3. (Read Lamentations 3:21-36) Having stated his distress and temptation, the prophet shows how he was raised above it. c. Because His compassions fail not: Even in the severity of correction Gods people endured, there was evidence of His compassions. 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). We are men, and not devils, are not in that deplorable, helpless, hopeless, state that they are in, but have something to comfort ourselves with which they have not. Salem Media Group. He faithfully announced His judgments and performed them, and God would prove to be just as faithful in His promised restoration. (3.) Repay them, O LORD, Though God was righteous, they were unrighteous. When nations go through times of tragedy and tribulation, the greatest suffering always takes place at the individual level. (Ryken), iii. He has mingled gravel with my bread, so that my teeth are broken with it (v. 16) and what I eat is neither pleasant nor nourishing. The Whole Bible II. They complain of their own excessive grief and fear upon this account. b. 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. Instead of Adonai, seventeen MSS., of Kennicott's, and one ancient of my own, have Yehovah. 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." 2. We read it as a petition for further audience: Hide not thy ear. 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. Even if he could only manage a sigh, it would be his cry for help that he longed for God to hear. He who has his life still lent to him has small cause of complaint. We may bear ourselves up with this, 1. Clarke, Adam "Clarke's Commentary: The Holy Bible Containing the Old and New Testaments with a Commentary and Critical Notes" Volume 4 (Isaiah-Malachi) (New York: Eaton and Mains, 1827), Ellison, H.L. He appeals to God's judgment upon this fact: "Lord, thou hast seen my wrong; there is no need of any evidence to prove it, nor any prosecutor to enforce and aggravate it; thou seest it in its true colours; and now I leave it with thee. thou hast pleaded the causes of my soul" (that is, as it follows), "thou hast redeemed my life, hast rescued that out of the hands of those who would have taken it away, hast saved that when it was ready to be swallowed up, hast given me that for a prey." He will deliver his people from every trouble, and revive his church from every persecution. He has broken my bones. To give emphasis, Jeremiah asked the same question in different words. Like many psalms (see Psalms 22 and 88 for examples), the poem begins with painful and heartfelt statements about the horrors of the author (Lamentations 3:1-20). The next figure is not less expressive. Do men shoot at those thy are enemies to? a. He shuts out my prayer. (Lamentations 3:57-63) Thankful and confident of future help. Verse 57. According to the work of their hands. c. Why should a living man complain: We may complain against God and His sovereignty, but that is profitless and ungrateful. The streams of mercy acknowledged: We are not consumed. Do not fear: How powerful is this word when spoken by the Spirit of the Lord to a disconsolate heart. Every morning brings new strength for new temptations, duties, and trials. Verse 28. In their depths of affliction, this was not the experience of Jeremiah and the people of Judah. 2. It is sin that makes the cup of affliction a bitter cup. Why, he was accused of every crime that even Sodom knew; and perjury stood up and swore that all was true. of b. Lord, You have pleaded the case for my soul: From formerly feeling forsaken, Jeremiah rested in the confidence that God was his advocate. 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. Darkness is put for great trouble and perplexity, the want both of comfort and of direction; this was the case of the complainant (v. 2): "He has led me by his providence, and an unaccountable chain of events, into darkness and not into light, the darkness I feared and not into the light I hoped for." a. The wormwood and the gall. Let them be dealt with," (1.) Commentary on Lamentations 3:22-33 - Working Preacher Lamentations 3 Commentary - Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible The sovereign God alone can revive it. He hath builded against me Perhaps there is a reference here to the mounds and ramparts raised by the Chaldeans in order to take the city. Observe here, 1. 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. Our hearts must go with our prayers. (Lamentations 3:30-36) The goodness of God even in His justice. Oh, Book of books, the map of the way to glory; that man invokes a terrible curse upon his own head who refuses to study thee! Verse 7. The caliph replied, 'The children of Adam must flee unto the Lord.'" 3. The Gospels 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. Mine enemies chased me From this to the end of the chapter the prophet speaks of his own personal sufferings, and especially of those which he endured in the dungeon. He has also broken my teeth with gravel: 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. 