CHAPTER III _The prophet, by enumerating his own severe trials_, 1-20, _and showing his trust in God_, 21, _encourages his people to the like resignation and trust in the_ _Divine and never-failing mercy_, 22-27. _He vindicates the goodness of God in all his dispensations, and_ _the unreasonab... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Lamentations 3:2. _HE HATH - BROUGHT ME INTO DARKNESS_] In the sacred writings, _darkness_ is often taken for _calamity; light_, for _prosperity_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Lamentations 3:5. _HE HATH BUILDED AGAINST ME_] Perhaps there is a reference here to the _mounds_ and _ramparts_ raised by the Chaldeans in order to take the city.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 7. _HE HATH HEDGED ME ABOUT_] This also may refer to the lines drawn round the city during the siege. But these and similar expressions in the following verses may be merely metaphorical, to point out their _straitened, oppressed_, and _distressed_ state.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 9. _HE HATH INCLOSED MY WAYS WITH HEWN STONE_] He has put insuperable obstacles in my way; and confounded all my projects of deliverance and all my expectations of prosperity.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 12. _HE HATH BENT HIS BOW, AND SET ME AS A MARK FOR THE_ _ARROW._] One might conjecture that the following thought in the _Toozek i Teemour_ was borrowed from this: - "One addressed the caliph Aaly, and said, 'If the _heavens_ were a _bow_, and the _earth_ the _cord_ thereof; if _calamities_... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 13. _THE ARROWS OF HIS QUIVER_] בני אשפתו _beney ashpatho_, "The sons of his quiver." The _issue_ or _effect_; the subject, adjunct, or accident, or produce of a thing, is frequently denominated its _son_ or _child_. So _arrows_ that _issue_ from a _quiver_ are here termed _the sons of the qui... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 15. _HE HATH FILLED ME WITH BITTERNESS_] במרורים _bimrorim_, with bitternesses, bitter upon bitter. _HE HATH MADE ME DRUNKEN WITH WORMWOOD._] I have drunk the cup of misery till I am intoxicated with it. Almost in all countries, and in all languages, _bitterness_ is a metaphor to express _tro... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 16. _HE HATH ALSO BROKEN MY TEETH WITH GRAVEL STONES_] What a figure to express _disgust, pain_, and the consequent incapacity of _taking food_ for the support of life; a man, instead of bread, being obliged to eat _small pebbles_ till all his teeth are _broken_ _to pieces_ by endeavouring to... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 17. _THOU HAST REMOVED MY SOUL_] Prosperity is at such an utter distance from me, that it is impossible I should ever reach it; and as to _happiness_, I have forgotten whether I have ever tasted of it.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 18. _AND MY HOPE_] That first, that last support of the miserable-it is gone! it is perished! The sovereign God alone can revive it.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 20. _BY SOUL - IS HUMBLED IN ME._] It is evident that in the preceding verses there is a _bitterness_ of _complaint_ against the _bitterness_ of _adversity_, that is not becoming to _man_ when under the chastising hand of God; and, while indulging this feeling, all _hope_ fled. Here we find a... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 22. IT IS OF _THE LORD'S MERCIES THAT WE ARE NOT CONSUMED_] Being thus _humbled_, and seeing _himself_ and his _sinfulness_ in a proper point of view, he finds that God, instead of dealing with him in _judgment_, has dealt with him in _mercy_; and that though the affliction was excessive, yet... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 23. THEY ARE _NEW EVERY MORNING_] Day and night proclaim the mercy and compassion of God. Who could exist throughout the _day_, if there were not a continual superintending Providence? Who could be preserved in the _night_, if the Watchman of Israel ever slumbered or slept?... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 24. _THE LORD_ IS _MY PORTION_] Psalms 119:57.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 26. IT IS _GOOD THAT_ A MAN _SHOULD BOTH HOPE_] _Hope_ is essentially necessary to _faith_; he that _hopes not, cannot believe_; if there be no _expectation_, there can be no _confidence_. When a man _hopes_ for salvation, he should not only _wait_ for it, but use every means that may lead to... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 27. _THAT HE BEAR THE YOKE IN HIS YOUTH._] Early _habits_, when good, are invaluable. Early _discipline_ is equally so. He who has not got under wholesome restraint in youth will never make a useful man, a good man, nor a happy man.