Steve Webb  0:00  
It is different, isn't it?

Steve Webb  0:09  
Hello, this is the Lifespring! One Year Bible coming to you from Riverside, California and podcasting since 2004. I'm your OG Godcaster. Steve Webb. This is the daily podcast where we're reading through the entire Bible in a year. You're looking good today. It's prophecy Friday, and we'll read the book of Lamentations and I'm calling the episode. Alas, I'm going to be doing something a little bit different today. Before reading, I'll give you a short introduction to the book of Lamentations. And then as we begin reading the chapters, I'll give you a brief introduction to each one as we go along. And then after reading all five chapters, I will have some thoughts for you. So let's get started with prayer. Our Heavenly Father, we love you and we thank you for this time that you've given us to read through your work. I pray that as we read today, you would open our eyes and help us to understand this sometimes difficult book. Bless our time I pray in Jesus name, amen. Okay, let's get started.

Steve Webb  1:12  
First, beloved, let's talk about the name lamentations. In Jewish tradition, the first word of a biblical Book is often the name that is used as its title. So the Hebrew title of Lamentations is eikhah, which means "Alas" or "Oh how," and the Septuagint and other Greek manuscripts refer to it as Thrēnoi, which means "Dirges", or Thrēnoi Hieremion, which means "The Dirges of Jeremiah." The English translation of Thrēnoi is "Lamentations." And if there are Hebrew or Greek scholars out there, you'll have to forgive me if I mispronounced those names. I did not take a lot of time researching the pronunciation on those words. Anyway, the book of Lamentations is traditionally held to have been written by the prophet Jeremiah, as a sort of appendix to the book bearing his name Jeremiah, and as David and others wrote many sacred songs of joy. These are sacred songs of lament or sadness. Jeremiah is expressing his sadness and seeing his prophecies fulfilled. And even though he was ill treated by his countrymen when he delivered God's message to them, he is nonetheless heartbroken at the destruction that he's seen come upon them. He wrote these songs or odes when he saw the destruction of Judah and Jerusalem by the Chaldean army and the falling apart of the Jewish state, both the government and the body of Jewish believers, this might be referred to as a dirge for Jerusalem. Now for chapter one. This first poem or song or ODE, is an expression of sadness for the misery and suffering of Jerusalem referred to as daughter Zion and its inhabitants.

Steve Webb  2:56  
Lamentations chapter one. How she sits alone, the city once crowded with people. She who was great among the nations has become like a widow, the princess among the provinces has been put to forced labor. She weeps aloud during the night with tears on her cheeks, there is no one to offer her comfort, not one from all her lovers. All her friends have betrayed her, they have become her enemies. Judah has gone into exile following affliction in harsh slavery. She lives among the nations but finds no place to rest. All her pursuers have overtaken her in narrow places. The roads to Zion mourn, for no one comes to the appointed festivals. All her gates are deserted. Her priests grown her young women grieve and she herself is bitter. Her adversaries have become her masters, her enemies are at ease, for the Lord has made her suffer because of her many transgressions. Her children have gone away as captives before the adversary. All her splendor has vanished from daughter Zion. Her leaders are like stags that find no pasture, they walk away exhausted before the hunter. During the days of her affliction and homelessness, Jerusalem remembers all her precious belongings that were hers in days of old when her people fell into the adversaries hand, she had no one to help. The adversaries looked at her laughing over her downfall. Jerusalem has sinned grievously, therefore, she has become an object of scorn. All who honored her now despise her for they have seen her nakedness. She herself groans in turns away her uncleanness stains or skirts, she never considered her end. Her downfall was astonishing. There was no one to comfort her. Lord, look on my affliction for the enemy triumphs. The adversary has seized all her precious belongings. She has even seen the nation's into her sanctuary, those you had forbidden to enter your assembly. All her people grown while they searched for bread, they have traded their precious belongings for food in order to stay alive. Lord, look and see how I have become despised. Is this nothing to you, all you who pass by look and see, is there any pain like mine which was dealt out to me which the Lord made me suffer on the Day of His burning anger. He sent fire from heaven into my bones. He made it descend, he spread a net for my feet and turned me back. He made me desolate, sick all day long. My transgressions have been formed into a yoke fastened together by his hand. They have been placed on my neck and the Lord is broken my strength. He has handed me over to those I cannot withstand. The Lord has rejected all the mighty men within me. He has summoned an army against me to crush my young warriors. The Lord is trampled virgin daughter Judah like grapes in a wine press. I weep because of these things. My eyes flow with tears, for there is no one nearby to comfort me, no one to keep me alive. My children are desolate because the enemy has prevailed. Zion stretches out her hands, there is no one to comfort her. The Lord has issued a decree against Jacob, that his neighbors should be his adversaries. Jerusalem has become something impure among them. The Lord is just for I have rebelled against his command. Listen, all you people look at my pain. My young men and women have gone into captivity. I called to my lovers, but they betrayed me. My priests and elders perished in the city while searching for food to keep themselves alive. Lord, see how I am in distress. I am churning within my heart is broken, for I have been very rebellious. Outside the sword takes the children inside, there is death. People have heard me groaning that there is no one to comfort me. All my enemies have heard of my misfortune. They're glad that you have caused it. Bring on the day you have announced so that they may become like me. Let all their wickedness come before you and deal with them as you have dealt with me because of all my transgressions. For my groans are many and I am sick at heart.

