mh_parser/vol_split/25 - Lamentations/Chapter 3.xml

<div2 id="Lam.iv" n="iv" next="Lam.v" prev="Lam.iii" progress="48.35%" title="Chapter III">
<h2 id="Lam.iv-p0.1">L A M E N T A T I O N S.</h2>
<h3 id="Lam.iv-p0.2">CHAP. III.</h3>
<p class="intro" id="Lam.iv-p1" shownumber="no">The scope of this chapter is the same with that of
the two foregoing chapters, but the composition is somewhat
different; that was in long verse, this is in short, another kind
of metre; that was in single alphabets, this is in a treble one.
Here is, I. A sad complaint of God's displeasure and the fruits of
it, <scripRef id="Lam.iv-p1.1" osisRef="Bible:Lam.3.1-Lam.3.20" parsed="|Lam|3|1|3|20" passage="La 3:1-20">ver. 1-20</scripRef>. II. Words
of comfort to God's people when they are in trouble and distress,
<scripRef id="Lam.iv-p1.2" osisRef="Bible:Lam.3.21-Lam.3.36" parsed="|Lam|3|21|3|36" passage="La 3:21-36">ver. 21-36</scripRef>. III. Duty
prescribed in this afflicted state, <scripRef id="Lam.iv-p1.3" osisRef="Bible:Lam.3.37-Lam.3.41" parsed="|Lam|3|37|3|41" passage="La 3:37-41">ver. 37-41</scripRef>. IV. The complaint renewed,
<scripRef id="Lam.iv-p1.4" osisRef="Bible:Lam.3.42-Lam.3.54" parsed="|Lam|3|42|3|54" passage="La 3:42-54">ver. 42-54</scripRef>. V.
Encouragement taken to hope in God, and continue waiting for his
salvation, with an appeal to his justice against the persecutors of
the church, <scripRef id="Lam.iv-p1.5" osisRef="Bible:Lam.3.55-Lam.3.66" parsed="|Lam|3|55|3|66" passage="La 3:55-66">ver. 55-66</scripRef>.
Some make all this to be spoken by the prophet himself when he was
imprisoned and persecuted; but it seems rather to be spoken in the
person of the church now in captivity and in a manner desolate, and
in the desolations of which the prophet did in a particular manner
interest himself. But the complaints here are somewhat more general
than those in the foregoing chapter, being accommodated to the case
as well of particular persons as of the public, and intended for
the use of the closet rather than of the solemn assembly. Some
think Jeremiah makes these complaints, not only as an intercessor
for Israel, but as a type of Christ, who was thought by some to be
Jeremiah the weeping prophet, because he was much in tears
(<scripRef id="Lam.iv-p1.6" osisRef="Bible:Matt.16.14" parsed="|Matt|16|14|0|0" passage="Mt 16:14">Matt. xvi. 14</scripRef>) and to him
many of the passages here may be applied.</p>
<scripCom id="Lam.iv-p1.7" osisRef="Bible:Lam.3" parsed="|Lam|3|0|0|0" passage="La 3" type="Commentary"/>
<scripCom id="Lam.iv-p1.8" osisRef="Bible:Lam.3.1-Lam.3.20" parsed="|Lam|3|1|3|20" passage="La 3:1-20" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Lam.iv-p1.9">
<h4 id="Lam.iv-p1.10">The Prophet's Personal
Affliction. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Lam.iv-p1.11">b. c.</span> 588.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Lam.iv-p2" shownumber="no">1 I <i>am</i> the man <i>that</i> hath seen
affliction by the rod of his wrath.   2 He hath led me, and
brought <i>me into</i> darkness, but not <i>into</i> light.  
3 Surely against me is he turned; he turneth his hand <i>against
me</i> all the day.   4 My flesh and my skin hath he made old;
he hath broken my bones.   5 He hath builded against me, and
compassed <i>me</i> with gall and travail.   6 He hath set me
in dark places, as <i>they that be</i> dead of old.   7 He
hath hedged me about, that I cannot get out: he hath made my chain
heavy.   8 Also when I cry and shout, he shutteth out my
prayer.   9 He hath inclosed my ways with hewn stone, he hath
made my paths crooked.   10 He <i>was</i> unto me <i>as</i> a
bear lying in wait, <i>and as</i> a lion in secret places.  
11 He hath turned aside my ways, and pulled me in pieces: he hath
made me desolate.   12 He hath bent his bow, and set me as a
mark for the arrow.   13 He hath caused the arrows of his
quiver to enter into my reins.   14 I was a derision to all my
people; <i>and</i> their song all the day.   15 He hath filled
me with bitterness, he hath made me drunken with wormwood.  
16 He hath also broken my teeth with gravel stones, he hath covered
me with ashes.   17 And thou hast removed my soul far off from
peace: I forgat prosperity.   18 And I said, My strength and
my hope is perished from the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lam.iv-p2.1">Lord</span>:
  19 Remembering mine affliction and my misery, the wormwood
and the gall.   20 My soul hath <i>them</i> still in
remembrance, and is humbled in me.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Lam.iv-p3" shownumber="no">The title of the <scripRef id="Lam.iv-p3.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.102.1-Ps.102.28" parsed="|Ps|102|1|102|28" passage="Ps 102:1-28">102nd Psalm</scripRef> might very fitly be prefixed
to this chapter—<i>The prayer of the afflicted, when he is
overwhelmed, and pours out his complaint before the Lord;</i> 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 (<scripRef id="Lam.iv-p3.2" osisRef="Bible:Lam.3.1" parsed="|Lam|3|1|0|0" passage="La 3:1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>):
<i>I am the man,</i> the remarkable man, <i>that has seen
affliction,</i> and has felt it sensibly, <i>by the rod of his
wrath.</i> Note, God is sometimes angry with his own people; yet it
is to be complained of, not as a sword to cut off, by only as a rod
to correct; it is to them <i>the rod of his wrath,</i> a chastening
which, though grievous for the present, will in the issue be
advantageous. By this rod we must expect to <i>see affliction,</i>
and, if we be made to see more than ordinary affliction by that
rod, we must not quarrel, for we are sure that the anger is just
and affliction mild and mixed with mercy. 2. That he is at a loss
and altogether in the dark. Darkness is put for great trouble and
perplexity, the want both of comfort and of direction; this was the
case of the complainant (<scripRef id="Lam.iv-p3.3" osisRef="Bible:Lam.3.2" parsed="|Lam|3|2|0|0" passage="La 3:2"><i>v.</i>
2</scripRef>): "<i>He has led me</i> by his providence, and an
unaccountable chain of events, <i>into darkness and not into
light,</i> the darkness I feared and not into the light I hoped
for." And (<scripRef id="Lam.iv-p3.4" osisRef="Bible:Lam.3.6" parsed="|Lam|3|6|0|0" passage="La 3:6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>),
<i>He has set me in dark places,</i> dark as the grave, <i>like
those that are dead of old,</i> that are quite forgotten, nobody
knows who or what they were. Note, The Israel of God, though
children of light, sometimes <i>walk in darkness.</i> 3. That God
appears against him as an enemy, as a professed enemy. God had been
for him, but no "<i>Surely against me is he turned</i> (<scripRef id="Lam.iv-p3.5" osisRef="Bible:Lam.3.3" parsed="|Lam|3|3|0|0" passage="La 3:3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>), as far as I can discern;
for <i>his hand is turned against me all the day. I am chastened
every morning,</i>" <scripRef id="Lam.iv-p3.6" osisRef="Bible:Ps.73.14" parsed="|Ps|73|14|0|0" passage="Ps 73:14">Ps. lxxiii.
14</scripRef>. And, when God's hand is continually turned against
us, we are tempted to think that his heart is turned against us
too. God had said once (<scripRef id="Lam.iv-p3.7" osisRef="Bible:Hos.5.14" parsed="|Hos|5|14|0|0" passage="Ho 5:14">Hos. v.
14</scripRef>), <i>I will be as a lion to the house of Judah,</i>
and now he has made his word good (<scripRef id="Lam.iv-p3.8" osisRef="Bible:Lam.3.10" parsed="|Lam|3|10|0|0" passage="La 3:10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>): "<i>He was unto me as a bear
lying in wait,</i> surprising me with his judgments, <i>and as a
lion in secret places;</i> so that which way soever I went I was in
continual fear of being set upon and could never think myself
safe." Do men shoot at those thy are enemies to? <i>He has bent his
bow,</i> the bow that was ordained against the church's
prosecutors, that is bent against her sons, <scripRef id="Lam.iv-p3.9" osisRef="Bible:Lam.3.12" parsed="|Lam|3|12|0|0" passage="La 3:12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>. <i>He has set me as a mark for
his arrow,</i> which he aims at, and will be sure to hit, and then
<i>the arrows of his quiver enter into my reins,</i> give me a
mortal wound, an inward wound, <scripRef id="Lam.iv-p3.10" osisRef="Bible:Lam.3.13" parsed="|Lam|3|13|0|0" passage="La 3:13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>. Note, God has many arrows in his
quiver, and they fly swiftly and pierce deeply. 4. That he is as
one sorely afflicted both in body and mind. The Jewish state may
now be fitly compared to a man wrinkled with age, for which there
is no remedy (<scripRef id="Lam.iv-p3.11" osisRef="Bible:Lam.3.4" parsed="|Lam|3|4|0|0" passage="La 3:4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>):
"<i>My flesh and my skin has he made old;</i> they are wasted and
withered, and I look like one that is ready to drop into the grave;
nay, <i>he has broken my bones,</i> and so disabled me to help
myself, <scripRef id="Lam.iv-p3.12" osisRef="Bible:Lam.3.15" parsed="|Lam|3|15|0|0" passage="La 3:15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>. <i>He
has filled me with bitterness,</i> a bitter sense of his
calamities." God has access to the spirit, and can so embitter that
as thereby to embitter all the enjoyments; as, when the stomach is
foul, whatever is eaten sours in it: "<i>He has made me drunk with
wormwood,</i> so intoxicated me with the sense of my afflictions
that I know not what to say or do. <i>He has</i> mingled
<i>gravel</i> with my bread, so that <i>my teeth</i> are
<i>broken</i> with it (<scripRef id="Lam.iv-p3.13" osisRef="Bible:Lam.3.16" parsed="|Lam|3|16|0|0" passage="La 3:16"><i>v.</i>
16</scripRef>) and what I eat is neither pleasant nor nourishing.
