Psalms 38:2

_FOR THINE ARROWS STICK FAST IN ME, AND THY HAND PRESSETH ME SORE._ The plea of His prayer; he is now arrived at such a crisis of anguish, and restlessness of body and mind, that God cannot but interpose to save from destruction His praying child. FOR THINE ARROWS STICK FAST IN ME, AND THY HAND PRESSETH ME SORE. The same Hebrew (_ NACHAT_ (H5181)) is translated differently in the two clauses. The common idea in both is downward pressure. Compare as to the "arrows" - i:e., the chastisements of sin sent by God - Job 6:4; Deuteronomy 32:23. As to the heavy pressure of God's hand, cf. Psalms 32:4;...

2._For thy arrows go down in me. _He shows that he was constrained by dire necessity to ask an alleviation of his misery; for he was crushed under the weight of the burden which he sustained. This rule is always to be observed in our prayers — to keep God’s promises present to our view. But God has promised that he will chastise his servants, not according to their deserts, but as they are able to bear. This is the reason why the saints so often speak of their own weakness, when they are severely oppressed with affliction. David very properly describes the malady under which he labored, by the terms, _the arrows _and _the hand, _or the chastisement _of God. _Had he not been persuaded that it was God who thus afflicted him, he could never have been brought to seek from him deliverance from his affliction. We know that the great majority of men are blinded under the judgments of God, and i...

1-11 Nothing will disquiet the heart of a good man so much as the sense of God's anger. The way to keep the heart quiet, is to keep ourselves in the love of God. But a sense of guilt is too heavy to bear; and would sink men into despair and ruin, unless removed by the pardoning mercy of God. If there were not sin in our souls, there would be no pain in our bones, no illness in our bodies. The guilt of sin is a burden to the whole creation, which groans under it. It will be a burden to the sinners themselves, when they are heavy-laden under it, or a burden of ruin, when it sinks them to hell. When we perceive our true condition, the Good Physician will be valued, sought, and obeyed. Yet many let their wounds rankle, because they delay to go to their merciful Friend. When, at any time, we are distempered in our bodies, we ought to remember how God has been dishonoured in and by our bodies...

Verse Psalms 38:2. _THINE ARROWS STICK FAST IN ME_] This no doubt, refers to the _acute pains_ which he endured; each appearing to his feeling as if an arrow were shot into his body....

FOR THINE ARROWS SLICK FAST IN ME - See the notes at Job 6:4. The word rendered “stick fast” - נחת _nâchath_ - means properly to go or come down; to descend; and the literal idea here would be, “thine arrows come down upon me.” It is not so much the idea of their “sticking fast” when in the wound or flesh; it is that they come down upon one, and pierce him. The meaning is, that he was afflicted “as if” God had wounded him with arrows - arrows which pierced deep in his flesh. Compare the notes at Psalms 45:5. The allusion is to the disease with which he was afflicted. AND THY HAND PRESSETH ME SORE - The same word is used here which in the former part of the verse is rendered “stick fast.” The idea is, that the hand

EXPOSITION THIS is the third of the penitential psalms, and is appropriately recited by the Church on Ash Wednesday. Of all the penitential psalms it is the one which shows the deepest marks of utter prostration of heart and spirit under a combination of the severest trials, both mental and bodily. The mind of the writer is racked by a sense of God's displeasure (Psalms 38:1, Psalms 38:2, etc.), by grief at the desertion of friends (Psalms 38:11), by fear of the machinations and threats of enemies (Psalms 38:12, Psalms 38:19,...

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 those in 2 Samuel 12:11; so the words of men are compared to arrows, Psalms 57:4 or outward afflictions, attended with inward trouble of soul; for as judgments are the arrows of God, such as famine, pestilence, c. Ezekiel 5:16 Deuteronomy 32:21 so the chastening dispensations of Providence, under which the people of God t

A Psalm of David, to bring to remembrance. Remember, although this is a very sorrowful Psalm, it was written by a man of God. It will show you what a terrible thing sin must be, for even a child of God feels the smart of it very grievously. This is not the language of an unforgiven sinner; it is the cry of a saint who, for a while, has sinned, and is feeling the bitterness of his transgression. Psalms 38:1. _O Lord, rebuke me not in thy wrath:_ «If thou dost rebuke me, O Lord, do it gently! Be not very angry with me, for I cannot bear it, I shall die under it. O Lord, rebuke me not in thy wrath.» Psalms 38:1. _Neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure._ «Chasten me, it will do me good; it is needful; it is profitable; but not in thy displeasure, certainly not

Psalms 38 The Suffering Saint and Confession of Sin _ 1. Suffering and Humiliation (Psalms 38:1)_ 2. Looking to the Lord (Psalms 38:9) 3. Confession and prayer (Psalms 38:16) This Psalm is read by the Jews on the day of atonement. It pictures great suffering in body and soul; it reminds us in different ways of the book of Job. (See and compare Psalms 38:2 with Job 6:4; Psalms

XXXVIII. A PENITENTIAL PSALM. After a short prayer for pity (verbally identical with Psalms 6:2), the poet describes his bodily and mental pains, the desertion of his friends, and the unscrupulous attack of his foes. But he waits in silence for Yahweh's answer and is ready to confess his sin, turning eagerly and hopefully to his God. PSALMS 38:2. ARROWS: the pains God sends. Psalms 38:8_ b_. Read, I have cried out louder than the roaring of a lion. Psalms 38:18. It is impossible to say whether the poet is referring to some definite sin or only to the general sinfulness of human nature....