Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Lamentations 3:40
Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the LORD.
40 42. Let us search ] As it is through our sins that this evil is come upon us, let us (40) seek out what has been amiss in us and repent, (41) place ourselves before God in prayer, (42) confess our sin.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The prophet urges men to search out their faults and amend them.
Lam 3:40
And turn again to the Lord – Or, and return to Yahweh. The prep. (to) in the Hebrew implies not half way, but the whole.
Lam 3:41
Literally, Let us lift up our heart unto our hands unto God in heaven; as if the heart first lifted up the hands, and then with them mounted up in prayer to God. In real prayer the outward expression is caused by the emotion stirring within.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 40. Let us search] How are we to get the pardon of our sins? The prophet tells us:
1. Let us examine ourselves.
2. “Let us turn again to the Lord.”
3. “Let us lift up our heart;” let us make fervent prayer and supplication for mercy.
4. “Let us lift up our hand;” let us solemnly promise to be his, and bind ourselves in a covenant to be the Lord’s only: so much lifting up the hand to God implies. Or, let us put our heart on our hand, and offer it to God; so some have translated this clause.
5. “We have transgressed;” let our confession of sin be fervent and sincere.
6. And to us who profess Christianity it may be added, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ as having died for thee; and thou shalt not perish, but have everlasting life.
Verses 46, 47, 48, La 3:46-48, beginning with phe, should, as to the order of the alphabet, follow 49, 50, 51, La 3:49-51, which begin with ain, which in its grammatical position precedes the former.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Seeing God doth not grieve us willingly, nor delight to crush us, though we be his prisoners, and seeing the hand of God is in these things upon us, and that justly, to recompense our iniquities into our bosoms, instead of mourning and fretting against God, which is not reasonable, nor will be of any profit to us, let us examine our thoughts, words, and actions, and consider what they have been, and reform, and turn again to the Lord, by apostatizing from whom we have brought these evils upon us.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
40-42. usJeremiah and hisfellow countrymen in their calamity.
searchas opposed tothe torpor wherewith men rest only on their outward sufferings,without attending to the cause of them (Psa 139:23;Psa 139:24).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Let us search and try our ways,…. stead of murmuring and complaining, let us search for something that may support and comfort, teach and instruct, under afflictive providences; let us search into the love of God, which, though it cannot be fully searched out, it will be found to be from everlasting to everlasting; and that all afflictions spring from it; and that it continues notwithstanding them: let us search into the covenant of grace, in which provision is made for afflictions in case of disobedience, and for supports under them: let us search the Scriptures, which are written for our comfort; and it is much if we do not find some in the instances, examples, and experiences of other saints therein recorded: let us search after a greater degree of the knowledge of Christ, and of his grace; so shall we be more conformable to his sufferings and death, and patient under our troubles: let us search into our own hearts, and examine ourselves, whether we have true repentance for sin, true faith in Christ; and whether he is in us, or not; and we have a part in him, which will make us easy in every state: let us search into the present dispensation, in order to find out the cause of it, which is sin; and the end of it, which God has in it for our good: let us search “our ways”, and “try them”, by the word of God, the standard of faith and practice; and see what agreement there is between them: let us try our thoughts, words, and actions, by the law of God, which is holy, spiritual, just, and good; and we shall see how abundantly short they come of it: and let us try “our ways”, and compare them with the ways of God, which he has prescribed in his word; and we shall find that the one are holy, the other unholy; the one plain, the other crooked; the one dark, the other light; the one pleasant, and peace is in them, the other not; the one lead to life, the other to death; see Isa 55:7;
and turn again to the Lord; by repentance, as the Targum adds; let us turn out of our sinful ways, upon a search and examination of them; and turn to the Lord, his ways and worship, from whom we have departed, and against whom we have sinned; acknowledging our iniquities, who receives graciously, is ready to forgive, and does abundantly pardon.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Confession of sins, and complaint against the cruelty of enemies, as well as over the deep misery into which all the people have sunk. Lam 3:40-42. The acknowledgment of guilt implies to prayer, to which also there is a summons in Lam 3:40, Lam 3:41. The transitional idea is not, “Instead of grumbling in a sinful spirit, let us rather examine our conduct” (Thenius); for the summons to examine one’s conduct is thereby placed in contrast with Lam 3:39, and the thought, “let every one mourn over his own sins,” transformed into a prohibition of sinful complaint. The real transition link is given by Rosenmller: quum mala nostra a peccatis nostris oriantur, culpas nostras et scrutemur et corrigamus . The searching of our ways, i.e., of our conduct, if it be entered on in an earnest spirit, must end in a return to the Lord, from whom we have departed. It is self-evident that does not stand for , but means as far as (even to) Jahveh, and indicates thorough conversion – no standing half-way. The lifting up of the heart to the hands, also, – not merely of the hands to God, – expresses earnest prayer, that comes from the heart. , to the hands (that are raised towards heaven). “To God in heaven,” where His almighty throne is placed (Psa 2:4), that He may look down from thence (Lam 3:59) and send help. With Lam 3:42 begins the prayer, as is shown by the direct address to God in the second member. There is no need, however, on this account, for supplying before the first member; the command to pray is immediately followed by prayer, beginning with the confession of sins, and the recognition of God’s chastisement; cf. Psa 106:6; Dan 9:5. is contrasted with . “Thou hast not pardoned,” because Thy justice must inflict punishment.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
Vs. 40-42: A CALL TO SPIRITUAL RENEWAL
1. Here is a call for Judah to look honestly at her rebellion against the Lord, and to turn back to Him in repentance, (vs. 40; Psa 119:59; Psa 139:23-24; Rom 2:4).
2. It is not enough to lift up one’s hands in supplication to God; the heart must also be lifted up in awe and worship! (vs. 41; Psa 25:1-3; Psa 28:1-3; Psa 86:4-5; Psa 141:2; Psa 143:8).
3. There must be an humble recognition that pardon has not been granted because of deliberate rebellion and unrepented transgressions, (vs. 42; Neh 9:26-27; Jer 14:20-21; Dan 9:4-14; 1Jn 1:9).
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
The Prophet now shews more clearly what the reproof meant which we shortly explained yesterday: he said that men act absurdly while they weary themselves in their sins; he now adds that they would do rightly if they inquired into their own life, and faithfully examined themselves.
