Eikha - The Book of Lamentations -
Lesson 12
Eikha Chapter 1, Part 4: The Lonely Return to Jerusalem
Text file
Eikha 1:4
דַּרְכֵ֨י צִיּ֜וֹן אֲבֵל֗וֹת
מִבְּלִי֙ בָּאֵ֣י מוֹעֵ֔ד
כָּל־שְׁעָרֶ֙יהָ֙ שֽׁוֹמֵמִ֔ין
כֹּהֲנֶ֖יהָ נֶאֱנָחִ֑ים
בְּתוּלֹתֶ֥יהָ נּוּג֖וֹת
וְהִ֥יא מַר־לָֽהּ
The roads to Zion mourn
For there is no one who comes on the festival
All of her gates are desolate
Her priests groan
Her maidens grieve
And she is very bitter
After a brief glance at the exiles in verse 3, we will soon return our attention to Jerusalem, but not immediately. First, we experience the eerie loneliness of the journey back to Jerusalem. We seem to have abandoned the itinerant exiles of verse 3, relinquishing them to their exhausted misery. Progressing toward the city, we scan the dusty roads for pilgrims, but in vain; instead, we bear witness to their unnerving emptiness.[1] Arriving at the once-bustling gates, previously teeming with wayfarers and travelers, especially on the festivals, we bleakly observe their desolation.[2] Priests, whose hectic festival duties had once not left them much time for leisure, now keen listlessly, emitting low and anguished groans. And the maidens! Their joy and vibrancy have dulled, their circle dances have terminated (Jeremiah 31:12). Wearily, they too issue sounds of grief, incomprehensible expressions of despair. Jerusalem herself is bitter, a despondent witness to her own collapse.
Ba’ei mo’ed
Ambiguity attends the word mo’ed in the book of Eikha. Mo’ed derives from the word ya’ad, meaning appointed or designated. It can refer to a time or a place. In Eikha, this word refers variously to an appointed day[3] or to an appointed place, usually the Temple (e.g. Eikha 2:6).[4] While the context often sheds clarity on its usage, in this verse, its meaning remains ambiguous. Ibn Ezra cites both possibilities:
Ba’ei mo’ed – They would come on the festivals. But it is preferable in my eyes to interpret that this refers to the Temple, and it is called mo’ed because all of Israel assemble by appointment there. Similarly, “in the midst of your appointed place (mo’adekha)” (Tehillim 74:4), “they burned all of the appointed places (mo’adei) of God…” (ibid. 74:8). (Ibn Ezra, Eikha 1:4)
Ibn Ezra concludes that this refers to the Temple, which used to attract throngs of pilgrims, who no longer visit.[5] Ibn Ezra brings two proof texts from a psalm that describes the destruction of the Temple. His approach focuses our attention on the meaninglessness of the city without its sacred center, the Temple.[6] Rashi appears to reach the opposite conclusion, explaining that the word mo’ed refers to the appointed festivals when pilgrims would visit Jerusalem.[7]
Although translators have to decide one way or another, perhaps it is best to retain a dual meaning for the word mo’ed here. Everything has ceased to function according to its purpose. Poignant especially during the festival, the Temple’s absence means that the roads are no longer used, the priests do not fulfill their duty, and young maidens cease their festive celebrations.
The City’s Grieving Populace
Although the chapter mentions several groups (priests, maidens, children, officers), it does not single out any one group, focusing instead on the suffering of the general populace. A midrash notes this:
For there is no one who comes on the festival… It does not say [there are no] honored people [who made the pilgrimage], but rather, there is no one who comes on the festival. (Eikha Rabba 1:20)
The solemn priests and the joyous maidens would seem to be an incompatible pair.[8] But catastrophe unifies disparate factions in their shared grief, erasing distinctions of age and social standing. All mourn equally.
