Lamentations
Quick Overview of Lamentations. – –1 – – a destroyed Jerusalem
cries out for mercy – – 2 – –the Lord's chastisement and the
effects – – 3 – – a cry from the heart of a chastened people –
– 4 – – the horrors surrounding the siege and the fall of the
city of Jerusalem – – 5 – – a lament and prayer for the
restoration of Jerusalem.
Link: https://bible-history.com/old-testament/...
The book contains five poems that depict the condition of the
forsaken city of Jerusalem which had been burnt to the ground
and utterly demolished by the Babylonians on the ninth of Av
in the Jewish calendar in 586 BC, in contrast to the
magnificent splendor that it once possessed. The reason for
God's chastisement on the people of Judah and on the city of
Jerusalem are spelled out in the form of an appeal made to God
to remember the great suffering of his people and to take
vengeance upon the conquerors of His city and the people of
Judah.
Link: https://bible-history.com/old-testament/...
The five lament poems are outlined here:
Lamentations 1 - Jerusalem's desolation is lamented
Lamentations 2 - God's wrath against the city of Jerusalem
Lamentations 3 - God's faithfulness is acknowledged
Lamentations 4 - God's faithfulness is viewed as chastisement
Lamentations 5 - God's faithfulness is worthy of trust
Link: https://bible-history.com/old-testament/...
Author - Jeremiah (According to the Bible and Jewish
Tradition). The first four poems are arranged in an acrostic
form with each containing 22 verses which correspond with the
22 consonants of the Hebrew alphabet. In chapter 3 each letter
of the Hebrew alphabet is allotted 3 of the 66 verses which
comprise the poem. Some conclude that the reason for this was
because Israel had sinned from beginning to end (A-Z, or in
the Hebrew aleph-tav).
Jeremiah, who wrote the lamentations was an eyewitness of the
events, and this brought him great sorrow for he knew the
people, he knew the city, he knew the children, and he knew
the festivities that existed among the people of Judah.
Interesting note: The Jewish translators of the Septuagint
(LXX) attribute Jeremiah as the author of the Lamentations,
and so do other ancient translations: The Aramaic Targum, the
Latin Vulgate, and the Syriac Peshitta, and the Babylonian
Talmud.
Link: https://bible-history.com/old-testament/...
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in an easy to understand format.
Link: https://bible-history.com/studybible/Lam...
The Book of Lamentations (Hebrew: אֵיכָה, Eikha, ʾēḫā(h)) is a
book of the Hebrew Bible. In Judaism it is traditionally
recited on the fast day of Tisha B'Av and in Christianity it
is traditionally read during Tenebrae of the Holy Triduum. It
is called in the Hebrew canon 'Eikhah, meaning "How," being
the formula for the commencement of a song of wailing. It is
the first word of the book (see 2 Sam. 1:19-27). The
Septuagint adopted the name rendered "Lamentations" (or
"Threnoi Hieremiou", abbreviated "Thren." in some Latin
commentaries, from the Greek threnoi = Hebrew qinoth) now in
common use, to denote the character of the book, in which the
prophet mourns over the desolations brought on Jerusalem and
the Holy Land by the Chaldeans. In the Hebrew Bible (the
Tanakh) it is placed among the Ketuvim, the Writings. Many
people believe Jeremiah was the author, but they still to this
day, do not know for sure...
Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_La...
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...
Link: https://bible-history.com/isbe/L/LAMENTA...
Title. --The Hebrew title of this book, Ecah, is taken, like
the titles of the five books of Moses, from the Hebrew word
with which it opens. Author. --The poems included in this
collection appear in the Hebrew canon with no name attached
to them, but Jeremiah has been almost universally regarded
as their author. Date. --The poems belong unmistakably to
the last days of the kingdom, or the commencement of the
exile, B.C. 629-586. They are written by one who speaks,
with the vividness and intensity of an eye-witness, of the
misery which he bewails. Contents. --The book consists of
five chapter, each of which, however, is a separate poem,
complete in itself, and having a distinct subject, but
brought at the same time under a plan which includes them
all. A complicated alphabetic structure pervades nearly the
whole book. (1) Chs. 1,2 and 4 contain twenty-two verses
each, arranged in alphabetic order, each verse falling into
three nearly balanced clauses; ch. La 2:19 forms an
exception, as having a fourth clause. (2) Ch. 3 contains
three short verses under each letter of the alphabet, the
initial letter being three times repeated. (3) Ch. 5
contains the same number of verses as chs. 1,2,4, but
without the alphabetic order. Jeremiah was not merely a
patriot-poet, weeping over the ruin of his country; he was a
prophet who had seen all this coming, and had foretold it as
inevitable. There are perhaps few portions of the Old
Testament which appear to have done the work they were meant
to do more effectually than this. The book has supplied
thousands with the fullest utterance for their sorrows in
the critical periods of national or individual suffering. We
may well believe that it soothed the weary years of the
Babylonian exile. It enters largely into the order of the
Latin Church for the services of passion-week. On the ninth
day of the month of Ab (July-August), the Lamentations of
Jeremiah were read, year by year, with fasting and weeping,
to commemorate the misery out of which the people had been
delivered.
