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. Let us lift our hearts and hands Gods response to this seeking soul was, Do not fear!, i. When Jerusalem was besieged it was said to be compassed in on every side, Luke 19 43. 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." He delights not in the death of sinners, or the disquiet of saints, but punishes with a kind of reluctance. But waiting is good because God is worth waiting for. (Ryken). 16 He hath also broken my teeth with gravel stones, he hath covered me with ashes. Persecute and destroy them in anger, as they persecute and destroy us in their anger. Do not fear: How powerful is this word when spoken by the Spirit of the Lord to a disconsolate heart. Spurgeon suggested many reasons why it is good to bear the yoke when young: b. It is good because it gives one many years of experience. These are all declaratory, not imprecatory. He will save believers with everlasting salvation, while his enemies perish with everlasting destruction. How great soever his affliction may be, he is still alive; therefore, he may seek and find mercy unto eternal life. The villages about Jerusalem. Why Does God Compare Our Relationship with Him to That of a Bride and Groom? 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 that knows all things knew, (1.) Or, let us put our heart on our hand, and offer it to God; so some have translated this clause. 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. It is our wisdom then to submit, and to kiss the rod; for, if we still walk contrary to God, he will punish us yet seven times more; for when he judges he will overcome. The arrows of his quiver beney ashpatho, "The sons of his quiver." He actually felt it useful to remember it, to understand it for what it was, and to not pretend it wasnt there. The waters flowed over my head; Even in their catastrophe, God was faithful. He must expect, and yet be dumb, as the words imply; ever feeling his utter unworthiness; and, without murmuring, struggle into life. And, when God's hand is continually turned against us, we are tempted to think that his heart is turned against us too. Duty prescribed in this afflicted state, ver 37-41. Have perished from the LORD.. 2. Like a lawyer pleading for his client, God pleaded the case for his life. 2. To turn aside the justice due a man "When I have lost all I have in the world, liberty, and livelihood, and almost life itself, yet I have not lost my interest in God." How powerful is this word when spoken by the Spirit of the Lord to a disconsolate heart. 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). He remembered that as beat down and defeated the people of Jerusalem and Judah were, they were not yet completely consumed. To the soul who seeks Him. 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. If he does not willingly grieve the children of men, much less his own children. Early discipline is equally so. Lamentations chapter 3. Historical Books 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. Your curse be upon them: According to the terms of the covenant Israel made with God (as in Deuteronomy 27-28), Israel would be terribly cursed if they disobeyed and rejected God. Verse Lamentations 3:2. (2.) (great love [mercies]), the covenant love and loyalty of the Lord that leads to rahamim (compassion, mercy), derived from re?em (womb). (Ellison), ii. Do men shoot at those thy are enemies to? Now Jeremiah prayed that Yahweh would repay their enemies, and give them a veiled heart even as Judah was blind. Nor grieve the children of men. i. Benson Commentary Lamentations 3:31-33. a. The Old Testament 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. Thou hast seen - all their imaginations Every thing is open to the eye of God. At first, the language sounds like the stock vocabulary of the lament psalms: darkness, pains, broken bones, desolation, arrows, etc. Their enemies chased them till they had quite prevailed over them (v. 53): They have cut off my life in the dungeon. Historical Books Surely He has turned His hand against me Time and time again throughout the day. This St. Paul refers to in his account of the sufferings of the apostles. (3.) O LORD, You have seen how I am wronged; Silenced my life in the pit: Seemeth not to be here taken literally, for the lowest and nastiest place in prisons, which probably was the portion but of a few of the Jews; but metaphorically, for the lowest and saddest condition of misery. 1. In the process of remembering Gods attributes, Jeremiah was drawn back into living fellowship and intimate communion with his faithful God. (Ryken). The stanzas consist of three lines, each of which begins with the same Hebrew letter. Time and time again throughout the day. He has made my chain heavy. 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. 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." ii. "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?' They were surrounded, hedged, and blocked. 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. 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. Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that woe and well-being proceed? 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. Title. You have made us an offscouring and refuse 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. "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. Passwords should have at least 6 characters. It is good because it keeps from bearing the devils yoke. 5 He hath builded against me, and compassed me with gall and travail. The sufferers in the captivity must submit to the will of God in all their sufferings. This I recall to my mind, My enemies without cause 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." If so be there may be hope. When our comforts fail, yet God's compassions do not. 24 The Lord is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him. 21 This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope. Of this, death would deprive him; therefore let not a living man complain. Verse 52. In this patient seeking of God, there is reason for hope. Let us observe the particulars of it. See Jeremiah 38:6, &c. Verse 56. He has caused the arrows of His quiver Remember my affliction and roaming: Jeremiah did not prescribe positive thinking for this deep affliction. Some make all this to be spoken by the prophet himself when he was imprisoned and persecuted; but it seems rather to be spoken in the person of the church now in captivity and in a manner desolate, and in the desolations of which the prophet did in a particular manner interest himself. 