Book of Lamentations
Written for Christ Crucifixion

The Book of Lamentations is one of the smallest books in the bible, and prophet Jeremiah wrote this few years before the destruction of Jerusalem that happened in year 586 BC, as the name of the book describes, the "Book of Lamentations" is filled with weeping and lamenting over Jerusalem and its associated places including the Solomon temple, so, this smallest book commonly viewed as a prophetical book written for the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of Solomon's temple, and even today people uses the phrases from this book to lament over the Jerusalem temple that was originally built by king Solomon.

But this common opinion on Book of Lamentations is not acceptable, because God clearly instructed Prophet Jeremiah not to lament over Jerusalem, so its very clear that Book of Lamentations is not written for the destruction of Jerusalem - 3.For thus says the Lord concerning the sons and daughters who are born in this place, and concerning the mothers who bore them and the fathers who fathered them in this land: 4.They shall die of deadly diseases. They shall not be lamented, nor shall they be buried. They shall be as dung on the surface of the ground. They shall perish by the sword and by famine, and their dead bodies shall be food for the birds of the air and for the beasts of the earth. 5.For thus says the Lord: Do not enter the house of mourning, or go to lament or grieve for them, for I have taken away my peace from this people, my steadfast love and mercy, declares the Lord. 6.Both great and small shall die in this land. They shall not be buried, and no one shall lament for them or cut himself or make himself bald for them - Jeremiah 16:5-6


And also in ancient days, as an act of respect the mourners will never mention the name of the things which they lament for, for example, If the mourner lament for the death of their king, they will not mention the King's name to show their deep love, instead they will call out him with the alias like Diamond, Gold, Sun, Moon, etc., but in the Book of Lamentations, prophet Jeremiah directly calling out the city of Jerusalem and its associated places, that means prophet Jeremiah lamented for something else other than city of Jerusalem itself - Jerusalem remembers all her pleasant things - Lamentations 1:7 & Jerusalem has become an unclean thing among them - Lamentations 1:17

And according to Bible, the Book of Lamentations written for King Josiah's death - 28.Now the rest of the acts of Josiah and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? 29.In his days Pharaoh Neco king of Egypt went up to the king of Assyria to the river Euphrates. King Josiah went to meet him, and Pharaoh Neco killed him at Megiddo, as soon as he saw him. 30.And his servants carried him dead in a chariot from Megiddo and brought him to Jerusalem and buried him in his own tomb. And the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah, and anointed him, and made him king in his father's place - 2 Kings 23:28-30


And as a custom, Prophet Jeremiah never mentioned King Josiah's name, instead he called out with alias names like Jerusalem, Joy of all the earth, Habitations of Jacob, Palace, Sanctuary, etc. 20.After all this, when Josiah had prepared the temple, Neco king of Egypt came up to make war at Carchemish on the Euphrates, and Josiah went out to meet him. 21.But Neco sent messengers to Josiah, saying, “What business do we have with each other, O King of Judah? I am not coming against you today, but against the house with which I am at war, and God has ordered me to hurry. Stop for your own sake from interfering with God who is with me, so that He will not destroy you.” 22.Yet Josiah would not turn away from him, but disguised himself in order to fight against him. He did not listen to the words of Neco from the mouth of God, but came to fight against him on the plain of Megiddo. 23.The archers shot King Josiah, and the king said to his servants, “Take me away, for I am badly wounded.” 24.So his servants took him out of the chariot and carried him in the second chariot which he had, and brought him to Jerusalem where he died and was buried in the tombs of his fathers. All Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah. 25.Then Jeremiah sung a lament (funeral song) for Josiah, and all the male and female singers have spoken about Josiah in their laments to this day. They made the songs an ordinance in Israel; behold, they are written in the Lamentations - 2 Chronicles 35:20-25

Question #1: When most of the books in the bible has good introduction, why the "Book of Lamentations" does not have any introduction? small introduction like "Book of Lamentations written by Prophet Jeremiah for the death of King Josiah" would have solved all these confusions. 

Question #2: As a Prophet, Jeremiah suppose to write about the future, and not to lament for the past, then why wrote Book of Lamentations for King Josiah's death, Is Jeremiah got deviated from God's calling? 

Question #3: When the entire city of Jerusalem was burnt down by Babylonian, why God preserved the Book of Lamentations for these many years and included in the Bible?


