Lamentations 3:1

The Prophet’s Afflictions

1 I ^[a] am the man who has seen affliction under the rod of God’s wrath.

Lamentations 3:1 Meaning and Commentary

Lamentations 3:1

I [am] the man [that] hath seen affliction
Had a much experience of it, especially ever since he had been a prophet; being reproached and ill used by his own people, and suffering with them in their calamities; particularly, as Jarchi observes, his affliction was greater than the other prophets, who indeed prophesied of the destruction of the city and temple, but did not see it; whereas he lived to see it: he was not indeed the only man that endured affliction, but he was remarkable for his afflictions; he had a large share of them, and was herein a type of Christ, who was a man of sorrows, and acquainted with griefs: by the rod of his wrath;
that is, by the rod of the wrath of God, for he is understood; it is a relative without an antecedent, as in ( Song of Solomon 1:1 ) ; unless the words are to be considered in connection ( Lamentations 2:22 ) . The Targum is,

``by the rod of him that chastiseth in his anger;''

so Jarchi; but God's chastisements of his own people are in love, though thought sometimes by them to be in wrath and hot displeasure; so the prophet imagined, but it was not so; perhaps some regard may be had to the instrument of Jerusalem's destruction, the king of Babylon, called the rod of the Lord's anger, ( Isaiah 10:5 ) ; all this was true of Christ, as the surety of his people, and as sustaining their persons, and standing in their room.

Lamentations 3:1 In-Context

1 I am the man who has seen affliction under the rod of God’s wrath.

2 He has driven me away and made me walk in darkness instead of light.

3 Indeed, He keeps turning His hand against me all day long.

4 He has worn away my flesh and skin; He has shattered my bones.

5 He has besieged me and surrounded me with bitterness and hardship.

Footnotes

• [a]. This chapter is an acrostic poem, each 3–verse stanza beginning with the successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet.