Gary Edward Schnittjer
Gang rape. Brutal sexual assault leaves behind more than physical suffering. Shame can entomb a victim.
Modern advocates and specialists assist rape survivors to overcome lingering humiliation, among other things. Strategies differ because the needs of survivors differ. Many paths seek restoration in terms of healing and moving forward. Not so with Lamentations.
The poet of Lamentations does not take steps toward healing or even sympathy. Though Lady Zion needs healing, that is not the poet’s job. The poet of Lamentations does one thing. The poet memorializes the moment of Lady Zion’s anguish. There is no before and no after in Lamentations. The poet establishes an enduring testimony to the now of Lady Zion’s shame.
Not so with Isaiah. Isaiah brings a message of healing to Lady Zion. He acknowledges her suffering and humiliation in an invitation filled with promise. She suffers, but she has hope. Isaiah speaks of Yahweh’s protection. Lady Zion may arise and live with no fear of predators.
The poet of Lamentations and the prophet Isaiah both invite readers to think deeply about Lady Zion as rape survivor. The powerful imagery stems from metaphorical depictions of Zion as woman. Speaking of Zion as woman offers rich ways to investigate the meaning of the destruction of Jerusalem and its temple by the Neo-Babylonians in 586 BCE. Compare the treatment of Lady Zion’s violation in Lamentations and Isaiah.
Enemies spread their hand over all of her [Lady Zion’s] “treasures.” She saw the nations come into her sacred place—those who you commanded that they shall not come into your assembly. (Lam 1:10)1
Arise! Arise! Get dressed up in strength O Zion. Get dressed up in clothes of splendor O Jerusalem, the holy city. The uncircumcised and ritually impure shall never come into you again. (Isa 52:1)
The continuities between the depictions of Lamentations and Isaiah go beyond poetic presentations of Zion as woman. Deep continuities between Zion as rape survivor in Lamentations and Isaiah grow out of their shared dependence on the same legal standard in Torah. Study of scriptural teachings is not something only for Scripture readers. The evidence suggests that authors of Scripture carefully studied earlier Scriptures. In the case of the destruction of Jerusalem, the poet of Lamentations and the prophet Isaiah build their messages around interpretive allusions to the law of the assembly in Deuteronomy.
The present study evaluates how the law of the assembly informs the interpretation of the fall and rise of Lady Jerusalem in Lamentations and Isaiah, respectively. These observations come out of my research and writing on the use of Scripture within Israel’s Scriptures.2 The authors of Israel’s Scriptures frequently present new revelation of God by connecting it with earlier biblical revelation.
My book Old Testament Use of Old Testament investigates hundreds of cases of the Bible’s use of the Bible. One of the most cited of all laws by later authors of Israel’s Scriptures is the law of the assembly.3 It is worth quoting the law at length before investigating how it plays a role in understating the violation of and hope for Lady Zion.
No Ammonite or Moabite shall come into the assembly of Yahweh, even to the tenth generation none shall come into the assembly of Yahweh, ever. For they did not meet you with bread and water on the way when you were coming out from Egypt, and they hired Balaam son of Beor from Pethor in Mesopotamia to damn you. But Yahweh your God was not willing to listen to Balaam. So Yahweh your God changed damnation into blessing for Yahweh your God loves you. Do not seek their welfare or their good at any time, ever. You shall not despise an Edomite for he is part of your family. You shall not despise an Egyptian for you were guests in his land. Children born to them in the third generation may enter the assembly of Yahweh. (Deut 23:3–8)
Reading through the law of the assembly may not immediately suggest why the poet of Lamentations and Isaiah look to it. This is one of the reasons why connections within Israel’s Scriptures have often been ignored by modern Christians. To get a better sense of how the poet of Lamentations and the prophet Isaiah interpret the destruction of Jerusalem in the light of the law of the assembly will require careful investigation.
