Children of the night: The portrayal of children in the book of Lamentations

1. Lamentations and the children

The first time the word עללים‎ appears in the book is in 1.5 when we are told that עולליה‎ (‘her children’) have gone into exile’. ²² The rabbis are quick to point out that despite the tragic fate of the children, they are still included in God’s protection. ²³

Rabbi Judah said, see how beloved the little children are before God. When the Sanhedrin went into captivity, the Shechinah — God’s indwelling presence — did not go with them. The watchers of the priests went into captivity but the Shechinah did not go with them. But when the little children went into captivity, the Shechinah went with them. For it says in Lamentations: ‘Her children are gone into captivity’” and immediately after ‘From Zion her splendor is departed’. (Lamentations Rabbah 1.33)

The comparison of these two verses in Lamentations has given rise to the rabbinic concept that God’s presence accompanies the children wherever they go. ²⁴ The book’s high regard for children can also be discerned in the images chosen to describe them. In 4.1, the ‘children of Zion’ (v. 2) are referred to as זהב‎ (‘gold’), הכתם‎ (‘pure gold’), and אבני־קדש‎ (‘sacred stones’ or ‘stones of the sanctuary’). The value of gold, as Delbert Hiller points out, is that it is impervious to tarnishing over time or in particular circumstances. ²⁵ When the ‘gold’ is said to have יועם‎ (‘grown dim’) in verse 1, Adele Berlin is probably right to suggest that the gold has lost its lustre not because it is tarnished but rather because the gold is now covered with dirt. ²⁶ Or as Paul House puts it, ‘the gold has not gone dark on its own; rather, it has dimmed because of the way it’s been treated’. ²⁷

The children are also described as אבני־קדש‎ (‘sacred stones’ or ‘stones of the sanctuary’). As for the background of this imagery, Johan Renkema believes that the ‘sacred stones’ refer to the stones of the temple. ²⁸ Meanwhile, J. A. Emerton thinks that the gems are an allusion to the temple treasury, such as the gems on the temple vessels or priestly ephod and breastplate. ²⁹ Regardless of the term’s origins, to liken the children to ‘sacred stones’ suggests that the children are both precious as well as ‘holy’, such that they are set apart for God. However, because of the attack of the enemies and the destruction of the city, the children are now ‘scattered [תשתפכנה‎ literally, ‘poured out’] at every street corner’. The fate of the children recalls 2.12, where they are found fainting from hunger in the streets of the city. Similarly, the expression ‘at every street corner’ recalls 2.19d where children are again depicted as ‘fainting from hunger at every street corner’. ³⁰

Instead of treating the children as a demographic block, the book of Lamentations distinguishes between the different age-groups within the group. In 4.4, two terms are used: יונק‎ (‘infant’) and עוללים‎ (‘young children’). The difference between יונק‎ and עוללים‎, as Xuan Huong Thi Pham says, is that יונק‎ refers to the unweaned child (Joel 2.16) while עוללים‎ refers to children in the next stage of life. ³¹ The יונק‎ and עוללים‎ are also distinguished in 1 Sam. 15.3; 22.19; and Jer. 44.7. What is puzzling is that in Lam. 2.12, the infants can not only talk, but they are also asking their mothers for bread and wine. Pham is right to remind us that in the ancient Near East, it takes longer for a child to be weaned than it does now. ³² In 2 Maccabees 7.27, a mother nurses her youngest child for three years. Samuel goes to live in the shrine away from home after he is weaned (1 Sam 1.22).

What is significant about these infants and young children is that they join their adult counterparts in the quest for food. In the midst of the famine, as the population מבקשים לחם‎ (‘search for bread’) and באכל מחמודיהם‎ (‘they trade their precious things for food’) (Lam. 1.11), the children follow in their footsteps. Starting with the infants, ‘they say to their mothers, “Where is bread and wine?”’ (Lam. 2.12). Often ignored by commentators is the strange request of infants asking their mothers for bread—or grain (דגן‎)—and wine. It is important to note that combination of דגן‎ and יין‎ is peculiar. The standard pairing is often דגן‎ and תירוש‎ (Gen. 27.37; Deut. 33.28; Isa. 36.17) or בלחם‎ and יין‎ (Gen. 14.18; Judg. 19.19; Neh. 5.15). Berlin is probably correct when she suggests that the terms דגן‎ and יין‎ are chosen because both grain and wine can be stored for long periods of time. ³³ Prior to taking their last breath, the infants ask their mothers if there are any remnants of stored-up food left. Asking not just for food, but for stored-up food supplies is by far the most pragmatic and intelligent response from any character in the book.

