Poetry of Lament and Curse: Lamentations in Comparison with Deuteronomy 28
Like a broken mirror, the book Lamentations reproduces frightening memories of the catastrophic events around 587 BC, which left a traumatic imprint on the collective memory of the people of Israel. The siege of the city of Jerusalem and the extreme famine caused by it, the destruction of Jerusalem and the deportation of the population to Babylonia are themes that find their expression in the poetic language of Lamentations and run through the book as a common thread. The devastating events mentioned are prophetically foretold in Deuteronomy 28 in the form of curses with regard to the disobedience of the people of Israel to YHWH.
Research Questions
In view of the similarities in content between Lamentations and Deuteronomy 28, the question arises as to the relationship between the two texts. What role does the catastrophe around 587 BC and the collectively remembered trauma of the people of Israel play in its creation? How does the cultural trauma of the people of Israel unfold in Deuteronomy 28 and in the book of Lamentations? What literary, linguistic and stylistic means are used for this?
Research Concerns and Methods
The focus of my research will be on the literary relationship of the book Lamentations to Deuteronomy 28. Particular attention is paid to the literary treatment of the historical events around 587 BC in both texts. Here, stylistic and linguistic devices are envisaged on the basis of the literary expression of the historical events of the conquest of Jerusalem in Lamentations and Deuteronomy 28. With the help of genre analysis, the literary form and form of the two texts are examined. The special features of the ancient Near Eastern curse and lamentation genres as well as their functionality in the socio-cultural context of the time are taken into account. By applying the methods of intertextual analysis, the texts examined are also connected to other biblical and extra-biblical sources of the same genre.
The Book of Lamentations is the fruit of an existential crisis of the people of Israel triggered by the Babylonian war of conquest against Jerusalem and by the Babylonian captivity of the people of Jerusalem. The traumatic experiences of suffering of the people of Israel caused by the mass violence of the Babylonian hegemonic power also resound in Deuteronomy 28. From the perspective of trauma theory, the presentation of the events around 587 BC in the Book of Lamentations and in Deuteronomy 28 is in focus. The inclusion of the methods of trauma research intends to contribute to a deeper understanding of the emergence of cultural trauma in the collective memory of the people of Israel and its literary development in Lamentations and Deuteronomy 28.
Literature
Berges, Ulrich, Klagelieder (HThKAT), Freiburg 2002.
Frevel, Christian, Die Klagelieder (NSKAT 20/1), Stuttgart 2017.
Grohmann, Marianne, Klagelieder, Zürich 2022.
Otto, Eckart, Deuteronomium 12-34: Teilbd. 2: 23,16-34,12 (HThKAT), Freiburg 2017.
Quick, Laura, Deuteronomy 28 and the Aramaic Curse Tradition. Scribal Culture and the Composition of Deuteronomy 28: Intertextuality, Influence and the Aramaic Curse Tradition, Oxford 2018.
Supervisor
Univ.-Prof. Dr. Dominik Markl SJ
Department of Biblical Studies and Historical Theology
Doctoral Candidate
Mag. theol. Maksym Verbytskyi
Maksym.Verbytskyi(at)uibk.ac.at
