Searching for the Semantic Function of the Alphabetical Acrostics in Lamentations

서지정보

· 발행기관 : 아신대학교 ACTS 신학연구소
· 수록지 정보 : ACTS 신학저널 / 37권 / 47 ~ 87페이지
· 저자명 : 조휘

초록

In order to interpret the book of Lamentations, it has been said that the interpreter needs to consult the book of Jeremiah. Yet, what plays the more important role for deciphering the meaning of Lamentations is the book itself and its composition. The author as the producer of the book composed the whole book according to his intention and purpose and delivered his message by his choices of literary devices and techniques, words, and structural arrangements. Especially the alphabetical acrostics are conspicuous in Lamentations in that four chapters out of five are composed in acrostic form. Acrostic serves as a compositional technique. Due attention should be given to the acrostics. However, achallenge for the interpreter is to provide proper explanations on the fact that the book of Lamentations delivers human’s pain and suffering over loss, which in most cases are unrestrained and outburst, through the most articulated form of the alphabetical acrostics in the Hebrew poetry. Thus the following questions have been raised. What impact or effect did the poet intend on the reader with the acrostic form? What is its semantic contribution to the book? To these questions, the notion of totality and educational-didactic purpose have been suggested. The present article adds three more purposes for employing the alphabetical acrostics in Lamentations: (1) notion of the controlled pathos; (2) visualization of the beginning and ending and (3) notion of orderliness under Yahweh’s sovereignty.

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