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Introduction
to Lamentations
This summary of the book of Lamentations provides information
about the title, author(s), date of writing, chronology, theme, theology,
outline, a brief overview, and the chapters of the Book of Lamentations.
The Hebrew title of the book is 'ekah
("How . . . !"), the first word not only in 1:1 but also in 2:1; 4:1. Because of its subject matter, the book is
also referred to in Jewish tradition as qinot,
"Lamentations," a title taken over by the Septuagint (the
pre-Christian Greek translation of the OT) and by the fourth-century Latin
Vulgate.
Lamentations is anonymous, although ancient Jewish and early
Christian traditions ascribe it to Jeremiah. These traditions are based in part
on 2Ch 35:25 (though the "Laments" referred to there are not to be
identified with the OT book of Lamentations); in part on such texts as Jer 7:29; 8:21; 9:1,10,20; and in part on the similarity of
vocabulary and style between Lamentations and the prophecies of Jeremiah.
Moreover, such an ascription gains a measure of plausibility from the fact that
Jeremiah was an eyewitness to the divine judgment on Jerusalem in 586 b.c., which
is so vividly portrayed here. Nevertheless, we cannot be certain who authored
these carefully crafted poems or who is responsible for putting them together
into a single scroll. Lamentations poignantly expresses the people's
overwhelming sense of loss that accompanied the destruction of Jerusalem and
the temple as well as the exile of Judah's inhabitants from the land Yahweh had
covenanted to give Israel as a perpetual national homeland.
The earliest possible date for the book is 586 b.c., and the latest
is 516 (when the rebuilt Jerusalem temple was dedicated). The graphic immediacy
of Lamentations argues for an earlier date, probably before 575.
The entire book is poetic. The first, second, fourth and fifth
laments all contain 22 verses, reflecting the number of letters in the Hebrew
alphabet. In the first and second laments each verse contains three poetic
lines; in the fourth each verse contains two lines; and in the fifth each verse
contains but one line. The first four laments are alphabetic acrostics (see NIV
text notes on 1:1; 2:1; 3:1; 4:1). In the first, second and fourth, each
numbered verse begins with the letter of the Hebrew alphabet dictated by the
traditional order of that alphabet. The third (middle) lament is distinctive in
that while it too is made up of 22 three-line units (like laments 1 and 2), in
it the three lines of each unit all begin with the sequenced order of the
letters of the alphabet (thus three aleph
lines followed by three beth
lines, etc.) -- after the manner of Ps
119. The fifth lament continues to reflect the alphabetic pattern in
its 22-line structure, but the initial letters of these lines do not follow the
alphebetic sequence (see note on 5:1-22). Use of the alphabet as a formal
structuring element indicates that, however passionate these laments, they were
composed with studied care.
Lamentations is not the only OT book that contains individual or
community laments. (A large number of the Psalms are lament poems, and every
prophetic book except Haggai includes one or more examples of the lament
genre.) Lamentations is the only book, however, that consists solely of
laments.
As a series of laments over the destruction of Jerusalem (the
royal city of the Lord's kingdom) in 586 b.c., it stands in a tradition with
such ancient non-Biblical writings as the Sumerian "Lamentation over the
Destruction of Ur," "Lamentation over the Destruction of Sumer and
Ur," and "Lamentation over the Destruction of Nippur." Orthodox
Jews customarily read it aloud in its entirety on the ninth day of Ab, the
traditional date of the destruction of Solomon's temple in 586 as well as the
date of the destruction of Herod's temple in a.d. 70. Many also read it each
week at the Western Wall (the "Wailing Wall") in the Old City of
Jerusalem. In addition, the book is important in traditional Roman Catholic
liturgy, where it is customarily read during the last three days of Holy Week.
This Christian practice reminds us that the book of Lamentations
not only bemoans Jerusalem's destruction but also contains profound theological
insights. The horrors accompanying the Babylonian destruction of Judah are
recited in some detail:
But this recital is integrally woven into the fabric of a poetic
wrestling with the ways of God who, as the Lord of history, was dealing with
his wayward people.
