323 POSTMODERNISM DEUS AND THE ABSCONDITUS the end, with uncertainty regarding divine intervention at the conclusion 9. The pivotal position of this poem raises questions about its significance. Does it represent a climatic, wistful, although disappointed, yearning for God’s mercy 10 ? If merely wistful, forlorn longing, does it sardonically sustain the mood of the book? Is it a triumph of faith 11? If triumphal, does it break through to trust and hope, however fleetingly 12 ? Structured as a triple acrostic, each successive strophe of three cola begins with sequential Hebrew letters, making a total of 66 cola. Blending individual and communal lament 13, it unfolds in a characteristic rising and falling, wave-like cadence. The a strophe begins with the poet bitterly complaining about his plight. [God] has driven and brought me into darkness without any light; against me alone he turns his hand, again and again, all day long. (3,2-3) Despair and complaint pervade 3,1-18, or the a-w strophes. Then, in the z strophe, the wave begins to rise (3,19-33), with anticipation of divine mercy and deliverance predominating. This continues through the k strophe (3,33). Once more, the wave ebbs with the l through the x strophes (3,34-54). When the poet calls upon YHWH in the q strophe (3,55-57), the poem rises once more toward hope (3,58-60). You have taken up my cause, O LORD, you have redeemed my life. (3,58) W. KAISER JR., A Biblical Approach to Personal Suffering (Chicago, IL 9 1982) 24. So O’CONNOR, “Book of Lamentations”, 1051. 10 So HUBBARD, “Hope in the Old Testament”, 45. 11 So J. GLADSON, The Five Exotic Scrolls of the Hebrew Bible. The 12 Prominence, Literary Structure, and Liturgical Significance of the Megilloth (Lewiston, NY 2009) 197. Lamentations 3,1-39 are in the style of an individual lament; vv. 40-47 13 shift to first person plural, then vv. 48-66 back to first person singular. Like most of the laments elsewhere in the Hebrew Bible, this one reflects (1) an accusation against God (3,1-18. 43-45); (2) complaint toward other people (an enemy) (3,46-48. 52-54. 61-66); (3) first-person (I or we) discourse. See P. MILLER, “Trouble and Woe: Interpreting the Biblical Laments”, Int 37 (1983) 32-33.