Remember thou mine affliction and my wandering, the wormwood and the gall.
Jeremiah has cried until he can cry no more. Now he lays the whole bitter account before God. Verse 19 is where the lament turns. The memory that crushed him becomes the ground of his hope.
Commentators mark this verse as the point where the whole poem changes direction.
Yet there is the very point of change. From verse 19 he spreads everything out before Jehovah, and asks Him to remember it. His soul is utterly crushed, and from there he begins to gain confidence: "But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope" (v. 21). It is not Christ Himself, but certainly the Spirit of Christ leading on an afflicted and broken heart.
(Older translations read "Remembering my affliction and my misery." The ESV reads it as an appeal: "Remember my affliction and my wanderings." Either way, the prophet brings his sorrow to God.)
The word gall names a bitter plant, and Scripture uses it as a picture of bitterness.
Gall (Hebrew rosh) is some very bitter or poisonous plant, not identified for certain. The word is used as a symbol of bitterness. To turn to idolatry was like "a root that bears gall and wormwood" (Deut. 29:18). God gave His people water of gall to drink as His judgement (Jer. 9:15). Gall was also mixed with the sour wine, or vinegar, that the Roman soldiers drank. They gave it to men about to be crucified — to make them less sensitive to the torture, it is now thought. It was offered to the Lord, but He refused it (Ps. 69:21; Matt. 27:34).
The prophet had real enemies. Yet he does not name them as the source of what he suffers.
The prophet does not blame the people and their leaders for all the persecution he suffered. Instead, he receives it from the hand of God, and says: "I am the man who has seen affliction under the rod of His wrath." He recalls the years spent in the darkness of prison (v.2,6) and the loss of freedom (v.7,9). He remembers the torture that broke his bones (v.4). He calls to mind how they mocked him… all was affliction, wormwood, and gall.
That is also why the affliction cuts deeper and holds him up at the same time.
The prophet carried in his own heart the deep grief of what Jehovah had brought upon Jerusalem. But he felt it as one who knew God to be his God… He suffered with Jerusalem, and he suffered for Jerusalem. This true relationship with Jehovah made him feel the affliction more deeply, yet it also held him up (v. 22)… It is right that an affliction like this should be felt. The only harm is when we let it weaken our confidence in the Lord.
This remembering is not brooding. It is a man reasoning clearly at last.
He can do no more. His cries and struggles cease, and with a humbled heart he dwells on his experience, remembering his affliction and misery, the wormwood and the gall… This prophet was a stricken man, and a stricken man is a disillusioned man. A disillusioned man is more likely to reason rightly than one who lives in dreams. As he remembered and reasoned, he reached his conclusion and found the answer to the great problem. Then he lifted his long-bowed head and cried, "Therefore I have hope."
Commentators see in this suffering man a picture of Christ, whose suffering went far deeper.
The prophet speaks of himself as a man smitten by the rod of God's wrath. He had not deserved that wrath. It has come upon a sinful people, but he identifies himself with them. What, then, must the suffering of our Lord have been, when at the close of His blessed life He suffered and died the death of the cross!… He speaks of "the wormwood and the gall" (verse 19).
At the cross Christ refused the drink that would have dulled His pain.
He would bear His sufferings without that drink, in full consciousness of everything involved — not only what men inflicted on Him, but the far deeper suffering of being made a curse of God.
Every trial leaves something behind.
No trial ever visits a heart without bringing an experience with it. Everything depends on what that experience is: the bitterness and resentment of an unsubdued will; the indifference of a proud and unbroken heart; or the sustaining mercies and compassion of the Lord. It must be one of these three. If it is the last — which is always the experience of the humbled and contrite spirit — then the way is opened for hope to enter, not as a visitor only, but to stay as a most blessed companion.
- Remember. The verse is the hinge. Here the prophet stops sinking and spreads his misery out before God.
- Bitterness. Gall is a bitter, poisonous plant and a symbol of bitterness. It was also the drink offered to the crucified.
- God's hand. He does not blame his persecutors. He takes it all from God's hand, and that deepens the pain and holds him up.
