Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Lamentations 3:6
He hath set me in dark places, as [they that be] dead of old.
6. Identical with the last part of Psa 143:3. See intr. note.
dark places ] in the gloom of Sheol.
long dead ] or, for ever dead, permanently forgotten, never able to return into the light of God’s favour.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Or, He hath made me to dwell in darkness, i. e. in Sheol or Hades, as those forever dead.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
The prophet compareth their state in Babylon to the state of bodies in the graves, or in some charnel-house, which are places of darkness, full of rottenness and dead mens bones. Such was the state of the Jews in Jerusalem during the time of the siege before the city was taken, when Jerusalem was a most miserable place by reason of the multitudes slain by the enemy, or by the famine: such was their state in Babylon, where the company of heathens made their state as the state of the living amongst the dead.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
6. set meHENDERSONrefers this to the custom of placing the dead in a sitting posture.
dark placessepulchers.As those “dead long since”; so Jeremiah and his people areconsigned to oblivion (Psa 88:5;Psa 88:6; Psa 143:3;Eze 37:13).
Gimel.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
He hath set me in dark places,…. In the dark house of the prison, as the Targum; in the dark dungeon where the prophet was put; or the captivity in which the Jews were, and which was like the dark grave or state of the dead; and hence they are said to be in their graves, Eze 37:12. Christ was laid in the dark grave literally:
as [they that be] dead of old: that have been long dead, and are forgotten, as if they had never been; see Ps 88:5; or, “as the dead of the world” f, or age; who, being dead, are gone out of the world, and no more in it. The Targum is,
“as the dead who go into another world.”
f , Sept. “quasi mortuos seculi”, Montanus, Calvin.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Here he amplifies what he had before said of poison and trouble; he says that he was placed in darkness, not that he might be there for a little while, but remain there for a long time; he hath made me, he says, to dwell in darkness. But the comparison which follows more clearly explains the Prophet’s meaning, as the dead of ages. The word עולם, oulam, may refer to future or past time. Some say, as the dead for ever, who are perpetually dead. But the Scripture elsewhere calls those the dead of ages who have been long buried, and have decayed, and whose memory has become nearly extinct. For as long as the dead body retains its form, it seems more like a living being; but when it is reduced to ashes, when no bone appears, when the whole skin and nerves and blood have perished, and no likeness to man remains, there can then be no hope of life. The Scripture then calls those the dead of ages, who have wholly decayed. So also in this place the Prophet says, that he dwelt in darkness, into which he had been cast by God’s hand, and that he dwelt there as though he had been long dead, and his body had become now putrid.
This way of speaking appears indeed hyperbolical; but we must always remember what I have reminded you of, that it is not possible sufficiently to set forth the greatness of that sorrow which the faithful feel when terrified by the wrath of God. He then adds, —
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(6) He hath set me in dark places.A verbal reproduction of Psa. 143:3. The dark places are those of hell or Hades. For dead of old read dead eternally or dead for ever, the adverb looking forward rather than back.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
6. Dark places Literally, in darkness; that is, in sheol.
Dead of old Literally, dead of eternity; namely, those who shall never return to life.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Lam 3:6 He hath set me in dark places, as [they that be] dead of old.
Ver. 6. He hath set me in dark places. ] Dungeons haply, which are a kind of graves, and where poor prisoners lie as forgotten. The Persians called their prisons , oblivions. And Ezekiel saith that Babylon was to the Jews as a grave, where they lay for dead till those dead bones lived again. Eze 37:1-14
As they that be dead of old.
“ Vivit, et est vitae nescius ipse sum. ”
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
set me = made me to dwell.
as they, &c. = like the age-long dead.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
in dark: Psa 88:5, Psa 88:6, Psa 143:3, Psa 143:7
Reciprocal: Psa 107:10 – bound Isa 59:10 – in desolate Eze 26:20 – in places
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Lam 3:6, Dark places is said in the same figurative sense as darkness in verse 2, meaning the situation of gloom. This was true of Jeremiah personally and of the nation as a whole because of the official corruptions that had been practiced.