Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Lamentations 5:20

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

A prayer for mercy (5:1-22)

This poem was apparently written in Judah some time after the fall of Jerusalem. Only the people of no use to Babylon were left in the land, and this poem reflects the hardships they faced (cf. Jeremiah 52:16).

In a plea to God for mercy, the people remind him of their present shame (5:1). Death has broken up their families, and the invaders have taken over their houses and lands (2-3). They live and work like slaves in their own country, and have to buy water from their foreign overlords (4-5). Their ancestors tried to keep the nation alive by seeking help from Egypt and Assyria, but they actually brought the nation to ruin. Now the people have to submit to Babylonian guards who are little more than slaves (6-8).
Conditions in Judah are terrible. The people have to search the barren country regions for food, and in doing so they risk death from desert bandits (9-10). Judean women are raped, former leaders are tortured, and children are forced to work like slaves (11-13). The old way of life has gone, and with it has gone all celebration and rejoicing (14-15). People everywhere are unhappy, discouraged and ashamed. They acknowledge that their sin has brought all this upon them (16-18).
In a final desperate plea, the people cry to the sovereign ruler of the world not to reject them but to bring them back to himself. They ask that he will restore their nation and give them the happiness they once enjoyed. God is eternal and unchangeable, and they are his people; surely he will not forget them (19-22).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

THE FINAL TRIUMPHANT APPEAL TO GOD

"Thou, O Jehovah, abidest forever; Thy throne is from generation to generation. Wherefore dost thou forget us forever, And forsake us so long time? Turn thou us unto thee, O Jehovah, and we shall be turned. Renew our days as of old. But thou hast utterly rejected us; thou art very wroth against us."

"Thy throne is from generation to generation" "Although the crown has fallen from the head of David's dynasty (Lamentations 5:16), which has been sent crashing to the earth, the throne of God still abides."The New Bible Commentary, Revised (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdman's Publishing Company, 1970), p. 663.

"A noble faith is awakened here, finding its expression in the wonderful words from Psalms 80, `Turn us again, O Jehovah,' thus laying upon Jehovah the task of initiating Israel's restoration: Thou must give us the compelling spirit, else we can do nothing."Peake's Bible Commentary by Arthur S. Peake (Edinburgh: T. C. and E. C. Jack, Ltd., 1924), p. 500.

"Wherefore dost thou forget us forever" Adam Clarke agreed that these words should be read interrogatively, "Wilt thou be angry with us for ever"?Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (London: T. Mason and G. Lane, 1837), Vol. 4, p. 416. The words carry the thought, "Surely, O God, thou wilt not be angry with the people for ever."

"Turn thou us unto thee, O Jehovah" This is important. Paul may plant, Apollos may water, but "only God can give the increase." (1 Corinthians 3:6). Men cannot `stir up' a revival. Only God must inspire men to turn from wickedness unto the God of all creation.

Calvin's Commentary on the Bible

He seems, indeed, here to expostulate with God; but the faithful, even when they patiently bear their evils, and submit to God’s scourges, do yet familiarly deposit their complaints in his bosom, and thus unburden themselves. We see that David prayed, and no doubt by the real impulse of the Spirit, and at the same time expostulated,

“Why dost thou forget me perpetually?” (Psalms 13:1.)

Nor is there a doubt but that the Prophet took this complaint from David. Let us, then, know, that though the faithful sometimes take this liberty of expostulating with God, they yet do not put off reverence, modesty, submission, or humility. For when the Prophet thus inquired why God should for ever forget his people and forsake them, he no doubt relied on his own prophecies, which he knew had proceeded from God, and thus he deferred his hope until the end of the seventy years, for that time had been prefixed by God. But it was according to human judgment that he complained in his own person, and in that of the faithful, that the affliction was long; nor is there a doubt but that he dictated this form of prayer to the faithful, that k might be retained after his death. He, then, formed this prayer, not only according to his own feeling, and for the direction to those of his own age; but his purpose was to supply the faithful with a prayer after his own death, so that they might flee to the mercy of God.