The author of these laments and those who preserved them
understood clearly that the Babylonians were merely the human agents of divine
judgment. It was God himself who had destroyed the city and temple (1:12-15;2:1-8,17,22;4:11). This was not a merely arbitrary act on
the Lord's part; blatant, God-defying sin and covenant-breaking rebellion were
at the root of his people's woes (1:5,8-9; 4:13; 5:7,16). Although weeping (1:16;2:11,18;3:48-51) is to be expected and cries for redress
against the enemy (1:22;3:59-66) are understandable (ps
5:10), the proper response to judgment is acknowledgment of sin (1:5,8,14,22;2:14;3:39;4:13;5:7,16) and heartfelt contrition (3:40-42). Trust in God's mercies and
faithfulness must not falter. The book that begins with lament (1:1-2) rightly ends with an appeal to the Lord
for restoration (5:21-22).
In the middle of the book, the theology of Lamentations reaches its
apex as it focuses on the goodness of God. He is the Lord of hope (3:21,24-25), of love (3:22), of faithfulness (3:23), of salvation and restoration (3:26). In spite of all evidence to the contrary,
"his compassions never fail. / They are new every morning; / great is your
faithfulness" (3:22-23).
Near the end of the book, faith rises from Jerusaem's lamentable
condition to acknowlege Yahweh's eternal reign: "You, O Lord, reign
forever; / your throne endures from generation to generation" (5:19; see introductions to Ps
47; 93; see also note on Ps 102:12).
I.
Jerusalem's Misery and Desolation (ch. 1)
──《New
International Version》
Introduction to Lamentations
It is evident that Jeremiah was the author of
the Lamentations which bear his name. The book was not written till after the
destruction of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans. May we be led to consider sin as the
cause of all our calamities, and under trials exercise submission, repentance,
faith, and prayer, with the hope of promised deliverance through God's mercy.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on Lamentations》
00 Overview
LAMENTATIONS
INTRODUCTION
The title of the Book
We are so familiar with the title which implies Jeremiah’s
authorship that it would surprise most readers of the English Bible to learn
that, as the Book stands in the Hebrew text, it is absolutely anonymous. Its
only title there is, as with Genesis and Exodus, the opening word of the Book
(Echah). (Dean Plumptre.)
The title in the versions is taken from the general nature of the
contents; thus the LXX called these poems θρῆνοι, Threni, i.e.
Dirges, and the Syr. and Vulg., Lamentations. In the Hebrew Bible the
Lamentations are arranged among the Cethubim, or holy writings, because of the
nature of their contents: the Lamentations as being lyrical poetry are classed
not with prophecies, but with the Psalms and Proverbs. This classification is
probably later than the translation of the LXX, who have appended the
Lamentations to Jeremiah’s prophecy, inserting between them the apocryphal book
of Baruch, and in fast counting the three as only one book. (Dean
Payne Smith.)
The fuller title, Lamentations of Jeremiah, is found
in the Syriac and in some MSS. of the LXX, but is not so old as the shorter
form. (Chambers’s Encyclopedia.)
The authorship of the book
The tradition which attributes the authorship to Jeremiah can be
traced to a note prefixed to the LXX translation [“and it same to pus, after
Israel was led into captivity, and Jerusalem laid waste, that Jeremiah eat
weeping, and lamented with this lamentation over Jerusalem, and said . . . ”].
Perhaps, indeed, this tradition is already implied in 2 Chronicles 35:25, in which ease
the supposed reference to Josiah must be sought in Lamentations 4:20. The internal evidence
is rather against the attribution of the Book of Lamentations to the prophet.
Nagelsbach, following Ewald, has shown how completely different is its style
from that of Jeremiah; some of the indications that were at one time supposed
to make for his authorship disappear on closer examination, and the anticipated
restoration of Israel is somewhat dissimilar in the two works. (Chambers’s
Encyclopaedia.)
It is admitted generally that the elegies must have been written
by one or more persons in or near the times in which Jeremiah lived. The
situation is indicated, e.g., in Lamentations 2:9; Lamentations 4:20; the city in ruins and
the king in captivity; and the whole burden of the Book is the outpouring of
grief under a crushing present calamity. The “ninth of Ab” is a dark day in the
Jewish calendar; and no book in the Old Testament Canon exhibits more
pathetically than this the patriotic attachment of the race to their city and
land, and the intense emotion which was excited by the ruin that came upon the
people through their unfaithfulness. (James Robertson, D. D.)
