THE MESSAGE OF LAMENTATIONS:
Bible Speaks Today
By Chris Wright
IVP. 166 pages. £9.99
ISBN 978 1 783 592 753
Over the last 40 years the Bible Speaks Today series of commentaries has been a hugely valuable resource for the church. This edition on Lamentations continues the high standards set by other volumes, with its careful attention to the text and wise application for today.
Lamentations is a book rarely studied and preached. Wright makes that point forcefully in his introduction, saying that we neglect the book at our peril. ‘By giving no attention to the book of Lamentations, we join those within the book itself who passed by Lady Zion, shaking their heads but offering no comfort to the desolate suffering city and the people’ (p.13). We’ve lost the ability, says Wright, to engage in authentic Biblical lament and so fail to appreciate not only this book, but many of the psalms. The loss is ours, as we in the West seem unable to engage with profound suffering and to understand it theologically.