We now, then, perceive how complaints of this kind ought to be understood, when the prophets asked, “How long?” as though they stimulated God to hasten the time; for it cannot be, when we are pressed down by many evils, but that we wish help to be accelerated; for faith does not wholly strip us of all cares and anxieties. But when we thus pray, let us remember that our times are at the will and in the hand of God, and that we ought not to hasten too much. It is, then, lawful for us on the one hand to ask God to hasten; but, on the other hand, we ought to check our impatience and wait until the suitable time comes. Both these things the Prophet no doubt joined together when he said, Why shouldest thou, perpetually forget us and forsake us? ⁽²³⁸⁾

We yet see that he judged according to the evils then endured; and doubtless he believed that God had not forsaken his own people nor forgotten them, as no oblivion can happen to him. But, as I have already said, the Prophet mentioned these complaints through human infirmity, not that men might indulge themselves in their own thoughts, but that they might ascend by degrees to God and overcome all these temptations. It follows, —

(238)  

Why shouldest thou to the end forget us —
Forsake us for the length of our days?

“To the end,” or perpetually, and “the length of our days,” are the same. The length of days, as it appears from Psalms 23:6, means the extent of the present life; the phrase is there used as synonymous with all the days of one’s life. Might not the Prophet here refer to the life of those then living? As to restoration after seventy years, he could have had no doubt. He seems to have pleaded for the restoration of the generation then living. — Ed.

Smith's Bible Commentary

Chapter 5

Fifth lamentation:

Remember, O LORD, what is come upon us: consider, and behold our reproach. Our inheritance is turned to strangers, our houses to aliens. We are orphans, fatherless, our mothers are as widows. We have drunken our water for money ( Lamentations 5:1-4 );

We had to pay for a drink of water.

and our wood is sold to us. Our necks are under persecution: we labor, we have no rest. We have given the hand to the Egyptians and to the Assyrians, to be satisfied with bread. Our fathers have sinned, and are not; and we have borne their iniquities. Servants have ruled over us: there is none that doth deliver us out of their hand. We got our bread with the peril of our lives, because of the sword of the wilderness. Our skin was black like an oven, because of the terrible famine ( Lamentations 5:4-10 ).

As a result of the starvation that the skin just turning black and leathery.

They ravished the women in Zion, and the maids in the cities of Judah ( Lamentations 5:11 ).

The enemies had come in. It must have been a horrible thing. The fathers to see their wives and their young daughters ravished by the enemy, raped and all and then murdered.

Princes have been hung by their thumbs: the faces of elders were not honored. They took the young men to grind in bondage, and the children had to carry the wood. The elders have ceased from the gate, the young men from their music. The joy of our heart is ceased; our dance is turned into mourning. The crown is fallen from our head: woe unto us, that we have sinned! For this our heart is faint; for these things our eyes are dim. Because of the mountain of Zion, which is desolate, the foxes walk upon it. Thou, O LORD, remains for ever; thy throne from generation to generation. Wherefore does thou forget us for ever, and forsake us so long a time? Turn thou us unto thee, O LORD, and we shall be turned; renew our days as of old ( Lamentations 5:12-21 ).

Therein is the answer, "Oh God, turn our hearts to Thee. Renew that relationship that we once had with You." You remember Jesus said to the church of Ephesus, "I have this against thee, in that you have left your first love. Remember from whence you have fallen and repent and do thy first works over." Oh God, return us to that first love. Lord, return us unto thee. But he ends with a sad note of dejection.

But thou hast utterly rejected us; thou art very angry against us ( Lamentations 5:22 ).

What a sad, tragic book that never needed to be written had the people only hearkened unto the voice of God. This whole black period of history needed not to be. God warned them over and over and over again. He sent His prophets, warning them over and over of the destruction that was going to come, but they would not give heed to the word of God or to the warnings from God. But God is faithful, and that which God declared He did. And today God is warning this world of His judgment, which is going to fall. And that which happened to Jerusalem is going to happen to this whole godless world.

There is coming a devastation, a holocaust, such as the world has never seen before or will ever see again. Jesus in describing the days that are coming said, "And in that day, there shall be a Great Tribulation such as the world has never seen before or will ever see again." The only safe place for you to be is in Christ. If you are in Christ He will keep you from that hour that is coming upon the earth. But if you're outside of Christ, as in Hebrews, "There remains only that fearful looking forward to the fiery indignation of God's wrath which will devour His adversaries. For if he who despised Moses' law was put to death, of how much worse punishment do you suppose he is accounted worthy who has trodden under foot the Son of God? And is accounted the blood of His covenant, wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing and has done despite to the Spirit of grace? For we know Him who has said, 'It is a fearful thing to fall in the hands of a living God'" ( Hebrews 10:27-31 ).