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. 2. He comes out of his place to punish, for his place is the mercy-seat. My soul still remembers and sinks within me: It was good for Jeremiahs soul to sink, to find its bottom point so that he could build on the right foundation. They are new every morning: great is Thy faithfulness. GenesisExodusLeviticusNumbersDeuteronomyJoshuaJudgesRuth1 Samuel2 Samuel1 Kings2 Kings1 Chronicles2 ChroniclesEzraNehemiahEstherJobPsalmsProverbsEcclesiastesSong of SongsIsaiahJeremiahLamentationsEzekielDanielHoseaJoelAmosObadiahJonahMicahNahumHabakkukZephaniahHaggaiZechariahMalachiMatthewMarkLukeJohnActsRomans1 Corinthians2 CorinthiansGalatiansEphesiansPhilippiansColossians1 Thessalonians2 Thessalonians1 Timothy2 TimothyTitusPhilemonHebrewsJames1 Peter2 Peter1 John2 John3 JohnJudeRevelation, Select a Beginning Point In chapter 3, every third of the 66 verses begins with successive Greek letters. In 1, 2, and 4, each of the 22 verses begins with a successive letter of the Greek alphabet. Shall a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins? This is the result of their searching and trying their ways; the more they enquired into them the worse they found them. To pierce my loins: Literally, kidneys. In the time of his trial the Lord had become terrible to him. 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. 18 And I said, My strength and my hope is perished from the Lord: 19 Remembering mine affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall. Lamentations 3:21-23 | It Is Through the Lord's Mercies That We Are Saved We are sinful men, and what we complain of, is far less than our sins deserve. Lamentations 3 Bible Commentary - Matthew Henry (concise) - Christianity 1. We are men; let us herein show ourselves men. 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. "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." Every morning brings new provision for the day. And turn back to the LORD; When we are meek and mild towards those who are the instruments of our trouble, and are of a forgiving spirit, v. 30. He is good to those who do so, v. 25. Lamentations 3:21 Commentaries: This I recall to my mind, Therefore I This is the consequence of their hardening their hearts from thy fear. Words of comfort to God's people when they are in trouble and distress, ver 21-36. Pentateuch Verse 9. He has hedged me about, that I cannot get out." VII. From my sighing, from my cry for help.. The distemper was in continual extremity, and they had no better day. Portions on earth are perishing things, but God is portion for ever. Waters of affliction flowed over my head. Verse Lamentations 3:5. It is the heart that God looks at in that and every other service; for what will a sacrifice without a heart avail? And could God hear them out of the low dungeon, and would he? Early discipline is equally so. i. While they continued weeping, they continued waiting; and neither did nor would expect relief and succour from any but the Lord. With this should go the complete submission to God pictured in v. 29 by the Oriental obeisance. 49 Mine eye trickleth down, and ceaseth not, without any intermission, 50 Till the Lord look down, and behold from heaven. 4 He has made my skin and my flesh grow old. Their sins were repented of, and yet (v. 42), Thou hast not pardoned. Jerusalem was the tabret they played upon. He delights not in the death of sinners, or the disquiet of saints, but punishes with a kind of reluctance. 41 Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens. This St. Paul refers to in his account of the sufferings of the apostles. Judge thou my cause, v. 59. 8. There may yet be hope. By their conduct they will bring on themselves the curse denounced against their enemies. It will make our duty the more acceptable to God, and easy to ourselves, if we engage in it when we are young. Its New Testament counterpart (1 Corinthians 4:13) is equally rare, depicting the suffering of the apostles. (Harrison), ii. Let us search out and examine our ways, I am the man that hath seen affliction Either the prophet speaks here of himself, or he is personating his miserable countrymen. All rights reserved. Yet this is mercy in comparison with those who put them in prison, and keep them there, when they know that it is impossible, from the state of the laws, to lessen the debt by their confinement. 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? If men injure them by force of arms, God does not approve of that. "In more ways than one this brings us to the very heart of the book. This intimates, (1.) He does indeed afflict, and grieve the children of men; all their grievances and afflictions are from him. Our seeking will help to keep up our waiting. VI. 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. 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. 