Lamentations 3
OGCREVIEW OF CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
How does the acrostic pattern in this chapter differ from that of the first two Chapter s of Lamentations?
Is the third chapter of Lamentations an individual or a collective lament?
What is the meaning of the expression those forever dead? Lamentations 3:6.
Does God always hear and answer prayer? Lamentations 3:8.
What is the wormwood and gall? Lamentations 3:19.
What thought about God became the foundation upon which the poet was able to reconstruct his hope?
In what sense are the mercies of God new every morning? Lamentations 3:23.
What is the yoke which a man should bear in his youth? Lamentations 3:27.
In what posture did people in Old Testament times often pray? Lamentations 3:41.
Does Jeremiah refer to his own personal experience in the cistern in Lamentations 3:53-54?
Is it right for a Christian to pray for the destruction of his enemies? Lamentations 3:64.
Lamentations 3:1-18
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
A SUFFERING PROPHET
Again in chapter three the poet has adopted the acrostic style but in a slightly different form from that of the previous Chapter s. In Chapter s 1 and 2 only the first line of each stanza of three lines began with consecutive letters of the Hebrew alphabet. In chapter 3 all three lines of each stanza begin with the same Hebrew letter. Chapter 3 is actually the same length as Chapter s 1 and 2 though the verse numeration makes it appear longer. In the first two Chapter s three lines of Hebrew verse comprise one verse of English text; in chapter 3 each line of Hebrew text has been counted as one verse of English text. Thus the verses of chapter 3 are only one third as long as those of Chapter s 1 and 2 and there are three times as many of them.
The major exegetical problem arising in chapter 3 is whether this is an individual lament or whether the individual here is a personification of the nation. In favor of the individual interpretation of the chapter is the fact that the speaker is called a man (Lamentations 3:1; Lamentations 3:27; Lamentations 3:35; Lamentations 3:39). Furthermore, some of the verses of this chapter have an intensely personal tone (e.g., Lamentations 3:14; Lamentations 3:53). On the other hand the shift from I to we in Lamentations 3:22; Lamentations 3:40-47 would suggest that the first person singular is but a stylistic device which the poet has used to speak of the suffering of the entire nation. According to this view Jeremiah is here speaking as an individual member of the nation who has become identified with his people in the midst of their affliction. Their trouble, suffering and grief are his as well. In truth the chapter seems to contain both the individual I and the collective I and it is not always easy to ascertain which use of the first person is intended. In the comments which follow the shifts in the usage of the first person will be noted where possible.
In relationship to the suffering prophet one can see in this chapter (1) his cry of desperation (Lamentations 3:1-18); (2) his confession of faith (Lamentations 3:19-39); (3) his appeal for repentance (Lamentations 3:40-47; (4) his personal suffering (Lamentations 3:48-54); and (5) his prayer for deliverance (Lamentations 3:61-66).
I. HIS CRY OF DESPERATION Lamentations 3:1-18
TRANSLATION
(1) I am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of His wrath. (2) He has led and brought me into darkness and not light. (3) Surely against me He keeps on turning His hand all day long. (4) He has made my flesh and skin to waste away; He has broken my bones. (5) He has hemmed me in, surrounding me with bitterness and anguish. (6) He has made me dwell in dark places like those who are forever dead. (7) He has built a wall about me and I cannot get out. He has put heavy chains upon me. (8) Even when I keep on crying and calling for help He shuts out my prayer. (9) He has walled up my ways with hewn stone and my paths He has made crooked. (10) He is to me like a bear lying in wait, a lion in hiding. (11) He turned aside my ways, tore me in pieces and made me desolate. (12) He bent His bow and set me up as a target for His arrow. (13) He sent into my inward parts the shafts of His quiver. (14) I am an object of derision to all my people, their song all the day. (15) He has filled me to the brim with bitterness, caused me to drink wormwood. (16) He has ground my teeth with gravel and covered me over with ashes. (17) You have deprived my soul of peace; I have forgotten what prosperity is. (18) And I said, My strength has perished and my expectation from the LORD.
COMMENTS
The opening verse sets the theme for chapter 3. The poet identifies himself as an individual who has experienced in his own life what the nation has experienced. I am the man who has seen affliction is a general statement of his misery. By the rod of His wrath can refer only to God although God is not specifically mentioned until Lamentations 3:18. Having identified himself and set forth the basic thesis of the chapter the prophet begins to develop his theme in a series of brilliant similes and metaphors.