While the infants can only ask their mothers for food, the older ones (the עוללים‎) go around the city begging. However, with scarcity of food, ‘no one gives it to them’ (4.4b). In normal circumstances, few would deny the plea of young children for food, but these are not normal circumstances. The famine has inoculated the population from caring for others. In light of the mothers’ inability to nurture their own children, two inferences are warranted. On one hand, this demonstrates how severe the famine is. On the other hand, that not even the needs of the two youngest demographics escape his attention also shows the poet’s concern for the people’s plight. In fact, these children are not only noticed, they are presented as paragons of courage. These young ones, despite their helplessness, refuse to surrender to death without first trying to fight for their own survival.

2. Daughter Zion and the children

Another term that is used for the children in the book of Lamentations is the word בני‎ (‘sons’) (1.16) and more specifically בני ציון‎ (‘sons of Zion’) (4.2). It is not coincidental that Zion is also often referred to as a בת‎ (‘daughter’). ³⁴ As Jan Dietrich points out, the destruction of a city can cause deep and lasting personal trauma. ³⁵ Once a city is destroyed, its infrastructure can potentially be rebuilt. However, a person situated within such a tragedy can never fully erase the scars of such radical suffering. It is quite impossible for such victims to isolate themselves from the event. Wendy Farley writes, ‘Even if my suffering is explicitly as a member of a community, the experience of it remains uniquely mine and cannot be absorbed into the larger whole’. ³⁶ In personifying Zion, the poet is saying that the city is more than just the sum of all of its walls, buildings, gates, and roads. ³⁷ Rather, it has the capacity to feel pain and anguish; in this way, Zion is able to resonate with the tribulations of the people, especially those of the children. Moreover, by designating Zion as a ‘daughter’, the city is placed on the same level as the children (‘sons’), thereby creating a familial bond between them.

How then does Daughter Zion stand in solidarity with the children in their suffering? First, both ‘siblings’ experience loss of splendour and status. Marianne Grohmann observes how the use of colours is used to shade Lam. 4.1–8. ³⁸ Prior to Yahweh’s judgment, the colours of the past are bright and dazzling. In 4.1, the children are likened to זהב‎ (‘gold’) and הכתם‎ (‘pure gold’). But even the children from wealthier families fall victim to catastrophe (v. 5a). ³⁹ According to v.5b, תולע עלי האמנים‎ (‘those who are brought up in scarlet’) are now אשפתות חבקו‎ (‘embracing ash heaps’). What does the expression תולע עלי האמנים‎ mean? The first thing to note is that the phrase תולע עלי האמנים‎ is parallel to למעדנים האכלים‎ in the first line and is meant to convey the loss of former privilege. The basic meaning of the root אמן‎ is ‘be firm, trustworthy; to support’. ⁴⁰ Most biblical instances of the Qal (Num. 11.12; Ruth 4.16; 2 Sam. 4.4; 2 Kgs. 10.1,5; Est. 2.7; Isa. 49.23) have to do with the pedagogical domain, such as the upbringing or nursing of children. ⁴¹ The poet is actually saying that the children who were once nursed and brought up with great luxury are now so desperate for food that they are hoarding the ash heaps, hoping to find any scrap of food. Luxury is evident in the use of the term תולע‎ (‘scarlet’), a crimson red cloth that is supposed to be extremely expensive. ⁴² In an expression of poetic-aestheticism, the poet chooses the expression אשפתות חבקו‎. The idiosyncratic juxtaposition of the verb חבקו‎ (‘embrace’)—denoting a most intimate sentiment of love and affection—with the direct object אשפתות‎ (‘ash heaps’) (cf. Job 24.8) evokes a jarring picture of the tragic state of the children.

