Acrostical Peculiarities.
By John Nevins Andrews
The one hundred and nineteenth Psalm is divided into twenty-two parts consisting of eight verses each. At the head of each division is placed the name of one of the letters of the Hebrew alphabet. This alphabet has twenty-two letters, and each of these in their order is thus used. Perhaps some of the readers of the REVIEW do not know the reason of this. It is because that in the Hebrew original of this Psalm the first eight verses each begin with the first letter of that alphabet; the second eight verses each begin with the second letter of that alphabet; and so of all the divisions. The book of Lamentations is, with the exception of chapter five, written in this manner. Chapters one, two, and four, have each twenty-two verses. Each of these chapters begins its verses one after the other with the letters of the Hebrew alphabet in their regular order except that in chapter two, three and four, letters sixteen and seventeen change places. Chapter three has sixty-six verses. And so this chapter has first three verses each beginning with the first Hebrew letter; next three verses beginning with the second letter; and so through the chapter, thus using all the letters of that alphabet. But Lamentations five does not observe this peculiarity. Psalm twenty-five is also written in this manner, only this being different that two letters are omitted and two used twice to make up the number. Psalm thirty-four is also written thus, varying even less than Psalm twenty-five. The only other chapter or Psalm written thus is Psalm thirty-seven, though this Psalm departs considerably from the exactness of those above mentioned. This peculiarity cannot be preserved in our English translation. No effort is made to mark it except in Psalm one hundred nineteen. Why it was used by the Holy Spirit we cannot tell. It is peculiarly remarkable in a book of such mental anguish as the Lamentations. Perhaps it was to arrest the attention of the careless reader. J. N. A.