For hence is trouble and weariness, when men feel and deplore their outward evils, but consider not the cause, that is, when they consider not that they are justly chastised by God’s hand. Then the examination now mentioned is set in opposition to the torpor and weariness with which men in vain torment themselves, and in which they pine away, because they reflect not on their vices. Hence it is that they attain nothing but weariness — and that is a sorrow to death, as Paul says; but sorrow to life proceeds from the self-examination to which the Prophet now invites and exhorts us.
He then says that the only true remedy in adversities is when men carefully examine themselves, and consider what they deserve. (194) He also mentions conversion; for they who are really touched with the fear of God do not stop at this examination, but rise higher; for as God calls them back to the right way, when they acknowledge that they have departed from him, they flee to his mercy, loathe themselves on account of their vices, and seek after newness of life. Thus our Prophet prescribes to us a certain order, — that we are to examine our whole life, and that, being influenced by the fear of God, we are to return to him; for while he treats us with severity, he still kindly invites us by ever offering to sinners a free pardon. He afterwards adds, —
(194) The words literally rendered are very expressive, —
Let us uncover our ways, and search.
The cover was first to be stripped off, and then was a search to be made as to the character of their ways. — Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
EXEGETICAL NOTES.
() Lam. 3:40. The remnant, who were referred to in Lam. 3:22, carry out here the suggestion just made, that sighing, not over sufferings but over sins, is the becoming utterance for every one. The sorrows and pains endured were resultants from the sins of all the people, and thus a joint resolve and confession is made. Only as men see that they have strayed like lost sheep will they truly say, Let us search and try our ways, yet not delay in that effort, however genuine it may be, but let us return unto Jehovah, the whole way back, with no halt half-way, with no reserves for self.
Lam. 3:41. Such a return merges into soul-moving prayerprayer that is not only the motion of a hidden fire trembling in the breast or the upward glancing of an eye, but also manifests itself by some outwardness. The emotion is the chief element in any suitable external gesture. Let us lift up our hearts with our hands unto God in the heavens, satisfied that our help is not sent from any earthly sanctuary, but from within the veil.
Lam. 3:42. A vision of God throws a white light upon the dark records of past life. In that light men are forced to pass Gods judgment on themselves. I have brought up children, and they have rebelled against me. Gods rule and mans treason are confronted, and man is condemned to suffer. As for us, We have transgressed and rebelled; as for Thee, Thou hast not pardoned; a phrase which intimates that He would scourge into the way of righteousness, if no other method avails, and that Israel was then under His chastising rod. He is ready to pardon, and the withholding pardon is not His desire, but a natural sequence of baffled instructions and warningsof a deadened spiritual faculty which turns His grace into a penalty.
HOMILETICS
REPENTANCE
(Lam. 3:40-42)
I. Begins in strict self-examination. Let us search and try our ways (Lam. 3:40). The discovery of ourselves is the discovery of sin. We never know how sinful we are till we thoroughly investigate our own hearts. The more we search, the more we see, and the conviction of our sin becomes an intolerable reality.
II. Involves a turning to God. And turn again to the Lord (Lam. 3:40). The preposition is forcible, implying Let us go back; not half way, but the whole. A repentance that spends itself in emotions and tears is ineffective. Sorrow for sin is but a symptom of repentance. Genuine repentance prompts to immediate and active moral reformation. Sin drives us from God: repentance brings us back to Him.
III. Is accompanied with earnest prayer. Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens (Lam. 3:41). In real prayer the outward form is the expression of the feeling of the heart. The heart lifts up the hands, and then with them rises in prayer to God. Deep emotion will find its own way of expression. Repentance reveals the need of help and forgiveness, and prayer is the expression of that need.
IV. Includes confession of sin. We have transgressed and have rebelled (Lam. 3:42). The spell of hardness with which the soul was bound is broken when it is brought to the point of full and free confession of sin. There is often much humbling to be done before this point is reached. Confession of sin is an important proof of the genuineness of repentance, especially when attended with the other signs referred to.
V. Must be genuine and complete to secure forgiveness. Thou hast not pardoned (Lam. 3:42). Why? Not because God is not merciful; not because He is unwilling to forgive; not because the opportunity is inappropriate: but because there is a lack of reality and sincerity in the penitent. The prescription of repentance is a revelation of forgiveness. God does not mock the sinner by urging to repentance and then withholding forgiveness. If there is no eagerness for forgiveness, it is because there is something radically defective in the repentance.
LESSONS.
1. Suffering should lead to reflection.
2. No amount of repentance can merit forgiveness.
3. God pardons only the penitent, not because of their penitence, but for His mercys sake.
GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES
Lam. 3:40. The duty of self-reflection. I. Its usefulness.
1. Teaches us to know ourselves.
2. We discover our sins.
3. Provides good company and comfortable employment. II. Its neglect mischievous.
1. Hardens the heart.
2. A daily increase of sin.
3. Renders a man the more unwilling to reckon with himself. III. Demands diligence.
1. There is a natural reluctance to attend to the duty.
2. Many sins not easily discovered, unless diligent search is made.
3. A convenient time should be set apart for the work.
4. Affliction a time for heart-searching.
5. Let not the difficulty of the work discourage you.
6. A work that must be often repeated. IV. Leads to repentance. Turn again to the Lord. Sin is an aversion and turning away from God; repentance is a returning to Him.
1. Repentance must be speedy.
2. Thorough.
3. Resolute and steadfast.Conant.
Lam. 3:41. The sublimity of devotion. The finest and most sublime sensations of which the soul is susceptible are connected with the principle of devotion. I. The sublimest books existing are those from which we learn our faith. The writings of the inspired penmen abound with passages for which no parallel can be found in the productions of mere genius. Rousseau once exclaimed, The majesty of the Scriptures fills me with astonishment; the holiness of the Gospel speaks to my very heart. Behold the books of the philosophers, with all their pomp, how little are they in comparison! Is it possible that a book at once so wise and so sublime should have been the production of mere men? II. Some of the situations of real life prove the intimate connection between devotion and the sources of sublime feeling.
1. In studying the character of God and the works of Nature.
2. In the changing circumstances of life, in adversity or prosperity, the proper operation of religious thought is to call up sublime and fervent feelings. III. Consider the subject of adorationGod, whether worshipped in private or in public. If it be objected that in such an account of the effects of devout feeling, we place religion too much under the dominion of the imagination, it may be answered that though the abuse of a thing is dangerous, we are not therefore to relinquish its use. It is the soul that truly feels; imagination is the effort of the soul to rise above mortality. Imagination as well as reason is frequently appealed to in Scripture.Nares.