Book of Lamentations became a Prophecy

And around 100 years after the Book of Lamentations was written, the Prophet Zechariah reignited the Book of Lamentations and converted it as a Book of Prophecy, and when Prophet Zechariah wrote that there will be mourning in Jerusalem like the death of King Josiah who died in Hadad-rimmon, the Book of Lamentations became a Book of Prophecy, and directly pointing towards the crucifixion of our Lord Jesus Christ - 10.And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn. 11.On that day the mourning in Jerusalem will be as great as the mourning for Hadad-rimmon in the plain of Megiddo. 12.The land shall mourn, each family by itself: the family of the house of David by itself, and their wives by themselves; 13.the family of the house of Nathan by itself, and their wives by themselves; the family of the house of Levi by itself, and their wives by themselves; the family of the Shimeites by itself, and their wives by themselves; 14.and all the families that are left, each by itself, and their wives by themselves - Zechariah 12:10-14

And finally, its all fulfilled when the Son of God crucified for our Salvation - 24.So Pilate decided that their demand should be granted. 25.He released the man who had been thrown into prison for insurrection and murder, for whom they asked, but he delivered Jesus over to their will. 26.And as they led him away, they seized one Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, and laid on him the cross, to carry it behind Jesus. 27.And there followed him a great multitude of the people and of women who were mourning and lamenting for him - Luke 23:24-27

Answer #1: This clarifies, why Book of Lamentations does not have any introduction, because it was written for everlasting king Jesus Christ. 

Answer #2: This clarifies, why Prophet Jeremiah never mentioned King Josiah's name, because it was written for Jesus Christ and his suffering on the cross. 

Answer #3: This clarifies, why God preserved the Book of Lamentations, Because its a prophecy book about the everlasting king Jesus Christ.

Prophecy Journey

The Book of Lamentations has around 1000 years long history, and many prophets and kings are involved in this journey, and If you look when it was started, and how it was written, it's a strong evident that Christ is the savior of the World.

 
Around 900 BC: 900 years before birth of our Lord Jesus Christ, A prophet from Judah prophesied about the birth of King Josiah - 1.And behold, a man of God went from Judah to Bethel by the word of the Lord, and Jeroboam stood by the altar to burn incense. 2.Then he cried out against the altar by the word of the Lord, and said, O altar, altar! Thus says the Lord: Behold, a child, Josiah by name, shall be born to the house of David; and on you he shall sacrifice the priests of the high places who burn incense on you, and men’s bones shall be burned on you. 3.And he gave a sign the same day, saying, This is the sign which the Lord has spoken: Surely the altar shall split apart, and the ashes on it shall be poured out - 1 Kings 13:1-3

Around 600 BC: After three hundred years, King Josiah born and ruled the Kingdom of Judah righteously, but he was killed in the battle of Megiddo, and Prophet Jeremiah wrote Book of Lamentations for his death - 1.Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem. 2.And he did what was right in the sight of the Lord, and walked in the ways of his father David; he did not turn aside to the right hand or to the left. 3.For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was still young, he began to seek the God of his father David; and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of the [a]high places, the wooden images, the carved images, and the molded images - 2 Chronicles 34:1-3

Around 500 BC: The prophet Zechariah converted the Book of Lamentations as prophecy book for Christ Crucifixion - 10.And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn. 11.On that day the mourning in Jerusalem will be as great as the mourning for Hadad-rimmon in the plain of Megiddo - Zechariah 12:10-11

And Finally: All that are mentioned in the Book of Lamentations fulfilled when our Lord Jesus Christ crucified for our salvation, but the exiled people used the  Book of Lamentations to mourn for their nation, that's when God asked - Say to all the people of the land and the priests, When you fasted and mourned in the fifth month and in the seventh, for these seventy years, was it for me that you fasted?- Zechariah 7:5

Christ in the Book of Lamentations

All the names that are mentioned in the Book of Lamentations could fit to only one Person that is our Savior Jesus Christ - Altar (Lam 2:7), Children (Lam 1:5, 1:16), City that was called the perfection of beauty (Lam 2:15), City that was full of people (Lam 1:1), Daughter of Jerusalem (Lam 2:13, 2:15), Daughter of Judah (Lam 2:5), Daughter of my people (Lam 2:11), Daughter of Zion (Lam 1:6, Lam 2:13), Elder (Lam 1:19), Elders of the daughter of Zion (Lam 2:10), Festival (Lam 2:6), Footstool (Lam 2:1), Gates (Lam 1:4, 2:9), Great among the nations (Lam 1:1), Habitations of Jacob (Lam 2:2), Horn of Israel (Lam 2:3), I am the man (Lam 3:1), Israel (Lam 2:5), Jacob (Lam 1:17, 2:3), Jerusalem (Lam 1:7, 1:17), Joy of all the earth (Lam 2:15), Judah (Lam 1:3), king (Lam 2:6, 2:9), kingdom (Lam 2:2), Law (Lam 2:9), Palace (Lam 2:5), Places of the assembly (Lam 2:6), Pleasant to the eye (Lam 2:4), Priest (Lam 1:4, Lam 2:20), Prince (Lam 1:6, 1:19, 2:9), Princess among the provinces (Lam 1:1), Prophets (Lam 2:9, 2:20), Rampart (Lam 2:8), Righteous (Lam 1:18), Roads to Zion (Lam 1:4)

