Lam 3:22, 2Cor 1:3-4 | JFB | STEP

Lamentations 3:22

22-24. (Mal 3:6).

2 Corinthians 1:3-4

3. This thanksgiving for his late deliverance forms a suitable introduction for conciliating their favorable reception of his reasons for not having fulfilled his promise of visiting them (2Co 1:15-24).

Father of mercies—that is, the SOURCE of all mercies (compare Jas 1:17; Ro 12:1).

comfort—which flows from His "mercies" experienced. Like a true man of faith, he mentions "mercies" and "comfort," before he proceeds to speak of afflictions (2Co 1:4-6). The "tribulation" of believers is not inconsistent with God's mercy, and does not beget in them suspicion of it; nay, in the end they feel that He is "the God of ALL comfort," that is, who imparts the only true and perfect comfort in every instance (Ps 146:3, 5, 8; Jas 5:11).

4. us—idiomatic for me (1Th 2:18).

that we may . . . comfort them which are in any trouble—Translate, as the Greek is the same as before, "tribulation." The apostle lived, not to himself, but to the Church; so, whatever graces God conferred on him, he considered granted not for himself alone, but that he might have the greater ability to help others [CALVIN]. So participation in all the afflictions of man peculiarly qualified Jesus to be man's comforter in all his various afflictions (Isa 50:4-6; Heb 4:15).