The text of this passage is presented in two columns in the following table in order to show the division of the text into stanzas. Lamentations is a profound expression of grief over the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians, with the motifs and style of Psalms of Lament. The expression of trust in the LORD, which often characterizes Psalms of Lament (e.g. Ps. 3:5-6), is not very prominent in Lamentations, but consider 3:22-33, the passage which inspired our hymn Great is Thy Faithfulness.

1 How lonely sits the city

that once was full of people!

How like a widow she has become,

she that was great among the nations!

She that was a princess among the provinces

has become a vassal.

2 She weeps bitterly in the night,

with tears on her cheeks;

among all her lovers

she has no one to comfort her;

all her friends have dealt treacherously with her,

they have become her enemies.

3 Judah has gone into exile with suffering

and hard servitude;

she lives now among the nations,

and finds no resting place;

her pursuers have all overtaken her

in the midst of her distress.

4 The roads to Zion mourn,

for no one comes to the festivals;

all her gates are desolate,

her priests groan;

her young girls grieve,

and her lot is bitter.

5 Her foes have become the masters,

her enemies prosper,

because the Lord has made her suffer

for the multitude of her transgressions;

her children have gone away,

captives before the foe.

6 From daughter Zion has departed

all her majesty.

Her princes have become like stags

that find no pasture;

they fled without strength

before the pursuer.

7 Jerusalem remembers,

in the days of her affliction and wandering,

all the precious things

that were hers in days of old.

When her people fell into the hand of the foe,

and there was no one to help her,

the foe looked on mocking

over her downfall.

8 Jerusalem sinned grievously,

so she has become a mockery;

all who honored her despise her,

for they have seen her nakedness;

she herself groans,

and turns her face away.

9 Her uncleanness was in her skirts;

she took no thought of her future;

her downfall was appalling,

with none to comfort her.

"O Lord, look at my affliction,

for the enemy has triumphed!"

10 Enemies have stretched out their hands

over all her precious things;

she has even seen the nations

invade her sanctuary,

those whom you forbade

to enter your congregation.

11 All her people groan

as they search for bread;

they trade their treasures for food

to revive their strength.

Look, O Lord, and see

how worthless I have become.

12 Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by?

Look and see

if there is any sorrow like my sorrow,

which was brought upon me,

which the Lord inflicted

on the day of his fierce anger.

The first four chapters of Lamentations are in the form of alphabetic acrostics. In chapters one, two and four, each has twenty-two verses, one for each letter of the Hebrew alphabet. And each verse begins with the next letter of the alphabet: verse one begins with aleph, verse two with beth, verse three with gimmel, and so forth. (This pattern is found in several of the Psalms, e.g. Pss. 9-10, 25, 34, 37 and others.) Chapter three of Lamentations has three lines–three verses–for each letter. (Ps. 119 has eight lines–verses–for each letter, 176 verses in all = 8 times 22.) But each verse in Lamentations 1, 2 and 4 has three lines, which makes them about the same length as the three lines per stanza in chapter 3.

You might wonder (as I have) how spontaneous emotion or rigorous reflection can be made to fit in such a strict formal pattern. But then, poetry has been defined as “emotion remembered in tranquillity” (Wordsworth), and Shakespeare’s sonnets, with their strict fourteen line form, are profound expressions of emotion.

Today’s reading from Lamentations (aleph through lamed) laments the present state of Jerusalem. “How lonely sits the city/that once was full of people!” (Lam. 1:1). She was a princess but is now a widow (v. 1). She “weeps bitterly in the night” (v. 1). “Judah has gone into exile” (v. 3). “Jerusalem sinned grievously,/so she has become a mockery” (v. 8). With verse 12, the lament over the city becomes the lament by the city. “Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by?/Look and see/if there is any sorrow like my sorrow,/which was brought upon me,/which the LORD inflicted/on the day of his fierce anger’ (v. 12).

