What follows is a section from my paper which summarizes the various possibilities regarding the purpose behind the use of an acrostic in Lamentations. At the moment, I am most convinced of the idea that the acrostic (at least here) somehow expresses completeness. However, I am open to other convincing arguments!
Lamentations 2:18-22 is part of a chapter, indeed a book, that makes use of the literary device of the acrostic. Each of the five chapters has 22 stanzas, the number of letters in the Hebrew alephbet. In chapter one, each stanza has three lines, with the exception of verse 7. The first line in each stanza begins with a consecutive letter of the alephbet. In chapter two, the chapter in which the passage under consideration here resides, each stanza also has three lines, and again the first line in each stanza begins with a consecutive letter of the alephbet. Chapter three also has three lines per stanza, however in this chapter each line of every stanza begins with its respective letter.1 Chapter four has two lines per stanza, and again, the first line of each stanza begins with its respective letter. Chapter five is the only anomaly, as the letters of the alephbet are not actually utilized in an acrostic form. However, there are still exactly 22 single line stanzas in chapter five. This seems to be too close to the acrostic form to be a coincidence.
Many have speculated on why the author used the acrostic so extensively. The acrostic is a known literary device, and in fact shows up in several other places in the Bible, Psalms 119 being the most well known.2 For a book filled with such raw emotion, it seems strange to impose such a rigid structure on the text. There are several theories as to the purpose of acrostics generally, and several more on why the poems in Lamentations, specifically, appear in acrostic form.
Acrostics are thought to serve one or more of several possible purposes. Later literature could have utilized the acrostic because of some belief in the magical power of the alephbet; however, this was a later development and highly unlikely to have been involved in the purpose of the acrostics in Lamentations, as the book is dated too early for this to be an influence.3 The second option and probably at least part of the reason for the use of the acrostic in Lamentations is that it was a pedagogical tool designed to aid in memorization (a mnemonic device).4 A third possibility is that using an acrostic allowed the author to show the full extent of his skill in vocabulary and arrangement of the poem.5
Why use acrostics in Lamentations? The suggestion has been made, the artificial feeling of the acrostic having been noted, that the acrostic form was a later addition to the poems and thus meaning should not be gleaned from its usage.6 However, the organization of the five poems with an intensified acrostic at the middle in chapter three, shorter stanzas in chapter four, and a quasi-acrostic in chapter five, seems to suggest a more meaningful purpose behind the arrangement.7 There is one other proposed purpose of the acrostic that is most prominent in Lamentations: the acrostic gives a feeling of completeness. In Lamentations, the completeness would not be the feeling of having exhausted the topic in each poem, but in having expressed the completeness of the grief and anguish of the poet, a “complete cleansing,” so to speak.8 In the historical books, an account is given of the events behind the grief of Lamentations. However, whereas the descriptions of the events that would lead to the writing of Lamentations were matter-of-fact, even cold, in the historical accounts, in Lamentations the stark, heart-wrenching reality of what this judgment from God meant for the people is eloquently elucidated. Their grief is all-encompassing, and they are utterly spent in their sorrow.
- I.e., there are three lines beginning with א, three with ב, and so forth. ↩
- Other biblical examples of acrostics or partial acrostics include several other Psalms (for example 9-10, 25, 34, 37) and Prov. 31:10-31. ↩
- Gottwald, Studies, 25. ↩
- Ibid., 26-29. ↩
- Watson, Classical Hebrew Poetry, 198. ↩
- Claus Westermann, Lamentations, 100. ↩
- Cf. Gottwald, Studies, 30. ↩
- Ibid., 30. ↩
Great post Mandy. Do you think the acrostic is a later addition to the poem in the literary or oral stage or do you personally think that was always apart of the poem? To me it seems that this would be a nice mnemonic device in the oral stage that would add to the lyrical nature of the poem (I am not sure if we could with any certainty know what the pre-literary form would be).
Needless to say, the alphabetic acrostic structure of the original is not usually able to be carried over into English translations. But there is an existing English translation of the entire Bible which tries to do justice to the form of the Hebrew alphabetic acrostic. This is the Knox translation, an older (late 1940′s-50′s) Roman Catholic translation done by Monsignor Ronald Knox, a convert from Anglicanism. This Knox translation is a translation from the Latin Vulgate “in the light of the Hebrew and Greek originals” and was authorized by the (Roman) Catholic Hierarchy of England and Wales and the Hierarchy of Scotland. I have used it in the past in Bible Study groups to illustrate an acrostic.
