That, whatever sorrow we are in, it is what God has allotted us, and his hand is in it. 16 He hath also broken my teeth with gravel stones, he hath covered me with ashes. 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. He has led me and made me walk (Lamentations 3:48-51) Weeping over destruction. This must accompany the former and be the fruit of it; therefore we must search and try our ways, that we may turn from the evil of them to God. Note, The most secret contrivances of the church's enemies are perfectly known to the church's God, from whom they can hide nothing. Verse 7. One can scarcely read this without feeling a suppression of breath, or a stricture upon the lungs! III. Verse 39. Lamentations 3 Hebrew with Rashi's Commentary; Christian. so Job argues, ch. Others have been consumed round about us, and we ourselves have been in the consuming, and yet we are not consumed; we are out of the grave; we are out of hell. Silence implies both an acceptance of Gods will and a refusal to complain to men. 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. GenesisExodusLeviticusNumbersDeuteronomyJoshuaJudgesRuth1 Samuel2 Samuel1 Kings2 Kings1 Chronicles2 ChroniclesEzraNehemiahEstherJobPsalmsProverbsEcclesiastesSong of SongsIsaiahJeremiahLamentationsEzekielDanielHoseaJoelAmosObadiahJonahMicahNahumHabakkukZephaniahHaggaiZechariahMalachiMatthewMarkLukeJohnActsRomans1 Corinthians2 CorinthiansGalatiansEphesiansPhilippiansColossians1 Thessalonians2 Thessalonians1 Timothy2 TimothyTitusPhilemonHebrewsJames1 Peter2 Peter1 John2 John3 JohnJudeRevelation, Select an Ending Point He has bent his bow, the bow that was ordained against the church's prosecutors, that is bent against her sons, v. 12. and has broken my bones. Note, When we draw nigh to God in a way of duty we may by faith see him drawing nigh to us in a way of mercy. 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." 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. Because there is room for hope. 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. 12 He hath bent his bow, and set me as a mark for the arrow. 4 He has made my skin and flesh grow old. 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. (Clarke), ii. GenesisExodusLeviticusNumbersDeuteronomyJoshuaJudgesRuth1 Samuel2 Samuel1 Kings2 Kings1 Chronicles2 ChroniclesEzraNehemiahEstherJobPsalmsProverbsEcclesiastesSong of SongsIsaiahJeremiahLamentationsEzekielDanielHoseaJoelAmosObadiahJonahMicahNahumHabakkukZephaniahHaggaiZechariahMalachiMatthewMarkLukeJohnActsRomans1 Corinthians2 CorinthiansGalatiansEphesiansPhilippiansColossians1 Thessalonians2 Thessalonians1 Timothy2 TimothyTitusPhilemonHebrewsJames1 Peter2 Peter1 John2 John3 JohnJudeRevelation. Or, My weeping eye affects my heart; the venting of the grief, instead of easing it, did but increase and exasperate it. But he does not do it willingly, not from the heart; so the word is. 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. 2 He has led me into darkness, shutting out all light. of c. Why should a living man complain: We may complain against God and His sovereignty, but that is profitless and ungrateful. To every mourner we may say, on the authority of God, Fear not! 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. 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. I have drunk the cup of misery till I am intoxicated with it. 33 For he doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men. My strength and my hope have perished from the LORD: No wonder Jeremiah and Jerusalem could say this. His discipline is not happy nor is it unfair (to turn aside the justice due a man). i. The prophet relates the more gloomy and discouraging part of his experience, and how he found support and relief. 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. ( Lamentations 3:1-21) "I am the man that hath seen affliction by the rod of his wrath. 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. 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). From which it most assuredly follows, that God never afflicts us but for our good, nor chastises but that we may be partakers of his holiness. 7 He has walled me in so I cannot escape; He had already begun to appear for them (v. 58): "O Lord! These are the words of a satisfied soul. 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. We are men, and not brutes, reasonable creatures, who should act with reason, who should look upward and look forward, and both ways may fetch considerations enough to silence our complaints. The living man should be grateful he still has life, and recognize there is some justice in the punishment of his sins. Shall a man complain? Thus sometimes God seems to be angry even against the prayers of his people (Ps 80 4), and their case is deplorable indeed when they are denied not only the benefit of an answer, but the comfort of acceptance. But for hope, the heart would break. Note, We all owe it to the sparing mercy of God that we are not consumed. In the process of remembering Gods attributes, Jeremiah was drawn back into living fellowship and intimate communion with his faithful God. (Ryken). When nations go through times of tragedy and tribulation, the greatest suffering always takes place at the individual level. (Ryken), iii. Note, God will one day call sinners to account for all the hard speeches which they have spoken against him and his people, Jude 15. These rivers of mercy run fully and constantly, but never run dry. Let them be dealt with as they have dealt with us; let thy hand be against them as their hand has been against us. The Lord is my portion Psalms 119:57. 