These colours represent glory, wealth, and an ideal form of beauty (Song 5.10–16). With the arrival of Yahweh’s judgment, the colours all ישנא‎ (‘changed’) (v. 1). The זהב‎ and כתם‎ become יועם‎ (‘dim’) (v. 1). The status of the children is downgraded: from זהב‎ and כתם‎ they have been smashed into לנבלי־חרש‎ (v.2b). The word חרש‎ can either mean ‘earthenware’ (Jer. 19.1) or ‘potsherd’ (Isa. 45.9). ⁴³ Given that it is construed with the plural construct of נבלי‎ ‘jar’ or ‘pot’, the expression לנבלי־חרש‎ can be translated as ‘earthen pots’ or simply ‘potsherd’. Although an earthen vessel may not be as valuable as one that is made of gold, an undamaged one still has a certain value. ⁴⁴ The text, however, seems to suggest that the לנבלי־חרש‎ is of no value at all. Thus, ‘potsherd’ (Isa. 45.9) seems to be the more appropriate translation. ⁴⁵ These shards of clay thereby stand in stark contrast to those who are בפז המסלאים‎ (‘valuable as fine gold’).

It would have been an overwhelming degradation for a piece of ‘pure gold’ to be transformed into an earthen clay pot. The children, however, are not compared to marketable clay pots. Rather, they are compared to flawed, broken, and poor-quality shards that even a potter would be ashamed to sell. ⁴⁶ Further, the wealthy children are also deprived of their lavish lifestyle: the rich who once ate ‘delicacies’ (Gen. 49.20) and dressed in ‘scarlet’ clothing (a colour associated with the wealthy) are now forced to חבקו‎ (‘embrace’) ash heaps, as if they are guarding the garbage dump hoping that food will be thrown into it. ⁴⁷

Daughter Zion similarly experiences a loss in splendour and status. Lam. 1.6 states that ‘all the splendour has departed from Daughter Zion’. From being the esteemed and pure ‘virgin daughter Zion’ (2.13), she has been defiled as her enemies molest her (‘spread his hand’) and rape her (באו‎ or ‘enter’, as Todd Linafelt and F. W. Dobbs-Allsopp suggest, has sexual connotations) (1.10). ⁴⁸ Yahweh covers her with ‘a cloud of his anger’. Bertil Albrektson believes the image is chosen because the cloud is ‘a sign of YHWH’s merciful presence … as YHWH formerly descended to Zion in the cloud and filled the temple with his glory, so he now overshadows the daughter of Zion—in his anger’. ⁴⁹ Recalling the plight of the children in 4.5, Daughter Zion too is deprived of her fineries.

The plunge in Daughter Zion’s status cannot be illustrated more dramatically than in 2.1b. Here God ‘casts down from heaven to earth the splendour of Israel’. Her cosmic status stripped away, Daughter Zion is hurled down from the lofty heights; thereby she is barred from God’s presence. ⁵⁰ As if such an indictment is not enough, Yahweh further shoots at all who are ‘pleasing to the eye’ (2.4), thus destroying Zion’s renowned beauty (Ps. 50.2). ⁵¹ In his admiration of Zion’s beauty, the psalmist invites his readers to tour around the city (Ps. 48.12–13 [Eng. 48.13–14]). Visitors are invited to number the city’s towers, to consider the ramparts, and to go through the citadels. In Lam. 2.2–9, God takes up the psalmist’s offer with an itinerary of five architectural sites: (1) the dwellings of Jacob, the stronghold of daughter Judah (v. 2); (2) the palaces and stronghold (v. 5); (3) the wall of daughter Zion (v. 8); (4) ramparts and walls (v. 8); and (5) the gates and bars (v. 9). Yahweh not only visits them all, but he also destroys them on his way out. ⁵²

Second, both the children and Daughter Zion endure their share of afflictions. In the context of starvation and famine, the לשון‎ (‘tongue’) of an infant is said to have been stuck to his or her חכו‎ (‘gum, the roof of their mouth’). ⁵³ This implies that the infant is so parched with thirst that he or she cannot suckle. The expression אל־חכו לשון דבק‎ (‘tongue sticking to the roof of the mouth’) occurs in Ezekiel 3.26; Job 29.10; and Ps. 137.6, and in all cases, it signals the inability to make sounds. ⁵⁴ This can also mean that the infant is so weak from starvation that he or she can no longer cry when hungry. This doleful picture is in stark contrast with the children of the upper class who once האכלים למעדנים‎ (‘ate delicacies’) (v. 5). Instead of lounging at their banqueting tables, these children are now searching for food in the garbage dump. The famine has a way of eradicating social and economic barriers, bringing both the rich and the poor to bow at the mercy of their ravenous circumstances.

