Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Lamentations 3:52
Mine enemies chased me sore, like a bird, without cause.
52 54. There is a possible reference on the part of the writer to Jer 38:6, but this is rendered unlikely by the fact that the “dungeon” had no water in it, and thus Lam 3:54 is inapplicable. The use of the singular “stone” in Lam 3:53 is difficult to understand, unless it refers to covering thus the mouth of a pit.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
52 66. See intr. note.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Or, They who without cause are mine enemies have hunted me sore like a bird. Probably the prophet is speaking of his personal sorrows.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 52. Mine enemies chased me] From this to the end of the chapter the prophet speaks of his own personal sufferings, and especially of those which he endured in the dungeon. See Jer 38:6, &c.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
As boys beat a bird from bush to bush, suffering it to rest no where, so mine enemies, to whom I gave no cause, pursued me.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
52-54. a birdwhich isdestitute of counsel and strength. The allusion seems to be to Pr1:17 [CALVIN].
without cause (Psa 69:4;Psa 109:3; Psa 109:4).Type of Messiah (Joh 15:25).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Mine enemies chased me sore like a bird,…. That is weak and helpless, fearful and timorous; that flees from place to place when pursued; so it was with the prophet, or rather with the people of the Jews he represents; for here and in the following verses he speaks not only of himself, but of them; who, when they fled out of the city, were chased and pursued by the Chaldeans like a bird, till they were taken; see Jer 52:7;
without cause; which may be connected with the word “enemies”, so the Targum; who were so without cause; they had done them no injury, to make them their enemies; and without reason pursued and chased them in the manner they did.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
His pain and sorrow over the sad condition of the people recall to his memory the persecutions and sufferings which the godly have endured. The figure, “They who without cause are mine enemies have hunted me like a bird,” is an imitation of Psa 11:1. reminds one of , Psa 35:19 and Psa 69:5. But the prophet prefers to , lest any one should restrict the words to persecutions which arose out of personal hatred.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
We shall see to the end of the chapter the various complaints, by which the Prophet deplored the miseries of his own nation, that he might at length obtain the mercy of God. He takes here the comparison of a bird or a sparrow. He says that the Chaldeans had been like fowlers, and the Jews like sparrows: and we know that there is neither prudence nor courage in birds. He, then, means that the Jews had been destitute of all help, having been exposed as a prey to their enemies, who were like fowlers.
And he seems to allude to the words of Solomon, when he says, that without a cause is the net spread for birds (Pro 1:17😉 and he means that innocent men are circumvented by the wicked, when they spread for them their snares as it were on every side, while they are like the birds, who have no prudence to avoid them.
We now, then, understand the drift of what the Prophet says: he amplifies the indignity of their calamity by this comparison, — that the Chaldeans at their pleasure plundered the miserable people, who were not able to resist them, who were indeed without any power to defend themselves. (201) It follows, —
(201) The words literally are, —
Hunting hunted me like a bird have mine enemies without a cause.
—
Ed
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
EXEGETICAL NOTES.
() Lam. 3:52. They have hunted me down like a bird is hunted when pursued with the eagerness of those who are my enemies without cause, and who will not relax efforts till they catch the quarry.
Lam. 3:53. He was haled to prison by them. They have cut off my life in the pit. Shut in from all activities and society, he was as a man dead, as in a tomb over which they have cast stone on me. Taking such illustrations to be chiefly figurative, yet here the first clause is a probable allusion to the treatment of Jeremiah (Jer. 38:6), and the second may refer to an unmentioned incident of the same time, for which corroboration may be found in the case of Daniel (Dan. 6:17.)
Lam. 3:54. The peril was aggravated by waters that flowed over my head; the plural perhaps indicating the influx of a spring and the condensation of vapour in the closeness of a pit. In a state so desperate to the eyes of flesh, I said, I am cut off as a man that has no help (Psa. 88:4), as He was who became sin for us (Isa. 53:8).
The remaining verses of the chapter take the form of prayer, as at the close of Chapters
1. and
2. In it there are thanksgivings for relief (Lam. 3:55-58), an appeal because of the evil which enemies had done and were doing (Lam. 3:59-63), and a call for recompense therefor (Lam. 3:64-66).
() Lam. 3:55. I called upon thy name, O Jehovah, asking with some true idea of what the words and works of the God of Israel revealed concerning Himself, suggestive, too, of the manner in which the Lord Jesus would have His friends to prayAsk the Father in My nameout of the depths of the pit into which he had been thrown.
