Verse 22. i. Because there is room for hope. That God sees them. He laments the direful effects of the famine to which they were reduced by the siege, ver 3-10. 9 He hath inclosed my ways with hewn stone, he hath made my paths crooked. He is the Most High, whose authority over them they contemn by abusing their authority over their subjects, not considering that he that is higher than the highest regardeth, Eccl 5 8. One can scarcely read this description without feeling the toothache. (Clarke), iii. And pursued us; Their eyes, which now run down with water, shall still wait upon the Lord their God until he have mercy upon them, Ps 123 2. Observe how he calls prayer his breathing; for in prayer we breathe towards God, we breathe after him. The Septuagint and Vulgate seem to have read "From under heaven, O Jehovah:" and the Syriac reads, "Thy heavens, O Jehovah!" Repay them, O LORD, Are we healthful or sickly, rich or poor? Of all the men who lived through that terrible period, no one had a better right to say this than Jeremiah. (Lamentations 3:30-36) The goodness of God even in His justice. In a magnificent expression of faith in the unfailing mercies of God, the writer looks to the distant future with renewed hope. (Harrison), ii. If inward impressions be not in some measure answerable to outward expressions, we do but mock God and deceive ourselves. Let us search out and examine our ways, I. It is good because obedience to God is best learned when young. That he was ready to despair of relief and deliverance: "Thou hast not only taken peace from me, but hast removed my soul far off from peace (v. 17), so that it is not only not within reach, but not within view. You have covered Yourself with anger Let him put his mouth in the dust (2.) All our enemies 5. Una eademque manus vulnus opemque tulitThe same hand inflicted the wound and healed it. 45 Thou hast made us as the offscouring and refuse in the midst of the people. We have little reason to complain of our trouble, for it is our own doing; we may thank ourselves. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; he forms the light and creates the darkness, as he did at first. You have slain and not pitied. The Jewish state may now be fitly compared to a man wrinkled with age, for which there is no remedy (v. 4): "My flesh and my skin has he made old; they are wasted and withered, and I look like one that is ready to drop into the grave; nay, he has broken my bones, and so disabled me to help myself, v. 15. 3. 23 They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. Call sin a transgression, call it a rebellion, and you do not miscall it. 7 He hath hedged me about, that I cannot get out: he hath made my chain heavy. They were against him like a fowler is against a bird. You have not pardoned. Through the LORDs mercies we are not consumed: This was one of the things Jeremiah remembered. But he is in a particular manner good to those that wait for him, to the soul that seeks him. I. Jesus gave his cheek to the one who strikes him as He patiently received the suffering His Father had appointed (Matthew 26:67-68, Luke 22:64). God's having heard our voice when we cried to him, even out of the low dungeon, is an encouragement for us to hope that he will not at any time hide his ear. The LORD is my portion, says my soul, has Jehovah. We must not quarrel with God for any affliction that he lays upon us at any time (v. 39): Wherefore does a living man complain? If, indeed, any sinner be kept out of hell, it is because God's compassion faileth not. The Lord Adonai; but one of my ancient MSS. Yet the consideration of Gods sovereignty would also become the source of their hope. (3.) Note, We all owe it to the sparing mercy of God that we are not consumed. He is not quarrelsome, nor apt to resent injuries; he suffers long and is kind. To crush under ones feet He appeals to God's knowledge of the matter of fact, how very spiteful and malicious his enemies were (v. 59): "O Lord! And said, Do not fear! That grief returned upon every remembrance of his troubles, and his reflections were as melancholy as his prospects, v. 19, 20. Note, Though we are cast into ever so low a dungeon, we may thence find a way of access to God in the highest heavens. The prophet tells us: 3. A serious consideration of ourselves and a reflection upon our past lives. Jeremiahs personal lament is a reminder that suffering is always personal. These are the two things which our afflictions should put us upon. Our Lord Jesus has left us an example of this, for he gave his back to the smiter, Isa 50 6. Give them despondence of heart" (so others read it); "let them be driven to despair, and give themselves up for gone." And set me up as a target for the arrow. Do men shoot at those thy are enemies to? Who could exist throughout the day, if there were not a continual superintending Providence? The soft, measured breath, or the laboring, gasping breath. Verse 31. 1. He has filled me with bitterness, a bitter sense of his calamities." Minor Prophets General Epistles "When I have lost all I have in the world, liberty, and livelihood, and almost life itself, yet I have not lost my interest in God." They did it by despising him (their reproach), with schemes, with whispering lies, and their taunting song against him. 