Cultic Images of Jerusalem in Lamentations 2:1–8

Abstract

Lamentations 2.1–8 depicts the attack of God on Jerusalem and the temple. God is the subject of almost every verb in the unit, and this heightens the theological dimension of the crisis compared with chapter 1. This perspective is reinforced by the many images of the city as a centre of worship. The focus on the cult is not limited to the mention of feasts, sabbath, altar and sanctuary in 2.6–7 but is in evidence from verse 1 with the city described as ‘under a cloud’ and called ‘the beauty of Israel’ and God’s ‘footstool’. This way of viewing Jerusalem is bolstered by the images of ‘the tent of the daughter of Zion’ (2.4), and God’s ‘booth’ (2.6a). God’s action against Zion signals the breakdown of the relationship between Yhwh and his people, and it also disables the usual cultic mechanisms for mending that relationship.