The Book of LAMENTATIONS

John Goldingay

William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company

Grand Rapids, Michigan

Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.

4035 Park East Court SE, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49546

www.eerdmans.com

© 2022 John Goldingay

All rights reserved

Published 2022

ISBN 978-0-8028-2542-1

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Goldingay, John, author.

Title: The book of Lamentations / John Goldingay.

Description: Grand Rapids, Michigan : William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, [2022] | Series: The new international commentary on the Old Testament | Includes bibliographical references and indexes. | Summary: “A commentary for scholars and pastors on the biblical book of Lamentations, with an emphasis on reading it as authoritative Christian Scripture”—Provided by publisher.

Identifiers: LCCN 2021028284 | ISBN 9780802825421

Subjects: LCSH: Bible. Lamentations—Commentaries.

Classification: LCC BS1535.53 .G645 2022 | DDC 224/.307—dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021028284

The New International Commentary on the Old Testament

Series Editors

E. J. Young

(1965–1968)

R. K. Harrison

(1968–1993)

Robert L. Hubbard Jr.

(1994–)

Bill T. Arnold

(2020–)

Contents

Series Editor’s Preface

List of Abbreviations

Bibliography

INTRODUCTION

I. Background

II. Unity of Composition

A. The Unity and Interrelationship of the Poems

B. Poetic Form in the Poems

C. The Relationship between the Cola

D. Repetition, Terseness, Imagery, Point of View, Genre

III. Authorship and Date

IV. Occasion, Place of Origin, and Destination

V. Canonicity

A. The Canonical Process

B. The Bounds and the Order of the Canon

VI. The Hebrew Text

VII. Theology

VIII. Main Themes and Their Implications

A. The Explosion of Interest

B. Theodicy and Antitheodicy

IX. Analysis of Contents

TEXT AND COMMENTARY

Lamentations 1: “Is There Pain Like My Pain?”

Lamentations 2: “He Poured Out His Wrath Like Fire”

Lamentations 3: “Perhaps There Is Hope”

Lamentations 4: “He Lit a Fire in Zion”

Lamentations 5: “Be Mindful, Yahweh”

Index of Authors

Index of Subjects

Index of Scripture and Other Ancient Texts

Series Editor’s Preface

“Do you understand what you’re reading?”

What a question!

With this opening line, Philip, one of Christianity’s first evangelists, approached a seeker from Africa, who had been in Jerusalem to worship. Somewhere along the Gaza Road, on his return trip to Ethiopia, the stranger was reading a portion of the Old Testament. Philip asked the question when he heard him “reading” the ancient text, an activity that almost certainly involved verbalizing the text by reciting it aloud (anaginōskō; Acts 8:30). An “angel of the Lord” had sent Philip to meet the Ethiopian for this very opportunity (8:26–29).

Realizing that the seeker was reading a difficult text, and yet also realizing how vitally important it was to the stranger’s faith, Philip distinguished between reading and comprehending. “Understanding” is different from simply pronouncing the text aloud; comprehension ...