ILLUSTRATIONS.Repentance and confession.
Father, I scarcely dare to pray,
So clear I see, now it is done,
That I have wasted half my day,
And left my work but just begun:
So clear I see that things I thought
Were right or harmless were a sin;
So clear I see that I have sought,
Unconscious, selfish aims to win:
So clear I see that I have hurt
The souls I might have helped to save;
That I have slothful been, inert,
Deaf to the calls Thy leaders gave.
In outskirts of Thy kingdom vast,
Father, the humblest spot give me
Set me the lowliest task Thou hast,
Let me, repentant, work for Thee.
Repentance and forgiveness. No repentance is acceptable with God, but what is built or leans on the faith of forgiveness. We have a cloud of witnesses to this truth in the Scripture. Many there have been, many are recorded, who have been convinced of sin, perplexed about it, sorry for it, who have made open confession and acknowledgment of it, who, under the present sense of it, have cried out even to God for deliverance, and have yet come short of mercy, pardon, and acceptance with God. The cases of Cain, Pharaoh, Saul, Ahab, Judas, and others might be insisted upon.John Owen.
Death bed repentance. The English proverb says, The river past and God forgotten, to express with how mournful a frequency He whose assistance was invokedit may have been earnestlyin the moment of peril, is remembered no more, so soon as by His help the danger has been surmounted. And the Italian form of it sounds a still greater depth of ingratitude: The peril past, the saint mockedthe vows made to him in peril remaining unperformed in safety.Trench.
There is one case of death-bed repentance recorded, that no one should despair, and only one, that none should presume.Augustine.
Repentance must be sincere. Lorenzo de Medici lies dying in the city of Florence; in the terrors of death he has sent for the one man who had never yielded to his threats or caressesthe brave Savonarola. Lorenzo confesses that he has heavy on his soul three crimesthe cruel sack of Volterra, the theft of the public dower of young girls, by which many were driven to a wicked life, and the blood shed after the conspiracy of Pazzi. He is greatly agitated, and Savonarola, to keep him quiet, keeps repeating, God is merciful, God is good. But, he added, there is need of three things. And what are they, father? First, you must have a great and living faith in the mercy of God. This I have, the greatest. Second, you must restore that which you have wrongfully taken, or require your children to restore it for you. Lorenzo looks surprised and troubled; but he forces himself to compliance, and nods his head in sign of assent. Then Savonarola rises to his feet, and stands over the dying prince. Last, you must give back their liberties to the people of Florence. Lorenzo, summoning up all his remaining strength, disdainfully turns his back, and, without uttering another word, Savonarola departs without giving him absolution.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
III. HIS APPEAL FOR REPENTANCE Lam. 3:40-47
TRANSLATION
(40) Let us search and examine our ways and return to the LORD. (41) Let us lift up our hearts and hands unto God in heaven: (42) We have transgressed and rebelled; You have not forgiven. (43) You surrounded yourself with wrath and pursued us; You have slain without pity. (44) you have covered yourself with a cloud so that no prayer can pass through. (45) You have made us as dung and refuse in the midst of the peoples. (46) All our enemies rail against us. (47) Panic and the pit have come upon us, devastation and destruction.
COMMENTS
Rather than complain about their suffering the prophet urges the people to repent of the sins which have brought about the suffering. Repentance begins with self-examination and honest analysis of their situation. Every individual must search (lit., dig into) and examine (lit., test or try) his heart. The objective of this rigorous self-examination is to discover and remove any impediments which may be preventing them from returning to the Lord. The Hebrew preposition translated to has the idea of actually arriving at the goal. The poet is urging upon his hearers a complete and whole-hearted return to God.
Self-examination should be followed by sincere prayer. The hands uplifted towards heaven seems to have been one of the popular postures for prayer in Old Testament times. But Jeremiah urges his hearers to lift up their heart as well as their hands to the Lord (Lam. 3:41). Proper posture does not always mean proper prayer! In genuine prayer inward submission always accompanies outward acts of supplication. Perhaps they had heretofore prayed in the mechanical and formal sense. The prophet now urges them to put their heart into the exercise.
In Lam. 3:42-47 the prophet speaks the words which the people ought to use in their prayer of repentance. The prayer begins with a confession of sin: We have transgressed and rebelled! The pronoun we is emphatic. There is no effort here to cover up or minimize the enormity of the sin. From this forthright confession of sin the prayer moves to description of the consequences of sin. (1) Sin cuts off the mercies of God. God had not pardoned nor could He pardon until the nation manifested some sign of genuine repentance (Lam. 3:42). (2) Sin stirs up divine wrath. The punishment against sin is swift, thorough, and relentless (Lam. 3:43). (3) Sin cuts the communication lines to heaven. God wraps Himself in a cloud through which no prayer can pass (Lam. 3:44). Only when men turn from sin can God hear their prayers (Psa. 66:18). (4) Sin ultimately brings humiliation. Judah became like dung and refuse among the nations of the world because of sin (Lam. 3:45). Judahs enemies railed against her with impunity (Lam. 3:46). (5) Sin results in panic and ruin. In the day of judgment one calamity after another befalls the sinner until he is finally destroyed (Lam. 3:47).
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(40) Let us search . . .Warnings against murmurs are followed by counsels which point to a more excellent way. Suffering calls a man to self-scrutiny. We should seek to know the sins which it is meant to punish and correct.
To the Lord.The preposition is an emphatic one: even to the Lord. There is to be no halting half-way in the work of conversion.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
CONFESSION OF SIN, AND LAMENTATIONS OVER THE EVIL WHICH HAS COME, Lam 3:40-66.
40. Let us search our ways As Roseumuller long ago wrote, “when our sufferings arise from our sins we should search out and correct our faults.” The closing thought of the previous triplet prepares for this, which consists of exhortation to reformation and amendment.
Turn to the Lord The preposition here is not, as we would expect, el, ( ) but ol, ( ,) in which lurks an emphasis which our Version does not express.
Turn as far as Jehovah; not half way, but the whole, through conversion.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
The People Are Called On To Seek YHWH, And They Face Up To The Situation That They Are In Whilst The Prophet Himself Continues To Plead For Them ( Lam 3:40-51 ).
