3. 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. Pauline Epistles Fear and a snare have come upon us, "One addressed the caliph Aaly, and said, 'If the heavens were a bow, and the earth the cord thereof; if calamities were arrows, man the butt for those arrows; and the holy blessed God the unerring marksman; where could the sons of Adam flee for succour?' Lamentations 3 - Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible - Bible 41 Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens. That they had hopes that he would at length look graciously upon them and relieve them; nay, they take it for granted that he will: "Though he contend long, he will not contend for ever, thou we deserve that he should." It is possible to interpret this chapter as a record of the feelings of Jeremiah himself, or as a personification in an otherwise unknown individual or the nations tragic sufferings. (Harrison), ii. He has aged my flesh and my skin, And broken my bones. 29 He putteth his mouth in the dust; if so be there may be hope. It is good because obedience to God is best learned when young. Repay them, O LORD, To God in heaven. Verse 26. I am their song, their neginath, or hand-instrument of music, their tabret (Job 17 6), that they play upon, as Nero on his harp when Rome was on fire. That he is at a loss and altogether in the dark. If we cannot say with unwavering voice, The Lord is my portion; may we not say, I desire to have Him for my portion and salvation, and in his word do I hope? Luke-Acts i. Lamentations 1:3 Commentaries: Judah has gone into exile under Happy shall we be, if we learn to receive affliction as laid upon us by the hand of God. You have moved my soul far from peace; Or, "Thou hast covered us up as men that are buried are covered up and forgotten." Have opened their mouths against us. 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. Look at their sitting down and their rising up; 23 They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. A man for the punishment of his sins? 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. 13 He hath caused the arrows of his quiver to enter into my reins. 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. Commentary on Lamentations 3 by Matthew Henry i. The Lord does not approve. Ps 119 59, I thought on my ways, and turned my feet unto thy testimonies. His experience of God's goodness even in his affliction. Spurgeon suggested many reasons why it is good to bear the yoke when young: b. 16 He hath also broken my teeth with gravel stones, he hath covered me with ashes. That grief returned upon every remembrance of his troubles, and his reflections were as melancholy as his prospects, v. 19, 20. Judge thou my cause, v. 59. Of this, death would deprive him; therefore let not a living man complain. (Clarke), ii. Poetical Books conservative Christian faith, which includes a firm belief in the inerrancy b. Till the LORD from heaven looks down and sees: The intense weeping of Jeremiah and those like him must continue until God looks and sees, taking notice of and mercy to their misery. "I recall it to mind; therefore have I hope, and am kept from downright despair." 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 prophet here laments the injuries and indignities done to those to whom respect used to be shown, ver 1, 2. The prophet complains, 1. 2 15, 16. 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). My strength and my hope have perished from the LORD: No wonder Jeremiah and Jerusalem could say this. My enemies without cause hunted me down like a bird: Jeremiah and those like him felt under constant pressure from capture or killing. 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. 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. It is persecuted of men, but not forsaken of God, and therefore, though it is cast down, it is not destroyed (2 Cor 4 9), corrected, yet not consumed, refined in the furnace as silver, but not consumed as dross. He and many others had seen affliction, and they knew that it came as Gods discipline (the rod of His wrath). For He does not afflict willingly, 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. Error: Passwords should have at least 6 characters, Error: Usernames should only contain letters, numbers, dots, dashes, or underscores. This chapter is another single alphabet of Lamentations for the destruction of Jerusalem, like those in the first two chapters. 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. The former is their state, the latter their fate. But this was not all: Thou saidst, Fear not. Give them a veiled heart; Note, The church of God is like Moses's bush, burning, yet not consumed; whatever hardships it has met with, or may meet with, it shall have a being in the world to the end of time. We must lift up our hearts with our hands, as we must pour out our souls with our words. 