Thou hast seen all their vengeance ,.... The spirit of revenge in them; their wrath and fury, and how they burn with a desire of doing mischief; as well as their revengeful actions, carriage, and behaviour: and all their imaginations against me ; their secret contrivances of mischief, their plots and schemes they devise to do hurt unto me. read more
Thou hast seen - all their imaginations - Every thing is open to the eye of God. Distressed soul! though thou knowest not what thy enemies meditate against thee; yet he who loves thee does, and will infallibly defeat all their plots, and save thee. read more
Verse 60 This mode of speaking was often used by the saints, because God, when it pleased him to look on their miseries, was ever ready to bring them help. Nor were they words without meaning, when the faithful said, O Lord, thou hast seen; for they said this for their own sake, that they might shake off all unbelief. For as soon as any trial assails us, we imagine that God is turned away from us; and thus our flesh tempts us to despair. It is hence necessary that the faithful should in this... read more
THE SPEAKER 'S SUFFERINGS ; AN EARNESTLY BELIEVING PRAYER FOR DELIVERANCE . He speaks as a representative of the nation; if we should not rather say that the nation itself, personified, is the speaker. In the first triad some have supposed a reference to the persecution suffered by Jeremiah at the hands of his countrymen. The "dungeon," or rather "pit," will in this case be the "dungeon" ("pit") mentioned in Jeremiah 38:6 . But a "pit" is a figure in the psalms for... read more
The Lord's knowledge of his people's sufferings and wrongs. The first thought which occurs to people when oppressed and afflicted is—The Lord takes no heed; he has no compassion; he will not help; my judgment is passed over from my God. But it is afterwards felt that such language is language of impatience and injustice. And the pious soul comes to rest almost satisfied beneath the blows and contempt of men, because a conviction springs up—It is all known to the omniscient and sympathizing... read more
The great appeal. We can see the advantage to justice of appealing from a lower to a higher court. Sometimes the process has to be repeated and the case tried again and again until the best attainable verdict is riot from the very highest tribunal. In the East, where justice was commonly neglected by indolence, outraged by violence, or prostituted by bribery, men felt strongly the value of an appeal To the believer in the supreme Judge it was a great satisfaction that he could turn from... read more
Jeremiah and his enemies. I. THE PROCEEDINGS OF THESE ENEMIES . The spirit of vengeance is in their hearts. Jeremiah has spoken steadily against them what Jehovah had laid on him to say. They know the language in which they have been described. It was, of course, just the thing to be expected that bad men should cherish vengeful purposes. And Jeremiah had to bear the consciousness of this—the very painful consciousness that he was the cause, however innocent, of showing up the... read more
A prayer for deliverance and for vengeance upon his enemies.Lamentations 3:55Out of the low dungeon - “The lowest pit” of Psalms 88:6. Some consider that Psalms 69:0 was composed by Jeremiah, and is the prayer referred to here (Jeremiah 38:6 note).Lamentations 3:56Thou hast heard - In sending Ebedmelech to deliver me. The next clause signifies “Hide not thine ear to my relief to my cry,” i. e. to my cry for relief.Lamentations 3:58God now appears as the prophet’s next of kin, pleading the... read more
Lamentations 3:59-63. O Lord, thou hast seen my wrong Here the prophet adverts to his present sufferings, and the ill usage he met with, concerning which he appeals to God; as if he had said, Thou hast seen that I have done no wrong at all, but that I suffer a great deal. He that knows all things knew, 1st, The malice they had against him; thou hast seen, says he, all their vengeance How they desire to do me a mischief, as if it were by way of reprisal for some great injury I had done... read more
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Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Lamentations 3:55-65
We may observe throughout this chapter a struggle in the prophet's breast between sense and faith, fear and hope; he complains and then comforts himself, yet drops his comforts and returns again to his complaints, as Ps. 42:1-11. But, as there, so here, faith gets the last word and comes off a conqueror; for in these verses he concludes with some comfort. And here are two things with which he comforts himself:? I. His experience of God's goodness even in his affliction. This may refer to the... read more