The prophet now calls on the people to examine themselves and to seek YHWH and pray sincerely to Him from the heart, not just by lifting up their hands formally. They are to recognise and acknowledge why He does not hear them. It is because they have rebelled and transgressed against Him. They are also to recognise their present position, that He pursues them, slaying and covering His ears against their cries, while He makes them like refuse among the peoples. This then brings the prophet himself to tears, as he prays on behalf of his people, contemplating their destruction. He is determined to go on praying without stopping until YHWH looks down from Heaven and sees the situation.
Lam 3:40-42
(Nun) Let us search and try our ways,
And turn again to YHWH.
(Nun) Let us lift up our heart with our hands,
To God in the heavens.
(Nun) (saying) ‘We have transgressed and have rebelled,
You have not pardoned.’
The prophet calls on the people to seek YHWH, firstly by searching out and putting to the test their own ways, that is by self-examination, and then by turning to YHWH and lifting up not only their hands, but also their hearts to God in the heaven, in other words engaging in genuine and not just formal prayer. They were to admit that they had rebelled and transgressed against Him, and that He had not pardoned them. They were being required to face up to the reality of what they had done. Their hope must be that in spite of the fact that they had transgressed and rebelled God would hear them.
But as we learn from what follows in their view He did not immediately hear. He did not pardon. Their punishment went on. They were acknowledging that He had reached the limits of His patience.
Lam 3:43-45
(Samek) You have covered with anger and pursued us,
You have slain, you have not pitied.
(Samek) You have covered yourself with a cloud,
So that no prayer can pass through.
(Samek) You have made us an off-scouring and refuse,
Among the peoples.
They cried out that YHWH had put on anger as a garment and had pursued them, slaying without pity. That He had covered Himself with a cloud so that no prayer could pass through. That He was deaf to their pleas. And that He had made them like dirt and refuse among the peoples. His chastening was severe so that they would learn their lesson.
We can view this either as a cry of despair, or as an admission that they were getting what they deserved. Either way the people were facing up to the realities of their situation. Being honest with God is very often necessary before we can begin to have a new hope.
Lam 3:46-48
(Pe) All our enemies have opened their mouth,
Wide against us.
(Pe) Fear and the pit are come upon us,
Devastation and destruction.
(Pe) My eye runs down with streams of water,
For the destruction of the daughter of my people.
Their prayer continues as they continue to face up to the facts about their situation. The opening lines are an acknowledgement that what had been said in Lam 2:16 was true. Their enemies were ‘opening their mouths against them’, scornfully pointing to what had happened to them, and sneering at them. They also acknowledge why that is. It is because they have been overcome by ‘terror and trap’ (in the Hebrew the phrase is alliterative, pachad wa pachath), by ‘devastation and destruction’ (hasseth we hassaber). They are experiencing fear, and what it was like to be a trapped animal. They are experiencing total devastation.
The very thought of this destruction of his people causes the prophet to weep, and his eyes run down like streams of water.
Lam 3:49-51
(Ayin) My eye pours down, and ceases not,
Without any intermission,
(Ayin) Till YHWH look down,
And behold from heaven.
(Ayin) My eye affects my soul,
Because of all the daughters of my city.
And he declares that they will continue to do so, without any cessation, until YHWH looks down from Heaven and beholds their situation. And it is not only his eye that weeps. His weeping affects him deep inside as he thinks of what has happened to ‘the daughters of my city’. This last almost certainly refers to the women of Jerusalem who would receive cavalier treatment from the invaders both before and after the fall of Jerusalem, especially the young virgins who would have suffered the most. Consider Lam 1:4; Lam 1:18 and Lam 2:20-21, where the sad fate and wretched conditions of the virgins of the city are mentioned as peculiarly deplorable, and Lam 5:11 where it was defenceless virgins who were most to be pitied when the city fell. Some, however, refer it to the satellite cities, towns and villages connected with Jerusalem.
‘My eye affects my soul.’ Literally ‘my eye inflicts an injury on my inner life’, in context referring to the pain he feels as he contemplates the situation. Notice the connection between this and YHWH looking down from Heaven. He is hoping that YHWH will be similarly affected.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Confession of Sin and Complaint over the Cruelty of the Enemies
v. 40. Let us search and try our ways, v. 41. Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens, v. 42. We have transgressed and have rebelled, v. 43. Thou hast covered with anger, v. 44. Thou hast covered Thyself with a cloud, v. 45. Thou hast made us, v. 46. All our enemies have opened their mouths against us, v. 47. Fear and a snare is come upon us, desolation and destruction. v. 48. Mine eye runneth down with rivers of water in an excess of sorrow, for the destruction of the daughter of my people. v. 49. Mine eye trickleth down, v. 50. till the Lord look down and behold from heaven, v. 51. Mine eye affecteth mine heart, v. 52. Mine enemies chased me sore, v. 53. They have cut off my life in the dungeon, v. 54. Waters flowed over mine head,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
“Handfuls of Purpose”
For All Gleaners
“Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the Lord. Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens. We have transgressed and have rebelled: thou hast not pardoned.” Lam 3:40-42
Thus the sufferers turn themselves to wise counsels. Suffering only fulfils its mission when it constrains a man to look within himself and search and try his reins and ways that he may know how far he is sincere. Only suffering can get at our hearts with any profound and saving effect. Joy touches the surface, success hovers above us like a singing bird: it is when we are in the furnace of affliction that we discover what we really are, and what we really need. The sufferers in this case come to wise decisions. No longer will they murmur against the Lord, as if providence were fickle and arbitrary, as if providence found a wicked pleasure in the torture of human life: the sufferers say, The fault must be in ourselves; we carry the deadly poison within us; our hearts are lacking in the spirit of loyalty and obedience; they are lifted up in the ways of haughtiness, and they submit themselves to the rule of vanity; the time has now come for a different discipline and a different policy; we must lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens: we do not lift up the heart alone, as if we were intending to be religious in one part of our nature, and to reserve the liberty of self-service in another; nor do we lift up our hands alone, as if we were willing to indulge in bodily exercise, in ceremony, in ritual, or as if we were prepared to render in some degree the service of a hireling; but we lift up both our heart and our hands in sign of a complete consecration. Religious exercises cleanse and elevate the worshipper. The very act of lifting up heart and hand unto God in the heavens is an act of purification and ennoblement. All such exercises are valuable as parts of a larger discipline. Herein is the value of public worship: man helps man; voice increases voice; joy and sorrow mingle together, and produce a tender melancholy that is the surest pledge of perfect and enduring delight. Here we have the gospel before the time, because the gospel proceeds upon the basis that without repentance there can be no real joy. The Old Testament is indeed full of exhortation to repentance and broken-heartedness before God: Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts and innumerable other passages all testify to the fact that without repentance God himself cannot begin to reconstruct shattered human life. This is philosophical as well as theological; that is to say, it is based on the plainest and soundest reason as well as inspired by the most inscrutable and metaphysical faith. We adopt this philosophy in all departments of life; we must cleanse away the evil before we can begin to put up the good; we must get rid of the poison in the system before we can fill the veins with healthy blood; we must displace all the superstitions of ignorance before we can get standing ground for the deductions of reason and enlightened reverence. Let no man imagine therefore that he can love his sins, and yet avail himself of God’s mercy. The mercy is excluded from all who bring love of sin in their hearts; but it is offered with infinite generosity to all who hate their sins and desire to be restored to sonship and spiritual harmony. This is the law, and there can be no change in it; this is the decree, and it admits of no tampering; and of no compromise. Let us therefore preach the doctrine of repentance towards God; deep, earnest, thorough, heartbroken repentance: thus only can we throw down the falsehoods of an organised or invented morality, and bring in the righteousness that springs from the very throne and heart of God. Until we know the need of repentance we cannot realise the need of salvation. When a man does not realise his sickness he does not realise the necessity for calling in a physician. Any one contented with ignorance can never know the pain and the joy of thirst for knowledge. When man is so insensible to the joys and responsibilities of freedom us to be content with slavery, then he cannot understand those who have devoted themselves to the extension of human freedom. The gospel is a tinkling cymbal to those who have not felt the pain, the bitterness, and the burdensomeness of sin. Blessed day for the Church, blessed day for the world, when men shall arise and say with heart and voice, “Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the Lord. Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens.” Scarcely will they have formed the resolution before God himself shall come down, and heaven and earth shall find music in one thorough and everlasting reconciliation.
Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker
Lam 3:40 Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the LORD.
Ver. 40. Let us search and try our ways, ] i.e., Make accurate inquiry into them; so shall we soon find ourselves to be a whole newly found world of wickedness. Search we therefore, and do it thoroughly. Many either search not at all (they cannot endure these domestic audits: it is death to them to reflect and recognise what they have done), or as though they desired not to find. They search as men do for their bad money; they know they have it, but they would gladly have it to pass for current among the rest. Heathens will rise up in judgment against such, for they prescribed and practised self-examination: Pythagoras once a day;
“ Non prius in dulcem declines lumina somnum,
Quam prius exactae reputaveris acta diei, ”& c.
Phocylides thrice a day, if Stobaeus a
And turn again to the Lord.
a Serm.
Lam 3:40-66
Judah recognized her sins
and in great sorrow wept
(Lam 3:40-66)
Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to Jehovah. Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens. We have transgressed and have rebelled; thou hast not pardoned. Thou hast covered with anger and pursued us; thou hast slain, thou hast not pitied. Thou hast covered thyself with a cloud, so that no prayer can pass through. Thou hast made us an off-scouring and refuse in the midst of the peoples. All our enemies have opened their mouth wide against us. Fear and the pit are come upon us, devastation and destruction (Lam 3:40-47).
After searching and trying their conduct of days past, they were moved to lift up their hands towards the heavens and pray with a heart of humility for help from Jehovah God. Lam 3:42 begins the earnest prayer with confession of their sins and acknowledgement of the reason behind their affliction.
Jehovah had pursued the people of Judah and had killed them with the sword, pestilence, and famine (cf. Jer 29:18). A time of zero hope of help from Jehovah God was proved by the Lord having a barrier around Him as a cloud to block out all prayers of His people (cf. Jer 7:16; Jer 11:14; Jer 14:11-12).
Mine eye runneth down with streams of water, for the destruction of the daughter of my people. Mine eye poureth down, and ceaseth not, without any intermission, Till Jehovah look down, and behold from heaven. Mine eye affecteth my soul, because of all the daughters of my city. They have chased me sore like a bird, they that are mine enemies without cause. They have cut off my life in the dungeon, and have cast a stone upon me. Waters flowed over my head; I said, I am cut off. I called upon thy name, O Jehovah, out of the lowest dungeon. Thou heardest my voice; hide not thine ear at mybreathing, at my cry. Thou drewest near in the day that I called upon thee; thou saidst, Fear not (Lam 3:48-57).
Apparently the author of the book of Lamentation, i.e., Jeremiah, now addressed his own emotional state. First, Jeremiahs pain was over the wicked state of the women in Judah. The virgin daughters were afflicted (Lam 1:4) and gone into captivity (Lam 1:18), mothers had eaten their children in intense hunger (Lam 2:20), and both mother and virgin daughter lay dead in the streets having been killed by sword (Lam 2:21). Such sights and knowledge caused Jeremiah to be emotionally spent with deep sorrow.
The more we consider the prayer mentioned above wherein Jehovah heard, the more we must conclude that those praying were the afflicted of Jehovah God even though He said He would not hear (cf. Lam 3:44). Apparently, this prayer pointed to the future for those who patiently wait upon Jehovah s promise and deliverance. This interpretation fits best into the context of the remaining portion of this chapter.
O Lord, thou hast pleaded the causes of my soul; thou hast redeemed my life. O Jehovah, thou hast seen my wrong; judge thou my cause. Thou hast seen all their vengeance and all their devices against me. Thou hast heard their reproach, O Jehovah, and all their devices against me, The lips of those that rose up against me, and their device against me all the day. Behold thou their sitting down, and their rising up; I am their song. Thou wilt render unto them a recompense, O Jehovah, according to the work of their hands. Thou wilt give them hardness of heart, thy curse unto them. Thou wilt pursue them in anger, and destroy them from under the heavens of Jehovah (Lam 3:58-66).
Again the prophet spoke for the people in this prayer, and the thoughts of Lam 1:22 come to light. The enemies of Jehovah had committed gross sin and therefore the prayer was that they, too, be punished.
The more Jehovah would punish them the harder their hearts would come to be (as with Pharaoh of Egypt). What would and should be a blessing to God s enemies (i.e., His chastening hand) becomes to them a curse because rather than being moved to repentance and acknowledgement of Jehovah God as the one true God they are hardened all the more.
