Lamentations 3:1-21. Laments mingled with hope For remarks upon (_a_) the character of this ch., (_b_) its more elaborate acrostic structure, and (_c_) its probable date see Intr. chs. 1 § 4, 2 § 4, 3 § 2. The question which has most exercised commentators in connexion with the ch. is, whether we... [ Continue Reading ]
_by the rod of his wrath_ For the figure cp. Job 9:34; Job 21:9; Psalms 89:32; Isaiah 10:5. We should notice the absence of God's name Lamentations 3:1, except in Lamentations 3:18, in contrast with its frequency afterwards, when a ground of hope is found in the Divine pity and purpose (Lamentations... [ Continue Reading ]
Here commences a series of figures illustrating the miseries endured. They find many parallels in the Psalms and Job. For instances of the latter see Lamentations 3:7. _he hath broken my bones_ For this phrase cp. Isaiah 38:13; Jeremiah 50:17.... [ Continue Reading ]
_He hath builded against me, and compassed_ Here as in Lamentations 3:3 we have to deal with the idiom by which two verbs are used where we should in English have a verb and adverb. Translate therefore HE HATH BUILDED AGAINST ME ROUND ABOUT. _gall_ See on Jeremiah 8:14. The combination with "travai... [ Continue Reading ]
Identical with the last part of Psalms 143:3. See intr. note. _dark places_ in the gloom of Sheol. _long dead_ or, _for ever dead_, permanently forgotten, never able to return into the light of God's favour.... [ Continue Reading ]
Cp. Job 19:8; so with Lamentations 3:8; Job 19:7; Job 30:20, and we may perhaps add with Lamentations 3:5; Job 19:12.... [ Continue Reading ]
_hath made my paths crooked_ The writer, seeing that the direct way was as it were blocked, tried side paths, but found that they also failed to lead him in the desired direction. The figure expresses perplexity and dismay.... [ Continue Reading ]
Not only misery, but active forms of danger present themselves. We find the bear and lion in conjunction also in Hosea 13:8.... [ Continue Reading ]
He hath driven me from the path, and then sprung upon me and devoured me. _desolate_ APPALLED, stupified. Cp. Lamentations 4:5; akin to the word rendered "astonishment" in Jeremiah 5:30 (mg.), Jeremiah 18:16.... [ Continue Reading ]
Jehovah is now likened not to the beast of prey, but to the hunter. Cp. Job 16:12 f.... [ Continue Reading ]
_shafts_ lit. as mg. the more poetical _sons_. _reins_ See on Jeremiah 12:2.... [ Continue Reading ]
_a derision_ See on Jeremiah 20:7 f., and cp. Job 12:4; Job 30:1-9; Psalms 69:12.... [ Continue Reading ]
_wormwood_ See on Jeremiah 9:15; Jeremiah 23:15.... [ Continue Reading ]
_broken my teeth with gravel stones_ The metaphor from food is continued. The prophet is like one whose teeth are worn away by the continued action of grit mixed with his bread. Cp. Proverbs 20:17.... [ Continue Reading ]
_thou hast removed_(mg. _cast off) my soul_ The change to the second person is abrupt. LXX have "he has thrust away," the Syr. (and so Targ.) "my soul is thrust away," but, as Pe. remarks, this is improbable in view of Lamentations 3:31. The writer there, however, need not be the same as here; see i... [ Continue Reading ]
God is now directly invoked. _misery_ mg. _wandering_, or, _outcast state_.... [ Continue Reading ]
This and the previous _v_. are akin in thought to Psalms 42:4-5 (Hebrews 5:6), and, inasmuch as the words there corresponding to _This I recall_of the present passage have reference to that which follows, these words also are made (so Löhr and Pe.) to relate to the more hopeful thoughts that come in... [ Continue Reading ]
There are metrical irregularities in these _vv_. as they stand. We should probably (with Löhr) read the first, "The Lord's compassion ceaseth not"; "His love is not spent," and the second, which is now too short in its first part, we may safely extend by supplying from the former clause "New is thy... [ Continue Reading ]
_The Lord is my portion_ a frequent expression in the Psalms (Psalms 16:5; Psalms 73:26; Psalms 119:57; Psalms 142:5).... [ Continue Reading ]
_Good_is the leading word of this group. The knowledge of the Lord's goodness (25) is that which (26) makes it good that man should be hopeful and submissive and (27) makes him also to recognise the moral good that comes of suffering. Löhr and Pe. cp. Romans 5:3-5. "These _vv_. have the ring of auto... [ Continue Reading ]
See intr. note.... [ Continue Reading ]
_in his youth_ in the time when his passions are strongest and therefore most need the discipline, which, if established in its seat then, will hold sway throughout his life. The words by no means imply that the writer was young at the time he used them. Rather he is looking back through a long life... [ Continue Reading ]
The hortative form is better than mg. _He sitteth alone, etc_. For sitting alone in grief, cp. Jeremiah 15:17. The connexion is, inasmuch as suffering is really attended with benefit to the sufferer, let him submit readily to it. _hath laid_ The subject is God.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Let him put his mouth in the dust_ the Eastern way of expressing absolute submission by prostrating oneself.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Let him give his cheek_ Cp. Job 16:10; Isaiah 50:6; Matthew 5:39.... [ Continue Reading ]