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). Their enemies had brought them into the deepest miseries. (Poole). Surely He has turned His hand against me Time and time again throughout the day. The streams of mercy acknowledged: We are not consumed. Verse 26. Historical Books Or, My eye melts my soul; I have quite wept away my spirits; not only my eye is consumed with grief, but my soul and my life are spent with it, Ps 31 9, 10. Those whom thou cursest are cursed indeed. Lamentations 3 NLT - Hope in the LORD's Faithfulness - BibleGateway Hab 1 13, Wherefore lookest thou upon those that deal treacherously? 64 Render unto them a recompence, O Lord, according to the work of their hands. Does God Really Work All Things Together for Good? Their case was really pitiable, yet they complain, Thou hast not pitied, v. 43. IV. Verse 34. Luke-Acts Proud member Quietness is necessary to waiting, for all turbulency and impatience of spirit under sad providences is opposed to waiting. (Poole). It is good for young people to take that yoke upon them in their youth; we cannot begin too soon to be religious. Verse 35. However, while Job dealt with unexplained evil, Jeremiah lamented a tragedy entirely of Jerusalem's making. it is perished! If he does not willingly grieve the children of men, much less his own children. 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. He hath filled me with bitterness bimrorim, with bitternesses, bitter upon bitter. 2. Lamentations 3 - Clarke's Commentary - StudyLight.org I called on Your name, O LORD, The prophet here laments the injuries and indignities done to those to whom respect used to be shown, ver 1, 2. Pauline Epistles This is unfortunate, since his works contain priceless gems of information that are found nowhere except in the ancient writings of the Jews. GenesisExodusLeviticusNumbersDeuteronomyJoshuaJudgesRuth1 Samuel2 Samuel1 Kings2 Kings1 Chronicles2 ChroniclesEzraNehemiahEstherJobPsalmsProverbsEcclesiastesSong of SongsIsaiahJeremiahLamentationsEzekielDanielHoseaJoelAmosObadiahJonahMicahNahumHabakkukZephaniahHaggaiZechariahMalachiMatthewMarkLukeJohnActsRomans1 Corinthians2 CorinthiansGalatiansEphesiansPhilippiansColossians1 Thessalonians2 Thessalonians1 Timothy2 TimothyTitusPhilemonHebrewsJames1 Peter2 Peter1 John2 John3 JohnJudeRevelation, Select an Ending Point Lamentations chapter 3. He has led me and made me walk In darkness and not in light. That, when God returns to deal graciously with us, it will not be according to our merits, but according to his mercies, according to the multitude, the abundance, of his mercies. Verse 9. He shuts out my prayer. He hath made me drunken with wormwood. For the salvation of the LORD. Therefore the sufferer is thus penitent, thus patient, because he believes that God is gracious and merciful, which is the great inducement both to evangelical repentance and to Christian patience. All the prisoners of the earth By the prisoners of the earth, or land, Dr. Blayney understands those insolvent debtors who were put in prison, and there obliged to work out the debt. He hath bent his bow, and set me as a mark for the arrow. "In more ways than one this brings us to the very heart of the book. Though all this take place, yet let his "trust be in God, who will not cast off for ever." Verse 13. Whatever we are robbed of our portion is safe. 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. 2. 8 Also when I cry and shout, he shutteth out my prayer. And (v. 6), He has set me in dark places, dark as the grave, like those that are dead of old, that are quite forgotten, nobody knows who or what they were. In the midst of the peoples. I have drunk the cup of misery till I am intoxicated with it. This intimates, (1.) III. Gods response to this seeking soul was, Do not fear!, i. Who is he who speaks and it comes to pass, when the Lord has not commanded it? Verse 28. 22 It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. "Lamentations: The Expositor's Bible Commentary" Volume 6 (Isaiah-Ezekiel) (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 1985), Harrison, R.K. "Jeremiah and Lamentations: An Introduction and Commentary" Volume 20 (Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries) (Downers Grove, Illinois: Inter-Varsity Press, 1973), Meyer, F.B. 1 Cor 4 13, We are made as the filth of the world and are the off-scouring of all things. 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 a Beginning Point 6. Prayer is the breath of the new man, sucking in the air of mercy in petitions and returning it in praises; it is both the evidence and the maintenance of the spiritual life. i. The Gospels Let him give his cheek to the one who strikes him: Jeremiah said this in the context of patiently enduring suffering (Lamentations 3:27-29). Thus Ezekiel saw it, in vision, a valley full of dead and dry bones. He has bent His bow: This figure shows the power of the archers arm, which transfixed the poet with arrows. (Ellison), ii. Therefore I have hope. The struggle between unbelief and faith is often very severe. His discipline is not happy nor is it unfair (to turn aside the justice due a man). Let us search out and examine our ways, and turn back to the LORD, You have made us an offscouring and refuse, flow and do not cease, without interruption, Till the LORD from heaven looks down and sees, My enemies without cause hunted me down like a bird, Lord, You have pleaded the case for my soul, Repay them, O LORD, according to the work of their hands, In Your anger, pursue and destroy them from under the heavens of the