And it is no diminution to any to be much in tears for the sins of sinners and the sufferings of saints; our Lord Jesus was so; for, when he came near, he beheld this same city and wept over it, which the daughters of Jerusalem did not. We are men, and not brutes, reasonable creatures, who should act with reason, who should look upward and look forward, and both ways may fetch considerations enough to silence our complaints. Here we find a different feeling; he humbles himself under the mighty hand of God, and then his hope revives, Lamentations 3:21. 3. We may observe throughout this chapter a struggle in the prophet's breast between sense and faith, fear and hope; he complains and then comforts himself, yet drops his comforts and returns again to his complaints, as Ps 42. The contempt and calumny wherewith they loaded him, all that they spoke slightly of him, and all that they spoke reproachfully: "Thou hast heard their reproach (v. 61), all the bad characters they give me, laying to my charge things that I know not, all the methods they use to make me odious and contemptible, even the lips of those that rose up against me (v. 62), the contumelious language they use whenever they speak of me, and that at their sitting down and rising up, when they lie down at night and get up in the morning, when they sit down to their meat and with their company, and when they rise from both, still I am their music; they make themselves and one another merry with my miseries, as the Philistines made sport with Samson." And pursued us; Some read it, at my gasping. As Abraham said of God, shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? (Lamentations 3:10-18) God an adversary in many ways. Here is, I. Did he endeavour as Job did (Job 9 27), to forget his complaint? The Gospels The sufferings of the people of Judah are described as though one man had experienced them. c. Why should a living man complain: We may complain against God and His sovereignty, but that is profitless and ungrateful. O LORD, You have seen how I am wronged; Happy shall we be, if we learn to receive affliction as laid upon us by the hand of God. 2023 Christianity.com. 31 For the Lord will not cast off for ever: 32 But though he cause grief, yet will he have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies. How great soever his affliction may be, he is still alive; therefore, he may seek and find mercy unto eternal life. c. LORD, You have seen how I am wronged: Jeremiah rested in the confidence that God was a righteous judge, who would see how he was wronged and who would rightly judge his case. Fear and a snare have come upon us, Verse 52. With gravel: It could be argued that it refers to the type of bread made from the sweepings of the granary floor that Jeremiah must have received toward the end of the siege. (Ellison), iv. But here it seems to be meant of the yoke of affliction. Spurgeon suggested many reasons why it is good to bear the yoke when young: b. Their taunting song: Mocking or taunt-songs were also frequently used to express derision or contempt for an enemy. (Harrison). Seeking Him again would bring renewed expressions of His goodness. It hindered their prayers from coming up unto God (v. 44): "Thou hast covered thyself with a cloud," not like that bright cloud in which he took possession of the temple, which enabled the worshippers to draw near to him, but like that in which he came down upon Mount Sinai, which obliged the people to stand at a distance. General Epistles To pierce my loins. 4. Let us observe the particulars of it. c. In Your anger, pursue and destroy them from under the heavens of the LORD: Jerusalem and Judah had faced the anger of God and the destruction that came from it. If you cannot speak, cry, sob, or groan, then be still. 59 O Lord, thou hast seen my wrong: judge thou my cause. It seemed as a butt for all God's arrows; and each arrow of calamity entered into the soul, for God was the unerring marksman. Verse 22. That God has compassions and comforts in store even for those whom he has himself grieved. This was a pathway to hope for him. 3 Surely against me is he turned; he turneth his hand against me all the day. Verse 18. again and again, all day long. We may bear ourselves up with this, 1. That though we may seem to be cast off for a time, while sensible comforts are suspended and desired salvations deferred, yet we are not really cast off, because not cast off for ever; the controversy with us shall not be perpetual. He has torn, and he will heal us, Hos 6 1. i. To turn aside the justice due a man Our seeking will help to keep up our waiting. It is he that causes grief, and therefore we may be assured it is ordered wisely and graciously; and it is but for a season, and when need is, that we are in heaviness, 1 Pet 1 6. Looks down and sees. If so be there may be hope. ( Lamentations 3:1-21) "I am the man that hath seen affliction by the rod of his wrath. Formerly he inflicted punishments with reluctance, while there was any hope of amendment: but, in the instance before us, the case was so hopeless, that God acts according to the simple principle of vindictive justice. Oh, no: the Lord is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him. (Spurgeon), ii. I am their taunting song. "Lamentations" was derived from a translation of the title as found in the Latin Vulgate (Vg.) Persecute and destroy them in anger, as they persecute and destroy us in their anger. Note, The prolonging of troubles is sometimes a temptation, even to praying people, to question whether God be what they have always believed him to be, a prayer-hearing God. This I recall to my mind, &c. Here the prophet begins to suggest motives of patience and consolation: as if he had said, I call to mind the following considerations, and thereupon I conceive hope and comfort. 