Lamentations 3:22–3:23

Lamentations 3:22 22. It is of the LORD'S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. 22. Clementite Jehovae, quod non sumus consumpti (vel, certe non sunt consumptae,) certe non defecerunt miscrationes ejus. The first clause may be explained in two ways: The view commonly taken is, that it ought to be ascribed to God's mercy that the faithful have not been often consumed. Hence a very useful doctrine is elicited -- that God succors his own people, lest they should wholly perish. But if we attend to the context, we shall see that another sense is more suitable, even that the mercies of God were not consumed, and that his compassion's had not failed The particle ky, ki, is inserted, but ought to be taken as an affirmative only, surely the mercies of God are not consumed; [183] and then, -- surely his compassion's have not failed. And he afterwards adds, -- Footnotes: [183] So the Targ. and all the versions, except the Vulg; they read tmv. "The mercies of Jehovah" is the nominative case absolute, -- 22. The mercies of Jehovah, verily they have no end, For his compassion's never fail. 23. Renewed (are they) in the morning; Great is thy faithfulness. "Renewed" refers to "mercies," i.e., blessings, the fruit of mercy; and God's mercies have no end, because his compassion's ever continue. "In the morning," that is, after a night of affliction. If the rendering be made literal, "in the mornings," the meaning is the same; they follow the previous nights of trouble. Blessings, being as it were suspended or withheld during the night, are again renewed in the morning. -- Ed.

It is of the LORD'S {i} mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. (i) Considering the wickedness of man it is a marvel that any remains alive: but only that God for his own mercies sake and for his promise will ever have his Church remain, though they are never so few in number, Isa 1:9.

[It is of] the LORD’S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. It is of the Lord’s mercy that we are not consumed. — That we are yet on this side hell. This sentence was much in the mouth of that famous Maria Aegyptiaca, and should be in all our minds and mouths for a lenitive. Because his compassions fail Exarescunt torrentes, metalla exhauriuntur, flumina deficiunt, prata item cum fructibus, … not. — Or, Are not spent, wasted, but, as the oil in the cruse, as the spring ever runneth, the sun ever shineth, … This should ever shine in our hearts as the sun doth in the firmament.

Mercy is nothing else but love flowing freely from any to persons in misery, and differs from compassion only in the freeness of the emanation. It is not because God had not power enough utterly to have consumed us, nor because we had not guilt enough to have provoked his justice to have put an end to our lives, as well as to the lives of many thousands of our countrymen, but it is merely from the Lord’s free love and pity to us in our miseries. If God had not a blessing in store for us, how is it that we are captives, and not slain as many others were during the siege?

It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed,.... It was true of the prophet, that he died not in prison, or in the dungeon; and of the people of the Jews, who though many of them perished by the sword, famine, and pestilence, yet God did not make a full end of them, according to his gracious promise, Jeremiah 30:11 ; but left them a seed, a remnant, from whence the Messiah, the mercy promised, should come, and to which it was owing they were not utterly cut off for their sins: nor are any of the Lord's special people ever consumed; their estates may be consumed, and so may their bodies by wasting diseases, and at last by death; but not their souls, not only as to their being, but as to their well being, here and hereafter; though their peace, joy, and comfort, may be gone for a while, through temptation, desertion, and the prevalence of corruption; and they may be in declining circumstances, as to the exercise of grace, yet the principle itself can never be lost; faith, hope, and love, will abide; nor can they eternally perish, or be punished with an everlasting destruction: all which is to be ascribed not to their own strength to preserve themselves, nor to any want of desert in them to be destroyed, or of power in God to consume them; but to his "mercies" and "goodnesses", the multitude of them; for there is an abundance of mercy, grace, and goodness in God, and various are the instances of it; as in the choice of his people to grace and glory; in the covenant of grace, and the blessings of it they are interested in; in redemption by Christ; in regeneration by his Spirit; in the forgiveness of their sins; and in their complete salvation; which are all so many reasons why they are not, and shall not be, consumed. The words may be rendered, "the mercies" or "goodnesses of the Lord, for they are not consumed", or, "that the mercies of the Lord", &c. (w) Jarchi observes, that "tamnu" is as "tammu"; the "nun" being inserted, according to Aben Ezra, instead of doubling the letter "mem"; and the former makes the sense to be this, in connection with the Lamentations 3:21 ; "this I recall to mind the mercies of the Lord, that they are not consumed"; to which agrees the Targum, "the goodnesses, of the Lord, for they cease not;'' and so the Septuagint, "the mercies of the Lord, for they have not left me"; and to the same sense the Syriac version is, "the mercies of the Lord, for they have no end", and Aben Ezra's note on the text is almost in the same words, "for there is no end to the mercies of God;'' because his compassions fail not; or, "his tender mercies" (x); of which he is full, and which are bestowed in a free and sovereign way, and are the spring of all good things, and a never failing one they are; and this is another reason why the Lord's people are not consumed, and never shall, because of the mercies of the Lord, since these shall never fail; for though they are, yet should they fail, they might be consumed; but these are from everlasting to everlasting, and are kept with Christ their covenant head; see Psalm 103:17 . (w) "quod misericordiae Jehovae deficiunt", vel "defecerunt", so some in Vatablus; "studia Jehovae quod non defecerunt", Cocceius. (x) "miserationes ejus", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.

Having stated his distress and temptation, the prophet shows how he was raised above it. Bad as things are, it is owing to the mercy of God that they are not worse. We should observe what makes for us, as well as what is against us. God's compassions fail not; of this we have fresh instances every morning. Portions on earth are perishing things, but God is a portion for ever. It is our duty, and will be our comfort and satisfaction, to hope and quietly to wait for the salvation of the Lord. Afflictions do and will work very much for good: many have found it good to bear this yoke in their youth; it has made many humble and serious, and has weaned them from the world, who otherwise would have been proud and unruly. If tribulation work patience, that patience will work experience, and that experience a hope that makes not ashamed. Due thoughts of the evil of sin, and of our own sinfulness, will convince us that it is of the Lord's mercies we are not consumed. If we cannot say with unwavering voice, The Lord is my portion; may we not say, I desire to have Him for my portion and salvation, and in his word do I hope? Happy shall we be, if we learn to receive affliction as laid upon us by the hand of God.

22-24. (Mal 3:6).

Verses 22-42 are the center of the present poem, as it also holds the central place in the whole series of the Lamentations. In them the riches of God's grace and mercy are set forth in the brightest colors, but no sooner are they ended than the prophet resumes the language of woe. That we - He is speaking as the representative of all sufferers.