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. A man for the punishment of his sins? Lamentations 3 is the third chapter of the Book of Lamentations in the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament of the Christian Bible, . I will stay myself upon him, and encourage myself in him, when all other supports and encouragements fail me." He has made me drink wormwood. Who is he who speaks and it comes to pass, The complaint renewed, ver 42-54. Verse 40. The people of this once great city experienced the judgment of the holy God, and the results were devastating. 1. Would you prayerfully consider a gift of support today? That they were satisfied that God's gracious regard to them in their miseries would be an effectual redress of all their grievances. Surely He has turned His hand against me: Jeremiah did not stay in this dark and desperate place, but he would not deny being there. He is good to all; his tender mercies are over all his works; all his creatures taste of his goodness. 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. As for Wesley I have heard that on one occasion he said that he had been charged with every crime in the calendar, except drunkenness; and when a woman stood up in the crowd and accused him of that, he then said, Blessed God, I have now had all manner of evil spoken against me falsely, for Christs name sake. (Spurgeon). For the Lord will not cast off forever: The suffering endured was not everlasting. Therefore I hope in Him: God couldnt really be his hope until he was first his portion. Verse 33. 1:6 . i. Two ways the people of God are injured and oppressed by their enemies, and the prophet here assures us that God does not approve of either of them:1. 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. I. It was an affliction that was misery itself. Though all this take place, yet let his "trust be in God, who will not cast off for ever." a. It was and is worse to be at the mercy of blind fate. And again, a man! 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. (Lamentations 3:1-9) The man afflicted by the LORD. When we are sedate and quiet under our afflictions, when we sit alone and keep silence, do not run to and fro into all companies with our complaints, aggravating our calamities, and quarrelling with the disposals of Providence concerning us, but retire into privacy, that we may in a day of adversity consider, sit alone, that we may converse with God and commune with our own hearts, silencing all discontented distrustful thoughts, and laying our hand upon our mouth, as Aaron, who, under a very severe trial, held his peace. The LORD is my portion: As in Psalm 119:57, Jeremiah found the key to satisfactionfinding ones portion in the LORD. c. In Your anger, pursue and destroy them from under the heavens of the LORD: Jerusalem and Judah had faced the anger of God and the destruction that came from it. Judge thou my cause, v. 59. All our enemies The walling-up of prisoners within confined spaces so that they died very quickly was a form of torture made popular by the Assyrians., iii. 4 He has made my skin and my flesh grow old and has broken my bones. 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. 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. Desolation and destruction. The Lord does not approve. 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 designs and projects they had laid to do him a mischief: Thou hast seen all their imaginations against me (v. 60), and again, "Thou hast heard all their imaginations against me (v. 61), both the desire and the device they have to ruin me; whether it show itself in word or deed, it is known to thee; nay, though the products of it are not to be seen nor heard, yet their device against me all the day is perceived and understood by him to whom all things are naked and open." i. 2 10. Why should a living man complain, He who has not got under wholesome restraint in youth will never make a useful man, a good man, nor a happy man. That he is not able to discern any way of escape or deliverance (v. 5): "He has built against me, as forts and batteries are built against a besieged city. 3 I am the one who has seen the afflictions. Let us see what these things are which he calls to mind. For he doth not afflict willingly It is no pleasure to God to afflict men. Yet the consideration of Gods sovereignty would also become the source of their hope. My seeing eye affects my heart. Proud member b. Verse 57. Through the LORDs mercies we are not consumed: This was one of the things Jeremiah remembered. 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. To turn aside the right of a man To make a man lose his right, because one of the higher orders opposes him. i. Does the Bible Condemn Using Tarot Cards? Pentateuch Praying is lifting up the soul to God (Ps 25 1) as to our Father in heaven; and the soul that hopes to be with God in heaven for ever will thus, by frequent acts of devotion, be still learning the way thither and pressing forward in that way. 3. General Epistles In the time of his trial the Lord had become terrible to him. Amralkeis, one of the writers of the Moallakat, terms a man grievously afflicted [Arabic] a pounder of wormwood. Lamentations 3:32 (HCSB) Verse Thoughts Jeremiah is often called 'the weeping prophet' for he was to prophecy to deaf ears and witness to blinded, callused hearts. The prophet complains, 1. 