Lamentations 3 - Introduction

Chapter 3. In This Chapter The Prophet Commences By Bemoaning His Own Personal Afflictions, But Then Goes On To Stress God's Faithfulness To Those Who Trust In Him. Complaining About His Experiences He Is Finally Assured That God Will Requite His Adversaries.

Some commentators have suggested that in this chapter we have a personification of corporate Jerusalem speaking, but the alternation between ‘I' and ‘we', the indication of personal enemies and personal suffering, the reference to ‘my people' (Lamentations 3:14) and the fact that he can speak of ‘the daughter of my people' (Lamentations 3:48) and ‘the daughters of my city' (Lamentations 3:51), all point to an individual speaking on behalf of himself and others. Indeed once we see this as referring to the prophet we discover that the whole book is constructed in such a way that whilst the city of Jerusalem languishes without hope in Chapter s 1, 2, 4 and 5, in the centre of it all is one who trusts in God and has assurance for the godly. It is they who will be the foundation of the future hope and are the ones to whom Israel will have to look in the future.

It is noteworthy that in the first seventeen verses in which the prophet speaks of his afflictions God is simply spoken of as ‘He' with no designation being given to Him, indicating how far off from His presence the prophet felt himself to be. And then when YHWH is at last mentioned in Lamentations 3:18 it is in order to declare his lack of expectation from Him.

But when we get to Lamentations 3:22 all changes. YHWH is mentioned four times in five verses as the prophet expresses his confidence in His faithfulness and declares his readiness to wait for his personal salvation.

He then goes on to emphasise the need for patience and forbearance in expectation that ‘the Sovereign Lord' will not cast him off for ever (Lamentations 3:31), following it up with an indication of his confidence in the fact that God is at work on behalf of His own even if it might not seem like it. In this section ‘the Lord' is mentioned three times, ‘the Most High' twice, ‘God in the heavens' once and YHWH once, and the prophet calls on men to turn to Him.

He then from Lamentations 3:43 onwards returns to the theme of previous Chapter s bewailing the fact of what has come on Jerusalem, although now with an expectancy that YHWH will hear (Lamentations 3:50). From Lamentations 3:52 onwards he finally describes the ignominies heaped upon him by his adversaries, expressing his confidence that YHWH will see and take notice, and will avenge what has been done to him. In this section YHWH is mentioned six times, five times as addressed by the prophet.

As previously described the chapter is an acrostic, each of the first three verses beginning with Aleph, the next three Beth, and so on as shown in the text.

In this lament we have a wonderful picture of a godly man struggling through from a position of almost despair to a confident trust that God is with him in the midst of his troubles, so much so that he can turn his thoughts away from himself to others (the change from ‘I' to ‘we') as he brings them before God.