16-3 The Babylonian Exile and Second Isaiah, Lamentations

• the Holy City of Jerusalem
• the Promised Land
• the Temple
• David's dynasty

a huge city, with massive monuments of pagan culture

• The Jews in exile experienced a religious revival.
• Many books of the OT were edited into their final forms during the Babylonian Exile.
• In exile, they wrote the history of how they lost everything because of their lack of fidelity to God's covenant.

• Clear reference to the capture and destruction of Jerusalem
• Clear reference to the exile as a current event
• References to Cyrus of Persia
• Emphasis on return home for the exiles

redeemer (ga'al)

• He was among the exiles in Babylon.
• He was probably active near the end of the exile in 539.

• Trial speeches and lawsuit language
• Oracle of salvations
• Idol parodies (mocking idols)

It suggests that God accepts one individual's suffering to atone for the sins of others.

The enigmatic ambiguity of Isaiah's text, suggesting an interpretation of the Servant---now as an individual, now a s a collective---becomes clear with the revelation of the "total Christ" which includes the head and members---the Lord and his Body, the Church.

A poem in which eahc line or stanze begins with the next letter of the Hebrew alphabet. They are found in Chapters 1, 2, 4 of Lamentations.

The poems date from a time shortly after 586, and it is one fo the most important sources of information about the conditions in Jerusalem and Judah after the Babylonian attack.

Jeremiah

Jerusalem has been abandoned by her "lovers"---the false gods and foreign nations in which she had placed hope.