26 It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord. Destroy them from under the heavens of the Lord; let them have no benefit of the light and influence of the heavens. The prophet therefore considers them on the utmost verge of final reprobation: another plunge, and they are lost for ever. How powerful is this word when spoken by the Spirit of the Lord to a disconsolate heart. "Judah" is the population not merely of Jerusalem, but of the whole kingdom . 5. There are times when the only thing a sufferer can do is wait for God. Though we be but weak in prayer, cannot cry aloud, but only breathe in groanings that cannot be uttered, yet we shall not be neglected if we be sincere. They have done it without cause, without any provocation given them. it is perished! It is good for a man to bear Even if he could only manage a sigh, it would be his cry for help that he longed for God to hear. Verse 33. When Jerusalem was besieged it was said to be compassed in on every side, Luke 19 43. If you cannot speak, cry, sob, or groan, then be still. Then let us not complain; for we have other work to do; instead of repining, we must be repenting; and, as an evidence that God is reconciled to us, we must be endeavouring to reconcile ourselves to his holy will. The stanzas consist of three lines, each of which begins with the same Hebrew letter. The faithful lament their calamities, and hope in God's mercies. III. We dont live constantly focused on our sins and failings, but there are appropriate times to carefully, deliberately search out and examine our ways. I do not see that we gain any thing by this. Thus restless was the enmity of their persecutors, and yet causeless. (great love [mercies]), the covenant love and loyalty of the Lord that leads to rahamim (compassion, mercy), derived from re?em (womb). (Ellison), ii. His experience of God's goodness even in his affliction. Hunted me down like a bird. 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. Every morning brings new provision for the day. a. again and again, all day long. Call sin a transgression, call it a rebellion, and you do not miscall it. He recognized the necessity of the suffering, but suffered with the sufferers. (Morgan), iv. Amralkeis, one of the writers of the Moallakat, terms a man grievously afflicted [Arabic] a pounder of wormwood. 9. (Lamentations 3:24-26) Gods goodness to the seeking soul. The next figure is not less expressive. He appeals to God's judgment upon this fact: "Lord, thou hast seen my wrong; there is no need of any evidence to prove it, nor any prosecutor to enforce and aggravate it; thou seest it in its true colours; and now I leave it with thee. 24 The Lord is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him. 2. 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). VIII. He must expect, and yet be dumb, as the words imply; ever feeling his utter unworthiness; and, without murmuring, struggle into life. 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. Great and long grief exhausts the spirits, and brings not only many a gray head, but many a green head too, to the grave. Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible (Complete). 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. (Genesis 18:25). Through the LORDs mercies we are not consumed, c. He has besieged me: Even as Jerusalem was literally besieged, so Jeremiah (and countless others) felt themselves surrounded by bitterness and woe and slowly strangled by God. We have work enough to do at home; we must each of us say, "What have I done? (Lamentations 3:30-36) The goodness of God even in His justice. Have perished from the LORD.. Nor grieve the children of men. a. All their schemes against me, II. He has made me drink wormwood. If men injure them by force of arms, God does not approve of that. And said, Do not fear! Johannine Writings Note, God has many arrows in his quiver, and they fly swiftly and pierce deeply. Note, It is our duty to make God the portion of our souls, and then to make use of him as our portion and to take the comfort of it in the midst of our lamentations. 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. To be thrown into a mass or bed of perfect dust, where the eyes are blinded by it, the ears stopped, and the mouth and lungs filled at the very first attempt to respire after having been thrown into it-what a horrible idea of suffocation and drowning! 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. Get Your Bible Minute in Your Inbox Every Morning. 2. 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. 6. What hope is there of either peace or prosperity? 3. Lamentations 3:21-23 | It Is Through the Lord's Mercies That We Are Saved 8. i. The former is their state, the latter their fate. We should, we must, turn away from sin and self and turn back to the LORD. But, if we accommodate ourselves to him, though we be chastened of the Lord we shall not be condemned with the world. Verses Lamentations 3:46, Lamentations 3:47, Lamentations 3:48, Lamentations 3:46-48, beginning with phe, should, as to the order of the alphabet, follow 49, 50, 51, Lamentations 3:49-51, which begin with ain, which in its grammatical position precedes the former. Note, The Israel of God, though children of light, sometimes walk in darkness. (3.) (Lamentations 3:57-63) Thankful and confident of future help. 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. Why do I fret thus?" Commentary for Lamentations 3 . He is filled full with reproach. You have heard their reproach, O LORD, He doth not ascribe his deliverance in any measure to any man, much less to his own merit; but it is thou. (Spurgeon). (Lamentations 3:21-23) New mercies from a faithful God. 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. 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. 41 Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens. If he show us kindness, it is because so it seems good unto him; but, if he write bitter things against us, it is because we both deserve them and need them. That is, thou hast made us to all nations extremely contemptible, so as they value us no more than the sweepings of their houses, or the most vile, refuse, and contemptible things imaginable. (Poole).

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