‘Can You See Me?’

Abstract This article explores the transformation from presenting Judah as an object, to be undervalued and held at a distance, to actively ‘re-humanizing’ and populating Daughter Zion with the suffering that the people experienced and which continues to define them as a result of God’s unabated judgment on Judah. A key literary tag propelling this transformation from object to subject is the call to be ‘seen’ by God. The generation who lament here, unlucky enough to be the last generation, carries the weight not only of their own sins, but those of others long gone. The God who has brought about their destruction poured out the wrath of centuries, stored up since the people’s first grumblings in the wilderness. In the end, the people bet everything on the conviction that God is worthy of praise and leave open the question of whether He will look and see. Lamentations concludes with the future uncertain and God’s answer yet to be heard.