Page:05.BCOT.KD.PropheticalBooks.A.vol.5.GreaterProphets.djvu/1953

 for their hostile conduct towards him. And the assertion, that the writer is already speaking of his deliverance from their power, rests on the erroneous notion that, in Lam 3:55-66, he is treating of past events; whereas, the interchange of the perfects with imperatives of itself shows that the deliverance of which he there speaks is not an accomplished or bygone fact, but rather the object of that assured faith which contemplates the non-existent as existent. Lastly, the contrast between personal suffering ad the suffering of the people, on which the whole reasoning rests, is quite beside the mark. Moreover, if we take the lamentations to be merely symbolical, then the sufferings and persecutions of which the prophet here complains are not those of the people generally, but of the godly Israelites, on whom they were inflicted when the kingdom was destroyed, not merely by the Chaldeans, but also by their godless fellow-countrymen. Hence we cannot, of course, say that Jeremiah here speaks from personal experience; however, he complains not merely of the persecutions that befall him personally, but also of the sufferings that had come on him and all godly ones. The same remark applies to the conclusion of this lamentation, - the prayer, Lam 3:55-66, in which he entreats the Lord for deliverance, and in the spirit of faith views this deliverance as already accomplished.

Verses 55-66
Prayer for deliverance, and confident trust in its realization. Lam 3:55. "Out of the lowest pit I call, O Lord, on Thy name;" cf. Psa 88:7, Psa 88:14; Psa 130:1. The perfect קראתי is not a preterite, but expresses what has already happened, and still happens. This is evident from the fact that the corresponding perfect, שׁמעתּ, Lam 3:56, is continued by the optative אל־תּעלם. בּור תּחתּיּות is taken from Psa 88:7 : "pit of the lower regions of the earth,"-the תּחתּיּות ארץ, Psa 63:10;