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. He will save believers with everlasting salvation, while his enemies perish with everlasting destruction. 3. The reason is, there is nothing more disagreeable to the taste than the one; and nothing more distressing to the mind than the other. Verse 7. 1. 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. Matthew Henrys Bible Commentary (concise), Matthew Henry Bible Commentary (complete), California - Do Not Sell My Personal Information. 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. 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. Through the LORDs mercies we are not consumed, But waiting is good because God is worth waiting for. (Ryken). 1. 2. 4 He has made my skin and my flesh grow old and has broken my bones. The soft, measured breath, or the laboring, gasping breath. 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. Have opened their mouths against us. 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. 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. Cookie Notice: (Lamentations 3:37-39) The God who cannot be opposed. He hath bent his bow, and set me as a mark for the arrow. One can scarcely read this description without feeling the toothache. (Clarke), iii. We must offer up ourselves to God, and our best affections and services, in the flames of devotion, v. 41. No matter how bad the past day was, Gods people can look to the new morning with faith and hope. It was only a breathing. (Clarke), ii. Verse Lamentations 3:65. By this rod we must expect to see affliction, and, if we be made to see more than ordinary affliction by that rod, we must not quarrel, for we are sure that the anger is just and affliction mild and mixed with mercy. 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! When the Lord has not commanded it? He has aged my flesh and my skin, But these and similar expressions in the following verses may be merely metaphorical, to point out their straitened, oppressed, and distressed state. (Clarke), ii. It is good because it gives one many years of experience. "Let us lift up our hand;" let us solemnly promise to be his, and bind ourselves in a covenant to be the Lord's only: so much lifting up the hand to God implies. "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?' 51 Mine eye affecteth mine heart because of all the daughters of my city. "Lamentations" was derived from a translation of the title as found in the Latin Vulgate (Vg.) 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. ( Lamentations 3:21-23 KJV) Verse 23 tells us, "They are new every morning: great is Thy faithfulness," like we sing in the old hymn. He hath covered me with ashes. While there is life there is hope; and instead of complaining that things are bad, we should encourage ourselves with the hope they will be better. Note, Those that are cast down are commonly tempted to think themselves cast off, Ps 31 22; Jon 2 4. Salem Media Group. i. Who is he who speaks and it comes to pass, when the Lord has not commanded it? The Lord does not approve. Why, he was accused of every crime that even Sodom knew; and perjury stood up and swore that all was true. 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. Lamentations 3 - Clarke's Commentary - StudyLight.org The faithful lament their calamities, and hope in God's mercies. Let him put his mouth in the dust 2. Fear and a snare have come upon us, 16 He hath also broken my teeth with gravel stones, he hath covered me with ashes. Yet. 45 Thou hast made us as the offscouring and refuse in the midst of the people. A verification email has been sent to the address you provided. Johannine Writings 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. that come from the rod of the Lord's anger. That while they continued weeping they continued waiting, and neither did nor would expect relief and succour from any hand but his; nothing shall comfort them but his gracious returns, nor shall any thing wipe tears from their eyes till he look down. 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. Lamentations 3 NLT - Hope in the LORD's Faithfulness - BibleGateway He has broken my bones. e. Great is Your faithfulness: All this made Jeremiah consider the great faithfulness of God; that He never fails in sending His mercies and compassions. He has made my paths crooked. Therefore I hope in Him: God couldnt really be his hope until he was first his portion. Hoping and waiting differ but as the mother and daughter, hope being the mother of patience and waiting; or as the habit and act, hoping and waiting being ranch the same, flowing from a gracious power and habit given the soul to wait. It is good for a man to bear Peculiarities To crush under his feet He can neither gain credit nor pleasure in trampling upon those who are already bound, and in suffering; such he knows to be the state of man here below. For the Lord will not cast off forever. 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. Out of the depths have I cried unto thee (Ps 130 1), as Jonah out of the whale's belly. For he doth not afflict willingly It is no pleasure to God to afflict men. Men can do nothing but according to the counsel of God, nor have any power or success but what is given them from above. 2. That those who deal with God will find it is not in vain to trust in him; for, 1. When we are meek and mild towards those who are the instruments of our trouble, and are of a forgiving spirit, v. 30. Let them be dealt with," (1.) Lamentations 3:44 Commentaries: You have covered Yourself with a cloud 8. i. 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. He who has not got under wholesome restraint in youth will never make a useful man, a good man, nor a happy man. (Clarke), ii. (Lamentations 3:24-26) Gods goodness to the seeking soul. If inward impressions do not answer to outward expressions, we mock God, and deceive ourselves. I weep, ways the prophet, more than all the daughters of my city (so the margin reads it); he outdid even those of the tender sex in the expressions of grief. 