<i>He has covered me with ashes,</i> as mourners used to be, or (as
some read it) <i>he has fed me with ashes. I have eaten ashes like
bread,</i>" <scripRef id="Lam.iv-p3.14" osisRef="Bible:Ps.102.9" parsed="|Ps|102|9|0|0" passage="Ps 102:9">Ps. cii. 9</scripRef>. 5.
That he is not able to discern any way of escape or deliverance
(<scripRef id="Lam.iv-p3.15" osisRef="Bible:Lam.3.5" parsed="|Lam|3|5|0|0" passage="La 3:5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>): "<i>He has
built against me,</i> as forts and batteries are built against a
besieged city. Where there was a way open it is now quite made up:
<i>He has compassed me</i> on ever side <i>with gall and
travel;</i> I vex, and fret, and tire myself, to find a way of
escape, but can find none, <scripRef id="Lam.iv-p3.16" osisRef="Bible:Lam.3.7" parsed="|Lam|3|7|0|0" passage="La 3:7"><i>v.</i>
7</scripRef>. <i>He has hedged me about, that I cannot get
out.</i>" When Jerusalem was besieged it was said to be
<i>compassed in on every side,</i> <scripRef id="Lam.iv-p3.17" osisRef="Bible:Luke.19.43" parsed="|Luke|19|43|0|0" passage="Lu 19:43">Luke xix. 43</scripRef>. "I am chained; and as some
notorious malefactors are double-fettered, and loaded with irons,
so he <i>has made my chain heavy. He has</i> also (<scripRef id="Lam.iv-p3.18" osisRef="Bible:Lam.3.9" parsed="|Lam|3|9|0|0" passage="La 3:9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>) <i>enclosed my ways with
hewn stone,</i> not only hedged up my way <i>with thorns</i>
(<scripRef id="Lam.iv-p3.19" osisRef="Bible:Hos.2.6" parsed="|Hos|2|6|0|0" passage="Ho 2:6">Hos. ii. 6</scripRef>), but stopped it
up with a stone wall, which cannot be broken through, so that <i>my
paths are made crooked;</i> I traverse to and fro, to the right
hand, to the left, to try to get forward, but am still turned
back." It is just with God to make those who walk in the crooked
paths of sin, crossing God's laws, walk in the crooked paths of
affliction, crossing their designs and breaking their measures. So
(<scripRef id="Lam.iv-p3.20" osisRef="Bible:Lam.3.11" parsed="|Lam|3|11|0|0" passage="La 3:11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>), "<i>He has
turned aside my ways;</i> he has blasted all my counsels, ruined my
projects, so that I am necessitated to yield to my own ruin. He has
<i>pulled me in pieces;</i> he has torn and is gone away (<scripRef id="Lam.iv-p3.21" osisRef="Bible:Hos.5.14" parsed="|Hos|5|14|0|0" passage="Ho 5:14">Hos. v. 14</scripRef>), and has <i>made me
desolate,</i> has deprived me of all society and all comfort in my
own soul." 6. That God turns a deaf ear to his prayers (<scripRef id="Lam.iv-p3.22" osisRef="Bible:Lam.3.8" parsed="|Lam|3|8|0|0" passage="La 3:8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>): "<i>When I cry and
shout,</i> as one in earnest, as one that would make him hear, yet
he <i>shuts out my prayer</i> and will not suffer it to have access
to him." God's ear is wont to be open to the prayers of his people,
and his door of mercy to those that knock at it; but now both are
shut, even to one that <i>cries and shouts.</i> Thus sometimes God
seems to be angry even against <i>the prayers of his people</i>
(<scripRef id="Lam.iv-p3.23" osisRef="Bible:Ps.80.4" parsed="|Ps|80|4|0|0" passage="Ps 80:4">Ps. lxxx. 4</scripRef>), and their
case is deplorable indeed when they are denied not only the benefit
of an answer, but the comfort of acceptance. 7. That his neighbours
make a laughing matter of his troubles (<scripRef id="Lam.iv-p3.24" osisRef="Bible:Lam.3.14" parsed="|Lam|3|14|0|0" passage="La 3:14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>): <i>I was a derision to all my
people,</i> to all the wicked among them, who made themselves an
one another merry with the public judgments, and particularly the
prophet Jeremiah's griefs. I am their song, their <i>neginath,</i>
or hand-instrument of music, their <i>tabret</i> (<scripRef id="Lam.iv-p3.25" osisRef="Bible:Job.17.6" parsed="|Job|17|6|0|0" passage="Job 17:6">Job xvii. 6</scripRef>), that they play upon, as
Nero on his harp when Rome was on fire. 8. That he was ready to
despair of relief and deliverance: "Thou hast not only taken peace
from me, but hast <i>removed my soul far off from peace</i>
(<scripRef id="Lam.iv-p3.26" osisRef="Bible:Lam.3.17" parsed="|Lam|3|17|0|0" passage="La 3:17"><i>v.</i> 17</scripRef>), so that it
is not only not within reach, but not within view. <i>I forget
prosperity;</i> it is so long since I had it, and so unlikely that
I should ever recover it, that I have lost the idea of it. I have
been so inured to sorrow and servitude that I know not what joy and
liberty mean. I have even given up all for gone, concluding, <i>My
strength and my hope have perished from the Lord</i> (<scripRef id="Lam.iv-p3.27" osisRef="Bible:Lam.3.18" parsed="|Lam|3|18|0|0" passage="La 3:18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>); I can no longer stay
myself upon God as my support, for I do not find that he gives me
encouragement to do so; nor can I look for his appearing in my
behalf, so as to put an end to my troubles, for the case seems
remediless, and even my God inexorable." Without doubt it was his
infirmity to say this (<scripRef id="Lam.iv-p3.28" osisRef="Bible:Ps.77.10" parsed="|Ps|77|10|0|0" passage="Ps 77:10">Ps. lxxvii.
10</scripRef>), for with God there is <i>everlasting strength,</i>
and he is his people's never-failing hope, whatever they may think.
9. That grief returned upon every remembrance of his troubles, and
his reflections were as melancholy as his prospects, <scripRef id="Lam.iv-p3.29" osisRef="Bible:Lam.3.19-Lam.3.20" parsed="|Lam|3|19|3|20" passage="La 3:19,20"><i>v.</i> 19, 20</scripRef>. Did he endeavour
as Job did (<scripRef id="Lam.iv-p3.30" osisRef="Bible:Job.9.27" parsed="|Job|9|27|0|0" passage="Job 9:27">Job ix. 27</scripRef>), to
<i>forget his complaint?</i> Alas! it was to no purpose; he
remembers, upon all occasions, <i>the affliction and the misery,
the wormwood and the gall.</i> Thus emphatically does he speak of
his affliction, for thus did he think of it, thus heavily did it
lie when he reviewed it! It was an affliction that was misery
itself. <i>My affliction and my transgression</i> (so some read
it), my trouble and my sin that brought it upon me; this was <i>the
wormwood and the gall</i> in <i>the affliction and the misery.</i>
It is sin that makes the cup of affliction a bitter cup. <i>My soul
has them still in remembrance.</i> The captives in Babylon had all
the miseries of the siege in their mind continually and the flames
and ruins of Jerusalem still before their eyes, and <i>wept
when</i> they <i>remembered Zion;</i> nay, they could <i>never
forget Jerusalem,</i> <scripRef id="Lam.iv-p3.31" osisRef="Bible:Ps.137.1 Bible:Ps.137.5" parsed="|Ps|137|1|0|0;|Ps|137|5|0|0" passage="Ps 137:1,5">Ps. cxxxvii.
1, 5</scripRef>. <i>My soul,</i> having <i>them in remembrance, is
humbled in me,</i> not only oppressed with a sense of the trouble,
but in bitterness for sin. Note, It becomes us to have humble
hearts under humbling providences, and to renew our penitent
humiliations for sin upon every remembrance of our afflictions and
miseries. Thus we may get good by former corrections and prevent
further.</p>
</div><scripCom id="Lam.iv-p3.32" osisRef="Bible:Lam.3.21-Lam.3.36" parsed="|Lam|3|21|3|36" passage="La 3:21-36" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Lam.iv-p3.33">
<h4 id="Lam.iv-p3.34">Words of Comfort to Israel; The Benefit of
Afflictions; Comfort to the Afflicted. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Lam.iv-p3.35">b.
c.</span> 588.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Lam.iv-p4" shownumber="no">21 This I recall to my mind, therefore have I
hope.   22 <i>It is of</i> the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lam.iv-p4.1">Lord</span>'s mercies that we are not consumed, because
his compassions fail not.   23 <i>They are</i> new every
morning: great <i>is</i> thy faithfulness.   24 The <span class="smallcaps" id="Lam.iv-p4.2">Lord</span> <i>is</i> my portion, saith my soul;
therefore will I hope in him.   25 The <span class="smallcaps" id="Lam.iv-p4.3">Lord</span> <i>is</i> good unto them that wait for him,
to the soul <i>that</i> seeketh him.   26 <i>It is</i> good
that <i>a man</i> should both hope and quietly wait for the
salvation of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lam.iv-p4.4">Lord</span>.   27
<i>It is</i> good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.
  28 He sitteth alone and keepeth silence, because he hath
borne <i>it</i> upon him.   29 He putteth his mouth in the
dust; if so be there may be hope.   30 He giveth <i>his</i>
cheek to him that smiteth him: he is filled full with reproach.