The Fall of Lady Zion
The rape of Lady Zion shares the company of many other uses of female metaphorical imagery that run through Lamentations. Zion as female gets cast as beloved daughter, bereaved mother, lonely widow, rape victim, whore, shamed menstruant, and more.4
Metaphorical imagery offers great latitude. Biblical authors can use a lion to signify an expected royal figure (“You are a lion’s cub O Judah,” Gen 49:9) or the evil one as a predator (“Your adversary the devil goes about like a roaring lion seeking someone to eat,” 1 Pet 5:8). The poet of Lamentations masterfully uses female imagery to present the grief of Jerusalem in the aftermath of its destruction when its citizens were taken captive.
Lamentations does not look ahead to what comes next. That does not mean hope is lacking. But the poet of Lamentations packages things differently than the biblical prophets. Jeremiah uses the cosmic lights to show the enduring faithfulness of Yahweh to the new covenant. He emphasizes that Yahweh’s covenant continues as long as the sun, moon, and stars continue to shine (Jer 31:35–36). The poet of Lamentations uses the same cosmic order but in a different manner. The poet emphasizes Yahweh’s compassion in the present moment. “The covenantal loyalties of Yahweh never cease…they are renewed every morning” (Lam 3:22, 23).
Many moderns quickly turn from tragedy to solution. How often do we hear well-meaning comforters blurt out words of encouragement? The poet of Lamentations pursues a different mission. Lamentations forever memorializes the moment of Zion’s grief. There is no room for yesterday or tomorrow in Lamentations.5 The burden of the poet pivots on making sure no one forgets what happened to Lady Zion.
Lamentations alludes to the law of the assembly as a way to get at the dark irony of the catastrophe. The law of the assembly identifies excluded others as Ammonites and Moabites and included others as Edomites and Egyptians. Naming four peoples sounds specific, yet scriptural authors consistently interpret the excluded others and included others of the law of the assembly symbolically rather than literally.
The narrator of Solomon’s downfall begins with these four peoples and adds one of the nations of Canaan as well as the Phoenicians to show that the law of the assembly relates to apostasy marriages, not race or ethnicity (1 Kgs 11:1–2). The narrator of the restoration says that after a public reading of the law of the assembly the Yahwistic Judeans held another mass divorce to send out all foreigners (Neh 13:1–3). Whether the narrator speaks of all foreigners in an ethnic or religious manner is less important here than noting that neither case regards Ammonites and Moabites in a literal way. The consistent tendency of biblical authors to symbolically interpret excluded and included others in the law of the assembly needs to be considered in context.
The sign of committing to the covenant to join the people of God in worship is circumcision (Exod 12:48). But biblical authors of the Old and New Testaments both emphasize that physical circumcision must be a symbol of heart circumcision.6 Therein lies the difficulty. Physical circumcision of itself does not adequately signal commitment to the covenant. This helps explain why the particular peoples were chosen to represent excluded and included others in the law of the assembly.
Many ancient peoples practiced circumcision. Notice the other nations Jeremiah lists along with Judah:
“Look, days are coming,” says Yahweh, “when I will attend to everyone circumcised in the foreskin: Egypt, Judah, Edom, Ammon, Moab, and all who shave their temples and live in the wilderness. For all of these nations are uncircumcised and the whole house of Israel is uncircumcised in heart.” (Jer 9:25–26)
In a social arena where many peoples practiced non-covenantal circumcision, the sign of physical circumcision was not an adequate sign of commitment to the covenant of God’s people. It seems the law of the assembly skips the external physical sign and gets to the deeper significance of exclusion and inclusion.
Ammonites and Moabites were not excluded in the law of the assembly on the basis of race. They refused to offer common hospitality in the time of Israel’s distress. Instead they hired a mercenary prophet to damn Israel by the people’s own God. The poet of Lamentations sees in the law of the assembly an opportunity to put Jerusalem’s catastrophe in its proper light.
The criminals who rape Yahweh’s woman are the very ones forbidden to enter the assembly. Notice how Lamentations interprets the law of the assembly by transposing the ethnicities of the excluded others for their true identity. Here, the words in bold signify parallel language in Hebrew, and underlining signifies interpretation by the poet of Lamentations.