The form and contents of the Book
The Book consists of five elegies or lamentations, each occupying
a chapter, and all referring to one subject, the destruction of Jerusalem,
which it dwells upon and presents from different sides.
1. The “lament” or elegy was a well-known form of composition (see Amos 5:1-2; Isaiah 14:4-21; 2 Samuel 1:17-27; 2 Samuel 3:33-34; Jeremiah 9:10; Jeremiah 9:17-21; Ezekiel 26:17-18, and observe the
frequency and impressiveness of the How!)
2. The different aspects of the great common theme are in a manner
indicated in the opening verse of each chapter, thus: (Lamentations 1:1) “How doth the city sit
solitary!”--the desolation of Jerusalem; (Lamentations 2:1) “How hath the Lord
covered the daughter of Zion with a cloud in His anger!”--the cause of the
calamity, God’s anger (Lamentations 3:1) “I am the man that hath
seen affliction by the rod of His wrath”--the nation personified takes the
affliction to heart; (Lamentations 4:1) “How is the gold become
dim!”--contrast between the present and the past; (Lamentations 5:1) “Remember, O Lord, what
is come upon us,”--the nation’s appeal to the nation’s God.
3. The literary form of these five elegies has been artistically
constructed. It will be observed that each of the chapters, except 3, consists
of twenty-two verses, and that chap. 3 contains three times twenty-two, or
sixty-six verses. Now, there are twenty-two letters in the Hebrew alphabet; and
all the chapters, except the last, are alphabetical--i.e., the verses
are made to begin in succession with the successive letters, one verse being
given to each letter in chaps, 1, 2, and 4., and three successive verses to one
letter in chap.
3. Chap. 5, though not alphabetical, is made to consist of twenty-two
verses. The length of the line and of the verse (what in an English poem we
should call the metre) varies also in the different chapters, as may be
perceived in the arrangement of the R.V. (James Robertson, D. D.)
Our estimate of the excellence of the poems thus written will
depend on our insight into the working of strong emotions on the poetic
temperament, on our power of throwing ourselves into mental sympathy with such
a one as Jeremiah. A superficial and pedantic criticism finds it easy to look
down on the alphabetic structure as indicating a genius of an inferior order,
and the taste of a degenerate age (so De Wette, Comment. uber die Psalm., p.
56, and even Ewald, Poet. Buch., 1. p. 140), or to show
condescendingly that they are “not without a certain in degree of merit in
their way” (De Wette, as above). A wider induction from the literature of all
nations and ages leads, however, to a different conclusion. The man in whom the
poetic gift is found fears, it would seem, to trust himself to an unregulated
freedom. He accepts the discipline of a self-imposed law just in proportion to
the vehemence of his emotions. The metrical systems of Greek and Latin poetry,
with all their endless complications, hexameters, elegiacs, lyrics, the
alliterative verse of Anglo-Saxon writers, the rhymes of medieval Latin and of
modem European poetry in general, the rigid structure of the sonnet, as seen in
the great Italian poets and their imitators, the terza rima of the
“Divina Commedia,” and the yet more artificial structure of the canzoni and
ballate of Dante, the stanzas of the “Faerie Queen,” are all instances of
the working of the same general law of which we find a representative example
in the Lamentations. There are, of course, instances enough in all literature
of the form without the spirit, but enough has been said to show that the
choice of an artificial method of versification such as this does not necessarily
imply anything weak or artificial in the genius of the writer. In the absence
of rhyme and of definite metrical laws in Hebrew poetry it was natural that it
should be chosen as supplying at once the restraint and the support which the
prophet needed. The alphabetic structure had also another advantage as a guide
to memory. If, as seems probable, the Lamentations were intended to be sung, as
in fact they were sung by those who mourned then, or in later times, for the
destruction of Jerusalem, then it is obvious that the task of the learner would
be much, easier with this mnemonic help than without it. (Dean Plumptre.)
The unity of the Book
While there is comparative agreement amongst modern critics that
Jeremiah is not the author, there has been much diversity of opinion as to the
number of authors whose work is to be traced in the Book. W.R. Smith argued
strongly that the Book is a unity, but the prevailing tendency at present is
decidedly adverse to this opinion. It is pretty generally agreed that at least
chap. 3 is by a different and later hand than the rest. (J. A. Selbie, M. A.)
