Chaos and Order: Lamentations and Deuteronomy as Responses to Destruction and Exile

Abstract

Both Lamentations and Deuteronomy are responses to the disaster of the destruction of Jerusalem and the exile of the leaders of the Jerusalem community. Based on the scant references to sin within Lamentations a theological link between Lamentations and Deuteronomic theology has often been noted, with Deuteronomy most frequently identified as being prior to and influential for the confessions of sin in Lamentations. Most of the discussion has centred on the theological traditions that the two books might share, but they are seldom read as related but different responses to disaster. This paper seeks to explore the way that Lamentations and Deuteronomy come into dialogic interaction with each other as responses to a shared rhetorical context, arguing that Lamentations voices the chaos of the collapsed world of those who lived through the events while Deuteronomy seeks to re-establish a sense of control and order