7 When all the leaders of the forces in the open country and their troops heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam governor in the land, and had committed to him men, women, and children, those of the poorest of the land who had not been taken into exile to Babylon, 8 they went to Gedaliah at Mizpah-Ishmael son of Nethaniah, Johanan son of Kareah, Seraiah son of Tanhumeth, the sons of Ephai the Netophathite, Jezaniah son of the Maacathite, they and their troops. 9 Gedaliah son of Ahikam son of Shaphan swore to them and their troops, saying, "Do not be afraid to serve the Chaldeans. Stay in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it shall go well with you. 10 As for me, I am staying at Mizpah to represent you before the Chaldeans who come to us; but as for you, gather wine and summer fruits and oil, and store them in your vessels, and live in the towns that you have taken over." 11 Likewise, when all the Judeans who were in Moab and among the Ammonites and in Edom and in other lands heard that the king of Babylon had left a remnant in Judah and had appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam son of Shaphan as governor over them, 12 then all the Judeans returned from all the places to which they had been scattered and came to the land of Judah, to Gedaliah at Mizpah; and they gathered wine and summer fruits in great abundance. (Jeremiah 40:7-12, NRSV)

13 Now Johanan son of Kareah and all the leaders of the forces in the open country came to Gedaliah at Mizpah 14 and said to him, "Are you at all aware that Baalis king of the Ammonites has sent Ishmael son of Nethaniah to take your life?" But Gedaliah son of Ahikam would not believe them. 15 Then Johanan son of Kareah spoke secretly to Gedaliah at Mizpah, "Please let me go and kill Ishmael son of Nethaniah, and no one else will know. Why should he take your life, so that all the Judeans who are gathered around you would be scattered, and the remnant of Judah would perish?" 16 But Gedaliah son of Ahikam said to Johanan son of Kareah, "Do not do such a thing, for you are telling a lie about Ishmael." (Jeremiah 40:13-16, NRSV)

41:1 In the seventh month, Ishmael son of Nethaniah son of Elishama, of the royal family, one of the chief officers of the king, came with ten men to Gedaliah son of Ahikam, at Mizpah. As they ate bread together there at Mizpah, 2 Ishmael son of Nethaniah and the ten men with him got up and struck down Gedaliah son of Ahikam son of Shaphan with the sword and killed him, because the king of Babylon had appointed him governor in the land. 3 Ishmael also killed all the Judeans who were with Gedaliah at Mizpah, and the Chaldean soldiers who happened to be there. (Jeremiah 41:1-3, NRSV)

As we remember, Jeremiah advised surrender to the Babylons as the only option, but was accused of treason. After the capture of the city, Nebuchadnezzar commanded that Jeremiah be treated kindly (Jer. 39:11-14). Gedaliah was left in charge by the Babylonians, and attempts to have people continue their lives. “Do not be afraid to serve the Chaldeans. Stay in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it shall go well with you” (Jer. 40:9), and “gather wine and summer fruits and oil, and store them in your vessels, and live in the towns that you have taken over” (v. 10). But hard-line nationalists remain who find this intolerable and their opposition soon leads to the assassination of Gedaliah (41:2) and his supporters (v. 3). The future of Judah does not lie within this anarchic situation.

41 There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; indeed, star differs from star in glory.

42 So it is with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable. 43 It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. 44 It is sown a physical body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a physical body, there is also a spiritual body. 45 Thus it is written, "The first man, Adam, became a living being"; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. 46 But it is not the spiritual that is first, but the physical, and then the spiritual. 47 The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. 48 As was the man of dust, so are those who are of the dust; and as is the man of heaven, so are those who are of heaven. 49 Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we will also bear the image of the man of heaven.

50 What I am saying, brothers and sisters, is this: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. (1 Corinthians 15:41-50, NRSV)

Paul’s explanation of the nature of the resurrected body continues. Before resurrection, the body is perishable (1 Cor. 15:42), “sown in dishonor,” “in weakness” (v. 43), physical (v. 44). After resurrection, the body is imperishable (v. 42), “raised in glory,” “in power” (v. 43), “raised a spiritual body” (v. 44). The contrast continues. “The first man, Adam, became a living being” but “the last Adam [Christ] became a life-giving spirit” (v. 45). The promise for us is that we, who”are of the dust” (v. 48), like our ancestor, who “was from the earth, a man of dust” (v. 47), “we will also bear the image of the man of heaven” (v. 49). By resurrection we will “inherit the kingdom of God,” and “inherit the imperishable” (v. 50). It is “unlikely,” says Ben Witherington III,

that Paul means by sōma pneumatikon [spiritual body] (v. 44) a “body made up of spirit.” That would be a non sequitur, since Paul elsewhere assumes that spirit is immaterial. He means, rather, that the resurrection body will be animated and empowered by the Spirit, just as the present physical body (the sōma psychikon) is animated and empowered by a physical life principle or force, which the creation story says God breathed into human beings. So the psychē that Adam was animated by (v. 45) is the physical life principle, not a “soul,” as the word is so often translated. Psychē is decidedly this-worldly, of the earth. It is not an immaterial soul or spirit. (Ben Witherington III, Conflict & Community in Corinth, 1994, pp. 308-309 on 1 Cor. 15:42-44)

He does not add, as he might have done, that Genesis 2:7 says that “the man became a nephesh chayyāh” (“living being”; LXX psychēn zōsan), the term which is used of animals in Genesis 1:10. If this seems a little mysterious, remember what John said. “Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is” (1 John 3:2).