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. 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. 1. Therefore I have hope. 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? This I recall to my mind, What does Lamentations chapter 3 mean? | BibleRef.com We have little reason to complain of our trouble, for it is our own doing; we may thank ourselves. I. Blue Letter Bible is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Verse 27. In chapter 3, every third of the 66 verses begins with successive Greek letters. 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. d. You have made us an offscouring and refuse: In the desire to turn back to the LORD, Jeremiah knew that it was important to honestly see their condition. The LORD is my portion: As in Psalm 119:57, Jeremiah found the key to satisfactionfinding ones portion in the LORD. Did ever man paint sorrow like this man? Waters of affliction flowed over my head. Would you prayerfully consider a gift of support today? b. Alas! 26 It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord. 38 Out of the mouth of the most High proceedeth not evil and good? Theirs is causeless, and therefore fruitless, it shall not come; but thine is just, and shall take effect. In a magnificent expression of faith in the unfailing mercies of God, the writer looks to the distant future with renewed hope. (Harrison), ii. In Lamentations 3:34-36, certain acts of tyranny, malice, and injustice are specified, which men often indulge themselves in the practice of towards one another, but which the Divine goodness is far from countenancing or approving by any similar conduct. of 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. That, whatever sorrow we are in, it is what God has allotted us, and his hand is in it. VI. He is good to those who do so, v. 25. 1. If inward impressions be not in some measure answerable to outward expressions, we do but mock God and deceive ourselves. again and again, all day long. "Judah" is the population not merely of Jerusalem, but of the whole kingdom . And what are all our sorrows, compared with those of the Redeemer? Though God was righteous, they were unrighteous. And threw stones at me. 53 They have cut off my life in the dungeon, and cast a stone upon me. 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. These are the words of a satisfied soul. Our hearts must go along with our prayers. But, as there, so here, faith gets the last word and comes off a conqueror; for in these verses he concludes with some comfort. 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 . 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. 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). They were surrounded, hedged, and blocked. 2 15, 16. How powerful is this word when spoken by the Spirit of the Lord to a disconsolate heart. From under the heavens of the Lord. To give emphasis, Jeremiah asked the same question in different words. His experience of God's goodness even in his affliction. Jeremiah considers himself as part of these people but thereby repents and puts his hope in spite of all mourning in God. Seeking Him again would bring renewed expressions of His goodness. By soul - is humbled in me. And sinks within me. 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. You drew near: Jeremiah seems to record this fact with a considerable amount of surprise. I am chastened every morning," Ps 73 14. Lamentations 3 is the third chapter of the Book of Lamentations in the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament of the Christian Bible, . They had several times complained that God had not pitied (ch. 6 He hath set me in dark places, as they that be dead of old. Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that woe and well-being proceed? To every mourner we may say, on the authority of God, Fear not! Is it not what he has ordained and appointed for us? c. And turn back to the LORD: All the self-examination in the world does little good if it does not lead us back to this place. 2 10. Prophets Verse 35. He laments the direful effects of the famine to which they were reduced by the siege, ver 3-10. 4 He has made my skin and my flesh grow old and has broken my bones. He has blocked my ways with hewn stone; What have I contributed to the public flames?" He hath made me drunken with wormwood. 5. 2. Did he endeavour as Job did (Job 9 27), to forget his complaint? Historical Books Why do I fret thus?" 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. II. In this patient seeking of God, there is reason for hope. He must therefore quietly wait. 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. III. The Whole Bible 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. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; he forms the light and creates the darkness, as he did at first. And be full of reproach. Verse 33. like those long dead. So unworthy we are that nothing but an abundant mercy will relieve us; and from that what may we not expect? When we are in distress we should, for the encouragement of our faith and hope, observe what makes for us as well as what makes against us. It has already been noticed in the introduction, that this chapter contains a triple acrostic, three lines always beginning with the same letter; so that the Hebrew alphabet is thrice repeated in this chapter, twenty-two multiplied by three being equal to sixty-six. c. Why should a living man complain: We may complain against God and His sovereignty, but that is profitless and ungrateful. 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.

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