Episode 175: Five Poems of Lament

The Book of Lamentations is divided into five chapters. Each chapter represents a separate poem. In the original Hebrew, the verses in each of the first four poems are acrostic, each verse starting with a succeeding letter of the Hebrew alphabet. This is quite remarkable. Lamentations 5 is not an acrostic poem, though it does contain 22 verses, the same number as the distinct letters of the Hebrew alphabet. One writer says, “the use of the alphabet symbolizes that the completeness—‘the A to Z’—of grief is being expressed.” We explore the major themes of the five poems. We discuss the poet. Lamentations presents many key theological realities from an important era in Israel’s history. We discuss ten of these. We then explore a couple of questions from the book.

Scriptures referenced include Lamentations 5:19-22; Lamentations 2:1, 6; Psalm 132:7; Deuteronomy 28; and Lamentations 2:20.