Lam. 3:56. A more true position is secured than that which was held previously (Lam. 3:8; Lam. 3:44). My voice thou heardest at that time when I besought thee with my spirit and voice, Hide notclose notthine ear at my breathingmy sighing for reliefat my cry. It is questionable if the rendering, Hide not thine ear for my cry for relief, is not rather an explanation than a fair version.
Lam. 3:57. Thou drewest near in the day I called upon thee. Only spiritual apprehension of God as He who is behind all events and plenteous in mercy can bring a conviction of accepted prayer. The heart is then in a state to hear His comforting words, Thou saidst, Fear not.
() Lam. 3:58. There were rights to be maintained, wrongs to be redressed, and in both help was received from a present God. Thou, O Jehovah, hast pleadedcontended forthe causes of my soul. One thing had hurt his soul (Lam. 3:51), but others also saddened and weakened thought and effort, and the Lord had counteracted them. He had also interfered when hope of living was cut off, Thou hast redeemed my life by Thy power over all.
HOMILETICS
A FAITHFUL PROPHET IN TROUBLE
(Lam. 3:52-58)
I. Cruelly treated by his enemies. Mine enemies chased me sore like a bird, without cause: I am cut off (Lam. 3:52-54). In these verses, and to the end of the chapter, Jeremiah deals with his own personal afflictions. Without the least provocation, he was treated with the most malignant enmity. He was harassed, as a bird is tired out, and at length run down by continuous pursuit. He is overwhelmed with trouble, and is as one imprisoned in a dungeon, shut off from the current of active life. He acknowledged the righteousness of the Divine dealings, but he was keenly alive to the unrighteousness and undeserved cruelty of his persecutors. Had he been the aggressor, he might have expected retaliation, but he was oppressed without cause. His enemies were actuated by sheer hatred. His only fault was his faithfulness to God and to his own conscience. Simple goodness often rouses the wanton animosity of the wicked.
II. Seeks refuge in prayer. I called upon Thy name, O Lord; hide not Thine ear at my cry (Lam. 3:55-56). It is a relief to turn from the cruelty of man to the compassion and power of God. The soul is never so helpless but that it can pray. When we can do nothing else, we can pray. Prayer is the language of need, and we are comforted with the assurance that God will hear, and not only hear but help. It seemed at one time that prayer was useless (Lam. 3:44); but better thoughts prevailed, and the soul discovered that the cry for help was not in vain. Prayer is the breath of the new man, sucking in the air of mercy in petitions and returning it in praises; it is both the evidence and the maintenance of the spiritual life.
III. Rescued by Divine aid. Thou drewest near in the day that I called upon Thee; Thou saidst, Fear not. O Lord, Thou hast pleaded the causes of my soul; Thou has redeemed my life (Lam. 3:57-58). When we draw near to God in prayer, He draws near to us. Our troubles are overwhelming when God is absent and we are left to ourselves. With His manifested presence our troubles vanish, and we are inspired with strength to endure and to triumph.
LESSONS.
1. Fidelity makes many enemies.
2. The nation that ill-uses its best men courts its own ruin.
3. The Lord is ever on the side of the faithful.
GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES
Lam. 3:54-57. The efficacy of prayer. I. These words show to what a state Gods most favoured servants may be reducedextreme suffering, tears, despondency. II. The remedy open to them. Prayer expressed in cries, groans, breathings, sighs. III. The efficacy of that remedy whenever it is applied. Thou drewest near in the day that I called upon Thee; Thou saidst, Fear not. In these words we hear the consolatory voice of God. Marvellous condescension; certainty of help and deliverance.Simeon.
Lam. 3:57. A wonder explained by greater wonders. I. An explanation of this wonder. God doth draw near to men.
1. Men have ever been in the thoughts of God.
2. God came tenderly near in nature.
3. The Lord Jesus was specially near in the days of His life on earth.
4. He came still nearer to us in His death.
5. In heaven He is perpetually near us.
6. Jesus may well come near to His people, for there is a mystical union which ensures it. II. Consider the wonder itself.
1. By no means is this wonder at all contrary to expectation.
2. God draws near by strengthening us to bear up under pressure.
3. By vouchsafing a doubly vivid sense of His love.
4. By granting a sensible assurance of His sympathy.
5. By speedy and remarkable deliverance out of trouble.
6. The text indicates surprise concerning the memorable graciousness of God.
7. The promptness of God.
8. The extreme tenderness of God.C. H. Spurgeon.
Lam. 3:58. God pleading for saints and saints pleading for God. I. The Divine pleading.
