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Lament Forms in Lamentations 2: Part I

Monday, July 13th, 2009

My next two posts on Lamentations will focus on identifying the form of Lamentations 2 (though it applies generally to Lamentations as a whole as well). Keep in mind that this is a very broad overview of the issues as part of a larger paper, so there is obviously a lot here that could be treated much more in depth. Once again, enjoy, and comments are always welcome!

The genre of Lamentations seems almost laughably obvious, as it is reflected in the English title. Lamentations is part of the broad category of lament literature, a genre which at its core is “a cry uttered when life falls apart.”1 The book is composed of five separate “laments.” Chapter two is one of these laments, and verses 18-22 are one part of the lament of chapter two. Identifying the type of lament in chapter two, and the laments of Lamentations as a whole, is more complex.

The most well known biblical laments are, of course, the psalmic laments, which are in and of themselves broken down into two types: the individual and the community lament. Other forms of lament are the dirge (funeral lament) and the city lament. The problem with Lamentations, especially chapters one, two, and four, is that it does not fit neatly into any of the lament forms named above. That is to say, it is not just that the lament is missing parts of a typical community lament, for instance, but rather that it appears to be a mixture of several types of laments. Chapter two is one of these “hybrid” forms.

The first type of lament that has similarities to the chapter in question is the community lament. The community lament generally consists of the following parts:2

  1. Address to God
  2. Complaint (against God, themselves, and/or the enemy)
  3. Review of God’s past acts
  4. Petition
  5. Divine response3
  6. Vow to praise

In the community lament, the community cries out to God because of a disaster by which the whole people are affected. The community lament seeks to prompt God to action to help and deliver his people. In many ways, chapter two has similarities with the community lament. A “disaster par excellence” was at hand, and the community cries out to God in the hopes that he will act, or in the case of chapter two, have mercy after all.4 However, unlike the community (or individual) lament, the chapter consists entirely of the complaint and petition portions of the lament. There is no summary of God’s past gracious acts and no hint of a response from God. Chapter two, especially, is entirely consumed by reviewing not the gracious acts of God but the recent destructive acts of God (vs. 1-18; complaint against God) and a demand for God to act (vs. 19-22; petition). Certainly, there is no vow of praise (or an expression of confidence, as in the related individual lament). One might then ask, can chapter two really be called a community lament in form, when it is missing so many of the crucial pieces of the lament?

Another possibility that may have had influence on Lamentations chapter two is the funeral dirge, or qinah form. Examples of actual dirges in the Bible are limited, but the prophets make use of the dirge form metaphorically in many instances.5 Elements of a dirge may include any of the following:6

  1. Announcement that a death has occurred
  2. Summons to mourn
  3. Thematic statement of finality
  4. Contrast motif
  5. Reference to the impact of the demise upon immediate bystanders
  6. Description of a general state of distress

The opening איכה of Lamentations 2 might be said to have similarities to a dirge. Additionally, there is a clear “summons to mourn” and certainly a description of suffering. Nevertheless, a true qinah was used for mourning over the death of an individual; any similarities to the dirge in Lamentations 2 are purely metaphorical in nature. Adele Berlin notes the similarities of the poems in Lamentations to both a community lament and a dirge, and suggests a new form for the laments that is part community lament, part dirge, with a little bit of uniqueness thrown in: the Jerusalem lament.7

The final type of lament that has been compared extensively to the laments of Lamentations is the Mesopotamian city lament. These laments, which “describe the destruction of particular cities and their important shrines,” date to the 2nd millennium BCE.8 The features of a city lament are as follows:9

  1. A somber and mournful mood
  2. Specific literary techniques: interchange of speakers, contrast and reversal, focus on a deity, kirugu form, lists
  3. Divine abandonment
  4. Assignment of responsibility to divine council
  5. Divine agent of destruction
  6. Destruction of the city, sanctuary, people, and their customs
  7. A weeping goddess
  8. Lamentation
  9. Restoration of the city and return of the gods

F. W. Dobbs-Allsop has compared and contrasted each of these elements with the poems in Lamentations and comes to the conclusion that they have many features in common. However, he notes that ultimately the author of Lamentations does not copy exactly the city lament, but molds it to Israelite customs and beliefs.10 Most scholars now admit at least some similarities between Lamentations and the Mesopotamian city lament genre, though not all agree that the city lament is the most important influence on Lamentations.11

  1. Longman, Jeremiah, Lamentations, 330. ↩
  2. The list to follow is taken from Westermann, The Psalms, 35-43. ↩
  3. This part is perhaps negligible, since even Westermann admits that it is only barely hinted at in a few community laments. Westermann, The Psalms, 42-43. ↩
  4. Gottwald, Studies, 34. ↩
  5. Westermann, Lamentations, 1-2 identifies only two actual recorded dirges, but several artistic imitations of dirges, most notably David’s lament over Saul and Jonathan in 2 Sam. 1:19-27, and “prophetic announcements of judgment clothed in the language of a dirge,” p. 2. ↩
  6. List taken from Westermann, Lamentations, 2. ↩
  7. Berlin, Lamentations, 25. ↩
  8. F.W. Dobbs-Allsopp, Weep, 13. ↩
  9. The following list is summarized from Dobbs-Allsopp, Weep, 30-96. ↩
  10. Ibid., 95-96. ↩
  11. Berlin, Lamentations, 26-30 sees the community lament as the most important influence, and raises some objections and major differences between Lamentations and the city laments. ↩

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The Use of the Acrostic in Lamentations

Monday, July 6th, 2009

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.

