Difference between revisions of "Book Of Lamentations"

<p> An ancient tradition, dating back to the earliest Greek translation (about 250 B.C.), claims that Jeremiah is the author of Lamentations. However, the [[Hebrew]] text of the book does not make that claim. Factors which favor authorship by Jeremiah are the antiquity of the tradition associating him with the book, the similarity in tone between Lamentations and portions of Jeremiah's book (&nbsp;Jeremiah 8-9;Jeremiah 8-9;&nbsp;14-15 ), and a similar perspective in Lamentations and Jeremiah as to the cause of the fall of [[Jerusalem]] (for example, &nbsp;Lamentations 1:2-18; &nbsp;Lamentations 2:14; &nbsp;Lamentations 4:13-17; &nbsp;Jeremiah 2:18; &nbsp;Jeremiah 14:7; &nbsp;Jeremiah 16:10-12; &nbsp;Jeremiah 23:11-40; &nbsp;Jeremiah 37:5-10 ). </p> <p> Factors which militate against Jeremianic authorship are differences in phraseology between the two books and differences in viewpoints on several issues. &nbsp;Lamentations 1:21-22 and &nbsp; Lamentations 3:59-66 appear to be incongruent with Jeremiah's conviction that the [[Babylonians]] were functioning as God's instrument of judgment (&nbsp; Jeremiah 20:4-5 ). &nbsp;Lamentations 4:17 suggests that the author was expecting help from the Egyptians, a perspective which Jeremiah strongly opposed (&nbsp; Jeremiah 37:5-10 ). The view of Zedekiah, Judah's last king, in &nbsp;Lamentations 4:20 is also quite different from that found regarding him in &nbsp; Jeremiah 24:8-10 . The evidence tends to favor the opinion that Lamentations was written by someone other than Jeremiah; however, Jeremianic authorship is not —impossible. In either case the author was surely an eyewitness of the fall of Jerusalem. </p> <p> &nbsp;Lamentations 1:1 mourns the misery resulting from the destruction of Jerusalem and explains that the desolation was God's judgment for the nation's sin. &nbsp; Lamentations 2:1 continues the lament over the ruin wrought by divine anger and calls the people to prayer. While &nbsp; Lamentations 3:1 further extends the mourning over Jerusalem's destruction, it also declares that God's steadfast love gives reason to hope that He will extend mercy in the future. In light of that hope the author calls for repentance. &nbsp; Lamentations 4:1 vividly pictures the horrors of the siege and fall of Jerusalem and places part of the blame for the judgment on the immoral prophets and priests of the city. &nbsp; Lamentations 5:1 summarizes the calamitous situation and closes with a prayer for restoration. </p> <p> Lamentations served the Judeans as an expression of their grief, an explanation for the destruction, and a call for repentance and hope. The book warns modern readers that an immoral nation stands in danger of God's awesome judgment and that the only hope for survival is submission to God. </p> <p> Outline </p> <p> I. The Appalling [[Price]] of [[Sin]] (&nbsp;Lamentations 1:1-22 ) </p> <p> A. Description of punishment for sins (&nbsp;Lamentations 1:1-17 ) </p> <p> B. [[Admission]] of sin (&nbsp;Lamentations 1:18-20 ) </p> <p> C. [[Cry]] for vengeance (&nbsp;Lamentations 1:21-22 ) </p> <p> II. God Is the One Who Punishes Sin (&nbsp;Lamentations 2:1-22 ) </p> <p> A. God has done as He said (&nbsp;Lamentations 2:1-17 ). </p> <p> B. Call the people to repent (&nbsp;Lamentations 2:18-19 ). </p> <p> C. Call on the Lord to relent (&nbsp;Lamentations 2:20-22 ). </p> <p> III. A Personal Cry to God (&nbsp;Lamentations 3:1-66 ) </p> <p> A. I am suffering (&nbsp;Lamentations 3:1-18 ). </p> <p> B. I cry to God in hope (&nbsp;Lamentations 3:19-21 ). </p> <p> C. God will hear and help (&nbsp;Lamentations 3:22-33 ). </p> <p> D. God knows our unacceptable actions (&nbsp;Lamentations 3:34-36 ). </p> <p> E God punishes unforgiven sin (&nbsp;Lamentations 3:37-54 ). </p> <p> F. God will hear, respond, and requite the enemy (&nbsp;Lamentations 3:55-66 ). </p> <p> IV. A Graphic Portrayal of [[Suffering]] [[Caused]] by Sin (&nbsp;Lamentations 4:1-22 ) </p> <p> V. A [[Plea]] to God (&nbsp;Lamentations 5:1-22 ) </p> <p> A. [[Remember]] us, [[O]] God, (&nbsp;Lamentations 5:1-18 ). </p> <p> B. [[Restore]] us, O God, (&nbsp;Lamentations 5:19-22 ). </p> <p> Bob R. Ellis </p>