Liturgical use
The Book of Lamentations has always been much used in
liturgical services as giving the spiritual aspect of sorrow. It is recited in
the Jewish synagogues on the 9th of Ab, the day on which the temple was
destroyed. In the Church of England the whole of chap. 3 and portions of chaps,
1, 2, and 4 are read in Holy Week. For this choice two chief reasons may be
given: the first, that in the wasted city and homeless wanderings of the chosen
people we see an image of the desolation and ruin of the soul cast away because
of sin from God’s presence into the outer darkness; the second and chief,
because the mournful words of the prophet set Him before us who has borne the
chastisement due to human sin, and of whom we think instinctively as we
pronounce the words of Lamentations 1:12. (Dean Payne Smith)
.
LAMENTATIONS
INTRODUCTION
The title of the Book
We are so familiar with the title which implies Jeremiah’s
authorship that it would surprise most readers of the English Bible to learn
that, as the Book stands in the Hebrew text, it is absolutely anonymous. Its
only title there is, as with Genesis and Exodus, the opening word of the Book
(Echah). (Dean Plumptre.)
The title in the versions is taken from the general nature of the
contents; thus the LXX called these poems θρῆνοι, Threni, i.e.
Dirges, and the Syr. and Vulg., Lamentations. In the Hebrew Bible the
Lamentations are arranged among the Cethubim, or holy writings, because of the
nature of their contents: the Lamentations as being lyrical poetry are classed
not with prophecies, but with the Psalms and Proverbs. This classification is
probably later than the translation of the LXX, who have appended the
Lamentations to Jeremiah’s prophecy, inserting between them the apocryphal book
of Baruch, and in fast counting the three as only one book. (Dean
Payne Smith.)
The fuller title, Lamentations of Jeremiah, is found
in the Syriac and in some MSS. of the LXX, but is not so old as the shorter
form. (Chambers’s Encyclopedia.)
The authorship of the book
The tradition which attributes the authorship to Jeremiah can be
traced to a note prefixed to the LXX translation [“and it same to pus, after
Israel was led into captivity, and Jerusalem laid waste, that Jeremiah eat
weeping, and lamented with this lamentation over Jerusalem, and said . . . ”].
Perhaps, indeed, this tradition is already implied in 2 Chronicles 35:25, in which ease
the supposed reference to Josiah must be sought in Lamentations 4:20. The internal evidence
is rather against the attribution of the Book of Lamentations to the prophet.
Nagelsbach, following Ewald, has shown how completely different is its style
from that of Jeremiah; some of the indications that were at one time supposed
to make for his authorship disappear on closer examination, and the anticipated
restoration of Israel is somewhat dissimilar in the two works. (Chambers’s
Encyclopaedia.)
It is admitted generally that the elegies must have been written
by one or more persons in or near the times in which Jeremiah lived. The
situation is indicated, e.g., in Lamentations 2:9; Lamentations 4:20; the city in ruins and
the king in captivity; and the whole burden of the Book is the outpouring of
grief under a crushing present calamity. The “ninth of Ab” is a dark day in the
Jewish calendar; and no book in the Old Testament Canon exhibits more pathetically
than this the patriotic attachment of the race to their city and land, and the
intense emotion which was excited by the ruin that came upon the people through
their unfaithfulness. (James Robertson, D. D.)
The form and contents of the Book
The Book consists of five elegies or lamentations, each occupying
a chapter, and all referring to one subject, the destruction of Jerusalem,
which it dwells upon and presents from different sides.
1. The “lament” or elegy was a well-known form of composition (see Amos 5:1-2; Isaiah 14:4-21; 2 Samuel 1:17-27; 2 Samuel 3:33-34; Jeremiah 9:10; Jeremiah 9:17-21; Ezekiel 26:17-18, and observe the
frequency and impressiveness of the How!)
