This psalm purports, in the title, to be a “Prayer of the afflicted, when he is overwhelmed, and poureth out his complaint before the Lord.” It is a prayer, made up of earnest supplications, as of one who was in great affliction, whether he refers to his own individual sorrows, or whether he speaks... [ Continue Reading ]
HEAR MY PRAYER, O LORD - The prayer which I offer in view of my personal trials; the prayer which I offer as one of an afflicted people. Compare Psalms 4:1; Psalms 17:1; Psalms 18:6. AND LET MY CRY COME UNTO THEE - My prayer, accompanied with an outward expression of my earnestness. It was not a sil... [ Continue Reading ]
HIDE NOT THY FACE FROM ME - The Septuagint and the Latin Vulgate render this, “Do not turn away thy face from me.” The sense is essentially the same. The prayer is, that God would not refuse to look graciously upon him; that he would turn his attention to him; that he would regard his supplications.... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR MY DAYS ARE CONSUMED LIKE SMOKE - Margin, “into smoke.” Literally, “in smoke.” That is, They vanish as smoke; they pass away and become nothing; they are spent in affliction, and seem to accomplish nothing. The idea is, that in his affliction he seemed to accomplish none of the ends of life. His... [ Continue Reading ]
MY HEART IS SMITTEN - Broken; crushed with grief. We now speak of “a broken heart.” Even death is often caused by such excessive sorrow as to crush and break the heart. AND WITHERED LIKE GRASS - It is dried up as grass is by drought, or as when it is cut down. It loses its support; and having no st... [ Continue Reading ]
BY REASON OF THE VOICE OF MY GROANING - By suffering and trouble, so great as to produce groaning, my flesh is wasted away. MY BONES CLEAVE TO MY SKIN - Margin, “flesh.” The Hebrew word means “flesh.” The effect described is that of a wasting away or an emaciation of flesh from deep distress, so th... [ Continue Reading ]
I AM LIKE A PELICAN OF THE WILDERNESS - A bird in the midst of desolation becomes a striking image of loneliness and distress. The word rendered “pelican” - קאת _qâ'ath_ - is supposed to have been a name given to the pelican from the idea of vomiting, as it “vomits the shells and other substances w... [ Continue Reading ]
I WATCH, AND AM AS A SPARROW ALONE UPON THE HOUSE-TOP - That is, I am “sleepless;” trouble drives sleep from my eyes, and I am kept awake at night - a common effect of grief. The following remarks, copied from the “Land and the Book” (i. 54, 55), will furnish all the illustration needful of this ver... [ Continue Reading ]
MINE ENEMIES REPROACH ME ALL THE DAY - Continually. They reproach me as one of thy people; or, I bear reproaches in common with others, and it becomes to me a personal matter, so entirely are my feelings and interests identified with those of thy people. Perhaps there were also, mingled with this, p... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR I HAVE EATEN ASHES LIKE BREAD - I have seated myself in ashes in my grief (compare Job 2:8; Job 42:6; Isaiah 58:5; Isaiah 61:3; Jonah 3:6; Daniel 9:3; Matthew 11:21); and ashes have become, as it were, my food. The ashes in which he sat had been mingled with his food. AND MINGLED MY DRINK WITH W... [ Continue Reading ]
BECAUSE OF THINE INDIGNATION AND THY WRATH - Hebrew, “From the face of thine indignation,” etc. That is - he regarded all his sufferings as proof of the indignation and wrath of God against him. See Psalms 90:7. FOR THOU HAST LIFTED ME UP - In former times. Thou hadst given me prosperity; thou hads... [ Continue Reading ]
MY DAYS ARE LIKE A SHADOW THAT DECLINETH - The shadow made by the gnomon on a sun-dial, which marks the hours as they pass. See 2 Kings 20:10. The idea is that the shadow made by the descending sun was about to disappear altogether. It had become less distinct and clear, and it would soon vanish. It... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT THOU, O LORD, SHALT ENDURE FOR EVER - Though my condition has been changed, though I have been cast down from an exalted position, though kingdoms rise and fall, yet thou art unchanged. Thy purposes will abide. Thy promises will be fulfilled. Thy character is the same. As thou hast been the hear... [ Continue Reading ]