Hope in the Midst of Affliction
Questions on Lam 3:1-66
Open It
1. If you were to portray pain and suffering through poetry, music, or painting, which one medium would you choose? Why?
2. What gives you hope when you are troubled?
Explore It
3. How did the writer identify with the sufferings of the people of Judah? (Lam 3:1-18)
4. To whom were the sufferings of the people directly attributed? (Lam 3:1-18)
5. What did the poet recall? (Lam 3:19-21)
6. In the middle of lamenting the siege and destruction of Jerusalem, what profound assurance did the writer express? (Lam 3:22-24)
7. What virtues were affirmed by the author? (Lam 3:25-27)
8. How was Gods mercy revealed in suffering? (Lam 3:28-33)
9. What was intolerable to the Lord? (Lam 3:34-36)
10. How did the writer describe the nature of Gods knowledge? (Lam 3:37-38)
11. What did the writer say about sin and suffering? (Lam 3:39)
12. In identifying with Gods people, what did the poet urge them to do? (Lam 3:40-42)
13. How did the writer describe the sorrows of sin? (Lam 3:43-54)
14. What was the prayer of the penitent sinner? (Lam 3:55-66)
15. How did the prayer include both comfort and cursing? (Lam 3:55-66)
Get It
16. What valuable lessons have you learned through personal suffering?
17. How have you been affected by Gods hand of discipline?
18. What do you know about the mercies of God in the middle of difficulty?
19. Why does relying on God give you hope?
20. What message of hope can we offer to people who are in despair?
21. If the author of Lamentations wrote a letter to your congregation, what specific call to repentance would be given?
Apply It
22. To whom could you write a supportive letter (or make a phone call) to provide a word of encouragement and hope?
23. When can you spend some time in prayer to thank the Lord for His faithfulness and acts of mercy in your life?
search: 1Ch 15:12, 1Ch 15:13, Job 11:13-15, Job 34:31, Job 34:32, Psa 4:4, Psa 119:59, Psa 139:23, Psa 139:24, Eze 18:28, Hag 1:5-9, 1Co 11:28, 1Co 11:31, 2Co 13:5
turn: Deu 4:30, 2Ch 30:6, 2Ch 30:9, Isa 55:7, Hos 6:1, Hos 12:6, Hos 14:1-3, Joe 2:12, Joe 2:13, Zec 1:3, Zec 1:4, Act 26:20
Reciprocal: Num 11:11 – wherefore have Deu 30:2 – return unto Deu 30:10 – turn unto Jos 7:13 – sanctify Jdg 5:16 – great 1Sa 4:2 – and they 2Ch 7:14 – seek my face Ezr 9:13 – less Job 10:2 – show me Job 36:9 – he Psa 38:3 – because Psa 77:6 – and Jer 10:19 – Truly Hos 2:7 – I will Luk 15:18 – will arise Act 3:19 – be Act 9:35 – turned 2Co 3:16 – when
Lam 3:40. Instead of resenting the punishment, the wise thing to do is to find out what is wrong with us. Of course it will be expected that when we learn what it is. we will cease doing it and turn again to serve the Lord.
Lam 3:40-41. Let us search and try our ways This will be a more reasonable and profitable employment than that of complaining and murmuring against the providence of God. Let us search what our ways have been, and try whether they have been right and good or not. Let us examine our tempers, words, and works, and consider what they have been, whether agreeable or contrary to the holy will of God. Let us try our ways, that by them we may try ourselves: for we are to judge of our state and character, not by our faint wishes, good intentions, transient resolutions, or even warm affections, but by our steps; and not by one particular step, but by our ways, our whole conduct; the ends we aim at, the rules we go by, and the agreeableness or contrariety of the temper of our minds, and the tenor of our lives to those ends and those rules. When we are in affliction it is peculiarly seasonable to consider our ways, (Hag 1:5,) that what is amiss may be repented of, and amended for the future, and so we may answer the intention of the affliction. We are apt, in times of public calamity, to reflect upon other peoples ways, and lay blame upon them, whereas our business is to search and try our own ways: we have work enough to do at home; we must each of us say, What have I done? what have I contributed to the public distress? That we may each of us mend one, then we shall all be mended. And let us turn again to the Lord Namely, by a sincere conversion, even to him who is turned against us, and from whom we have turned; to him let us turn by repentance, reformation, and faith, as to our owner and ruler. This particular must accompany the former, and be the fruit of it; therefore we must search and try our ways, that we may turn from the evil of them to God; this was the method David took, who says, Psa 119:59, I thought on my ways, and turned my feet into thy testimonies. Let us lift up our heart, &c. Let us apply ourselves unto God by prayer, without which we shall attempt in vain to take the preceding advice. Without supernatural light from him we shall search and try our ways to little purpose: we shall still remain unacquainted with ourselves, and shall pass a false judgment on our character and conduct; and without his renewing grace we shall not be turned to him effectually. Now for these blessings we must make application to him in fervent prayer, lifting up our hearts with our hands, and pouring out our souls with our words, in confident expectation of receiving what we ask.
THE RETURN
Lam 3:40-42
WHEN prophets, speaking in the name of God, promised the exiles a restoration to their land and the homes of their fathers, it was always understood and often expressly affirmed that this reversal of their outward fortunes must be preceded by an inner change, a return to God in penitent submission. Expulsion from Canaan was the chastisement of apostasy from God; it was only right and reasonable that the discipline should be continued as long as the sin that necessitated it remained. It would be a mistake, however, to relegate the treatment of this deadly sin to a secondary place, as only the cause of a more serious trouble. There could be no more serious trouble. The greatest evil from which Israel suffered was not the Babylonian exile; it was her self-inflicted banishment from God. The greatest blessing to be sought for her was not liberty to return to the hills and cities of Palestine; it was permission and power to come back to God. It takes us long to learn that sin is worse than punishment, and that to be brought home to our Father in heaven is a more desirable good than any earthly recovery of prosperity. But the soul that can say with the elegist, “The Lord is my portion,” has reached the vantage ground from which the best things can be seen in their true proportions; and to such a soul no advent of temporal prosperity can compare with the gaining of its one prized possession. In the triplet of verses that follows the pointed phrase which rebukes complaint for suffering by attributing it to sin the poet conducts us to those high regions where the more spiritual truth concerning these matters can be appreciated.
