Concentric Structures in Lamentations 4

Looking at this chapter was the first time I was prompted to think that concentric structures may be a important to the style of composition in Lamentations. The chapter breaks down in a fairly self-explanatory manner and several features present themselves through the structure.

A     4:1-10

a 1-2 the destruction of my people

b 2 the cruelty of my people

c 4 hunger

d 5 elites upended

e` 6 great iniquity

d` 7-8 elites upended

c` 9 hunger

b` 10a-c the cruelty of my people

a` 10d the destruction of daughter my people

B     4:11-16

a 11 Yhwh has done it

b 12 the nations against Zion

c 13-15b the sins and iniquities of prophets and priests

b` 15c the nations against Zion

a` 16 Yhwh has done it

C     4:17-20

a 17 our eyes

b 18a our steps

c our end was nigh

d our days are complete

c` our end is come

b` 19 their steps

a` 20 our life-breath

D     4:21-22

a 21 Daughter Edom

b 22a Daughter Zion

a` 22b Daughter Edom

Although the majority of chapter 4 is in the third-person, in the A section the first-person suffix is a hint that there is a person reporting this. The section works in from the destruction of my people, through the way the people have become cruel, the hunger evident in the populace, highlighted through the way the elites are now unrecognisable through their suffering. The centre of A coming in v6, as their iniquity is described as greater than that of Sodom, which earned Sodom a mercifully quick death, while Zion's death is ongoing.

The B section is bookended with the divine name, Yhwh, who is singled out for having wrought the punishment upon his people. The nations are mentioned, first directly, then indirectly as the voice of those rejecting refugees from Jerusalem. The centre is the iniquity of the prophets and priests, the seers who are now blind, and the purifiers who are now defiled.

I am less certain about the structure of the C section, but I am certain that it is a section, as in 4:17-20 the first-person plural appears for the first time, as the people together lament their state.this culminates in 4:18b-d, where the end is nigh, their days are complete, and the end is come.

Finally the D section describes the current and future states of both Edom and Zion, with Edom currently rejoicing but soon to be punished, while Zion is currently suffering but her punishment is complete.

Chapter 4 is a tightly structured chapter, with sin highlighted in the first two sections, the completeness in the third, and the extent of the punishment explained in the final section.

Concentric structures in Lamentations 5

When we started Lamentations, I was looking around for concentric structures in Lamentations, but a lot of them felt quite artificial. So I wasn't really looking for any when a couple of them just appeared. This one is for chapter 5, and next time around I'll point out some similar features in chapter 4.

A    5:1

Dear Yhwh,

Remember, look and see

B    5:2-10

a how far we have fallen

   b punished for the sins of our fathers

a how far we have fallen

C    5:11-14

four pairs of persons,

showing how far away their hope is,

how completely they've been upended

B`   5:15-18

a good things upended

   b woe to us for we've sinned

a the result of this is our lament

A`   5:19-20

Dear Yhwh,

although you are enthroned forever.

you don't remember, you neither look nor see

A``   5:21-22

Dear Yhwh, 

we pray you bring us back

but instead you reject us

The main thing to note here is how the chapter begins and ends with mentions of Yhwh, with the divine name absent in the intervening verses. As such, they form something of a prayer.

The second thing is the two mentions of sin, in 5:7,16. These both occur in the centre of first-person plural sections (1-10, 15-19), while the intervening section (5:11-14) is third-person. That intervening section is set apart with the distinctiveness of the four pairs of persons.

I'm not convinced there is anything to make out of C in particular as the central section, as the main action is really happening in the A and B sections, with the recognition of inherited and continued sin in the B sections, and the addresses to Yhwh which bookend the chapter.

#11 - Thou shalt not ogle

growing up in canberra, i would always be amazed at how one prang could lead onto a series of lesser prangs.
you'd see all these people on the side of the road exchanging details, wonder what's going on, and then see there'd be a bigger prang off to the side.
i don't know if it's a canberra thing, but they are worse drivers there generally.

but i guess my question is about voyeurism. not in the sexual way my dictionary wants to explain it, but more just the general staring and taking an unnecessary interest in things that do not concern us.

on the way to the snow, we saw cars off the side of the road, some even upside down, even one with the numberplate 'LEJND', or something just as bad (can't remember - how could i forget!). now it was really hard to not watch it - but it does get you wondering - what is it that makes this SO irresistible to look at?

is it the same thing as greed, or envy? well, i don't want to be in that car lying upside down in the ditch.
it it just simple schadenfreude? possibly.
it could just be thankfulness that it wasn't me! or possibly pride? being haughty?

maybe it's just harmless, but i never feel like laughing watching Australia's Funniest Home Videos. maybe it's cause i know it could very probably be me!

it could also be i'm worried about this sort of response:

“You have heard their taunts, O LORD,
all their plots against me.
The lips and thoughts of my assailants
are against me all the day long.
Behold their sitting and their rising;
I am the object of their taunts.

