Israel turned the Temple into an idol, making it more significant than God. Similarly, we may esteem the church more than the God it should glorify.

The Jews put greater trust in the Temple of the Lord than the Lord of the Temple. They thought the Temple provided security, but God overthrew everything.

Jerusalem recounts her sins as a nation, depending on her own strength or on her lovers (political alliances) rather than upon God.

The book's five acrostic songs (chapters) answer the question, 'Why did this happen?' God brought the punishment on Judah because of gross and sustained sin.

The Lamentations show poignant before-and-after vignettes of formerly happy times contrasted with the horror of the present as God punishes Judah.

Amidst the devastation, the narrator has hope that God would rescue his humbled people. Though He punishes, God is still faithful and loyal to His people.

In Lamentations 2, Lady Jerusalem sidesteps godly repentance, opting instead for self-centered recrimination against Almighty God.

Book Three of the Psalms deals with the somber theme of judgment on a people who have rejected their God and have produced much rotten spiritual fruit.

The 9th of Av commemorates major historical tragedies. When it occurs on a Sabbath during a Shemitah (year of release), horrible things occur.

As Lamentations opens, Jerusalem is personified as a widow who has had to endure the destruction of her family as well as the mocking scorn from the captors.

The prophets and the religious leaders bear the greatest blame for the destruction by providing a quasi-religion and not teaching the Law of God.

I Peter 2:5 calls Christians 'living stones'; is it possible that the the spiritual Temple will at some point be left with 'not one stone . . . upon another'?

America recently moved her embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, which appears to have proven accurate the "ten jubilee" prophecy of Rabbi Judah ben Samuel.

God exiles to punish for sin, separating individuals and groups from Him in order to spur repentance. There is something to exile that God finds very good.

As we approach the coming self-examination prior to Passover, we can apply six significant lessons taught to ancient Israel through the book of Lamentations.

The church has Christ as the Chief Cornerstone. As long as there is a church, there will also be at least one living stone upon another.

Book Three of the Psalms addresses the compulsion to fast and to mourn. Judah's faithlessness brought about the horrific destruction of Jerusalem on Av 9.

Those who returned to Jerusalem did not completely fulfill their commission, failing to completely rebuild the walls and failing to totally rebuild the temple.

Lamentations 3 and 4 show the stark contrast of a once proud people (secure in their wealth, technology, and cleverness) suffering bitter humiliation.

God, as Creator, takes the initiative (as the potter over the clay) for the elect's salvation, enabling us to build the repertoire of habits called character.

While the returned Judean exiles prioritized their own houses over building the temple, we should understand that it is always time to work on God's house.

The spies returned on the 8th of Av, and as the 9th of Av began, the people murmured, beginning a long list of calamities to befall Israel on this date.

When the circumstance of sin ceases, what happens to the law? The concept of sin as a reality will be gone at a certain point in time.

God's prophets have a difficult job. Seeing the world through God's eyes, they are tormented by the rising tide of sin and the coming destruction.