This is not the last time we will encounter the theme of eating. In Lam. 2.20 and 4.10, the children experience a reversal of roles. Instead of being the scavengers of food, they have become food for their starving mothers. They are being בשלו‎ (‘cooked’) (4.10) and תאכלנה‎ (‘eaten’) (2.20). In his survey of famines across time and cultures, Pitirim Sorkin notes that though cannibalism is documented in famines, it usually involves less than one percent of the population. ⁵⁵ This is because cannibalism is often viewed as an extreme response and the act itself goes against the instincts of the majority of human beings. Thus, for the Judean mothers to consume their children, they must be in extreme desperation.

Daughter Zion, like the children, is not exempt from bodily harm. ⁵⁶ The children’s pain is mirrored in Daughter Zion’s afflictions. According to Lam. 1.13a, God sends fire down on the bones of Zion. Then, like a hunter, Yahweh spreads a net for her feet in 1.13b. ⁵⁷ In his attempt to punish Daughter Zion, God hangs a yoke around her neck (1.14) and a sword is used to pierce her belly (1.20), all of which causes her heart to grow faint (1.20, 22). ⁵⁸ As the mouth plays a vital role in the suffering of the children, the same trope appears in Daughter Zion’s tribulations. Five times in chapter two, Yahweh is said to have בלע‎ (‘swallowed’) the various edifices of Zion (2.2, 5 [2x], 8, 16). ⁵⁹ The term בלע‎, as Nancy Lee indicates, is often used in the Hebrew Bible for an enemy who devours another. ⁶⁰ In Jer. 51.34, for example, the verb בלע‎ describes Nebuchadnezzar’s consumption of Jerusalem. Exodus 15.12 says that the earth בלע‎ Yahweh’s enemies. ⁶¹ The roles are now reversed: Yahweh has become the enemy who בלע‎ the landmarks of Daughter Zion. In short, both the children and Daughter Zion experience betrayal of the ultimate kind. As the children are devoured by their mothers, who are supposed to be most intimate to them, Daughter Zion is בלע‎ by Yahweh, with whom she once shared an intimate relationship.

3. Mother Zion, Judean mothers, and their children

Zion understands the pain of her children not just as a sister, but also as a mother. Though the title ‘Mother Zion’ is never used of the city, she is connected to the people by her motherly concern (Lam. 1.16; 2.21–22). ⁶² Marc Wischnowsky is right to point out that Zion’s relationship as mother is more important than her identity as daughter. ⁶³ As a mother she knows the pain of a losing a child to death (2.12), the loneliness of becoming a widow (5.3), and the anguish of watching her children taken into exile (1.5, 18). Zion thereby stands in solidarity with the bereaved mothers of Jerusalem in their adversity (2.19–21). Christl Maier concurs when she writes, ‘In pairing the images of human mothers and the metaphorical mother Zion, the book of Lamentations presents an embodied Jerusalem as “mother” who in her destruction joins the experience of her children and their dirge’. ⁶⁴

Another important expression of Zion’s motherly care is her tears. ⁶⁵ In Lam. 1, Zion is depicted weeping twice (1.12, 16). In the second chapter, the narrator weeps (2.11) and calls on the wall of Zion (i.e., Zion) to weep (2.18). In all of these instances, Zion’s weeping is never connected to the loss of her status or the destruction of her edifices or her military defeat or the collapse of the cultus or the devastating famine. Rather, as David Bosworth argues, Zion’s tears fall exclusively for her עללים‎ (‘children’), especially when they are exiled or when they die. ⁶⁶ Zion herself explicitly expresses that her tears are in response to the death of her children when she says: ‘This is why I weep and my eyes ⁶⁷ overflow with tears…. My children are destitute because the enemy has prevailed’ (1.16). Moreover, the construction תבכה בכו‎ indicates that Zion’s weeping is ‘continuous, meaning that her crying episodes are frequent and prolonged and therefore her distress is profound’. ⁶⁸

The expectation is that the Judean mothers would follow Zion in her expression of concern over the plight of their children. However, this is shockingly not the case. In Lam. 4.3, the בת־עמי‎ (‘daughter of my people’) are compared to jackals and ostriches. Jackals, as Sian Lewis and Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones observe, are often associated with inhabiting ruined places, calling to mind the predicament of the mothers. ⁶⁹ The Judean mothers are contrasted with the jackals, who despite being thought of as despicable animals, at least suckle their offspring. Resembling more the ostriches, who are believed to abandon their eggs (Job 39.13–17), these Judean women do not nurture their own children. ⁷⁰ The addition of the word לאכזר‎ (‘cruel’ or ‘heartless’) in 4.3b further suggests that the Judean mothers are not just unable to nurture their children, but also refuse to feed them. This makes their actions even less humane than those of animals.

