Now, while laments often wrestle with the question of understanding the actions of a good God in the face of evil, the message of Lamentations is simpler: can the relationship between God and his people be restored? You see, on the one hand, God is righteous: he warned in the law (e.g., Lev 26; Deut 27–28) that judgment would come to his people if they failed to keep the covenant (reminder of who the covenant people are then and now). Yet, at the same time, God is faithful to Israel, and he has promised that he will not cast them off forever (Deut 30; Isa 65–66; Jer 30–33; Ezek 36–37). How and when will those promises be fulfilled? Lamentations explores that tension as it presents us with the God who is righteous and faithful.

Title and outline based on Paul House, Old Testament Theology (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1998).