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He compares his experience to a terrifying walk in Stygian darkness (Lamentations 3:2). Darkness is probably symbolic here of the inability to comprehend the judgment which God has brought upon the nation.
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He compares his affliction to being smitten by the hand of God (Lamentations 3:3). The Old Testament refers frequently to the hand of God (e.g., Isaiah 5:25; Isaiah 53:4). No matter what the poet tried to do it seemed that God’s hand was against him. Surely the prophet here is speaking as a representative of his people.
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He compares his trouble to old age with its wrinkled skin and fragile bones (Lamentations 3:4). Broken bones are one of the curses of old age for they do not heal easily.
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He compares his trials to the siege of a city (Lamentations 3:5). He has been surrounded and bombarded by bitterness and anguish. There is no escape. It is a struggle to merely survive.
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He compares his situation to that of a lost dead man (Lamentations 3:6). Such a one is described as dwelling in dark places (cf. the outer darkness of Mat 25:30). Those that have been long dead (ASV) and the dead of old (KJV) is better rendered those who are forever or eternally dead. Following physical death the wicked experience the second death and hence can be spoken of as eternally dead. This verse is a duplicate of Psa 143:3.
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The figure changes in Lamentations 3:7-8 to that of a prison. The poet feels hedged in by an insurmountable wall and weighted down by heavy and unbreakable chains of brass. Although he cries out in his anguish, there is no answer to his cry for God shuts out his prayers.
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In a similar figure, the poet contends that a block has been thrown up across the path of his life (Lamentations 3:9). God has placed a wall of carefully prepared and closely fitting hewn stone to blockade his way. Since the straight and easy road to his life’s goals was blocked he had to look for alternative routes. Walking the uncharted by-paths, the poet found himself in a maze of crooked paths most of which turned out to be blind alleys. He felt he was walking aimlessly without knowing his ultimate destiny.
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In still another figure the poet depicts God as a lion or bear lying in wait for prey. Suddenly, unexpectedly the Lord has seized him and torn him to pieces. Amos (Lamentations 5:19) and Hosea (Hosea 13:8) use this same figure.
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The poet feels that he has become the target for the divine archer (Lamentations 3:12-13). The arrow of tribulation and persecution has found its mark in the vital parts (lit., the kidneys) and thus the poet is doomed to suffer a slow and painful death. The arrow metaphor is not un common in the Old Testament (Psalms 38:1-2; Job 6:4; Job 16:12-14).
In Lamentations 3:14 the prophet briefly drops the metaphors to complain as the representative of the believing individual that he is mocked and ridiculed by his people. All day long they made him the object of their taunt songs. Pleasure-mad throngs cannot stand those who rebuke and warn of judgment.
- He compares his sorrow and anguish to food and drink in Lamentations 3:15-16. His food was bitterness which he was forced to eat until he was filled to the brim (lit., sated, nauseated); his drink was wormwood, a bitter substance usually associated with gall. As a sign of his disgrace and mourning the poet has heaped ashes upon himself and in so doing has gotten grit into his mouth.
The prophet was overwhelmed by the catastrophic destruction of Jerusalem, In his great suffering he has lost all inner peace. He cannot even remember what it means to enjoy the blessings of life (Lamentations 3:17). He is in the depths of despair. His strength, physical and spiritual, has perished. The confidence which he had previously placed in the Lord has been shaken and, in fact, has disappeared (Lamentations 3:18). Yet all is not lost. The moment he announces that he has lost his confidence in the Lord he has done something very significant. He has pronounced the precious name of God. The mention of the name of the Lord in this moment of deepest misery and despair helps the poet to find solid footing for his faith. To this Lord he turns in confident prayer (Lamentations 3:19-39).
Lamentations 3:19-25
II. HIS CONFESSION OF FAITH Lamentations 3:19-39
Since the poet’s outlook was bleak he tries the uplook. He calls upon God to remember his predicament (Lamentations 3:19) because he himself is not able to forget about it (Lamentations 3:20). Mental and physical miseries are not easily forgotten especially when they continue to press in upon an individual. But while the poet could not for a moment forget his sufferings he did not allow himself to be done in by them. By turning his thoughts to God (Lamentations 3:21-25) and by reflecting upon the nature of suffering (Lamentations 3:26-39) the prophet is able to gain a great personal victory.
