How deserted lies the city, once so full of people! How like a widow is she, who once was great among the nations! She who was queen among the provinces has now become a slave. – Lamentations 1:1

 Today's Scripture Reading (August 4, 2023): Lamentations 1

The Book of Lamentations is a group of five poems written in the aftermath of the destruction of Jerusalem. The author is never named in the book, but by tradition, the author is Jeremiah. The Septuagint, a Greek translation of the Hebrew text that originates from somewhere in the Second Century B.C.E., includes a preface to the book's text. The preface reads, "And it came to pass after Israel had been carried away captive, and Jerusalem was become desolate, that Jeremiah sat weeping: and he lamented with this lamentation over Jerusalem; and he said."

You can almost see Jeremiah sitting on one of the hills surrounding the city, looking at the devastation of the city and writing these words. It must have been a terrible experience for the Prophet. He would have been used to the hustle and bustle of the city. He would have spent time watching the priests working in the Temple, the soldiers in various places around the city, and the merchants selling their wares. He would have watched the people as they lived and worked in the city.   And it wasn't that the city was simply empty; the city had been destroyed. The walls of the city no longer stood. The Temple was gone, along with the houses and businesses of the ordinary people. All that was left was rubble where once a world-class city had stood.

I don't know where you live, but imagine how you might feel if the city or town you live in or even near you basically ceased to exist. What if all that was left of the city was a pile of rubble? At such a moment, you might find yourself weeping, thinking not just about the city itself but the people that were now gone, all the missing friends and family. That was precisely the emotion that Jeremiah was experiencing. Most of the missing people were dead, some had been carried off into Babylon, and a few were hiding in various places around the countryside.

As deep as Jeremiah's grief was at this moment, the Prophet had heard the instructions of God and intended to stay in the area of the destroyed city. He wanted to be part of the remnant that would rebuild the city, both physically and spiritually. But that also wouldn't happen. After writing these five laments, Jeremiah was kidnapped by his own people and forced to go into exile in Egypt. And he would never see his beloved Jerusalem again.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Lamentations 2