Link: https://bible-history.com/smiths/L/Lamen...
called in the Hebrew canon _'Ekhah_, meaning "How," being
the
formula for the commencement of a song of wailing.
It is the
first word of the book (see 2 Sam. 1:19-27). The
LXX. adopted
the name rendered "Lamentations" (Gr. threnoi = Heb.
qinoth) now
in common use, to denote the character of the book,
in which the
prophet mourns over the desolations brought on the
city and the
holy land by Chaldeans. In the Hebrew Bible it is
placed among
the Khethubim. (See BIBLE -T0000580.)
As to its authorship, there is no room for hesitancy
in
following the LXX. and the Targum in ascribing it to
Jeremiah.
The spirit, tone, language, and subject-matter are
in accord
with the testimony of tradition in assigning it to
him.
According to tradition, he retired after the
destruction of
Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar to a cavern outside the
Damascus
gate, where he wrote this book. That cavern is still
pointed
out. "In the face of a rocky hill, on the western
side of the
city, the local belief has placed 'the grotto of
Jeremiah.'
There, in that fixed attitude of grief which Michael
Angelo has
immortalized, the prophet may well be supposed to
have mourned
the fall of his country" (Stanley, Jewish Church).
The book consists of five separate poems. In chapter
1 the
prophet dwells on the manifold miseries oppressed by
which the
city sits as a solitary widow weeping sorely. In
chapter 2 these
miseries are described in connection with the
national sins that
had caused them. Chapter 3 speaks of hope for the
people of God.
The chastisement would only be for their good; a
better day
would dawn for them. Chapter 4 laments the ruin and
desolation
that had come upon the city and temple, but traces
it only to
the people's sins. Chapter 5 is a prayer that Zion's
reproach
may be taken away in the repentance and recovery of
the people.
The first four poems (chapters) are acrostics, like
some of
the Psalms (25, 34, 37, 119), i.e., each verse
begins with a
letter of the Hebrew alphabet taken in order. The
first, second,
and fourth have each twenty-two verses, the number
of the
letters in the Hebrew alphabet. The third has sixty-
six verses,
in which each three successive verses begin with the
same
letter. The fifth is not acrostic.
Speaking of the "Wailing-place (q.v.) of the Jews"
at
Jerusalem, a portion of the old wall of the temple
of Solomon,
Schaff says: "There the Jews assemble every Friday
afternoon to
bewail the downfall of the holy city, kissing the
stone wall and
watering it with their tears. They repeat from their
well-worn
Hebrew Bibles and prayer-books the Lamentations of
Jeremiah and
suitable Psalms."
Link: https://bible-history.com/eastons/L/Lame...
Hebrew eechah called from the first word "How," etc., the
formula in beginning a lamentation (2 Samuel 1:19). These
"Lamentations" (we get the title from Septuagint, Greek
threnoi, Hebrew kinot) or five elegies in the Hebrew Bible
stand between Ruth and Ecclesiastes, among the Cherubim, or
Hagiographa (holy writings), designated from the principal
one, the Psalms," by our Lord (Luke 24:44). No "word of
Jehovah "or divine message to the sinful and suffering
people occurs in Lamentations. Jeremiah is in it the
sufferer, not the prophet and teacher, but a sufferer
speaking under the Holy Spirit. Josephus (c. Apion)
enumerated the prophetic books as thirteen, reckoning
Jeremiah and Lamentations as one book, as Judges and Ruth,
Ezra and Nehemiah. Jeremiah wrote "lamentations" on the
death of Josiah, and it was made "an ordinance in Israel"
that "singing women" should "speak" of that king in
lamentation.
So here he writes "lamentations" on the overthrow of
the Jewish city and people, as Septuagint expressly state in
a prefatory verse, embodying probably much of the language
of his original elegy on Josiah (2 Chronicles 35:25), and
passing now to the more universal calamity, of which
Josiah's sad death was the presage and forerunner. Thus, the
words originally applied to Josiah (Lamentations 4:20)
Jeremiah now applies to the throne of Judah in general, the
last representative of which, Zedekiah, had just been
blinded and carried to Babylon (compare Jeremiah 39:5-7):
"the breath of our nostrils, the anointed of Jehovah, was
taken in their pits, of whom we said, Under his shadow we
shall live among the (live securely in spite of the
surrounding) pagan." The language, true of good Josiah, is
too favorable to apply to Zedekiah personally; it is as
royal David's representative, and type of Messiah, and
Judah's head, that he is viewed...
Link: https://bible-history.com/faussets/L/Lam...
