That, bad as things are, it is owing to the mercy of God that they are not worse. 26 It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord. b. To pierce my loins: Literally, kidneys. David Guzik :: Study Guide for Lamentations 3 with bitterness and hardship. Waters of affliction flowed over my head. 2. Their enemies chased them till they had quite prevailed over them (v. 53): They have cut off my life in the dungeon. 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). Blayney translates, "Thou wilt give with a hearty concordance thy curse unto them." Lamentations 3 Commentary - Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the My eyes overflow with rivers of water: Earlier in Lamentations 2:18 Jeremiah expressed a prayer in the mouth of Jerusalems enemies, a prayer that the city and her walls would weep without end. Verse 35. GenesisExodusLeviticusNumbersDeuteronomyJoshuaJudgesRuth1 Samuel2 Samuel1 Kings2 Kings1 Chronicles2 ChroniclesEzraNehemiahEstherJobPsalmsProverbsEcclesiastesSong of SongsIsaiahJeremiahLamentationsEzekielDanielHoseaJoelAmosObadiahJonahMicahNahumHabakkukZephaniahHaggaiZechariahMalachiMatthewMarkLukeJohnActsRomans1 Corinthians2 CorinthiansGalatiansEphesiansPhilippiansColossians1 Thessalonians2 Thessalonians1 Timothy2 TimothyTitusPhilemonHebrewsJames1 Peter2 Peter1 John2 John3 JohnJudeRevelation, Use semicolons to separate groups: 'Gen;Jdg;Psa-Mal' or 'Rom 3-12;Mat 1:15;Mat 5:12-22', There are options set in 'Advanced Options', The Whole Bible Minor Prophets 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." They complain of his frowns and the tokens of his displeasure against them. By their conduct they will bring on themselves the curse denounced against their enemies. 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. Here Jeremiah fulfills that role with tears that flow and do not cease, without interruption. The reasons here urged are very cogent. 3. Every morning brings new strength for new temptations, duties, and trials. My eyes overflow with rivers of water Let the curse be executed, v. 66. 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. Do not hide Your ear Let them be dealt with," (1.) That God appears against him as an enemy, as a professed enemy. He has pulled me in pieces; he has torn and is gone away (Hos 5 14), and has made me desolate, has deprived me of all society and all comfort in my own soul." He silenced their fears, and quieted their spirits. That God does not approve of them. Salem Media Group. But the complaints here are somewhat more general than those in the foregoing chapter, being accommodated to the case as well of particular persons as of the public, and intended for the use of the closet rather than of the solemn assembly. Major Prophets 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. "I recall it to mind; therefore have I hope, and am kept from downright despair." This chapter is another single alphabet of Lamentations for the destruction of Jerusalem, like those in the first two chapters. Our own wickedness corrects us, Prov 19 3. Verse 30. 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. 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. Since the text and audio content provided by BLB represent a IV. The passage is full of beauty, as it deals with that tender compassion of God which had never been absent even in the work of punishment. (Morgan). That God has compassions and comforts in store even for those whom he has himself grieved. V. That afflictions are really good for us, and, if we bear them aright, will work very much for our good. God therefore disapproves heartily of any attempt to deprive an individual of his rights in the law (36), or to condemn him unjustly. (Harrison). He has filled me with bitterness, Lamentations 3 - NIV Bible - I am the man who has seen affliction by Those curses came upon Jerusalem in Jeremiahs day; now he prayed that those curses come upon their enemies. (Lamentations 3:57-63) Thankful and confident of future help. If God disciplines us when we are young, it is to train us for a fruitful future. The prophet tells us: 3. 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. It was an affliction that was misery itself; for sin makes the cup of affliction a bitter cup. The Lord is my portion Psalms 119:57. "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." 2. Portions on earth are perishing things, but God is a portion for ever. Pursue and destroy them 1 Andrew E. Hill and John H. Walton, A Survey of the Old Testament, 334.LaSor, Hubbard, and Bush affirm that Some rabbis also used the name Qinot, meaning 'funeral dirges' or 'lamentations (Old Testament Survey, 617).2 LaSor, Hubbard, and Bush, Old Testament Survey, 617.. 