  31 For the Lord will not cast off for ever:   32 But
though he cause grief, yet will he have compassion according to the
multitude of his mercies.   33 For he doth not afflict
willingly nor grieve the children of men.   34 To crush under
his feet all the prisoners of the earth,   35 To turn aside
the right of a man before the face of the most High,   36 To
subvert a man in his cause, the Lord approveth not.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Lam.iv-p5" shownumber="no">Here the clouds begin to disperse and the
sky to clear up; the complaint was very melancholy in the former
part of the chapter, and yet here the tune is altered and the
mourners in Zion begin to look a little pleasant. But for hope, the
heart would break. To save the heart from being quite broken, here
is something <i>called to mind,</i> which gives ground for
<i>hope</i> (<scripRef id="Lam.iv-p5.1" osisRef="Bible:Lam.3.21" parsed="|Lam|3|21|0|0" passage="La 3:21"><i>v.</i> 21</scripRef>),
which refers to what comes after, not to what goes before. <i>I
make to return to my heart</i> (so the margin words it); what we
have had in our hearts, and have laid to our hearts, is sometimes
as if it were quite lost and forgotten, till God by his grace make
it return to our hearts, that it may be ready to us when we have
occasion to use it. "<i>I recall</i> it <i>to mind; therefore have
I hope,</i> and am kept from downright despair." Let us see what
these things are which he calls to mind.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Lam.iv-p6" shownumber="no">I. That, bad as things are, it is owing to
the mercy of God that they are not worse. We are <i>afflicted by
the rod of his wrath,</i> but <i>it is of the lord's mercies that
we are not consumed,</i> <scripRef id="Lam.iv-p6.1" osisRef="Bible:Lam.3.22" parsed="|Lam|3|22|0|0" passage="La 3:22"><i>v.</i>
22</scripRef>. When we are in distress we should, for the
encouragement of our faith and hope, observe what makes for us as
well as what makes against us. Things are bad but they might have
been worse, and therefore there is hope that they may be better.
Observe here, 1. The streams of mercy acknowledged: <i>We are not
consumed.</i> Note, The church of God is like Moses's bush,
burning, yet <i>not consumed;</i> whatever hardships it has met
with, or may meet with, it shall have a being in the world to the
end of time. It is <i>persecuted</i> of men, <i>but not
forsaken</i> of God, and therefore, though it is <i>cast down,</i>
it is <i>not destroyed</i> (<scripRef id="Lam.iv-p6.2" osisRef="Bible:2Cor.4.9" parsed="|2Cor|4|9|0|0" passage="2Co 4:9">2 Cor. iv.
9</scripRef>), corrected, yet <i>not consumed,</i> refined in the
furnace as silver, but <i>not consumed</i> as dross. 2. These
streams followed up to the fountain: <i>It is of the Lord's
mercies.</i> here are mercies in the plural number, denoting the
abundance and variety of those mercies. God is an inexhaustible
<i>fountain of mercy, the Father of mercies.</i> Note, We all owe
it to the sparing mercy of God <i>that we are not consumed.</i>
Others have been consumed round about us, and we ourselves have
been in the consuming, and yet <i>we are not consumed;</i> we are
out of the grave; we are out of hell. Had we been dealt with
<i>according to our sins,</i> we should have been consumed long
ago; but we have been dealt with <i>according to God's mercies,</i>
and we are bound to acknowledge it to his praise.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Lam.iv-p7" shownumber="no">II. That even in the depth of their
affliction they still have experience of the tenderness of the
divine pity and the truth of the divine promise. They had several
times complained that God had not pitied (<scripRef id="Lam.iv-p7.1" osisRef="Bible:Lam.2.17 Bible:Lam.2.21" parsed="|Lam|2|17|0|0;|Lam|2|21|0|0" passage="La 2:17,21"><i>ch.</i> ii. 17, 21</scripRef>), but here they
correct themselves, and own, 1. That <i>God's compassions fail
not;</i> they do not really fail, no, not even when in anger he
seems to have <i>shut up his tender mercies.</i> These rivers of
mercy run fully and constantly, but never run dry. No; <i>they are
new every morning;</i> every morning we have fresh instances of
God's compassion towards us; he visits us with them <i>every
morning</i> (<scripRef id="Lam.iv-p7.2" osisRef="Bible:Job.7.18" parsed="|Job|7|18|0|0" passage="Job 7:18">Job vii. 18</scripRef>);
<i>every morning does he bring his judgment to light,</i> <scripRef id="Lam.iv-p7.3" osisRef="Bible:Zeph.3.5" parsed="|Zeph|3|5|0|0" passage="Zep 3:5">Zeph. iii. 5</scripRef>. When our comforts fail,
yet God's compassions do not. 2. That <i>great is his
faithfulness.</i> Though the covenant seemed to be broken, they
owned that it still continued in full force; and, though Jerusalem
be in ruins, <i>the truth of the Lord endures for ever.</i> Note,
Whatever hard things we suffer, we must never entertain any hard
thoughts of God, but must still be ready to own that he is both
kind and faithful.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Lam.iv-p8" shownumber="no">III. That God is, and ever will be, the
all-sufficient happiness of his people, and they have chosen him
and depend upon him to be such (<scripRef id="Lam.iv-p8.1" osisRef="Bible:Lam.3.24" parsed="|Lam|3|24|0|0" passage="La 3:24"><i>v.</i> 24</scripRef>): <i>The Lord is my portion,
saith my soul;</i> that is, 1. "When I have lost all I have in the
world, liberty, and livelihood, and almost life itself, yet I have
not lost my interest in God." Portions on earth are perishing
things, but God is <i>portion for ever.</i> 2. "While I have an
interest in God, therein I have enough; I have that which is
sufficient to counterbalance all my troubles and make up all my
losses." Whatever we are robbed of our portion is safe. 3. "This is
that which I depend upon and rest satisfied with: <i>Therefore will
I hope in him.</i> I will stay myself upon him, and encourage
myself in him, when all other supports and encouragements fail me."
Note, It is our duty to make God the portion of our souls, and then
to make use of him as our portion and to take the comfort of it in
the midst of our lamentations.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Lam.iv-p9" shownumber="no">IV. That those who deal with God will find
it is not in vain to trust in him; for, 1. He is good to those who
do so, <scripRef id="Lam.iv-p9.1" osisRef="Bible:Lam.3.25" parsed="|Lam|3|25|0|0" passage="La 3:25"><i>v.</i> 25</scripRef>. He is
good to all; <i>his tender mercies are over all his works;</i> all
his creatures taste of his goodness. But he is in a particular
manner <i>good to those that wait for him, to the soul that seeks
him.</i> Note, While trouble is prolonged, and deliverance is
deferred, we must patiently wait for God and his gracious returns
to us. While we <i>wait for him</i> by faith, we must <i>seek
him</i> by prayer: our <i>souls</i> must <i>seek him,</i> else we
do not seek so as to find. Our seeking will help to keep up our
waiting. And to those who thus wait and seek God will be gracious;
he will show them his <i>marvellous lovingkindness.</i> 2. Those
that do so will find it good for them (<scripRef id="Lam.iv-p9.2" osisRef="Bible:Lam.3.26" parsed="|Lam|3|26|0|0" passage="La 3:26"><i>v.</i> 26</scripRef>): <i>It is good</i> (it is our
duty, and will be our unspeakable comfort and satisfaction) <i>to
hope and quietly to wait for the salvation of the Lord,</i> to hope
that it will come, thought the difficulties that lie in the way of
it seem insupportable, to wait till it does come, though it be long
delayed, and while we wait to be quiet and silent, not quarrelling
with God nor making ourselves uneasy, but acquiescing in the divine
disposals. <i>Father, thy will be done.</i> If we call this to
mind, we may have hope that all will end well at last.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Lam.iv-p10" shownumber="no">V. That afflictions are really good for us,
and, if we bear them aright, will work very much for our good. It
is not only good to hope and wait for the salvation, but it is good
to be under the trouble in the mean time (<scripRef id="Lam.iv-p10.1" osisRef="Bible:Lam.3.27" parsed="|Lam|3|27|0|0" passage="La 3:27"><i>v.</i> 27</scripRef>): <i>It is good for a man that he
bear the yoke in his youth.</i> Many of the young men were carried
into captivity. To make them easy in it, he tells them that it was
good for them to <i>bear the yoke</i> of that captivity, and they
would find it so if they would but accommodate themselves to their
condition, and labour to answer God's ends in laying that heavy
yoke upon them. It is very applicable to the yoke of God's
commands. It is good for young people to take that yoke upon them
in their youth; we cannot begin too soon to be religious. It will
make our duty the more acceptable to God, and easy to ourselves, if
we engage in it when we are young. But here it seems to be meant of
the yoke of affliction. Many have found it good to bear this in
youth; it has made those humble and serious, and has weaned them
from the world, who otherwise would have been proud and unruly, and
<i>as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke.</i> But when do we
<i>bear the yoke</i> so that it is really <i>good for us to bear it
in our youth?</i> He answers in the following verses, 1. When we
are sedate and quiet under our afflictions, when we <i>sit alone
and keep silence,</i> do not run to and fro into all companies with
our complaints, aggravating our calamities, and quarrelling with
the disposals of Providence concerning us, but retire into privacy,
that we may <i>in a day of adversity consider, sit alone,</i> that
we may converse with God and <i>commune with our own hearts,</i>
silencing all discontented distrustful thoughts, and laying our
hand upon our mouth, as Aaron, who, under a very severe trial, held
his peace. We must keep silence under the yoke as those that have
borne it upon us, not wilfully pulled it upon our own necks, but
patiently submitted to it when God laid it upon us. When those who
are afflicted in their youth accommodate themselves to their
afflictions, fit their necks to the yoke and study to answer God's
end in afflicting them, then they will find it good for them to
bear it, for it yields <i>the peaceable fruit of righteousness to
those who are</i> thus <i>exercised thereby.</i> 2. When we are
humble and patient under our affliction. <i>He</i> gets good by the
yoke who <i>puts his mouth in the dust,</i> not only <i>lays his
hand upon his mouth,</i> in token of submission to the will of God
in the affliction, but <i>puts it in the dust,</i> in token of
sorrow, and shame, and self-loathing, at the remembrance of sin,
and as one perfectly reduced and reclaimed, and brought as those
that are vanquished to <i>lick the dust,</i> <scripRef id="Lam.iv-p10.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.72.9" parsed="|Ps|72|9|0|0" passage="Ps 72:9">Ps. lxxii. 9</scripRef>. And we must thus humble
ourselves, <i>if so be there may be hope,</i> or (as it is in the
original) <i>peradventure there is hope.</i> If there be any way to
acquire and secure a good hope under our afflictions, it is this
way, and yet we must be very modest in our expectations of it, must
look for it with an <i>it may be,</i> as those who own ourselves
utterly unworthy of it. Note, Those who are truly humbled for sin
will be glad to obtain a good hope, through grace, upon any terms,
though they <i>put their mouth in the dust</i> for it; and those
who would have hope must do so, and ascribe it to free grace if
they have any encouragements, which may keep their hearts from
sinking into the dust when they put their mouth there. 3. When we
are meek and mild towards those who are the instruments of our
trouble, and are of a forgiving spirit, <scripRef id="Lam.iv-p10.3" osisRef="Bible:Lam.3.30" parsed="|Lam|3|30|0|0" passage="La 3:30"><i>v.</i> 30</scripRef>. <i>He</i> gets good by the yoke
who <i>gives his cheek to him that smites him,</i> and rather
<i>turns the other cheek</i> (<scripRef id="Lam.iv-p10.4" osisRef="Bible:Matt.5.39" parsed="|Matt|5|39|0|0" passage="Mt 5:39">Matt. v.