Steve Webb  7:17  
Here in chapter two, the cries are directed to God and recognizes him as the one who has brought about Jerusalem's destruction as a punishment for the abandonment of his commands.

Steve Webb  7:30  
Lamentations chapter two, how the Lord has overshadowed daughter Zion with his anger. He has thrown down Israel's glory from heaven to earth. He has abandoned his footstool in the day of his anger. Without compassion, the Lord has swallowed up all the dwellings of Jacob. In his wrath, he has demolished the fortified cities of daughter Judah. He brought them to the ground and defiled the kingdom and its leaders. He has cut off every horn of Israel in His burning anger and withdrawn his right hand in the presence of the enemy. He has blazed against Jacob like a flaming fire that consumes everything. He has bent his bow like an enemy, his right hand is positioned like an adversary. He has killed everyone who was loved pouring out His wrath like fire on the tent of daughter Zion. The Lord is like an enemy. He has swallowed up Israel. He swallowed up all its palaces and destroyed its fortified cities. He has multiplied mourning and lamentation within daughter Judah. He has done violence to his temple as if it were a garden booth, destroying his place of meeting. The Lord has abolished appointed festivals and Sabbath's in Zion. He is despised king and priest in his fierce anger. The Lord has rejected his altar, repudiated his sanctuary, he has handed the walls of her palaces over to the enemy. They have raised a shout in the house of the Lord as on the day of an appointed festival. The Lord determined to destroy the wall of daughter Zion. He stretched out a measuring line and did not restrain himself from destroying. He made the ramparts and walls grieve together, they waste away. Zions gates have fallen to the ground, he is destroyed and shattered the bars on her gates. Her King and her leaders live among the nation's instruction is no more and even her prophets received no vision from the Lord. The elders of daughters Zion sit on the ground in silence. They have thrown dust on their heads and put on sackcloth, the Young Women of Jerusalem have bowed their heads to the ground. My eyes are worn out from weeping I am churning within. My heart is poured out in grief because of the destruction of my dear people, because children in infants faint in the streets of the city. They cry out to their mothers, where is the grain and wine as they fade like the wounded in the streets of the city as their lives fade away in the arms of their mothers? What can I say on your behalf? What can I compare you to daughter Jerusalem? What can I like in you too so that I may console you virgin daughter Zion, for your ruin is as vast as the sea who can heal you? Your profits saw visions for you that were empty and deceptive. They did not reveal your guilt in Seoul restore your fortunes. They saw Oracle's for you that were empty and misleading. All who passed by scornfully clap their hands at you. They mock and shake their heads that daughter Jerusalem. Is this the city that was called the perfection of beauty, the joy of the whole earth. All your enemies open their mouths against you. They hiss and gnash their teeth saying we have swallowed her up. This is the day we've waited for. We have lived to see it. The Lord has done what he planned. He has accomplished his decree which he ordained in days of old, he has demolished without compassion. Letting the enemy gloat over you and exalting the horn of your adversaries. The hearts of the people cry out to the Lord wall of daughters Zion. Let your tears run down like a river day and night. Give yourself no relief and your eyes no rest. Arise. Cry out in the night from the first watch of the night. Pour out your heart like water before the Lord's presence. Lift up your hands to him for the lives of your children who are fainting from hunger on the corner of every street. Lord, look and consider who you have done this to. Should women eat their own children the infant's they have nurtured should priests and prophets be killed in the Lord sanctuary. both young and old are lying on the ground in the streets. My young men and women have fallen by the sword. You have killed him in the day of your anger slaughtering without compassion. You summoned my attackers on every side as if for an appointed festival day. On the day of the Lord's anger, no one escaped or survived. My enemy has destroyed those I nurtured and reared.