1. The Lord pleads our cause in the court of Providence by silencing enemies and by raising up friends for His people.
2. He pleads for them in the court of Divine law.
3. In the court of conscience.
4. In the court of heaven.
5. And at the last great day of judgment. II. If the Lord hath pleaded the causes of our soul, we should plead His cause while we have breath to pray.
1. This is the life-work of the Christian.
2. Should be done in witnessing for Christ by our consistency of conduct.
3. We can all plead for Christ in a private way. Be it mine to weep for the sins of the time and prophesy against them. Be it yours in your own private walk and conversation to rebuke private sin, and by your loving earnestness to make Jesus Christ dear to many souls!C. H. Spurgeon.
ILLUSTRATIONS.Faithfulness in service. If you and I show that we attach importance to the solemn performance of even the slightest duty connected with our dear Masters service; that we consider even the office of doorkeeper in His house an office of honour; that, convinced of His presence, we are as devout in offering the prayers when only two or three are present as when there are two or three hundredwe shall find His blessing attending us, and we shall be the means of converting others.Dean Hook.
A carpenter was once asked, Why he troubled to finish off a certain magistrates bench so carefully? His reply was, I cant do otherwise; besides, I may have to sit on it one of these days.
Faithful to death. When Commodore Joseph Smith saw by the first despatch that reached Washington from Fortress Monroe that the Congress, on which his son was commander, had shown the white flag, he said, Then Joes dead. It was so.
Prayer an ever-open refuge. St. Cuthbert was once in a snowstorm that drove his boat on the coast of Fife. The snowstorm closes the road along the shore, mourned his comrades; the storm bars our way over the sea. There is still the way of heaven; that lies open, said the devoted saint.
Divine aid works a marvellous change. Probably there is nowhere on the globe so marked a climatic boundary as that of the Cascade Mountains in both Washington Territory and Oregon. West of this boundary the winters are mild and the summers cool and showery; east of it the winters are sharp and dry and the summers very hot. On one side are gigantic firs and cedars, while on the other all are of poor size and condition. Even the flowers are of new species, and all the atmospheric conditions are changed. The line that lies between the unsaved and the saved, once crossed, what changes are manifest! If any man be in Jesus Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; lo, all things have become new.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
(52) Without cause . . .The words connect themselves in the Hebrew with mine enemies (comp. Psa. 35:7; Psa. 35:19; Psa. 69:4), and it has been inferred from this that Jeremiah speaks not of the Chaldeans as enemies of his nation, but of those who were individually his persecutors. The hypothesis receives some confirmation from the apparent reference in the dungeon and the waters to the narrative of Jeremiah 38. It has been urged, on the other hand, that those expressions may be figurative here, as they are in Psa. 42:7; Psa. 88:7; Psa. 124:4.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
52. Without cause The order of the words in this verse should be, to express the precise sense of the original, “without cause mine enemies chased me.”
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
The Prophet Looks Back On His Own Experiences And Calls On YHWH To Avenge Him ( Lam 3:52-66 ).
The chapter commenced with the personal experience of the prophet in Lam 3:1-18 but there it was the present experiences that he was going through which were in mind. He now closes the chapter with a look back to his personal experiences, to what he has suffered at the hands of the leaders of his people, and calls on YHWH to avenge him.
Some, however, recognise the incongruity of these words on the lips of the one who has just described his tears for his people and see these as the words of Jerusalem personified, as they bemoan what has happened to them at the hands of the Babylonians. But the words fit better with an individual, and it is quite possible that the prophet felt deeply for his people, while still feeling hard done by with regard to the aristocrats who had for so long opposed and mistreated him, (‘the powers that be’), who were after all responsible for the sufferings of the people. We must remember that if the writer was Jeremiah he had been through terrible hardships at their hands.
Lam 3:52-54
(Tsade) They have chased me sore like a bird,
They who are my enemies without cause.
(Tsade) They have cut off my life in the dungeon,
And have cast a stone on me.
(Tsade) Waters flowed over my head,
I said, ‘I am cut off’.
Here have three vivid pictures of the prophet’s sufferings. He had been like a hunted bird, he had been put in a pit, he had experience overflowing suffering.
‘They have chased me sore (hunted me down) like a bird.’ Compare the vivid picture in Psa 11:1-2 of the bird flying off to the mountains in order to escape the voracious hunters, where it is the upright in heart who are the targets. The prophet sees himself as having been constantly hunted. And it was by ‘They who are my enemies without cause’. Compare for this phrase Psa 35:19; Psa 69:4. He considers that they had had no grounds for their enmity because he had only had the good of his people at heart.