A. Reflections About God Lamentations 3:19-25
TRANSLATION
(19) Remember my affliction and my wanderings, the wormwood and the gall. (20) My soul continually remembers it and is bowed down within me. (21) This I will call to mind; therefore, I still have hope. (22)The lovingkindnesses of the LORD are the reason we have not been consumed; for His mercies never fail. (23) They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. (24) My portion is the LORD, says my soul, therefore I will hope in Him. (25) The LORD is good to the soul who waits for Him, to the soul that seeks Him.
COMMENTS
The mention of the name of the Lord in Lamentations 3:18 served to jog the memory of a grief-stricken prophet. His thoughts are turned from self to the Savior. Bert Hall sees in Lamentations 3:21-25 three pillars upon which the prophet reconstructed his faith: the nature, the person and the gifts of God.[441] The poet first brings to mind the boundless mercy and compassion of God. If it were not for His lovingkindness all men would be instantly consumed (Lamentations 3:22). The Hebrew word used here is difficult to render by a single English word. The word is akin to the New Testament word for grace. The plural form of the word indicates the magnitude and repeated manifestations of His lovingkindness. His mercies or compassionssympathetic love especially toward the helpless and sufferingnever fail (Lamentations 3:22). The expressions of God’s love and mercy are new every morning. Life, breath, opportunities, food, raimenthow often they are taken for granted; how seldom is thanks offered for them. As the prophet meditates upon the ceaselessness of God’s mercy he breaks forth in a triumphant strain: Great is Your faithfulness! (Lamentations 3:23). This verse and the one which preceded it furnished the inspiration for Thomas Chisholm’s magnificent hymn Great is Thy Faithfulness. This great affirmation of faith came from the lips of a man who had recently suffered what few others before or since have suffered. It was a time when men had only the post meager provisions. Every morsel of bread, every cup of water, every tattered garment was regarded as an evidence of the mercies of God. Even though the poet had nothing of this world’s goods to make him happy and secure, still he was satisfied for the Lord was his portion. The knowledge that he possessed God and God possessed him was the foundation for the hope of the prophet (Lamentations 3:24). To those souls who put their trust in Him God is good (Lamentations 3:25). God never forsakes His own!
[441] Hall, op. cit., p. 355,
Lamentations 3:26-39
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 youth. (28) Let him sit alone and remain silent for He has laid it on him, (29) Let him put his mouth in the dust, perhaps there is hope. (30) Let him give his cheek to the one who smites him; let him be filled with reproach. (31) For the Lord will not reject forever. (32) For though He may afflict, yet He will have compassion according to the multitude of His lovingkindness; (33) for He does not desire to grieve and afflict the children of men. (34) To crush under foot all the prisoners of the earth, (35) to turn aside the right of a man before the face of the Most High, (36) to subvert a man in his cause, the LORD does not approve. (37) Who is it that speaks and it comes to pass if the Lord has not commanded it? (38) Do not pronouncements of misfortunes and prosperity proceed from the mouth of the Most High? (39) For what reason does a living man complain, each man because of the punishment for his sins?
COMMENTS
Growing out of his reflections about God the poet makes several observations, some practical and some philosophical, about human suffering.
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Patience and hope open the channels of salvation and deliverance (Lamentations 3:26). Boisterous complaint against the human predicament only tends to aggravate the situation. The believer should quietly wait in faith for the deliverance of the Lord.
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Self-discipline during one’s youth has positive benefits. If a young person can learn to bear the yoke of suffering he will not easily despair when he is old (Lamentations 3:27). Suffering teaches one patience and hope (Romans 5:3-5) and helps one bring forth the fruit of righteousness (Hebrews 12:11). Such a one however must learn to suffer in solitude and silence. He should not grumble against the God who sent the tribulation nor should he yield to the temptation to appeal for the sympathy of others by dis cussing with them his aches and pains (Lamentations 3:28). He must bite the dust in self-abasement humbly to hope that there is hope (Lamentations 3:29). He should willingly submit himself to whatever injustices life has to offer. Even though he may be filled with reproach he should not pour it forth upon his antagonist (Lamentations 3:30 cf. Matthew 5:38-39).
