Lamentations: A Mentor Commentary

The Book of Lamentations does not explicitly identify its author but the tradition is that the Prophet Jeremiah wrote it. This view is highly likely considering the author was a witness of the Babylonians destroying Jerusalem. Jeremiah fits this qualification (2 Chronicles 3525; 362122). It was most likely written between 586 and 575 B.C.The Book of Lamentations is divided into five chapters. Each chapter represents a separate poem. In the original Hebrew, the verses are acrostic, which each verse starting with a succeeding letter of the Hebrew alphabet. A popular view is that Lamentations is a dreary book with nothing much to say to todays upbeat society. The reality is that it could not be more relevant. If you scratch beneath todays upbeat atheist you will discover a disillusioned hedonist wondering if the frantic hurtle down the wastepipe of life has been worth it!

John L. Mackay is Professor of Old Testament at The Free Church College, Edinburgh. He is the author of other acclaimed commentaries on Exodus and Jeremiah in the Mentor Commentary series as well as The Minor Prophets in the Focus on the Bible commentary series