Steve Webb  12:10  
Lamentations chapter three. I am the man who has seen affliction under the rod of God's wrath. He has driven me away and forced me to walk in darkness instead of light. Yes, he repeatedly turns his hand against me all day long. He has worn away my flesh and skin. He has shattered my bones. He has laid siege against me, encircling me with bitterness and hardship. He has made me dwell in darkness like those who have been dead for ages. He has walled me in so I cannot escape. He has weighed me down with chains. Even when I cry out in plead for help. He rejects my prayer. He has walled in my ways with cut stones. He has made my pads crooked. He is a bear waiting in ambush a lion in hiding. He forced me off my way and tore me to pieces. He left me desolate. He strung his bow and set me as the target for his arrow. He pierced my kidneys with his arrows. I am a laughingstock to all my people mocked by their songs all day long. He filled me with bitterness satiated me with warm wood. He grounded my teeth on gravel and made me cower in the dust. My soul has been deprived of peace. I have forgotten what happiness is. Then I thought, my future is lost as well as my hope from the Lord. Remember my affliction and my homelessness, the Wormwood in the poison, I continually remember them and have become depressed. Yet I call this to mind and therefore I have hope. Because of the Lord's faithful love, we do not perish, for His mercies never end. They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness. I say the Lord is my portion. Therefore I will put my hope in Him. The Lord is good to those who wait for him to the person who seeks Him. It is good to wait quietly for deliverance from the Lord. It is good for a man to bear the yoke while he is still young. Let him sit alone and be silent for God is disciplined him. Let him put his mouth in the dust perhaps there is still hope. Let him offer his cheek to the one who would strike him. Let him be filled with shame. For the Lord will not reject us forever. Even if he causes suffering, he will show compassion according to his abundant faithful love, for he does not enjoy bringing affliction or suffering on mankind, crushing all the prisoners of the land beneath one's feet, denying justice to a man in the presence of the Most High or suppressing a person's lawsuit. The Lord does not approve of these things. Who is there who speaks and it happens unless the Lord has ordained it. Do not both adversity and good come from the mouth of the Most High. Why should any living person complain any man because of the punishment for his sins. Let us search out and examine our ways and turn back to the Lord. Let us lift up our hearts and our hands to God and heaven. We have sinned and rebelled, you have not forgiven. You have covered yourself and anger and pursued us. You have killed without compassion. You have covered yourself with a cloud so that no prayer can pass through. You have made us disgusting filth among the peoples. All our enemies open their mouths against us. We have experienced panic and pitfall devastation and destruction. My eyes flow with streams of tears because of the destruction of my dear people. My eyes overflow unceasingly without end until the Lord looks down from heaven and sees my eyes bring me grief because of the fate of all the women in my city. For no apparent reason. My enemies hunted me like a bird. They dropped me alive into a pit and threw stones at me. water flooded over my head and I thought, I'm going to die. I called on your name, your way from the depths of the pit. You heard my plea, do not ignore my cry for relief. You come near when I call on you, you say, Do not be afraid. You defend my cause, Lord, you redeem my life. Lord, you see the wrong done to me judge my case, you see all their malice, all their plots against me. Lord, you hear their insults all their plots against me. The slander and murmuring of my opponents attacked me all day long. When they sit and when they arise, look, I am mocked by their songs. You will pay them back what they deserve Lord according to the work of their hands, you will give them a heart filled with anguish. May your curse beyond them, you will pursue them and anger and destroy them unto your heavens.

