Wesley's Explanatory Notes
Lamentations 3:39
Wherefore — The Jews, check themselves in their complaints from the consideration, that nothing had befallen them, but what was the just reward of their sins.
Wherefore — The Jews, check themselves in their complaints from the consideration, that nothing had befallen them, but what was the just reward of their sins.
Verse 39. _WHEREFORE DOTH A LIVING MAN COMPLAIN_] He who has his life still lent to him has small cause of complaint. How great soever his affliction may be, he is still _alive_; therefore, he may see...
Why then does a loving God, who disapproves of suffering when inflicted by man upon man, Himself send sorrow and misery? “Because of sins.” Lamentations 3:37 Literally, “Who is this that spake and i...
CHAPTER 3 THE PROPHET'S SUFFERING AND DISTRESS This chapter is intensely personal. None but Jeremiah could have written these wonderful expressions of sorrow, the sorrows of the people of God into whi...
LAMENTATIONS 3. THE THIRD LAMENT. Here it is the singer that comes chiefly to the front; whereas in Lamentations 3:1 it had been Zion, and in Lamentations 3:2 it was Yahweh. EV hardly puts Lamentation...
See intr. note....
The E.VV., making the whole line to be a question, are more in consonance with the construction of the two earlier members of the group, than is the other proposed rendering, viz. _Of what should a li...
The order of thought in this group is, All events are absolutely in the hands of God. Thus calamity and prosperity come in response to His command. But it is man's sin that procures for him the former...
WHEREFORE DOTH A LIVING MAN COMPLAIN— If we consider God's afflictions as a just punishment of our evil doings, we shall never murmur or repine at Providence; and we ought to be thankful, however bitt...
B. Reflections About Suffering Lamentations 3:26-39 TRANSLATION (26) It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD. (27) It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his yout...
Who is he that saith, and it cometh to pass, when the Lord commandeth it not? WHO IS HE THAT SAITH, AND IT COMETH TO PASS. A double question is implied, Who is it that can (as God, ) effect by a word...
3:39 man (c-8) _ Geber_ , Job 3:3 . 'living man' in this verse is _ Adam_ . punishment (d-11) _ chet_ ; sin, also punishment, Isaiah 1:18 , 'sins.' see Zechariah 14:19 ....
ZION'S HOPE IN GOD'S MERCY This third poem is the most elaborate in structure and the most sublime in thought of all. The poet speaks not only for himself, but for the nation. The order of thought is...
JEREMIAH WEEPS IN THE DARKNESS LAMENTATIONS _ROY ROHU_ CHAPTER 3 JEREMIAH SPEAKS. In this chapter, the writer speaks on behalf of all God’s people. Much of what he says is true also of the troub...
WHEREFORE DOTH A LIVING MAN... — Better, _Why doth a man who lives? i.e.,_ whose life is spared him (comp. Jeremiah 45:5), with all its possibilities of good, complain of sufferings which, however unj...
(37-39) New grounds of patient faith are given: (1) In an echo from Psalms 33:9, affirming the sovereignty of God. The evil which He permits is under the control of this loving purpose; and (2) as far...
מַה ־יִּתְאֹונֵן֙ אָדָ֣ם חָ֔י גֶּ֖בֶר עַל־_חֲטָאָֽיו_†
GOD AND EVIL Lamentations 3:37 THE eternal problem of the relation of God to evil is here treated with the keenest discrimination. That God is the supreme and irresistible ruler, that no man can succ...
In this central and longest poem, Jeremiah identified himself completely with the experiences of his people. In the first movement, in language which throbs with pain, he described his own sorrows, re...
Why doth a living (t) man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins? (t) When God afflicts him....
_Sins? If all happened by inevitable necessity, or according to the laws of Providence, why should any one complain?_...
They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him. The LORD is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him....
_THROUGH REPENTANCE TO FAITH_ Out of the mouth of the most High proceedeth not evil and good? Wherefore doth a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins? Let us search and try our way...
Some explain the verb יתאונן, _itaunen, _by giving it the sense of lying, “Why should man lie?” others, “Why should man murmur?” But I see not what sense there can be in rendering it lying or murmurin...
In chapter 3 we find the language of faith, of sorrowing faith, of the Spirit of Christ in the remnant, on the occasion of the judgment of Jerusalem in which God had dwelt. Before, the prophet (or the...
WHEREFORE DOTH A LIVING MAN COMPLAIN?.... Or murmur, or fret and vex, or bemoan himself; all which the word k may signify; as the prophet had done in his own person; or as representing the church, Lam...
Wherefore doth a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins? Ver. 39. _Wherefore doth a living man complain?_] Mourn immoderately, or murmur causelessly. 1. If he mourn, let him mourn...
_Wherefore_, &c. The prophet here seems to check and blame himself for the complaints he had made in the former part of the chapter, wherein he appeared to reflect upon God as unkind and severe. And f...
God's Mercy and Power Revealed...
Wherefore doth a living man complain? with sighs and groans over his afflictions, A MAN FOR THE PUNISHMENT OF HIS SINS? That is, to rectify the evil in the world, let each one lament over his sins. It...
COMPLAIN: Or, murmur...
37-41 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. We are sinful men, and what we complain of, i...
This verse admits of various senses, caused from the various interpretation of the Hebrew word, which we translate _complain_, which also signifies to mourn or grieve; so some render it, Why doth a li...
Lamentations 3:39 living H2416 man H120 complain H596 (H8691) man H1397 sins H2399 doth -...
THE PROPHET PRAYS HIS WAY THROUGH TO CONFIDENCE IN YHWH (LAMENTATIONS 3:19). When our souls have reached their lowest point there is only one thing to do, and that is to cast ourselves on God. That i...
Lamentations 3:39 This question suggests two considerations; each of which demonstrates the injustice of the complaint Why should a living man complain? A living man! Life is still left thee; and of w...
We are about to read a chapter which is very full of sorrow; while you are listening to it, some of you may be saying, «We are not in that condition.» Well then, be thankful that you are not, and whil...
CONTENTS: Complaint of God's displeasure and comfort to God's people. Appeal to God's justice against persecutors. CHARACTERS: God, Jeremiah. CONCLUSION: Bad as things may be, it is owing to the mer...
The Metre changes here. The letters of the Hebrew alphabet, twenty two in number, begin three hemistichs, which make sixty six verses. It would look better, and read more poetically, if the hemistichs...
LAMENTATIONS—NOTE ON LAMENTATIONS 3:1 I Am the Man Who Has Seen Affliction. Chapter Lamentations 3:1 has one speaker, a man who has endured suffering, expe
EXEGETICAL NOTES.— (מ) Lamentations 3:37. The reason for not mentioning any name of God, as in Lamentations 3:1, is now wholly dispensed with, and He is presented as conditionating all events. He obse...
EXPOSITION LAMENTATIONS 3:1 MONOLOGUE SPOKEN BY AN INDIVIDUAL BELIEVER WHOSE FATE IS BOUND UP WITH THAT OF THE
In this third lamentation he begins from the depth of depression and despair. He begins with hopelessness, and hopelessness is always the experience behind depression. Depression is the loss of hope,...
Amos 3:6; Isaiah 45:7; Job 2:10; Proverbs 29:26; Psalms 75:7...