3 Hill and Walton write, The despairing tone of the petition for national renewal in the closing lines of the final poem (5 . Jerusalem was the tabret they played upon. My soul, having them in remembrance, is humbled in me, not only oppressed with a sense of the trouble, but in bitterness for sin. The more I look upon the desolation of the city and country the more I am grieved. This I recall to my mind, Yet most people today have never heard of John Gill. He who has not got under wholesome restraint in youth will never make a useful man, a good man, nor a happy man. Though the covenant seemed to be broken, they owned that it still continued in full force; and, though Jerusalem be in ruins, the truth of the Lord endures for ever. 2. Wherever God leaves life, He leaves hope. My seeing eye affects my heart. Destroy them from under the heavens of the Lord; let them have no benefit of the light and influence of the heavens. A sincere conversion to God: "Let us turn again to the Lord, to him who is turned against us and whom we have turned from; to him let us turn by repentance and reformation, as to our owner and ruler. Wherefore doth a living man complain He who has his life still lent to him has small cause of complaint. 55 I called upon thy name, O Lord, out of the low dungeon. Like the book of Job, Lamentations pictures a man of God puzzling over the results of evil and suffering in the world. An Introduction to the Book of Lamentations | Bible.org He has hedged me in: Harrison saw this as a picture of cruel imprisonment. and has broken my bones. You drew near on the day I called on You, 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. i. it is perished! Those whom thou cursest are cursed indeed. This is unfortunate, since his works contain priceless gems of information that are found nowhere except in the ancient writings of the Jews. In the time of his trial the Lord had become terrible to him. 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. 3. III. b. like those long dead. 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. 37 Who is he that saith, and it cometh to pass, when the Lord commandeth it not? That, whatever sorrow we are in, it is what God has allotted us, and his hand is in 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. 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. Lamentations 3 Commentary - John Gill's Exposition of the Bible He delights not in the death of sinners, or the disquiet of saints, but punishes with a kind of reluctance. The Lord approved not. And covered me with ashes. 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. (Lamentations 3:64-66) Giving vengeance to God. GenesisExodusLeviticusNumbersDeuteronomyJoshuaJudgesRuth1 Samuel2 Samuel1 Kings2 Kings1 Chronicles2 ChroniclesEzraNehemiahEstherJobPsalmsProverbsEcclesiastesSong of SongsIsaiahJeremiahLamentationsEzekielDanielHoseaJoelAmosObadiahJonahMicahNahumHabakkukZephaniahHaggaiZechariahMalachiMatthewMarkLukeJohnActsRomans1 Corinthians2 CorinthiansGalatiansEphesiansPhilippiansColossians1 Thessalonians2 Thessalonians1 Timothy2 TimothyTitusPhilemonHebrewsJames1 Peter2 Peter1 John2 John3 JohnJudeRevelation, Select a Beginning Point Lamentations 3 - Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible - Bible To crush under ones feet He has aged my flesh and my skin, Time and time again throughout the day. "In more ways than one this brings us to the very heart of the book. 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. He has not only failed in his dutyhis own suffering has left him without peace, happiness, energy, or hope (verses 17-18). In addition, emotional attributes of joy (Proverbs 23:16) and sorrow (Job 19:27; Psalm 73:21) were credited to them. (Harrison). Did ever man paint sorrow like this man? III. 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. 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. i. He is good to all; his tender mercies are over all his works; all his creatures taste of his goodness. They look upon the Jewish nation as dead and buried, and imagine that there is not possibility of its resurrection. 1 I am the man who has seen affliction under the rod of his wrath; 2 he has driven and brought me into darkness without any light; 3 surely against me he turns his hand again and again the whole day long. 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. 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. 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. c. Because His compassions fail not: Even in the severity of correction Gods people endured, there was evidence of His compassions. that we may each of us mend one, and then we should all be mended. But the weakest believer is wrong, if he thinks that his strength and hope are perished from the Lord. Are we suffering for our sins? What have I contributed to the public flames?" It was and is worse to be at the mercy of blind fate. a. 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. So unworthy we are that nothing but an abundant mercy will relieve us; and from that what may we not expect? Lamentations 3:21-23 | It Is Through the Lord's Mercies That We Are Saved Or, My weeping eye affects my heart; the venting of the grief, instead of easing it, did but increase and exasperate it. What hope is there of either peace or prosperity? i. Verse 57. 3 He has turned his hand against me. 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. He has bent his bow, the bow that was ordained against the church's prosecutors, that is bent against her sons, v. 12. Johannine Writings VIII. He will deliver his people from every trouble, and revive his church from every persecution. More is implied than is expressed. 