2. The different aspects of the great common theme are in a manner
indicated in the opening verse of each chapter, thus: (Lamentations 1:1) “How doth the city sit
solitary!”--the desolation of Jerusalem; (Lamentations 2:1) “How hath the Lord
covered the daughter of Zion with a cloud in His anger!”--the cause of the
calamity, God’s anger (Lamentations 3:1) “I am the man that hath
seen affliction by the rod of His wrath”--the nation personified takes the
affliction to heart; (Lamentations 4:1) “How is the gold become
dim!”--contrast between the present and the past; (Lamentations 5:1) “Remember, O Lord, what
is come upon us,”--the nation’s appeal to the nation’s God.
3. The literary form of these five elegies has been artistically constructed.
It will be observed that each of the chapters, except 3, consists of twenty-two
verses, and that chap. 3 contains three times twenty-two, or sixty-six verses.
Now, there are twenty-two letters in the Hebrew alphabet; and all the chapters,
except the last, are alphabetical--i.e., the verses are made to begin in
succession with the successive letters, one verse being given to each letter in
chaps, 1, 2, and 4., and three successive verses to one letter in chap.
3. Chap. 5, though not alphabetical, is made to consist of twenty-two
verses. The length of the line and of the verse (what in an English poem we
should call the metre) varies also in the different chapters, as may be
perceived in the arrangement of the R.V. (James Robertson, D. D.)
Our estimate of the excellence of the poems thus written will
depend on our insight into the working of strong emotions on the poetic
temperament, on our power of throwing ourselves into mental sympathy with such
a one as Jeremiah. A superficial and pedantic criticism finds it easy to look
down on the alphabetic structure as indicating a genius of an inferior order,
and the taste of a degenerate age (so De Wette, Comment. uber die Psalm., p.
56, and even Ewald, Poet. Buch., 1. p. 140), or to show
condescendingly that they are “not without a certain in degree of merit in
their way” (De Wette, as above). A wider induction from the literature of all
nations and ages leads, however, to a different conclusion. The man in whom the
poetic gift is found fears, it would seem, to trust himself to an unregulated
freedom. He accepts the discipline of a self-imposed law just in proportion to
the vehemence of his emotions. The metrical systems of Greek and Latin poetry,
with all their endless complications, hexameters, elegiacs, lyrics, the
alliterative verse of Anglo-Saxon writers, the rhymes of medieval Latin and of
modem European poetry in general, the rigid structure of the sonnet, as seen in
the great Italian poets and their imitators, the terza rima of the
“Divina Commedia,” and the yet more artificial structure of the canzoni and
ballate of Dante, the stanzas of the “Faerie Queen,” are all instances of
the working of the same general law of which we find a representative example
in the Lamentations. There are, of course, instances enough in all literature
of the form without the spirit, but enough has been said to show that the
choice of an artificial method of versification such as this does not
necessarily imply anything weak or artificial in the genius of the writer. In
the absence of rhyme and of definite metrical laws in Hebrew poetry it was
natural that it should be chosen as supplying at once the restraint and the
support which the prophet needed. The alphabetic structure had also another
advantage as a guide to memory. If, as seems probable, the Lamentations were
intended to be sung, as in fact they were sung by those who mourned then, or in
later times, for the destruction of Jerusalem, then it is obvious that the task
of the learner would be much, easier with this mnemonic help than without it. (Dean
Plumptre.)
The unity of the Book
While there is comparative agreement amongst modern critics that
Jeremiah is not the author, there has been much diversity of opinion as to the
number of authors whose work is to be traced in the Book. W.R. Smith argued
strongly that the Book is a unity, but the prevailing tendency at present is
decidedly adverse to this opinion. It is pretty generally agreed that at least
chap. 3 is by a different and later hand than the rest. (J. A. Selbie, M. A.)
Liturgical use
The Book of Lamentations has always been much used in
liturgical services as giving the spiritual aspect of sorrow. It is recited in
the Jewish synagogues on the 9th of Ab, the day on which the temple was
destroyed. In the Church of England the whole of chap. 3 and portions of chaps,
1, 2, and 4 are read in Holy Week. For this choice two chief reasons may be
given: the first, that in the wasted city and homeless wanderings of the chosen
people we see an image of the desolation and ruin of the soul cast away because
of sin from God’s presence into the outer darkness; the second and chief,
because the mournful words of the prophet set Him before us who has borne the
chastisement due to human sin, and of whom we think instinctively as we pronounce
the words of Lamentations 1:12. (Dean Payne Smith)
──《The Biblical Illustrator》