2. O LORD, You have seen how I am wronged; VIII. Thou saidst, Fear not. 3. that we may each of us mend one, and then we should all be mended. 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. Lamentations 3 introduces another character: the geber, or "strongman," who is expected to defend the city from its attackers (verse 1). 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. He has filled me with bitterness, a bitter sense of his calamities." i. Major Prophets I forget prosperity; it is so long since I had it, and so unlikely that I should ever recover it, that I have lost the idea of it. 2. - Blayney. Their enemies chased them till they had quite prevailed over them (v. 53): They have cut off my life in the dungeon. The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, Keep silent: There came a young man to Demosthenes to learn oratory; he talked away at a great rate, and Demosthenes said, I must charge you double fees. Why? he asked. General Epistles Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that woe and well-being proceed? That God is, and ever will be, the all-sufficient happiness of his people, and they have chosen him and depend upon him to be such (v. 24): The Lord is my portion, saith my soul; that is, 1. 42 We have transgressed and have rebelled: thou hast not pardoned. We should observe what makes for us, as well as what is against us. Verse 18. The above verse is quoted in reference to our Lord's passion, by Matthew 26:62. He has besieged me (Lamentations 3:19-20) The sinking soul. Who is he who speaks and it comes to pass, Yet most people today have never heard of John Gill. a. But waiting is good because God is worth waiting for. (Ryken). The New Testament b. The struggle between unbelief and faith is often very severe. 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. 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. Historical Books 3. Therefore I have hope. V. Encouragement taken to hope in God, and continue waiting for his salvation, with an appeal to his justice against the persecutors of the church, ver 55-66. And covered me with ashes. Our Lord Jesus has left us an example of this, for he gave his back to the smiter, Isa 50 6. Verse 47. I will stay myself upon him, and encourage myself in him, when all other supports and encouragements fail me." a. Your partnership makes all we do possible. 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. All the prisoners of the earth By the prisoners of the earth, or land, Dr. Blayney understands those insolvent debtors who were put in prison, and there obliged to work out the debt. He has blocked my ways with hewn stone; Their sins were repented of, and yet (v. 42), Thou hast not pardoned. 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). No; they are new every morning; every morning we have fresh instances of God's compassion towards us; he visits us with them every morning (Job 7 18); every morning does he bring his judgment to light, Zeph 3 5. With this should go the complete submission to God pictured in v. 29 by the Oriental obeisance. (Lamentations 3:57-63) Thankful and confident of future help. (Lamentations 3:21-23) New mercies from a faithful God. 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. The poets mention of the LORD broke the spell of misery that had bound him. (Ellison). He had silenced their fears and quieted their spirits (v. 57): "Thou drewest near in the day that I called upon thee; thou didst graciously assure me of thy presence with me, and give me to see thee nigh unto me, whereas I had thought thee to be at a distance from me." Which way soever I cast my eye, I see that which renews my sorrow, even because of all the daughters of my city," all the neighbouring towns, which were as daughters to Jerusalem the mother-city. Note, Though we may pour out our complaints before God, we must never exhibit any complaints against God. He will save believers with everlasting salvation, while his enemies perish with everlasting destruction. Blue Letter Bible offers several daily devotional readings in order to help you refocus on Christ and the Gospel of His peace and righteousness. Instead of Adonai, seventeen MSS., of Kennicott's, and one ancient of my own, have Yehovah. b. But he is in a particular manner good to those that wait for him, to the soul that seeks him. Here we find a different feeling; he humbles himself under the mighty hand of God, and then his hope revives. (Clarke). "In more ways than one this brings us to the very heart of the book. Yes, this was Jeremiah, but it certainly was not only him. Yes, he did: Thou hast heard my voice; and some read the following words as carrying on the same thankful acknowledgment: Thou didst not hide thy ear at my breathing, at my cry; and the original will bear that reading.
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