329 POSTMODERNISM DEUS AND THE ABSCONDITUS “ Do not fear” is a “formula of revelation” in the HB, often used as the introductory word in a priestly oracle 35. Preceded by rma, the expression, “fear not,” must be taken as direct speech 36. In this respect, Ps 55 is similar, following a wave-like pattern, alternating between despair (vv. 1-15.20-21) and hope (vv. 16- 19.22-23). Hope emerges in this psalm when the poet apparently receives a priestly or prophetic oracle, and responds by urging listeners to cast their burdens upon YHWH (v. 22). The acrostic poet of Lamentations may follow this same conventional form in expressing a contemporaneous assurance of YHWH’s deliverance. Were this strophe in one of the lament psalms, it would no doubt be regarded as the complainant’s acknowledgment of a reassuring word of a (cultic) prophet or priest, who spoke in behalf of YHWH 37. In the familiar “Lamentation over the Destruction of Sumer and Ur ”, an ancient Near Eastern city-lament often compared to Lamentations, the god Enlil “speaks a friendly word”, so that “at the word spoken by An (and) Enlil, it (Ur) is delivered” 38. Dobbs- Allsop contrasts Enlil’s word with the astonishing divine silence in Lamentations 39. Is it not plausible that the word, “fear not” in Lam 3,57 functions similarly to the “friendly word” of Enlil, and thus J. BEGRICH, “Das priesterliche Heilsorakel,” ZAW 52 (1934) 81-92. 35 So most modern translations. Cf. REYBURN, Handbook on Lamenta- 36 tions, 101. Cf. S. MOWINCKEL, The Psalms in Israel’s Worship (Nashville, TN 37 1962) II, 57-58. “Yahweh speaks in the sanctuary ... Those who transmit his word (cultic prophets? Priests?) seek to hear what he says” — H.-J. KRAUS, Theology of the Psalms (Minneapolis, MN 1992) 33; Cf. H.-J. KRAUS, Klagelieder, 62. Lam 3,58-60 is the certification of the response to the complainant’s prayer. Sirach’s prayer also provides a parallel. In telling of his past deliverances, he mentions calling upon God, and “my prayer was heard” (Sir 51,1-12). The “do not fear” of YHWH, according to H. GUTHRIE JR., Interpreter’s One-Volume Commentary, 408, “may be a direct quotation of what was said in the oracle of reassurance that followed a lament in the sanctuary ”. L. SABOURIN, The Psalms. Their Origin and Meaning (New York 1974) 46, points to several psalmic passages that imply some kind of oracle was made known to a worshiper that his/her prayer was heard (Pss 3,3-4; 6,9-10 ; 22,25; 28,6; 34,7; 66,16-20). It is possible that a cultic prophet or priest pronounced this oracle. Ll. 467, 479-480 (ANET, 619, trans. S. KRAMER). 38 F. DOBBS-ALLSOP, Lamentations, 150. 39