- Reasoning. A stricken man is a disillusioned man, and he reasons more truly than a dreamer. That is how the prophet reaches "therefore I have hope."
- Companion. Every trial yields one of three things: resentment, hard indifference, or the Lord's compassion. Only the last opens the door for hope to move in and stay.
My soul hath [them] constantly in remembrance, and is humbled in me.
Jeremiah has just said that his strength and his hope are gone. This verse shows his mind still going back over the affliction, and it raises one question: how can a memory that bows a man down become the ground of hope?
Verse 20 sits where the book turns from collapse to confidence, in the act of laying everything out before God:
This is the very point of change. From verse 19 he lays it all out before Jehovah and asks Him to remember it. His soul is completely crushed, and from there he begins to gain confidence... It is not Christ, but it is certainly the Spirit of Christ leading an afflicted and broken heart. Weeping may last for a night; but joy comes in the morning.
What the soul keeps in remembrance is not a list of grievances against people. Jeremiah traces every blow back to the hand of God:
The prophet does not accuse the people and their leaders of inflicting on him all the persecutions he endured. Instead, he receives them from the hand of God: "I am the man who has seen affliction under the rod of His wrath." He recalls the years spent in the darkness of prison and the loss of freedom. He remembers the torture that broke his bones. He calls to mind the mockery he suffered: he became the laughingstock of his own people, their song all day long. His life was spent far from peace. He has forgotten what happiness is. It was all affliction, wormwood, and gall.
Commentators differ on who does the remembering. Some read the verse as Jeremiah's own memory. Others read it as his confidence that God will remember:
He had cried to the Lord, asking Him to remember his affliction, his misery, the wormwood and the gall. Hope rose from his confidence that God would surely do this. Some translate Lamentations 3:20 this way: "You will surely remember that my soul is bowed in me." So he adds, "But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope." And the fact that he was still alive, bowed under the weight of his troubles, was itself evidence of mercy.
Being bowed down within is not the end of faith. Jeremiah is left holding on to God Himself, in place of the outward things that once tied the people to Him:
Jehovah, known in his heart, now takes the place of the ordinances that bound the people to Him. His soul reaches out in confidence to the One who was within and beyond all those links. He feels and speaks from the place of affliction. But his soul is humbled within him as he deals with Jehovah personally like this, and so he has hope. And this is a sure and immovable anchor of faith when God our Father is truly known.
The struggling stops before the hope starts. Jeremiah stops fighting and sits with what happened:
He can do no more, and his cries and struggles cease. With a humbled heart, he dwells on his experience. He remembers his affliction and misery, the wormwood and the gall. He is like a man sitting before the dying embers on his hearth, back bent, head bowed in his hands and misery in his heart, while the winter storm moans and beats about his house. This prophet was a stricken man, and a stricken man has lost his illusions. A man with no illusions is more likely to think straight than one who lives in dreams.
The same trial does not leave the same thing behind in every heart:
A trial never visits a heart without bringing an experience with it. Everything depends on what that experience is. It may be the bitterness and resentment of a will that will not bend. It may be the indifference of a proud and unbroken heart. Or it may be the sustaining mercies and compassion of the Lord. It must be one of these three. If it is the last — and this is always the experience of the humbled and contrite spirit — then the way is open for hope to enter, not as a visitor only, but to stay as a most blessed companion.
- Remember it all. Jeremiah does not push the affliction out of his mind. He traces it to God's hand, not to his persecutors.
- Remember and be bowed. The memory humbles him, and that is where the book turns. At his lowest point, confidence starts to form.
- Remembered by God. Some read the verse as his certainty that God will remember his bowed soul; on either reading, hope rises out of it.
- Remember what is left. God Himself takes the place of the outward things that bound the people to Him — a sure and immovable anchor.
- Remember rightly. A trial leaves behind resentment, indifference, or the Lord's sustaining mercy. Only a humbled spirit makes room for hope to stay.
-- This I recall to heart, therefore have I hope.
