Lamentations 5:19-22 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Thou, O Lord, remainest for ever Though, for our sins, thou hast suffered these calamities to befall us, and our throne, through thy righteous providence, is thrown down; yet thou art still the same God that thou ever wast: thy power is not diminished, nor thy goodness abated. Thou still governest the world, and orderest all the events of it, and shalt rule it, and superintend its affairs, for ever and ever. Thou art, therefore, always able to help us, and art thou not as willing as able? Is it possible thou shouldest be unmindful of the promises which thou hast made to thy people? Our hope, therefore, is still in thee, unto whom we look for mercy and deliverance. Wherefore dost thou forget us, &c. Wherefore dost thou act toward us, in the dispensations of thy providence, as if thou hadst forgotten us, and forsaken us, and that for a long time? Turn thou us unto thee, O Lord Turn us unto thyself from our sins and idols, by a sincere repentance and thorough conversion; and we shall be turned Effectually and lastingly turned to thee, so as to turn from thee no more. Renew our days as of old Restore us to that happiness and prosperity which we formerly enjoyed. But thou hast utterly rejected us Hebrew, כיאם מאס מאסתנו, which, it seems, should rather be rendered, For surely thou hast cast us off, &c., the prophet, in this verse, assigning the reason of the preceding application. For God's having rejected his people, and expressed great indignation against them, was the cause and ground of their pleading with him, and praying thus earnestly to be restored to his favour and the enjoyment of their ancient privileges. The Jewish rabbins, because they would not have the book to conclude with the melancholy words of this verse, repeat after them the prayer of the preceding verse, namely, Turn thou us unto thee, &c., a prayer which we cannot too frequently, or too fervently, address to God, for ourselves and others. And surely the fervent zeal with which the prophet beseeches the Lord to have compassion on his people, should excite us, at all times, to pray earnestly to him, especially for the protection, safety, and prosperity of his church, and the supply of all its wants, whether it be exposed to persecutions and sufferings on the one hand, or the assaults of infidelity, impiety, and vice on the other. We may learn also, from this humble and earnest prayer of the prophet for the restoration of the Jewish nation, that, when God corrects us, and afflicts us, even with the greatest severity, we must not despond or restrain prayer before him, but have recourse to him by true repentance and faith, and implore his pardoning mercy and renewing grace, as the only way to obtain the light of his countenance, and a restoration to our former state of peace, tranquillity, and comfort.