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. Even in their catastrophe, God was faithful. In this patient seeking of God, there is reason for hope. All rights reserved. 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. The Lord does not approve. ( Lamentations 3:1-9) The man afflicted by the LORD. See Jeremiah 38:6, &c. Verse 56. What does Lamentations chapter 3 mean? | BibleRef.com I do not see that we gain any thing by this. The vital word in this verse is ?ese? There may yet be hope. Blue Letter Bible is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. II. 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. Thus Ezekiel saw it, in vision, a valley full of dead and dry bones. 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. In a magnificent expression of faith in the unfailing mercies of God, the writer looks to the distant future with renewed hope. (Harrison), ii. Lamentations is the only biblical book which, for the most part, is arranged in acrostic fashion. Oh, no: the Lord is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him. (Spurgeon), ii. The reflected beams of God's kindness to them used to be the beauty of Israel; but now "thou hast covered us with anger, so that our glory is concealed and gone; now God is angry with us, and we do not appear that illustrious people that we have formerly been thought to be." This St. Paul refers to in his account of the sufferings of the apostles. If you cannot speak, cry, sob, or groan, then be still. He has made me desolate. Verse 22. They shall be not only excluded from the happiness of the invisible heavens, but cut off from the comfort even of these visible ones, which are the heavens of the Lord (Ps 115 16) and which those therefore are unworthy to be taken under the protection of who rebel against him. Verse 36. He has caused the arrows of His quiver He hath made me drunken with wormwood. 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. It is all what God orders; every man's judgment proceeds from him. God can interpret all. (Meyer). But for hope, the heart would break. Some read it, at my gasping. Our Lord Jesus has left us an example of this, for he gave his back to the smiter, Isa 50 6. It was an affliction that was misery itself; for sin makes the cup of . Of this, death would deprive him; therefore let not a living man complain. (Clarke), ii. For He does not afflict willingly, Their enemies persecuted and slew them, but that was not the worst of it; they were but the instruments in God's hand: "Thou hast persecuted us, and thou hast slain us, though we expected thou wouldst protect and deliver us." Almost in all countries, and in all languages, bitterness is a metaphor to express trouble and affliction. The malice they had against him: "Thou hast seen all their vengeance, how they desire to do me a mischief, as if it were by way of reprisal for some great injury I had done them." They cannot but know it is so, and therefore it is in defiance of him that they do it. I. 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. Its New Testament counterpart (1 Corinthians 4:13) is equally rare, depicting the suffering of the apostles. (Harrison), ii. While they continued weeping, they continued waiting; and neither did nor would expect relief and succour from any but the Lord. And their whispering against me all the day. Lamentations 3 Hebrew with Rashi's Commentary; Christian. GenesisExodusLeviticusNumbersDeuteronomyJoshuaJudgesRuth1 Samuel2 Samuel1 Kings2 Kings1 Chronicles2 ChroniclesEzraNehemiahEstherJobPsalmsProverbsEcclesiastesSong of SongsIsaiahJeremiahLamentationsEzekielDanielHoseaJoelAmosObadiahJonahMicahNahumHabakkukZephaniahHaggaiZechariahMalachiMatthewMarkLukeJohnActsRomans1 Corinthians2 CorinthiansGalatiansEphesiansPhilippiansColossians1 Thessalonians2 Thessalonians1 Timothy2 TimothyTitusPhilemonHebrewsJames1 Peter2 Peter1 John2 John3 JohnJudeRevelation, Select a Beginning Point There are times when the only thing a sufferer can do is wait for God. 9 He hath inclosed my ways with hewn stone, he hath made my paths crooked. "Our Daily Homily: Isaiah-Malachi" Volume 4 (Westwood, New Jersey: Revell, 1966), Morgan, G. Campbell "Searchlights from the Word" (New York: Revell, 1926), Morgan, G. Campbell "An Exposition of the Whole Bible" (Old Tappan, New Jersey: Revell, 1959), Poole, Matthew "A Commentary on the Holy Bible" Volume 2 (Psalms-Malachi) (London: Banner of Truth Trust, 1968), Ryken, Philip Graham "Jeremiah and Lamentations: From Sorrow to Hope" (Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway, 2001), Spurgeon, Charles Haddon "The New Park Street Pulpit" Volumes 1-6 and "The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit" Volumes 7-63 (Pasadena, Texas: Pilgrim Publications, 1990), Trapp, John "A Commentary on the Old and New Testaments" Volume 3 (Proverbs to Daniel) (Eureka, California: Tanski Publications, 1997). Is it not what he has ordained and appointed for us? 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. In the process of remembering Gods attributes, Jeremiah was drawn back into living fellowship and intimate communion with his faithful God. (Ryken). 