John Calvin Commentary Lamentations 3:28

"Let him sit alone and keep silence, because he hath laid it upon him." — Lamentations 3:28 (ASV)

Here he shows the fruit of teachableness; for when God deals severely with His children, they still do not rebel, but even then they willingly submit to His authority. For why is it that so much impatience rages in men, except that they do not know what it is to obey God, to prepare themselves to bear the yoke? So then, men become furious like wild beasts, never tamed. Therefore, the Prophet now says, “Whoever is thus accustomed to the yoke of God, will also be silent in extreme evils, and remain quiet.” We now perceive what I have just said, that the fruit of teachableness and obedience is set forth in this verse.

But when he says that those who are thus trained to obey God will sit apart, he expresses most fittingly the strength and character of patience. For those who, for the most part, wish to appear magnanimous make a great display, and think that their valor is nothing unless they appear as if on a stage; they allow themselves at the same time unbridled liberty when they are alone. For those who seem the most valorous, unless God's fear and true religion prevail in their souls, rage against God and champ the bridle in adversities, though they may not make an outcry before men, for, as I have already said, they value display.

But here a very different account is given of patience: namely, that we are to sit alone and be silent. That is, even if no one were present as a witness, whose presence might make us feel ashamed; if we were even then to sit, and to submit with calm minds to God, and to take His yoke, we would thus prove our patience.

This verse then distinguishes between the simplicity of the godly and that willful display in which those delight who seek to obtain the praise of courage, patience, and perseverance from the world. For these also sit and speak words as if from heaven, and as if they had put off the flesh.

He who has lost a son will say that he had begotten a mortal; he who is stripped of all his goods will say, “All my things I carry with me.” Thus magnanimously do ungodly men speak, so that they appear to surpass in fortitude and firmness all the children of God.

But when they utter these grandiose words, what they are concerned with is the opinion men may form of them. But the faithful, what do they do? They sit apart; that is, though they might shamelessly cry out against God, they are quiet and submit to His will. We now understand what is meant by sitting apart.

Then he says, because he will carry it on himself. Some take נטל, nuthel, in a transitive sense, “he will cast it upon him.” But this is a forced interpretation. It would be a simpler meaning if we were to say, because he will carry or raise it on himself. The verb נטל, nuthel, means not only to carry, but also to elevate or raise up.

When, therefore, the Prophet says that it is an example of real patience when we carry it on ourselves, he means that we do not succumb under our adversities, nor are overwhelmed by them. For it is patience when it is not grievous to us to undergo any burdens which God may lay on us. And on this account, we are said to regard His yoke as not grievous—how so? Because it is pleasant to us. As, then, meekness thus lessens the heaviness of the burden, which would otherwise overwhelm us, the Prophet says that those who raise up on themselves all their troubles sit apart.

I do not, however, know whether this passage has been corrupted, for the expression does not seem natural to me. If we were to read עלו, olu, ‘His yoke,’ it would be more appropriate, and a reason would be given for what precedes: that the faithful sit apart and are silent before God because they bear His yoke. For the pronoun may be referred to God as well as to a person. But this is only a conjecture.