Lamentations Uncovered - Part One
Lamentations has 5 chapters, 5,980 letters, 1,542 words, and 154 verses. The book of Lamentations forms a Cross. This find first came to the attention of my associate Dee Sadler, she pointed it out to me over 6 months ago. Then just last week, Dee spoke to a group at "The House of Judah," and in her sharing, she held up a page with Lamentations chapters laid out as you see below. Three days later, our L-rd spoke to my spirit in the night season about it. He asked me many questions about the book, and the prophet that I had no answers for, so it sent me searching. Here are the first fruits of our talk, and my search.
The prophet Jeremiah wrote Lamentations and Lamentations is a portrait of Yeshua, who wept over His people Israel. Jeremiah is the one who presents us with the New Covenant (Jeremiah 31:31-33), and Yeshua gave to us the New Covenant (Matthew 26:28). In Jeremiah's day, Judah had fallen to it's lowest point, her spiritual progress was just about non-existence, and in Yeshua's day it was just as bad. You could say, Judah was at the bottom of barrel, and the prophets soul was in the pit (Jeremiah 18:20-22). Jeremiah interceded for his people, and knowing that their sins were so great, all he could do was lament, moan, and shed tears for his own, as did Yeshua (Isaiah 53:3; Matthew 27:46).
- Chapter 1, 22 verses
- Chapter 2, 22 verses
- Chapter 3, 3 sets of 22, total = 66
- Chapter 4, 22 verses
- Chapter 5, 22 verses
- Total ______verses 154
22
22
22 22 22
22
22
Jeremiah the prophet, to his dying day prayed that his people might turn back to their Holy G-d, just as Yeshua Messiah did- even to the Cross (Luke23:34). The book of Lamentations is a picture of that weeping, and even it's outward appearance, is in the form of a Cross. Chapter and verses were put in by the hand of man, yes, nonetheless it is still the handiwork of the Almighty G-d!!!
Many people read the New Covenant and claim that Yeshua never openly bestowed upon Himself any titles of "L-RD or G-d." That He was "only the Son of G-d", and not "G-d." This is a lack of understanding their Jewish Roots! Yeshua did claim to be the "L-RD G-d," over and over again in the New Covenant, and He did it in a very Hebraic way. Remember, He was a Jew.
Let me draw from writings outside the New Covenant Scriptures and so tie into something Messiah claimed that is written in the New Covenant. Noncanonical writings can be very informative, when they point to the true character for the L-RD, and His Holy Word.
In the days of Yeshua there were many popular writings called Apocalyptic and Pseudepigraphic literature, and among them were the other "Books Of Ezra." In Fourth Ezra we read a most powerful account of the L-RD G-d speaking to Ezra the prophet about His chosen people Israel.
G-d's invocation to Israel, IV Ezra Chapter 1:24-35:
- 24 "What will I do to you O'Jacob? You would not obey Me, O'Judah. I will turn to other nations and will give them My Name, that they may keep My statues.
- 25 Because you have forsaken Me, I will also forsake you. When you beg mercy of Me, I will show you no mercy. (Hosea 1:6)
- 26 When you call upon Me, I will not listen to you; for you have defiled your hands with blood, and your feet are swift to commit murder (Isa 1:15;5)
- 27 It is not as though you had forsaken Me; you have forsaken yourselves, says the L-RD.
- 28 "Thus says The L-RD Almighty, Have I not entreated you as a father entreats his sons or a mother her daughter or a nurse her children,
- 29 that you should be My People, and I be your G-d, and that you should be My sons and I should be your Father? (Jeremiah 24:7; Hebrews 8:10)
- 30 I gathered you as a hen gathers her brood under her wings. But now, what shall I do to you? I will cast you from My presence (Matt 23:37; Luke 13:34).
- 31 When you offer oblations to Me, I will turn My face from you; for I have rejected your feast days, and new moons, and circumcisions of the flesh (I want heart circumcisions now).
