 Jeremiah to  Lamentations

The empty city lamented.

The Empty City

Jeremiah tells of the fall of Jerusalem to Babylon, a reprise of the story at the end of Second Kings and Second Chronicles. The uniqueness of Jeremiah's account are the counts of Jews deported to Babylon at three different times.

Lamentations laments the fall of Jerusalem and resulting poor quality of life, but it begins by lamenting how empty the city is. A good transition from Jeremiah's deportations.

Lamentations goes on to admit fault on the part of the people of Jerusalem and Judah. Jeremiah was the voice piece on the scene who spoke faithfully for decades in an attempt to warn the people and turn what was to come, if possible. He was not heeded, but when the people rejected Yahvah's word to them, Yahvah was cleared of any guilt in connection to letting Babylon have Jerusalem, so all of Jeremiah's service had purpose.

That said Yahvah knew he would not be heeded and Jerusalem would fall, so the event actually fits into a bigger story that was already unfolding. When Israel and the Jews were deported to the nations, they took their history, their scriptures, their anointing and the promises to Abraham with them. Jesus and Paul talk about this a lot. As a result of the deportations the world was prepared for the Great Commission, so the deportations had a missionary purpose and thus are bittersweet.