INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 38 A PSALM OF DAVID, TO BRING TO REMEMBRANCE. This psalm was composed by David under some sore affliction, and when in great distress of mind by reason of sin, perhaps his sin with Bathsheba; and was written as a memorial of his sense of sin, of his great afflictions, and deli... [ Continue Reading ]
O LORD, REBUKE ME NOT IN THY WRATH: NEITHER CHASTEN ME IN THY HOT DISPLEASURE,.... This and the following clause are the same as in Psalms 6:1, only instead of wrath there it is anger; Psalms 6:1.... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THINE ARROWS STICK FAST IN ME,.... Meaning either words with which as a father the Lord rebuked him; and which were sharp and cutting, entered into him and abode with him, and gave him much pain and uneasiness; and by which he concluded that his rebukes were in wrath and hot displeasure; such as... [ Continue Reading ]
[THERE IS] NO SOUNDNESS IN MY FLESH, BECAUSE OF THINE ANGER,.... Such was the nature of the affliction the psalmist laboured under, and which he took to be an effect of the anger of God towards him, that the whole frame of nature was affected with it, and from the crown of the head to, the soles of... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR MINE INIQUITIES ARE GONE OVER MINE HEAD,.... Like an inundation of waters, as the waves and billows of the sea; for the waters to come up to the neck or chin shows great danger; but when they go over the head the case is desperate, and a person is sinking and drowning; compare with this Psalms 6... [ Continue Reading ]
MY WOUNDS STINK, [AND] ARE CORRUPT,.... Meaning his sins, which had wounded him, and for which there is no healing but in a wounded Saviour, and by his stripes we are healed, Isaiah 53:5; where the same word is used as here; Christ's black and blue stripes and wounds, as the word signifies, are the... [ Continue Reading ]
I AM TROUBLED,.... Discomposed and perplexed in mind; his thoughts were disturbed and irregular, and in the utmost confusion and distress: this trouble was not only on account of the affliction that was upon him, but chiefly because of his sin; and which was increased by the view he had of the displ... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR MY LOINS ARE FILLED WITH A LOATHSOME [DISEASE],.... The word here used has the signification of burning k; and the Targum renders it, "my loins are filled with burning"; a burning fever was upon him, or there was an inflammation in those parts; a hot burning ulcer, which might be nauseous; and s... [ Continue Reading ]
I AM FEEBLE,.... Both in body, natural strength being weakened by the affliction, and dried up like a potsherd by the heat of the distemper; and in soul, being weak in the exercise of faith and other graces. The word is used of Jacob, fainting at and disbelieving the news of his son Joseph being ali... [ Continue Reading ]
LORD, ALL MY DESIRE [IS] BEFORE THEE,.... To be delivered from his afflictions, to have a discovery and application of pardoning grace, and to have communion with his God: the desire of his soul was unto these things; and it was some satisfaction to him that it was before the Lord, and known unto hi... [ Continue Reading ]
MY HEART PANTETH,.... Or "goes about" m; runs here and there, and finds no rest; as Aben Ezra interprets the word from the Targum he cites; though the Targum we have renders it, "my heart shakes with fear", or dread, as persons in a fever. Jarchi interprets the word, surrounded with grief; it denote... [ Continue Reading ]
MY LOVERS AND MY FRIENDS STAND ALOOF FROM MY SORE,.... As if it was a plague sore, lest they should be infected with it; or because they could not bear the stench of his wounds, and the loathsomeness of his disease, or to see him in his agonies, and hear his roaring and his groans, Psalms 38:2; or a... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY ALSO THAT SEEK AFTER MY LIFE,.... His avowed and implacable enemies, whom nothing would satisfy but the taking away of his life: these came too near him; for these, he says, LAY SNARES [FOR ME], as Satan does for the souls of men, as the Jews did for Christ, and as wicked men do for the saints... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT I, AS A DEAF [MAN], HEARD NOT,.... He acted the part of a deaf man, and made as if he did not hear the mischievous things his enemies spoke; as Saul, when the sons of Belial spoke against him and despised him, 1 Samuel 10:27; and as our Lord when his enemies accused him, Matthew 27:12; AND [I... [ Continue Reading ]
THUS I WAS AS A MAN THAT HEARETH NOT,.... Any thing that is said unto him; he took no more notice of it than if he had never heard it; but bore all the railings and calumnies of men with calmness and patience; AND IN WHOSE MOUTH [ARE] NO REPROOFS; as if he had nothing to say for himself, in vindica... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR IN THEE, O LORD, DO I HOPE,.... That he would plead his cause against his accusers and revilers, and who sought his hurt; that he should be delivered out of their hands, and out of all his afflictions; that he should be healed of his diseases, both of soul and body, under which he laboured; and... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR I SAID, [HEAR ME],.... This he had expressed in prayer to God; he had committed his cause to him, and entreated him that he would hear and answer him; giving this as a reason, LEST [OTHERWISE] THEY SHOULD REJOICE OVER ME; at his misfortunes and calamities, at the continuance of his trouble and... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR I [AM] READY TO HALT,.... Meaning either that there was a proneness in him to sin; see Jeremiah 20:10; or that he was subject to affliction and adversity, as the same word is rendered in Psalms 35:15; and the words are either a reason and argument used with the Lord, to hear and keep his foot fr... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR I WILL DECLARE MINE INIQUITY,.... Either to men, to ease his mind, justify God in his proceedings with him, and for their caution and admonition: or rather to God, against whom he had sinned, and who only could pardon him; with a view to which he was determined to make a free and open confession... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT MINE ENEMIES [ARE] LIVELY,.... Or "living" q or "live"; not in a spiritual sense; for they had no lively hope, nor living faith, but were dead in trespasses and sins; nor merely in a natural sense, or corporeally, so David was living himself; but in great prosperity and worldly happiness, and so... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY ALSO THAT RENDER EVIL FOR GOOD ARE MINE ADVERSARIES,.... Psalms 35:12; BECAUSE I FOLLOW [THE THING THAT] GOOD [IS]; or "follow good"; a good God, whom his soul followed hard after, Psalms 63:8; the good Shepherd of the sheep, who led him into green pastures, whither he followed him, Psalms 2... [ Continue Reading ]
FORSAKE ME NOT, O LORD,.... Or continue not to forsake; for he seems to have been under divine desertion, and might be under apprehensions that God had utterly forsaken him; which he entreats he would not, though his friends had forsook him, and his own strength had failed and left him, Psalms 38:10... [ Continue Reading ]
MAKE HASTE AND HELP ME,.... Or, "for my help"; his case required haste, and God does help his people when none else can, and that right early; O LORD, MY SALVATION; by which it appears that his prayer was a prayer of faith; he saw that his salvation was in the Lord, and in no other; and though he h... [ Continue Reading ]