S. Martin, Westminster Chapel Pulpit, 1st series, No. In this patient seeking of God, there is reason for hope. He was so low that life seemed ebbing out, and he groaned. (Spurgeon), ii. He is the Lord of hope ( 3:21,24-25 ), of love ( 3:22 ), of faithfulness ( 3:23 ), of salvation and restoration ( 3:26 ). Like the book of Job, Lamentations pictures a man of God puzzling over the results of evil and suffering in the world. b. Otherwise you will be prompted again when opening a new browser window or new a tab. God draws near to his suffering saints. AUTHOR: Probably Jeremiah the Prophet A. If it be a life of sickness, a life of widowhood, a life of captivity, yet all this deserves no mention in opposition to the privilege of existence. We owe it, further, to the character of God. We are come, by God's grace, to a new year. Patience is strengthened ( a ) by faith, ( b ) by contentment, ( c ) by calm attention to duties. c. For He does not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men: When God does allow or send His judgments, He does not do it with a happy heart. My eyes flow and do not cease, For more check out: What It Means To Follow Jesus. The meaning of Lamentations 3:22-23 is a powerful reminder of what God has done for us. For He does not afflict willingly, In fact, while mercy is briefly asserted as a theological . God will plead thy cause, and redeem thy soul. (Clarke). ( Lamentations 3:1-9) The man afflicted by the LORD. In the middle of the book, the theology of Lamentations reaches its apex as it focuses on the goodness of God. Tired of Empty Promises? That man I may trust with my heart's life. Floyd fell on Tuesday afternoon and suffered a severe concussion. (Lamentations 3:19 Erwin) Jeremiah reminds God of his situation in life . It is good for a man to become a decided Christian in early life. Think of His complete knowledge, His consummate wisdom, His eternal love. You drew near on the day I called on You, . Lamentations isn't a "feel-good" book. J. Thain Davidson, Forewarned Forearmed, p. 19. Or subvert a man in his cause In darkness and not in light. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. Despite the heartbreak and agony this book still contains an incredible message of hope. The first thing is to be a Christian; the next thing is to avow it. Its so easy to forget what God has done for us and become fixated on all the problems in front of us. It is good for a man to bear in his youth the yoke of personal affliction. Contact us and one of our teammembers will personally respondto you by email. He has aged my flesh and my skin, Not only does the author of the book witness the results of the recent destruction of Jerusalem, he seems to have witnessed the invasion itself (Lamentations 1:1315). Repay them, O LORD, according to the work of their hands: God had repaid Jerusalem and Judah for all their sin and disobedience. I. You cannot receive Gods mercies if you arent looking for Gods mercies. And thats where the meaning of Lamentations shines through. Our website uses cookies to store user preferences. God's wrath and God's mercies. If there was nothing unjust in God's appointing Adam to act as our representative, then there is nothing inconsistent either with the strictest justice or the amplest benevolence in our being accounted to have sinned in Adam. i. The two words may be applied to the confidence and submission of prayer as it has to do with the seeking and waiting for special blessings. I am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of His wrath. To crush under ones feet You have heard my voice: As in the book of Jeremiah, so in Lamentations we see that it is those who were called to lead Gods people who are largely responsible for misleading them. 3 Surely against me is he turned; he turneth his hand against me all the day. I don't have to tell you, this has been a traumatic week in the life of our church family. Faith is our response to the great and steadfast love he has shown us. This thesis will employ the insights of Vietnamese metaphor theory to help shed light on the prevalent and varied use of divine metaphors in Lamentations 3:1-18. i. situation, he somehow found hope in the Lord (3:2124). VIII. My enemies without cause i. Meter. 579; Ibid., Morning by Morning, p. 325.Lamentations 4:1 . Jewish tradition tells us that Lamentations was written by Jeremiah, though no author is identified in the book itself. Its not a license to sin however we want. It is the part of hope to seek the future; it is the duty of patience to rest calmly in the present and not to fret. It was likely written between 586 and 516 BC, with an early date being more probable. Lamentations Themes. Jeremiah was brought to understand two things about the government of God: (1) that it was tender; (2) that it was minute. We provide you with a list of stored cookies on your computer in our domain so you can check what we stored. It is no pleasure to God to afflict men. "Lamentations" was derived from a translation of the title as found in the Latin Vulgate (Vg.) Written in the aftermath of the destruction of Jerusalem and its temple in 586 BCE by the Babylonians, Lamentations expresses the grief and disbelief of those who lived through the horror and yet still looked to their . All communion with God requires this. The book of Lamentations deals with suffering. Now Jeremiah prayed that Yahweh would repay their enemies, and give them a veiled heart even as Judah was blind. Note that blocking some types of cookies may impact your experience on our websites and the services we are able to offer. 4. It is good for a man to bear in his youth the yoke of subjection to authority. That, whatever sorrow we are in, it is what God has allotted us, and his hand is in it. Notice a few of the common mercies which we are most prone to forget: (1) Take, as the first illustration, sleep. v., p. 205; Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. Its New Testament counterpart (1 Corinthians 4:13) is equally rare, depicting the suffering of the apostles. (Harrison), ii. The story of the Bible and tools to study it. The book of Lamentations is all poetry that deals with many different key themes throughout such as justice, sin, and various imagery. My eyes overflow with rivers of water: Earlier in Lamentations 2:18 Jeremiah expressed a prayer in the mouth of Jerusalems enemies, a prayer that the city and her walls would weep without end. Now, this isnt a get out of hell free card that we can abuse. You perceive there is not a word concerning himself or his own pleadings. I. i. When you remember that man is a transgressor, not only by imputation, but by every positive and personal working of evil, surely the marvel must be, not that so much of wormwood should drug the cup of human life, but that so much of sweetness should still have been left. We see a mountain, it will come in grains of sand. All rights reserved. How Lonely Sits the City (1:122) Explain with The soft, measured breath, or the laboring, gasping breath. b. Till the LORD from heaven looks down and sees: The intense weeping of Jeremiah and those like him must continue until God looks and sees, taking notice of and mercy to their misery. Lamentations begins with the Hebrew word Eicha (how), and the book is known in Hebrew as Megillat Eicha (the scroll of Eicha. You can remind God about it. Since these providers may collect personal data like your IP address we allow you to block them here. Repay them, O LORD, View Chuck Swindoll's chart of Lamentations. Of this, death would deprive him; therefore let not a living man complain. (Clarke), ii. Forgiveness is possible even for people who have deserved Gods judgment (Lamentations 1:18). You can also change some of your preferences. Bible. A man for the punishment of his sins? 3. And be full of reproach. Lamentations provides eyewitness testimony of Babylons destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BC in vivid, poetic detail. Consider the benefit of uniting these "It is good both to hope and quietly to wait." Introduction. You always can block or delete cookies by changing your browser settings and force blocking all cookies on this website. Thus, chapter 3 has 66 lines, like chapters 1 and 2. I. It is good for a man to bear in his youth the yoke of Christian service. i. It is to this that our blessed Saviour invites us when He says, "Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me." Silence implies both an acceptance of Gods will and a refusal to complain to men. i. This chapter, the longest in the book, is divided into 66 verses. The prophet calls his countrymen to a work to which they needed to be exhorted and pressed; and well he might do so, for the work of self-examination is not at all an agreeable work. A. C. Price, Ibid., vol. I. Click to enable/disable _gid - Google Analytics Cookie. There are thousands who never kneel down and thank God for sleep. How we go about that is through prayer. As we learn from the judges and kings of Israel earlier in the Old Testament, wicked leadership breeds corporate wickedness, while godly leadership breeds corporate godliness. There is One who uses this very figure concerning His own Divine office. We receive mercy and compassion not because we are faithful, but because God is faithful. Lamentations 3:23 KJV Bible images with quotes are generated using nature scenery backgrounds and scenic photos. You drew near on the day I called on You: Jeremiah knew that God responded when he called upon Him. Such a disaster in the life of Gods people cannot be overestimated. View 37 Jeremiah, Lamentations Full Notes.pdf from BTGE 1725 at Cedarville University. When we are constantly moving and distracted by all the things in this world we will never notice Gods mercies. The rest of the meaning of Lamentations 3:22-23 ties into this first truth. Both Jewish and Christian tradition ascribe authorship to Jeremiah, and the Septuagintthe Greek translation of the Old Testamenteven adds a note asserting Jeremiah as the The key passage in Lamentations is 3:1924, which affirms that belief in Gods mercy and faithfulness is the key to a restored relationship with God. IV. The possession of reason should stir us up to daily thanksgiving to Him whose mercies are new to us every morning. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. You have redeemed my life. Self-examination is a rehearsing of the judgment day, for it is a having the soul up before conscience, and conscience is God's voice in the heart. God can interpret all. (Meyer). External Evidence: 1. If he does not learn this lesson early, he will suffer for it by-and-by. Watch our overview video on the book of Lamentations, which breaks down the literary design of the book and its flow of thought. The salvation of the Lord here is something else than the first view which a sinful man obtains of pardon and peace, through "the great God our Saviour." Those who trust in the Lord can know, when facing adversity, that they will never be forsaken by their Father, because Jesus hung on the cross and cried out in lamentation and was forsaken by his Father. II. Watch Now What's Next? If therefore you cannot speak, weep tears also have a voice; [Psalms 39:12] if you cannot weep, sigh a storm of sighs may do as much as a shower of tears; if you cannot sigh, yet breathe, as here. They did it by despising him (their reproach), with schemes, with whispering lies, and their taunting song against him. This builds off the first part of this passage. Next: Lamentations 3:24 . to this point? Women are being raped (Lamentations 5:11) and are even boiling and eating their own children (Lamentations 2:20; 4:10). I. And turn back to the LORD; Due to security reasons we are not able to show or modify cookies from other domains. VII. 2021 All rights reserved | Enter the Bible and Luther Seminary | Privacy Policy, Prophet who condemned Judah's infidelity to God, warned of Babylonian conquest, and promised a new covenant. writer of the book. He has overthrown you without pity, he has let the enemy gloat over you, he has exalted the horn of your foes. 5 He hath builded against me, and compassed me . As long as human means can avail, it is a man's duty, trusting to Divine help, to employ them. I also receive Insight [for Today] daily. We may request cookies to be set on your device. . Husband. Permission Notice: Crossway reserves all the rights for all of the content of the ESV Global Study Bible, including but not limited to all print, electronic, and audio rights. See Full Permissions Notice. In other words, nothing we have faced or will face can possibly remove us from Gods love. 2 Theme My eyes overflow with rivers of water But this promise still rings true, Gods mercies are new every morning. You have covered Yourself with anger Do you not sometimes come from the place of prayer with the guilty consciousness that you have not prayed. The prophet Jeremiah wrote the book of Lamentations hundreds of years ago but the suffering described in the book (especially in chapters 1, 2 and 4) pictures very much the suffering of the people of Syria and Iraq the past years. Through remembering how God has cared for us in the past we can be encouraged to continue to trust in him in the present. Those curses came upon Jerusalem in Jeremiahs day; now he prayed that those curses come upon their enemies. When we think of the future we always see it in a mass; but it will not come in a mass, but in multitudes of little bits. Some translations call this Gods steadfast love. It differs from desire in this, that desire pursues many things that can never be objects of hope to us. Crying aloud accurately describes this book, which consists of five melancholy poems of mourning over the utter destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple by the Babylonians. i. 2. 1. J. Vaughan, Sermons, 11th series, p. 13. This question suggests two considerations; each of which demonstrates the injustice of the complaint Why should a living man complain? Looks down and sees. If he be tempted to murmur, let him remember that he is yet alive, and that is more than his part cometh to, since it is the Lords mercy that he is not consumed, and sent packing hence to hell. 4. Jeffery Curtis Poor | April 25, 2023September 21, 2022 | Understanding Specific Bible Stories (Biblical Interpretation), Because of the Lords great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.His mercies are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. The nations recognition of itself as offscouring (so most evv) employs a descriptive term sehi, occurring here only in the Hebrew Bible, and in the context denotes anything rejected as unfit for use. Time and time again throughout the day. 3 Esther, Ecclesiastes and Song of Solomon. a. Now he prayed to God as his advocate. II. Get time, if it be only a few moments, for meditation before you speak to God, and you will find a freshness in your thought of Him which will certainly inspire and help your supplications. It is a mercy which no money can buy, which no rank can command. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. According to the multitude of His mercies. And every morning, as we arise, we shall wake to meet new mercies, newer than the dawn. In Lamentations 3:18, Jeremiah's endurance and hope have perished, but two verses later Jeremiah remembers something, and it fills him with hope once again. To turn aside the justice due a man You are free to opt out any time or opt in for other cookies to get a better experience. [OT LIT: JEREMIAH & LAMENTATIONS] Page 1 of 13 Jeremiah & Lamentations Objectives of this lesson 1. Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that woe and well-being proceed? (2) It is good for a man to bear the yoke. a. Indeed, Gods own people often suffer greatly due to their loyalty to Christ (Matthew 10:1625; Acts 14:22; 2 Timothy 3:12). We may be very thankful that there are these periods and epochs in life these foldings down of pages we have read and openings of the new leaves of another chapter. 