  1. I.e., there are three lines beginning with א, three with ב, and so forth. ↩
  2. Other biblical examples of acrostics or partial acrostics include several other Psalms (for example 9-10, 25, 34, 37) and Prov. 31:10-31. ↩
  3. Gottwald, Studies, 25. ↩
  4. Ibid., 26-29. ↩
  5. Watson, Classical Hebrew Poetry, 198. ↩
  6. Claus Westermann, Lamentations, 100. ↩
  7. Cf. Gottwald, Studies, 30. ↩
  8. Ibid., 30. ↩

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Lamentations 2.18-22: Text Criticism Part II

Thursday, July 2nd, 2009

What follows is the remainder of my text criticism for this passage. Then we can move on to more exciting topics. (Don’t tell Calvin I said that!) Seriously, this is probably the most in depth text crit I’ve done as of yet in my academic career, and it was, admittedly, pretty interesting. The issues that brought me the most glee were pondering over the emendation possibilities in the first line and, of course, axing the fourth line in verse 19. Also, it was fun to see how the versions dealt with a hapax (below), as well as deciding whether to emend the final two words in the passage. Now, without further ado…

Verse 20

פרים
     The LXX adds κοιλας αυτων. This is likely merely an attempt to make more clear the meaning of פרים, rather than reflective of a different Hebrew text. The Targums also follow the LXX reading, most likely for the same reason.

עללי טפחים
     The second word is a hapax legomenon. The translations of the two word phrase in the versions are very different from one another, indicating that there was some lack of clarity as to the meaning of the word (and thus phrase). The LXX has what some have regarded as a “double translation.” The first translation reads somewhat nonsensical: “a cook made a gleaning,” and is then followed by a more clear statement, but lacking words to translate in the Hebrew text, “will the children who suckle the breast be slain?” Most likely, rather than reflecting a phrase that has fallen out of the Hebrew text, the second translation is an attempt by a later copyist to clarify the first, and both refer to the עללי טפחים. The verb φονευθησονται may be an attempt to understand טפח with the root תבח, or it could be another double translation of the Hebrew יהרג in the third line.1 The Syriac reads, “dashed in pieces,” the Targum, “infants wrapped in swaddling clothes,” and the Vulgate, “hand-breadth.” The variety of translations is enough to suggest that the issue is not a corruption, but difficulty translating the hapax.

Verse 21

לארץ חוצות
     The LXX has εις την εξοδον, “in the way out,” in some versions and εις γην εξοδων, “in the earth of the ways out,” in others. This is likely a corruption within the LXX, the latter being the more original translation and the former being an error.

נער וזקן
     Both the Targum and Syriac pluralize these two words, but the meaning remains the same either way. The LXX agrees with the MT in number and so the singular has been maintained here.

נפלו בחרב
     The LXX versions read almost unanimously, “are carried in captivity, by the sword and by hunger you killed…” The Syriac and Targum agree generally with the MT, and the additions or mistranslations in the LXX are probably an example of corruption within the LXX somewhere along the line.2

Verse 22

תקרא
     The LXX translates both as a second person singular and a third person singular in varying manuscripts. This is once again inner-Greek corruption and there is no further evidence of a corruption among the other versions.

מגורי
     The Hebrew root most likely means “terror,” but the LXX translates as “sojourning.” Both the Syriac and Vulgate offer translations that have something to do with fear, and the LXX translation is most likely reflective of a different understanding of the root of the Hebrew word.

טפחתי
     Another hapax occurs here, טפחתי, which comes from the same root, טפח, which caused problems earlier. Again the LXX misunderstands the root and translates as επεκρατησα, “rule over,” possibly itself a corruption of an original επεκροτησα, understood from the Aramaic טפח, “clap.”3 Either way, the translation makes no sense in context, so the MT version has been retained.

