Reason for the Siege (4:12–23)

Unrighteousness and injustice (4:13). See Lamentations 2:14 and compare Jeremiah 26:7–19. The issue of leadership (here, priests and prophets) condoning or covering up injustice has its antecedents in texts such as Jeremiah 5:30–31; 6:13–15.

Mountains and desert (4:19). From a Judean and especially a Jerusalemite perspective, the Judean mountains represented a measure of security. Up to this time, the great battlefields of history were either down along the coastal plain and broad valleys of the foothills or up north in the Jezreel Valley and the Beth Shean Valley. If the enemy did ascend into the mountains, the central Benjamin plateau about five miles north of Jerusalem provided a suitable battlefield. But rugged terrain around Jerusalem was hard for invading armies to negotiate. Harder still was the Judean wilderness. This is where David fled for refuge from Saul. But the poet’s point is that these natural defenses were inadequate this time.

Terrain around Jerusalem—note hills to the northwest

Todd Bolen/www.BiblePlaces.com

The LORD’s anointed, our very life breath (4:20). The poet refers here to the Davidic king, who ideally reigned under Yahweh, Israel’s ultimate and proper sovereign (Ex. 15:18; Judg. 8:23; 1 Sam. 8:7; 10:19; 12:12).64 In Israel, while the king represented authority, administered justice, exercised mercy, and provided protection, he was always subject to Yahweh.

Deity grants the king (the anointed) life and vitality, here symbolized by the ankh sign, which the king then provides to his people.

Lenka Peacock

There is indication in the larger culture of the ancient Near East that the king was considered god incarnate. By the time of the pyramids, the Egyptian pharaoh was referred to as god.65 The divine king was seen as the one on whom subjects depended for life and livelihood. For example, Sesostris III (c. 1878–1843 B.C.) is referred to as “he who gives breath to his subjects.”66 Early Mesopotamian texts use similar expressions.67 For the poet of Lamentations, the promised and anointed king, the representative of Yahweh—Israel’s breath of life—had been taken away.

Under his shadow (4:20). The Hebrews perceived Yahweh as protector and often used the metaphor of shadow or shade (Ps. 17:8; 36:7; 57:1; 121:5; Isa. 4:6; 25:4; 32:1–2; see Isa. 30:2–3 for negative usage). Similarly, both Egyptian and Mesopotamian texts refer to the king/god as a “shadow,” implying protector.68 For example, in the Report of Wen-Amon describing an Egyptian official’s trip to Byblos in what is now Lebanon, it is claimed for Wen-Amon that “the shadow of Pharaoh [referring to the Phoenician prince]—life, prosperity, health!—your lord has fallen on you!”69

The vulture representing the deity Nekhbet provides protection in the shadow of her wings and thus provides life (the ankh sign in her talons) for the king and people.

Manfred Näder, Gabana Studios, Germany

What these disparate cultures share in common is a connection between the concept of king and the concept of deity and the notion that God/king is the source of life and security.

Daughter of Edom … stripped naked (4:21–22). See Obadiah. The nation of Edom was descended from Jacob’s (renamed Israel) twin brother (Gen. 25:22–26). The humiliation of public nakedness was connected with defeat and refugee status (Isa. 20:1–6; Amos 2:16). Forced public nakedness as a humiliating exercise of power is also seen in 2 Samuel 10:2–5, where the son of the deceased king whom David’s embassy had been sent to honor arrested them, shaved them, and stripped them from the waist down. As a result, war broke out between Ammon and Israel. The bas-reliefs of Shalmaneser’s bronze Balawat gates include depictions of stripped captives with their hands bound behind their backs and their necks in yokes.