- 32 I sent to you My servants the prophets, but you have taken and slain them and torn their bodies in pieces;
- 33 "Thus says the L-RD Almighty, Your house is desolate; I will drive you out as the wind drives straw;
- 34 and your sons will have no children, because with you they have neglected My Commandment and have done evil in My sight!
- 35 I will give your houses to a people that will come, who without having heard Me will believe. Those to whom I have shown no signs will do what I have Commanded.
(Adah Guzman Interpretation, AGI)
What we have in this Apocalyptic literature is a witness, written about 50 to 100 years before the birth of Yeshua. Some scholars say, 100 years after the time of Yeshua. Scholars are still debating as to when it was written. Adah Guzman believes it was before the birth of our L-rd Jesus. However, she said, "it makes no difference because it still establishes the fact that early Believers knew He was G-d."
Yeshua The Messiah, was speaking as "The L-RD Almighty" to His own people when He made this proclamation, and they knew it. No doubt in their minds at this point as to whom He was claiming to be, He was G-D!
As I studied the questions our L-rd spoke to my spirit. I checked my Bible Codes program for the Hebrew name "Yeshua" hidden in the Hebrew text of Lamentations, and here is what I have found so far:
Encoded in the book of Lamentations, the Name "Yeshua," can be found 244 times. Right to left "+" 130 times, and left to right "-" 114 times, and all at different Skips (ELS). Is there any 'Sign'-ificant Value (Gematria) that equals 244, and that shows use something important about our Hebrew L-rd? I'll let you be the judge. Let us read two Scriptures first:
Genesis 49:26
- 26 The blessings of thy father have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills: they shall be on the head of Joseph, (type of Messiah), and on the crown of the head of Him that was separate from His brethren.
AGI
Lamentations 5:15-20
- 15 The joy of our heart is ceased; our dance is turned into mourning.
- 16The crown is fallen from our head: woe unto us, that we have sinned!
- 17 For this our heart is faint; for these things our eyes are dim.
- 18 For the Mountain of Zion, which lies desolate (he was also seeing ahead to 70 AD), the foxes (an Idumaean, Herod was one), walk upon it.
- 19 Thou, O L-RD, remainest for ever; Thy Throne from generation to generation.
- 20 Wherefore dost Thou forget us for ever, and forsake us so long time?
AGI
Going back to Genesis 49:1
we find Jacob calling his sons together to tell them something. When elderly Jacob spoke he told his sons what would befall them in the last day! The Rabbis tell us that the expression, "the last day," is a idiom for "the 'very' last day!" In Genesis 49:26 we have a Prophecy about Messiah, the Suffering Servant, who would wear no Crown in His first coming except the crown of thorns. We know that Jacob's son Joseph is a type of Messiah, one who suffered for his own. Joseph when from the pit and in G-d's timing to the Throne.
The phrase in Genesis 49:26, "and on the crown of the head" in Hebrew equals 244. In the book of Lamentations 5:16: "Let us read again."
Some people see this passage in Lamentations 5:16-18 of speaking about the Temples "the crown" being destroyed, and that is one view, but not the only view. As we said before, Jeremiah wrote the book of Lamentations and was called the weeping Prophet. He was a symbol of the weeping Prophet Yeshua who wept over Israel.
- 16 The crown is fallen from our head: woe unto us, that we have sinned!
- 17 For this our heart is faint; for these things our eyes are dim.
- 18 For the Mountain of Zion, which lies desolate (the prophet was also seeing ahead to 70 AD), the foxes (an idiom for Idumaean's, Herod was one, Luke 13:32), walk upon it.
If Israel had known it's time of visitation it would have recognized it's Messiah and would have Crown Him King. But she Israel, could not see Him because her eyes were dim, (Isaiah 6:9; Lamentations 5:17; Matthew 13:14-17) no sight, and also no hearing! Let us read:
Luke 19:41-44
- 41 And when He (Yeshua) was come near, He beheld Jerusalem, and wept over it,
- 42 Saying, If thou had known, even thou, at least in this very day, the things which belong unto Thy Peace (Shalom, a name for The Messiah)! but now they are hid from thine eyes.