39</scripRef>) than returns the second blow. Our Lord Jesus has
left us an example of this, for he <i>gave his back to the
smiter,</i> <scripRef id="Lam.iv-p10.5" osisRef="Bible:Isa.50.6" parsed="|Isa|50|6|0|0" passage="Isa 50:6">Isa. l. 6</scripRef>. He
who can bear contempt and reproach, and not <i>render railing for
railing,</i> and bitterness for bitterness, who, when he is
<i>filled full with reproach,</i> keeps it to himself, and does not
retort it and empty it again upon those who filled him with it, but
<i>pours it out before the Lord</i> (as those did, <scripRef id="Lam.iv-p10.6" osisRef="Bible:Ps.123.4" parsed="|Ps|123|4|0|0" passage="Ps 123:4">Ps. cxxiii. 4</scripRef>, whose <i>souls were
exceedingly filled with the contempt of the proud</i>), he shall
find that <i>it is good to bear the yoke,</i> that it shall turn to
his spiritual advantage. The sum is, <i>If tribulation work
patience,</i> that <i>patience</i> will work <i>experience,</i> and
that <i>experience a hope that makes not ashamed.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Lam.iv-p11" shownumber="no">VI. That God will graciously return to his
people with seasonable comforts <i>according to the time that he
has afflicted them,</i> <scripRef id="Lam.iv-p11.1" osisRef="Bible:Lam.3.31-Lam.3.32" parsed="|Lam|3|31|3|32" passage="La 3:31,32"><i>v.</i>
31, 32</scripRef>. <i>Therefore</i> the sufferer is thus penitent,
thus patient, because he believes that God is gracious and
merciful, which is the great inducement both to evangelical
repentance and to Christian patience. We may bear ourselves up with
this, 1. That, when we are cast down, yet we are not cast off; the
father's correcting his son is not a disinheriting of him. 2. That
though we may seem to be cast off for a time, while sensible
comforts are suspended and desired salvations deferred, yet we are
not really cast off, because not <i>cast off for ever;</i> the
controversy with us shall not be perpetual. 3. That, whatever
sorrow we are in, it is what God has allotted us, and his hand is
in it. It is he that causes grief, and therefore we may be assured
it is ordered wisely and graciously; and it is but <i>for a
season,</i> and when need is, that we <i>are in heaviness,</i>
<scripRef id="Lam.iv-p11.2" osisRef="Bible:1Pet.1.6" parsed="|1Pet|1|6|0|0" passage="1Pe 1:6">1 Pet. i. 6</scripRef>. 4. That God has
compassions and comforts in store even for those whom he has
himself grieved. We must be far from thinking that, though God
cause grief, the world will relieve and help us. No; the very same
that caused the grief must bring in the favour, or we are undone.
<i>Una eademque manus vulnus opemque tulit—The same hand inflicted
the wound and healed it.</i> He has torn, and he will heal us,
<scripRef id="Lam.iv-p11.3" osisRef="Bible:Hos.6.1" parsed="|Hos|6|1|0|0" passage="Ho 6:1">Hos. vi. 1</scripRef>. 5. That, when God
returns to deal graciously with us, it will not be according to our
merits, but according to his mercies, <i>according to the
multitude,</i> the abundance, <i>of his mercies.</i> So unworthy we
are that nothing but an abundant mercy will relieve us; and from
that what may we not expect? And God's causing our grief ought to
be no discouragement at all to those expectations.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Lam.iv-p12" shownumber="no">VII. That, when God does cause grief, it is
for wise and holy ends, and he takes not delight in our calamities,
<scripRef id="Lam.iv-p12.1" osisRef="Bible:Lam.3.33" parsed="|Lam|3|33|0|0" passage="La 3:33"><i>v.</i> 33</scripRef>. He does indeed
<i>afflict, and grieve the children of men;</i> all their
grievances and afflictions are from him. But he does not do it
<i>willingly,</i> not <i>from the heart;</i> so the word is. 1. He
never afflicts us but when we give him cause to do it. He does not
dispense his frowns as he does his favours, <i>ex mero
motu</i>—<i>from his mere good pleasure.</i> If he show us
kindness, it is because <i>so it seems good</i> unto him; but, if
he write bitter things against us, it is because we both deserve
them and need them. 2. He does not afflict with pleasure. He
delights not in the death of sinners, or the disquiet of saints,
but punishes with a kind of reluctance. He comes out of his place
to punish, for his place is the mercy-seat. He delights not in the
misery of any of his creatures, but, as it respects his own people,
he is so far from it that in all their afflictions he is afflicted
and his soul is grieved for the misery of Israel. 3. He retains his
kindness for his people even when he afflicts them. If he does not
<i>willingly grieve the children of men,</i> much less his own
children. However it be, yet <i>God is good</i> to them (<scripRef id="Lam.iv-p12.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.73.1" parsed="|Ps|73|1|0|0" passage="Ps 73:1">Ps. lxxiii. 1</scripRef>), and they may by faith
see love in his heart even when they see frowns in his face and a
rod in his hand.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Lam.iv-p13" shownumber="no">VIII. That though he makes use of men as
his hand, or rather instruments in his hand, for the correcting of
his people, yet he is far from being pleased with the injustice of
their proceedings and the wrong they do them, <scripRef id="Lam.iv-p13.1" osisRef="Bible:Lam.3.34-Lam.3.36" parsed="|Lam|3|34|3|36" passage="La 3:34-36"><i>v.</i> 34-36</scripRef>. Though God serves his own
purposes by the violence of wicked and unreasonable men, yet it
does no therefore follow that he countenances that violence, as his
oppressed people are sometimes tempted to think. <scripRef id="Lam.iv-p13.2" osisRef="Bible:Hab.1.3" parsed="|Hab|1|3|0|0" passage="Hab 1:3">Hab. i. 13</scripRef>, <i>Wherefore lookest thou upon
those that deal treacherously?</i> Two ways the people of God are
injured and oppressed by their enemies, and the prophet here
assures us that God does not approve of either of them:—1. If men
injure them by force of arms, God does not approve of that. He does
not himself <i>crush under his feet the prisoners of the earth,</i>
but he regards the cry of the prisoners; nor does he approve of
men's doing it; nay, he is much displeased with it. It is barbarous
to trample on those that are down, and to crush those that are
bound and cannot help themselves. 2. If men injure them under
colour of law, and in the pretended administration of justice,—if
they <i>turn aside the right of a man,</i> so that he cannot
discover what his rights are or cannot come at them, they are out
of his reach,—if they <i>subvert a man in his cause,</i> and bring
in a wrong verdict, or give a false judgment, let them know, (1.)
That God sees them. It is <i>before the face of the Most High</i>
(<scripRef id="Lam.iv-p13.3" osisRef="Bible:Lam.3.35" parsed="|Lam|3|35|0|0" passage="La 3:35"><i>v.</i> 35</scripRef>); it is in his
sight, under his eye, and is very displeasing to him. They cannot
but know it is so, and therefore it is in defiance of him that they
do it. He is <i>the Most High,</i> whose authority over them they
contemn by abusing their authority over their subjects, not
considering that <i>he that is higher than the highest
regardeth,</i> <scripRef id="Lam.iv-p13.4" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.5.8" parsed="|Eccl|5|8|0|0" passage="Ec 5:8">Eccl. v. 8</scripRef>.
(2.) That God does not approve of them. More is implied than is
expressed. The perverting of justice, and the subverting of the
just, are a great affront to God; and, though he may make use of
them for the correction of his people, yet he will sooner or later
severely reckon with those that do thus. Note, However God may for
a time suffer evil-doers to prosper, and serve his own purposes by
them, yet he does not therefore approve of their evil doings.
<i>Far be it from God that he should do iniquity,</i> or
countenance those that do it.</p>
</div><scripCom id="Lam.iv-p13.5" osisRef="Bible:Lam.3.37-Lam.3.41" parsed="|Lam|3|37|3|41" passage="La 3:37-41" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Lam.iv-p13.6">
<h4 id="Lam.iv-p13.7">The Duties of the Afflicted. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Lam.iv-p13.8">b. c.</span> 588.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Lam.iv-p14" shownumber="no">37 Who <i>is</i> he <i>that</i> saith, and it
cometh to pass, <i>when</i> the Lord commandeth <i>it</i> not?
  38 Out of the mouth of the most High proceedeth not evil and
good?   39 Wherefore doth a living man complain, a man for the
punishment of his sins?   40 Let us search and try our ways,
and turn again to the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lam.iv-p14.1">Lord</span>.  