11 He hath turned aside my ways, and pulled me in pieces: he hath made me desolate. One can scarcely read this description without feeling the toothache. a. For the Lord will not cast off forever. Ps 119 59, I thought on my ways, and turned my feet unto thy testimonies. The people of this once great city experienced the judgment of the holy God, and the results were devastating. Johannine Writings 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. He that knows all things knew, (1.) Verse Lamentations 3:66. i. God is an inexhaustible fountain of mercy, the Father of mercies. 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. It is good because it gives one many years of experience. i. And threw stones at me. He comes out of his place to punish, for his place is the mercy-seat. Therefore I have hope. That God is angry. 2. This is here laid down as a great truth, which will help to quiet our spirits under our afflictions and to sanctify them to us. To be thrown into a mass or bed of perfect dust, where the eyes are blinded by it, the ears stopped, and the mouth and lungs filled at the very first attempt to respire after having been thrown into it-what a horrible idea of suffocation and drowning! Whatever we are robbed of our portion is safe. 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. 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. They are new every morning; Now he prayed to God as his advocate. Early discipline is equally so. The Gospels 1. Jeremiah considers himself as part of these people but thereby repents and puts his hope in spite of all mourning in God. In three things the prophet and his pious friends had found God good to them:1. Their case was really pitiable, yet they complain, Thou hast not pitied, v. 43. Poetical Books God will take his part, and bring him safely through all hardships. This gives both birth and bitterness to the affliction (v. 1): I am the man, the remarkable man, that has seen affliction, and has felt it sensibly, by the rod of his wrath. Proud member It is good that one should hope and wait quietly II. 7. The reason is, there is nothing more disagreeable to the taste than the one; and nothing more distressing to the mind than the other. In darkness and not in light. Thou hast removed my soul Prosperity is at such an utter distance from me, that it is impossible I should ever reach it; and as to happiness, I have forgotten whether I have ever tasted of it. One can scarcely read this description without feeling the toothache. (Clarke), iii. b. Or, it may be rendered, "let him give his cheek.". b. 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. These mercies are always new because they come from God. 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. Have opened their mouths against us. The Blue Letter Bible ministry and the BLB Institute hold to the historical, 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. Pauline Epistles He has bent His bow He was so low that life seemed ebbing out, and he groaned. (Spurgeon), ii. Verse 12. Jeremiah 20:1-2). (Ellison). 30 He giveth his cheek to him that smiteth him: he is filled full with reproach. (Lamentations 3:21-23) New mercies from a faithful God. Wisdom Literature Without doubt it was his infirmity to say this (Ps 77 10), for with God there is everlasting strength, and he is his people's never-failing hope, whatever they may think. 64 Render unto them a recompence, O Lord, according to the work of their hands. 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. By proceeding, you consent to our cookie usage. Let him give his cheek to the one who strikes him, Persecute and destroy them Thou wilt pursue them with destruction. Let us see what these things are which he calls to mind. 2. 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. 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. We are living men. To the soul who seeks Him. 2. "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?' Jeremiah had no other place of satisfaction, so he was settled with the portion received, and that portion was the LORD Himself. 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. Even when I cry and shout, d. They are new every morning: Each dawning day gives mankind hope in fresh mercies and compassions from God. It is our duty, and will be our comfort and satisfaction, to hope and quietly to wait for the salvation of the Lord. In chapter 3, every third of the 66 verses begins with successive Greek letters. Their destruction is compared not only to the burying of a dead man, but to the sinking of a living man into the water, who cannot long be a living man there, v. 54. The captives in Babylon had all the miseries of the siege in their mind continually and the flames and ruins of Jerusalem still before their eyes, and wept when they remembered Zion; nay, they could never forget Jerusalem, Ps 137 1, 5. Luke-Acts According to the work of their hands. Yet He will show compassion Out of the depths have I cried unto thee (Ps 130 1), as Jonah out of the whale's belly. A verification email has been sent to the address you provided. 33 For he doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men.