Thou hast covered thyself with anger, and pursued us; thou hast slain, thou hast not spared.
Lamentations 3 climbs to its highest point of hope, then drops back in verse 43 to the siege and names God as the one behind the ruin. Can faith say that and still call Him good?
The confession does not soften what happened or shift the blame elsewhere. One writer notes that admitting it to God costs more, not less, than admitting it to anyone else.
Next the prophet describes the ways of God's displeasure with His people openly, with nothing hidden or toned down. This was true. It was right both to feel it and to admit it, though admitting it to such a God makes it far more painful.
The enemies boasted that they had taken the city. The same writer answers them.
It was Jehovah who had done the work of destruction, and He did it because of His people's sin. The nations could boast as they liked of their power over Jerusalem... "He has thrown down and has not pitied."... It is deeply sorrowful that His hand had done it all. Yet it is a comfort to faith, because it is the hand that can and will build up again for His name's sake. And the chastening was not sudden: from the earliest days Jehovah had warned and foretold through Moses what Jeremiah now sets out in detail.
Verse 43 follows straight on from the confession in verse 42. They confess, and nothing changes.
In verses 40-42 the call is to self-judgment. "Let us test and examine our ways, and return to the LORD. Let us lift up our hearts and hands to God in heaven. We have transgressed and rebelled, and you have not forgiven." It was just, but staggering, to find no sign of pardon in His ways.
Writers read this silence in two ways. The first is a warning about praying while still holding on to sin:
There is an important lesson here. It is useless to pray while persisting in sin... Obedience gives confidence. You cannot ask in faith while clinging to something that grieves the Holy Spirit and dishonours the Lord Jesus Christ. If prayer is not answered, if the heavens seem like brass, it is a solemn sign of a wrong state of soul. It should lead to self-judgment, and to giving up every evil way.
The second is more surprising. Asking God to lift the discipline can itself be the wrong prayer:
Sometimes it is not right for a believer to ask God to lift a chastening. If someone prays that way without understanding, it is a mercy that the prayer is not heard. And so it was for Jerusalem then. God's sentence had to run its course, however truly He would show His care for the godly in such sorrow.
The pursuit in verse 43 is not God's settled attitude. The chapter said so a few verses earlier.
"For the Lord will not cast off forever, but, though He cause grief, He will have compassion according to the abundance of His steadfast love. For He does not afflict from His heart or grieve the children of men." This is what confirms hope, and without hope no one can endure or find comfort. His chastenings of Israel are measured and will end. The same is true of His righteous rule over us now.
The one under the blow can even come to prefer God's hand to any other:
He begins to feel that, after all, it is better to deal with Jehovah. Yet from another side this made it all the more painful. He feels that it is good to be afflicted, and to wait on Jehovah who smites: for He will not cast off forever. He does not afflict willingly, but out of necessity... It is right to feel an affliction like this. The only harm is letting it weaken confidence in the Lord.
One writer also reads these verses as a pattern for a future generation in Israel. He calls them a remnant — the faithful few left when the nation has failed.
From verse 40 on, the passage describes a real return. First comes self-examination... then prayer... then confession: "We have transgressed and rebelled; you have not forgiven." This is a prophecy of how a Jewish remnant will repent at the end of this present age, just before the Lord is revealed in visible glory.
- Own it. The verse does not blame the enemy nations. The hand behind the ruin is God's, and faith says so plainly.
- Then confess. Verse 43 follows verse 42's "we have transgressed" — real self-judgment can still meet no sign of pardon yet.
- Expect silence. Prayer that clings to sin has no claim on God. Unanswered prayer should send us to self-examination, not complaint.
- Accept the sentence. Sometimes the mercy is that God does not lift the discipline, because the sentence must run its course.
- Wait for the end. The anger is measured and will end. He does not afflict willingly, and the hand that threw down will build again.
Thou hast covered thyself with a cloud, that prayer should not pass through.
Jerusalem lies in ruins, and the people find that their prayers hit a ceiling. God Himself put the barrier there — so what do you do when heaven seems closed?
This line does not stand alone. It follows an honest admission in verses 40-42 that the people had brought it on themselves.
Then in verses 40-42 self-judgment is the word of exhortation. "Let us test and examine our ways, and return to the LORD! Let us lift up our hearts and hands to God in heaven. We have transgressed and rebelled, and you have not forgiven." It was just, but overwhelming, to find no sign of pardon in His ways.
The cloud has a reason, and it lies with the people praying under it.
There is an important lesson here. It is useless to pray while persisting in sin. The man who does not seek to walk with God has no right to expect anything from Him. "Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart." "If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you" (Psalm 37:4; John 15:7). This is the key to answered prayer. Obedience gives confidence. It is impossible to ask in faith while holding on to something that grieves the Holy Spirit and dishonours the Lord Jesus Christ. If prayer is not answered, if the heavens seem like brass, it is a solemn sign of a wrong state of soul. It should lead to self-judgment and to forsaking every evil way.
Some prayers ask God to lift a discipline He sent on purpose. Granting them would be the worse outcome.
Next the prophet sets out the ways of God's displeasure with His people, without disguise or softening. This was true; and it was right both to feel it and to own it, though owning it to such a God makes it far more painful. … There are times when it is not fitting for the saint to ask God to lift a chastening. If prayer were made that way in ignorance, it would be a mercy for God not to hear it. And so it was for Jerusalem then. The sentence God passed had to run its course. Even so, He would show His care for the godly in that sorrow.
