Exiles and the dynamics of experiences of loss: the reaction of Lamentations 2 on the loss of land

摘要: Recent commentaries on Lamentations emphasise the psychological aspects of the poems, but these aspects do not play a significant role in exegesis. In this study the dynamics of experiences of loss, especially the loss of land as experienced by the exiles, is examined, after which the text of Lamentations 2 is systematically examined according to some of the psychological aspects that came to the fore. Lamentations 2 can be seen as mapping the first lines of a new cognitive chart. Albeit not fully innovated and adjusted, by bypassing the destroyed national beacons to reach out to God, it is, however, a fitting starting point for a new orientation and theologising.