Sunday School Lesson 6: Ceaseless Love, Lamentation 3:16-24, July 7, 2024.
Key Text: This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope. It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not (Lamentations 3:21-22).
The Hebrew people exiled in Babylon did not live in concentration camps and there was no slave labor, as there had been Egypt. Instead, they enjoyed royal protection and a great amount of self-government: They married, kept in touch with Jerusalem, met to worship, and kept the Sabbath (Jeremiah 29). They could own their homes and land, enter business enterprises, and send money to Jerusalem. However the tendency to assimilate included the adoption of the Aramaic language and the acceptance of idolatry and participation in pagan ceremonies, even sacrificing their son on a pagan altar (Ezekiel 14:5; 20:31). After the destruction of Jerusalem and its temple and when all hope of return seemed gone, the people of Israel began to realize how much they had lost. The birthright they had traded away for pagan Baals and Asherahs suddenly seemed precious. Israel realized at last that if they were not God’s people, they had no identity. This sense of loss is communicated by Jeremiah in the Book of Lamentations (somber poems), where the people are sorrowful for what they had once scorned. Each of the five chapters has 22 verses; however, Chapter 3 has 66 verses, a multiple of 22. “Gravel stones” represents a symbol of calamity where Judah’s teeth are broken because God has given her stones to eat as punishment for her idolatry (Lamentations 3:16). In this condition there is no room for thoughts of peace and prosperity, even strength and hope seem forever gone vv 17-18.
The prophet Jeremiah recalls God’s faithfulness and is able to transition from the desperate complaint to hope. When under the chastising hand of God; and, while indulging this feeling, all hope seems lost. However, the prophet remembers his affliction only serves to keep his soul low, and he brings to mind truth that will give him hope vv 19-21. As he humbles himself under the mighty hand of God, his hope revives. He finds that God, instead of dealing with him in judgment, has dealt with him in mercy v 22. God’s compassion faileth not! “They are new every morning v 23 GREAT IS THY FAITHFULNESS!” AMEN!
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