It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.
It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.
Lamentations 3:36, 27 ESV

Lamentations is a book that can be regarded as a funeral dirge. It is a fitting reading for Tisha B'Av, the Ninth of Av, which is the traditional date when both Temples were destroyed. There are several interesting features of the book. It is mostly the Qinah meter, which is debated as whether this is always the funeral metre. There are acrostic features in several chapters. This acrostic pattern follows the Hebrew alphabet.

Another feature common to literature in the ancient near east is the structure of a chiasmus. This is a literary device that focuses in the middle with the beginning and ending forming a sandwich-effect imploding toward that central focus. An example of this is in the following (the letters a & a with an apostrophe as in a' help to show a chiastic pattern):

a -----a foundation was laid
-----b-----the walls were constructed
----------c-----the roof was put on
---------------d-----the family entered the newly built house
--------------------e------it was a home full of love
---------------d'----the family exited the old house
----------c'----the roof was torn down
-----b'----the walls were demolished
a'-----a foundation was torn up

In this example "e" is the focal point with its "it-was-a-home-full-of-love" line. The two "foundation" lines sandwich the whole and then each matched pair of subsequent lines move inward toward the center. The book of Lamentations is built on this ancient literary device. According to Dorsey,¹ the center of the whole book is in chapter three verses 21 to 32. Our text is in the center of that center, though not in the chiastic sense, but in simple verse number.

In the midst of the tragedy is the focus on Chesed, that majestic Hebrew word that summarizes the great love of God for Israel. Jerusalem and its focal point the Holy Temple are in shambles. The only song is that of the lament. Yet in the midst is that line of great hope: "The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end (verse 22 ESV). This is probably the real center of the center, but using the simple number system another center emerges.

"Waiting silently for God to deliver" is a good thing to do in the midst of the trama. That deliverance is based on another word formed from the same root. That other word is Yeshua, the Hebrew name for Jesus. He is the One who is the answer for the funeral dirge. For He said: "I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live" (John 11:25 ESV). The earthly temples may be dead, yet the heavenly temple lives! Jesus as our High Priest represents us before the throne in heaven. But we also wait for the day of His return, when all things will be restored. This is good.

The next line (verse 27) instructs us what to do while waiting. To bear the yoke. We must be busy about the Master's business and not shirking our responsibilities. There is another sense of yoke. That of bearing the cross. For Jesus commanded to take up your cross and follow Him (Luke 9:23). This is curious, because the cross is an instrument of death. This command represents another funeral dirge, that of the death to self. Yet, there is still another aid in the midst of this command: "Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls" (Matthew 11:29). Jesus is the center of the center.


¹ Dorsey, David A., The Literary Structure of the Old Testament, (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1999), 251.