The New Testament (Lamentations 3:52-56) Praying for help under enemy attack. We must be far from thinking that, though God cause grief, the world will relieve and help us. 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. Recognizing the value of consistent reflection upon the Word of God in order to refocus one's mind and heart upon Christ and His Gospel of peace, we provide several reading plans designed to cover the entire Bible in a year. Many of the young men were carried into captivity. GenesisExodusLeviticusNumbersDeuteronomyJoshuaJudgesRuth1 Samuel2 Samuel1 Kings2 Kings1 Chronicles2 ChroniclesEzraNehemiahEstherJobPsalmsProverbsEcclesiastesSong of SongsIsaiahJeremiahLamentationsEzekielDanielHoseaJoelAmosObadiahJonahMicahNahumHabakkukZephaniahHaggaiZechariahMalachiMatthewMarkLukeJohnActsRomans1 Corinthians2 CorinthiansGalatiansEphesiansPhilippiansColossians1 Thessalonians2 Thessalonians1 Timothy2 TimothyTitusPhilemonHebrewsJames1 Peter2 Peter1 John2 John3 JohnJudeRevelation, Select a Beginning Point 1 I am the man that hath seen affliction by the rod of his wrath. Of this, death would deprive him; therefore let not a living man complain. (Clarke), ii. Here we find a different feeling; he humbles himself under the mighty hand of God, and then his hope revives. (Clarke). Who is he who speaks and it comes to pass, when the Lord has not commanded it? Commentary on Lamentations 3:22-33 - Working Preacher from Luther Seminary The LORD is my portion, says my soul, 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. They silenced my life in the pit And what are all our sorrows, compared with those of the Redeemer? Note, While trouble is prolonged, and deliverance is deferred, we must patiently wait for God and his gracious returns to us. By soul - is humbled in me. 4. 52 Mine enemies chased me sore, like a bird, without cause. 1. 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. My soul, having them in remembrance, is humbled in me, not only oppressed with a sense of the trouble, but in bitterness for sin. He has blocked my ways with hewn stone; What have I contributed to the public flames?" These mercies are always new because they come from God. Though God serves his own purposes by the violence of wicked and unreasonable men, yet it does no therefore follow that he countenances that violence, as his oppressed people are sometimes tempted to think. You have heard my voice: As Abraham said of God, shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? Those that do so will find it good for them (v. 26): It is good (it is our duty, and will be our unspeakable comfort and satisfaction) to hope and quietly to wait for the salvation of the Lord, to hope that it will come, thought the difficulties that lie in the way of it seem insupportable, to wait till it does come, though it be long delayed, and while we wait to be quiet and silent, not quarrelling with God nor making ourselves uneasy, but acquiescing in the divine disposals. Benson Commentary Lamentations 3:31-33. He was overwhelmed like a man drowning in a pit (the waters flowed over my head). 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. Let us see what these things are which he calls to mind. Over this terrible calamity, rivers of tears must be shed, until the Lord looks down from heaven on it, Lamentations 3:48-51. Lamentations 3:1-66 . Verse 30. Verse 48. Happy shall we be, if we learn to receive affliction as laid upon us by the hand of God. This verse seems to allude to the Chaldaic prediction, in Jeremiah 10:11. Of this, death would deprive him; therefore let not a living man complain. ( 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. Salem Media Group. Time and time again throughout the day. The prophet had owned that a living man should not complain, as if he checked himself for his complaints in the former part of the chapter; and yet here the clouds return after the rain and the wound bleeds afresh; for great pains must be taken with a troubled spirit to bring it into temper. I have even given up all for gone, concluding, My strength and my hope have perished from the Lord (v. 18); I can no longer stay myself upon God as my support, for I do not find that he gives me encouragement to do so; nor can I look for his appearing in my behalf, so as to put an end to my troubles, for the case seems remediless, and even my God inexorable." I have become the ridicule of all my people The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; he forms the light and creates the darkness, as he did at first. He giveth his cheek to him that smiteth He has that love that is not provoked. Or subvert a man in his cause To turn aside the justice due a man before the face of the Most High: The MT of verse 35 lends force to the concept of natural or inherent human rights when rendered, to pervert the right which a man has in the very presence of the Most High. The soft, measured breath, or the laboring, gasping breath. 