Therefore thus saith the LORD concerning Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah; They shall not lament for him, saying, Ah my brother! or, Ah sister! they shall not lament for him, saying, Ah lord! or, Ah his glory! They shall not lament for him, saying, Ah my brother! - These words were no doubt the burden of some funeral dirge. Alas! a brother, who was our lord or governor, is gone. Alas, our sister! his Queen, who has lost her glory in losing her husband. הדה hodah is feminine, and must refer to the glory of the queen.
The mournings in the east, and lamentations for the dead, are loud, vehement, and distressing. For a child or a parent grief is expressed in a variety of impassioned sentences, each ending with a burden like that in the text, "Ah my child!" "Ah my mother!" as the prophet in this place: הוי אחי hoi achi, "Ah my brother!" הוי אחות hoi achoth, "Ah sister!" הוי אדון hoi adon, "Ah lord!" הוי הדה hoi hodah "Ah the glory." Mr. Ward, in his Manners and Customs of the Hindoos, gives two examples of lamentation; one of a mother for the death of her son, one of a daughter for her departed mother. "When a woman," says he, "is overwhelmed with grief for the death of her child, she utters her grief in some such language as the following: -
Ah, my Hureedas, where is he gone? - 'Ah my child, my child!'
My golden image, Hureedas, who has taken? - 'Ah my child, my child!'
I nourished and reared him, where is he gone? - 'Ah my child, my child!'
Take me with thee. - 'Ah my child, my child!'
He played round me like a golden top. - 'Ah my child, my child!'
Like his face I never saw one. - 'Ah my child, my child!'
The infant continually cried, Ma Ma! - 'Ah my child, my child!'
Ah my child, crying, Ma! come into my lap. - 'Ah my child, my child!'
Who shall now drink milk? - 'Ah my child, my child!'
Who shall now stay in my lap? - 'Ah my child, my child!'
Our support is gone! - 'Ah my child, my child!'
"The lamentations for a mother are in some such strains as these: -
Mother! where is she gone? - 'Ah my mother, my mother!'
You are gone, but what have you left for me? - 'Ah my mother, my mother!'
Whom shall I now call mother, mother? - 'Ah my mother, my mother!'
Where shall I find such a mother? - 'Ah my mother, my mother!'"
From the above we may conclude that the funeral lamentations, to which the prophet refers, generally ended in this way, in each of the verses or interrogatories.
There is another intimation of this ancient and universal custom in 1 Kings 13:30, where the old prophet, who had deceived the man of God, and who was afterwards slain by a lion, is represented as mourning over him, and saying, הוי אחי hoi achi, "Alas, my brother!" this being the burden of the lamentation which he had used on this occasion. Similar instances may be seen in other places, Jeremiah 30:7; Ezekiel 6:11; Joel 1:15; and particularly Amos 5:16, Amos 5:17, and Revelation 18:10-19.