LORD, David Guzik :: 1 Corintios 7 Principios Sobre el Matrimonio y la Soltera, David Guzik :: Hechos 9 La Conversin de Saulo de Tarso, David Guzik :: Apocalipsis 20 Satans, el Pecado y la Muerte son Finalmente Eliminados, David Guzik :: Gnesis 3 La tentacin y cada del hombre, David Guzik :: 2 Samuel 22 El Salmo de Alabanza de David, Jehovah's Witnesses, Jesus and the Holy Trinity (Walter Martin), The Meaning of the Cross Part 2 (Elisabeth Elliot), Spiritism: Prophecy and Astrology (Walter Martin), 2 Thessalonians 1-3 (1982-85 Audio) (Chuck Smith), Genesis 2-3 (1979-82 Audio) (Chuck Smith), Intro. conservative Christian faith, which includes a firm belief in the inerrancy I am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of His wrath. Lamentations 3 Bible Commentary - Matthew Henry (concise) - Christianity 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. Blue Letter Bible is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. c. Why should a living man complain: We may complain against God and His sovereignty, but that is profitless and ungrateful. God will plead thy cause, and redeem thy soul. GenesisExodusLeviticusNumbersDeuteronomyJoshuaJudgesRuth1 Samuel2 Samuel1 Kings2 Kings1 Chronicles2 ChroniclesEzraNehemiahEstherJobPsalmsProverbsEcclesiastesSong of SongsIsaiahJeremiahLamentationsEzekielDanielHoseaJoelAmosObadiahJonahMicahNahumHabakkukZephaniahHaggaiZechariahMalachiMatthewMarkLukeJohnActsRomans1 Corinthians2 CorinthiansGalatiansEphesiansPhilippiansColossians1 Thessalonians2 Thessalonians1 Timothy2 TimothyTitusPhilemonHebrewsJames1 Peter2 Peter1 John2 John3 JohnJudeRevelation, 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), In the Hebrew Bible, the first three verses all start with aleph, the second three verses with beth, and so forth. (Philipp Ryken). 6. Is it not from the mouth of the Most High It was only a breathing. (Clarke), ii. Surely He has turned His hand against me The enemies, having taken some of them like a bird in a snare, chased others as a harmless bird is chased by a bird of prey (v. 52): My enemies chased me sorely like a bird which is beaten from bush to bush, as Saul hunted David like a partridge. The lips of my enemies It is good because it saves from a thousand snares. a. I am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of His wrath: In chapters 1 and 2, Jeremiah wrote mainly as Jerusalem personified. range of evangelical traditions, all of the ideas and principles conveyed i. Without interruption, Many have found it good to bear this in youth; it has made those humble and serious, and has weaned them from the world, who otherwise would have been proud and unruly, and as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke. We are men; let us herein show ourselves men. that we may each of us mend one, and then we should all be mended. Note, God is sometimes angry with his own people; yet it is to be complained of, not as a sword to cut off, by only as a rod to correct; it is to them the rod of his wrath, a chastening which, though grievous for the present, will in the issue be advantageous. 58 O Lord, thou hast pleaded the causes of my soul; thou hast redeemed my life. Note, Though we may pour out our complaints before God, we must never exhibit any complaints against God. We are apt, in times of public calamity, to reflect upon other people's ways, and lay blame upon them; whereas our business is to search and try our own ways. He has led me and made me walk 54 Waters flowed over mine head; then I said, I am cut off. Here we find a different feeling; he humbles himself under the mighty hand of God, and then his hope revives, Lamentations 3:21. He has besieged me Search out and examine our ways: Sins must not be casually and superficially confessed and dealt with. 43 Thou hast covered with anger, and persecuted us: thou hast slain, thou hast not pitied. Life in any sense is a sweet mercy, even that which to the afflicted may seem a lifeless life. (Trapp). Your partnership makes all we do possible. Lamentations 3:1-66 . Verse Lamentations 3:1. 3. Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible (Complete). Ps 119 59, I thought on my ways, and turned my feet unto thy testimonies. This is the result of their searching and trying their ways; the more they enquired into them the worse they found them. Luke-Acts From under the heavens of the Lord. Though we be but weak in prayer, cannot cry aloud, but only breathe in groanings that cannot be uttered, yet we shall not be neglected if we be sincere. Some think Jeremiah makes these complaints, not only as an intercessor for Israel, but as a type of Christ, who was thought by some to be Jeremiah the weeping prophet, because he was much in tears (Matt 16 14) and to him many of the passages here may be applied. Lamentations 3 - NIV Bible - I am the man who has seen affliction by Lamentations 3 Commentary - Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible Your curse be upon them! He has also (v. 9) enclosed my ways with hewn stone, not only hedged up my way with thorns (Hos 2 6), but stopped it up with a stone wall, which cannot be broken through, so that my paths are made crooked; I traverse to and fro, to the right hand, to the left, to try to get forward, but am still turned back." (2.) II. Look at their sitting down and their rising up; Bible Introductions - Lamentations by John MacArthur 1. 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. 