<p> <strong> LAMENTATIONS, BOOK OF </strong> </p> <p> 1. [[Occasion]] . In b.c. 586 [[Nebuchadnezzar]] captured Jerusalem, put out the eyes of Zedekiah, slew the princes, burned the [[Temple]] and palaces, razed the walls, and deported the inhabitants (save some of the poorest sort) to forced labour in [[Babylon]] (&nbsp; 2 Kings 25:1-30 ). These events and their religious meaning are the theme of the five complete hymns in the Book of Lamentations. The poet looked on these calamities as the death of the [[Jewish]] people; and he prepares an elegy for the national funeral. </p> <p> <strong> 2. Date </strong> . It need not be supposed that Jeremiah went about composing acrostics while Jerusalem was burning; on the other hand, the language of the poems is not that of some Rabbinical versifier after Nehemiah’s time. Between the desolation of b.c. 586 and the restoration of b.c. 536 is the time limit for the production of this book. </p> <p> <strong> 3. Form </strong> . The form of these elegies has been recognized to be the type of Hebrew poetry which is peculiar to threnody. Its metrical character depends on the structure of the single line. The line has not the exact measure of a Latin hexameter or pentameter, but consists of five to seven words, making on an average eleven syllables. The line is divided by sense and grammar into two unequal parts, as 6:5 or &nbsp; Lamentations 4:3; the first part being more emphatic in sense, and the second forming an antiphonal supplement to the first. Thus &nbsp; Lamentations 1:1 </p> <p> ‘Ah now! she sits alone the populous city, </p> <p> Husbandless doomed to be the foremost of peoples. </p> <p> Once the princess over states a serf in a gang.’ </p> <p> Such is the <em> qînâh </em> -metre, found also in parts of Amos, Isaiah, and Ezekiel. </p> <p> <strong> 4. Arrangement </strong> . These Hebrew elegiacs may stand singly, as in &nbsp; Lamentations 3:1-66 , or in two-lined stanzas, as in ch. 4, or in three-lined stanzas, as in chs. 1 and 2. But there is also in Lam. a more artificial embellishment. The 22 stanzas of chs. 1, 2, and 4 are introduced by the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet in regular order, except that 2 and 4 place the letter <em> [[Pe]] </em> before the letter <em> [[Ayin]] </em> . This inexplicable variation in the order of the letters has been held to imply a difference in authorship. Again ch. 3 has 66 verses, the lines beginning aaa; bbb, etc. Ch. 5 has 22 verses, but no acrostic; and its lines are of a slightly different structure. As this chapter is a prayer, these external marks may have been felt to be inappropriate. The poetic form of Lam. is thus the result of elaborate effort; but this need not imply the absence of genuine feeling. The calamity in remembrance seemed to call for an adequate form of expression, and to invite the resources of technical skill. </p> <p> <strong> 5. Contents </strong> . The contents of the five hymns are not pervaded by clear lines of thought; but the nature of the subject forbids us to look for the consistency of a geometrical theorem. The cruel scenes, the pity and horror they occasioned, the religious perplexity at the course of events, are depicted sometimes by the poet himself, again by Jerusalem, or by the personified community. Ch. 1 describes the ruin of Jerusalem and the humiliation of the exiles &nbsp; Lamentations 1:1-11 in the words of the poet, while the city itself speaks in &nbsp; Lamentations 1:12-22 . The second hymn finds the sting of their sufferings in the fact that they are inflicted by Jehovah, their ancient defender. Ch. 3, ‘the triumph song of ethical optimism,’ recounts the national misery (&nbsp; Lamentations 3:1-18 ), perceives the purpose of [[Jehovah]] in their calamities (&nbsp; Lamentations 