25 At that time Jesus said, "I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants; 26 yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. 27 All things have been handed over to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. (Matthew 11:25-27, NRSV)

The introductory phrases vary, but the words quoted here from Jesus are practically identical to the words quoted in the parallel passage in Luke (Mt. 11:25-27; Lk. 10:21-22). Matthew has “no one knows the Son” and Luke has “no one knows who the son is,” but the difference is hardly substantial. J. Andrew Overman comments:

The nature of true wisdom is an important question in Matthew. Powerful and influential people form the opposition in Matthew’s Gospel. Ironically, it is the younger students without influence, training, and power who have heard and understood the message. Wisdom is hidden from “the wise.” (NOAB, 3^rd ed., on Mt. 11:25-27)

28 "Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." (Matthew 11:28-30, NRSV)

This paragraph has no parallel in Luke or the other Gospels. The word “yoke” is frequently used to the law of Moses. Overman says that in the Greek version of the Hebrew Bible, it “entails obedience and submission, but also political allegiance, wisdom, and justice” (NOAB, 3^rd ed., on vv. 28-30). Dale C. Allison, Jr., comments on the two passages together (vv. 25-30):

The whole has a Mosaic colour. The declaration about Father and Son knowing each other depends upon Ex. 33:12-13, in which Moses says that God knows him and in which Moses prays that he might know God; and the promise of rest (cf. The realized eschatology in Heb. 4:1-13) is modelled upon Ex. 33:14. Jesus moreover is like Moses in that he is ‘meek’ (Num. 12:3) full of revelation (Jewish tradition made Moses all but omniscient; cf. Jub. 1:4; Sipre Deut. Sec. 357), and has a ‘yoke’ (a word often applied to the Mosaic law). All this accords with Jesus’ status as the new Moses of the new covenant. (Dale C. Allison, Jr., The Oxford Bible Commentary, 860, on Mt. 11:25-30)

The promise to us, as members of Christ’s kingdom, is not that there will be no expectations or requirements, but that, all things considered, the “yoke is easy” and the “burden is light.”

Daily Scripture Readings
Tuesday (October 18, 2005)
Daily Office Lectionary, The Book of Common Prayer, the Episcopal Church in the U.S.A.	Daily Lectionary, The Book of Worship, the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A.	Daily Lectionary, Book of Worship Inter-Lutheran Commission on Worship, c. 1978 (2002 printing)
http://www.satucket.com/lectionary/index.htm http://www.pcusa.org/cgi-bin/lectiond.cgi
Unless otherwise indicated, the scripture texts quoted are from The New Revised Standard Version (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers), 1989.
According to Proper22*	According to Proper 22*	According to Proper 21*
Tuesday AM Psalm 26, 28 PM Psalm 36, 39 Lam. 1:1-5(6-9)10-12 1 Cor. 15:41-50 Matt. 11:25-30 St. Luke: http://www.satucket.com/lectionary/Luke.htm AM: Psalm 103; Ezekiel 47:1-12; Luke 1:1-4 PM: Psalm 67, 96; Isaiah 52:7-10; Acts 1:1-8 From Sunday Lectionary: Psalm 147 or 147:1-7; Ecclesiasticus 38:1-4,6-10,12-14; 2 Timothy 4:5-13; Luke 4:14-21	Morning: Psalm 54:1-7 Lamentations 1:1-5 (6-9) 10-12 or Jeremiah 40:7-41:3 1 Corinthians 15:41-50 Matthew 11:25-30 Evening: Psalm 28:1-9	Morning Pss.: 54, 146 Jeremiah 36:27-37:2 1 Corinthians 14:1-12 Matthew 10:16-23 Evening Pss.: 28, 99
*For this week (of the Twenty-second Sunday after Pentecost): the Lutheran tradition remains a week behind the Episcopal and Presbyterian traditions.