5. He must therefore quietly wait. Yes, this was Jeremiah, but it certainly was not only him. c. For He does not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men: When God does allow or send His judgments, He does not do it with a happy heart. 42 We have transgressed and have rebelled: thou hast not pardoned. Major Prophets If men injure them under colour of law, and in the pretended administration of justice,if they turn aside the right of a man, so that he cannot discover what his rights are or cannot come at them, they are out of his reach,if they subvert a man in his cause, and bring in a wrong verdict, or give a false judgment, let them know, (1.) a. 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. Duty prescribed in this afflicted state, ver 37-41. i. Note, All the events of divine Providence are the products of a divine counsel; whatever is done God has the directing of it, and the works of his hands agree with the words of his mouth; he speaks, and it is done, so easily, so effectually are all his purposes fulfilled. The next figure is not less expressive. But this was not all: Thou saidst, Fear not. Let us observe the particulars of it. It is added (v. 51), "My eye affects my heart. 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 Pt. The reason is, there is nothing more disagreeable to the taste than the one; and nothing more distressing to the mind than the other. 4. I. My soul still remembers They complain of their own excessive grief and fear upon this account. 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. 1. What! 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. 5. Do not fear: How powerful is this word when spoken by the Spirit of the Lord to a disconsolate heart. He has set me as a mark for his arrow, which he aims at, and will be sure to hit, and then the arrows of his quiver enter into my reins, give me a mortal wound, an inward wound, v. 13. What have I contributed to the public flames?" i. 2 He hath led me, and brought me into darkness, but not into light. ( Lamentations 3:1-21) "I am the man that hath seen affliction by the rod of his wrath. Or, let us put our heart on our hand, and offer it to God; so some have translated this clause. This is the consequence of their hardening their hearts from thy fear. The waters flowed over my head; The Blue Letter Bible ministry and the BLB Institute hold to the historical, Verse 57. Do not be in a hurry; do not expect to be delivered out of your trouble the first time you begin to cry unto God. 2 He has driven me away and made me walk in darkness rather than light; 3 indeed, he has turned his hand against me again and again, all day long. Read full chapter Lamentations 2 Lamentations 4 New International Version (NIV) c. The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him: All the misery of Gods people had come because they would not truly seek God and wait for Him. He has been to me like a bear lying in wait: Using the eloquence that misery sometimes brings, Jeremiah described all the ways that they felt God opposed and even attacked them. What hope is there of either peace or prosperity? If he be tempted to murmur, let him remember that he is yet alive, and that is more than his part cometh to, since it is the Lords mercy that he is not consumed, and sent packing hence to hell. Verse 18. (Lamentations 3:52-56) Praying for help under enemy attack. Here Jeremiah fulfills that role with tears that flow and do not cease, without interruption. Our own wickedness corrects us, Prov 19 3. But the weakest believer is wrong, if he thinks that his strength and hope are perished from the Lord. That he is not able to discern any way of escape or deliverance (v. 5): "He has built against me, as forts and batteries are built against a besieged city. ii. Verse 30. He has turned aside my ways and torn me in pieces; The walling-up of prisoners within confined spaces so that they died very quickly was a form of torture made popular by the Assyrians., iii. (Genesis 18:25). Which way soever I cast my eye, I see that which renews my sorrow, even because of all the daughters of my city," all the neighbouring towns, which were as daughters to Jerusalem the mother-city. 6 He has made me dwell in darkness. translation of the Greek OT, the Septuagint (LXX) 1, and conveys the idea of "loud cries.". That his neighbours make a laughing matter of his troubles (v. 14): I was a derision to all my people, to all the wicked among them, who made themselves an one another merry with the public judgments, and particularly the prophet Jeremiah's griefs. From the lowest pit. Nor grieve the children of men. The sufferers in the captivity must submit to the will of God in all their sufferings. He delights not in the misery of any of his creatures, but, as it respects his own people, he is so far from it that in all their afflictions he is afflicted and his soul is grieved for the misery of Israel. God will take his part, and bring him safely through all hardships. VIII. Prophets An Introduction to the Book of Lamentations | Bible.org This was a pathway to hope for him. But, if we accommodate ourselves to him, though we be chastened of the Lord we shall not be condemned with the world. Would you prayerfully consider a gift of support today? 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. It is good because it gives you more years to serve God.
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