4. 8 Also when I cry and shout, he shutteth out my prayer. From under the heavens of the LORD. Or it may include the remnant of good people that were among the Jews, who had found that it was not in vain to wait upon God. Poetical Books You perceive there is not a word concerning himself or his own pleadings. That he is at a loss and altogether in the dark. In a magnificent expression of faith in the unfailing mercies of God, the writer looks to the distant future with renewed hope. (Harrison), ii. Our website uses cookies to store user preferences. Lamentations 3:21-23 New International Version 21 Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: 22 Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. The Lamentations are the expression of a heart full of love for the earthly people of Jehovah, a people punished for their sins by loosing their kingdom, their land, their city and their sanctuary. He has aged my flesh and my skin, And broken my bones. The soft, measured breath, or the laboring, gasping breath. This and other passages in this poem have been applied to Jesus Christ's passion; but, in my opinion, without any foundation. Of this, death would deprive him; therefore let not a living man complain. Please see Blue Letter Bible's Privacy Policy for cookie usage details. (2.) This verse seems to allude to the Chaldaic prediction, in Jeremiah 10:11. They have loaded us with curses; as they loved cursing, so let it come unto them, thy curse which will make them truly miserable. God's compassions fail not; of this we have fresh instances every morning. He that has seasonably succoured particular saints will not fail the church in general. My affliction and my transgression (so some read it), my trouble and my sin that brought it upon me; this was the wormwood and the gall in the affliction and the misery. They were under Gods severe discipline, and that because of their deep and persistent sin. That while they continued weeping they continued waiting, and neither did nor would expect relief and succour from any hand but his; nothing shall comfort them but his gracious returns, nor shall any thing wipe tears from their eyes till he look down. We dont live constantly focused on our sins and failings, but there are appropriate times to carefully, deliberately search out and examine our ways. ii. Historical Books 2. God is an inexhaustible fountain of mercy, the Father of mercies. Though all this take place, yet let his "trust be in God, who will not cast off for ever." b. I called on your name, O LORD: Even from the pit Jeremiah knew he could call upon the LORD, and that God would hear His voice. (2.) Lamentations 3 The scope of this chapter is the same with that of the two foregoing chapters, but the composition is somewhat different; that was in long verse, this is in short, another kind of metre; that was in single alphabets, this is in a treble one. Pauline Epistles c. And turn back to the LORD: All the self-examination in the world does little good if it does not lead us back to this place. It is good because obedience to God is best learned when young. 3. Lamentations 3:3 "Surely against me is he turned; he turneth his hand [against me] all the day." The course of God's providence toward me is quite altered, his hand, that is, his power, which was accustomed to being with me, and for me, against my enemies, is now turned against me. Gerlach has rightly opposed to these arguments the following considerations: (1) That, after the outburst of despair in Lamentations 3:18, "my strength is gone, and my hope from Jahveh," the words "my soul is bowed down in me" form far too feeble a conclusion; (2) That it is undoubtedly more correct to make the relief begin with a prayer breathed We must be far from thinking that, though God cause grief, the world will relieve and help us. Thus restless was the enmity of their persecutors, and yet causeless. Due thoughts of the evil of sin, and of our own sinfulness, will convince us that it is of the Lord's mercies we are not consumed. Early discipline is equally so. Faith comes off conqueror, for in these verses the prophet concludes with some comfort. Note, Those that are cast down are commonly tempted to think themselves cast off, Ps 31 22; Jon 2 4. 3 indeed, he has turned his hand against me. It was only a breathing. (Clarke), ii. Yet these flashes of light are welcome and necessary. Lamentations 3 is the third chapter of the Book of Lamentations in the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament of the Christian Bible, . I have forgotten prosperity. 