Lamentations 3

Lamentations 3:1-66 .

Jeremiah proposes his own experience under afflictions, as an example as to how the Jews should behave under theirs, so as to have hope of a restoration; hence the change from singular to plural ( Lamentations 3:22 Lamentations 3:40-47 ). The stanzas consist of three lines, each of which begins with the same Hebrew letter.

Aleph.

1-3. seen affliction--his own in the dungeon of Malchiah ( Jeremiah 38:6 ); that of his countrymen also in the siege. Both were types of that of Christ.

2. darkness--calamity.
light--prosperity.

3. turneth . . . hand--to inflict again and again new strokes. "His hand," which once used to protect me. "Turned . . . turneth" implies repeated inflictions.

Beth.

4-6. ( Job 16:8 ).

5. builded--mounds, as against a besieged city, so as to allow none to escape (so Lamentations 3:7 Lamentations 3:9 ).

6. set me--HENDERSON refers this to the custom of placing the dead in a sitting posture.
dark places--sepulchers. As those "dead long since"; so Jeremiah and his people are consigned to oblivion ( Psalms 88:5 Psalms 88:6 , 143:3 , Ezekiel 37:13 ).

Gimel.

7-9. hedged--( Job 3:23 , Hosea 2:6 ).
chain--literally, "chain of brass."

8. shutteth out--image from a door shutting out any entrance ( Job 30:20 ). So the antitype. Christ ( Psalms 22:2 ).

9. hewn stone--which coheres so closely as not to admit of being broken through.
paths crooked--thwarted our plans and efforts so that none went right.

Daleth.

10-13. ( Job 10:16 , Hosea 13:7 Hosea 13:8 ).

11. turned aside--made me wander out of the right way, so as to become a prey to wild beasts.
pulled in pieces--( Hosea 6:1 ), as a "bear" or a "lion" ( Lamentations 3:10 ).

12. ( Job 7:20 ).

He.

13-15. arrows--literally, "sons" of His quiver (compare Job 6:4 ).

14. ( Jeremiah 20:7 ).
their song--( Psalms 69:12 ). Jeremiah herein was a type of Messiah. "All my people" ( John 1:11 ).

15. wormwood--( Jeremiah 9:15 ). There it is regarded as food, namely, the leaves: here as drink, namely, the juice.

Vau.

16-18. gravel--referring to the grit that often mixes with bread baked in ashes, as is the custom of baking in the East ( Proverbs 20:17 ). We fare as hardly as those who eat such bread. The same allusion is in "Covered me with ashes," namely, as bread.

17. Not only present, but all hope of future prosperity is removed; so much so, that I am as one who never was prosperous ("I forgat prosperity").

18. from the Lord--that is, my hope derived from Him ( Psalms 31:22 ).

Zain.

19-21. This gives the reason why he gave way to the temptation to despair. The Margin, "Remember" does not suit the sense so well.
wormwood . . . gall--( Jeremiah 9:15 ).

20. As often as my soul calls them to remembrance, it is humbled or bowed down in me.