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. Lamentations 3 - Clarke's Commentary - StudyLight.org When those who are afflicted in their youth accommodate themselves to their afflictions, fit their necks to the yoke and study to answer God's end in afflicting them, then they will find it good for them to bear it, for it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who are thus exercised thereby. He has hedged me in: This also may refer to the lines drawn round the city during the siege. I make to return to my heart (so the margin words it); what we have had in our hearts, and have laid to our hearts, is sometimes as if it were quite lost and forgotten, till God by his grace make it return to our hearts, that it may be ready to us when we have occasion to use it. Email / username or password was incorrect! Are we punished for our sins? 2 17, 21), but here they correct themselves, and own, 1. In the midst of the peoples. More is implied than is expressed. Here the clouds begin to disperse and the sky to clear up; the complaint was very melancholy in the former part of the chapter, and yet here the tune is altered and the mourners in Zion begin to look a little pleasant. 1. If inward impressions do not answer to outward expressions, we mock God, and deceive ourselves. He was so low that life seemed ebbing out, and he groaned. (Spurgeon), ii. We are men, and not angels, and therefore cannot expect to be free from troubles as they are; we are not inhabitants of that world where there is no sorrow, but this where there is nothing but sorrow. 66 Persecute and destroy them in anger from under the heavens of the Lord. The perverting of justice, and the subverting of the just, are a great affront to God; and, though he may make use of them for the correction of his people, yet he will sooner or later severely reckon with those that do thus. (2.) Verse 40. Judge my case. 3. "I am chained; and as some notorious malefactors are double-fettered, and loaded with irons, so he has made my chain heavy. b. Lord, You have pleaded the case for my soul: From formerly feeling forsaken, Jeremiah rested in the confidence that God was his advocate. Though God serves his own purposes by the violence of wicked and unreasonable men, yet it does no therefore follow that he countenances that violence, as his oppressed people are sometimes tempted to think. We must be far from thinking that, though God cause grief, the world will relieve and help us. Yes, certainly it is; and for the reconciling of us to our own afflictions, whatever they be, this general truth must thus be particularly applied. When they were in the low dungeon, as free among the dead, they called upon God's name (v. 55); their weeping did not hinder praying. of That prayer should not pass through. To the soul who seeks Him. He faithfully announced His judgments and performed them, and God would prove to be just as faithful in His promised restoration. If tribulation work patience, that patience will work experience, and that experience a hope that makes not ashamed. They have created us a great deal of vexation; now, Lord, give them sorrow of heart (v. 65), perplexity of heart" (so some read it); "let them be surrounded with threatening mischiefs on all sides, and not be able to see their way out. The wormwood and the gall. The afflicted church is drowned in tears, and the prophet for her (v. 48, 49): My eye runs down with rivers of water, so abundant was their weeping; it trickles down and ceases not, so constant was their weeping, without any intermission, there being no relaxation of their miseries. VII. (2.) Portions on earth are perishing things, but God is a portion for ever. To every mourner we may say, on the authority of God, Fear not! There may yet be hope. GenesisExodusLeviticusNumbersDeuteronomyJoshuaJudgesRuth1 Samuel2 Samuel1 Kings2 Kings1 Chronicles2 ChroniclesEzraNehemiahEstherJobPsalmsProverbsEcclesiastesSong of SongsIsaiahJeremiahLamentationsEzekielDanielHoseaJoelAmosObadiahJonahMicahNahumHabakkukZephaniahHaggaiZechariahMalachiMatthewMarkLukeJohnActsRomans1 Corinthians2 CorinthiansGalatiansEphesiansPhilippiansColossians1 Thessalonians2 Thessalonians1 Timothy2 TimothyTitusPhilemonHebrewsJames1 Peter2 Peter1 John2 John3 JohnJudeRevelation, Select a Beginning Point They did it by despising him (their reproach), with schemes, with whispering lies, and their taunting song against him. All Rights Reserved. I have become the ridicule of all my people He takes no delight in our pain and misery: yet, like a tender and intelligent parent, he uses the rod; not to gratify himself, but to profit and save us. 61 Thou hast heard their reproach, O Lord, and all their imaginations against me; 62 The lips of those that rose up against me, and their device against me all the day. 