41 Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens. And, when God's hand is continually turned against us, we are tempted to think that his heart is turned against us too. I am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of His wrath, He has led me and made me walk in darkness, He has been to me like a bear lying in wait, My strength and my hope have perished from the LORD, My soul still remembers and sinks within me, This I recall to mind, therefore I have hope, Through the LORDs mercies we are not consumed, The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him, It is good that he should hope and wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD, It is good for a man to bear the yoke in his youth, Let him give his cheek to the one who strikes him, according to the multitude of His mercies, For He does not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men, To turn aside the justice due a man before the face of the Most High. And my hope That first, that last support of the miserable-it is gone! He remembered that as beat down and defeated the people of Jerusalem and Judah were, they were not yet completely consumed. d. You have made us an offscouring and refuse: In the desire to turn back to the LORD, Jeremiah knew that it was important to honestly see their condition. Here we find a different feeling; he humbles himself under the mighty hand of God, and then his hope revives. (Clarke). To subvert a man in his cause To prevent his having justice done him in a lawsuit, &c., by undue interference, as by suborning false witnesses, or exerting any kind of influence in opposition to truth and right.-Blayney. Their enemies chased them till they had quite prevailed over them (v. 53): They have cut off my life in the dungeon. III. Verse 35. a. b. But, as there, so here, faith gets the last word and comes off a conqueror; for in these verses he concludes with some comfort. Remember my affliction and roaming: Jeremiah did not prescribe positive thinking for this deep affliction. Is it not from the mouth of the Most High Those that do so will find it good for them (v. 26): It is good (it is our duty, and will be our unspeakable comfort and satisfaction) to hope and quietly to wait for the salvation of the Lord, to hope that it will come, thought the difficulties that lie in the way of it seem insupportable, to wait till it does come, though it be long delayed, and while we wait to be quiet and silent, not quarrelling with God nor making ourselves uneasy, but acquiescing in the divine disposals. Verses Lamentations 3:46, Lamentations 3:47, Lamentations 3:48, Lamentations 3:46-48, beginning with phe, should, as to the order of the alphabet, follow 49, 50, 51, Lamentations 3:49-51, which begin with ain, which in its grammatical position precedes the former. (Read Lamentations 3:21-36) Having stated his distress and temptation, the prophet shows how he was raised above it. The New Testament b. They had not the assurance and comfort of the pardon; the judgments brought upon them for their sins were not removed, and therefore they thought they could not say the sin was pardoned, which was a mistake, but a common mistake with the people of God when their souls are cast down and disquieted within them. He has hedged me in so that I cannot get out; "Let us lift up our heart;" let us make fervent prayer and supplication for mercy. and has broken my bones. I am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of His wrath. In darkness and not in light. 5. Lamentations is the only biblical book which, for the most part, is arranged in acrostic fashion. The prophet once more utters this complaint in the first person, because he who has risked his life in his endeavour to keep the people in the service of God must feel the deepest sympathy for them in their misfortunes. Like the dead of long ago. Verse 39. 1 I am the man that hath seen affliction by the rod of his wrath. See where Jeremiah gets his comfort; he seems to say, Bad as my case is, it might have been worse, for I might have been consumed, and I should have been consumed if the Lords compassions had failed. (Spurgeon). You drew near on the day I called on You, Pentateuch He must expect, and yet be dumb, as the words imply; ever feeling his utter unworthiness; and, without murmuring, struggle into life. He hath also broken my teeth with gravel stones What a figure to express disgust, pain, and the consequent incapacity of taking food for the support of life; a man, instead of bread, being obliged to eat small pebbles till all his teeth are broken to pieces by endeavouring to grind them. Are we punished for our sins? We have no reason to quarrel with God, for he is righteous in it; he is the governor of the world, and it is necessary that he should maintain the honour of his government by chastising the disobedient. Hide not thine ear at my breathing He dared not even to complain, nor to cry, nor to pray aloud: he was obliged to whisper his prayer to God. 6. Let him give his cheek to the one who strikes him, Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that woe and well-being proceed? When our comforts fail, yet God's compassions do not. 3. 