Lamentations 3

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

Introduction

(Lam. 3:1-66) seen affliction--his own in the dungeon of Malchiah (Jer 38:6); that of his countrymen also in the siege. Both were types of that of Christ.

Verse 2

darkness--calamity. light--prosperity.

Verse 3

turneth . . . hand--to inflict again and again new strokes. "His hand," which once used to protect me. "Turned . . . turneth" implies repeated inflictions.

Verse 4

(Job 16:8).

Verse 5

builded--mounds, as against a besieged city, so as to allow none to escape (so Lam 3:7, Lam 3:9).

Verse 6

set me--HENDERSON refers this to the custom of placing the dead in a sitting posture. dark places--sepulchers. As those "dead long since"; so Jeremiah and his people are consigned to oblivion (Psa 88:5-6; Psa 143:3; Eze 37:13).

Verse 7

hedged-- (Job 3:23; Hos 2:6). chain--literally, "chain of brass."

Verse 8

shutteth out--image from a door shutting out any entrance (Job 30:20). So the antitype. Christ (Psa 22:2).

Verse 9

hewn stone--which coheres so closely as not to admit of being broken through. paths crooked--thwarted our plans and efforts so that none went right.

Verse 10

(Job 10:16; Hos 13:7-8).

Verse 11

turned aside--made me wander out of the right way, so as to become a prey to wild beasts. pulled in pieces-- (Hos 6:1), as a "bear" or a "lion" (Lam 3:10).

Verse 12

(Job 7:20).

Verse 13

arrows--literally, "sons" of His quiver (compare Job 6:4).

Verse 14

(Jer 20:7). their song-- (Psa 69:12). Jeremiah herein was a type of Messiah. "All my people" (Joh 1:11).

Verse 15

wormwood-- (Jer 9:15). There it is regarded as food, namely, the leaves: here as drink, namely, the juice.

Verse 16

gravel--referring to the grit that often mixes with bread baked in ashes, as is the custom of baking in the East (Pro 20:17). We fare as hardly as those who eat such bread. The same allusion is in "Covered me with ashes," namely, as bread.

Verse 17

Not only present, but all hope of future prosperity is removed; so much so, that I am as one who never was prosperous ("I forgat prosperity").

Verse 18

from the Lord--that is, my hope derived from Him (Psa 31:22).

Verse 19

This gives the reason why he gave way to the temptation to despair. The Margin, "Remember" does not suit the sense so well. wormwood . . . gall-- (Jer 9:15).

Verse 20

As often as my soul calls them to remembrance, it is humbled or bowed down in me.

Verse 21

This--namely, what follows; the view of the divine character (Lam 3:22-23). CALVIN makes "this" refer to Jeremiah's infirmity. His very weakness (Lam 3:19-20) gives him hope of God interposing His strength for him (compare Psa 25:11, Psa 25:17; Psa 42:5, Psa 42:8; Co2 12:9-10).

Verse 22

(Mal 3:6).

Verse 23

(Isa 33:2).

Verse 24

(Num 18:20; Psa 16:5; Psa 73:26; Psa 119:57; Jer 10:16). To have God for our portion is the one only foundation of hope.

Verse 25

The repetition of "good" at the beginning of each of the three verses heightens the effect. wait-- (Isa 30:18).

Verse 26

quietly wait--literally, "be in silence." Compare Lam 3:28 and Psa 39:2, Psa 39:9, that is, to be patiently quiet under afflictions, resting in the will of God (Psa 37:7). So Aaron (Lev 10:2-3); and Job (Job 40:4-5).

Verse 27

yoke--of the Lord's disciplinary teaching (Psa 90:12; Psa 119:71). CALVIN interprets it, The Lord's doctrine (Mat 11:29-30), which is to be received in a docile spirit. The earlier the better; for the old are full of prejudices (Pro 8:17; Ecc 12:1). Jeremiah himself received the yoke, both of doctrine and chastisement in his youth (Jer 1:6-7).

Verse 28

The fruit of true docility and patience. He does not fight against the yoke (Jer 31:18; Act 9:5), but accommodates himself to it. alone--The heathen applauded magnanimity, but they looked to display and the praise of men. The child of God, in the absence of any witness, "alone," silently submits to the will of God. borne it upon him--that is, because he is used to bearing it on him. Rather, "because He (the Lord, Lam 3:26) hath laid it on him" [VATABLUS].

Verse 29

(Job 42:6). The mouth in the dust is the attitude of suppliant and humble submission to God's dealings as righteous and loving in design (compare Ezr 9:6; Co1 14:25). if so be there may be hope--This does not express doubt as to whether GOD be willing to receive the penitent, but the penitent's doubt as to himself; he whispers to himself this consolation, "Perhaps there may be hope for me."

Verse 30

Messiah, the Antitype, fulfilled this; His practice agreeing with His precept (Isa 50:6; Mat 5:39). Many take patiently afflictions from God, but when man wrongs them, they take it impatiently. The godly bear resignedly the latter, like the former, as sent by God (Psa 17:13).

Verse 31

True repentance is never without hope (Psa 94:14).

Verse 32

The punishments of the godly are but for a time.

Verse 33

He does not afflict any willingly (literally, "from His heart," that is, as if He had any pleasure in it, Eze 33:11), much less the godly (Heb 12:10).

