We have little reason to complain of our trouble, for it is our own doing; we may thank ourselves. (Lamentations 3:10-18) God an adversary in many ways. it is perished! He has made me drink wormwood. We have been with him, and it has never been well with us since we forsook him; let us therefore now turn again to him." With this should go the complete submission to God pictured in v. 29 by the Oriental obeisance. Verse Lamentations 3:65. 2. I said, I am cut off! Poetical Books Note, Those that are cast down are commonly tempted to think themselves cast off, Ps 31 22; Jon 2 4. A man for the punishment of his sins? These mercies are always new because they come from God. Through the LORDs mercies we are not consumed: This was one of the things Jeremiah remembered. 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. He who has his life still lent to him has small cause of complaint. To pierce my loins: Literally, kidneys. You drew near on the day I called on You, All their schemes against me, He hath - brought me into darkness In the sacred writings, darkness is often taken for calamity; light, for prosperity. Minor Prophets God has access to the spirit, and can so embitter that as thereby to embitter all the enjoyments; as, when the stomach is foul, whatever is eaten sours in it: "He has made me drunk with wormwood, so intoxicated me with the sense of my afflictions that I know not what to say or do. And again, a man! a. Note, It becomes us to have humble hearts under humbling providences, and to renew our penitent humiliations for sin upon every remembrance of our afflictions and miseries. 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). Bible Introductions - Lamentations by John MacArthur Historical Books d. You have seen all their vengeance: Jeremiah brought his case to God, telling him of all the ways that his enemies had attacked him. Note, It is common for base and ill-natured men to run upon, and run down, those that have fallen into the depths of distress from the height of honour. 2. He is not quarrelsome, nor apt to resent injuries; he suffers long and is kind. This was the language of God's prophets preaching to them not to fear (Isa 41 10, 13, 14), of his providence preventing those things which they were afraid of, and of his grace quieting their minds, and making them easy, by the witness of his Spirit with their spirits that they were his people still, though in distress, and therefore ought not to fear. My enemies without cause hunted me down like a bird: Jeremiah and those like him felt under constant pressure from capture or killing. In His wise judgments God caused grief, but promised to also show compassion, and would do so according to the multitude of His mercies. My soul still remembers 1. How great soever his affliction may be, he is still alive; therefore, he may seek and find mercy unto eternal life. d. They are new every morning: Each dawning day gives mankind hope in fresh mercies and compassions from God. Having sunk low in his soul (Lamentations 3:20), Jeremiah now remembered something that started hope within. Our Lord Jesus has left us an example of this, for he gave his back to the smiter, Isa 50 6. 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. To this very day it is asserted by Romanists that Martin Luther was a drunkard. That God appears against him as an enemy, as a professed enemy. 3. The Old Testament 25 The Lord is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him. 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. 1. Verse 51. A serious consideration of ourselves and a reflection upon our past lives. The villages about Jerusalem. That great is his faithfulness. That, when God does cause grief, it is for wise and holy ends, and he takes not delight in our calamities, v. 33. Here Jeremiah fulfills that role with tears that flow and do not cease, without interruption. VIII. Lamentations is the only biblical book which, for the most part, is arranged in acrostic fashion. He who has not got under wholesome restraint in youth will never make a useful man, a good man, nor a happy man. "We have transgressed;" let our confession of sin be fervent and sincere. Historical Books And this is an encouragement to them to hope that he would yet further appear for them: "Thou hast delivered my soul from death, and therefore wilt deliver my feet from falling; thou hast pleaded the causes of my life, and therefore wilt plead my other causes.". Call sin a transgression, call it a rebellion, and you do not miscall it. 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. That they were satisfied that God's gracious regard to them in their miseries would be an effectual redress of all their grievances. Note, Though we may pour out our complaints before God, we must never exhibit any complaints against God. Our enemies have opened their mouths against us (v. 46), have gaped upon us as roaring lions, to swallow us up, or made mouths at us, or have taken liberty to say what they please of us." 2. Therefore I hope in Him! However it be, yet God is good to them (Ps 73 1), and they may by faith see love in his heart even when they see frowns in his face and a rod in his hand. 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. 6 He has made me dwell in darkness. If he show us kindness, it is because so it seems good unto him; but, if he write bitter things against us, it is because we both deserve them and need them. 29 He putteth his mouth in the dust; if so be there may be hope. That he is as one sorely afflicted both in body and mind. (2.) 