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Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Lamentations 3:1-20

The title of the Ps. 102:1-28 might very fitly be prefixed to this chapter?The prayer of the afflicted, when he is overwhelmed, and pours out his complaint before the Lord; for it is very feelingly and fluently that the complaint is here poured out. Let us observe the particulars of it. The prophet complains, 1. That God is angry. This gives both birth and bitterness to the affliction (Lam. 3:1): I am the man, the remarkable man, that has seen affliction, and has felt it sensibly, by the rod... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible 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... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Lamentations 3:2

He hath led me, and brought me into darkness ,.... Which oftentimes signifies distress, calamity, and affliction, of one sort or another: thus the Jews were brought into the darkness of captivity; Jeremiah to the darkness of a dungeon, to which there may be an allusion; and Christ his antitype was under the hidings of God's face; and at the same time there was darkness all around him, and all over the land; and all this is attributed to God; it being by his appointment, and by his... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Lamentations 3:1

I am the man that hath seen affliction - Either the prophet speaks here of himself, or he is personating his miserable countrymen. This and other passages in this poem have been applied to Jesus Christ's passion; but, in my opinion, without any foundation. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Lamentations 3:2

He hath - brought me into darkness - In the sacred writings, darkness is often taken for calamity, light, for prosperity. read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Lamentations 3:1

Verse 1 The word, עברה obere, properly means assault, passing over limits; but what is peculiar to man is often in Scripture ascribed to God. Here also he changes the person, for he spoke before of the people under the person of a woman, as it is often done; but now the Prophet himself comes before us. At the same time there is no doubt but that by his own example he exhorted all others to lamentation, which was to be connected with true repentance. And this chapter, as we shall see, is full of... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Lamentations 3:2

Verse 2 The letters of the alphabet are tripled in this chapter, which I had omitted to mention. In the first two chapters each verse begins with the successive letters of the alphabet, except that in the last chapter there is one instance of inversion, for Jeremiah has put פ, phi, before ע, oin; or it may be that the order has been changed by the scribes; but this is uncertain. Here then, as I have said, each letter is thrice repeated. Then the first, the second, and the third verse begins... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Lamentations 3:1

Seen . "To see" in Hebrew often means "to experience;" e.g. Jeremiah 5:12 ; Psalms 16:10 ; Ecclesiastes 8:16 . By the rod of his wrath. The idea is, not that Babylon has humbled Israel as Jehovah's instrument, but that God himself has brought these troubles upon his people. "He had led me, hath hedged me about," etc. read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Lamentations 3:1

The man that has seen affliction. In the first and second chapters of Lamentations the desolation of the city of Jerusalem is described and deplored. The third chapter brings the picture to a focus by giving us the plaint of a single individual—either one typical or exceptionally distressed citizen, or the city regarded imaginatively as an afflicted man. Our sympathy is most moved by individual appeals. We are horrified by disasters that affect thousands; but we are more touched by the... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Lamentations 3:1

Afflicted by God. Every child of God, nay, every son of man, has endured affliction. Jeremiah and the city which he hero personifies and represents may be said to have experienced affliction in an extraordinary degree. A fact so universal cannot be without special significance in human life. But not all the afflicted discern this underlying and profitable meaning. I. AFFLICTION LEADS SOME TO DOUBT THE EXISTENCE OF GOD . It is not uncommon for people to say in their... read more

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