16 He hath also broken my teeth with gravel stones, he hath covered me with ashes. Note, God will one day call sinners to account for all the hard speeches which they have spoken against him and his people, Jude 15. Men can do nothing but according to the counsel of God, nor have any power or success but what is given them from above. In three things the prophet and his pious friends had found God good to them:1. i. He has made my chain heavy: As the convict sometimes drags about his chain, and has a ball at his foot, so the prophet felt as if God had clogged him with a heavy chain, so that he could not move because of its terrible weight. (Spurgeon). This hindered God's favours from coming down upon them. Our treasures, which we lay up on earth, are the stagnant pools; but the treasure which God gives us from heaven, in providence and in grace, is the crystal fount which wells up from the eternal deeps, and is always fresh and always new. (Spurgeon). There have been various translations of the original: but they all amount to this. God's ear is wont to be open to the prayers of his people, and his door of mercy to those that knock at it; but now both are shut, even to one that cries and shouts. 1. I have become the ridicule of all my people 2 17, 21), but here they correct themselves, and own, 1. When nations go through times of tragedy and tribulation, the greatest suffering always takes place at the individual level. (Ryken), iii. Time and time again throughout the day. 46 All our enemies have opened their mouths against us. GenesisExodusLeviticusNumbersDeuteronomyJoshuaJudgesRuth1 Samuel2 Samuel1 Kings2 Kings1 Chronicles2 ChroniclesEzraNehemiahEstherJobPsalmsProverbsEcclesiastesSong of SongsIsaiahJeremiahLamentationsEzekielDanielHoseaJoelAmosObadiahJonahMicahNahumHabakkukZephaniahHaggaiZechariahMalachiMatthewMarkLukeJohnActsRomans1 Corinthians2 CorinthiansGalatiansEphesiansPhilippiansColossians1 Thessalonians2 Thessalonians1 Timothy2 TimothyTitusPhilemonHebrewsJames1 Peter2 Peter1 John2 John3 JohnJudeRevelation, Select an Ending Point This is the result of their searching and trying their ways; the more they enquired into them the worse they found them. They silenced my life in the pit That which is most impressive in this song is the identification of the prophet with the people and with God. Silenced my life in the pit: Seemeth not to be here taken literally, for the lowest and nastiest place in prisons, which probably was the portion but of a few of the Jews; but metaphorically, for the lowest and saddest condition of misery. I forget prosperity; it is so long since I had it, and so unlikely that I should ever recover it, that I have lost the idea of it. "When I lay gasping for life, and ready to expire, and thought i was breathing my last, then thou tookest cognizance of my distressed case." The Lord does not approve. Because of all the daughters of my city. From the doctrine of God's sovereign and universal providence, which he had asserted in the verses before, he draws this inference, Wherefore does a living man complain? 66 Persecute and destroy them in anger from under the heavens of the Lord. again and again, all day long. (Lamentations 3:30-36) The goodness of God even in His justice. Note, However God may for a time suffer evil-doers to prosper, and serve his own purposes by them, yet he does not therefore approve of their evil doings. II. This I recall to my mind, Our hearts must go with our prayers. 10 He was unto me as a bear lying in wait, and as a lion in secret places. Words of comfort to God's people when they are in trouble and distress, ver 21-36. 34 To crush under his feet all the prisoners of the earth, 35 To turn aside the right of a man before the face of the most High, 36 To subvert a man in his cause, the Lord approveth not. I. This I recall to mind, therefore I have hope: For perhaps the first time in the book, hope is allowed. Because His compassions fail not. i. There may yet be hope. 42 We have transgressed and have rebelled: thou hast not pardoned. My enemies without cause Others have been consumed round about us, and we ourselves have been in the consuming, and yet we are not consumed; we are out of the grave; we are out of hell. See Jeremiah 38:6, &c. Verse 56. 2. Judah has gone into exile, but she does not find any rest there among the nations. Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that woe and well-being proceed? Who could be preserved in the night, if the Watchman of Israel ever slumbered or slept? The LORD is my portion, says my soul, Without interruption, so Job argues, ch. The faithful lament their calamities, and hope in God's mercies.1-20 The prophet relates the more gloomy and discouraging part of his experience, and how he found support and relief. Let us see what these things are which he calls to mind. Verse 29. Two ways the people of God are injured and oppressed by their enemies, and the prophet here assures us that God does not approve of either of them:1. Like a lion in ambush. He is not quarrelsome, nor apt to resent injuries; he suffers long and is kind. The yoke in his youth: Early habits, when good, are invaluable. Surely He has turned His hand against me: Jeremiah did not stay in this dark and desperate place, but he would not deny being there. Note, The distresses of God's people sometimes prevail to such a degree that they cannot find any footing for their faith, nor keep their head above water, with any comfortable expectation. III. He who can bear contempt and reproach, and not render railing for railing, and bitterness for bitterness, who, when he is filled full with reproach, keeps it to himself, and does not retort it and empty it again upon those who filled him with it, but pours it out before the Lord (as those did, Ps 123 4, whose souls were exceedingly filled with the contempt of the proud), he shall find that it is good to bear the yoke, that it shall turn to his spiritual advantage. Those curses came upon Jerusalem in Jeremiahs day; now he prayed that those curses come upon their enemies. 3. Their sins were repented of, and yet (v. 42), Thou hast not pardoned. If they had not made themselves vile, their enemies could not have made them so: but therefore men call them reprobate silver, because the Lord has rejected them for rejecting him. Like a lawyer pleading for his client, God pleaded the case for his life. Therefore I hope in Him: God couldnt really be his hope until he was first his portion. It is very applicable to the yoke of God's commands. Pursue and destroy them God therefore disapproves heartily of any attempt to deprive an individual of his rights in the law (36), or to condemn him unjustly. (Harrison). Why, he was accused of every crime that even Sodom knew; and perjury stood up and swore that all was true. In His wise judgments God caused grief, but promised to also show compassion, and would do so according to the multitude of His mercies. At the south of Africa the sea was generally so stormy, when the frail barks of the Portuguese went sailing south, that they named it the Cape of Storms; but after that cape had been well rounded by bolder navigators, they named it the Cape of Good Hope. To save the heart from being quite broken, here is something called to mind, which gives ground for hope (v. 21), which refers to what comes after, not to what goes before. iii. Jeremiahs personal lament is a reminder that suffering is always personal. It is evident that in the preceding verses there is a bitterness of complaint against the bitterness of adversity, that is not becoming to man when under the chastising hand of God; and, while indulging this feeling, all hope fled. 2. Many times through the affliction he felt God to be his adversary, not his friend. As breathing is a proof of animal life, so is prayer, though never so weak, of spiritual. If you will turn to the lives of any of the saints of God, you will discover that they were the victims of slanders of the grossest kind. Verse Lamentations 3:65. II. Wherever God leaves life, He leaves hope. He has hedged me in: This also may refer to the lines drawn round the city during the siege. This intimates, (1.) Benson Commentary Lamentations 3:31-33. It was an affliction that was misery itself; for sin makes the cup of . It was an affliction that was misery itself. They are new every morning Day and night proclaim the mercy and compassion of God. It is added (v. 51), "My eye affects my heart. 7 He has walled me in so I cannot escape; Lamentations 3 - God's Mercy in the Midst of Disaster "The third poem is significantly different in structure from the others, being made up of single lines grouped in threes, and commencing with the same consonant of the Hebrew alphabet." (R.K. Harrison) (3.) They look upon the Jewish nation as dead and buried, and imagine that there is not possibility of its resurrection. 44 Thou hast covered thyself with a cloud, that our prayer should not pass through. And be full of reproach. In this patient seeking of God, there is reason for hope. I will stay myself upon him, and encourage myself in him, when all other supports and encouragements fail me." The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope. I am the man that hath seen affliction Either the prophet speaks here of himself, or he is personating his miserable countrymen. You have heard my voice: We must pray to him, with a believing expectation to receive mercy from him; for that is implied in our lifting up our hands to him (a gesture commonly used in prayer and sometimes put for it, as Ps 141 2, Let the lifting up of my hands be as the evening sacrifice); it signifies our requesting mercy from him and our readiness to receive that mercy. The reason is, there is nothing more disagreeable to the taste than the one; and nothing more distressing to the mind than the other. He giveth his cheek to him that smiteth He has that love that is not provoked. The Chaldeans said that they would destroy Jerusalem, and it came to pass, not because they said it, but because God commanded it and commissioned them to do it. He gets good by the yoke who gives his cheek to him that smites him, and rather turns the other cheek (Matt 5 39) than returns the second blow. In your experience you had many a Cape of Storms, but you have weathered them all, and now, let them be a Cape of Good Hope to you. (Spurgeon).
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