The form of the language here passes into the plural. Already we have been made to feel that the man who has seen affliction is a representative sufferer, although he is describing his own personal distresses. The immediately preceding clause seems to point to the sinful Israelite generally, in its vague reference to a “living man.” {Lam 3:39} Now there is a transition in the movement of the elegy, and the solitary voice gives place to a chorus, the Jews as a body appearing before God to pour out their confessions in common. According to his usual method the elegist makes the transition quite abruptly, without any explanatory preparation. The style resembles that of an oratorio, in which solo and chorus alternate with close sequence. In the present instance the effect is not that of dramatic variety, because we feel the vital sympathy that the poet cherishes for his people, so that their experience is as his experience. It is a faint shadow of the condition of the great Sin-bearer, of whom it could be said, “In all their affliction He was afflicted.” {Isa 63:9} Before it is possible to return to God, before the desire to return is even awakened, a much less inviting action must be undertaken. The first and greatest hindrance to reconciliation with our Father is our failure to recognise that any such reconciliation is necessary. The most deadening effect of sin is seen in the fact that it prevents the sinner from perceiving that he is at enmity with God at all, although by everything he does he proclaims his rebellion. The Pharisee of the parable cannot be justified, cannot really approach God at all, because he will not admit that he needs any justification, or is guilty of any conduct that separates him from God. Just as the most hopeless state of ignorance is that in which there is a serene unconsciousness of any deficiency of knowledge, so the most abandoned condition of guilt is the inability to perceive the very existence of guilt. The sick man who ignores his disease will not. resort to a physician for the cure of it. If the souls quarrel with her Lord is ever to be ended it must be discovered. Therefore the first step will be in the direction of self-examination.
We are led to look in this direction by the startling thought with which the previous triplet closes. If the calamities bewailed are the chastisements of sin it is necessary for this sin to be sought out. The language of the elegist suggests that we are not aware of the nature of our own conduct, and that it is only by some serious effort that we can make ourselves acquainted with it, for this is what he implies when he represents the distressed people resolving to “search and try” their ways. Easy as it may seem in words, experience proves that nothing is more difficult in practice than to fulfil the precept of the philosopher, “Know thyself.” The externalism in which most of our lives are spent makes the effort to look within a painful contradiction of habit. When it is attempted pride and prejudice face the inquirer, and too often quite hide the true self from view. If the pursuit is pushed on in spite of these hindrances the result may prove to be a sad surprise. Sometimes we see ourselves unexpectedly revealed, and then the sight of so great a novelty amazes us. The photographers proof of a portrait dissatisfies the subject, not because it is a bad likeness, but rather because it is too faithful to be pleasing. A wonderful picture of Rossettis represents a young couple who are suddenly confronted in a lonely forest by the apparition of their two selves as simply petrified with terror at the appalling spectacle.
Even when the effort to acquire self-knowledge is strenuous and persevering, and accompanied by an honest resolution to accept the results, however unwelcome they may be, it often fails for lack of a standard of judgment. We compare ourselves with ourselves-our present with our past. or at best our actual life with our ideals. But this is a most illusory process, and its limits are too narrow. Or we compare ourselves with our neighbours-a possible advance, but still a most unsatisfactory method; for we know so little of them, all of us dwelling more or less like stars apart, and none of us able to sound the abysmal depths of anothers personality. Even if we could fix this standard it too would be very illusory, because those people with whom we are making the comparison, quite as much as we ourselves, may be astray, just as a whole planetary system, though perfectly balanced in the mutual relations of its own constituent worlds, may yet be our of its orbit, and rushing on all together towards some awful common destruction.
A more trustworthy standard may be found in the heart-searching words of Scripture, which prove to be as much a revelation of man to himself as one of God to man. This Divine test reaches its perfection in the historical presentation of our Lord. We discover our actual characters most effectually when we compare our conduct with the conduct of Jesus Christ. As the Light of the world, He leads the world to see itself. He is the great touchstone of character. During His earthly life hypocrisy was detected by His searching glance; but that was not admitted by the hypocrite. It is when He comes to us spiritually that His promise is fulfilled, and the Comforter convinces of sin as well as of righteousness and judgment. Perhaps it is not so eminently desirable as Burns would have us believe, that we should see ourselves as others see us; but it is supremely important to behold ourselves in the pure, searching light of the Spirit of Christ.
We may be reminded, on the other hand, that too much introspection is not wholesome, that it begets morbid ways of thought, paralyses the energies, and degenerates into insipid sentimentality. No doubt it is best that the general tendency of the mind should be towards the active duties of life. But to admit this is not to deny that there may be occasions when the most ruthless self-examination becomes a duty of first importance. A season of severe chastisement such as that to which the Book of Lamentations refers, is one that calls most distinctly for the exercise of this rare duty. We cannot make our daily meal of drugs; but drugs may be most necessary in sickness. Possibly, if we were in a state of perfectly sound spiritual health, it might be well for us never to spare a thought for ourselves from our complete absorption with the happy duties of a full and busy life. But since we are far from being thus healthy, since we err and fail and sin, time devoted to the discovery of our faults may be exceedingly well spent.
Then while a certain kind of self-study is always mischievous-the sickly habit of brooding over ones feelings-it is to be observed that the elegist does not recommend this. His language points in quite another direction. It is not emotion but action that he is concerned with. The searching is to be into our “ways,” the course of our conduct. There is an objectivity in this inquiry, though it is turned inward, that contrasts strongly with the investigation of shadowy sentiments. Conduct, too, is the one ground of the judgment of God. Therefore the point of supreme importance to ourselves is to determine whether conduct is right or wrong. With this branch of self-examination we are not in so much danger of falling into complete delusions as when we are considering less tangible questions. Thus this is at once the most wholesome, the most necessary, and the most practicable process of introspection.
The particular form of conduct here referred to should be noted. The word “ways” suggests habit and continuity. These are more characteristic than isolated deeds-short spasms of virtue or sudden falls before temptation. The final judgment will be according to the life, not its exceptional episodes. A man lives his habits. He may be capable of better things, he may be liable to worse; but he is what he does habitually. The world will applaud him for some outburst of heroism in which he rises for the moment above the sordid level of his everyday life, or execrate him for his shameful moment of self-forgetfulness; and the world will have this amount of justice in its action, that the capacity for the occasional is itself a permanent attribute, although the opportunity for the active working of the latent good or evil is rare. The startling outburst may be a revelation of old but hitherto hidden “ways.” It must be so to some extent; for no man wholly belies his own nature unless he is mad-beside himself, as we say. Still it may not be so entirely, or even chiefly; the surprised self may not be the normal self, often is not. Meanwhile our main business in self-examination is to trace the course of the unromantic beaten track, the long road on which we travel from morning to evening through the whole day of life.