Steve Webb  16:54  
In the fourth chapter, the writer speaks of the effects of Babylons invasion and again acknowledges that God was right in his actions. But instead of laying the blame on all of Jerusalem's inhabitants, he places it on quote, the sins of her prophets and the iniquities of her priests, unquote.

Steve Webb  17:14  
Lamentations chapter four, how the gold has become tarnished the fine gold become dull. The stones of the temple lie scattered at the corner of every st Zions precious people once worth their weight in gold, how they are regarded as clay jars, the work of a potter's hands. Even jackals offer their breasts to nurse their young. But my dear people have become cruel like ostriches in the wilderness. The nursing infants tongue clings to the roof of his mouth from thirst. Little children beg for brat but no one gives the many. Those who use the delicacies are destitute in the streets. Those who were reared in purple garments huddle in garbage heaps. The punishment of my dear people is greater than that of Saddam, which was overthrown in an instant without a hand laid on it. Her dignitaries were brighter than snow whiter than milk. Their bodies were more ready than coral, their appearance like Sapphire. Now they appear darker than sit. They are not recognized in the streets, their skin has shriveled on their bones, it has become dry like wood. Those slain by the sword are better off than those slain by hunger, who waste away pierced with pain because the fields lack produce. The hands of compassionate women have cooked their own children. They became their food during the destruction of my dear people. The Lord has exhausted his wrath poured out His burning anger. He has ignited a fire in Zion, and it has consumed her foundations. The kings of the earth and all the world's inhabitants did not believe that an enemy or adversary could enter Jerusalem's gates. Yet it happened because of the sins of her prophets and the guilt of her priests who shed the blood of the righteous within her blind they stumbled in the streets defiled by this blood so that no one dared to touch their garments. Stay away unclean, people shouted at them away, away, don't touch us. So they wandered aimlessly. It was said among the nations they can stay here no longer. The Lord Himself has scattered them. He regards them no more. The priests are not respected. The elders find no favor. All the while our eyes were failing as we looked in vain for assistance. We watched from our towers for a nation that refused to help. Our steps were closely followed so that we would not walk in our streets. Our end drew near our time ran out. Our end had come. Those who chased us were swifter than eagles in the sky. They relentlessly pursued us over the mountains and ambushed us in the wilderness. The Lord's anointed the breath of our life was captured in their traps. We had said about him, we will live under his protection among the nations. So rejoice and be glad daughter, Edom, you resident of the land of us. Yet the cup will pass to you as well. You will get drunk and expose yourself, daughter Zion, your punishment is complete, he will not lengthen your exile, but he will punish your iniquity daughter Edom, and will expose your sins.