Verse 34

This triplet has an infinitive in the beginning of each verse, the governing finite verb being in the end of Lam 3:36, "the Lord approveth not," which is to be repeated in each verse. Jeremiah here anticipates and answers the objections which the Jews might start, that it was by His connivance they were "crushed under the feet" of those who "turned aside the right of a man." God approves (literally, "seeth," Hab 1:13; so "behold," "look on," that is, look on with approval) not of such unrighteous acts; and so the Jews may look for deliverance and the punishment of their foes.

Verse 35

before . . . face of . . . most High--Any "turning aside" of justice in court is done before the face of God, who Is present, and "regardeth," though unseen (Ecc 5:8).

Verse 36

subvert--to wrong.

Verse 37

Who is it that can (as God, Psa 33:9) effect by a word anything, without the will of God?

Verse 38

evil . . . good--Calamity and prosperity alike proceed from God (Job 2:10; Isa 45:7; Amo 3:6).

Verse 39

living--and so having a time yet given him by God for repentance. If sin were punished as it deserves, life itself would be forfeited by the sinner. "Complaining" (murmuring) ill becomes him who enjoys such a favor as life (Pro 19:3). for the punishment of his sins--Instead of blaming God for his sufferings, he ought to recognize in them God's righteousness and the just rewards of his own sin.

Verse 40

us--Jeremiah and his fellow countrymen in their calamity. search--as opposed to the torpor wherewith men rest only on their outward sufferings, without attending to the cause of them (Psa 139:23-24).

Verse 41

heart with . . . hands--the antidote to hypocrisy (Psa 86:4; Ti1 2:8).

Verse 42

not pardoned--The Babylonian captivity had not yet ended.

Verse 43

covered--namely, thyself (so Lam 3:44), so as not to see and pity our calamities, for even the most cruel in seeing a sad spectacle are moved to pity. Compare as to God "hiding His face," Psa 10:11; Psa 22:25.

Verse 44

(Lam 3:8). The "cloud" is our sins, and God's wrath because of them (Isa 44:22; Isa 59:2).

Verse 45

So the apostles were treated; but, instead of murmuring, they rejoiced at it (Co1 4:13).

Verse 46

Pe is put before Ain (Lam 3:43, Lam 3:46), as in Lam 2:16-17; Lam 4:16-17. (Lam 2:16.)

Verse 47

Like animals fleeing in fear, we fall into the snare laid for us.

Verse 48

(Jer 4:19).

Verse 49

without . . . intermission--or else, "because there is no intermission" [PISCATOR], namely, Of my miseries.

Verse 50

Till--His prayer is not without hope, wherein it differs from the blind grief of unbelievers. look down, &c.-- (Isa 63:15).

Verse 51

eye affecteth mine heart--that is, causeth me grief with continual tears; or, "affecteth my life" (literally, "soul," Margin), that is, my health [GROTIUS]. daughters of . . . city--the towns around, dependencies of Jerusalem, taken by the foe.

Verse 52

a bird--which is destitute of counsel and strength. The allusion seems to be to Pro 1:17 [CALVIN]. without cause-- (Psa 69:4; Psa 109:3-4). Type of Messiah (Joh 15:25).

Verse 53

in . . . dungeon-- (Jer 37:16). stone--usually put at the mouth of a dungeon to secure the prisoners (Jos 10:18; Dan 6:17; Mat 27:60).

Verse 54

Waters--not literally, for there was "no water" (Jer 38:6) in the place of Jeremiah's confinement, but emblematical of overwhelming calamities (Psa 69:2; Psa 124:4-5). cut off-- (Isa 38:10-11). I am abandoned by God. He speaks according to carnal sense.

Verse 55

I called out of dungeon--Thus the spirit resists the flesh, and faith spurns the temptation [CALVIN], (Psa 130:1; Jon 2:2).

Verse 56

Thou hast heard--namely formerly (so in Lam 3:57-58). breathing . . . cry--two kinds of prayer; the sigh of a prayer silently breathed forth, and the loud, earnest cry (compare "prayer," "secret speech," Isa 26:16, Margin; with "cry aloud," Psa 55:17).

Verse 57

Thou drewest near--with Thy help (Jam 4:8).

Verse 58

Jeremiah cites God's gracious answers to his prayers as an encouragement to his fellow countrymen, to trust in Him. pleaded-- (Psa 35:1; Mic 7:9).

Verse 59

God's past deliverances and His knowledge of Judah's wrongs are made the grounds of prayer for relief.

Verse 60

imaginations--devices (Jer 11:19). Their vengeance--means their malice. Jeremiah gives his conduct, when plotted against by his foes, as an example how the Jews should bring their wrongs at the hands of the Chaldeans before God.

Verse 61

their reproach--their reproachful language against me.

Verse 62

lips--speeches.

Verse 63

sitting down . . . rising up--whether they sit or rise, that is, whether they be actively engaged or sedentary, and at rest "all the day" (Lam 3:62), I am the subject of their derisive songs (Lam 3:14).

Verse 64

(Jer 11:20; Ti2 4:14).

Verse 65

sorrow--rather, blindness or hardness; literally, "a veil" covering their heart, so that they may rush on to their own ruin (Isa 6:10; Co2 3:14-15).

Verse 66

from under . . . heavens of . . . Lord--destroy them so that it may be seen everywhere under heaven that thou sittest above as Judge of the world. Next: Lamentations Chapter 4