The result of this search into the character of their ways on the part of the people is that it is found to be necessary to forsake them forthwith; for the next idea is in the form of a resolution to turn out of them, nay, to turn back, retracing the footsteps that have gone astray, in order to come to God again. These ways are discovered, then, to be bad-vicious in themselves, and wrong in their direction. They run down-hill, away from the home of the soul, and towards the abodes of everlasting darkness. When this fact is perceived it becomes apparent that some complete change must be made. This is a case of ending our old ways, not mending them. Good paths may be susceptible of improvement. The path of the just should “shine more and more unto the perfect day.” But here things are too hopelessly bad for any attempt at amelioration. No engineering skill will ever transform the path that points straight to perdition into one that conducts us up to the heights of heaven. The only chance of coming to walk in the right way is to forsake the wrong way altogether, and make an entirely new start. Here, then, we have the Christian doctrine of conversion – a doctrine which always appears extravagant to people who take superficial views of sin, but one that will be appreciated just in proportion to the depth and seriousness of our ideas of its guilt. Nothing contributes more to unreality in religion than strong language on the nature of repentance apart from a corresponding consciousness of the tremendous need of a most radical change. This deplorable mischief must be brought about when indiscriminate exhortations to the extreme practice of penitence are addressed to mixed congregations. It cannot be right to press the necessity of conversion upon young children and the carefully sheltered and lovingly trained youth of Christian homes in the language that applies to their unhappy brothers and sisters who have already made shipwreck of life. This statement is liable to misapprehension; doubtless to some readers it will savour of the light views of sin deprecated above, and point to the excuses of the Pharisee. Nevertheless it must be considered if we would avoid the characteristic sin of the Pharisee, hypocrisy. It is unreasonable to suppose that the necessity of a complete conversion can be felt by the young and comparatively innocent as it should be felt by abandoned profligates, and the attempt of the preacher to force it on their relatively pure consciences is a direct incentive to cant. The fifty-first Psalm is the confession of his crime by a murderer; Augustines “Confessions” are the outpourings of a man who feels that he has been dragging his earlier life through the mire; Bunyans “Grace Abounding” reveals the memories of a rough soldiers shame and folly. No good can come of the unthinking application of such utterances to persons whose history and character are entirely different from those of the authors.
On the other hand, there are one or two further considerations which should be borne in mind. Thus it must not be forgotten that the greatest sinner is not necessarily the man whose guilt is most glaringly apparent; nor that sins of the heart count with God as equivalent to obviously wicked deeds committed in the full light of day; nor that guilt cannot be estimated absolutely, by the bare evil done, without regard to the opportunities, privileges, and temptations of the offender. Then, the more we meditate upon the true nature of sin, the more deeply must we be impressed with its essential evil even when it is developed only slightly in comparison with the hideous crimes and vices that blacken the pages of history-as, for example, in the careers of a Nero or a Caesar Borgia. The sensitive conscience does not only feel the exact guilt of its individual offences, but also, and much more, “the exceeding sinfulness of sin.” When we consider their times and the state of the society in which they lived, we must feel that neither Augustine nor Bunyan had been so wicked as the intensity of the language of penitence they both employed might lead us to suppose. It is quite foreign to the nature of heartfelt repentance to measure degrees of guilt. In the depth of its shame and humiliation no language of contrition seems to be too strong to give it adequate expression. But this must be entirely spontaneous; it is most unwise to impose it from without in the form of an indiscriminate appeal to abject penitence.
Then it is also to be observed that while the fundamental change described in the New Testament as a new birth cannot well be regarded as a thing of repeated occurrence, we may have occasion for many conversions. Every time we turn into the wrong path we put ourselves under the necessity of turning back if ever we would walk in the right path again. What is that but conversion? It is a pity that we should be hampered by the technicality of a term. This may lead to another kind of error-the error of supposing that if we are once converted we are converted for life, that we have crossed our Rubicon, and cannot recross it. Thus while the necessity of a primary conversion may be exaggerated in addresses to the young, the greater need of subsequent conversions may be neglected in the thoughts of adults. The “converted” person who relies on the one act of his past experience to serve as a talisman for all future time is deluding himself in a most dangerous manner. Can it be asserted that Peter had not been “converted,” in the technical sense, when he fell through undue self-confidence, and denied his Master with “oaths and curses?”
Again-a very significant fact-the return is described in positive language. It is a coming back to God, not merely a departure from the old way of sin. The initial impulse towards a better life springs more readily from the attraction of a new hope than from the repulsion of a loathed evil. The hopeful repentance is exhilarating, while that which is only born of the disgust and horror of sin is dismally depressing. Lurid pictures of evil rarely beget penitence. The “Newgate Calendar” is not to be credited with the reformation of criminals. Even Dantes “Inferno” is no gospel. In prosecuting his mission as the prophet of repentance John the Baptist was not content to declare that the axe was laid at the root of the tree; the pith of his exhortation was found in the glad tidings that “the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” St. Paul shows that it is the goodness of God that leads us to repentance. Besides, the repentance that is induced by this means is of the best character. It escapes the craven slavishness of fear; it is not a merely selfish shrinking from the lash; it is inspired by the pure love of a worthy end. Only remorse lingers in the dark region of regrets for the past. Genuine repentance always turns a hopeful look towards a better future. It is of little use to exorcise the spirit of evil if the house is not to be tenanted by the spirit of good. Thus the end and purpose of repentance is to be reunited with God.
Following up his general exhortation to return to God, the elegist adds a particular one, in which the process of the new movement is described. It takes the form of a prayer from the heart. The resolution is to lift up the heart with the hands. The erect posture, with the hands stretched out to heaven, which was the Hebrew attitude in prayer, had often been assumed in meaningless acts of formal worship before there was any real approach to God or any true penitence. Now the repentance will be manifested by the reality of the prayer. Let the heart also be lifted up. The true approach to God is an act of the inner life, to which in its entirety-thought, affection, and will-the Jewish metaphor of the heart points.
Lastly, the poet furnishes the returning penitents with the very language of the hearts prayer, which is primarily confession. The doleful fact that God has not pardoned His people is directly stated, but not in the first place. This statement is preceded by a clear and unreserved confession of sin. Repentance must be followed by confession. It is not a private matter concerning the offender alone. Since the offence was directed against another, the amendment must begin with a humble admission of the wrong that has been done. Thus, immediately the prodigal son is met by his father he sobs out his confession; {Luk 15:21} and St. John assigns confession as an essential preliminary to forgiveness, saying: “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”. {1Jn 1:9}
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Expositors Bible Commentary