No Ammonite or Moabite shall come into the assembly of Yahweh, even to the tenth generation none shall come into the assembly of Yahweh, ever. (Deut 23:3)
Enemies spread their hand over all of her [Lady Zion’s] “treasures.” She saw the nations come into her sacred place—those who you commanded that they shall not come into your assembly. (Lam 1:10)
The prophets frequently take advantage of the metaphor of marriage to condemn Israel for their infidelity against their God (see, e.g., Hos 1–3; Jer 3). The covenant of marriage includes exclusive conjugal rights for the spouses. The intimacies of husband and wife belong only to each other. The poet of Lamentations does not see the destruction of the city and the temple as adultery from flirtations gone too far. It is rape.
The criminal acts against the treasures and hidden place of Yahweh’s exclusive rights were perpetrated by enemies. More than that, the rapists were the very ones the law had forbidden to enter into the assembly of Yahweh. Yet in Lady Zion’s heartache, she confesses that the Lord is in the right and that she deserves her fate (see Lam 1:18, 22, both in first-person direct discourse of Lady Zion).7 The combination of the violation of Lady Zion and her confession does not sit well with modern sensibilities, to say the least.
The poet of Lamentations makes excellent use of the law of the assembly to explain the meaning of what happened to Lady Zion. Her grief includes memories of being ravished by those who should never lay hands on that which belongs to Yahweh alone. Lady Zion mourns in the dust for what she can never get back. The extended grief of Zion prompts Yahweh to send a new message by his prophet Isaiah.
The Rise of Lady Zion
Isaiah offers the word that Jerusalem needs as effectively as any of Yahweh’s prophetic delegates. The rich imagery in the second half of the book of Isaiah contributes to why it becomes the go-to for all four evangelists to tell the story of the gospel of Messiah. Isaiah uses so much traditional scriptural imagery of redemption that Isaiah 40–55 is often referred to as the new exodus.8 But there is more to it.
Isaiah’s new exodus and Lamentations share many counterpart images.9 If Lady Zion mourns with no one to offer comfort in Lamentations (cf. Lam 1:2, 9, 16, 17, 21), the new exodus of Isaiah begins, “Comfort, comfort my people says your God” (Isa 40:1). If the former citizens of the city sit in the dust in Lamentations (Lam 2:10), Isaiah says, “Shake off the dust. Arise, sit enthroned O Jerusalem” (Isa 52:2).
Leviticus 13:45 says those with skin diseases need to isolate and cry out, “Ritually impure! Ritually impure!” This provides a point of departure for Lamentations 4:15 to cast the city as one with a skin disease to whom people say, “Go away! You are ritually impure! . . . Go away! Go away! Do not touch!” Meanwhile, Isaiah 52:11 depicts the exiles as needing to get away from their captivity, “Go away! Go away! Go out from there! Touch no ritually impure thing!” The set of striking parallels helps to consider Isaiah’s message in the light of the rape of Lady Zion in Lamentations.
Isaiah invites Lady Zion to rise up toward renewal. He presents a way forward. She has reason to get dressed up again and to present her beauty. Lady Zion as survivor never again needs to fear assault by sexual predators. Notice how Isaiah builds his invitation in relation to the law of the assembly. As previously, the words in bold signify parallel language in Hebrew and underlining signifies interpretation by Isaiah.
No Ammonite or Moabite shall come into the assembly of Yahweh, even to the tenth generation none shall come into the assembly of Yahweh, ever. (Deut 23:3)
Arise! Arise! Get dressed up in strength O Zion. Get dressed up in clothes of splendor O Jerusalem, the holy city. The uncircumcised and ritually impure shall never come into you again. (Isa 52:1)
Isaiah does not interpret the law of the assembly literally—that is, ethnically. Isaiah recognizes that the ancient Ammonites and Moabites represent any excluded others. He puts aside the social designations and gets to what they signify. The uncircumcised and the ritually impure are those who refuse the ways of the covenant. They are not welcome. But their exclusion in this context of Isaiah gets at something else.
The promise to banish those who would take by force what belongs to Yahweh alone offers hope to the redeemed. The captives who remember their sins and its judgment do not need to remain in their misery. The prophet reminds the exiles that they have something for which to live. They have a reason to get up and get dressed up.
