As a book filled with laments of the Babylonians’ destruction of Jerusalem, Lamentations describes what seems to be an eye-witness account to the suffering of the people who had once called the city their home. Jeremiah, who is traditionally thought to be the author of these laments, demonstrates a level of emotion that readers of the Hebrew Bible have yet to encounter in any of the previous books.
There are several poetic elements that are present within the chapters of Lamentations, but the element that resonates the most is the symbolism. It is clear to the reader that there is a cross-over between the actions of the Babylonian in their destruction of the city and the actions that are attributed to Yahweh. While, in actuality, it was the Babylonians that carried out the seizure of the land and caused the devastation, Jeremiah describes that it was the Lord that “destroyed without mercy all the dwellings of Jacob” (Lamentations 2.2a). The Lord, in this case, is a symbol for …show more content…
By using first-person point-of-view, the reader is able to feel more deeply the overwhelming agony that the author is faced with by the symbolic “hands” of Yahweh. In addition, Jeremiah describes that the young and infant of the people have “[fainted] in the streets of the city…they cry…[and] their life is poured out on their mothers’ bosom” (Lamentations 2.11b-12). The state of the people was so low that even the younger children and babies were unable to be fed. The hunger of the people was so high that mothers turned to cannibalism as they “[ate their offspring, the children they [had] borne” (Lamentations 2.20b). The people of Yahweh had truly reached one of the lowest points in their existence as a
There are several poetic elements that are present within the chapters of Lamentations, but the element that resonates the most is the symbolism. It is clear to the reader that there is a cross-over between the actions of the Babylonian in their destruction of the city and the actions that are attributed to Yahweh. While, in actuality, it was the Babylonians that carried out the seizure of the land and caused the devastation, Jeremiah describes that it was the Lord that “destroyed without mercy all the dwellings of Jacob” (Lamentations 2.2a). The Lord, in this case, is a symbol for …show more content…
By using first-person point-of-view, the reader is able to feel more deeply the overwhelming agony that the author is faced with by the symbolic “hands” of Yahweh. In addition, Jeremiah describes that the young and infant of the people have “[fainted] in the streets of the city…they cry…[and] their life is poured out on their mothers’ bosom” (Lamentations 2.11b-12). The state of the people was so low that even the younger children and babies were unable to be fed. The hunger of the people was so high that mothers turned to cannibalism as they “[ate their offspring, the children they [had] borne” (Lamentations 2.20b). The people of Yahweh had truly reached one of the lowest points in their existence as a