b yet the Israelites have abandoned your (covenant - c your altars they have smashed
d and your prophets they have slain with the sword,
0 And (=now) I am left, I alone, f and they seek ny life to take it,
Elijah has fled to Horeb to escape from Jezebel wife of the king of Israel who threatens to kill him (vs 2). On the holy mount
Elijah enters a cave and hears Yahweh challenging him about his presence there. This lamentation is Elijah's response.
The translation is canplicated by certain difficulties in coordination.
First of all vhat is the meaning of in line b? It may be causative
and this is how it is translated by most English versions. But we feel this is not what Elijah is saying. He has not been zealous for Yahweh because the Israelites have abandoned his covenant. It is in spite of his zealousness they have done this. The particle is contrastive.^^^ Secondly, lines c and d are not coordinated with line b. Instead they stand in apposition to it and explicate it. The Israelite abandonment of the Covenant has consisted in breaking down Yahweh's altars and the murder of his prophets. Thirdly, line e does not continue on from line
d breaks of the description of Israel's apostasy and reverts back to the first person singular of line a. Fourthly, the third person plural of line f refers back to line b. What all this means is that we have before us an
invotutue structure marked by the change in subjects of the various elements: I : they : I :they.
The structure of the lamentation thus follows the invotutus pattern.
It begins with a Confession of Fidelity (line. a). Then follows the
contrastive ’D which introduces the Lament over the people's apostasy ^ (line b) which is expanded in lines c and d to give details of destruction | and murder. The second Confession of Fidelity which in context takes on
a lamenting quality is linked to the following Lament over the activity of the Israelites not by another ’3 but by a wow consecutive, (lines e-f).
Wellhausen,S t a d e , Benzinger,^^^ S k i n n e r ,Snaith,*^^^ Mauchline,*^^^ W a v e r s , a n d Fohrer^^^ believe the duplicate of this prayer in verses 13 and l4 is secondary. But as J. Gray points out "such verbal repetition is a regular feature of the saga s t y l e " .Far
from interrupting the dramatic flow of the story the repetition heightens it according to the ancient style and allows the reader to have time to reflect on its meaning. To quote Gray again:
"The meaning of the theophany seems to us to be an admonition to the prophet to expect, not the supernatural and spectacular inbreaking of
Yahweh into history anticipated in the traditional liturgy of the /
cult with the accompaniments of stom, earthquake, and fire (eg*, Ps.
18.12(13); Ju 5*4f,; Hab 3*3ff; Ps 68.8(9); etc.), but rather an
intelligible revelation to find God's direction in the ordinary course i| 76)
of daily life and to communicate it regularly and constructively."' ^ The first prayer of lamentation introduces this milestone in the
revelation of God in ancient Israel. The second use may be understood as 4 either signing off this revelation or introducing the political instruct-
-,
177.
particularly in the light of verse 18 which gives the answer to. Elijah's 5 lament that he alone is left.
At first sight the language appears to be Deuterohomistic. ^ This is especially true of line b which uses a key word from the Deuteronomic
vocabulary: 'flTy (Deut 28.20; 29.24; 31.16; Jud 2,12, 13; 10.6, 10, 13; # 1 Sam 8.8; 12.10; 1 Kings 9.9; 11.33; 2 Kings 17.16; 21.22; 22.17; Jer
1.16; 2..13 (17.13); 5.7, 19; 16.11; 19.4; 22.9). But not exclusively
so as Joshua 24.10; Isaiah 1.4 and Hosea 4.10 testify and It Is for this |
reason that Weinfeld does not regard it on its own as a Deuteronomic
78)
formula. Only where .it is followed by n’li, as in the present instance
■ I
I
can it be seen to be Deuteronomic (Deut 29.24; Jer 22,9) and it parallels
liy? as a technical term for rebellion (Deut 17.2; Jos 23.16; Jud
2.20; 2 Kgs 18,12).^^^ But that is no proof that the prayer is Deuteronomic.
At the most line b may have been tanpered with as LXX suggests. The context | in which the prayers occur is certainly pre-Deuteronomic and we would , q
therefore, argue that the prayers themselves should be so regarded.