“You will repay them, O LORD,
according to the work of their hands.
You will give them dullness of heart;
your curse will be on them.
You will pursue them in anger and destroy them
from under your heavens, O LORD.”

Lamentations 3.61-66

wordle

wordle is fun. and not procrastination either. well, it is, but there is a purpose, as justin via mpj rightly say.

Firstly then, from my sermon last week on Exodus 16-17: (CLICK TO ZOOM IN ON PICS)

then we have, from earlier in the year, a sermon on Philippians 2:12-18:

A two-part series from last year on Lamentations:

and finally, a wordle from what you see on this blog!

i'm not sure what to say about all this, what i can understand better about how i preach, at least the words i (intend to) read out aloud. i would like to see the word love there a little more, it really doesn't stand out as it should, except in the Philippians talk. thankfully there's not too many 'churchy' words, which pleases me. i'm glad to see hope stand out in the Lamentations talks, that's something i really wanted to impress from that book.

what else? what stands out and doesn't? what should stand out but does?

Christotypism

i may have already mentioned my sermon series on Lamentations, thankfully the moose is up. it's done, done, done.

i had a squiz at the Perspective website (a resource set up by a bunch of pastors with helpful tips for preachers)

for interest's sake i had a look, and they gave three ways of looking at the OT, and specifically the book of Lamentations;

1/ A Christotelic Approach - Jesus the fulfillment of the OT. OT sets up the problem, Jesus is sent by God as the solution to them.

2/ A Christotypic Approach - the OT provides the shadow, Jesus is the epitome.

3/ An Exemplary Approach - look at the examples of good and bad. learn from it.

(this was from Bryson Smith's outline - not to be confused with Byron Smith)


i think there are places for all three of these approaches.

my previous post refers to a group who may use 3/ a whole heap, i'm not sure of the extent of the other two.

in our church's series on the story of life used 1/ a heap more.

going through Lamentations, a few years ago i would definitely have used 1/ and 3/. but this time around it was 2/ all the way.


it was hard, it felt almost wrong to say that Jerusalem was a "type" of Christ. the language is of Jerusalem being the annointed one, God's holy one, almost messianic. [like the (relatively) new Jewish reading of Isaiah 52-53.]

Jesus came as Jerusalem, was punished as Jerusalem.

and thinking through the atonement after having read Lamentations in a Christotypic way made it a whole lot clearer.

and i pray this was also true for the fellow-travellers.

the cordial of judgement

this week's sermon title will be "Lamentations :: Judgement and Lament"

however, i realised this morning that judgement is perhaps one of those "churchy" words, that are confusing to the non-churched, and glossed over by the churched

so i'm trying to come up with an analogy, and i'm currently like the dog doing its circles over its bed before it sits down, with cordial

(was this too obtuse a way to say i've almost come to a definitive decision?)


so if you say "i'm going to make a glass of cordial," the assumption is, you're going to pick the cordial flavour (red or yellow - yes, they are flavours), then you're going to put the the liquid in a glass, add water (never the other way around, unless you're COMPLETELY insane), and then drink the darn thing

likewise for judgement:
God evaluates the situation, makes his decision, and then completes the appropriate action, be this blessing or cursing

judgement isn't just weighing up, it's not just handing down a verdict, but all of these, along with the execution

how many thumbs up does this get - or is it redundant, do people already widely get the idea of God's Judgement?

wishing for mercy

1/ apologies for absence of posting

2/ what place is there for critiquing the theology of the Bible?
FOR, we get our theology FROM the Bible, so when it says something we don't like, at what point are we able to say, "no, that's not how God is," without

for example, Jonah:
now, i've always read Jonah 2 as a great poem, expressing noble truths about God's character.
UNTIL, that is, i heard it critiqued, saying that Jonah was an arrogant man, presuming upon God, he had NO right to pray as he did, to just ASSUME that God was gonnaget him out of the lurch.

3/ so then, what do we say when reading, for example Lamentations (c/f many Psalms), which wishes atrocities upon atrocities, upon their enemies and neighbours for their nonintervention?

i would like to say, "that's wrong, you should be wishing them mercy, just as you desire mercy from God," because this attitude isn't so much redeemed in Jesus as refuted.

indeed, neither does Paul agree with this view, in Romans 14:10-12;

Why do you pass judgment on your brother?
Or you, why do you despise your brother?
For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God;
for it is written,
As I live, says the Lord,
every knee shall bow to me,
and every tongue shall confess to God.
So then each of us will give an account of himself to God.

it all seems very log-in-the-eye to me.