Jeremiah and Lamentations: Once again cast from the Garden of Eden

 In the past two weeks we have been reading passages from Jeremiah and Lamentations.  I did two good post on Jeremiah in 2022 that you can find here and here. He had about the same place in the history of the Southern Tribes, as Isaiah did for the Northern Tribes. He was sent to give the people of Jerusalem one last warning before the city was sacked and all the people were taken into captivity. 

Lamentations is a book that contains four long poems, written during the Babylonian captivity, that show feelings of lament, regret, and even disillusionment about God. The book shows that the ancient Jews acknowledged that when things are tough, people have big emotions.  It suggests that it is better to voice and deal with the emotions, and that God will listen to our cries.  

In one of my Podcasts: The Scriptures are Real by Kerry Muhlestein, he interviews a Jewish Rabbi, Rabbi Grover, and they talked about Lamentations. He talked about how Jews commemorate the book of Lamentations.  He said it is read the same day every year.  On that day people fast and go to synagogue. The lights are dimmed and the ark that holds the scripture scroll is veiled. People purposely sit in uncomfortable chairs or on the floor. They take off their shoes and read the scroll by candlelight. During the reading people remember, not only the loss of the temple, but all the tragedies that have befallen the Jews since that time. 

The Rabbi pointed out that the first word of the book of Lamentations is Eicha, איכה, and it is correctly translated as "How".  However, if you change the vowels in the word, it could be read as Ayeka which means "where are you"  (remember the vowels were not added to Hebrew until 800 AD). That word shows up in Genesis 3:9 when God asks Adam "Where are you." Many scholars believe the connection is intentional. Just as Adam was hiding from the Lord because he had partaken of the forbidden fruit and was ashamed, Israel has hidden themselves from the Lord through their wickedness. Just as Adam will be cast out of the Garden, Judah is about to be cast out of Jerusalem, and more importantly, the Temple in Jerusalem. 

Remember that the temple ceremony (both anciently and in modern time) delineates the pathway back into God's presence. The Holy of Holies in the ancient temple represented the garden of Eden, and those symbols can still be found in modern temples. By being cast out of Jerusalem and by having the temple destroyed, the house of Israel is once again symbolically barred from the Garden of Eden. 

In the story of Adam, even though he is cast out of Eden, he retains a relationship with God, and is sustained in the telestial world. Likewise, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and others foresee that even though God has driven Israel from Jerusalem because of their wickedness, he will not totally forsake them, and will eventually lead them back to Jerusalem.