Finally, we would point out the Implied Complaint against Yahweh in the prayer. The point of line a is surely this that in spite of Elijah's zealousness for the cause of Yahweh in Israel the people have rebelled againstthe covenant and there is no evidence that Yahweh is
doing anything about it. If Yahweh is not going to demonstrate the 4 reality of his powerful presence among his people by vindicating his
prophet then he is not fulfilling his side of the covenant.
178.
:Z3. 2P,4b-6 (F)
80),
sentence^^^: "You shall die because of the wcxnan you took..,"
21 "v^?37N a 3
U)(R)
Xim\
P?7X b 8R^ Kin ?nnx ?? inx xin x?n c lo
R^ Kin ?HK niüK da K?ni d 10 f%
L(R) nxT ?n?py ’bd ppaai ?ii? ana e is f
I
a My Lord,
b Will you destroy a nation - an innocent one at that? c Did he not say to me, "She is my sister"?
d And did she not also say, "He is ity brother"?
0 With a pure conscience and clean hands I did this. :
As commented on in the notes we retain the text of line b. , That a ./ king was regarded as the embodiment of the nation in the ancient Near | East is well attested in the literature. I The prayer is occasioned by God's sentence of death on Abimelek v which he hears pronounced on him in a dream after he has taken Sarah y
into his harem. - It results in Abimelek's pardon and healing following f; the return of Sarah, his Démonstration with Abraham and Abraham's
intercession for Abimelek's household. Most scholar s regard this episode as coming from the Elohlst source because of the use of
a?h?K t h r o u g h o u t .The prayer is an appeal against God's |
I
But as the narrator says Abimelek had not gone near Sarah (vs4a). He, ^
■r-
therefore, prays this finely constructed prayer with its structure of ,1 lament, followed by two Reasons climaxing in a Confession of Innocence.
The Address is the simple "I'lH which is frequently used in prayers^^^ 87)
and in petitions to the king . The Lmeni of line b is In question
179.
Can Yahweh really conteirplate the destruction of an innocent person who is representative of a whole nation? The two Reasons
(lines c and d) simply state the evidence. They are coordinated with each other by the waw copula and stand in close relationship with the Laments that surround them.^^^ It was on the basis of the statements of Abraham and his wife that the king had done what he had done and thus he makes his Confession of Innocence which is in fact a Lament (line e).
The main theme of the lamentation is Abimelek's innocence. It provides the factual basis for his appeal but alongside this and just beneath the surface is the theological motif of God's justice. For this reason the prayer bears comparison with Genesis 4.13-14;
l8.23ff,, particularly with the latter. The use of forensic vocab ulary in the Laments especially and the themes of God's jurldic .al consistency and veracity should be noted. In this prayer, although we are told that Abraham's Intercession is effective (vs 17), it is the kinfe himself who prays and brings about the altered verdict.
The range of characters Involved in the prayer is strlidng - God, Abimelek, the nation (of vsl8), Abraham and Sarah.
g (S 14.
7.?-^
l.a ?]7N nnx a 7
m pin m m n ayn îix^^N’iyn miyn no? b 15 R i37?]Kn? ?Tnxn 7?3**)i]nN nn? c 16
m ni*»n iiya aaai i3?Kin i7i d 15
A 9:1 e 4
LQ^ i?3?K 7]9? niy 7K1P? lan lax ?inN i m ntt f 20 |
R yixn 91W? ?3i 9]yj3n iy%p?i g 16
c Yixn m 13BW riN lïPiDm ia’?y uaai h 19
l q(r? ?i7An lüP? nayn n»i i 12
a Alas, ny lorü Yahweh!
b Why did you bring this people across the Jordan
c to give us into the hand of the Amorites to destroy us? d 0 that we could have remained in Trans-Jordan!
e Oh iry Lord,
f # ia t can I s%r a fte r Is r a e l has tu rn ed t a i l b e fo re h is enemies?
g When the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land hear q h tlien they will surround us and o u t off our name from th e land,
i What then will you do for your great Name?
TMs is a communal lament offered by the military leader. It
occurs in th e context o f an act of national sorrow occasioned by th e k
defeat of an Israelite raiding p a rty sent to capture Ai.^^^ Verse 6 is a vivid description of an ancient Israelite lanentation rite. The
ccmmunity leader (^covenant mediator?) and th e elders tear their
-r.;