Cp. Psalms 30:5 (with mg.), Psalms 77:7 ff., Psalms 103:9; Isaiah 57:16; Micah 7:18.... [ Continue Reading ]
This group contains the three thoughts which produce the resignation, (_a_) because punishment will be only for a time (cp. Isaiah 54:8), (_b_) because God is by nature merciful, (_c_) because even in punishment it is in no angry or vindictive spirit that God acts.... [ Continue Reading ]
_willingly_ lit. as mg. _from his heart_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Three species of wrong-doing on the part of the victorious oppressor are here enumerated; (_a_) To treat prisoners with cruelty, (_b_) To give an unrighteous decision at law: for the judges as representing God were called by His name (e.g. Exodus 21:6 with mg.; see Psalms 82:1; Psalms 82:6), and hen... [ Continue Reading ]
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; he therefore may not complain.... [ Continue Reading ]
Cp. Psalms 33:9.... [ Continue Reading ]
Cp. Isaiah 45:7; Amos 3:6.... [ Continue Reading ]
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 living man complain? Each_(should complain) _of his sins_. In that case we should require _mourn_rathe... [ Continue Reading ]
_Let us search_ As it is through our sins that this evil is come upon us, let us (40) seek out what has been amiss in us and repent, (41) place ourselves before God in prayer, (42) confess our sin.... [ Continue Reading ]
_with our hands_ Cp. Exodus 9:33; 1 Kings 8:22.... [ Continue Reading ]
_We … thou_ The pronouns are emphatic in the original. _Thou_and _we_have been at variance. _thou … pardoned_ Observe how this clause forms a connecting link with the next group; similarly "mine eye" in Lamentations 3:48.... [ Continue Reading ]
_covered_ mg., better, _covered_thyself. Thou hast clothed thyself in wrath. This accords with the next line.... [ Continue Reading ]
That Jehovah is veiled by darkness from human eyes is a thought which frequently meets us. See 1 Kings 8:12; Psalms 97:2; Isaiah 45:15.... [ Continue Reading ]
For the thought cp. Nahum 3:6; 1 Corinthians 4:13. It was exemplified in the Middle Ages in England and elsewhere (see _Ivanhoe_) and is still to be seen in Eastern Europe in the _Judenhetze_.... [ Continue Reading ]
On the peculiarity of the alphabetic arrangement here see Intr., p. 321, and for this _v_. cp. ch. Lamentations 2:16.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Fear and the pit_ See on Jeremiah 48:43, of which this reminds us, and cp. Isaiah 24:17 f. _devastation_ mg. _tumult_. The original word occurs here only.... [ Continue Reading ]
_runneth down with rivers of water_ a still stronger expression than that of Lamentations 1:16, where see note. Cp. Jeremiah 13:17; Psalms 119:136.... [ Continue Reading ]
_ceaseth not_ Cp. Jeremiah 9:1; Jeremiah 14:17.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Till the Lord look down etc_.] Cp. Isaiah 63:15.... [ Continue Reading ]
_affecteth my soul_ The inflammation of eyes caused by continual weeping, or, better, the sights of misery on which he looks, add to his mental suffering. _the daughters of my city_ either those whose untoward fate has been already lamented (Lamentations 1:4; Lamentations 1:18; Lamentations 2:10; La... [ Continue Reading ]
There is a possible reference on the part of the writer to Jeremiah 38:6, but this is rendered unlikely by the fact that the "dungeon" had no water in it, and thus Lamentations 3:54 is inapplicable. The use of the singular "stone" in Lamentations 3:53 is difficult to understand, unless it refers to... [ Continue Reading ]
See intr. note.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Waters flowed over mine head_ figuratively. So in Psalms 42:7; Psalms 69:2, which latter Ps. was traditionally ascribed to Jeremiah. _I am cut off_ Cp. Psalms 31:22; Psalms 88:5; 2 Chronicles 26:21; Isaiah 53:8.... [ Continue Reading ]
The word rendered "breathing" occurs but once elsewhere (Exodus 8:15 [Heb. Lamentations 3:11]), and has there the sense of _respite, relief_. Accordingly Ewald proposes (by a change of one consonant) to render _my cry_, and consider "at my cry" to be a gloss.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Thou drewest near_ Cp. Psalms 145:18.... [ Continue Reading ]
_thou hast pleaded the causes of my soul_ The enemy are likened to opponents in a suit at law. The Lord has been the writer's successful advocate against them. He is therefore invoked once again to defeat them.... [ Continue Reading ]
Cp. Jeremiah 11:19.... [ Continue Reading ]
_The lips_ i.e. the utterances, governed by _Thou heardest_of Lamentations 3:61.... [ Continue Reading ]
_song_ Cp. Job 30:9. _their sitting down, and their rising up_ their whole course of life. Cp. Psalms 139:2.... [ Continue Reading ]
For the anticipation of punishment here expressed see on Jeremiah 18:23; C.B. (Kirkpatrick) on Psalms 28:4.... [ Continue Reading ]
_hardness_ or, as mg. _blindness_, Heb. _covering_. Cp. 2 Corinthians 3:15. _thy curse unto them_ dependent on "wilt give," or meaning, thy curse _shall be_unto them. Either of these explanations is more in accordance with the context than to make the clause an imprecation, May thy curse be upon th... [ Continue Reading ]