41 Let us lift up our heart with <i>our</i> hands unto God in the
heavens.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Lam.iv-p15" shownumber="no">That we may be entitled to the comforts
administered to the afflicted in the <scripRef id="Lam.iv-p15.1" osisRef="Bible:Lam.3.21-Lam.3.36" parsed="|Lam|3|21|3|36" passage="La 3:21-36">foregoing verses</scripRef>, and may taste the
sweetness of them, we have here the duties of an afflicted state
prescribed to us, in the performance of which we may expect those
comforts.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Lam.iv-p16" shownumber="no">I. We must see and acknowledge the hand of
God in all the calamities that befal us at any time, whether
personal or public, <scripRef id="Lam.iv-p16.1" osisRef="Bible:Lam.3.37-Lam.3.38" parsed="|Lam|3|37|3|38" passage="La 3:37,38"><i>v.</i> 37,
38</scripRef>. This is here laid down as a great truth, which will
help to quiet our spirits under our afflictions and to sanctify
them to us. 1. That, whatever men's actions are, it is God that
overrules them: <i>Who is he that saith, and it cometh to pass</i>
(that designs a thing and bring his designs to effect), if <i>the
Lord commandeth it not?</i> Men can do nothing but according to the
counsel of God, nor have any power or success but what is given
them from above. <i>A man's heart devises his way;</i> he projects
and purposes; he says that he will do so and so (<scripRef id="Lam.iv-p16.2" osisRef="Bible:Jas.4.13" parsed="|Jas|4|13|0|0" passage="Jam 4:13">Jam. iv. 13</scripRef>); <i>but the Lord directs his
steps</i> far otherwise than he designed them, and what he
contrived and expected does not <i>come to pass,</i> unless it be
what God's hand and his counsel had determined before to be done,
<scripRef id="Lam.iv-p16.3" osisRef="Bible:Prov.16.9 Bible:Jer.10.23" parsed="|Prov|16|9|0|0;|Jer|10|23|0|0" passage="Pr 16:9,Jer 10:23">Prov. xvi. 9; Jer. x.
23</scripRef>. The Chaldeans said that they would destroy
Jerusalem, and it came to pass, not because they said it, but
because God commanded it and commissioned them to do it. Note, Men
are but tools which the great God makes use of, and manages as he
pleases, in the government of this lower world; and they cannot
accomplish any of their designs without him. 2. That, whatever
men's lot is, it is God that orders it: <i>Out of the mouth of the
Most High do not evil and good proceed?</i> Yes, certainly they do;
and it is more emphatically expressed in the original: <i>Do
not</i> this <i>evil, and</i> this <i>good, proceed out of the
mouth of the Most High?</i> Is it not what he has ordained and
appointed for us? Yes, certainly it is; and for the reconciling of
us to our own afflictions, whatever they be, this general truth
must thus be particularly applied. This comfort I receive <i>from
the hand of God, and shall I not receive</i> that <i>evil</i> also?
so Job argues, <scripRef id="Lam.iv-p16.4" osisRef="Bible:Job.2.10" parsed="|Job|2|10|0|0" passage="Job 2:10"><i>ch.</i> ii.
10</scripRef>. Are we healthful or sickly, rich or poor? Do we
succeed in our designs, or are we crossed in them? It is all what
God orders; <i>every man's judgment proceeds from him. The Lord
gave, and the Lord has taken away;</i> he forms the light and
creates the darkness, as he did at first. Note, All the events of
divine Providence are the products of a divine counsel; whatever is
done God has the directing of it, and the works of his hands agree
with the words of his mouth; <i>he speaks, and it is done,</i> so
easily, so effectually are all his purposes fulfilled.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Lam.iv-p17" shownumber="no">II. We must not quarrel with God for any
affliction that he lays upon us at any time (<scripRef id="Lam.iv-p17.1" osisRef="Bible:Lam.3.39" parsed="|Lam|3|39|0|0" passage="La 3:39"><i>v.</i> 39</scripRef>): <i>Wherefore does a living man
complain?</i> The prophet here seems to check himself for the
complaint he had made in the former part of the chapter, wherein he
seemed to reflect upon God as unkind and severe. "Do I well to be
angry? Why do I fret thus?" Those who in their haste have chidden
with God must, in the reflection, chide themselves for it. From the
doctrine of God's sovereign and universal providence, which he had
asserted in the <scripRef id="Lam.iv-p17.2" osisRef="Bible:Lam.3.21-Lam.3.36" parsed="|Lam|3|21|3|36" passage="La 3:21-36">verses
before</scripRef>, he draws this inference, <i>Wherefore does a
living man complain?</i> What God does we must not open our mouths
against, <scripRef id="Lam.iv-p17.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.39.9" parsed="|Ps|39|9|0|0" passage="Ps 39:9">Ps. xxxix. 9</scripRef>. Those
that blame their lot reproach him that allotted it to them. The
sufferers in the captivity must submit to the will of God in all
their sufferings. Note, Though we may pour out our complaints
before God, we must never exhibit any complaints against God. What!
Shall <i>a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his
sins?</i> The reasons here urged are very cogent. 1. We are men;
let us herein show ourselves men. Shall <i>a man complain?</i> And
again, <i>a man!</i> We are men, and not brutes, reasonable
creatures, who should act with reason, who should look upward and
look forward, and both ways may fetch considerations enough to
silence our complaints. We are men, and not children that cry for
every thing that hurts them. We are men, and not gods, subjects,
not lords; we are not our own masters, not our own carvers; we are
bound and must obey, must submit. We are men, and not angels, and
therefore cannot expect to be free from troubles as they are; we
are not inhabitants of that world where there is no sorrow, but
this where there is nothing but sorrow. We are men, and not devils,
are not in that deplorable, helpless, hopeless, state that they are
in, but have something to comfort ourselves with which they have
not. 2. We are living men. Through the good hand of our God upon us
we are alive yet, though dying daily; and shall <i>a living man
complain?</i> No; he has more reason to be thankful for life than
to complain of any of the burdens and calamities of life. Our lives
are frail and forfeited, and yet we are alive; now <i>the living,
the living, they</i> should <i>praise,</i> and not complain
(<scripRef id="Lam.iv-p17.4" osisRef="Bible:Isa.38.19" parsed="|Isa|38|19|0|0" passage="Isa 38:19">Isa. xxxviii. 19</scripRef>); while
there is life there is hope, and therefore, instead of complaining
that things are bad, we should encourage ourselves with the hope
that they will be better. 3. We are sinful men, and that which we
complain of is the just <i>punishment of our sins;</i> nay, it is
far less than our iniquities have deserved. We have little reason
to complain of our trouble, for it is our own doing; we may thank
ourselves. Our own wickedness corrects us, <scripRef id="Lam.iv-p17.5" osisRef="Bible:Prov.19.3" parsed="|Prov|19|3|0|0" passage="Pr 19:3">Prov. xix. 3</scripRef>. We have no reason to quarrel
with God, for he is righteous in it; he is the governor of the
world, and it is necessary that he should maintain the honour of
his government by chastising the disobedient. Are we suffering for
our sins? Then let us not complain; for we have other work to do;
instead of repining, we must be repenting; and, as an evidence that
God is reconciled to us, we must be endeavouring to reconcile
ourselves to his holy will. Are we <i>punished for our sins?</i> It
is our wisdom then to submit, and to kiss the rod; for, if we still
walk contrary to God, he will punish us yet seven times more; for
<i>when he judges he will overcome.</i> But, if we accommodate
ourselves to him, though we be <i>chastened of the Lord</i> we
shall not be <i>condemned with the world.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Lam.iv-p18" shownumber="no">III. We must set ourselves to answer God's
intention in afflicting us, which is to bring sin to our
remembrance, and to bring us home to himself, <scripRef id="Lam.iv-p18.1" osisRef="Bible:Lam.3.40" parsed="|Lam|3|40|0|0" passage="La 3:40"><i>v.</i> 40</scripRef>. These are the two things which
our afflictions should put us upon. 1. A serious consideration of
ourselves and a reflection upon our past lives. <i>Let us search
and try our ways,</i> search what they have been, and then try
whether they have been right and good or no; search as for a
malefactor in disguise, that flees and hides himself, and then try
whether guilty or not guilty. Let conscience be employed both to
search and to try, and let it have leave to deal faithfully, to
accomplish a diligent search and to make an impartial trial. <i>Let
us try our ways,</i> that by them we may try ourselves, for we are
to judge of our state not by our faint wishes, but by our steps,
not by one particular step, but by our ways, the ends we aim at,
the rules we go by, and the agreeableness of the temper of our
minds and the tenour of our lives to those ends and those rules.
When we are in affliction it is seasonable to <i>consider our
ways</i> (<scripRef id="Lam.iv-p18.2" osisRef="Bible:Hag.1.5" parsed="|Hag|1|5|0|0" passage="Hag 1:5">Hag. i. 5</scripRef>), that
what is amiss may be repented of and amended for the future, and so
we may answer the intention of the affliction. We are apt, in times
of public calamity, to reflect upon other people's ways, and lay
blame upon them; whereas our business is to <i>search and try
our</i> own <i>ways.</i> We have work enough to do at home; we must
each of us say, "What have I done? What have I contributed to the
public flames?" that we may each of us mend one, and then we should
all be mended. 2. A sincere conversion to God: "Let us <i>turn
again to the Lord,</i> to him who is turned against us and whom we
have turned from; to him let us turn by repentance and reformation,
as to our owner and ruler. We have been with him, and it has never
been well with us since we forsook him; let us therefore now turn
again to him." This must accompany the former and be the fruit of
it; <i>therefore</i> we must <i>search and try our ways,</i> that
we may turn from the evil of them to God. This was the method David
took. <scripRef id="Lam.iv-p18.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.119.59" parsed="|Ps|119|59|0|0" passage="Ps 119:59">Ps. cxix. 59</scripRef>, <i>I
thought on my ways, and turned my feet unto thy
testimonies.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Lam.iv-p19" shownumber="no">IV. We must offer up ourselves to God, and
our best affections and services, in the flames of devotion,
<scripRef id="Lam.iv-p19.1" osisRef="Bible:Lam.3.41" parsed="|Lam|3|41|0|0" passage="La 3:41"><i>v.</i> 41</scripRef>. When we are in
affliction, 1. We must look up to God as a <i>God in the
heavens,</i> infinitely above us, and who has an incontestable
dominion over us; for <i>the heavens do rule,</i> and are therefore
not to be quarrelled with, but submitted to. 2. We must pray to
him, with a believing expectation to receive mercy from him; for
that is implied in our <i>lifting up our hands</i> to him (a
gesture commonly used in prayer and sometimes put for it, as
<scripRef id="Lam.iv-p19.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.141.2" parsed="|Ps|141|2|0|0" passage="Ps 141:2">Ps. cxli. 2</scripRef>, <i>Let the
lifting up of my hands be as the evening sacrifice</i>); it
signifies our requesting mercy from him and our readiness to
receive that mercy. (3.) Our hearts must go along with our prayers.
