Lamentations 4 - Introduction

Lamentations 4:1-22. The sufferings of the people are consequent on sin

This ch. differs from the earlier ones, (a) in dwelling more on the sufferings of various classesof people, (b) in bringing out more clearly that these sufferings were the consequences of the national sin. Lamentations 4:1 set forth the miseries attendant on the siege, 11, 12 seem to indicate those of the capture, 13 16 point out that the prophets and priests are guilty and unclean, as though lepers, polluted as they are with innocent blood, 17 20 describe vividly the anxiety and miseries of the siege, 21, 22 declare that Edom's triumph will be but short-lived.

The vv., acrostic as in earlier poems, consist each of two instead of three members. For the date see intr. note to ch. 2. Both chs. are thought to be by the same author, two points being brought out forcibly in each, viz. the responsibility of the leaders for the national disaster, and the sufferings of the children.