Under discipline, most people want out before they want answers.
With most of us, I fear, the first aim is to get out of the place of discipline any way we can. We want out without the breaking down before God that leads to searching and testing our ways. This is where Judah failed so badly. God sent the king of Babylon against them because of their sins, and they turned to the king of Egypt for help, in plain defiance of the word of the Lord. But they had to learn in a practical way the bitterness of departure from God.
Jeremiah tells his own story earlier in the chapter. It matches the nation's point for point, and that match is why he tells it.
He had known what it was to cry and shout, and have his prayer shut out from God. The nation could say, "You have wrapped yourself with a cloud so that no prayer can pass through." … But there was one difference between him and his people. God had brought him out of his affliction; they were still in theirs. … Here then was a man who had gone through affliction like theirs, and God had delivered him. This gives hope, and this is how they are supported in this book.
The cloud is not the last word in this chapter.
But prayer can be effective even in distresses like these, and it has proved so. The following verses show it, as with Jeremiah. "I called on your name, O LORD, from the depths of the pit; you heard my plea, 'Do not close your ear to my cry for help!' You came near when I called on you; you said, 'Do not fear!'" (vv. 55-57).
- Cloud. A heaven like brass is a signal, not an accident. Prayer offered while you hold on to sin cannot get through.
- Cause. The people name the cause in verse 42: they had transgressed and rebelled. The cloud answers their own confession; it is not a riddle.
- Mercy. Some requests are better refused. To cancel a discipline God sent would rob it of its work.
- Cure. The answer is not a faster escape but searching and testing our ways. Judah ran to Egypt instead of breaking down before God.
- Comfort. Jeremiah had his own prayer shut out, and God brought him out. By verse 57 the answer reaches him in the pit: "Do not fear!"
Thou hast made us the offscouring and refuse in the midst of the peoples.
The speaker talks to God, not about Him, and traces his nation's disgrace among the peoples back to God's own hand. The words come straight after the complaint that prayer cannot get through, so they raise a hard question: what should a believer do when God's discipline seems sealed shut? (Older translations read "offscouring and refuse" where the ESV has "scum and garbage.")
after
The prophet names God as the cause. One writer explains why a sufferer should sometimes not ask God to lift the chastening:
Next the prophet sets out the ways of God's displeasure with His people, with no disguise and no softening. This was true. It was right both to feel it and to own it. But owning it to such a God makes it far more painful… Sometimes it does not suit a saint to ask God to remove a chastening. If someone prayed that way in ignorance, it would be a mercy for God not to hear it. And so it was for Jerusalem then. God's sentence had to take its course. Even in such sorrowful circumstances, He would still prove His care for the godly.
Why would prayer not get through? One writer points to the state of the person praying:
There is an important lesson here. It is useless to pray while you keep on in sin. The man who does not seek to walk with God has no right to expect anything from Him… Obedience gives confidence. You cannot ask in faith while you cling to something that grieves the Holy Spirit and dishonours the Lord Jesus Christ. If prayer goes unanswered, if the heavens seem like brass, that is a solemn sign of a wrong state of soul. It should lead to self-judgment and to forsaking every evil way.
One writer names the instinct that stops discipline doing its work:
With most of us, I fear, the first aim is to escape the place of discipline any way we can. We avoid the breaking down before God that leads us to search and test our ways. It was here that Judah so badly failed. God sent the king of Babylon against them because of their sins. They turned to the king of Egypt for help, in plain defiance of the word of the Lord. But they had to learn in a practical way how bitter it is to depart from God.
One writer sees more than history here. He expects the same words from a future faithful group in Israel:
Beginning with verse 40, we see a real return. There is self-examination… Then comes confession: "We have transgressed and have rebelled; You have not pardoned." This is a prophecy of the repentance of a Jewish remnant. It comes when this present age ends and the Lord is about to appear in visible glory… Such will also be the complaint of the suffering remnant.
The older word "offscouring" turns up again in the New Testament. One writer sets the boastful Corinthians beside Paul:
They were laying hold of these benefits and saying they are ours. It puffed them up. It produced all kinds of strife and envy and bad blood where peace and love should have held sway. They were reigning as kings, these people who could boast that Christ was theirs. Meanwhile Paul and his fellow-apostles fully owned that they were Christ's, and they were the offscouring of all things… Paul could not reign where Christ was crucified. He had to be as his Lord.
One writer contrasts how the prophet ends the book with what Christ saw ahead:
The prophet finds God's presence in the last chapter. Even so, he closes the book with no apparent ray of hope… But here again Christ is different from the prophet, for He fully entered into all of it. He looked first to the moment of resurrection for Himself; then to the national resurrection and restoration of Israel… He knew that the sufferings came before the glory.
- Owned. The verse names God as the one who brought the shame. Saying so is the right response, not rebellion.
- Shut. A heaven like brass calls you to examine your heart, not to pray harder for relief.
- Searched. The usual instinct is to escape discipline. The turning point comes when you stop escaping and let it work.
- Shared. The same word of contempt returns in the New Testament. There it marks those who would not reign in a world that crucified Christ.
- Sure. Christ entered fully into this place. He knew the sufferings came before the glory, so the lament is not the last word.