The Book Of Lamentations – Part 28 – Persecution Of The Righteous With Schemes And Actions; Wickedness Hates Good - Chapter 3:61-62 Series

THE BOOK OF LAMENTATIONS – PART 28 – PERSECUTION OF THE RIGHTEOUS WITH SCHEMES AND ACTIONS; WICKEDNESS HATES GOOD - CHAPTER 3:61-62

PART [56]. GOD AGAIN HAS HEARD

{{Lamentations 3:61 “You have heard their reproach, O LORD, ALL THEIR SCHEMES AGAINST ME.”}}

There is parallelism here with the previous verse. The only difference in English, the word “vengeance” is replaced by “reproach”. What is the difference between these words in the Hebrew?

The word “reproach” is insults, scorn, taunts, even mockery. What did they do to the Lord? They mocked Him even on the cross; they hurled insults at Him, especially the Pharisees; He wore the insults of a satanic crowd. {{Matthew 27:41-44 In the same way the chief priests also, along with the scribes and elders, WERE MOCKING HIM and saying, “He saved others - He cannot save Himself. He is the King of Israel - let Him now come down from the cross and we shall believe in Him. He trusts in God - let Him deliver Him now if He takes pleasure in Him for He said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” The robbers also who had been crucified with Him were CASTING THE SAME INSULT AT HIM.”}}

The word “vengeance” is plain straight vengeance, which is a mixture of hatred and taking wicked actions to injure, hurt or kill the other person. The AV/KJV translates as malice.

Who is the “me” ending verse 61? As I have mentioned several times in this chapter, we do wonder if it is Jeremiah speaking of himself, or Jeremiah speaking on behalf of the suffering people as well. We did see on many occasions that the text could allow both applications, though the primary one is probably connected with the prophet himself in these closing verses of the chapter.

If we adopt the latter one for Verse 61, then this is Jeremiah’s appeal to the LORD to take note of what the people are doing to him. He had already suffered much at their hands and at those of the king. It will always be the same conditions for a faithful servant of God. The enemy makes sure the righteous do not get the support of the world in that the world heeds, but will be the recipient of their scorn, mockery and insults. The true soldier must be prepared for battle and God’s people follow this directive – {{Ephesians 6:11-12 “Put on the full armour of God, that you may be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil, for our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.”}}

In verse 60 Jeremiah could say, “YOU HAVE SEEN all their vengeance, all their schemes against me.” YES, God had seen it; God always sees it, but here in verse 61 we have the word “heard”. God has heard it. He always hears that which affects His own children, and misses nothing. In Jeremiah’s case God both saw and heard. Of course that might be simplistic, but God knows everything even before it happens because He knows the end from the beginning. We can’t explain all that as it is too infinite for us for our tiny minds.

The next question we might ask is, “Who is giving Jeremiah all this grief? Is it the Babylonians, or the ones who used to be the officials, or the survivors at Jerusalem, the ones this chapter has featured?” In verse 61 Jeremiah adds at the end of the verse “all their schemes against me.” Who was scheming against Jeremiah? We know the officials and the rulers did that before the devastating defeat of the nation, but this is written after the overthrow, so who are they? Jeremiah seems to flip back and forth sometimes but I am sure it was not the Babylonians causing him personal trouble because of these verses – {{Jeremiah 39:11-14 “Now Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon GAVE ORDERS ABOUT JEREMIAH through Nebuzaradan the captain of the bodyguard, saying, “TAKE HIM AND LOOK AFTER HIM, and do nothing harmful to him; but rather deal with him just as he tells you.” So Nebuzaradan the captain of the bodyguard sent word, along with Nebushazban the Rab-saris, and Nergal-sar-ezer the Rab-mag, and all the leading officers of the king of Babylon; they even sent and took Jeremiah out of the court of the guardhouse and entrusted him to Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, to take him home. So he stayed among the people.}}

To be frank I do not know. I won’t make anything up I can’t prove. I did do a search for an answer and no credible commentator says a thing. All are silent.