‘They have cut off my life in the dungeon (pit), and have cast a stone on me.’ Compare Psa 88:6. This was literally true of Jeremiah as the pit into which he was lowered probably did have a stone covering (Jer 38:6 ff). On the other hand ‘casting a stone’ might have in mind stoning. But even then it is a good possibility that at some stage Jeremiah had to flee from being stoned.
‘Waters flowed over my head.’ A picture of the misery and stress that was heaped on him. See Psa 42:7; Psa 88:7; Psa 124:4.
‘I said, ‘I am cut off.’ Compare Psa 31:22, ‘I said in my haste, “I am cut off from before your eyes. Nevertheless you heard the voice of my supplications when I cried to you’. The prophet is describing his moment of doubt before he finally effectively prayed to YHWH and was delivered by the intervention of Ebed-melech (Jer 38:7 ff).
Lam 3:55-57
(Qoph) I called on your name, O YHWH,
Out of the lowest dungeon.
(Qoph) You heard my voice,
Do not hide your ear at my breathing (sighing), at my cry.
(Qoph) You drew near in the day that I called on you,
You said, ‘Do not be afraid’.
His momentary doubt laid to rest the prophet called on YHWH ‘out of the lowest pit’ (compare Psa 88:6; Psa 130:1; Jer 38:6), and was immediately heard. So he now calls on YHWH to regard his sighing and respond in the same way. For YHWH had drawn near on the day that he had called on Him, and had given him the assurance, ‘Do not be afraid’.
When we reach the very lowest pit we can be sure that He will be there ready to respond to our prayer, whatever the circumstances. Notice the sequence, ‘I called — you heard — do not hide — you drew near’.
Lam 3:58-63
(Resh) O Lord, you have pleaded the causes of my soul,
You have redeemed my life.
(Resh) O YHWH, you have seen my wrong,
Judge you my cause.
(Resh) You have seen all their vengeance,
And all their devices against me.
(Shin) You have heard their reproach, O YHWH,
And all their devices against me,
(Shin) The lips of those who rose up against me,
And their device against me all the day.
(Shin) Behold you their sitting down, and their rising up,
I am their song.
The prophet calls on YHWH to judge his case. For YHWH is the One Who has pleaded, as it were before a court, the causes of his inner life, and has redeemed his life (from threatened destruction – Psa 103:4). In other words YHWH has fought for him and delivered him. YHWH is on his side. So now he calls on Him to judge his cause, because having pleaded them He must know his causes intimately.
Three times he draws attention to their device/devices against him (as revealed in Jer 26:8-17; Jer 37:14; Jer 38:4). The first connected with their desire for vengeance, the second connected with all their reproach, and the third connected with their charges against him. They wanted vengeance, they were filled with reproach towards him, and they got together and spoke with animosity against him. And this was because they considered that he was a traitor who sided with the Babylonians.
‘Behold you their sitting down, and their rising up.’ This phrase basically indicates what they did during the whole of their daytime (see Deu 6:7; Deu 11:19; Psa 139:2; Isa 37:28).
And he points out that when He does so He will see that they sang insulting songs about him all day, mocking and belittling him.
Lam 3:64-66
(Tau) You will render to them a recompense, O YHWH,
According to the work of their hands.
(Tau) You will give them hardness (literally ‘covering’) of heart,
Your curse to them.
(Tau) You will pursue them in anger,
And destroy them from under the heavens of YHWH.
So he expresses his confidence that YHWH will:
Recompense them (his adversaries) according to what they had done. Give them hardness (or blindness) of heart which will be a curse to them.
Pursue them in anger and destroy them from the earth (from under the heavens of YHWH).
And indeed this is what He did.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Lam 3:52. Mine enemies chased me The prophet in this and the following verses describes his own sufferings, when his enemies seized him, and cast him into the dungeon. See Jer 20:7; Jer 37:15. He compares them to a fowler who is in pursuit of a bird, as they took every opportunity to deprive him of his life or liberty, and that without any provocation on his part. See Lowth, and Calmet.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Lam 3:52 Mine enemies chased me sore, like a bird, without cause.
Ver. 52. Mine enemies chased me sore. ] In a most eager and extreme manner, with utmost cruelty and craft.
As a bird.
Without cause.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Lam 3:52-55. Mine enemies chased me sore, like a bird, without cause. They have cut off my life in the dungeon, and cast a stone upon me. Waters flowed over mine head; then I said, I am cut off. I called upon thy name, O LORD, out of the low dungeon.
