This book was formerly annexed to his
prophecies, though it now forms a separate book. Josephus, and several
other learned men, have referred them to the death of Josiah; but the
more common opinion is, that they were applicable only to some period
subsequent to the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar. But though
it be allowed that the Lamentations were primarily intended as a
pathetic description of present calamities, yet while Jeremiah mourns
the desolation of Judah and Jerusalem during the Babylonian captivity,
he may be considered as prophetically painting the still greater
miseries they were to suffer at some future time: this seems plainly
indicated by his referring to the time when the punishment of their
iniquity shall be accomplished, and they shall no more be carried into
captivity, Lam. iv, 22. The Lamentations are written in metre, and
consist of a number of plaintive effusions, composed after the manner of
funeral dirges. They seem to have been originally written by their
author as they arose in his mind, and to have been afterward joined
together as one poem. There is no regular arrangement of the subject, or
disposition of the parts: the same thought is frequently repeated with
different imagery, or expressed in different words. There is, however,
no wild incoherency, or abrupt transition; the whole appears to have
been dictated by the feelings of real grief. Tenderness and sorrow form
the general character of these elegies; and an attentive reader will
find great beauty in many of the images, and great energy in some of the
expressions. This book of Lamentations is divided into five chapters; in
the first, second, and fourth, the prophet speaks in his own person, or
by an elegant and interesting personification introduces the city of
Jerusalem as lamenting her calamities, and confessing her sins; in the
third chapter a single Jew, speaking in the name of a chorus of his
countrymen, like the Coryphæus of the Greeks, describes the punishment
inflicted upon him by God, but still acknowledges his mercy, and
expresses some hope of deliverance; and in the fifth chapter, the whole
nation of the Jews pour forth their united complaints and supplications
to almighty God.
Every chapter, with the exception of the third, contains twenty-two
verses, corresponding in number with the letters of the Hebrew alphabet;
and each verse commences with a different letter, the first with aleph,
the second with beth, the third with gimel, &c. The third chapter,
consisting of sixty-six verses, has three verses together beginning with
the same letter, the following three with the next letter, &c. This
peculiarity may be seen in Psalm cxix; the first eight verses in which
commence with aleph, the next eight with beth, &c, till the whole
alphabet has been consecutively taken. This mode of versification, which
has some distant resemblance to the modern acrostic style, seems to have
been employed by the Hebrews in some of their elegiac poetry, perhaps to
assist the memory.
prophecies, though it now forms a separate book. Josephus, and several
other learned men, have referred them to the death of Josiah; but the
more common opinion is, that they were applicable only to some period
subsequent to the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar. But though
it be allowed that the Lamentations were primarily intended as a
pathetic description of present calamities, yet while Jeremiah mourns
the desolation of Judah and Jerusalem during the Babylonian captivity,
he may be considered as prophetically painting the still greater
miseries they were to suffer at some future time: this seems plainly
indicated by his referring to the time when the punishment of their
iniquity shall be accomplished, and they shall no more be carried into
captivity, Lam. iv, 22. The Lamentations are written in metre, and
consist of a number of plaintive effusions, composed after the manner of
funeral dirges. They seem to have been originally written by their
author as they arose in his mind, and to have been afterward joined
together as one poem. There is no regular arrangement of the subject, or
disposition of the parts: the same thought is frequently repeated with
different imagery, or expressed in different words. There is, however,
no wild incoherency, or abrupt transition; the whole appears to have
been dictated by the feelings of real grief. Tenderness and sorrow form
the general character of these elegies; and an attentive reader will
find great beauty in many of the images, and great energy in some of the
expressions. This book of Lamentations is divided into five chapters; in
the first, second, and fourth, the prophet speaks in his own person, or
by an elegant and interesting personification introduces the city of
Jerusalem as lamenting her calamities, and confessing her sins; in the
third chapter a single Jew, speaking in the name of a chorus of his
countrymen, like the Coryphæus of the Greeks, describes the punishment
inflicted upon him by God, but still acknowledges his mercy, and
expresses some hope of deliverance; and in the fifth chapter, the whole
nation of the Jews pour forth their united complaints and supplications
to almighty God.
Every chapter, with the exception of the third, contains twenty-two
verses, corresponding in number with the letters of the Hebrew alphabet;
and each verse commences with a different letter, the first with aleph,
the second with beth, the third with gimel, &c. The third chapter,
consisting of sixty-six verses, has three verses together beginning with
the same letter, the following three with the next letter, &c. This
peculiarity may be seen in Psalm cxix; the first eight verses in which
commence with aleph, the next eight with beth, &c, till the whole
alphabet has been consecutively taken. This mode of versification, which
has some distant resemblance to the modern acrostic style, seems to have
been employed by the Hebrews in some of their elegiac poetry, perhaps to
assist the memory.