We must <i>lift up our hearts with our hands,</i> as we must pour
out our souls with our words. It is the heart that God looks at in
that and every other service; for what will a sacrifice without a
heart avail? If inward impressions be not in some measure
answerable to outward expressions, we do but mock God and deceive
ourselves. Praying is lifting up the soul to God (<scripRef id="Lam.iv-p19.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.25.1" parsed="|Ps|25|1|0|0" passage="Ps 25:1">Ps. xxv. 1</scripRef>) as to <i>our Father in
heaven;</i> and the soul that hopes to be with God in heaven for
ever will thus, by frequent acts of devotion, be still learning the
way thither and pressing forward in that way.</p>
</div><scripCom id="Lam.iv-p19.4" osisRef="Bible:Lam.3.42-Lam.3.54" parsed="|Lam|3|42|3|54" passage="La 3:42-54" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Lam.iv-p19.5">
<h4 id="Lam.iv-p19.6">Complaining to God. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Lam.iv-p19.7">b. c.</span> 588.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Lam.iv-p20" shownumber="no">42 We have transgressed and have rebelled: thou
hast not pardoned.   43 Thou hast covered with anger, and
persecuted us: thou hast slain, thou hast not pitied.   44
Thou hast covered thyself with a cloud, that <i>our</i> prayer
should not pass through.   45 Thou hast made us <i>as</i> the
offscouring and refuse in the midst of the people.   46 All
our enemies have opened their mouths against us.   47 Fear and
a snare is come upon us, desolation and destruction.   48 Mine
eye runneth down with rivers of water for the destruction of the
daughter of my people.   49 Mine eye trickleth down, and
ceaseth not, without any intermission,   50 Till the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lam.iv-p20.1">Lord</span> look down, and behold from heaven.
  51 Mine eye affecteth mine heart because of all the
daughters of my city.   52 Mine enemies chased me sore, like a
bird, without cause.   53 They have cut off my life in the
dungeon, and cast a stone upon me.   54 Waters flowed over
mine head; <i>then</i> I said, I am cut off.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Lam.iv-p21" shownumber="no">It is easier to chide ourselves for
complaining than to chide ourselves out of it. The prophet had
owned that a living man should not complain, as if he checked
himself for his complaints in the former part of the chapter; and
yet here the clouds return after the rain and the wound bleeds
afresh; for great pains must be taken with a troubled spirit to
bring it into temper.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Lam.iv-p22" shownumber="no">I. They confess the righteousness of God in
afflicting them (<scripRef id="Lam.iv-p22.1" osisRef="Bible:Lam.3.42" parsed="|Lam|3|42|0|0" passage="La 3:42"><i>v.</i>
42</scripRef>): <i>We have transgressed and have rebelled.</i>
Note, It becomes us, when we are in trouble, to justify God, by
owning our sins, and laying the load upon ourselves for them. Call
sin a transgression, call it a rebellion, and you do not miscall
it. This is the result of their searching and trying their ways;
the more they enquired into them the worse they found them.
Yet,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Lam.iv-p23" shownumber="no">II. They complain of the afflictions they
are under, not without some reflections upon God, which we are not
to imitate, but, under the sharpest trials, must always think and
speak highly and kindly of him.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Lam.iv-p24" shownumber="no">1. They complain of his frowns and the
tokens of his displeasure against them. Their sins were repented
of, and yet (<scripRef id="Lam.iv-p24.1" osisRef="Bible:Lam.3.42" parsed="|Lam|3|42|0|0" passage="La 3:42"><i>v.</i> 42</scripRef>),
<i>Thou hast not pardoned.</i> They had not the assurance and
comfort of the pardon; the judgments brought upon them for their
sins were not removed, and therefore they thought they could not
say the sin was pardoned, which was a mistake, but a common mistake
with the people of God when their souls are cast down and
disquieted within them. Their case was really pitiable, yet they
complain, <i>Thou hast not pitied,</i> <scripRef id="Lam.iv-p24.2" osisRef="Bible:Lam.3.43" parsed="|Lam|3|43|0|0" passage="La 3:43"><i>v.</i> 43</scripRef>. Their enemies persecuted and
slew them, but that was not the worst of it; they were but the
instruments in God's hand: "<i>Thou hast persecuted us, and thou
hast slain us,</i> though we expected thou wouldst protect and
deliver us." They complain that there was a wall of partition
between them and God, and, (1.) This hindered God's favours from
coming down upon them. The reflected beams of God's kindness to
them used to be the beauty of Israel; but now "<i>thou hast
covered</i> us <i>with anger,</i> so that our glory is concealed
and gone; now God is angry with us, and we do not appear that
illustrious people that we have formerly been thought to be." Or,
"<i>Thou hast covered us</i> up as men that are buried are covered
up and forgotten." (2.) It hindered their prayers from coming up
unto God (<scripRef id="Lam.iv-p24.3" osisRef="Bible:Lam.3.44" parsed="|Lam|3|44|0|0" passage="La 3:44"><i>v.</i> 44</scripRef>):
"<i>Thou hast covered thyself with a cloud,</i>" not like that
bright cloud in which he took possession of the temple, which
enabled the worshippers to draw near to him, but like that in which
he came down upon Mount Sinai, which obliged the people to stand at
a distance. "This cloud is so thick <i>that our prayers</i> seem as
if they were lost in it; they cannot <i>pass through;</i> we cannot
obtain an audience." Note, The prolonging of troubles is sometimes
a temptation, even to praying people, to question whether God be
what they have always believed him to be, a prayer-hearing God.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Lam.iv-p25" shownumber="no">2. They complain of the contempt of their
neighbours and the reproach and ignominy they were under (<scripRef id="Lam.iv-p25.1" osisRef="Bible:Lam.3.45" parsed="|Lam|3|45|0|0" passage="La 3:45"><i>v.</i> 45</scripRef>): "<i>Thou hast made us
as the off-scouring,</i> or scrapings, of the first floor, which
are thrown to the dunghill." This St. Paul refers to in his account
of the sufferings of the apostles. <scripRef id="Lam.iv-p25.2" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.4.13" parsed="|1Cor|4|13|0|0" passage="1Co 4:13">1
Cor. iv. 13</scripRef>, <i>We are made as the filth of the world
and are the off-scouring of all things.</i> "We are the
<i>refuse,</i> or dross, <i>in the midst of the people,</i> trodden
upon by every body, and looked upon as the vilest of the nations,
and good for nothing but to be cast out as <i>salt</i> which <i>has
lost its savour. Our enemies have opened their mouths against
us</i> (<scripRef id="Lam.iv-p25.3" osisRef="Bible:Lam.3.46" parsed="|Lam|3|46|0|0" passage="La 3:46"><i>v.</i> 46</scripRef>), have
<i>gaped upon us as roaring lions,</i> to swallow us up, or made
mouths at us, or have taken liberty to say what they please of us."
These complaints we had before, <scripRef id="Lam.iv-p25.4" osisRef="Bible:Lam.2.15-Lam.2.16" parsed="|Lam|2|15|2|16" passage="La 2:15,16"><i>ch.</i> ii. 15, 16</scripRef>. Note, It is common
for base and ill-natured men to run upon, and run down, those that
have fallen into the depths of distress from the height of honour.
But this they brought upon themselves by sin. If they had not made
themselves vile, their enemies could not have made them so: but
<i>therefore men call them reprobate silver, because the Lord has
rejected them</i> for rejecting him.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Lam.iv-p26" shownumber="no">3. They complain of the lamentable
destruction that their enemies made of them (<scripRef id="Lam.iv-p26.1" osisRef="Bible:Lam.3.47" parsed="|Lam|3|47|0|0" passage="La 3:47"><i>v.</i> 47</scripRef>): <i>Fear and a snare have come
upon us;</i> the enemies have not only terrified us with those
alarms, but prevailed against us by their stratagems, and surprised
us with the ambushes they laid for us; and then follows nothing but
<i>desolation and destruction,</i> the <i>destruction of the
daughter of my people</i> (<scripRef id="Lam.iv-p26.2" osisRef="Bible:Lam.3.48" parsed="|Lam|3|48|0|0" passage="La 3:48"><i>v.</i>
48</scripRef>), <i>of all the daughters of my city,</i> <scripRef id="Lam.iv-p26.3" osisRef="Bible:Lam.3.51" parsed="|Lam|3|51|0|0" passage="La 3:51"><i>v.</i> 51</scripRef>. The enemies, having
taken some of them <i>like a bird</i> in a snare, <i>chased</i>
others as a harmless bird is chased by a bird of prey (<scripRef id="Lam.iv-p26.4" osisRef="Bible:Lam.3.52" parsed="|Lam|3|52|0|0" passage="La 3:52"><i>v.</i> 52</scripRef>): <i>My enemies chased me
sorely like a bird</i> which is beaten from bush to bush, as Saul
hunted David <i>like a partridge.</i> Thus restless was the enmity
of their persecutors, and yet causeless. They have done it
<i>without cause,</i> without any provocation given them. Though
God was righteous, they were unrighteous. David often complains of
those that <i>hated him without cause;</i> and such are the enemies
of Christ and his church, <scripRef id="Lam.iv-p26.5" osisRef="Bible:John.15.25" parsed="|John|15|25|0|0" passage="Joh 15:25">John xv.