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. You drew near on the day I called on You, (2.) That even in the depth of their affliction they still have experience of the tenderness of the divine pity and the truth of the divine promise. The soft, measured breath, or the laboring, gasping breath. 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. Why Does God Compare Our Relationship with Him to That of a Bride and Groom? Note, God has many arrows in his quiver, and they fly swiftly and pierce deeply. 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. And set me up as a target for the arrow. You drew near on the day I called on You: Jeremiah knew that God responded when he called upon Him. 2. I. 5. Bad as things are, it is owing to the mercy of God that they are not worse. Get Your Bible Minute in Your Inbox Every Morning. b. The prophet here laments the injuries and indignities done to those to whom respect used to be shown, ver 1, 2. Persecute and destroy them in anger, as they persecute and destroy us in their anger. This is unfortunate, since his works contain priceless gems of information that are found nowhere except in the ancient writings of the Jews. That we may be entitled to the comforts administered to the afflicted in the foregoing verses, and may taste the sweetness of them, we have here the duties of an afflicted state prescribed to us, in the performance of which we may expect those comforts. If we call this to mind, we may have hope that all will end well at last. They are new every morning Day and night proclaim the mercy and compassion of God. 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. Here we find a different feeling; he humbles himself under the mighty hand of God, and then his hope revives, Lamentations 3:21. He remembered that as beat down and defeated the people of Jerusalem and Judah were, they were not yet completely consumed. Destroy them in such a manner that all who see it may say, It is a destruction from the Almighty, who sits in the heavens and laughs at them (Ps 2 4), and may own that the heavens do rule," Dan 4 26. 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. In the time of his trial the Lord had become terrible to him. In His wise judgments God caused grief, but promised to also show compassion, and would do so according to the multitude of His mercies. It is good because it gives one many years of experience. in the resource materials are not necessarily affirmed, in total, by this ministry. Lamentations 1:3 Commentaries: Judah has gone into exile under That, whatever men's lot is, it is God that orders it: Out of the mouth of the Most High do not evil and good proceed? 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. 1. Una eademque manus vulnus opemque tulitThe same hand inflicted the wound and healed it. From under the heavens of the Lord. Luke-Acts There are times when the only thing a sufferer can do is wait for God. It is barbarous to trample on those that are down, and to crush those that are bound and cannot help themselves. Note, It is our duty to make God the portion of our souls, and then to make use of him as our portion and to take the comfort of it in the midst of our lamentations. They complain of the lamentable destruction that their enemies made of them (v. 47): Fear and a snare have come upon us; the enemies have not only terrified us with those alarms, but prevailed against us by their stratagems, and surprised us with the ambushes they laid for us; and then follows nothing but desolation and destruction, the destruction of the daughter of my people (v. 48), of all the daughters of my city, v. 51. As breathing is a proof of animal life, so is prayer, though never so weak, of spiritual. The prophet here seems to check himself for the complaint he had made in the former part of the chapter, wherein he seemed to reflect upon God as unkind and severe. What! Like the dead of long ago. English Standard Version. To turn aside the right of a man To make a man lose his right, because one of the higher orders opposes him. The lips of my enemies When we are sedate and quiet under our afflictions, when we sit alone and keep silence, do not run to and fro into all companies with our complaints, aggravating our calamities, and quarrelling with the disposals of Providence concerning us, but retire into privacy, that we may in a day of adversity consider, sit alone, that we may converse with God and commune with our own hearts, silencing all discontented distrustful thoughts, and laying our hand upon our mouth, as Aaron, who, under a very severe trial, held his peace. He who has not got under wholesome restraint in youth will never make a useful man, a good man, nor a happy man. That prayer should not pass through. Let us search out and examine our ways, and turn back to the LORD: Even under the great sense that God was their opponent and adversary (Lamentations 3:1-18), Jeremiah recommended the proper and humble approach. There was still a remnant, and remnant with a promise of restoration. "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. 