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. One can scarcely read this description without feeling the toothache. (Clarke), iii. Let us try our ways, that by them we may try ourselves, for we are to judge of our state not by our faint wishes, but by our steps, not by one particular step, but by our ways, the ends we aim at, the rules we go by, and the agreeableness of the temper of our minds and the tenour of our lives to those ends and those rules. You drew near: Jeremiah seems to record this fact with a considerable amount of surprise. Search out and examine our ways: Sins must not be casually and superficially confessed and dealt with. I said, I am cut off! Do not hide Your ear Let him give his cheek to the one who strikes him, The yoke in his youth: Early habits, when good, are invaluable. God never hides His ear from our breathing; or from those in- articulate cries, which express, as words could not do, the deep anguish and yearning of the heart. 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. Theirs is causeless, and therefore fruitless, it shall not come; but thine is just, and shall take effect. As Abraham said of God, shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? Let us search How are we to get the pardon of our sins? All rights reserved. Bad as things are, it is owing to the mercy of God that they are not worse. Early habits, when good, are invaluable. While we wait for him by faith, we must seek him by prayer: our souls must seek him, else we do not seek so as to find. Let us search and try our ways, search what they have been, and then try whether they have been right and good or no; search as for a malefactor in disguise, that flees and hides himself, and then try whether guilty or not guilty. And God's causing our grief ought to be no discouragement at all to those expectations. Lamentations 3 NLT - Hope in the LORD's Faithfulness - BibleGateway Matthew Henrys Bible Commentary (concise), Matthew Henry Bible Commentary (complete), California - Do Not Sell My Personal Information. Let him sit alone and keep silent, "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." Shall a man complain? iii. It was only a breathing. (Clarke), ii. No; he has more reason to be thankful for life than to complain of any of the burdens and calamities of life. Like a lawyer pleading for his client, God pleaded the case for his life. The more I look upon the desolation of the city and country the more I am grieved. Because God has laid it on him; You have not pardoned. Distressed soul! Afflictions do and will work very much for good: many have found it good to bear this yoke in their youth; it has made many humble and serious, and has weaned them from the world, who otherwise would have been proud and unruly. English Standard Version. i. Gods response to this seeking soul was, Do not fear!, 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). Verse Lamentations 3:2. The Gospels Mine eye affecteth mine heart What I see I feel. 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. 4. Observe how he calls prayer his breathing; for in prayer we breathe towards God, we breathe after him. 58 O Lord, thou hast pleaded the causes of my soul; thou hast redeemed my life. That which is most impressive in this song is the identification of the prophet with the people and with God. The Blue Letter Bible ministry and the BLB Institute hold to the historical, In offering the cheek to the smiter the captive was conveying the idea of absolute surrender. (Harrison). The faithful lament their calamities, and hope in God's mercies. Or, it may be rendered, "let him give his cheek.". He has filled me with bitterness, a bitter sense of his calamities." That is, thou hast made us to all nations extremely contemptible, so as they value us no more than the sweepings of their houses, or the most vile, refuse, and contemptible things imaginable. (Poole). 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. What does Lamentations chapter 3 mean? | BibleRef.com He retains his kindness for his people even when he afflicts them. From my sighing, my cry for help: He dared not even to complain, nor to cry, nor to pray aloud: he was obliged to whisper his prayer to God. Your partnership makes all we do possible. c. Why should a living man complain: We may complain against God and His sovereignty, but that is profitless and ungrateful. II. It is barbarous to trample on those that are down, and to crush those that are bound and cannot help themselves. It is our wisdom then to submit, and to kiss the rod; for, if we still walk contrary to God, he will punish us yet seven times more; for when he judges he will overcome. it is perished! i. 