What is the significance of portraying these Judean mothers in such a fiendish light? The Judean mothers’ treatment of their children is a reminder that the curse of breaking the covenant is effectual. Sin has eradicated the mothers’ maternal compassion and instincts. The context of the siege, the use of the adjective רחמניות‎ (‘caring’ or ‘compassionate’) for the mothers, and the brutish fate of the children in Lam. 4.10 call to mind Lev. 26.27–29 and Deut. 28.56. ⁷¹ Lev. 26 concludes the Holiness code with a collection of blessings and curses. The five blessings, as Jacob Milgrom argues, correspond to the curses. ⁷² Diagrammatically, the relationship between blessings and curses is depicted below:

Maternal cannibalism is mentioned within the fifth curse in verses 28–29. What is striking about the fifth curse is that the curse’s indictments are fulfilled in the book of Lamentations, including the destruction of the cultic sites (Lev. 26.30–31//Lam. 2.1–10), the destruction of the land and its buildings (Lev. 26.30//Lam. 2.1–10), and the experience of psychological turmoil as a result (Lev. 26.36–29//Lam. 1.5, 18; 2.12). Similarly, Deut. 28 outlines an extensive list of 14 verses of blessings and 53 verses of curses for breaking the covenant. ⁷³ The curses listed in verses 53 to 57 involve the city being besieged by an enemy. Not only will such a siege bring about a famine, but the relationships between husbands and wives and parents and children will also be obliterated. ⁷⁴ As a result, ‘you will eat the fruit of your womb’ (v. 43) and ‘the most gentle (הרכה‎) and sensitive women (והענגה‎) among you … will eat them secretly because of the suffering your enemy will inflict on you during the siege of your cities’ (vv. 56–57), all of which find their fulfillment in Lamentations.

Additionally, the Judean mothers in Lamentations present a darker side of motherhood in the Hebrew Bible that is in stark contrast to how mothers are often portrayed in the Hebrew Bible. Unlike Eve who is depicted as אם כל־חי‎ (‘mother of the living’) (Gen. 3.20), these Judean mothers bring death to their own children. In contrast to Deborah who is awarded the title אם בישראל‎ (‘mother in Israel’) (Judg. 5.7) because she refuses to succumb to the antagonism of Israel’s enemies, the Judean mothers surrender to their circumstances at the expense of their children. The Judean mothers’ barbaric act of cooking their children is staggering in the light of how Hannah cared for her son, when she would ‘make for him a little robe and bring it up to him from year to year’ (1 Sam. 2.19), or how the mother in 1 Kgs. 3.16–18 chooses to be deprived of her son rather than to have her baby killed or how the Shunamite boy enjoys intimacy with his mother when he sits on her lap until his death (2 Kgs. 4.20) or how the weaned child restfully leans against his mother (Ps. 131.2). Despite Yahweh’s rhetorical question in Isa. 49.15, which presupposes that even though a woman would forget her baby at her breast and have no compassion on her child, Yahweh will not forget, Lam. 4.10 makes it clear that even mothers who are רחמניות‎ (‘full of compassion’) can boil and eat their children during a famine. These Judean mothers recall the women in 2 Kgs. 6.26 who agree to relieve their hunger by eating each other’s children. Both instances of parental cannibalism, as Stuart Lasine argues, show a world that has been turned upside down, where mothers who are normally full of empathy can resort to such behaviours of cruelty and violence. ⁷⁵

4. Conclusion

How then does Lamentations contribute to the research on children in the Hebrew Bible? Though the future of children in Lamentations is not promising, children are not just caricatures within the book. The children in Lamentations are actively trying to survive in the famine. Even the infants are asking their mothers for food, while the older ones (the עוללים‎) are begging in the streets. Moreover, instead of treating the children as unimportant, the sons of Zion are described in superlative terms, such as זהב‎ (‘gold’), הכתם‎ (‘pure gold’), and אבני־קדש‎ (‘sacred stones’ or ‘stones of the sanctuary’). Despite the horror of being betrayed by their own mothers, Lamentations reminds its readers that the children are not entirely orphaned. In lieu of their mother’s protection and nurture, the children are fostered by the solidarity and tears of Daughter Zion and Mother Zion respectively.