Lamentations 1

We should call the Bible book “Oh no!” instead of “Lamentations.” Jews who read this book in the original Hebrew language will see that it’s called Eka, which is the approximate sound of the Hebrew letters אֵיכָה. This term comes from the first Hebrew word in the book. It a word we’ve paraphrased as “Oh no!” other Bibles use similar words, such as “Alas.” Verse one begins a song of lament. These are ancient lyrics for a sad, sad song of blues. In exile far from home, Jews sang songs like these, just as people today sing sad songs about lost love, dead friends, and dashed dreams.

The text doesn’t identify what the priests and young ladies were bitter about. There would have been plenty to choose from. But one huge source of bitterness for priests is that they had been left without job or purpose because Babylonians destroyed the Temple, Judah’s only approved place of worship. The young ladies lost a lot of good men—future husbands—in the battles and in the exile that followed. Babylonians didn’t want the Jewish nation to resurrect itself. So, the empire took the leaders with them. In a patriarchal society, that meant men, along with men and women who could work as servants.

The phase is more literally “Her skirts are unclean.” Many scholars say this sounds like a metaphor, a less messy way to talk about the sensitive subject of sexual immorality. That could refer to illicit sex and sex with temple prostitutes in local religions. But sexual immorality can be a metaphor, too—a way of talking about spiritual unfaithfulness. That’s worshiping idols instead of God.

This might be a metaphor for what happened in the war, when Babylon destroyed Jerusalem and captured the survivors as they tried to escape.