Commentari biblici

INTRODUCTION

IN the Hebrew Bible these Elegies of Jeremiah, five in number, are placed among the Chetuvim, or "Holy Writings" ("the Psalms," &c.,

Lu 24:44),

between Ruth and Ecclesiastes. But though in classification of compositions it belongs to the Chetuvim, it probably followed the prophecies of Jeremiah originally. For thus alone can we account for the prophetical books being enumerated by JOSEPHUS [Against Apion, 1.1.8] as thirteen: he must have reckoned Jeremiah and Lamentations as one book, as also Judges and Ruth, the two books of Samuel, &c., Ezra and Nehemiah. The Lamentations naturally follow the book which sets forth the circumstances forming the subject of the Elegies. Similar lamentations occur in

2Sa 1:19, &c.; 3:33.

The Jews read it in their synagogues on the ninth of the month Ab, which is a fast for the destruction of their holy city. As in

2Ch 35:25,

"lamentations" are said to have been "written" by Jeremiah on the death of Josiah, besides it having been made "an ordinance in Israel" that "singing women" should "speak" of that king in lamentations; JOSEPHUS [Antiquities, 10.5.1], JEROME, &c., thought that they are contained in the present collection. But plainly the subject here is the overthrow of the Jewish city and people, as the Septuagint expressly states in an introductory verse to their version. The probability is that there is embodied in these Lamentations much of the language of Jeremiah's original Elegy on Josiah, as

2Ch 35:25

states; but it is now applied to the more universal calamity of the whole state, of which Josiah's sad death was the forerunner. Thus

La 4:20,

originally applied to Josiah, was "written," in its subsequent reference, not so much of him, as of the throne of Judah in general, the last representative of which, Zedekiah, had just been carried away. The language, which is true of good Josiah, is too strong in favor of Zedekiah, except when viewed as representative of the crown in general. It was natural to embody the language of the Elegy on Josiah in the more general lamentations, as his death was the presage of the last disaster that overthrew the throne and state.

The title more frequently given by the Jews to these Elegies is, "How" (Hebrew, Eechah), from the first word, as the Pentateuch is similarly called by the first Hebrew word of

Ge 1:1.

The Septuagint calls it "Lamentations," from which we derive the name. It refers not merely to the events which occurred at the capture of the city, but to the sufferings of the citizens (the penalty of national sin) from the very beginning of the siege; and perhaps from before it, under Manasseh and Josiah

(2Ch 33:11; 35:20-25);

under Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, and Zedekiah

(2Ch 36:3, 4, 6, 7, 10, 11,

&c.). LOWTH says, "Every letter is written with a tear, every word the sound of a broken heart." The style is midway between the simple elevation of prophetic writing and the loftier rhythm of Moses, David, and Habakkuk. Terse conciseness marks the Hebrew original, notwithstanding Jeremiah's diffuseness in his other writings. The Elegies are grouped in stanzas as they arose in his mind, without any artificial system of arrangement as to the thoughts. The five Elegies are acrostic: each is divided into twenty-two stanzas or verses. In the first three Elegies the stanzas consist of triplets of lines (excepting

La 1:7; 2:19,

which contain each four lines) each beginning with the letters of the Hebrew alphabet in regular order (twenty-two in number). In three instances

(La 2:16, 17; 3:46-51; 4:16, 17)

two letters are transposed. In the third Elegy, each line of the three forming every stanza begins with the same letter. The stanzas in the fourth and fifth Elegies consist of two lines each. The fifth Elegy, though having twenty-two stanzas (the number of letters in the Hebrew alphabet), just as the first four, yet is not alphabetical; and its lines are shorter than those of the others, which are longer than are found in other Hebrew poems, and contain twelve syllables, marked by a cæsura about the middle, dividing them into two somewhat unequal parts. The alphabetical arrangement was adopted originally to assist the memory. GROTIUS thinks the reason for the inversion of two of the Hebrew letters in

La 2:16, 17; 3:46-51; 4:16, 17,

is that the Chaldeans, like the Arabians, used a different order from the Hebrews; in the first Elegy, Jeremiah speaks as a Hebrew, in the following ones, as one subject to the Chaldeans. This is doubtful.

La 1:1-22.

Aleph.

1. how is she . . . widow! she that was great, &c.--English Version is according to the accents. But the members of each sentence are better balanced in antithesis, thus, "how is she that was great among the nations become as a widow! (how) she who was princess among the provinces (that is, she who ruled over the surrounding provinces from the Nile to the Euphrates,

Ge 15:18; 1Ki 4:21; 2Ch 9:26; Ezr 4:20)

become tributary!" [MAURER].

sit--on the ground; the posture of mourners

(La 2:10; Ezr 9:3).

The coin struck on the taking of Jerusalem by Titus, representing Judea as a female sitting solitary under a palm tree, with the inscription, Judæa Capta, singularly corresponds to the image here; the language therefore must be prophetical of her state subsequent to Titus, as well as referring retrospectively to her Babylonian captivity.

Beth.

2. in the night--even in the night, the period of rest and oblivion of griefs

(Job 7:3).

lovers . . . friends--the heathen states allied to Judah, and their idols. The idols whom she "loved"

(Jer 2:20-25)

could not comfort her. Her former allies would not: nay, some "treacherously" joined her enemies against her

(2Ki 24:2, 7; Ps 137:7).

Gimel.

3.

(Jer 52:27).

because of great servitude--that is, in a state "of great servitude," endured from the Chaldeans. "Because" is made by VATABLUS indicative of the cause of her captivity; namely, her having "afflicted" and unjustly brought into "servitude" the manumitted bond-servants

(Jer 34:8-22).

MAURER explains it, "Judah has left her land (not literally 'gone into captivity') because of the yoke imposed on it by Nebuchadnezzar."

no rest--

(De 28:64, 65).

overtook her between . . . straits--image from robbers, who in the East intercept travellers at the narrow passes in hilly regions.

Daleth.

4. feasts--the passover, pentecost (or the feast of weeks), and the feast of tabernacles.

gates--once the place of concourse.

He.

5. the chief--rule her

(De 28:43, 44).

adversaries . . . prosper; for the Lord--All the foes' attempts would have failed, had not God delivered His people into their hands

(Jer 30:15).

Vau.

6. beauty . . . departed--her temple, throne, and priesthood.

harts that find no pasture--an animal timid and fleet, especially when seeking and not able to "find pasture."

Zain.

7. remembered--rather, "remembers," now, in her afflicted state. In the days of her prosperity she did not appreciate, as she ought, the favors of God to her. Now, awakening out of her past lethargy, she feels from what high privileges she has fallen.

when her people fell, &c.--that is, after which days of prosperity "her people fell."

mock at her sabbaths--The heathen used to mock at the Jews' Sabbath, as showing their idleness, and term them Sabbatarians [MARTIAL, 4.4]. Now, said they ironically, ye may keep a continuous Sabbath. So God appointed the length of the captivity (seventy years) to be exactly that of the sum of the Sabbaths in the four hundred ninety years in which the land was denied its Sabbaths

(Le 26:33-35).

MAURER translates it "ruin." But English Version better expresses the point of their "mocking," namely, their involuntary "Sabbaths," that is, the cessation of all national movements. A fourth line is added in this stanza, whereas in all the others there are but three. So in

La 2:19.