In the middle of this third chapter of Lamentations we finally reach some hope in the book as we come to the words many of us are familiar with from the great hymn of hope: Great is Thy Faithfulness. As we look at these words we need to notice that the poets outward circumstances have not changed. Chapter 1:1-3:18 is still real, and it still hurts, and yet there is more. Even in the depths there is the reality of good and faithful God who holds us.
In this post we will look at 3:19-24. The poet continues to call on Yahweh – this time to remember his afflictions – the wormwood and gall which we saw he accused Yahweh of feeding him earlier in the chapter. He calls on Yahweh to remember, because it is all too prominent in his own mind – he repeats the word ‘remember’ twice for emphasis – so english translations have “my soul continually remembers”. He is haunted by the affliction and is crushed by it, bowed low underneath it.
But this he calls to mind – literally ‘heart’, viewed as the control centre of the body in Hebrew thought, and encompassing more than just abstract thought. Therefore he has hope. The next verse begins with the word that brings hope: hesed, the word for God’s covenant love, his love that is based on his promise and cannot be altered. This steadfast love never ceases. It never stops.
Likewise his mercies never come to an end. The word is plural, not merely describing the abstract concept of Yahweh’s mercy but the concrete everyday expressions of his mercy in daily life. His mercies never come to an end. Indeed they are new, or fresh, every morning. Like the manna that Yahweh provided in the wilderness, so with his mercies which come fresh for each day. Yahweh’s faithfulness is great indeed.
Notice the connection: his steadfast love is expressed by his tender mercies. In Hebrew the word for mercy is related to the word for womb, and conveys something of the tender love of a mother for her children. There is an organic connection between God and his people expressed in his mercies, his continually giving of us things that we cannot earn or deserve.
Finally for this verse we need to notice a small Hebrew word that is almost untranslatable in English – in fact you don’t notice it in most English translations. In many contexts it is translated as ‘that’ or ‘because’ – but to do that doesn’t quite make sense here. In this context the word seems to be used for emphasis as much as anything else. Hyperliterally you could translate it like this:
The kindness of Yahweh, surely they never cease
Surely the mercies of Yahweh never end.
Nothing is more certain than this. Nothing can be relied upon more. Steadfast love, faithfulness and mercies are all words from the great moment of Yahweh’s self revelation in the aftermath of the golden calf in Exodus 34:6-7. Yahweh is the God who defines himself by these characteristics – and therefore there is hope. Because even in that moment of the greatest catastrophe in Israel’s history Yahweh was still ready to forgive and bring a new start.
Israel’s hope, and our hope too, is grounded not in any external circumstances or internal turmoil which may both be bleak indeed, but in the unchanging, unswerving faithfulness, steadfast love and mercies of Yahweh. It is Yahweh who is our inheritance (portion) – he is where our security lies, and therefore it is in him that we have hope, and for him that we wait.
It brings back to my mind a wonderful quote from a commentary on the book of Exodus by OT scholar Brevard Childs:
Then again the story of the golden calf has found a place in scripture as a testimony to God’s forgiveness. Israel and the church have their existence because God picked up the pieces. There was no golden period of unblemished saintliness. Rather the people of God are from the outset the forgiven and restored community.
Brevard Childs, Exodus
There is a covenant – and a new covenant – because it was maintained from God’s side. If ever there was a danger of understanding Sinai as a pact between partners, the rupture of the golden calf made crystal clear that the foundation of the covenant was, above all, divine mercy and forgiveness.
Read that again. Especially this: “Israel, and the church, have their existence because God picked up the pieces”. In a year which seems to have brought wave after wave of new revelations of abuse and sin in the church it is important to remember this reality is true of every church. We exist, as individuals, and as communities because God is a God who picks up the pieces. He doesn’t sweep us all up and throw us in the bin. There is hope to start again for us all, whatever damage has been done to us, and even whatever damage we have been part of to others, if we will turn back to him in repentance, because he picks us up and fits us back together. At the bottom of it all is that foundation of “divine mercy and forgiveness”.
Joshua's Tree Rooted 