Steve Webb  22:26  
Beloved, you may have noticed that this book ended on a down note. Listen to verses 19 through 22. Again, you Lord are in throne forever Your throne endures from generation to generation. Why have you forgotten us forever abandoned us for our entire lives. Lord, restore us to yourself. So we may return, Renew our days as in former times, unless you have completely rejected us and are intensely angry with us. Well, that is different, isn't it? We're more used to David in the Psalms. When he wrote of his times in trials he usually said something like, but you Lord, our my comfort and my strength, I will praise you. Or even the book of Job ended with God restoring him. Lamentations doesn't give us the same comfort. Verse 21, the second to the last verse of chapter five says, Lord restore us to yourself. So we may return Renew our days as in former times, which does sound like something David would have written but verse 22 says, Unless you've completely rejected us and are intensely angry with us, that's how it ends. So the reader of Lamentations is left with a question, Lord, what's your response? Interestingly, in Jewish liturgical use, or in temple or synagogue, I've read that it was common practice when reading lemon tations that they would end the reading with verse 21, instead of ending with the uncertainty and lack of comfort of verse 22. So what's my answer? Well, obviously, I don't have the mind of God. I don't know why he inspired the writer of lamentation stand like this. But what I do know is that God made a way for us to know that we will not be completely rejected by God, we can know that we are forgiven for all of our sins when we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior. We are not left wondering if we will be restored or rejected. Jesus says in Matthew 1032, everyone who acknowledges me before men, I will acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. So Jesus Himself will vouch for us to the Father, Beloved, we are not left wondering what our fate will be. We can have complete and total confidence that we are at peace with God and he at peace with us. And how wonderful is that? What do you think Beloved? Have thoughts? You have comments? You have questions? Let me know. Call the Lifespring family Hotline at plus 1-951-732-8511 or send to boostagram with your comment or go to comment.lifespringmedia.com. Tomorrow we'll be gospels Saturday and we're going to read the book of Luke chapters nine and 10.

Steve Webb  25:22  
I get to announce a new Lifespring Family Berean today. And better than that I get to announce two Lifespring Family Bereans. What is a Berean? Well, we read of the Bereans in Acts 17:10 through 15. And the key verse For our purposes here is verse 11b, which says, "...the Bereans were eager to hear what Paul and Silas said, and studied the scriptures every day to find out if these things were true." So in my mind, as a  person who loves the scriptures, and as the host of the Lifespring! One Year Bible, to be considered a Berean is something very special. And I wanted a way to recognize those who donate more than $1,000 to support the show. So that's where the idea of the Lifespring family Berean comes from. And now I'm Happy to announce that our newest Lifespring family Bereans are Ann and Howie, who have together donated more than $1,000. In Genesis 2:24 says, "a man shall leave his father and his mother and be joined to his wife, so they shall become one flesh." So since Howie and Ann are one in God's eyes, I look at their separate donations the same as being from one person. So from this point on, I will refer to them as Brother Howie, and Sister Ann. I first learned of them in season 12, when brother Sean of San Pedro, who used to do the chapters and even wrote a web app to create the file for the chapters. He asked us to pray for Howie who was his father in law, Brittany's dad, the one who does the newsletter. And I just realized that according to what I just said about married couples, I should be referring to Brittaney as Sister Brittaney. And so shall it be spoken. So shall it be. Anyway, Howiee was in the hospital on a ventilator with COVID. And thankfully, praise the Lord how he made it off the ventilator after quite some time, unlike so many others. But he was in the hospital for a very long time. Even after getting off a ventilator. And we continued to lift him up in prayer over the months and when he was released from the hospital, he had to undergo a long period of rehab. But today he's doing very well. And He's even been able to meet Sean and Brittaney his first child who bears his name, little Howie, how cool is that? Brother, Hallie and sister and have been a great encouragement to me with several very kind emails, and of course, their donations. So again, I am very Happy to welcome them into the ranks of Lifespring family Bereans God bless you two.

Steve Webb  28:23  
lifespringmedia.com/support

Steve Webb  28:27  
Please remember that our next time a prayer together here on the show will be Sunday. If you've got a praise that would encourage the family or if there's something you'd like us to pray with you about, tell me about it on the Lifespring family Hotline at plus 1951732 at 511 or go to prayer dot Lifespringmedia.com. I'll pray for you in my quiet time and we'll pray together here on the show.

Steve Webb  28:59  
Thanks to Sister Denise Michael Haner Scott Snider, who did today's show art, Jason Paschall and sister Brittaney The team. God bless you guys. And now until tomorrow thank you for inviting me into your day. May God bless you richly. My name is Steve Webb, bye.

Announcer  29:20  
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Transcribed by https://otter.ai