Although the Knox translation was a bit of a breakthrough at its time, at least within Catholicism, it has now been superceded by many other translations, including Roman Catholic ones, done from the original languages. The one outstanding feature of Knox’s translation (and obviously one of the places were the “light of the Hebrew” original was allowed to shine) is in the alphabetic acrostics. Here Monsignor Knox respects the 22 letters of the Hebrew original but starts his verses with successive letters of the English alphabet, usually leaving off X, Y, and Z and one other letter, often Q.
In Lamentations 1, 2, and 4 he completely follows the English order and uses the letters A-V; and in Lamentations 3 he follows the tripled Hebrew verses (66 verses) and uses AAA-VVV, i.e. three A verses, then three B verses, etc. (If you try to check the Knox acrostic Psalms, remember that he is following the Vulgate numbering of the Psalms which is generally one lower than the more familiar English and Hebrew numbering, e.g. Ps 118 is the long one instead of Ps 119.)
In all the Knox acrostics the printed text puts the Acrostic letter in Boldface type to highlight it. I include below the Knox translation of the Praise of the Good Wife (Proverbs 31:10-31, note the 22 verses!) In this one, the translator used the letters A-W, omitting Q, as the first letter of each verse.
KNOX TRANSLATION OF PROVERBS 31:10-31 (An alphabetic ACROSTIC) .
[Prov 31:10]A man who has found a vigorous wife has found a rare treasure, brought from distant shores.
[11]Bound to her in loving confidence, he will have no need of spoil.
[12]Content, not sorrow, she will bring him as long as life lasts.
[13]Does she not busy herself with wool and thread, plying her hands with ready skill?
[14]Ever she steers her course like some merchant ship, bringing provision from far away.
[15]From early dawn she is up, assigning food to the household, so that each waiting-woman has her share.
[16]Ground must be examined. and bought, and planted out as a vineyard, with the earnings of her toil.
[17]How briskly she girds herself to the task, how tireless are her arms!
[18]Industry, she knows, is well rewarded, and all night long her lamp does not go out.
[19]Jealously she sets her hands to work, her fingers clutch the spindle.
[20]Kindly is her welcome to the poor, her purse ever open to those in need.
[21]Let the snow lie cold if it will, she has no fears for her household; no servant of hers but is warmly clad
[22]Made by her own hands was the coverlet on her bed, the clothes of lawn and purple that she wears.
[23]None so honoured at the city gate as that husband of hers, when he sits in council with the elders of the land.
[24]Often she will sell linen of her own weaving, or make a girdle for the travelling merchant to buy.
[25]Protected by her own industry and good repute, she greets the morrow with a smile.
[26]Ripe wisdom governs her speech, but it is kindly instruction she gives.
[27]She keeps watch over all that goes on in her house, not content to go through life eating and sleeping.
[28]That is why her children are the first to call her blessed, her husband is loud in her praise:
[29]Unrivalled art thou among all the women that have enriched their homes.
[30]Vain are the winning ways, beauty is a snare; it is the woman who fears the Lord that will achieve renown.
[31]Work such as hers claims its reward; let her life be spoken of with praise at the city gates.
Adam,
My personal opinion is that that the poems were originally written down in the acrostic structure; it seems like it would be somewhat counter-intuitive to take a written work and then later force it into an acrostic. However, there are people who think that this is exactly what happened.
As far as the oral or pre-literary tradition goes, I don’t know if we can really say for sure, partially because I don’t know how much of a pre-literary tradition the book had. I’m sure people have ideas, but that particular issue isn’t one I looked into when I was writing this paper.
Edward,
Thanks for the comment. I did run across this translation in my research, though I wasn’t aware of the history behind it. Thanks for the insight.
It is, unfortunately, nigh on impossible to bring across something like a Hebrew acrostic into English. Still, this translation would certainly be helpful for illustration purposes, if one was teaching on a passage with an acrostic to those who don’t know Hebrew.
“For a book filled with such raw emotion, it seems strange to impose such a rigid structure on the text” – Maybe that’s exactly the reason the author chose to impose a structure on the text – to limit the strong emotions and keep them in frame. When someone feels deep grief, he must cling to some form of order, so as not to collapse.
Note that in chapter 1 the alphabetic order is perfect, but in chapters 2-4 there is a swap – the letter “פ” appears before the letter “ע”, and in chapter 5 there is no acrostics at all – only the number of letters is kept. This may be symbolic of the emotions that grow and grow until they break the frame.