, he will have compassion
according to the abundance of his steadfast love;
33 for he does not willingly afflict
or grieve the children of men.
34 To crush underfoot
all the prisoners of the earth,
35 to deny a man justice
in the presence of the Most High,
36 to subvert a man in his lawsuit,
the Lord does not approve."
Lamentations 3:31-36 (ESV)
So if these 6 verses, the exact center of the book, is the focus of what Lamentations is trying to communicate, what does it tell us? I think that these 2 central stanzas tell us 2 central ideas about the character of God: He is faithful and He is just.
I think that these are 2 very important things that are true of God, and that we need to rememeber during trying times (economy, anyone?) and that is my major takeaway from what I've read.
also... one of the blogs I keep up with posted this about a unique occurence in Hebrew Worship, the Birkat Ha-Chamah (Blessing of the Sun). It's pretty cool.