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Affliction sent by God is measured and purposeful. Present affliction does not mean that God has ultimately rejected His people for the Lord does not reject forever (Lamentations 3:31). Even in periods of chastisement He remains the God of mercy (Lamentations 3:32). He does not permit one trial or temptation beyond what a man can endure. God takes no delight in seeing men suffer (Lamentations 3:33). Nevertheless, He permits men to suffer and sometimes administers the stroke against them in order to accomplish His own sovereign purposes in their lives.
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God does not approve of punishment which is not just or purposeful. Political atrocities (Lamentations 3:34), injustice in legal proceedings (Lamentations 3:35) or, in fact, any social inequities (Lamentations 3:36) arouse His displeasure and demand His punishment. The phrase before the face of the Most High points to the fact that human judges are viewed as representatives of God.
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Nothing is done in this world without God’s permission. No one is able to make plans about the future and carry out those plans without the permission of the Lord (Lamentations 3:37). God has clearly set forth in His word the conditions of blessing and the consequences of disobedience (Lamentations 3:38). A man is not forced to choose wrong with its resultant punishment. On what basis then does a man complain when he is punished for his sin? (Lamentations 3:39).
Lamentations 3:40-47
III. HIS APPEAL FOR REPENTANCE Lamentations 3:40-47
TRANSLATION
(40) Let us search and examine our ways and return to the LORD. (41) Let us lift up our hearts and hands unto God in heaven: (42) We have transgressed and rebelled; You have not forgiven. (43) You surrounded yourself with wrath and pursued us; You have slain without pity. (44) you have covered yourself with a cloud so that no prayer can pass through. (45) You have made us as dung and refuse in the midst of the peoples. (46) All our enemies rail against us. (47) Panic and the pit have come upon us, devastation and destruction.
COMMENTS
Rather than complain about their suffering the prophet urges the people to repent of the sins which have brought about the suffering. Repentance begins with self-examination and honest analysis of their situation. Every individual must search (lit., dig into) and examine (lit., test or try) his heart. The objective of this rigorous self-examination is to discover and remove any impediments which may be preventing them from returning to the Lord. The Hebrew preposition translated to has the idea of actually arriving at the goal. The poet is urging upon his hearers a complete and whole-hearted return to God.
Self-examination should be followed by sincere prayer. The hands uplifted towards heaven seems to have been one of the popular postures for prayer in Old Testament times. But Jeremiah urges his hearers to lift up their heart as well as their hands to the Lord (Lamentations 3:41). Proper posture does not always mean proper prayer! In genuine prayer inward submission always accompanies outward acts of supplication. Perhaps they had heretofore prayed in the mechanical and formal sense. The prophet now urges them to put their heart into the exercise.
In Lamentations 3:42-47 the prophet speaks the words which the people ought to use in their prayer of repentance. The prayer begins with a confession of sin: We have transgressed and rebelled! The pronoun we is emphatic. There is no effort here to cover up or minimize the enormity of the sin. From this forthright confession of sin the prayer moves to description of the consequences of sin. (1) Sin cuts off the mercies of God. God had not pardoned nor could He pardon until the nation manifested some sign of genuine repentance (Lamentations 3:42). (2) Sin stirs up divine wrath. The punishment against sin is swift, thorough, and relentless (Lamentations 3:43). (3) Sin cuts the communication lines to heaven. God wraps Himself in a cloud through which no prayer can pass (Lamentations 3:44). Only when men turn from sin can God hear their prayers (Psalms 66:18). (4) Sin ultimately brings humiliation. Judah became like dung and refuse among the nations of the world because of sin (Lamentations 3:45). Judah’s enemies railed against her with impunity (Lamentations 3:46). (5) Sin results in panic and ruin. In the day of judgment one calamity after another befalls the sinner until he is finally destroyed (Lamentations 3:47).
Lamentations 3:48-54
IV. HIS PERSONAL SUFFERING Lamentations 3:48-54
TRANSLATION
(48) With streams of water my eyes flow because of the destruction of the daughter of my people. (49) My eyes flow without ceasing, without any pause. (50) Until the LORD sees and looks down from. (51) My eyes afflict my soul because of all the daughters of my city. (52) Those who had no reason to be my enemies have hunted me down like a bird. (53) They have cut off my life in the pit and have cast a stone on me. (54) Waters flowed over my head. I said, I am cut off.
