What is a song of lamentation?

Answer 1

A lamentation, or lament, is in most simple terms, a mournful elegy. In the Bible, 2 Samuel 1:17, (NLT), David composed a funeral song for Saul and Jonathan. It was an eloquent testimony to the depth and sincerity of David's grief for the death of Saul In 2 Chronicles 35:25, Jeremiah composed laments for Josiah, and to this day all the men and women singers commemorate Josiah in the laments.

In the Tanakh, (a Hebrew Bible), the canonical source of numerous editions of the Christian Old Testament, the Book of Lamentations mourns the destruction of Jerusalem and the Holy Temple in the 6th century BC. Traditionally, it is recited on the saddest day of the Jewish calendar, mourning the destruction of the First and Second Temples in Jerusalem. In Christianity it is traditionally read during Tenebrae of the Holy Triduum.

Tenebrae (Latin for 'shadows' or 'darkness') is a Christian religious service celebrated by the Anglican or Catholic church on the evening before or early morning of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday, which are the last three days of Holy Week.

This distinctive service is the gradual extinguishing of candles, while a series of readings and psalms (lamentations) is chanted or recited.