God has promised His judgment is going to come upon this wicked world. God is faithful and will keep His promise. But Jesus said, "Pray ye always that you'll be accounted worthy to escape all of these things and to stand before the Son of man" ( Luke 21:36 ). And I am praying and believing God to answer my prayer that I will escape this great time of tribulation when the wrath of God is poured out upon the earth, and I expect to be standing before the Son of man when it all happens.

Book of Revelation, chapter 5, "And there was in the right hand of Him that sat upon the throne, a scroll with writing within and without and sealed with seven seals. And I heard the angels say with a great voice, 'Who is worthy to take the scroll and loose the seals thereof?' And I, John began to weep, sob convulsively because no one was found worthy to take the scroll or to loose the seals. And the elder said unto me, 'Weep not, behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah hath prevailed to take the scroll and to loose the seals.' And I turned and I saw Him as a Lamb that had been slaughtered. And He came forth and took the scroll out of the right hand of Him who sat upon the throne. And the twenty four elders brought forth their golden vials full of odors, which were the prayers of the saints. And they offered them before the throne of God and they sang a new song saying, 'Worthy is the Lamb to take the scroll and loose the seals, for He was slain and has redeemed us by His blood. Out of every nation and tribe, and tongue and people, and He has made us unto our God, kings and priests and we're going to reign with Him on the earth'" ( Revelation 5:1-10 ).

You see, that's where I plan to be. Standing before the Son of God, singing of the worthiness of the Lamb who died for me, who has redeemed me from among the families of the people on the earth. Only the redeemed church can sing that song. Angels can't sing that song; they haven't been redeemed by the blood of Jesus. That's not the song of Israel, because they come from all of the nations and family of people on the earth. That's the song of the redeemed church before the throne of God. Angels can sing the chorus. They do. A hundred million join in, plus millions of others, as they say, "Worthy is the Lamb to receive glory and honor and dominion and might and power and authority." They join the chorus, but they can't sing the verse, that's yours.

"And when He loosed the first seal, I heard a voice that said, 'Come,' and I saw a white horse and his rider going forth upon the earth, conquering and to conquer" ( Revelation 6:1-2 ). There begins the Great Tribulation. And he begins then from chapter 6 on through to chapter 18 describing the events that are going to take place upon the earth when God judges man for their wickedness and for their sin. God is faithful. He's going to do it. There is only one safe place for anyone to be. That's in Christ Jesus. I'm glad I'm there. I don't expect to be any place else. I don't want to be. Why should I be? I'm so happy here in Christ.

Shall we pray.

Father, we thank You for that secret place abiding in the presence of the Almighty, dwelling in Christ. Oh, Father, how we thank You that You have provided for us a place of refuge, safety in Christ. Lord, I pray for those that are here tonight who are not in Christ. Oh God, may they seriously consider the faithfulness of God, even as He kept His word and destroyed Jerusalem, so will He keep His word and judge this world. For God is faithful. Lord, may we turn from our sin, from our idolatries, from our wicked ways, and may we serve the Lord with our whole heart. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

If you're not sure that you're a child of God, I wouldn't leave this place tonight until I was. I mean, I'm serious. We're living in desperate days. And really as Jeremiah exhorts, it's time really that we just not cease in prayer unto God. For the people round about us, we will make intercession for our nation, for each other, for these are truly the last days, and Satan is going about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. And he's ripping off an awful lot of those from the church. Leading them into life, a life of sin. A life of self seeking, living after pleasure, and walking after the flesh. And the mind of the flesh is death. I wouldn't leave tonight until I had a deep assurance that things are square between God and me.

You can go back to the prayer room as soon as we're dismissed. Some of the pastors will go back there and pray with you.