12-13 v. 5 v. 14 v. 6 vv. Let him give his cheek to the one who strikes him, ( b ) We shall find how good it is in the enhancement of every blessing for which we have to wait. The first four chapters are composed as acrostic poems while the fifth chapter's poem - twenty-two verses, but not an acrostic seemingly points to a grief so unbearable Continue reading "Commentary on Lamentations 1:1-6" II. Because of the Lords great love we are not consumed. Father. Lamentations Old Testament Overviews 7:17 This collection of poems captures Israel's expression of grief in the chaotic aftermath of their exile and Jerusalem's destruction. A man for the punishment of his sins. " Why, said the master, I have first to teach you to hold your tongue, and afterwards to instruct you how to speak. The Lord teaches true penitents how to hold their tongues. (Spurgeon), ii. 4 Lamentations is written entirely in poetic form . Remember Gods mercies from yesterday so that you can be encouraged that they are still true today. !"), the first word not only in 1:1 but also in 2:1; 4:1.Because of its subject matter, the book is also referred to in Jewish tradition as qinot,"Lamentations," a title taken over by the Septuagint (the pre-Christian Greek translation of the OT) and by the fourth . Written as a series of dirges, elegies, and laments following the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 B.C., Lamentations attempts to put into words the heartache and despair of the prophet Jeremiah,. The waters flowed over my head; Gods mercies are true even then. Let us search out and examine our ways, and turn back to the LORD: Even under the great sense that God was their opponent and adversary (Lamentations 3:1-18), Jeremiah recommended the proper and humble approach. Hope differs from faith in this, that we believe in many things in regard to which we do not hope. 3"The Lamentations of Jeremiah," in vol. b. because they rejected Gods Word sent through the prophets (2:8, 14, 17); It was and is worse to be at the mercy of blind fate. holy God, and the results were devastating. It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth the yoke of home. Much better is social and political advocacy and solidarity, even as we weep with those who weep (Romans 12:15). However, we modern believers adjudicate that ancient belief. What does Peter consider to be Scripture according to 2 Peter? Indeed, in Jesus Christ, God has drawn closer to us than could have been imaginedhe has become one of us, sharing in all that we suffer in this fallen world (Hebrews 2:1418; 4:1416). Regardless of who wrote it, the historical events of Lamentations overlap significantly with those of Jeremiah. c. because their leaders led them astray (4:13). The cause of all this pain is unmistakably clear: the people have sinned (Lamentations 1:5, 8, 14). d. You have made us an offscouring and refuse: In the desire to turn back to the LORD, Jeremiah knew that it was important to honestly see their condition. Who is he who speaks and it comes to pass, when the Lord has not commanded it? Before the face of the Most High, We owe an appeal to God on whatever concerns us. Prophets such as JeremiahProphet who condemned Judah's infidelity to God, warned of Babylonian conquest, and promised a new covenant More announced the Babylonian invasion as the judgment of God. Yet even in this seemingly hopeless In self-examination each man is his own minister; and Christ, who is above, the only Priest. Our faith should have a direct impact on what we do and how we do it. As Abraham said of God, shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? )The book is a theological and prophetic response to the destruction of the First Temple (Beit Hamikdash), in Jerusalem, in 586 B.C.E.The Talmud (The Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Bava Batra 15a) states that it was written by the prophet Jeremiah, who lived at the time of . You have covered Yourself with a cloud, (2) "Quiet waiting," or patience. 1) In 3:1, Jeremiah states that he has seen the affliction by the rod of God's wrath. Please contact us or click here to learn more about how to enable JavaScript on your browser. This collection of songs was composed after the fall of the city of Jerusalem in 587/6 B.C. It will never fail. G. W. Conder, Christian World Pulpit, vol. ii. Although never named in the book, the book of Lamentations has long been attributed to the prophet Jeremiah, although some scholars have disputed this. Writer. Now he prayed that their enemies would face Gods anger. This is the uncomfortable feeling one gets when reading the Book of Lamentations. Persecution, too, is as widespread and as volatile as ever it was before. In offering the cheek to the smiter the captive was conveying the idea of absolute surrender. (Harrison). References: Lamentations 3:24 . Each verse begins, in alphabetical order, with a letter from the Hebrew alphabet. It was an affliction that was misery itself; for sin makes the cup of affliction a bitter cup. Desolation and destruction. At the climax of the book, Gods covenant faithfulness is affirmed and celebrated. Because Gods love is steadfast his mercy and compassion will continue on through eternity. In the first place, it gave him a true view of Divine government.
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