Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Lamentations 3:41
Let us lift up our heart with [our] hands unto God in the heavens.
41. with our hands ] Cp. Exo 9:33; 1Ki 8:22.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Let us apply ourselves unto God by prayer, often expressed under this notion in Scripture from that gesture ordinarily used in prayer; and let us not do it in hypocrisy, but joining our hearts with our hands, praying seriously and fervently.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
41. heart with . . . handstheantidote to hypocrisy (Psa 86:4;1Ti 2:8).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Let us lift up our heart with [our] hands,…. Lifting up of the hands is a prayer gesture, and is put for prayer itself; see
Ps 141:2; but the heart must go along with it, or it is of no avail; the soul must be lifted up to God; there must be an ascending of that unto him, in earnest desires after him; in affection and love to him; in faith and dependence on him; and in hope and expectation of good things from him, Ps 25:1; this is the way in which men return to God, even by prayer and supplication. The Targum is,
“let us lift up our hearts, and cast away rapine and prey out of our hands;”
and Jarchi and Abendana mention a Midrash, that paraphrases it,
“let us lift up our hearts in truth to God, as a man washes his hands in purity, and casts away all filthiness from them;”
see Heb 10:22;
unto God in the heavens; who has made them, and dwells in them; and therefore prayer must be directed to him, as being there; so our Lord taught his disciples to pray, Mt 6:9; and which is a very great encouragement to faith in prayer; when it is considered that God is the Maker and possessor of heaven and earth; and that our help is in and expected from him who made all these; and besides the saints have a High Priest, an Advocate with the Father there, to plead their cause for them; and many great and good things are there laid up for them.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
To conversion he joins prayer; for we cannot be reconciled to God except he buries our sins; nor can repentance and faith be separated. Moreover, to taste of God’s mercy opens to us the door of prayer. And this ought to be carefully noticed, because the unbelieving seem at times to be very busy in seeking to return to God’s favor, but they only attend to the outward change of life; and at the same time they are not anxious about pardon, but go boldly before God, as though they were not exposed to his judgment.
And we see under the Papacy that while they make long sermons on repentance, they hardly ever make any account of faith, as though repentance without faith were a restoration from death to life.
Hence I said that we ought to notice the mode of teaching which our Prophet adopts: he begins with self-examination, then he requires conversion; but he does not separate it from faith. For when he exhorts us to pray, it is the same thing as though he had set before us the judgment of God, and had also taught us that we cannot escape death except God be propitious to us. How then is pardon to be obtained? by prayer: and prayer, as it is well known, must be always founded on faith.
By telling us to raise up our hearts to God together with our hands, he bids us to banish all hypocrisy from our prayers. For all without a difference raise up their hands to God; and nature itself, when we are pressed down with evils, leads us to seek God. But the greater part stifle this feeling of nature. When affliction comes, it is a common thing with all to raise up their hands to heaven, though no one should bid them to do so; but still their hearts remain fixed on the earth, and they come not to God. And the greater part of men are included in that class mentioned by Isaiah,
“
This people come to me with their tongue, but their heart is far away.” (Isa 29:13.)
As, then, men deal thus formally with God, and present a naked ceremony, as though God had changed and suffered his eyes to be covered, the Prophet bids all dissimulation to cease from prayer; Let us raise up hands, he says, to God, and also hearts. Joel speaks somewhat differently, when he says,
“
Rend your hearts and not your garments,” (Joe 2:13😉
for he seems to exclude the outward rite, because men, wishing to shew that they were guilty before God, rent their garments. Joel says that this was superfluous and useless; and doubtless the rite itself was not so very necessary. But as prayers, when they are earnest, move the hands, our Prophet refers to that practice as useful. At the same time he teaches us that the chief thing ought not to be omitted, even to raise up the hearts to God: Let us, then, he says, raise up our hearts together with our hands to God; and he adds, to God who is in heaven: for it is necessary that men should rise up above the world, and to go out of themselves, so to speak, in order to come to God.
We now then understand the meaning of the Prophet, — that those who repent from the heart ought not to go before God, as though they were not guilty before his tribunal, but that on the contrary they ought to be penitent and humble, so that they may obtain pardon. He afterwards shews that the right way of praying is, when we not only perform the outward ceremonies, but when we open our hearts and raise them up as it were to heaven itself. It is, then, the right way of praying, when the inward feeling corresponds with the external posture. It follows, —
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(41) With our hands.Literally, to our hands. There is, as it were, a psychological analysis of prayer. Men can by an act of will, lift up the heart as the centre of affection: this, in its turn, prompts the outward act of the uplifted hands of supplication; God is the final object to whom the prayer is addressed.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
41. Lift up our heart hands As if the lifting up of the hands outward, ceremonial prayer were a matter of course. The real thing which is contingent, and which requires our watchful attention, is the lifting up of the “heart” also. The modifying clause, God in the heavens, is not merely for fulness, but also emphasis. The throne of his almightiness is “in the heavens,” and out of the resources of his infinite power help may come.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Lam 3:41 Let us lift up our heart with [our] hands unto God in the heavens.
Ver. 41. Let us llft up our hearts with our hands. ] Holy hearts, pure hands. Instead of wrangling with God, as Lam 3:39 let us wrestle with him in prayer; this is the only way to get off with comfort. Nazianzen saith, that the best work we can put our hands unto is, in coelos eas extendere, ad precesque expandere, to lift them up to God in prayer. But then it must be with a true heart. Heb 10:22 See Job 11:13 . See Trapp on “ Job 11:13 “
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
GOD. Hebrew El. App-4.
the heavens. Supply the Ellipsis thus: “the heavens [saying], We have”, &c.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
lift: Psa 25:1, Psa 86:4, Psa 143:6-8
with: Psa 28:2, Psa 63:4, Psa 141:2, 1Th 2:8
Reciprocal: Deu 30:10 – turn unto Jos 7:13 – sanctify Jdg 5:16 – great 2Ch 7:14 – seek my face Neh 8:6 – with lifting Psa 134:2 – Lift up Psa 143:8 – for I lift Hos 6:1 – and let Joe 2:12 – turn
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Lam 3:41. The point in this verse is that our prayers should be sincere. When we lift up our hands In prayer to God our hearts should be In it.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
3:41 Let us lift up {u} our heart with [our] hands to God in the heavens.
(u) That is, both hearts and hands: for else to lift up the hands is but hypocrisy.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
C. Jeremiah’s prayer 3:41-66
The following section of the lament falls into two parts, marked by Jeremiah’s use of the plural (Lam 3:41-47) and singular personal pronouns (Lam 3:48-66). In the first part, he called on the Judahites to confess their sins to God. In the second part, he recalled God’s past deliverance in answer to prayer, which motivated him to ask God to judge his enemies. In both sections, the prophet modeled proper behavior for his people.
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
1. A recollection of past sins 3:41-47
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Jeremiah lifted up his heart, as well as his hands, to God in heaven; his praying was heartfelt, not just formal.