איבי כלם
     The LXX translates as “all my enemies.” This is an incorrect reading of the ambiguous consonantal text איבי כלם, which the Masoretes have pointed differently. The other versions agree with the MT except that the Syriac and Targum pluralize the noun and have a matching plural verb. Given the plural εχθρους, along with the evidence of a plural noun and verb in the Syriac and Targums, it is tempting to emend the text here. However, the MT has been retained for contextual reasons.4

  1. Albrektson, Studies, 120. ↩
  2. Ibid., 122, offers a discussion of the possible ways this could have occurred. ↩
  3. Ibid., 125. ↩
  4. I will explain this reasoning in further posts. ↩

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Lamentations 2:18-22: Text and Translation

Monday, June 15th, 2009

As promised, I am going to begin pulling sections out of the exegesis paper that I wrote for Dr. Stuart (Old Testament Poets) this past Spring semester, and posting them here. Since this was a Hebrew exegesis paper, the Hebrew text remains important throughout. What follows is my re-constructed text and my own translation of this passage. I will post text-critical and translation notes in further posts (otherwise this could get quite long).


18
צעק לבם אל אדני חומת בת ציון
הורידי כנחל דמעה יומם ולילה
אל תתני פוגת לך אל תדם בת עינך
19
קומי רני בלילה לראש אשמרות
שפכי כמים לבך נכח פני אדני
שאי אליו כפיך על נפש עולליך
20
ראה יהוה והביטה למי עללת כה
אם תאכלנה נשים פרים עללי טפחים
אם יהרג במקדש אדני כהן ונביא
21
שכבו לארץ חוצות נער וזקן
בתולתי ובחורי נפלו בחרב
הרגת ביום אפך טבחת לא חמלת
22
תקרא כיום מועד מגורי מסביב
ולא היה ביום אף יהוה פליט ושריד
אשר טפחתי ורביתי איבי כלם

18
Their heart cries out to Adonai.
O wall of Daughter Zion!
Bring down tears like a torrent
day and night
Do not allow yourself rest
Let not the pupil of your eye be still
19
Arise, cry aloud in the night
at the beginning of every watch
Pour out your heart like water
before the face of Adonai
Lift to him your palms
for the sake of the life of your children
20
“Look, O Yahweh, and see!
To whom have you inflicted in this way?
Should women eat their fruit
the children for whom they cared?
Should they be slain in the sanctuary of Adonai
the priest and the prophet?
21
On the ground, in the streets, they lay down
the youth and the elder
My young women and my young men
fell by the sword
You slew in the day of your anger
You slaughtered mercilessly
22
You summoned like a feast day
my terrors from all around
And there was not, in the day of the anger of Yahweh,
an escapee or a survivor
Those whom I cared for and reared
my enemy destroyed them”

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The End of Another Semester

Tuesday, May 12th, 2009

Calvin already posted his end of semester summary, so I figured I’d copy him and give some thoughts on my classes.

Epigraphic Hebrew – This independent study with Tom Petter was great fun (especially since Calvin and I were able to work on it together). It also connected to History of Israelite Religions a little bit, since I did my paper for that class on the Kuntillet ‘Ajrud inscriptions, which we translated for this class. I always enjoy it when my classes seem to fit together well, as it cements what I’m learning.

History of Israelite Religions – Calvin has sort of already beat me to the punch since we took three classes together this semester. However, I too enjoyed this class at Boston University. My paper on Asherah in the Kuntillet ‘Ajrud inscriptions was nothing new, but I learned a ton and enjoyed researching it. I think I have now read or skimmed almost all of the major scholars (with works in English) who discuss this issue, which makes me feel good.

Greek II – What else is there to say, other than this was the second half of Greek? As I’ve mentioned before, Greekand I are not good friends, but we force ourselves to get along out of necessity. And it’s a good thing, because between Interpreting the New Testament, two NT exegesis courses, and Intermediate Greek, all classes I need to take within the next year, Greek and I are going to be seeing a lot of each other.

Old Testament Poetical Books – Calvin gave a good summary of the class itself, but I, of course, had a different paper topic. I chose Lamentations 2:18-22, and only wish I could have had more time to go even deeper than I did. My paper was just a little under 50 pages, and that was only scratching the surface. Lamentations is my new favorite book of the Bible, and I’m looking forward to doing more work with it in the future. Don’t be surprised if you see posts on Lam. 2:18-22, or Lamentations in general, showing up frequently this summer.

Thus ends two years here at GCTS. I have one more to go, and can’t believe how fast it’s gone!

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New Book and New Classes

Monday, May 11th, 2009

In the process of writing an exegesis paper on Lamentations 2:18-22 this past semester, I came across an intriguing book: Daughter Zion Talks Back the Prophets: A Dialogic Theology of the Book of Lamentations, by Carleen R. Mandolfo.

I did not have the chance to read the book thoroughly in the course of writing my paper, but what I did read interested me enough that after turning in my paper, I returned the library’s copy and ordered my own, which just arrived. I hope to be able to read completely and review the book sometime this summer.

I also hope to be able to devote a little more time to blogging in general, now that summer is here. I will be taking 3 classes throughout the course of the summer: Interpreting the New Testament, Gospel of John, and Contemporary Theology and Theologians. None of these are my area of study (darn degree requirements), but I expect I’ll find them at least mildly entertaining. Maybe I’ll at least get some blogging fodder out of them!

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