For quite a number of years now form criticism has defined the pedagogical paradigm for the book of Psalms. This means that each psalm is categorized according to its “type”, and each psalms type is determined by its content (and sometimes its literary structure). The majority psalm types are praise psalms (e.g., 104, 105, 106, 68, 8, 47, 84, 92), trust psalms (e.g., 23, 62, 63, 16), lament psalms (e.g., 69, 102, 143, 71, 94, 22, 27), wisdom psalms (e.g., 119, 19, 1, 50, 73), thanksgiving psalms (e.g., 116, 106, 30, 75), and hymns (e.g., 131, 124, 15, 24). Let me note that there is a some debate regarding which psalms fall into which category as some psalms have characteristics of more than one psalms type (see Psalm 116 and 22 for example; they seems like both a lament and a trust psalms at the same time).
What’s interesting in all of this is that the dominant type of psalm is the lament (59 psalms). This means that the Psalms is not only the song book of Israel but also the prayer book of Israel (it also says something about the mystic connection between music and prayer—something deep inside of us is moved by music, something prayerful happens when we enter into worship framed by music).
What is a lament? Let’s go for a biblical definition. The Hebrew word for “lament” is pronounced nahag (נהג) and it means “moan”, “lament”, “pant”, “breath heavily” (Francis Brown, Samuel Rolles Driver, and Charles Augustus Briggs, Enhanced Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon (Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, 2000), 624). This means that lament is something more than a complaint. When someone is lamenting they have reached their human limits of emotion; there is nothing left but moaning; no words, no coherence, just a moan.
Lamentation is a crucial theme in scripture. After all, an entire book of the Bible is named “Lamentations”! The Hebrew title for Lamentations is ‘ekhah which means “Alas” (the first word of the book).
But what’s the significance of this? Why is lament important in scripture?
First, lament is important in scripture because this book of faith responds to the deepest felt human emotion. Even in the midst of our worst human moments God is present and ready to redeem. Along with this, we’re reminded by scripture that God desires honesty and authenticity. There is nothing outside of the range of human experience that God cannot touch and transform. There is no need that God cannot meet.
The psalms of lament also remind us that the place of prayer is the place of pouring ourselves out in the presence of the one who created life and redeems life. We must give him our all, even our gasps, our groans, our deepest needs—there he will meet us.