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. The living man should be grateful he still has life, and recognize there is some justice in the punishment of his sins. It is good because obedience to God is best learned when young. Those whom thou cursest are cursed indeed. 3. If he does not willingly grieve the children of men, much less his own children. My eyes flow and do not cease, My soul has them still in remembrance. 1. 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. 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. He hath made me drunken with wormwood. Here Jeremiah fulfills that role with tears that flow and do not cease, without interruption. Individual instructors or editors may still require the use of URLs. The designs and projects they had laid to do him a mischief: Thou hast seen all their imaginations against me (v. 60), and again, "Thou hast heard all their imaginations against me (v. 61), both the desire and the device they have to ruin me; whether it show itself in word or deed, it is known to thee; nay, though the products of it are not to be seen nor heard, yet their device against me all the day is perceived and understood by him to whom all things are naked and open." 3. In Your anger, 59 O Lord, thou hast seen my wrong: judge thou my cause. (Lamentations 3:37-39) The God who cannot be opposed. "Let us lift up our heart;" let us make fervent prayer and supplication for mercy. Looks down and sees. Oh, no: the Lord is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him. (Spurgeon), ii. Alas! Judge my case. No; the very same that caused the grief must bring in the favour, or we are undone. He has filled me with bitterness, a bitter sense of his calamities." III. The Lord approved not. Lamentations 3 Commentary - John Gill's Exposition of the Bible You drew near: Jeremiah seems to record this fact with a considerable amount of surprise. II. It is all what God orders; every man's judgment proceeds from him. So arrows that issue from a quiver are here termed the sons of the quiver. In offering the cheek to the smiter the captive was conveying the idea of absolute surrender. (Harrison). That, bad as things are, it is owing to the mercy of God that they are not worse. He has hedged me in so that I cannot get out; For the Lord will not cast off forever. Yet most people today have never heard of John Gill. 6 He hath set me in dark places, as they that be dead of old. c. He has besieged me: Even as Jerusalem was literally besieged, so Jeremiah (and countless others) felt themselves surrounded by bitterness and woe and slowly strangled by God. He appeals to God's knowledge of the matter of fact, how very spiteful and malicious his enemies were (v. 59): "O Lord! i. It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. And to us who profess Christianity it may be added, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ as having died for thee; and thou shalt not perish, but have everlasting life. 21 This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope. We should observe what makes for us, as well as what is against us. Desolation and destruction. 57 Thou drewest near in the day that I called upon thee: thou saidst, Fear not. It was only a breathing. Through the LORDs mercies we are not consumed: This was one of the things Jeremiah remembered. i. Lamentations 3 - Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible - Bible 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. The issue or effect; the subject, adjunct, or accident, or produce of a thing, is frequently denominated its son or child. Historical Books 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. These complaints we had before, ch. Lamentations 1:3. Let us search How are we to get the pardon of our sins? Who is he who speaks and it comes to pass, when the Lord has not commanded it? Give them a veiled heart; That those who deal with God will find it is not in vain to trust in him; for, 1. We are apt, in times of calamity, to reflect on other people's ways, and blame them; but our duty is to search and try our own ways, that we may turn from evil to God. III. Or, let us put our heart on our hand, and offer it to God; so some have translated this clause. Blue Letter Bible offers several daily devotional readings in order to help you refocus on Christ and the Gospel of His peace and righteousness. He had heard their prayers; though they had been ready to fear that the cloud of wrath was such as their prayers could not pass through (v. 44), yet upon second thoughts, or at least upon further trial, they find it otherwise, and that God had not said unto them, Seek you me in vain. Verse Lamentations 3:66. Thou hast seen - all their imaginations Every thing is open to the eye of God. a. To God in heaven. 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.
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