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. With Lamentations 1:3 begins the specific account of the misery over which Jerusalem sorrows so deeply. The nations recognition of itself as offscouring (so most evv) employs a descriptive term sehi, occurring here only in the Hebrew Bible, and in the context denotes anything rejected as unfit for use. These rivers of mercy run fully and constantly, but never run dry. Note, Those who are truly humbled for sin will be glad to obtain a good hope, through grace, upon any terms, though they put their mouth in the dust for it; and those who would have hope must do so, and ascribe it to free grace if they have any encouragements, which may keep their hearts from sinking into the dust when they put their mouth there. (Lamentations 3:27-29) Hope for the silent soul. ( Lamentations 3:1-21) "I am the man that hath seen affliction by the rod of his wrath. Verse 17. My eyes flow and do not cease, He has made my paths crooked. You have slain and not pitied. I do not see that we gain any thing by this. I am their taunting song. Let us see what these things are which he calls to mind. And be full of reproach. 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. Verse 48. The prophet therefore considers them on the utmost verge of final reprobation: another plunge, and they are lost for ever. In a season of great suffering or calamity, it may be difficult to remember that God rules over all things if not directly, then in what He allows. 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. A sad complaint of God's displeasure and the fruits of it, ver 1-20. 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. i. 2. That God's compassions fail not; they do not really fail, no, not even when in anger he seems to have shut up his tender mercies. Like a lawyer pleading for his client, God pleaded the case for his life. Lamentations 1:3 Commentaries: Judah has gone into exile under Verse 27. You perceive there is not a word concerning himself or his own pleadings. 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. To God in heaven. Verse 47. It was an affliction that was misery itself; for sin makes the cup of . 5. To the soul who seeks Him. 1. VI. It is good because it keeps from bearing the devils yoke. 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). c. Because His compassions fail not: Even in the severity of correction Gods people endured, there was evidence of His compassions. Without interruption, Verse 24. Great is Your faithfulness. We may bear ourselves up with this, 1. We must set ourselves to answer God's intention in afflicting us, which is to bring sin to our remembrance, and to bring us home to himself, v. 40. 3. Commentary on Lamentations 3:22-33 - Working Preacher from Luther Seminary He comes out of his place to punish, for his place is the mercy-seat. We should complain to God, and not of him. This St. Paul refers to in his account of the sufferings of the apostles. 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. He will deliver his people from every trouble, and revive his church from every persecution. And my hope That first, that last support of the miserable-it is gone! 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. It is before the face of the Most High (v. 35); it is in his sight, under his eye, and is very displeasing to him. Its New Testament counterpart (1 Corinthians 4:13) is equally rare, depicting the suffering of the apostles. (Harrison), ii. There may yet be hope. It is good because it gives you more years to serve God. I will stay myself upon him, and encourage myself in him, when all other supports and encouragements fail me." I have drunk the cup of misery till I am intoxicated with it. Here he began to write as the voice of an individual sufferer. 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. 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. Verse 12. 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. You have moved my soul far from peace; Note, We should consider, to our terror and caution, that God knows all the revengeful thoughts we have in our minds against others, and therefore we should not allow of those thoughts nor harbour them, and that he knows all the revengeful thoughts others have causelessly in their minds against us, and therefore we should not be afraid of them, but leave it to him to protect us from them. b. a. So arrows that issue from a quiver are here termed the sons of the quiver. GenesisExodusLeviticusNumbersDeuteronomyJoshuaJudgesRuth1 Samuel2 Samuel1 Kings2 Kings1 Chronicles2 ChroniclesEzraNehemiahEstherJobPsalmsProverbsEcclesiastesSong of SongsIsaiahJeremiahLamentationsEzekielDanielHoseaJoelAmosObadiahJonahMicahNahumHabakkukZephaniahHaggaiZechariahMalachiMatthewMarkLukeJohnActsRomans1 Corinthians2 CorinthiansGalatiansEphesiansPhilippiansColossians1 Thessalonians2 Thessalonians1 Timothy2 TimothyTitusPhilemonHebrewsJames1 Peter2 Peter1 John2 John3 JohnJudeRevelation, Select an Ending Point Let him put his mouth in the dust Verse 18. 44 Thou hast covered thyself with a cloud, that our prayer should not pass through. Article Images Copyright 2023 Getty Images unless otherwise indicated. Lamentations 3:1-66 . It is good for a man to bear the yoke in his youth: There are seasons of adversity, and sometimes it is better to have those seasons when one is young. What Does Lamentations 3:32 Mean? These past deliverances created his assurance that Jehovah would yet act on behalf of His people and destroy their enemies from under the heavens. (Morgan), 2021 The Enduring Word Bible Commentary by David Guzik ewm@enduringword.com, The Whole Bible You have covered Yourself with anger 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. has Jehovah. 2. The sufferings of the people of Judah are described as though one man had experienced them. 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, said the master, I have first to teach you to hold your tongue, and afterwards to instruct you how to speak. The Lord teaches true penitents how to hold their tongues. (Spurgeon), ii. He has bent his bow, the bow that was ordained against the church's prosecutors, that is bent against her sons, v. 12. If inward impressions do not answer to outward expressions, we mock God, and deceive ourselves. Earlier in this chapter, Jeremiah felt God was his adversary (Lamentations 3:1-18).
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