- 43 For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, (70 AD).
- 44 And shall lay everything desolate, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in Jerusalem, one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation.
AGI
Everything Messiah Yeshua prophesied did come to pass in 70 AD because Israel did not Crown Him King on that Day of Visitation. The crown had fallen from Israel's head. Woe had come because she had sinned! As Luke tells us:
Luke 13:34-35
- 34 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee; how often I wanted to gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not let Me! (IV Ezra 1:30)
- 35 Behold, your Temple is left unto you desolate: and verily I say unto you, Ye shall not see me, until the set time come when ye shall say, Blessed is He that cometh in The Name of the L-RD.
AGI
Let me end part one by sharing with you the two verses of Holy Scriptures that have changed my life as a Believer in our L-RD. The first "Scriptural Key" is found in book of Ecclesiastes, and I call this key a silver key:
Ecclesiastes 1:9-10
- 9 Whatever has been is what will be, and whatever has been done is what will be done. There is no new thing under the sun!
- 10 Is there any thing whereof it may be said, See, this is new? No, it has been already done of old time, which was before us.
AGI
The second "Scriptural Key" I treasure as a wonderful golden key that opens the wealth of "the" Word for understanding "who" Messiah is!
Psalm 40: 7- 8
- 7 Then said I (Messiah), Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of Me,
- 8 I delight to do thy will, O My E-ohim: yes, Thy Torah is within My heart.
AGI
By the way, for my Jewish friends, in the Hebrew Bible Psalm 40: it's verses 8 and 9.
According to many of the Sages, and Rashi, "this Psalm "40" alludes to the future Messianic redemption which will be the result of Israel's extraordinary faith and which will stimulate unprecedented waves of fresh song and jubilation."
(Tehillim, by The ArtScroll Tanach Series, page 497)
The best known, and most complete Midrashic treasury covering the whole Hebrew Bible is Yalkut Shimoni. It is said to be the 13th century work of a Rabbi Shimon Darshan. Yalkut Shimoni 408 asks the question of Psalm 40:8, "what type of good news did Israel need to hear in David's day? Where not the years of his reign a parallelism, a semblance of the future coming reign of the Messiah when all will be blessed and peaceful?"
The ancient Rabbi's interpreted, and seem to have understood, that this Psalm to clearly means that Messiah comes in the Scroll, i.e. Volume of the Book. He, being the first and the last, the One who was before all things (John 1:1-5). The New Covenant bears witness to this in the Letter to the Hebrews, let us read some of it:
Hebrews 10:1-10
- 1 For the Torah having a shadow (semblance) of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make them who approach finished (Complete in Him).
- 2 Otherwise, would they not have put a stop to the offerings? Because of that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins.
- 3 But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year.
- 4 For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.
- 5 Wherefore when He, Messiah cometh into the world (this terrestrial sphere), He saith, Sacrifice and offering Thou did not desire, but a BODY hast Thou prepared Me: (Only in the Septuagint can you find the word BODY in the text of Psalm 40)
- 6 In holocausts (burnt offerings), and sacrifices for sin Thou hast had no pleasure.
- 7 Then said I (Messiah), Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do Thy will, O G-d.
- 8 Above when He said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings (holocausts) and offering for sin Thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein; which are offered by the Torah;
- 9 Then said He, Lo, I come to do Thy will, O G-d. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second.
- 10 Who by His will, are we sanctified through the offering of the body of Yeshua Messiah once for all.
AGI
Can you see the 'Sign'-ificant Gematria, and 'Sign'-ificant Scriptures and how they fits the picture perfectly?
Stay tuned for part two, where there are more Codes and more 'Sign'-ificant Gematria...!Shema Israel
Deuteronomy 6:4
Hear, O Israel: The L-RD our G-d is One L-RD!
Click to get Part Two
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