Lamentations 5
Tisha B’Av (the ninth day of the month of Av in the Jewish calendar) is an annual fast day in Judaism which commemorates the tragedies that had befallen the Jewish people, including the destruction of the First and Second Temples in Jerusalem and the subsequent exile of the Jews from the Land of Israel. Surprisingly, study of the Bible (Old Testament) is forbidden on Tisha B’Av as it is considered a spiritually enjoyable activity! Exceptions are made for the study of distressing texts such as the Book of Lamentations, the Book of Job, portions of Jeremiah and chapters of the Talmud that discuss the laws of mourning.
How sad is the book of Lamentations!
Bible Passage: Lamentations 5
Lamentations is even more sad when we think that the Jews did return to Jerusalem 70 years after the destruction by the Babylonians, only to reject the Son of God when He came, thus resulting in the exile of the Jews from the Land of Israel for almost 1900 years. They were given many chances but they spurned them (see the parable of the vineyard at Matthew 21:33-44). The physical nation of Israel was restored in 1948 and we pray that the spiritual restoration will be complete one day when the Jews accept Jesus as the Messiah and God.
7 Our fathers sinned and are no more, but we bear their iniquities.
It is clear from Deuteronomy 24:16 that a person is liable for his own sin and that innocent family members will not be punished. Nonetheless, the consequences of one’s sin will certainly affect innocent family members. Thus, the Jews lamented that the sins of their fathers had led to their captivity in a strange land. Some of them had even been born in that foreign land and had never seen the land of Israel.
In our individualistic environment today, where humanism and human rights reign, people are making choices that seem right based on the individual’s happiness. Hence, abortion is justified because the pregnant woman will feel better not to be burdened with the upbringing of a child, and homosexuality is an “alternative” lifestyle that allows consenting individuals to indulge in an activity that has been condemned all through human history until only recently. People do not see that there are consequences to their iniquities – the foetus is murdered; the normal family unit is perverted with ‘couples’ not being able to have proper biological children and children growing up in a family with two ‘fathers’ or two ‘mothers’.
As believers in God, we should not follow the tide of the world to indulge in our individual happiness and ‘liberty’. We should consider if our actions will cause God to be angry and our loved ones, present and future, to be affected. Instead, let us be guided by the Word of God to love God and to love man:
“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?”
Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”
~ Matthew 22:36-40