God bless, God keep, and may God lay upon your heart the awareness of the day and the hour in which we live, and the need of an all out effort in our service for Jesus Christ. And may the Lord use you in a very special way, as His instrument to bring His love to this needy world. In Jesus' name. "

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

B. A plea for restoration by Yahweh 5:19-22

The writer now turned from reviewing the plight of the people to consider the greatness of their God.

"In Lamentations 5:19-20 the writer carefully chose his words to summarize the teaching of the entire book by using the split alphabet to convey it. Lamentations 5:19 embraces the first half of the alphabet by using the aleph word (. . . ’you’) to start the first half of the verse, and the kaph word (. . . ’throne’) to start the second half. This verse reiterates the theology of God’s sovereignty expressed throughout the book. He had the right to do as He chooses, humans have no right to carp at what He does. Wisdom teaching grappled with this concept and God’s speech at the end of the Book of Job, which does not really answer Job’s many sometimes querulous questions, simply avers that the God of the whirlwind cannot be gainsaid (Job 38-41). Job must accept who God is without criticism. Then Job bowed to this very concept (Job 42:1-6). Now the writer of Lamentations also bowed before the throne of God accepting the implications of such sovereignty. . . .

"One reason there is no full acrostic in chapter 5 may be that the writer wanted the emphasis to fall on these two verses near the conclusion of the book. In so doing, he has adroitly drawn attention to the only hope for people in despair." [Note: Heater, pp. 310-11.]

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

In view of God’s sovereignty, the prophet could not understand why the Lord waited so long to show His people mercy and restore them. It seemed as though He had forgotten all about them (cf. Lamentations 5:1).

Lamentations 5:21-22 amplify the creedal statement in Lamentations 5:19-20.

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

Wherefore dost thou, forget us for ever,.... Since thou art firm, constant, and unchangeable, and thy love and covenant the same. God seems to forget his people when he afflicts them, or suffers them to be oppressed, and does not arise immediately for their help; which being deferred some time, looks like an eternity to them, or they fear it will ever be so; at least this they say to express their eager desire after his gracious presence, and to show how much they prize it:

[and] forsake us so long time? or, "to length of days" d? so long as the seventy years' captivity; which to be forsaken of God, or to seem to be forsaken of him, was with them a long time.

d לארך ימים "in longitudinem dierum", Pagninus, Montanus.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      17 For this our heart is faint; for these things our eyes are dim.   18 Because of the mountain of Zion, which is desolate, the foxes walk upon it.   19 Thou, O LORD, remainest for ever; thy throne from generation to generation.   20 Wherefore dost thou forget us for ever, and forsake us so long time?   21 Turn thou us unto thee, O LORD, and we shall be turned; renew our days as of old.   22 But thou hast utterly rejected us; thou art very wroth against us.

      Here, I. The people of God express the deep concern they had for the ruins of the temple, more than for any other of their calamities; the interests of God's house lay nearer their hearts than those of their own (Lamentations 5:17; Lamentations 5:18): For this our heart is faint, and sinks under the load of its own heaviness; for these things our eyes are dim, and our sight is gone, as is usual in a deliquium, or fainting fit. "It is because of the mountain of Zion, which is desolate, the holy mountain, and the temple built upon that mountain. For other desolations our hearts grieve and our eyes weep; but for this our hearts faint and our eyes are dim." Note, Nothing lies so heavily upon the spirits of good people as that which threatens the ruin of religion or weakens its interests; and it is a comfort if we can appeal to God that that afflicts us more than any temporal affliction to ourselves. "The people have polluted the mountain of Zion with their sins, and therefore God has justly made it desolate, to such a degree that the foxes walk upon it as freely and commonly as they do in the woods." It is sad indeed when the mountain of Zion has become a portion for foxes (Psalms 63:10); but sin had first made it so, Ezekiel 13:4.