25</scripRef>. Their enemies chased them till they had quite
prevailed over them (<scripRef id="Lam.iv-p26.6" osisRef="Bible:Lam.3.53" parsed="|Lam|3|53|0|0" passage="La 3:53"><i>v.</i>
53</scripRef>): <i>They have cut off my life in the dungeon.</i>
They have shut up their captives in close and dark prisons, where
they are as it were cut off <i>from the land of the living</i> (as
<scripRef id="Lam.iv-p26.7" osisRef="Bible:Lam.3.6" parsed="|Lam|3|6|0|0" passage="La 3:6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>), or the state
and kingdom are sunk and ruined, the life and being of them are
gone, and they are as it were thrown into the dungeon or grave and
a <i>stone cast upon them,</i> such as used to be <i>rolled to the
door of the sepulchres.</i> They look upon the Jewish nation as
dead and buried, and imagine that there is not possibility of its
resurrection. Thus Ezekiel saw it, in vision, <i>a valley full of
dead and dry bones.</i> Their destruction is compared not only to
the burying of a dead man, but to the sinking of a living man into
the water, who cannot long be a living man there, <scripRef id="Lam.iv-p26.8" osisRef="Bible:Lam.3.54" parsed="|Lam|3|54|0|0" passage="La 3:54"><i>v.</i> 54</scripRef>. <i>Waters</i> of
affliction <i>flowed over my head.</i> The deluge prevailed and
quite overwhelmed them. The Chaldean forces broke in upon them
<i>as the breaking forth of waters,</i> which rose so high as to
<i>flow over their heads;</i> they could not wade, they could not
swim, and therefore must unavoidably sink. Note, The distresses of
God's people sometimes prevail to such a degree that they cannot
find any footing for their faith, nor keep their head above water,
with any comfortable expectation.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Lam.iv-p27" shownumber="no">4. They complain of their own excessive
grief and fear upon this account. (1.) The afflicted church is
drowned in tears, and the prophet for her (<scripRef id="Lam.iv-p27.1" osisRef="Bible:Lam.3.48-Lam.3.49" parsed="|Lam|3|48|3|49" passage="La 3:48,49"><i>v.</i> 48, 49</scripRef>): <i>My eye runs down with
rivers of water,</i> so abundant was their weeping; <i>it trickles
down and ceases not,</i> so constant was their weeping,
<i>without</i> any <i>intermission,</i> there being no relaxation
of their miseries. The distemper was in continual extremity, and
they had no better day. It is added (<scripRef id="Lam.iv-p27.2" osisRef="Bible:Lam.3.51" parsed="|Lam|3|51|0|0" passage="La 3:51"><i>v.</i> 51</scripRef>), "<i>My eye affects my
heart.</i> My seeing eye affects my heart. The more I look upon the
desolation of the city and country the more I am grieved. Which way
soever I cast my eye, I see that which renews my sorrow, even
<i>because of all the daughters of my city,</i>" all the
neighbouring towns, which were as daughters to Jerusalem the
mother-city. Or, <i>My weeping eye affects my heart;</i> the
venting of the grief, instead of easing it, did but increase and
exasperate it. Or, <i>My eye melts my soul;</i> I have quite wept
away my spirits; not only <i>my eye is consumed with grief, but my
soul and my life are spent with it,</i> <scripRef id="Lam.iv-p27.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.31.9-Ps.31.10" parsed="|Ps|31|9|31|10" passage="Ps 31:9,10">Ps. xxxi. 9, 10</scripRef>. Great and long grief
exhausts the spirits, and brings not only many a <i>gray head,</i>
but many a green head too, <i>to the grave.</i> I weep, ways the
prophet, <i>more than all the daughters of my city</i> (so the
margin reads it); he outdid even those of the tender sex in the
expressions of grief. And it is no diminution to any to be much in
tears for the sins of sinners and the sufferings of saints; our
Lord Jesus was so; for, <i>when he came near, he beheld</i> this
same <i>city and wept over it,</i> which the daughters of Jerusalem
did not. (2.) She is overwhelmed with fears, not only grieves for
what is, but fears worse, and gives up all for gone (<scripRef id="Lam.iv-p27.4" osisRef="Bible:Lam.3.54" parsed="|Lam|3|54|0|0" passage="La 3:54"><i>v.</i> 54</scripRef>): "<i>Then I said, I am
cut off,</i> ruined, and see no hope of recovery; I am as one
dead." Note, Those that are cast down are commonly tempted to think
themselves cast off, <scripRef id="Lam.iv-p27.5" osisRef="Bible:Ps.31.22 Bible:Jonah.2.4" parsed="|Ps|31|22|0|0;|Jonah|2|4|0|0" passage="Ps 31:22,Jon 2:4">Ps. xxxi.
22; Jon. ii. 4</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Lam.iv-p28" shownumber="no">5. In the midst of these sad complaints
here is one word of comfort, by which it appears that their case
was not altogether so bad as they made it, <scripRef id="Lam.iv-p28.1" osisRef="Bible:Lam.3.50" parsed="|Lam|3|50|0|0" passage="La 3:50"><i>v.</i> 50</scripRef>. We continue thus weeping <i>till
the Lord look down and behold from heaven.</i> This intimates, (1.)
That they were satisfied that God's gracious regard to them in
their miseries would be an effectual redress of all their
grievances. "If God, who now <i>covers himself with a cloud,</i> as
if he took no notice of our troubles (<scripRef id="Lam.iv-p28.2" osisRef="Bible:Job.22.13" parsed="|Job|22|13|0|0" passage="Job 22:13">Job xxii. 13</scripRef>), would but shine forth, all
would be well; if he look upon us, <i>we shall be saved,</i>"
<scripRef id="Lam.iv-p28.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.80.19 Bible:Dan.9.17" parsed="|Ps|80|19|0|0;|Dan|9|17|0|0" passage="Ps 80:19,Da 9:17">Ps. lxxx. 19; Dan. ix.
17</scripRef>. Bad as the case is, one favourable look from heaven
will set all to rights. (2.) That they had hopes that he would at
length look graciously upon them and relieve them; nay, they take
it for granted that he will: "Though he contend long, he will not
contend for ever, thou we deserve that he should." (3.) That while
they continued weeping they continued waiting, and neither did nor
would expect relief and succour from any hand but his; nothing
shall comfort them but his gracious returns, nor shall any thing
wipe tears from their eyes <i>till he look down.</i> Their eyes,
which now <i>run down with water,</i> shall still <i>wait upon the
Lord their God until he have mercy upon them,</i> <scripRef id="Lam.iv-p28.4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.123.2" parsed="|Ps|123|2|0|0" passage="Ps 123:2">Ps. cxxiii. 2</scripRef>.</p>
</div><scripCom id="Lam.iv-p28.5" osisRef="Bible:Lam.3.55-Lam.3.66" parsed="|Lam|3|55|3|66" passage="La 3:55-66" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Lam.iv-p28.6">
<h4 id="Lam.iv-p28.7">God's Goodness Acknowledged; An Appeal to
God. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Lam.iv-p28.8">b. c.</span> 588.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Lam.iv-p29" shownumber="no">55 I called upon thy name, <span class="smallcaps" id="Lam.iv-p29.1">O Lord</span>, out of the low dungeon.   56 Thou
hast heard my voice: hide not thine ear at my breathing, at my cry.
  57 Thou drewest near in the day <i>that</i> I called upon
thee: thou saidst, Fear not.   58 O Lord, thou hast pleaded
the causes of my soul; thou hast redeemed my life.   59 <span class="smallcaps" id="Lam.iv-p29.2">O Lord</span>, thou hast seen my wrong: judge
thou my cause.   60 Thou hast seen all their vengeance
<i>and</i> all their imaginations against me.   61 Thou hast
heard their reproach, <span class="smallcaps" id="Lam.iv-p29.3">O Lord</span>,
<i>and</i> all their imaginations against me;   62 The lips of
those that rose up against me, and their device against me all the
day.   63 Behold their sitting down, and their rising up; I
<i>am</i> their music.   64 Render unto them a recompence,
<span class="smallcaps" id="Lam.iv-p29.4">O Lord</span>, according to the work of
their hands.   65 Give them sorrow of heart, thy curse unto
them.   66 Persecute and destroy them in anger from under the
heavens of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lam.iv-p29.5">Lord</span>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Lam.iv-p30" shownumber="no">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 <scripRef id="Lam.iv-p30.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.42.1-Ps.42.11" parsed="|Ps|42|1|42|11" passage="Ps 42:1-11">Ps. xlii</scripRef>. 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:—</p>
<p class="indent" id="Lam.iv-p31" shownumber="no">I. His experience of God's goodness even in
his affliction. This may refer to the prophet's personal
experience, with which he encourages himself in reference to the
public troubles. He that has seasonably succoured particular saints
will not fail the church in general. Or it may include the remnant
of good people that were among the Jews, who had found that it was
not in vain to wait upon God. In three things the prophet and his
pious friends had found God good to them:—1. He had <i>heard
their prayers;</i> though they had been ready to fear that the
cloud of wrath was such as their <i>prayers could not pass
through</i> (<scripRef id="Lam.iv-p31.1" osisRef="Bible:Lam.3.44" parsed="|Lam|3|44|0|0" passage="La 3:44"><i>v.</i> 44</scripRef>),
yet upon second thoughts, or at least upon further trial, they find
it otherwise, and that God had not said unto them, <i>Seek you me
in vain.</i> When they were <i>in the low dungeon,</i> as <i>free
among the dead,</i> they <i>called upon God's name</i> (<scripRef id="Lam.iv-p31.2" osisRef="Bible:Lam.3.55" parsed="|Lam|3|55|0|0" passage="La 3:55"><i>v.</i> 55</scripRef>); their weeping did not
hinder praying. Note, Though we are cast into ever so low a
dungeon, we may thence find a way of access to God in the highest
heavens. <i>Out of the depths have I cried unto thee</i> (<scripRef id="Lam.iv-p31.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.130.1" parsed="|Ps|130|1|0|0" passage="Ps 130:1">Ps. cxxx. 1</scripRef>), as Jonah out of the
whale's belly. And could God hear them out of the low dungeon, and
