Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Lamentations 3:33

For he doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men.

33. willingly ] lit. as mg. from his heart.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Verse 33. For he doth not afflict willingly] It is no pleasure to God to afflict men. He takes no delight in our pain and misery: yet, like a tender and intelligent parent, he uses the rod; not to gratify himself, but to profit and save us.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

In the Hebrew it is, he doth not afflict from his heart, that is, with pleasure and delight; or (which seemeth the best sense to me) not from his own mere motion without a cause given him from the persons afflicted. Hence judgment is called Gods strange work. Showing mercy is his proper natural work, which floweth from himself without any cause in the creature. Judgment is his strange work, to which he never proceedeth but when provoked, and as it were forced from the creature, whence it followeth that he cannot delight in it.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

33. He does not afflict anywillingly (literally, “from His heart,” that is, as if Hehad any pleasure in it, Eze33:11), much less the godly (Heb12:10).

Lamed.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

For he doth not afflict willingly,…. Or, “from his heart” e; he does afflict; for all afflictions are from God, but they do not come from the mere motion of his heart, or are the effects of his sovereign will and pleasure, as the good things he bestows upon his people do, without any respect to any cause or occasion in them; but sin is the cause and occasion of these, as Jarchi well observes: it is with reluctance the Lord afflicts his people; he is as it were forced to it, speaking after the manner of men; see Ho 11:8; he does not do it with delight and pleasure; he delights in mercy, but judgment is his strange act; nor does he do it with all his heart and soul, with all his might and strength; he does not stir up all his wrath: for then the spirit would fail before him, and the souls that he has made; and especially he does not do it out of ill will, but in love, and for their good:

nor grieve the children of men: that is, he does not from his heart, or willingly, grieve the children of men, by, afflicting them; which must be understood of those sons of men whom he has loved, and made his sons and heirs; those sons of men that wisdom’s delights were with from everlasting, Pr 8:31.

e “ex corde suo”, Pagninus, Montanus, Calvin.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

This is another confirmation of the same truth, that God takes no delight in the evils or miseries of men. It is indeed a strong mode of speaking which the Prophet adopts, but very suitable. God, we know, puts on, as it were, our form or manner, for he cannot be comprehended in his inconceivable glory by human minds. Hence it is that he transfers to himself what properly can only apply to men. God surely never acts unwillingly nor feignedly: how then is that suitable which Jeremiah declares, — that God does not afflict from his heart? But God, as already said, does here assume the character of man; for though he afflicts us with sorrow as he pleases, yet true it is that he delights not in the miseries of men; for if a father desires to benefit his own children, and deals kindly with them, what ought we to think of our heavenly Father?

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Ye,” says Christ, “who are evil, know how to do good to your children,” (Mat 7:11😉

what then are we to expect from the very fountain of goodness? As, then, parents are not willingly angry with their children, nor handle them roughly, there is no doubt but that God never punishes men except when he is constrained. There is, as I have said, an impropriety in the expression, but it is enough to know, that God derives no pleasure from the miseries of men, as profane men say, who utter such blasphemies as these, that we are like balls with which God plays, and that we are exposed to many evils, because God wishes to have as it were, a pleasant and delectable spectacle in looking on the innumerable afflict, ions, and at length on the death of men.

That such thoughts, then, might not tempt us to unbelief, the Prophet here puts a check on us, and declares that God does not afflict from his heart, that is, willingly, as though he delighted in the evils of men, as a judge, who, when he ascends his throne and condemns the guilty to death, does not do this from his heart, because he wishes all to be innocent, and thus to have a reason for acquitting them; but. yet he willingly condemns the guilty, because this is his duty. So also God, when he adopts severity towards men, he indeed does so willingly, because he is the judge of the world; but he does not do so from the heart, because he wishes all to be innocent — for far away from him is all fierceness and cruelty; and as he regards men with paternal love, so also he would have them to be saved, were they not as it were by force to drive him to rigor. And this feeling he also expresses in Isaiah,

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Ah! I will take consolation from mine adversaries.” (Isa 1:24.)

He calls them adversaries who so often provoked him by their obstinacy; yet he was led unwillingly to punish their sins, and hence he employed a particle expressive of grief, and exclaimed Ah! as a father who wishes his son to be innocent, and yet is compelled to be severe with him.

But however true this doctrine may be, taken generally, there is yet no doubt but that the Prophet here addresses only the faithful; and doubtless this privilege peculiarly belongs to God’s children, as it has been shown before. It follows, —

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

(33) Not . . . willingly.Literally, not from the heart, as being the centre of volition as well as emotion

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

Lam 3:33. For he doth not afflict willingly Houbigant reads this, For he doth not afflict willingly, or oppress the sons of men; so far as, (Lam 3:34.) To crush under his feet, &c. Lam 3:36. To subvert a man in his cause, saying, The Lord seeth not.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

Lam 3:33 For he doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men.

Ver. 33. For he doth not afflict willingly. ] Heb., From the heart. a Non nisi coactus, as that emperor said when he sealed a writ for execution of a condenmed person: I would not do it but upon necessity. It goeth as much against the heart with God as it can do against the hair with us:

“ Ille dolet quoties cogitur esse ferox. ”

a Non est Deo volupe, proprium, aut per se intentum. Poenas dat dum poenas exigit. – Sen. de Augusto. Iustis etiam suppliciis illacrymavit et ingemuit. – De Vespasiano Suetonius.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)