Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Lamentations 3:12
He hath bent his bow, and set me as a mark for the arrow.
12, 13. Jehovah is now likened not to the beast of prey, but to the hunter. Cp. Job 16:12 f.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 12. He hath bent his bow, and set me as a mark for the arrow.] One might conjecture that the following thought in the Toozek i Teemour was borrowed from this: –
“One addressed the caliph Aaly, and said, ‘If the heavens were a bow, and the earth the cord thereof; if calamities were arrows, man the butt for those arrows; and the holy blessed God the unerring marksman; where could the sons of Adam flee for succour?’ The caliph replied, ‘The children of Adam must flee unto the Lord.'” This was the state of poor Jerusalem. It seemed as a butt for all God’s arrows; and each arrow of calamity entered into the soul, for God was the unerring marksman.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
He hath prepared himself for acts of vindicative justice, and he hath made me the object of it.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
12. (Job7:20).
He.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
He hath bent his bow,…. Which is put for all the instruments, of war; the Chaldeans were archers, and shot their arrows into the city:
and set me as a mark for the arrow; as a target to shoot at; signifying that God dealt with him, or his people, as enemies, the object of his wrath and indignation; and if he directed his arrow against them, it must needs hit them; there was no escaping his vengeance; see Job 7:20.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Here the Prophet introduces another metaphor, that God had shot him with arrows, as he was made a mark to them. Jeremiah has elsewhere often used the word מתרא, methera, for a prison; but here it means a mark at which arrows are leveled, and such is its meaning in Job 16:12, where there is a similar complaint made. The meaning is, that the people, in whose name Jeremiah speaks, had been like marks, because God had directed against them all his arrows. It is, indeed, a fearful thing when God aims at us, that he may discharge his darts and arrows in order to hit and wound us. But as God had so grievously afflicted his people, that he seemed to have poured forth all his vengeance, the Prophet justly complains that the people had been like marks for arrows.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(12) He hath bent his bow.(Comp. Job. 16:12.) The figure is changed, but there is a natural sequence of thought. The lion suggests the huntsman. but he appears on the scene not to save the victim, but to complete the work of destruction.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
12. Bent his bow From the wild beast which is hunted, the figure now changes to the hunter, who is armed with bow and arrow. So the intensity of the whole passage is promoted. Not only the beast of prey, but also the hunter, is against him.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Lam 3:12 He hath bent his bow, and set me as a mark for the arrow.
Ver. 12. He hath bent his bow. ] Lam 2:4 .
And set me as a mark.
“ Non semper feriet quodcunque minabitur arcus; ”
God’s arrow never misseth the mark.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
His bow. Figure of speech Anthropopatheia.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
bent: Job 6:4, Job 7:20, Job 16:12, Job 16:13, Psa 7:12, Psa 7:13, Psa 38:2
Reciprocal: Psa 21:12 – make Psa 64:7 – God Psa 91:5 – nor Lam 2:4 – bent Eze 5:16 – the evil
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Lam 3:12. This verse may be under-stood literally and figuratively. The Babylonian army had attacked the city with material weapons which included the how and arrow, and that
would constitute the application. The arrow has long been named as a symbol of persecution and other distress (Ueut. 32: 42; Job G: 4; Psa 38:2; Jer 9:8), hence the figurative sense is true here as it pertains to the prophet.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Jeremiah felt as though he was a target that the Lord was shooting at and that Yahweh had wounded him severely (cf. Job 16:13).