      II. They comfort themselves with the doctrine of God's eternity, and the perpetuity of his government (Lamentations 5:19; Lamentations 5:19): But thou, O Lord! remainest for ever. This they are taught to do by that psalm which is entitled, A prayer of the afflicted,Psalms 102:27; Psalms 102:28. When all our creature-comforts are removed from us, and our hearts fail us, we may then encourage ourselves with the belief, 1. Of God's eternity: Thou remainest for ever. What shakes the world gives no disturbance to him who made it; whatever revolutions there are on earth there is no change in the Eternal Mind; God is still the same, and remains for ever infinitely wise and holy, just and good; with him there is no variableness nor shadow of turning. 2. Of the never-failing continuance of his dominion: Thy throne is from generation to generation; the throne of glory, the throne of grace, and the throne of government, are all unchangeable, immovable; and this is matter of comfort to us when the crown has fallen from our head. When the thrones of princes, that should be our protectors, are brought to the dust, and buried in it, God's throne continues still; he still rules the world, and rules it for the good of the church. The Lord reigns, reigns for ever, even thy God, O Zion!

      III. They humbly expostulate with God concerning the low condition they were now in, and the frowns of heaven they were now under (Lamentations 5:20; Lamentations 5:20): "Wherefore dost thou forsake us so long time, as if we were quite deprived of the tokens of thy presence? Wherefore dost thou defer our deliverance, as if thou hadst utterly abandoned us? Thou art the same, and, though the throne of thy sanctuary is demolished, thy throne in heaven is unshaken. But wilt thou not be the same to us?" Not as if they thought God had forgotten and forsaken them, much less feared his forgetting and forsaking them for ever; but thus they express the value they had for his favour and presence, which they thought it long that they were deprived of the evidence and comfort of. The Lamentations 5:22 may be read as such an expostulation, and so the margin reads it: "For wilt thou utterly reject us? Wilt thou be perpetually wroth with us, not only not smile upon us and remember us in mercy, but frown upon us and lay us under the tokens of thy wrath, not only not draw nigh to us, but cast us out of thy presence and forbid us to draw nigh unto thee? How ill this be reconciled with thy goodness and faithfulness, and the stability of thy covenant?" We read it, "But thou hast rejected us; thou hast given us cause to fear that thou hast. Lord, how long shall we be in this temptation?" Note, Thou we may not quarrel with God, yet we may plead with him; and, though we may not conclude that he has cast off, yet we may (with the prophet, Jeremiah 12:1) humbly reason with him concerning his judgments, especially the continuance of the desolations of his sanctuary.

      IV. They earnestly pray to God for mercy and grace: "Lord, do not reject us for ever, but turn thou us unto thee; renew our days," Lamentations 5:21; Lamentations 5:21. Though these words are not put last, yet the Rabbin, because they would not have the book to conclude with those melancholy words (Lamentations 5:22), repeat this prayer again, that the sun may not set under a cloud, and so make these the last words both in writing and reading this chapter. They here pray, 1. For converting grace to prepare and qualify them for mercy: Turn us to thee, O Lord! They had complained that God had forsaken and forgotten them, and then their prayer is not, Turn thou to us, but, Turn us to thee, which implies an acknowledgment that the cause of the distance was in themselves. God never leaves any till they first leave him, nor stands afar off from any longer than while they stand afar off from him; if therefore he turn them to him in a way of duty, no doubt but he will quickly return to them in a way of mercy. This agrees with that repeated prayer (Psalms 80:3; Psalms 80:7; Psalms 80:19), Turn us again, and then cause thy face to shine. Turn us from our idols to thyself, by a sincere repentance and reformation, and then we shall be turned. This implies a further acknowledgment of their own weakness and inability to turn themselves. There is in our nature a proneness to backslide from God, but no disposition to return to him till his grace works in us both to will and to do. So necessary is that grace that we may truly say, Turn us or we shall not be turned, but shall wander endlessly; and so powerful and effectual is that grace that we may as truly say, Turn us, and we shall be turned; for it is a day of power, almighty power, in which God's people are made a willing people,Psalms 110:3. 2. For restoring mercy: Turn us to thee, and then renew our days as of old, put us into the same happy state that our ancestors were in long ago and that they continued long in; let it be with us as it was at the first, and at the beginning,Isaiah 1:26. Note, If God by his grace renew our hearts, he will be his favour renew our days, so that we shall renew our youth as the eagle,Psalms 103:5. Those that repent, and do their first works, shall rejoice, and recover their first comforts. God's mercies to his people have been ever of old (Psalms 25:6); and therefore they may hope, even then when he seems to have forsaken and forgotten them, that the mercy which was from everlasting will be to everlasting.