EXEGETICAL NOTES.—
(ל) Lamentations 3:34-36. The Lord does not afflict willingly, yet He is not indifferent to the injustice of man to man. All the details of human procedure are regarded by Him, and he would have men to know that He is on the throne judging right, that they may trust Him entirely, and that there is no evil needing to be grieved over but sin. Such is the intimation in this triad of verses, the three parts of which depend on the last clause: To trample under his feet—the feet of the oppressor—all prisoners of the earth; an allusion to the cruelties of the Chaldeans. Jews in exile, Jews in prisons, yes, and outraged captives everywhere, are referred to. He hears the sighing of the prisoner. To turn aside the right of a man, that which is grounded in the far-reaching nature of things formed by the Righteous One, before the face of the Most High. This phrase is illustrated by the wilderness legislation as to matters of trespass, The cause of both parties shall come before [God] Elohim, he whom Elohim shall condemn, &c. (Exodus 22:9). The phraseology obviously designates judges as acting in place of the Judge of all the earth, and is found used in later times (Psalms 82:6). To subvert a man in his cause, to act unfairly towards another in the ordinary pursuits of life, the Lord approveth not. Questioning this translation, Keil renders, Doth not the Lord look [to such doings as these]?
HOMILETICS
GOD AND HUMAN WRONG
I. God approves not wanton cruelty towards prisoners of war. “To crush under His feet all the prisoners of the earth” (Lamentations 3:34). Jeremiah was probably a daily witness of cruelties suffered by the captives. One of the greatest horrors of ancient warfare was the inhuman treatment of prisoners. Any exception to this, history does not fail to record as a remarkable example of clemency and forbearance. Few men can be trusted with unrestricted power. Where there is no fear of immediate consequences to himself, man rapidly develops into a monster of cruelty. The helplessness of captives appeals to the pity of the tyrant. Every act of inhumanity God not only disapproves, but will certainly punish.
II. God approves not the base attempt to procure an unjust sentence before any legal tribunal. “To turn aside the right of a man before the face of the Most High (Lamentations 3:35), of a superior, or before a legal tribunal acting in the name of God (Exodus 21:6; Exodus 22:8-9). An oppressor who would hesitate to commit an act of cruelty in public does not scruple to stoop to the basest arts in secret to pervert the course of justice. Happy is the nation where the judgment-seat is beyond the reach of corruption.
III. God approves not the perversion of justice in any case, or in any degree. “To subvert a man in his cause, the Lord approveth not” (Lamentations 3:36). No act of wrong, whether open or secret, can escape the All-seeing Jehovah, nor can it escape punishment. Tyranny is not supreme, and its reign is always short-lived. God is the implacable foe of all injustice; and the oppressed everywhere are sure to be relieved and vindicated.
LESSONS.—
1. Man’s inhumanity to man makes countless thousands mourn.
2. God is not an indifferent spectator of the wrong inflicted by one man upon another.
3. God will certainly interfere to redress all human wrongs.
GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES
Lamentations 3:34-36. The Divine character.
1. Gives dignity and significance to every legal tribunal.
2. Is a perpetual protest against every act of cruelty and injustice.
3. Is a guarantee that justice will be ultimately triumphant.
ILLUSTRATIONS.—The beginning of wrong. An old writer says, “A man who goes to law finds the court full of invisible hooks. First his cloak, then the skirts of his coat, then his sleeves, till everything is torn from him, and, like a gypsy, he escapes because there is no further hold upon him.” The youth who crosses the threshold of the court of vice will find those invisible hooks sharper and in greater abundance than in courts of law. Once caught, he will be hooked in every direction. One tempter will succeed another, each handing him over to the next. Thus snared and dragged from vice to vice, until denuded of every virtue, he will at last, in all probability, perish in unutterable woe.—Dr. Wise.
Justice expedited. Juvenalis, a widow, complained to Theodoric, king of the Romans, that a suit of hers had been in court three years. The king being informed who were her judges, gave orders that they should give all expedition to the poor woman’s cause, and in two days it was decided to her satisfaction. Theodoric then summoned the judges before him, and inquired how it was that they had done in two days what they had delayed for three years. “When I put you in office,” said the king, “did I not consign all pleas and proceedings to you? You deserve death for having delayed that justice for three years which two days could accomplish.” He commanded them to be beheaded.
Injustice and anger. There is an anger that is damnable: it is the anger of selfishness. There is an anger that is majestic as the frown of Jehovah’s brow: it is the anger of truth and love. If man meets with injustice, it is not required that he shall not be roused to meet it; but if he is angry after he has had time to think upon it, that is sinful. The flame is not wrong, but the coals are.—Beecher.
Suffering preferred to injustice. While Athens was ruled by the thirty tyrants, Socrates was summoned to the senate-house and ordered to go with some other persons to seize one Leon, a man of rank and fortune, whom they determined to put out of the way that they might enjoy his estate. The commission Socrates flatly refused, and, not satisfied therewith, added also his reasons for such refusal. “I will never willingly,” said he, “assist in an unjust act.” Cherides sharply replied, “Dost thou think, Socrates, to talk always in this style and not to suffer?” “Far from it,” added he, “I expect to suffer a thousand ills, but none so great as to do unjustly.”