Silence of the Lambs (3)

It is good for a man that he should bear the yoke in his youth.  Lamentations 3:27  NASB

Yoke – This is not a “my yoke is easy” verse,  The loss of an entire nation is a heavy price to pay. The burden isn’t light.  Since Lamentations is reflection on the exile and the destruction of God’s sacred city, this is one of the most tragic times in Jewish history.  Why, then, does the poet claim that “it is good” to bear this yoke (ʿōl)?

“To believe is to remember.”  Heschel’s insight works in two directions.  It is, of course, the essence of faith to remember the handiwork of God, His rescue from Egypt, His forbearance in the wilderness, His promises about the Land, His Torah.  All good things.  But faith is also remembering the other side—the dark side of God’s correction, even punishment.  That is what it means to believe.  Moses told us how crucial remembering the yoke is when he included “yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished,” in the same sentence with “forgives iniquity, transgression and sin” (Exodus 34:7).  nāśāʾ (“forgive”) is intimately connected to yenāqqeh (“unpunished”).  Why is it good for a man to bear the burden (yoke) of his youth?  Because it will cause him to remember the anguish of God over his sins.

That’s the point, isn’t it?  Remembering all the promises, all the benefits, has little value if it is not counter posed with God’s justice.  Yes, we all want the good things, but God’s goodness rests on His justice and were it not for mercy, we would be crushed under the yoke of our youth.  There is fruit from the withered tree, and though it is bitter, it is important.  When we reach the beginning of this poem we will discover that this bitter fruit is also a sign of God’s faithfulness and loving care.  It’s just not so easy to see that when we are being led captive.  So the poet reminds us.  There were times when we walked our own ways.  There were times when we believed in infallible superiority.  There were times when we forgot we were once slaves, now redeemed by grace.  There were times when we acted as if our lives were personal property rather than leased existence.  But now, when the silence of God’s anguish pours upon us, we remember—and we remember the words of the prophets:

“The people who survived the sword
Found grace in the wilderness—
Israel, when it went to find its rest.”  (Jeremiah 31:2)

“Comfort, O comfort My people,” says your God.
 “Speak kindly to Jerusalem;
And call out to her, that her warfare has ended,”  (Isaiah 40:1-2)

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