The Song of Solomon : and the Lamentations of Jeremiah

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THE LAMENTATIONS OF JEREMIAH
scenes they describe so graphically they cannot have
originated much later ; for they are like the low wailings
with which the storm sinks to rest, reminding us how
recently the thunder was rolling and the besom of
destruction sweeping over the land. Among the
prophets of Israel Jeremiah was the voice crying in the
wilderness of national ruin ; it is natural to suppose
that he too was the poet who poured out sad thoughts
of memory in song at a later time when sorrow had
leisure for reflection. His prophecies would lead us
to conclude that no Jew of those dark days could have
experienced keener pangs of grief at the incomparable
woes of his nation. He was the very incarnation of
patriotic mourning. Who then would be more likely
to have produced the national lament ? Here we seem
to meet again none other than the man who exclaimed,
" Oh that I could comfort myself against sorrow 1 my
heart is faint within me,"^ and again, "Oh that my
head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears,
that I might weep day and night for the slain of the
daughter of my people." ^ Many points of resemblance
between the known writings of Jeremiah and these poems
may be detected. Thus Jeremiah's "Virgin daughter"
of God's people reappears as the " Virgin daughter of
Judah." In both the writer is oppressed with fear
as well as grief; in both he especially denounces clerical
vices, the sins of the two rival lines of religious leaders,
the priests and the prophets ; in both he appeals to
God for retribution. There is a remarkable likeness in
tone and temper throughout between the two series
of writings. It would be possible to adduce many
purely verbal marks of similarity ; the commentator on
' Jer. viii. i8. - Jer. ix. i.