Ruler (Lam 2:2), Sabbath (Lam 2:6), Sanctuary (Lam 2:7), Splendor of Israel (Lam 2:1), Stronghold (Lam 2:5), Strongholds of the daughter of Judah (Lam 2:2), Tabernacle (Lam 2:6), Tabernacle of the daughter of Zion (Lam 2:4), Treasures from the days of old (Lam 1:7), Virgin daughter of Judah (Lam 1:15), Virgins (Lam 1:4), Wall (Lam 2:8), Wall of the daughter of Zion (Lam 2:8, 2:18), Walls of Palaces (Lam 2:7), Ways (Lam 1:4), Whom I have borne and brought up (Lam 2:21), Young men (Lam 1:15, 1:18), Young women of Jerusalem (Lam 2:10), Zion (Lam 1:17)

And its common to use pluralized terms also as our God is Trinity God(Father, Word and Holy Spirit), for example, when Jesus Christ says "We", it may look like he is taking about himself with his disciples, but its about Father, Word and Holy Spirit - But to what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to their playmates, We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not mourn - Matthew 11:16-17

Cruelty of the crucifixion reveled in the Book of Lamentations

Prayer at Gethsemane - She weeps bitterly in the night, with tears on her cheeks; among all her lovers she has none to comfort her; all her friends have dealt treacherously with her; they have become her enemies - Lamentations 1:2

Insulted and beaten - let him give his cheek to the one who strikes, and let him be filled with insults - Lamentations 3:30 

Handed over to Gentiles - Her gates are sunk into the ground; he hath destroyed and broken her bars: her king and her princes are among the Gentiles: the law is no more; her prophets also find no vision from the Lord - Lamentations 2:9

He was crushed - The Lord rejected all my mighty men in my midst; he summoned an assembly against me to crush my young men; the Lord has trodden as in a winepress the virgin daughter of Judah - Lamentations 1:15 

Extreme suffering and loss of blood - They wandered, blind, through the streets; they were so defiled with blood that no one was able to touch their garments - Lamentations 4:14 

No one could recognize him - Now their face is blacker than soot; they are not recognized in the streets; their skin has shriveled on their bones; it has become as dry as wood - Lamentations 4:8

Crucified - Zion stretches out her hands, but there is none to comfort her; the Lord has commanded against Jacob that his neighbors should be his foes; Jerusalem has become a filthy thing among them - Lamentations 1:17 

Nailed on the cross - O virgin daughter of Zion, how can I comfort you? For your wound is as deep as the sea. Who can heal you? - Lamentations 2:13b 

Cried to the Father - They heard my groaning, yet there is no one to comfort me. All my enemies have heard of my trouble; they are glad that you have done it - Lamentations 1:21a 

Mocked at the cross - All who pass along the way clap their hands at you; they hiss and wag their heads at the daughter of Jerusalem: Is this the city that was called the perfection of beauty, the joy of all the earth? - Lamentations 2:15

Darkness covered the earth - How the Lord has covered the daughter of Zion With a cloud in His anger! He cast down from heaven to the earth The beauty of Israel, And did not remember His footstool In the day of His anger - Lamentations 2:1 

Temple curtain was torn into two - The enemy has stretched out his hands over all her precious things; for she has seen the nations enter her sanctuary, those whom you forbade to enter your congregation - Lamentations 1:10 

Buried and sealed with stone - He has blocked my ways with hewn stone; He has made my paths crooked - Lamentations 3:6-9 

Lament of Disciples - The breath of our nostrils, the Lord's anointed, was captured in their pits, of whom we said, Under his shadow we shall live among the nations - Lamentations 4:20 

The forgiveness of sin is so precious, somebody had to suffer and then die for it, so - May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ - Galatians 6:14a