Jeremiah has just said that his strength and his hope have perished. Nothing in his circumstances has changed, yet now he says he has hope. Everything turns on one small word: "therefore". He has called something to mind, and it is strong enough to turn a funeral song into confidence.
The chapter so far is an unbroken account of misery. Verse 21 is where a crushed man stops sinking and begins to trust.
Yet there is the very point of change. From verse 19 he spreads out everything before Jehovah and asks Him to remember it. His soul lies completely crushed, and out of that he begins to form confidence... This is not Christ Himself speaking, but it is certainly the Spirit of Christ leading an afflicted and broken heart. Weeping may endure for a night; but joy comes in the morning.
Hope here is not a mood that arrives from nowhere. The grammar of the verse ties it to a reason already given.
This is the word that introduces a conclusion drawn from something already said. "Therefore" looks in two directions... It looks backward to the cause that is enough to support it, and forward to the consequence that cannot fail. The consequence in Jeremiah's case was HOPE. "Therefore," he says, "I have hope." That is an inspiring thing to have. Without it life would be impossible. With it the heart grows strong to meet any trial — if, of course, the hope is not a false one.
Commentators differ on what "this" points to. One reads verse 21 as looking forward, to the reason given in the lines that follow.
I have no doubt that the prophet spells out in the verses that follow the ground of hope he laid to heart in verse 21: "It is of Jehovah's mercies that we are not consumed, because His mercies fail not. They are new every morning: great is Your faithfulness. Jehovah is my portion; therefore I will hope in Him." That last line confirms that verse 21 looks ahead, and that here the real spring of hope is reached.
Another writer traces the hope to God's promise to remember him, and adds that Jeremiah was still alive at all.
He had asked the Lord to remember his affliction and misery, and hope arose from the confidence that God would surely do this. His continuing to live, while bowed under the weight of his troubles, was itself evidence of mercy. This point in his past history fits exactly the condition of the city and the nation at that moment. Great as the desolation of the city was, and the trials of the nation, they were not consumed... They deserved to be swept off the earth, but God in mercy had stepped in.
Hope here grows out of the least promising material. One writer explains this with a picture from the fields.
How deeply the ploughman thrusts his blade into the soil, leaving a gaping furrow behind him! What is all this determined labour for? A great purpose! The seed-basket follows the plough, and the farmer casts golden grain into the furrowed ground... But the field would yield no harvest if it were not first cut and seamed and ploughed. Because the ploughshare does its work in the soil, there is hope. Has the ploughshare of adversity or sorrow left deep furrows in your soul? "Therefore have hope." The good seed of the Word can take no root in an unprepared heart.
Not every sufferer reaches Jeremiah's conclusion. What a trial leaves behind depends on the state of the heart it visits.
Never did a trial visit any heart without bringing an experience with it. Everything depends on what that experience is. It may be the bitterness and resentment of an unsubdued will. It may be the indifference of a proud and unbroken heart. Or it may be the sustaining mercies and compassion of the Lord. It must be one of these three. The last is always the experience of the humbled and contrite spirit. Then the way opens for hope to enter, not as a visitor only, but to stay as a most blessed companion.
Hope is not named only here. One writer counts it through the chapter, and names what it waits for.
In this third chapter, the middle one of the book, the man of affliction of verse 1 speaks of "HOPE" three times, in verses 21, 24 and 29. In verse 26 the word is "wait". But wait for what? For the salvation of God. God has secured that salvation in Christ, raised from among the dead, for Israel and for us also.
- Turn. Verse 21 is the hinge of the chapter. From total collapse the prophet begins to form confidence, and night weeping gives way to morning joy.
- Therefore. The word looks back to a cause strong enough to bear it, and forward to a result that cannot fail. Hope is a conclusion, not a mood.
- Ground. Commentators differ on the "this". Some point forward to the mercies that never fail. Others point to God's promise to remember, with Jeremiah still alive as proof that God stepped in.
- Plough. Sorrow cuts the soul open the way a plough opens soil — the wound is what makes the seed able to take root.
- Choice. Every trial leaves resentment, indifference, or the Lord's mercy known. Only the last opens the way for hope to move in and stay.