Lamentations

Jerusalem had been warned. Now its walls lay broken, its temple was burned, and its people were left to mourn what they had lost.Lamentations begins among those ruins. Its five poems give voice to hunger, grief, guilt, anger, and prayers that seem to go unanswered. The people are living through the covenant judgment God had warned them about for generations. Yet even here, they continue to call upon In Lamentations: Reap the Whirlwind, Ben Markel works through the entire biblical book in twenty-four substantial studies. Beginning with the covenant warnings in Leviticus and Deuteronomy, he explains the history, language, and imagery behind Jerusalem's sorrow, then follows each passage carefully through judgment, repentance, compassion, and hope.Written in clear, modern language, this study takes time to explain difficult passages and connect them with the wider teaching of Scripture. It examines the failures of Judah's leaders, the suffering of its people, the confession of national sin, and the persistence of prayer when restoration has yet to come.Lamentations leaves us listening to people who have lost almost everything and are still asking God to turn them back to Himself.Suitable for individual reading or group study.