Lamentations 3
Summary for Lam 3:1-66: 3:1-66 a In this chapter, the author laments what has happened (3:1-20 b, 48-54 c), remembers the faithful love of the Lord (3:21-25 d), describes how God’s people should respond (3:26-47 e), and calls upon the Lord in prayer (3:55-66 f).Summary for Lam 3:1-24: 3:1-24 g The author speaks of the suffering of Judah and Jerusalem as his own.
Summary for Lam 3:6-9: 3:6-9 h Some understand these verses as a poetic reference to Jeremiah’s confinement in a muddy cistern before the destruction of Jerusalem (Jer 38:6-13 i).
3:9 j blocked my way ... made my road crooked: Sin causes confusion and cuts a person or a community off from a happy future. Innocent people know the future as a straight path that is easy to follow (Prov 21:8 k). Isaiah imagined God’s activities as a procession on a straight road that his worshipers would prepare (Isa 40:3 l).
3:12 m Cp. Job 6:4 n.
3:19 o is bitter beyond words (or is wormwood and gall): Wormwood is a plant with a bitter taste; here it represents the emotional intensity of inner agony (Prov 5:4 p; Rev 8:11 q). Gall is a poisonous plant that causes severe physical pain if eaten; it is a powerful symbol for extremely stressful emotions (Deut 29:18 r; Ps 69:21 s). The author seems to be at a dead end from which he cannot escape.
Summary for Lam 3:22-33: 3:22-33 t God’s love and faithfulness never cease. Just as God had been faithful in bringing judgment on Jerusalem for their sins, he would be faithful in bringing restoration to those who returned to him. 3:22 u The faithful love of the Lord is the basis for the poet’s recovery from deep depression. As with Jeremiah in the cistern (Jer 38:6-13 v) and Jonah in the stomach of the great fish (Jon 2:2-10 w), the Lord provided salvation from death.
3:23 x God’s faithfulness speaks of his absolute reliability, which is evident in his daily mercies. He continually provides a habitable world in which we can live.
3:24 y The Lord is my inheritance: The land of Canaan had been regarded as Israel’s inheritance since the time of Moses (Exod 15:17 z; Josh 21:19 aa; 1 Chr 28:8 ab; Ps 47:4 ac), but the true inheritance of God’s people is really God himself (see Ps 16:5-6 ad; Eph 1:11 ae; Heb 9:15 af; 1 Pet 1:3-4 ag).
3:26 ah Those who are confident of God’s plan can wait quietly for him to grant salvation.
3:28 ai sit alone in silence: Humble submission stops the tongue and quiets the heart.
Summary for Lam 3:29-30: 3:29-30 aj In the ancient Near East, lying face down in the dust expressed submission (Gen 17:1-3 ak; Lev 9:24 al; Josh 7:6 am; 1 Sam 5:4 an; 1 Kgs 18:39 ao; 1 Chr 21:16 ap; Matt 17:5-6 aq).
• To turn the other cheek also expresses submission. Jesus evidently had this verse in mind when he taught his disciples to submit to persecution (Matt 5:39 ar). This response recognizes that God is sovereign even over our suffering.
3:31 as Cp. Ps 103:8-11 at.
Summary for Lam 3:34-36: 3:34-36 au The people of Judah were doing such things before Jerusalem was destroyed (see Jer 5:26-31 av; 21:11-14 aw; 23:10-14 ax; Mic 3 ay).
Summary for Lam 3:37-39: 3:37-39 az Some calamities have natural causes (Luke 13:1-5 ba), and bad things happen to the righteous as well as to the wicked (Matt 5:45 bb); whatever happens, we should give thanks (1 Thes 5:18 bc) and not complain.
Summary for Lam 3:40-42: 3:40-42 bd Repentance is the key to receiving salvation (Isa 1:27 be; Jer 3:22 bf; Ezek 3:21 bg).
Summary for Lam 3:48-66: 3:48-66 bh The author focuses on the viciousness of the enemies and cries out to the Lord.
Summary for Lam 3:52-57: 3:52-57 bi This passage might refer to Jeremiah’s experience in the cistern (Jer 37:11-15 bj; 38:1-13 bk).
Summary for Lam 3:58-66: 3:58-66 bl Jerusalem deserved punishment, but the enemies carried it out with undeserved cruelty. The writer calls upon God to punish them.
Summary for Lam 3:64-66: 3:64-66 bm This prayer for vengeance is similar to several psalms (see thematic note for Prayers for Vengeance at end of chapter).
Thematic note: Prayers for Vengeance
The psalmists sometimes asked the Lord to execute vengeance against their adversaries. It was not unusual for a psalmist to pray for the violent destruction of their enemies as a manifestation of God’s justice. How can this kind of prayer be okay?
These prayers for the destruction of the wicked arose out of concern for justice and righteousness and out of confidence in God. Divine justice is defined in Psalm 1:6 bn: The Lord loves the righteous and destroys the wicked. The wicked are subversive, corrupt, and thoroughly committed to evil; they live in opposition to God and to everything that God does. The wicked shake the foundations of ethics, of society, and of God’s kingdom. The psalmists argued that evil is inconsistent with God’s nature and that the removal of evil is the only way for his kingdom to thrive. However, the poets of Israel did not simply invoke God’s judgment on anyone with whom they could not get along. Instead, the psalmists were guided by God’s standards of justice and righteousness, to which God holds all humans accountable.
The psalmists were intimately acquainted with grief. They had suffered and been oppressed and marginalized by bullies, leaders, and kings from inside and outside of Israel. Their prayers were full of faith and hope, asking how long the Lord would tolerate their suffering and confessing that the Lord alone could rescue them from evil. They expressed deep longing for his redemption. By the principle of retribution, they asked the Lord to inflict upon the wicked the suffering that they had endured (Ps 5:10 bo; 6:10 bp; 7:9 bq; 9:19-20 br; 28:4 bs; 56:7 bt; 104:35 bu; 137:7-9 bv; 139:19 bw). Through these prayers for justice and vindication, the godly may rest in peace as they await God’s rescue.
Do we truly see evil as evil, or do we perceive it merely as an inconvenience? Prayers for the end of evil are appropriate as long as we recognize God as arbiter, judge, and executor. The prayer for the coming of God’s Kingdom implies the removal of evil. But now the cruelty inflicted on the wicked has been transformed through the cruel crucifixion of Jesus Christ. This act of God informs how we pray for those who oppose us. Jesus will indeed judge and bring an ultimate end to evil (see Rev 19:11-21 bx), but while Christians await that final judgment, they are to love as Christ loved (John 13:34 by), pray for their enemies, and forgive them (Matt 5:38-48 bz; Col 3:13 ca).
Passages for Further Study
2 Chr 24:22 cb; Neh 4:5 cc; Pss 3:7 cd; 9:19-20 ce; 10:15 cf; 12:3 cg; 41:10 ch; 55:15 ci; 69:22-28 cj; 79:6 ck; 109:6-20 cl; 110:5-6 cm; 137:1-9 cn; Isa 61:2 co; Jer 11:20-23 cp; 18:19-23 cq; 51:35 cr; Lam 1:22 cs; 3:64-66 ct; Acts 1:20 cu; Rom 11:9-10 cv; Rev 6:10 cw
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