56 Thou hast heard my voice: hide not thine ear at my breathing, at my cry. i. Lamentations 3:21-23 New International Version 21 Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: 22 Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. 2 17, 21), but here they correct themselves, and own, 1. a. Cookie Notice: Persecute and destroy them Thou wilt pursue them with destruction. i. The contempt and calumny wherewith they loaded him, all that they spoke slightly of him, and all that they spoke reproachfully: "Thou hast heard their reproach (v. 61), all the bad characters they give me, laying to my charge things that I know not, all the methods they use to make me odious and contemptible, even the lips of those that rose up against me (v. 62), the contumelious language they use whenever they speak of me, and that at their sitting down and rising up, when they lie down at night and get up in the morning, when they sit down to their meat and with their company, and when they rise from both, still I am their music; they make themselves and one another merry with my miseries, as the Philistines made sport with Samson." 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. 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 Pet 1 6. If you will turn to the lives of any of the saints of God, you will discover that they were the victims of slanders of the grossest kind. The yoke in his youth. It is easier to chide ourselves for complaining than to chide ourselves out of it. The Lord approved not. He has led me and made me walk To every mourner we may say, on the authority of God, Fear not! They have created us a great deal of vexation; now, Lord, give them sorrow of heart (v. 65), perplexity of heart" (so some read it); "let them be surrounded with threatening mischiefs on all sides, and not be able to see their way out. There have been various translations of the original: but they all amount to this. 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. God had said once (Hos 5 14), I will be as a lion to the house of Judah, and now he has made his word good (v. 10): "He was unto me as a bear lying in wait, surprising me with his judgments, and as a lion in secret places; so that which way soever I went I was in continual fear of being set upon and could never think myself safe." Portions on earth are perishing things, but God is portion for ever. 9 He hath inclosed my ways with hewn stone, he hath made my paths crooked. It is good because it saves from a thousand snares. And broken my bones. You drew near on the day I called on You: Jeremiah knew that God responded when he called upon Him. i. Wherefore doth a living man complain He who has his life still lent to him has small cause of complaint. Verse Lamentations 3:1. They confess the righteousness of God in afflicting them (v. 42): We have transgressed and have rebelled. The Gospels We dont live constantly focused on our sins and failings, but there are appropriate times to carefully, deliberately search out and examine our ways. Their sins were repented of, and yet (v. 42), Thou hast not pardoned. "Let them be dealt with according to the threatenings: Thy curse unto them; that is, let thy curse come upon them, all the evils that are pronounced in thy word against the enemies of thy people, v. 65. Lamentations 3 Hebrew with Rashi's Commentary; Christian. 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. The distemper was in continual extremity, and they had no better day. You have covered Yourself with a cloud, If you cannot speak, cry, sob, or groan, then be still. Who could exist throughout the day, if there were not a continual superintending Providence? He has hedged me in: This also may refer to the lines drawn round the city during the siege. b. GenesisExodusLeviticusNumbersDeuteronomyJoshuaJudgesRuth1 Samuel2 Samuel1 Kings2 Kings1 Chronicles2 ChroniclesEzraNehemiahEstherJobPsalmsProverbsEcclesiastesSong of SongsIsaiahJeremiahLamentationsEzekielDanielHoseaJoelAmosObadiahJonahMicahNahumHabakkukZephaniahHaggaiZechariahMalachiMatthewMarkLukeJohnActsRomans1 Corinthians2 CorinthiansGalatiansEphesiansPhilippiansColossians1 Thessalonians2 Thessalonians1 Timothy2 TimothyTitusPhilemonHebrewsJames1 Peter2 Peter1 John2 John3 JohnJudeRevelation. Wisdom Literature Many of the young men were carried into captivity. 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. You have slain and not pitied. Gerlach has rightly opposed to these arguments the following considerations: (1) That, after the outburst of despair in Lamentations 3:18, "my strength is gone, and my hope from Jahveh," the words "my soul is bowed down in me" form far too feeble a conclusion; (2) That it is undoubtedly more correct to make the relief begin with a prayer breathed 6. That, whatever sorrow we are in, it is what God has allotted us, and his hand is in it. These rivers of mercy run fully and constantly, but never run dry. In addition, emotional attributes of joy (Proverbs 23:16) and sorrow (Job 19:27; Psalm 73:21) were credited to them. (Harrison). Yet He will show compassion Give them a veiled heart; He retains his kindness for his people even when he afflicts them. And covered me with ashes. "As they deserve (v. 64): Render to them a recompence according to the work of their hands. Those curses came upon Jerusalem in Jeremiahs day; now he prayed that those curses come upon their enemies. God feels breath; and happy is he that can say, In thee I hope, Lord, and after thee I breathe or pant. (Trapp), iii. (3.) Here we find a different feeling; he humbles himself under the mighty hand of God, and then his hope revives. (Clarke).
Genshiro Kawamoto Abandoned Mansion Japan Location, Transit Through Rome Airport Covid, Exemple Sujet Grand Oral Bac 2021 Maths Svt, Articles L