Conclusion
When the biblical authors came upon the life-shattering realities of judgment they needed to make sense of it. The realities of exile seemed to contradict everything that once seemed easy to believe. What does the enduring language of the Abrahamic and Davidic covenants mean from the vantage point of captivity? The authors of Scripture often respond to such crises by turning to earlier scriptural revelation.
The law of the assembly provides the right way to understand the fall of the city. Lady Zion’s anguish includes gang rape. Violent men did what should never be done to the one who belongs to Yahweh alone. The poet of Lamentations permanently memorializes the shame of Lady Zion. No one should forget.
Yet, the misery of Lady Zion provides the correct vantage point to interpret the new exodus. Isaiah delivers an invitation filled with promise. Isaiah calls Lady Zion to arise and get dressed up in her radiant attire. She has no need to fear those who once entered her by force. They have been banished for good.
The message of Isaiah offers hope to the restoration when the Yahwistic Judeans leave captivity and return to their ancestors’ homeland to rebuild the temple.10 The same hope can be transposed to the followers of Messiah who identify themselves as his own bride and the temple (e.g., John 14:3; 1 Cor 3:16–17; Eph 2:19–22; 5:25–27; 1 Pet 2:5). Paul and Timothy connect believers as the temple with Isaiah’s message to touch no ritually impure thing as the people leave captivity (2 Cor 6:16–17; cf. Isa 52:11).
When Yahweh revealed the meaning of exile by the poet of Lamentations and the prophet Isaiah—his chosen delegates—it was not detached. Advances of revelation often start by revisiting what Yahweh has already revealed. The Bible’s use of the Bible provides evidence of how Yahweh uses his own word to progressively reveal his redemptive will. Reading the Bible with the biblical authors provides a way to emphasize its interconnections and unity.
The Bible’s use of the Bible puts on display the motion and direction of God’s saving purposes. In this way, God’s authorized delegates bear witness to the gospel.
Gary Edward Schnittjer is professor of Old Testament in the School of Divinity at Cairn University. He is author of Old Testament Use of Old Testament and Torah Story, as well as its associated video lectures.
Image: “Zedekiah and the People of Judah Carried Captive” (1873)
- All translations of Scripture are mine unless stated otherwise.[↩]
- See Gary Edward Schnittjer, Old Testament Use of Old Testament (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Academic, 2021). For more detail on the use of Scripture in Lam 1:10 and Isa 52:1, see pages 238–41, 604–7. For an overview of the Bible’s use of the Bible, see “Surprises of Old Testament Use of Old Testament” at https://credomag.com/2020/07/surprises-of-old-testament-use-of-old-testament-part-1/.[↩]
- Besides Lam 1:10 and Isa 52:1, see, for example, 1 Kgs 11:1; Ezra 9:1; Neh 13:1–3. For a full list of uses of the law of the assembly within Israel’s Scriptures, see Schnittjer, OT Use of OT, 876.[↩]
- See Lam 1, v. 1 (widow), v. 5 (mother), v. 6 (daughter), v. 8 (whore), v. 10 (rape victim), v. 17 (menstruant).[↩]
- On Lamentations’ focus on the now of grief including references to secondary studies, see Schnittjer, OT Use of OT, 611.[↩]
- See, e.g., Lev 26:40–41; Deut 10:16; 30:6; Rom 2:28–29.[↩]
- The remarkable first-person speeches appear in 1:9c, 11c–16, 18–22; 2:20–22.[↩]
- See Gary Edward Schnittjer, “Idolatry in Isaiah,” Credo Magazine 8.2 (2018): section on “Evidence” at https://credomag.com/article/the-insanity-of-idolatry/.[↩]
- The present study is not presupposing whether Lamentations depends on the new exodus of Isaiah or vice versa. It simply works from the “storyline” of exile to return.[↩]
- Notice the emphasis on divine protection to build the second temple by those who returned from exile (e.g., Ezra 5:1–5; 6:12, 14).[↩]