Perhaps, however, this juxtaposition highlights the special role that both priests and maidens once played in conjunction with the festival. As a complement to the dignified rituals of the priests, maidens cast off some of the solemnity, allowing the assembled masses to witness the celebration of the youth, with their characteristic exuberance (see e.g. Judges 21:19, 21). In this schema, priests and maidens mourn the destruction with common cause, as each group has forfeited its unique role.[9]
Even the personified roads mourn,[10] further emphasizing the entwined relationship between the city and her inhabitants. Highways and gates, priests and maidens: all bemoan the meaninglessness of a desultory existence, the cessation of their primary functions. In this way, a midrash explains the peculiar image of the grieving roads:
The roads to Zion mourn. R. Huna said: All seek [to fulfill] their function. (Eikha Rabba 1:30)
The continuation of this midrash suggests that the roads mourn the loss specifically of their religious role, rather than their pedestrian function:
R. Avdimi from Haifa said: Even the roads seek [to fulfill] their function, as it says, “The roads to Zion mourn for there is no one to come on the festival.” It does not say, “there are no station-houses for travelers and they are not guarded by turrets.” (Eikha Rabba 1:30)
All associated with Jerusalem (people and objects) band together to facilitate worship of God in His sacred city. Correspondingly, when the city is destroyed, all join together in mourning.
Embittered Jerusalem
Bitterness attends several notable biblical women: Chana (I Samuel 1:10), the Shunemite woman (II Kings 4:27), Rachel (Jeremiah 31:14), and Naomi (Ruth 1:20). Common to all of these women is the absence or loss of their children, producing unbearable suffering. Jerusalem’s bitterness is the first indication of Jerusalem’s role as a mother figure in the book of Eikha.[11]
Although this is an undeniably negative portrayal, midrashim characteristically find a deep core of hope in associating Jerusalem with the bitter biblical women. After all, none of these women remains miserable forever; each of them eventually obtains children, dispels her bitterness, and replaces it with joy. In this vein, a midrash posits a stunning reversal of the loneliness that echoes throughout this chapter:
“She has no (ein la) comforter” (Eikha 1:2) – So says R. Levi: Every place in which it says, “she has none (ein),” she will have [what she lacks]. “And Sarai was barren; she had no child” (Bereishit 11), and she had, as it says, “God remembered Sara” (Bereishit 21). Similarly, “And Chana had no children,” and then she did, as it says, “For God remembered Chana.” Similarly, “She is Zion, there is none that seeks her” (Jeremiah 30), and she will have, as it says, “And a redeemer shall come to Zion” (Isaiah 59). Here too, you say that “she has no comforter.” She will have, as it says, “I [God] am your comforter” (Isaiah 51). (Eikha Rabba 1:26)
Eikha 1:5
הָי֨וּ צָרֶ֤יהָ לְרֹאשׁ֙
אֹיְבֶ֣יהָ שָׁל֔וּ
כִּֽי־ה' הוֹגָ֖הּ
עַ֣ל רֹב־פְּשָׁעֶ֑יהָ
עוֹלָלֶ֛יהָ הָלְכ֥וּ שְׁבִ֖י
לִפְנֵי־צָֽר
Her adversaries were at the head
Her enemies were tranquil
For God made her grieve
Because of the greatness of her transgressions
Her young children went into captivity
Before the adversary
God enters the scene for the first time alongside a blunt presentation of Israel’s transgressions, the first explicit indication of Israel’s culpability. While the verse does not elaborate on the nature of Israel’s sins, their central position in this verse highlights their pivotal role. However, surrounded by the bewildering success of the enemies and the terrible suffering of the children, Israel’s unnamed sins stand to lose some of their impact. How do these two topics – inexplicable injustice and human responsibility – obtain balance in this verse? Do they clash or cohere? Are they mutually exclusive or complementary? To answer this, we will examine the substance as well as the meter of this verse, observing their contributions to this key topic.
