Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Lamentations 3:7
He hath hedged me about, that I cannot get out: he hath made my chain heavy.
7. Cp. Job 19:8; so with Lam 3:8, Job 19:7; Job 30:20, and we may perhaps add with Lam 3:5, Job 19:12.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The prophet feels as if enclosed within walls, and fettered.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 7. He hath hedged me about] This also may refer to the lines drawn round the city during the siege. But these and similar expressions in the following verses may be merely metaphorical, to point out their straitened, oppressed, and distressed state.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The use of a hedge about an enclosed field is twofold:
1. To keep out other beasts which belong not to the owner of the ground; in this sense God set a hedge sometimes about Canaan, Isa 5:5.
2. To keep in those beasts that are within; thus God had now hedged them in, into a barren place where they had no pasture, but were continually pushed at by other beasts with whom they were mixed, and who were stronger than they, and they could not get out. God had dealt with them as with grievous malefactors, who are loaded with heavy chains. He had made their affliction heavy and insupportable.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
7-9. hedged (Job 3:23;Hos 2:6).
chainliterally, “chainof brass.“
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
He hath hedged me about, that I cannot go out,…. When in prison, or in the dungeon, or during the siege of Jerusalem; though the phrase may only denote in general the greatness of his troubles, with which he was encompassed, and how inextricable they were; like a hedge about a vineyard, or a wall about a city, which could not easily be got over:
he hath made my chain heavy; his affliction intolerable. It is a metaphor taken from malefactors that have heavy chains put upon their legs, that they may not make their escape out of prison: or, “my brass” g; that is, chains, or a chain made of brass; so the Targum,
“he hath made heavy upon my feet fetters of brass.”
g Sept. “aes meum, [vel] chalybem meum”, Piscator.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Here he says, first, that he was held shut up; for גדר, gidar, is to enclose, and גדרה, gidare, means a fence or a mound, or an enclosure of any kind. He then says, that he was shut up as it were by a fence, so that he could not go forth; literally, it is, and I shall not go forth; but the conjunction here is to be taken as denoting the end. He has shut me up, he says, or he has enclosed me, that I might not get out.
It then follows, He hath made heavy my fetter. His meaning is, that he was not only bound with fetters, but so bound that he could not raise up his feet, as though he had said, that he not only had fetters, but that they were so heavy that he could not even move his feet.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(7) He hath hedged.From the darkness of Hades we pass to that of the prison-house, in which the mourner is hedged or confined, bound with a heavy chain (literally, brass).
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
7. Chain Literally, brass. The figure is that of a prisoner shut up in an enclosure and loaded with heavy fetters.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Lam 3:7 He hath hedged me about, that I cannot get out: he hath made my chain heavy.
Ver. 7. He hath hedged me about. ] Sorrounded me with troubles, brought me into straits inextricable and importable.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
chain = iron, or bronze. Put by Figure of speech Metonymy (of Cause). App-6, for the fetters made of it. Compare Jdg 16:21 and 2Ki 25:7. 2Ch 83:11; 2Ch 36:6. Jer 39:7; all of distinguished men.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
hedged: Lam 3:9, Job 3:23, Job 19:8, Psa 88:8, Jer 38:6, Hos 2:6
made: Lam 1:14, Lam 5:5, Dan 9:12
Reciprocal: 2Ch 33:11 – among the thorns Job 7:12 – I a sea Psa 107:10 – bound Lam 3:5 – builded Eze 7:23 – a chain
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Lam 3:7. As to the prophet himself, there was no escape from the hedge of heaviness with which he was surrounded. The nation was literally taken captive and there was no way of escape. The chain was the shackle of anxiety which was so heavy and strong that resistance would be in vain.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
The Lord had imprisoned His prophet in his affliction; he could not escape from it (cf. Job 19:8; Psa 88:8; Jer 38:6; Hos 2:6).