NOTES for Lam 3:1-33
Today's text immediately brings the book of Psalms to mind. It contains a sorrowful lament, a prayer of repentance and hope, a remembrance of the mercies that the Lord has given and continues to give, and an exhortation to turn back. On the one hand, the prophet describes the sufferings and calamities of the chosen people. Yet after rereading this text, one gets the impression that it is at the same time the groaning of the one chosen to tell people why such punishments have fallen upon them, to show them the full weight of apostasy. And the prophet's lot is all the heavier because he experiences together with the people all their hardships and privations, while also being mocked for speaking an unpleasant and painful truth.