Book of Lamentations in the Bible Encyclopedia - ISBE
lam-en-ta'-shunz,--The Lamentations of Jeremiah:
1. Name:
This is a collective name which tradition has given to 5
elegies found in the Hebrew Canon that lament the fate of
destroyed Jerusalem. The rabbis call this little book 'Ekhah
("how"), according to the word of lament with which it
begins, or qinoth. On the basis of the latter term the
Septuagint calls it threnoi, or Latin Threni, or
"Lamentations."
2. Form:
The little book consists of 5 lamentations, each one forming
the contents of a chapter. The first 4 are marked by the
acrostic use of the alphabet. In addition, the qinah
("elegy") meter is found in these hymns, in which a longer
line (3 or 4 accents) is followed by a shorter (2 or 3
accents). In Lam 1 and 2 the acrostic letters begin three
such double lines; in Lam 4, however, two double lines. In
Lam 3 a letter controls three pairs, but is repeated at the
beginning of each line. In Lam 5 the alphabet is wanting;
but in this case too the number of pairs of lines agrees
with the number of letters in the Hebrew alphabet, i.e. 22.
In Lam 2; 3 and 4, the letter `ayin (`) follows pe (p), as
is the case in Ps 34. Lamentations 1, however, follows the
usual order.
3. Contents:
These 5 hymns all refer to the great national catastrophe
that overtook the Jews and in particular the capital city,
Jerusalem, through the Chaldeans, 587-586 BC. The sufferings
and the anxieties of the city, the destruction of the
sanctuary, the cruelty and taunts of the enemies of Israel,
especially the Edomites, the disgrace that befell the king
and his nobles, priests and prophets, and that, too, not
without their own guilt, the devastation and ruin of the
country--all this is described, and appeal is made to the
mercy of God. A careful sequence of thought cannot be
expected in the lyrical feeling and in the alphabetical
form. Repetitions are found in large numbers, but each one
of these hymns emphasizes some special feature of the
calamity. Lamentations 3 is unique, as in it one person
describes his own peculiar sufferings in connection with the
general calamity, and then too in the name of the others
begins a psalm of repentance. This person did not suffer so
severely because he was an exceptional sinner, but because
of the unrighteousness of his people. These hymns were not
written during the siege, but later, at a time when the
people still vividly remembered the sufferings and the
anxieties of that time and when the impression made on them
by the fall of Jerusalem was still as powerful as ever...
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