33 For he doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men. How great soever his affliction may be, he is still alive; therefore, he may seek and find mercy unto eternal life. God can interpret all. (Meyer). Your curse be upon them! 16 He hath also broken my teeth with gravel stones, he hath covered me with ashes. II. (1.) He has been to me a bear lying in wait, You have redeemed my life. hichphishani beepher, "he hath plunged me into the dust." He has also (v. 9) enclosed my ways with hewn stone, not only hedged up my way with thorns (Hos 2 6), but stopped it up with a stone wall, which cannot be broken through, so that my paths are made crooked; I traverse to and fro, to the right hand, to the left, to try to get forward, but am still turned back." And God's causing our grief ought to be no discouragement at all to those expectations. 2. Jeremiah had no other place of satisfaction, so he was settled with the portion received, and that portion was the LORD Himself. Lamentations Chapter 3 Kjv - King James Bible Online He is good to all; his tender mercies are over all his works; all his creatures taste of his goodness. 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. For he doth not afflict willingly It is no pleasure to God to afflict men. He has caused the arrows of His quiver He has not only failed in his dutyhis own suffering has left him without peace, happiness, energy, or hope (verses 17-18). We continue thus weeping till the Lord look down and behold from heaven. According to the work of their hands. 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. 53 They have cut off my life in the dungeon, and cast a stone upon me. But waiting is good because God is worth waiting for. (Ryken). See Jeremiah 38:6, &c. Verse 56. Luke-Acts It is sin that makes the cup of affliction a bitter cup. 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. His sense is that they should patiently receive the suffering and reproach God had appointed for them. IV. The distemper was in continual extremity, and they had no better day. 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. 23 They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. Lamentations 3:21 Commentaries: This I recall to my mind, Therefore I 3. Copyright 2023, Bible Study Tools. GenesisExodusLeviticusNumbersDeuteronomyJoshuaJudgesRuth1 Samuel2 Samuel1 Kings2 Kings1 Chronicles2 ChroniclesEzraNehemiahEstherJobPsalmsProverbsEcclesiastesSong of SongsIsaiahJeremiahLamentationsEzekielDanielHoseaJoelAmosObadiahJonahMicahNahumHabakkukZephaniahHaggaiZechariahMalachiMatthewMarkLukeJohnActsRomans1 Corinthians2 CorinthiansGalatiansEphesiansPhilippiansColossians1 Thessalonians2 Thessalonians1 Timothy2 TimothyTitusPhilemonHebrewsJames1 Peter2 Peter1 John2 John3 JohnJudeRevelation, (Hebrew/Greek Search by English Definition), * 'Number Delimiters' only apply to 'Paragraph Order', Search verses, phrases, and topics (e.g. In his own day he was called the German beast, that for lust must needs marry Catharine. He has bent His bow: This figure shows the power of the archers arm, which transfixed the poet with arrows. (Ellison), ii. 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. Perhaps they had some tune or play, some opera or interlude, that was called the destruction of Jerusalem, which, though in the nature of a tragedy, was very entertaining to those who wished ill to the holy city. 2. How powerful is this word when spoken by the Spirit of the Lord to a disconsolate heart. This intimates, (1.) 56 Thou hast heard my voice: hide not thine ear at my breathing, at my cry. They did it by despising him (their reproach), with schemes, with whispering lies, and their taunting song against him. We must see and acknowledge the hand of God in all the calamities that befal us at any time, whether personal or public, v. 37, 38. i. (Lamentations 3:48-51) Weeping over destruction. He hath made me drunken with wormwood. 12 He hath bent his bow, and set me as a mark for the arrow. The prophet therefore considers them on the utmost verge of final reprobation: another plunge, and they are lost for ever. To turn aside the justice due a man And it is no diminution to any to be much in tears for the sins of sinners and the sufferings of saints; our Lord Jesus was so; for, when he came near, he beheld this same city and wept over it, which the daughters of Jerusalem did not. Even when I cry and shout, Individual instructors or editors may still require the use of URLs. 3. The villages about Jerusalem. Verse 36. 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. Prayer is the breath of the new man, drawing in the air of mercy in petitions, and returning it in praises; it proves and maintains the spiritual life. 3. GenesisExodusLeviticusNumbersDeuteronomyJoshuaJudgesRuth1 Samuel2 Samuel1 Kings2 Kings1 Chronicles2 ChroniclesEzraNehemiahEstherJobPsalmsProverbsEcclesiastesSong of SongsIsaiahJeremiahLamentationsEzekielDanielHoseaJoelAmosObadiahJonahMicahNahumHabakkukZephaniahHaggaiZechariahMalachiMatthewMarkLukeJohnActsRomans1 Corinthians2 CorinthiansGalatiansEphesiansPhilippiansColossians1 Thessalonians2 Thessalonians1 Timothy2 TimothyTitusPhilemonHebrewsJames1 Peter2 Peter1 John2 John3 JohnJudeRevelation, Select a Beginning Point (2.) The Old Testament The caliph replied, 'The children of Adam must flee unto the Lord.'" They were against him like a fowler is against a bird. 4 My flesh and my skin hath he made old; he hath broken my bones. Or, My weeping eye affects my heart; the venting of the grief, instead of easing it, did but increase and exasperate it. Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that woe and well-being proceed? Or, "Thou hast covered us up as men that are buried are covered up and forgotten." Though all this take place, yet let his "trust be in God, who will not cast off for ever." 20 My soul hath them still in remembrance, and is humbled in me. "While I have an interest in God, therein I have enough; I have that which is sufficient to counterbalance all my troubles and make up all my losses." 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 is added (v. 51), "My eye affects my heart. "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?' What is said of the idols is here said of their worshippers (who in this also shall be like unto them), They shall perish from under these heavens, Jer 10 11. 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. And we must thus humble ourselves, if so be there may be hope, or (as it is in the original) peradventure there is hope. 27 It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth. It is good because it gives you more years to serve God. 5. 2. The Blue Letter Bible ministry and the BLB Institute hold to the historical, c. Because His compassions fail not: Even in the severity of correction Gods people endured, there was evidence of His compassions. Let us lift our hearts and hands All the prisoners of the earth, i. 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. No; he has more reason to be thankful for life than to complain of any of the burdens and calamities of life. c. Why should a living man complain: We may complain against God and His sovereignty, but that is profitless and ungrateful. 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. i. 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. Gods response to this seeking soul was, Do not fear!, i. In 1, 2, and 4, each of the 22 verses begins with a successive letter of the Greek alphabet. 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. (Lamentations 3:40-47) Humbly turning back to God. Our own wickedness corrects us, Prov 19 3. 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. b. Their enemies had brought them into the deepest miseries. (Poole). That those who deal with God will find it is not in vain to trust in him; for, 1. To every mourner we may say, on the authority of God, Fear not! 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. Johannine Writings Things are bad but they might have been worse, and therefore there is hope that they may be better. again and again, all day long. 17 And thou hast removed my soul far off from peace: I forgat prosperity. 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. This was the language of God's grace, by the witness of his Spirit with their spirits. Amralkeis, one of the writers of the Moallakat, terms a man grievously afflicted [Arabic] a pounder of wormwood. John 3:16, Jesus faith love), Select a Beginning Point It is no pleasure to God to afflict men. That God turns a deaf ear to his prayers (v. 8): "When I cry and shout, as one in earnest, as one that would make him hear, yet he shuts out my prayer and will not suffer it to have access to him." It seemed as a butt for all God's arrows; and each arrow of calamity entered into the soul, for God was the unerring marksman. Prophets Let conscience be employed both to search and to try, and let it have leave to deal faithfully, to accomplish a diligent search and to make an impartial trial. 54 Waters flowed over mine head; then I said, I am cut off. Pentateuch In offering the cheek to the smiter the captive was conveying the idea of absolute surrender. (Harrison). They complain of the contempt of their neighbours and the reproach and ignominy they were under (v. 45): "Thou hast made us as the off-scouring, or scrapings, of the first floor, which are thrown to the dunghill." "As they deserve (v. 64): Render to them a recompence according to the work of their hands. Verse 34. 65 Give them sorrow of heart, thy curse unto them. It is easier to chide ourselves for complaining than to chide ourselves out of it. Those whom thou cursest are cursed indeed. Blue Letter Bible study tools make reading, searching and studying the Bible easy and rewarding. If therefore you cannot speak, weep - tears also have a voice; [Psalms 39:12] if you cannot weep, sigh - a storm of sighs may do as much as a shower of tears; if you cannot sigh, yet breathe, as here. This I recall to my mind, (Lamentations 3:64-66) Giving vengeance to God. His discipline is not happy nor is it unfair (to turn aside the justice due a man). Alas! That though we may seem to be cast off for a time, while sensible comforts are suspended and desired salvations deferred, yet we are not really cast off, because not cast off for ever; the controversy with us shall not be perpetual. Note, The Israel of God, though children of light, sometimes walk in darkness. Why Does God Compare Our Relationship with Him to That of a Bride and Groom? 5. Have opened their mouths against us. (Lamentations 3:27-29) Hope for the silent soul.