He said, I am cut off, yet he called upon the name of the Lord out of the low dungeon into which his enemies had cast him. What a mercy it is that Gods servants are often as graciously inconsistent as Jeremiah was just then! They are afraid that the Lord will not hear them, yet they continue to pray unto him. They are afraid that they are cast off for ever, yet they will still use the privilege of a child of God, and cry unto him, though they doubt whether they have a childs right to do so. Go on, beloved, with that blessed inconsistency, and the Lord will bless you in it.
Lam 3:56. Thou hast heard my voice: hide not thine ear at my breathing, at my cry.
Is not that a beautiful description of prayer, when the soul cannot find words, nothing but a breathing? Did I say nothing but a breathing? Why, that is the very essence of prayer.
Prayer is the breath of God in man,
Returning whence it came.
Vocal sounds in prayer can be given forth by hypocrites. Our children have their dolls or their little animals that they press to make them squeak, but there is no life in them; so there may be a sound, yet no life, but I never heard of anything that really breathed, and yet had not life. And when your soul breathes itself out before God in prayer, although it cannot utter any articulate sound by reason of the sorrow of your heart, there is spiritual life in you.
Lam 3:57. Thou drewest near in the day that I called upon thee:
Oh, sweet experience! Cannot you, beloved, say that these words suit you as much as they did Jeremiah? I am inclined to say to him, They are mine, Jeremiah, they certainly were yours, but I am sure that they are equally mine.
Lam 3:57-58. Thou saidst, Fear not. O Lord, thou hast pleaded the causes of my soul; thou hast redeemed my life.
Blessed be his holy name for ever and ever!
Fuente: Spurgeon’s Verse Expositions of the Bible
chased: Jer 37:15, Jer 37:16, Jer 38:4-6
without: 1Sa 24:10-15, 1Sa 25:28, 1Sa 25:29, 1Sa 26:18-20, Psa 35:7, Psa 35:19, Psa 69:4, Psa 109:3, Psa 119:161, Jer 37:18, Joh 15:25
Reciprocal: Gen 37:24 – the pit Jer 38:6 – And in Lam 4:18 – hunt Dan 3:23 – fell Mat 5:22 – without Heb 11:36 – bonds
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Lam 3:52. Without cause means that the Babylonians did not have any personal reason for attacking Judah. They were only acting (unconsciously) as the agency of God for the punish-ment of Judah.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Lam 3:52-58. Mine enemies chased me sore The prophet in this, and the following verses, describes his own sufferings, when his enemies seized him and put him into the dungeon, Jer 37:16; Jer 38:6. He compares them to a fowler in pursuit of a bird; so, saith he, they sought all opportunities to take an advantage against me, and to deprive me of my life and liberty: and this they did without any provocation given on my part. So the word , without cause, signifies. Lowth. They have cut off my life I was not only sequestered from all human society, like a dead man, but in apparent danger of losing my life in the dungeon. And their laying a stone upon the entrance of that dark pit resembled the burying me alive. Waters flowed over my head; then I said, &c. When I sunk down into the mire in this dungeon, I despaired of my life, just as if I had been sinking over head in a river. I called upon thy name, O Lord I had recourse to thee, O Jehovah, in my distress; out of the low dungeon As Jonah out of the whales belly. Observe, reader, though we be cast into ever so low a dungeon of calamity and trouble, we may from thence find a way of access to God in the highest heavens. Thus the psalmist, Out of the depths have I cried unto thee, Psa 130:1. Hide not thine ear at my breathing, at my cry So he terms his prayer. It was his breathing toward God, and after God. Prayer is the breath of the new man, drawing in the air of grace in petitions, and returning it in praises; it is both the evidence and maintenance of the spiritual life. Some read it, at my gasping; when I lay gasping for life, and ready to expire, and thought I was breathing my last, then thou tookest cognizance of my distressed case. Thou drewest near in the day that I called upon thee That is, thou didst graciously assure me of thy presence with me, and didst give me to see thee nigh unto me, whereas I had thought thee to be at a distance from me. Thou saidst, Fear not This was the language, 1st, of Gods prophets, preaching to them not to fear, Isa 41:10; Isa 41:13; Isaiah 2 d, of his providence, preventing those things which they were afraid of; and, 3d, of his grace, quieting their minds, and making them easy, by the witness of his Spirit with their spirits, that they were his people still, though in distress, and therefore ought not to fear. Thou hast pleaded the causes of my soul That is, as it follows, Thou hast redeemed my life, hast rescued it out of the hands of those that would have taken it away, hast saved it when it was ready to be swallowed up; thou hast given me my life for a prey.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
The prophet’s enemies had pursued him mercilessly, as hunters track a bird.