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. Let us see what these things are which he calls to mind. Now he prayed to God as his advocate. a. Verse 9. Verse 39. You can copy the order of your preferred Bible translations from the Bibles Tab to the Version Picker (this popup) or vice versa. (Lamentations 3:37-39) The God who cannot be opposed. The Old Testament He has made my paths crooked. And surrounded me with bitterness and woe. a. (2.) Here we find a different feeling; he humbles himself under the mighty hand of God, and then his hope revives. (Clarke). He has led me and made me walk 7 He has walled me in so I cannot escape; Pauline Epistles of Scripture. He has been to me a bear lying in wait, My soul has them still in remembrance. Like a lion in ambush. If inward impressions be not in some measure answerable to outward expressions, we do but mock God and deceive ourselves. He gets good by the yoke who puts his mouth in the dust, not only lays his hand upon his mouth, in token of submission to the will of God in the affliction, but puts it in the dust, in token of sorrow, and shame, and self-loathing, at the remembrance of sin, and as one perfectly reduced and reclaimed, and brought as those that are vanquished to lick the dust, Ps 72 9. Dr. Blayney thinks that elyon, instead of being referred to God, should be considered as pointing out one of the chief of the people. A sad complaint of God's displeasure and the fruits of it, ver 1-20. Yes, certainly they do; and it is more emphatically expressed in the original: Do not this evil, and this good, proceed out of the mouth of the Most High? It is good for young people to take that yoke upon them in their youth; we cannot begin too soon to be religious. He has hedged me about, that I cannot get out." Many of the young men were carried into captivity. i. How great soever his affliction may be, he is still alive; therefore, he may seek and find mercy unto eternal life. Hab 1 13, Wherefore lookest thou upon those that deal treacherously? A man's heart devises his way; he projects and purposes; he says that he will do so and so (Jam 4 13); but the Lord directs his steps far otherwise than he designed them, and what he contrived and expected does not come to pass, unless it be what God's hand and his counsel had determined before to be done, Prov 16 9; Jer 10 23. Duty prescribed in this afflicted state, ver 37-41. Lamentations 3 English Translation with Parallel Latin Vulgate This page was last edited on 17 April 2023, at 10:57 (UTC). He has led me and made me walk In darkness and not in light. 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 Enduring Word Bible Commentary Lamentations Chapter 3 Verse 17. Every morning brings new forgiveness for new sins. We may bear ourselves up with this, 1. For he doth not afflict willingly It is no pleasure to God to afflict men. Lamentations Chapter 3 Kjv - King James Bible Online That though he makes use of men as his hand, or rather instruments in his hand, for the correcting of his people, yet he is far from being pleased with the injustice of their proceedings and the wrong they do them, v. 34-36. b. "In more ways than one this brings us to the very heart of the book. He does indeed afflict, and grieve the children of men; all their grievances and afflictions are from him. Great and long grief exhausts the spirits, and brings not only many a gray head, but many a green head too, to the grave. David Guzik :: Study Guide for Lamentations 3 Thus restless was the enmity of their persecutors, and yet causeless. The New Testament There was still a remnant, and remnant with a promise of restoration. Cookie Notice: He has set me in dark places Fear and a snare Jeremiah 48:13. But through all of his long and faithful ministry, he was (like the Lord Jesus) despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with much grief. 28 He sitteth alone and keepeth silence, because he hath borne it upon him. 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. Major Prophets i. Instead of Adonai, seventeen MSS., of Kennicott's, and one ancient of my own, have Yehovah. Note, Whatever hard things we suffer, we must never entertain any hard thoughts of God, but must still be ready to own that he is both kind and faithful. 47 Fear and a snare is come upon us, desolation and destruction. "We are the refuse, or dross, in the midst of the people, trodden upon by every body, and looked upon as the vilest of the nations, and good for nothing but to be cast out as salt which has lost its savour. It is good because it gives you more years to serve God. I have been so inured to sorrow and servitude that I know not what joy and liberty mean. 4. Whatever we are robbed of our portion is safe. 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. 2. Let us lift our hearts and hands From the lowest pit. Lamentations 3 New International Version 3 [ a]I am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of the Lord's wrath.
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