3:19-47 ), and calls the people to penitence (&nbsp; Lamentations 3:48-66 ). Ch. 4 contrasts the past history of [[Zion]] with its present condition, and ch. 5 is a prayer for mercy and renewal of ancient blessings. The hope for Judah was the compassion of the Lord; ‘therefore let us search and try our ways and turn again to the Lord’ (&nbsp; Lamentations 3:40 ). It forms a curious contrast to the consolation offered to [[Athens]] in her decline and fall through the comedies of Aristophanes. </p> <p> <strong> 6. Authorship </strong> . No author is named in Lam. itself. In &nbsp; 2 Chronicles 35:25 we read that ‘ <strong> Jeremiah </strong> lamented for Josiah, and all the singing men and singing women spake of [[Josiah]] unto this day; and they made them an ordinance in Israel: and behold they are written in the lamentations.’ This statement is 300 years later than the fall of Jerusalem; and Lam. has nothing to do with Josiah. But it ascribes standard elegies to Jeremiah. The LXX [Note: Septuagint.] , followed by the [[Vulgate]] and other versions, names Jeremiah the prophet as the author of Lam.; and this view prevailed universally till recent times. Internal evidence has been considered unfavourable to Jeremiah’s authorship. The alphabetic form, a few peculiar words, an affinity in chs. 2 and 4 with Ezekiel, in chs. 1 and 5 with the younger Isaiah, and in ch. 3 with late Psalms, the accumulation of pictorial metaphors, the denial of vision to prophets, the reliance on Egypt (&nbsp; Lamentations 4:17 ), are given (Löhr, <em> Com </em> .) as conclusive objections to Jeremiah’s being the writer. But the acrostic form would then have the charm of novelty, and would be useful as a mnemonic for professional mourners; and it is not prophecy to which it is here attached. The affinities with later books are not very marked, and may he due to derivation from the elegies. And there is avowedly much resemblance in vocabulary and thought between Jeremiah and Lamentations. Both trace disaster to the sin of the nation, both deprecate trust in alliances, and both inculcate penitence and hope. Probably the internal evidence originated the traditional view that Jeremiah was the author; and the newer scrutiny of the evidence seems hardly sufficient to disprove the verdict of the ancients. </p> <p> Again it is asked, Would one author make five independent poems on one and the same subject? If several authors treated the theme independently, it is not likely that their work would hear juxtaposition so well as the collection in Lamentations. Jeremiah’s life ended some 6 or 7 years after the [[Captivity]] began; and &nbsp;Lamentations 5:20 implies a longer interval since the devastation. If we assign, with Thenius, chs. 2 and 4 to Jeremiah, and suppose that some disciples of the prophet imitated his model in 1, 3, and 5, then perhaps the differences and similarities in the several hymns may be accounted for. When Jerusalem was destroyed by Titus in a.d. 70, there was no new <em> qînâh </em> ; the elegies seem to presuppose a personality of Jeremiah’s type as their originator. </p> <p> <strong> 7. [[Names]] </strong> . The Hebrew name of Lam. is <em> ’Ekhâh </em> (‘Howl’), the first word in the book. It is also called <em> Qînôth </em> or ‘Elegies.’ The LXX [Note: Septuagint.] has <em> Threnoi </em> ( <em> Ieremiou </em> ); Vulg. [Note: Vulgate.] , <em> Threni, id est lamentationes JeremiÅ“ prophetÅ“ </em> , and this is the source of the English title. </p> <p> <strong> 8. Position in the [[Canon]] </strong> . In Hebrew Bibles Lam. is placed in the third division of the OT Canon. Its place is generally in the middle of the five <em> [[Megilloth]] </em> , between Ruth and Ecclesiastes. The [[Jews]] recite the book on the Black Fast (9th of Ab) the anniversary of the destruction of Jerusalem. In the Greek OT and the other versions Lam. is attached to the prophecies of Jeremiah, in accordance with the current belief in his authorship. </p> <p> D. M. Kay. </p>