THOU SHALT ARISE - Thou wilt come forth - as if God had been inattentive or inactive. AND HAVE MERCY UPON ZION - That is, Upon Jerusalem - represented as in a state of desolation. God would at length pity her, and interpose in her behalf. FOR THE TIME TO FAVOR HER - Implying that there was an appo... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THY SERVANTS TAKE PLEASURE IN HER STONES - Those who profess to be thy servants; thy friends. This was the “evidence” to the mind of the psalmist that God was about to visit his people, and to rebuild Jerusalem. It was an “awakened interest” among the professed people of God, leading them to man... [ Continue Reading ]
SO THE HEATHEN - The nations. That is, The surrounding people, who hear what thou hast done for thy people, will see the evidence that thou art God, and learn to love and worship thee. SHALL FEAR THE NAME OF THE LORD - Shall reverence and honor thee. AND ALL THE KINGS OF THE EARTH THY GLORY - The... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN THE LORD SHALL BUILD UP ZION - The Septuagint, the Latin Vulgate, and Luther, vender this, “Because the Lord hath built up Zion.” This also is the most natural and correct translation of the Hebrew. The reference, however, may be to the future. The psalmist may throw himself into the future, an... [ Continue Reading ]
HE WILL REGARD THE PRAYER - literally, “He looks upon,” or “he ‘turns himself’ to their prayer.” He does not any longer seem to turn away from them and disregard them. He shows by thus building up Zion that he does regard prayer; that he hears the supplications of his people. There is no higher proo... [ Continue Reading ]
THIS SHALL BE WRITTEN FOR THE GENERATION TO COME - It shall be recorded for the instruction and encouragement of future ages. The fact that God has heard the prayer of his people in a time of trial shall be so recorded and remembered that it may be referred to in similar circumstances in all time to... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR HE HATH LOOKED DOWN FROM THE HEIGHT OF HIS SANCTUARY - From his high and holy dwelling-place, in heaven. The word here rendered “looked down,” means, in Kal, to lay upon or over; then, in Niphil, to lie out over anything, to project; and then, to bend forward. It then means to bend or incline fo... [ Continue Reading ]
TO HEAR THE GROANING OF THE PRISONER - Meaning here, probably, the captives in Babylon; those who were held as prisoners there, and who were subjected to such hardships in their long captivity. See the notes at Psalms 79:11. TO LOOSE THOSE THAT ARE APPOINTED TO DEATH - Margin, as in Hebrew, “the chi... [ Continue Reading ]
TO DECLARE THE NAME OF THE LORD IN ZION ... - That his name might be declared in Zion, or that his praise might be set up in Jerusalem again. That is, that his people might be returned there, and his praise be celebrated again in the holy city.... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN THE PEOPLE ARE GATHERED TOGETHER - When they shall be brought from their dispersion in distant lands; when they shall assemble again in the city of their fathers, and when public worship shall be celebrated there as in former ages. AND THE KINGDOMS, TO SERVE THE LORD - The Septuagint and the La... [ Continue Reading ]
HE WEAKENED MY STRENGTH IN THE WAY - Margin, as in Hebrew, “afflicted.” The idea is, that God had taken his strength away; he had weakened him - humbled him - brought him low by sorrow. The word “way” refers to the course which he was pursuing. In his journey of life God had thus afflicted - humbled... [ Continue Reading ]
I SAID, O MY GOD, TAKE ME NOT AWAY IN THE MIDST OF MY DAYS - This was the burden of my prayer, for this I earnestly pleaded. See Psalms 30:9; Isaiah 38:1, Isaiah 38:9. The word used here means “to cause to ascend or go up” and the expression might have been translated, “Cause me not to ascend.” The... [ Continue Reading ]
OF OLD - See this passage fully explained in the notes at Hebrews 1:10. In the beginning; at the first. The phrase used here means literally “to the face;” then, “before” in the order of time. It means here, long ago; of olden time; at the beginning. The meaning is, that the years of God had stretch... [ Continue Reading ]
THE CHILDREN OF THY SERVANTS SHALL CONTINUE - The descendants of those that serve and obey thee. This represents the confident expectation of the psalmist that, as God was unchangeable, all his promises toward his people would be fulfilled, even though the heavens and the earth should pass away. God... [ Continue Reading ]