Group 8: Lamentations, Nahum, Baruch

Activity 1|Activity 2|Activity 4|Activity 5

Process

Activity 3: Know Your Prophets in the Hebrew Scriptures

Group 8: Your Books of the Prophets are Lamentations, Nahum, Baruch

Complete the tasks for Lamentations, Nahum and then Baruch.

1 Lamentations

Use the following information and the listed resources to complete your tasks.

Lamentations
Images:	Key Content	5 poems Chapter 1: "How lonely sits the city..." Mourning the desolation of the bereft city Chapter 2: "How the LORD in his anger..." Catalogue of destruction and angry response Chapter 3: "I am the one who has seen affliction..." A sufferer turns to God to find respite Chapter 4: "How the gold has grown dim..." Traumatized survey of the reversals brought by destruction Chapter 5: "Remember O LORD... Restore us..." Final plea for restoration.
	Special Interest	The destruction of Jerusalem played a significant role in the formation of Jewish consciousness. The importance of the book of Lamentations in this process is seen in the rabbinic commentary, Lamentations Rabbah - one of the oldest works of its kind. These sad words continue to play a role in the life of the Jewish community, being recited on the fast day of the ninth of the month of Av, the commemoration of the destruction of Jerusalum by both the Babylonians (587/6 BC) and the Romans (70 CE). (Bowker, 1998, 211) The first four books are written as acrostics based on the letters of the Hebrew alphabet. The Jewish tradition is that Jeremiah wrote the Lamentations.
	Time	In the year 587 BC the Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem and its Temple and deported a large segment of the population, leaving only the poorest and weakest (2 Kings 24:8-25:30, Jeremiah 39; 52). The five poems corresponding to the five chapters of Lamentations were almost certainly composed in Palestine in response to this crisis in the political, social, and religious life of ancient Israel. Exilic period (598/7 - 38/7 BC)
	Key Themes/ Messages	The writer of Lamentations is looking for a way to help the people be faithful to Yahweh. The destruction of Jerusalem God's rejection of the people

Sources:
Bowker, J. 1998, The Complete Bible Handbook - An Illustrated Companion,Dorling Kindersley, UK
Brown, R.E., Fitzmyer, J.A.,and Murphy, R.E., 1992. The New Jerome Bible Handbook, Geoffrey Chapman, England
Comay, J., and, Brownrigg, R., 1980. Who's Who in the Old Testament, Bonanza Books, NY
Drane, J.(ed), 1998, The Lion Illustrated Encyclopedia of the Bible, Lion Publishing, England
Motyer, S. 1998. Who's Who in the Bible - An Illustrated Guide, Dorling Kindersley, UK

Resources

Bible Study - Lamentations

Jewish Encyclopedia - Lamentations

Lamentations

University of Sheffield - Commentary on Lamentations

2 Go to Nahum and complete this activity;

3 Go to Baruch and complete this activity