This psalm is altogether of a mournful and desponding character. The author is a sufferer; he is expecting to die; he fears to die; he longs to live; his mind is overwhelmed with gloom which does not seem to be irradiated by one ray of hope or consolation. It is, in this respect, unlike most of the... [ Continue Reading ]
O LORD GOD OF MY SALVATION - On whom I depend for salvation; who alone canst save me. Luther renders this, “O God, my Saviour.” I HAVE CRIED DAY AND NIGHT BEFORE THEE - literally, “By day I cried; by night before thee;” that is, my prayer is constantly before thee. The meaning is, that there was no... [ Continue Reading ]
LET MY PRAYER COME BEFORE THEE - As if there were something which hindered it, or which had obstructed the way to the throne of grace; as if God repelled it from him, and turned away his ear, and would not hear. INCLINE THINE EAR UNTO MY CRY - See the notes at Psalms 5:1.... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR MY SOUL IS FULL OF TROUBLES - I am full of trouble. The word rendered as “full” means properly to satiate as with food; that is, when as much had been taken as could be. So he says here, that this trouble was as great as he could bear; he could sustain no more. He had reached the utmost point of... [ Continue Reading ]
I AM COUNTED WITH THEM THAT GO DOWN INTO THE PIT - I am so near to death that I may be reckoned already as among the dead. It is so manifest to others that I must die - that my disease is mortal - that they already speak of me as dead. The word “pit” here means the grave - the same as Sheol in the p... [ Continue Reading ]
FREE AMONG THE DEAD - Luther renders this, “I lie forgotten among the dead.” DeWette renders it, “Pertaining to the dead - (den Todten angehorend) - stricken down, like the slain, I lie in the grave,” and explains it as meaning, “I am as good as dead.” The word rendered “free” - חפשׁי _chophshı̂y_ -... [ Continue Reading ]
THOU HAST LAID ME IN THE LOWEST PIT - That is, I am as if I were thus laid; the deep grave seems now to lie so certainly before me, that it may be spoken of as if it were already my abode. The words rendered “lowest pit” mean literally the pit under, or beneath. The reference is to the sepulchre, as... [ Continue Reading ]
THY WRATH LIETH HARD UPON ME - Presses me down; burdens me. The meaning is, that that which was the proper and usual expression of wrath or displeasure - to wit, bodily and mental suffering - pressed hard on him. and crushed him to the earth. These bodily sufferings he interpreted, in the sad and gl... [ Continue Reading ]
THOU HAST PUT AWAY MINE ACQUAINTANCE FAR FROM ME - The same ground of complaint, or expression of the depth of affliction, occurs elsewhere, Psalms 31:11; Psalms 38:11; Psalms 69:8. See also Job 19:13. THOU HAST MADE ME AN ABOMINATION UNTO THEM - As something which they would avoid, or from which th... [ Continue Reading ]
MINE EYE MOURNETH BY REASON OF AFFLICTION - I weep; my eye pours out tears. Literally, My eye pines away, or decays. Compare Job 16:20, note; Isaiah 38:3, note; Psalms 6:6, note. LORD, I HAVE CALLED DAILY UPON THEE - That is, I have prayed earnestly and long, but I have received no answer. I HAVE... [ Continue Reading ]
WILT THOU SHOW WONDERS TO THE DEAD? - The wonders - or the things suited to excite admiration - which the living behold. Shall the dead see those things which here tend to excite reverence for thee, and which lead people to worship thee? The idea is that the dead will be cut off from all the privile... [ Continue Reading ]
SHALL THY LOVING-KINDNESS BE DECLARED IN THE GRAVE? - Thy goodness; thy mercy. Shall anyone make it known there? shall it there be celebrated? OR THY FAITHFULNESS IN DESTRUCTION? - In the place where destruction seems to reign; where human hopes perish; where the body moulders back to dust. Shall a... [ Continue Reading ]
SHALL THY WONDERS BE KNOWN IN THE DARK? - In the dark world; in “the land of darkness and the shadow of death; a land of darkness, as darkness itself, and where the light is as darkness.” Job 10:21. “And thy righteousness.” The justice of thy character; or, the ways in which thou dost maintain and m... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT UNTO THEE HAVE I CRIED, O LORD - I have earnestly prayed; I have sought thy gracious interposition. AND IN THE MORNING - That is, each morning; every day. My first business in the morning shall be prayer. SHALL MY PRAYER PREVENT THEE - Anticipate thee; go before thee: that is, it shall be early... [ Continue Reading ]
LORD, WHY CASTEST THOU OFF MY SOUL? - Why dost thou forsake or abandon me? Why is it that thou dost not interpose, since thou hast all power, and since thou art a God of mercy? Why dost thou not deliver me from my troubles? How often are good people constrained to ask this question! How often does t... [ Continue Reading ]
I AM AFFLICTED AND READY TO DIE - I am so afflicted - so crushed with sorrow and trouble - that my strength is nearly gone, and I can endure it but a little longer. FROM MY YOUTH UP - That is, for a long time; so long, that the remembrance of it seems to go back to my very childhood. My whole life... [ Continue Reading ]
THY FIERCE WRATH GOETH OVER ME - Like waters. See Psalms 88:7. THY TERRORS HAVE CUT ME OFF - That is, I am as one already dead; I am so near to death that I may be spoken of as dead.... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY CAME ROUND ABOUT ME DAILY LIKE WATER - Margin, “as in” Hebrew, all the day. That is, his troubles seemed to be like the waves of the sea cohnstantly breaking on the shore. See Psalms 42:7. THEY COMPASSED ME ABOUT TOGETHER - My troubles did not come singly, so that I could meet them one at a ti... [ Continue Reading ]
LOVER AND FRIEND HAST THOU PUT FAR FROM ME - That is, Thou hast so afflicted me that they have forsaken me. Those who professed to love me, and whom I loved - those whom I regarded as my friends, and who seemed to be my friends - are now wholly turned away from me, and I am left to suffer alone. See... [ Continue Reading ]