COMMENTS
As the weeping prophet contemplates the judgment which has befallen his people he bursts into tears anew (Lamentations 3:48). Without a moment’s pause he continues his sorrowful intercession (Lamentations 3:49). He is determined to pray until the Lord looks in tender compassion upon the affliction of His people (Lamentations 3:50). The poet continues to be disturbed by the sight of the shameful defilement of the young maidens of Jerusalem (Lamentations 3:51).
A problem arises with regard to the interpretation of Lam 3:52-54. Many commentators feel that Jeremiah speaks here as a representative of the people of Judah and that he here is describing in figurative terms the experience of the nation. Others feel that Jeremiah is alluding here to his own experiences in the empty cistern before the fall of Jerusalem (Jeremiah 38:6-13) or to some more recent similar experience. If allowance is made for poetic imagery there is no reason why Lamentations 3:52-54 could not refer to the actual experience of the prophet. Without justification the national leaders considered Jeremiah as a traitor to his nation. They hunted him down like a fowler hunts his prey (Lamentations 3:52). They planned to get rid of the prophetic pest permanently by casting him into a dungeon and then covering the mouth of that pit with a stone (Lamentations 3:53). Jeremiah sank into the mire of that empty cistern and the waters of death, as it were, flowed over his head. In the midst of his despair he cried out unto the Lord: I am cut off i.e., I am as good as dead (Lamentations 3:54).
Lamentations 3:55-66
V. HIS PRAYER FOR DELIVERANCE Lamentations 3:55-66
TRANSLATION
(55) I called on Your name, O LORD, from the depths of the pit. (56) You have heard my voice! Do not close Your ear to my sighing, to my cry for help! (57) You have drawn near in the day I called upon You. You said; Do not be afraid. (58) You have pleaded the causes of my soul, O Lord; You have redeemed my life. (59) You have seen, O LORD, the wrong done unto me. Judge my cause. (60) You have seen all of their vengeance, all of their plots against me, (62) the lips of those who rise up against me and their murmuring against me all the day. (63) Observe their sitting down and rising up. I am their song. (64) Repay them, O LORD, according to the deeds of their hands. (65) Give them blindness of heart! Let Your curse be on them! (66) Pursue them in anger and destroy them from under the heavens of the LORD.
COMMENTS
The closing section of chapter 3 is a prayer for deliverance which is filled with expressions of confidence that the prayer will be answered. As the prophet recalls the cistern experience and how God delivered him from that certain death his faith begins to grow. Just as God heard his cry from the dark dungeon of death (Lamentations 3:55) so he asks God not to ignore his present pleas for help (Lamentations 3:56). In the past God had answered his prayers by drawing near and whispering Be not afraid! (Lamentations 3:57). God had intervened on behalf of His servant, had taken up his cause, and had redeemed his very life (Lamentations 3:58). On the basis of God’s past response to his petition Jeremiah again calls upon God to hear and answer his prayer.
In Lamentations 3:59-66 the actual petition is presented before the Lord. The prophet here prays in the first person singular. But the me of these verses is in reality us. Jeremiah is praying as an intercessor. He is praying for his nation and as part of his nation. The enemies for whose destruction he prays must then be the Chaldean conquerors of Jerusalem. The petitioner realizes that God already knows the desperate plight of Judah, the wrongs which have been suffered (Lamentations 3:59), the vicious and vengeful plots (Lamentations 3:60), the taunting and ridicule of the enemy (Lamentations 3:61-62). All day long the Jews are the subject of Chaldean taunt-songs (Lamentations 3:63), Therefore, Jeremiah calls upon the Lord to judge his cause i.e., judge those who have committed wrongs against the Jews (Lamentations 3:59). He asks God to repay these enemies in accordance with the deeds they have done (Lamentations 3:64). He prays that these opponents might experience blindness of heart i.e., intellectual confusion, and that God’s curse might rest upon them (Lamentations 3:65). He asks God to destroy these enemies from off the face of the earth (Lamentations 3:66). Lamentations 3:64-66 reflect that imprecatory mood which is so difficult for Christians to comprehend. However, these verses are best regarded not as a prayer for vengeance, but as a plea for justice. If a holy and just God rules this world then wrong must be punished and inequities must be eliminated. The petitioner was confident that God was just and therefore did not hesitate to call for God to act in accordance with His justice. There is no personal animosity in these words. The prophet prays as a representative of his people. In praying for the destruction of the Babylonians he prays that God will fulfill the threats already made against the conquerors of Jerusalem (Jeremiah 25:12; Jeremiah 29:10; chaps. 50-51).