The first and third sentences of this verse focus on enemies, on an unjust world. These sentences succinctly describe the problem of theodicy. The paramount human quandary finds expression in two separate, but related questions:
[1] For a similar description of the desolation of roads (presumably of Jerusalem, although this is not certain), see Isaiah 33:8. [2] In its portrayal of the ideal state of Jerusalem, Isaiah 60:11 describes her gates as always open, day and night, ready to admit wealth and kings. [3] This day can be holy, namely a festival (e.g. Eikha 2:6), or a day appointed by God for destruction (e.g. Eikha 1:15) [4] The precursor to the Temple, the Tabernacle (Mishkan), is also referred to as the ohel mo’ed, commonly translated as “tent of meeting.” [5] Similarly focused on the experience of pilgrimage to Jerusalem, Tehillim 42:5 longingly recollects the hordes of celebrating pilgrims coming to the house of God. [6] See also Rashbam, Eikha 1:4. [7] It appears that most translations and scholars choose this reading, as I did in my translation above. See e.g. Berlin, Lamentations, pp. 41, 45. [8] Commonly, maidens are linked alongside young men in biblical passages (see Devarim 32:25; Isaiah 62:5; Jeremiah 51:22; Ezezkiel 9:6; Amos 8:13; Zechariah 9:17). This is true in Eikha as well (1:18 and 2:21). [9] See also Joel 1:8-9, where the verses describe the mourning of maidens and priests in successive verses. [10] R. Yosef Kara, Eikha 1:4, explains differently; it is not that the roads mourn, but rather that the people mourn the roads. In any case, the personification of objects animated by grief is a common biblical trope. See, for example, the mourning of the land in Hosea 4:3, the gates’ misery in Jeremiah 14:2, and the mourning of the rampart and the wall in Eikha 2:8. [11] Some scholars (e.g. Dobbs-Allsopp, Lamentations, p. 59) see this theme in the use of the root tzar, meaning distress, in verse 3 (mitzarim), which evokes the description of the pain of childbirth (e.g. Jeremiah 4:31; 49:24). [12] The word employed to convey Israel’s sinfulness is pesha. Often used to describe a political infraction or rebellion (e.g. II Kings 1:1; 3:5), the term implies a willful act of rebellion against divine authority. [13] We previously discussed the relationship between Eikha and Devarim 28 in the introduction to theology. [14] While I used this as an example in our study of meter in the introduction to poetry, I discuss it at greater length here, as we examine the verse itself.
- Why do evildoers prosper? [rasha ve-tov lo]
- Why do innocents suffer? [tzaddik ve-ra lo]
- 3:2 - Kinah meter
- 2:2 - Balanced meter
- 3:1 - Kinah meter
[1] For a similar description of the desolation of roads (presumably of Jerusalem, although this is not certain), see Isaiah 33:8. [2] In its portrayal of the ideal state of Jerusalem, Isaiah 60:11 describes her gates as always open, day and night, ready to admit wealth and kings. [3] This day can be holy, namely a festival (e.g. Eikha 2:6), or a day appointed by God for destruction (e.g. Eikha 1:15) [4] The precursor to the Temple, the Tabernacle (Mishkan), is also referred to as the ohel mo’ed, commonly translated as “tent of meeting.” [5] Similarly focused on the experience of pilgrimage to Jerusalem, Tehillim 42:5 longingly recollects the hordes of celebrating pilgrims coming to the house of God. [6] See also Rashbam, Eikha 1:4. [7] It appears that most translations and scholars choose this reading, as I did in my translation above. See e.g. Berlin, Lamentations, pp. 41, 45. [8] Commonly, maidens are linked alongside young men in biblical passages (see Devarim 32:25; Isaiah 62:5; Jeremiah 51:22; Ezezkiel 9:6; Amos 8:13; Zechariah 9:17). This is true in Eikha as well (1:18 and 2:21). [9] See also Joel 1:8-9, where the verses describe the mourning of maidens and priests in successive verses. [10] R. Yosef Kara, Eikha 1:4, explains differently; it is not that the roads mourn, but rather that the people mourn the roads. In any case, the personification of objects animated by grief is a common biblical trope. See, for example, the mourning of the land in Hosea 4:3, the gates’ misery in Jeremiah 14:2, and the mourning of the rampart and the wall in Eikha 2:8. [11] Some scholars (e.g. Dobbs-Allsopp, Lamentations, p. 59) see this theme in the use of the root tzar, meaning distress, in verse 3 (mitzarim), which evokes the description of the pain of childbirth (e.g. Jeremiah 4:31; 49:24). [12] The word employed to convey Israel’s sinfulness is pesha. Often used to describe a political infraction or rebellion (e.g. II Kings 1:1; 3:5), the term implies a willful act of rebellion against divine authority. [13] We previously discussed the relationship between Eikha and Devarim 28 in the introduction to theology. [14] While I used this as an example in our study of meter in the introduction to poetry, I discuss it at greater length here, as we examine the verse itself.
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