would he? Yes, he did: <i>Thou hast heard my voice;</i> and some
read the following words as carrying on the same thankful
acknowledgment: <i>Thou didst not hide thy ear at my breathing, at
my cry;</i> and the original will bear that reading. We read it as
a petition for further audience: <i>Hide not thy ear.</i> God's
having heard our voice when we <i>cried to him,</i> even out of
<i>the low dungeon,</i> is an encouragement for us to hope that he
will not at any time <i>hide his ear.</i> Observe how he calls
prayer <i>his breathing;</i> for in prayer we breathe towards God,
we breathe after him. Though we be but weak in prayer, cannot cry
aloud, but only <i>breathe</i> in <i>groanings that cannot be
uttered,</i> yet we shall not be neglected if we be sincere. Prayer
is the breath of the new man, sucking in the air of mercy in
petitions and returning it in praises; it is both the evidence and
the maintenance of the spiritual life. Some read it, <i>at my
gasping.</i> "When I lay gasping for life, and ready to expire, and
thought i was breathing my last, then thou tookest cognizance of my
distressed case." 2. He had silenced their fears and quieted their
spirits (<scripRef id="Lam.iv-p31.4" osisRef="Bible:Lam.3.57" parsed="|Lam|3|57|0|0" passage="La 3:57"><i>v.</i> 57</scripRef>):
"<i>Thou drewest near in the day that I called upon thee;</i> thou
didst graciously assure me of thy presence with me, and give me to
see thee nigh unto me, whereas I had thought thee to be at a
distance from me." Note, When we draw nigh to God in a way of duty
we may by faith see him drawing nigh to us in a way of mercy. But
this was not all: <i>Thou saidst, Fear not.</i> This was the
language of God's prophets preaching to them not to fear (<scripRef id="Lam.iv-p31.5" osisRef="Bible:Isa.41.10 Bible:Isa.41.13 Bible:Isa.41.14" parsed="|Isa|41|10|0|0;|Isa|41|13|0|0;|Isa|41|14|0|0" passage="Isa 41:10,13,14">Isa. xli. 10, 13, 14</scripRef>), of his
providence preventing those things which they were afraid of, and
of his grace quieting their minds, and making them easy, by the
witness of his Spirit with their spirits that they were his people
still, though in distress, and therefore ought not to fear. 3. He
had already begun to appear for them (<scripRef id="Lam.iv-p31.6" osisRef="Bible:Lam.3.58" parsed="|Lam|3|58|0|0" passage="La 3:58"><i>v.</i> 58</scripRef>): "<i>O Lord! thou hast pleaded
the causes of my soul</i>" (that is, as it follows), "<i>thou hast
redeemed my life,</i> hast rescued that out of the hands of those
who would have taken it away, hast saved that when it was ready to
be swallowed up, hast given me that for a prey." And this is an
encouragement to them to hope that he would yet further appear for
them: "<i>Thou hast delivered my soul from death,</i> and therefore
wilt deliver <i>my feet from falling;</i> thou hast <i>pleaded the
causes of my life,</i> and therefore wilt plead my other
causes."</p>
<p class="indent" id="Lam.iv-p32" shownumber="no">II. He comforts himself with an appeal to
God's justice, and (in order to the sentence of that) to his
omniscience.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Lam.iv-p33" shownumber="no">1. He appeals to God's knowledge of the
matter of fact, how very spiteful and malicious his enemies were
(<scripRef id="Lam.iv-p33.1" osisRef="Bible:Lam.3.59" parsed="|Lam|3|59|0|0" passage="La 3:59"><i>v.</i> 59</scripRef>): "<i>O Lord!
thou hast seen my wrong,</i> that I have done no wrong at all, but
suffer a great deal." He that knows all things knew, (1.) The
malice they had against him: "<i>Thou hast seen all their
vengeance,</i> how they desire to do me a mischief, as if it were
by way of reprisal for some great injury I had done them." Note, We
should consider, to our terror and caution, that God knows all the
revengeful thoughts we have in our minds against others, and
therefore we should not allow of those thoughts nor harbour them,
and that he knows all the revengeful thoughts others have
causelessly in their minds against us, and therefore we should not
be afraid of them, but leave it to him to protect us from them.
(2.) The designs and projects they had laid to do him a mischief:
<i>Thou hast seen all their imaginations against me</i> (<scripRef id="Lam.iv-p33.2" osisRef="Bible:Lam.3.60" parsed="|Lam|3|60|0|0" passage="La 3:60"><i>v.</i> 60</scripRef>), and again, "<i>Thou
hast heard all their imaginations against me</i> (<scripRef id="Lam.iv-p33.3" osisRef="Bible:Lam.3.61" parsed="|Lam|3|61|0|0" passage="La 3:61"><i>v.</i> 61</scripRef>), both the desire and the
device they have to ruin me; whether it show itself in word or
deed, it is known to thee; nay, though the products of it are not
to be seen nor heard, yet their device against me all the day is
perceived and understood by him to whom all things are naked and
open." Note, The most secret contrivances of the church's enemies
are perfectly known to the church's God, from whom they can hide
nothing. (3.) The contempt and calumny wherewith they loaded him,
all that they spoke slightly of him, and all that they spoke
reproachfully: "<i>Thou hast heard their reproach</i> (<scripRef id="Lam.iv-p33.4" osisRef="Bible:Lam.3.61" parsed="|Lam|3|61|0|0" passage="La 3:61"><i>v.</i> 61</scripRef>), all the bad characters
they give me, laying to my charge things that I know not, all the
methods they use to make me odious and contemptible, even the
<i>lips of those that rose up against me</i> (<scripRef id="Lam.iv-p33.5" osisRef="Bible:Lam.3.62" parsed="|Lam|3|62|0|0" passage="La 3:62"><i>v.</i> 62</scripRef>), the contumelious language they
use whenever they speak of me, and that at their sitting down and
rising up, when they lie down at night and get up in the morning,
when they sit down to their meat and with their company, and when
they rise from both, still I am their music; they make themselves
and one another merry with my miseries, as the Philistines made
sport with Samson." Jerusalem was the tabret they played upon.
Perhaps they had some tune or play, some opera or interlude, that
was called <i>the destruction of Jerusalem,</i> which, though in
the nature of a tragedy, was very entertaining to those who wished
ill to the holy city. Note, God will one day call sinners to
account for all the hard speeches which they have spoken against
him and his people, <scripRef id="Lam.iv-p33.6" osisRef="Bible:Jude.1.15" parsed="|Jude|1|15|0|0" passage="Jude 1:15">Jude
15</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Lam.iv-p34" shownumber="no">2. He appeals to God's judgment upon this
fact: "<i>Lord, thou hast seen my wrong;</i> there is no need of
any evidence to prove it, nor any prosecutor to enforce and
aggravate it; thou seest it in its true colours; and now I leave it
with thee. <i>Judge thou my cause,</i> <scripRef id="Lam.iv-p34.1" osisRef="Bible:Lam.3.59" parsed="|Lam|3|59|0|0" passage="La 3:59"><i>v.</i> 59</scripRef>. Let them be dealt with," (1.)
"As they deserve (<scripRef id="Lam.iv-p34.2" osisRef="Bible:Lam.3.64" parsed="|Lam|3|64|0|0" passage="La 3:64"><i>v.</i>
64</scripRef>): <i>Render to them a recompence according to the
work of their hands.</i> Let them be dealt with as they have dealt
with us; let thy hand be against them as their hand has been
against us. They have created us a great deal of vexation; now,
Lord, <i>give them sorrow of heart</i> (<scripRef id="Lam.iv-p34.3" osisRef="Bible:Lam.3.65" parsed="|Lam|3|65|0|0" passage="La 3:65"><i>v.</i> 65</scripRef>), <i>perplexity of heart</i>" (so
some read it); "let them be surrounded with threatening mischiefs
on all sides, and not be able to see their way out. Give them
<i>despondence of heart</i>" (so others read it); "let them be
driven to despair, and give themselves up for gone." God can
entangle the head that thinks itself clearest, and sink the heart
that thinks itself stoutest. (2.) "Let them be dealt with according
to the threatenings: <i>Thy curse unto them;</i> that is, let thy
curse come upon them, all the evils that are pronounced in thy word
against the enemies of thy people, <scripRef id="Lam.iv-p34.4" osisRef="Bible:Lam.3.65" parsed="|Lam|3|65|0|0" passage="La 3:65"><i>v.</i> 65</scripRef>. They have loaded us with curses;
as they loved cursing, so let it come unto them, thy curse which
will make them truly miserable. Theirs is causeless, and therefore
fruitless, it shall not come; but thine is just, and shall take
effect. Those whom thou cursest are cursed indeed. Let the curse be
executed, <scripRef id="Lam.iv-p34.5" osisRef="Bible:Lam.3.66" parsed="|Lam|3|66|0|0" passage="La 3:66"><i>v.</i> 66</scripRef>.
<i>Persecute and destroy them in anger,</i> as they persecute and
destroy us in their anger. <i>Destroy them from under the heavens
of the Lord;</i> let them have no benefit of the light and
influence of the heavens. Destroy them in such a manner that all
who see it may say, It is a destruction from the Almighty, who
<i>sits in the heavens and laughs at them</i> (<scripRef id="Lam.iv-p34.6" osisRef="Bible:Ps.2.4" parsed="|Ps|2|4|0|0" passage="Ps 2:4">Ps. ii. 4</scripRef>), and may own <i>that the heavens do
rule,</i>" <scripRef id="Lam.iv-p34.7" osisRef="Bible:Dan.4.26" parsed="|Dan|4|26|0|0" passage="Da 4:26">Dan. iv. 26</scripRef>. What
is said of the idols is here said of their worshippers (who in this
also shall be like unto them), <i>They shall perish from under
these heavens,</i> <scripRef id="Lam.iv-p34.8" osisRef="Bible:Jer.10.11" parsed="|Jer|10|11|0|0" passage="Jer 10:11">Jer. x.
11</scripRef>. They shall be not only excluded from the happiness
of the invisible heavens, but cut off from the comfort even of
these visible ones, which are the <i>heavens of the Lord</i>
(<scripRef id="Lam.iv-p34.9" osisRef="Bible:Ps.115.16" parsed="|Ps|115|16|0|0" passage="Ps 115:16">Ps. cxv. 16</scripRef>) and which
those therefore are unworthy to be taken under the protection of
who rebel against him.</p>
</div></div2>