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 28. _HE SITTETH ALONE_] He has learned that necessary lesson of _independence_, that shows him how _he is to serve himself_; to _give no trouble to others_; and _keep his troubles_, as far as possible, _in his own bosom_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 29. _HE PUTTETH HIS MOUTH IN THE DUST_] Lives in a state of deep humility. _IF SO BE THERE MAY BE HOPE._] Because there is room for hope.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 30. _HE GIVETH_ HIS _CHEEK TO HIM THAT SMITETH_] He has that love that is not provoked. He is not quarrelsome, nor apt to resent injuries; he suffers long and is kind. Or, it may be rendered, "let him give his cheek." _HE IS FILLED FULL WITH REPROACH._] Though all this take place, yet let his... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 31. _THE LORD_] אדני _Adonai_; but one of my ancient MSS. has יהוה _Jehovah_. The above verse is quoted in reference to our Lord's passion, by Matthew 26:62.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 33. _FOR HE DOTH NOT AFFLICT WILLINGLY_] It is no pleasure to God to afflict men. He takes no delight in our pain and misery: yet, like a tender and intelligent parent, he uses the rod; not to gratify himself, but to profit and save us.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 34. _TO CRUSH UNDER HIS FEET_] He can neither gain credit nor pleasure in trampling upon those who are already _bound_, and in suffering; such he knows to be the state of man here below. From which it most assuredly follows, that God never afflicts us but for our good, nor chastises but that w... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 35. _TO TURN ASIDE THE RIGHT OF A MAN_] To make a man lose his right, because one of the higher orders opposes him. Dr. _Blayney_ thinks that עליון _elyon_, instead of being referred to _God_, should be considered as pointing out one of the _chief_ of the people. I do not see that we gain any... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 36. _TO SUBVERT A MAN IN HIS CAUSE_] To prevent his having justice done him in a lawsuit, c., by undue interference, as by suborning false witnesses, or exerting any kind of influence in opposition to truth and right.-_Blayney_. _THE LORD APPROVED NOT._] Instead of אדני _Adonai_, seventeen MS... [ Continue Reading ]
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 seek and find mercy unto eternal life. Of this, _death_ would deprive him; therefore let not a _living_... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 40. _LET US SEARCH_] How are we to get the pardon of our sins? The prophet tells us: 1. Let us examine ourselves. 2. "Let us turn again to the Lord." 3. "Let us lift up our heart;" let us make fervent prayer and supplication for mercy. 4. "Let us lift up our hand;" let us solemnly promise... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 47. _FEAR AND A SNARE_] Jeremiah 48:13.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 48. _MINE EYE RUNNETH DOWN_] I weep incessantly.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 51. _MINE EYE AFFECTETH MINE HEART_] What I _see_ I _feel_. I see nothing but _misery_; and I _feel_, in consequence, nothing but _pain_. There have been various translations of the original: but they all amount to this. _THE DAUGHTERS OF MY CITY._] The villages about Jerusalem.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 52. _MINE ENEMIES CHASED ME_] From this to the end of the chapter the prophet speaks of his own personal sufferings, and especially of those which he endured in the _dungeon_. See Jeremiah 38:6, c.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 56. _HIDE NOT THINE EAR AT MY BREATHING_] He dared not even to _complain_, nor to _cry_, nor to _pray aloud_: he was obliged to _whisper_ his prayer to God. It was only a _breathing_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 57. _FEAR NOT._] How powerful is this word when spoken by the Spirit of the Lord to a disconsolate heart. To _every mourner_ we may say, on the authority of God, _Fear not_! God will plead thy cause, and redeem thy soul.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Lamentations 3:60. _THOU HAST SEEN - ALL THEIR IMAGINATIONS_] Every thing is open to the eye of God. Distressed soul! though _thou_ knowest not _what_ thy enemies _meditate_ against thee; yet he who _loves thee_ does, and will infallibly defeat all _their_ plots, and save _thee_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Lamentations 3:65. _GIVE THEM SORROW OF HEART_] They shall have a _callous_ heart, _covered_ with _obstinacy_, and thy _execration_. The former is their _state_, the latter their _fate_. This is the consequence of their hardening their hearts from thy fear. _Blayney_ translates, "Thou wilt giv... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Lamentations 3:66. _PERSECUTE AND DESTROY THEM_] Thou wilt pursue them with destruction. These are all _declaratory_, not _imprecatory_. _FROM UNDER THE HEAVENS OF THE LORD._] This verse seems to allude to the Chaldaic prediction, in Jeremiah 10:11. By their conduct they will bring on themsel... [ Continue Reading ]