Psalms 88:18

Lover and friend hast thou put far from me, and mine acquaintance into darkness. LOVER AND FRIEND HAST THOU PUT FAR FROM ME, AND MINE ACQUAINTANCES INTO DARKNESS - literally, 'mine acquaintances ... darkness;' i:e., instead of acquaintances, there is only a gloomy blank, the darkness of Hades. The parallelism is thus better than in Hengstenberg's view, 'mine acquaintances (are) the place of darkness;' for which he quotes ....

10-18 Departed souls may declare God's faithfulness, justice, and lovingkindness; but deceased bodies can neither receive God's favours in comfort, nor return them in praise. The psalmist resolved to continue in prayer, and the more so, because deliverance did not come speedily. Though our prayers are not soon answered, yet we must not give over praying. The greater our troubles, the more earnest and serious we should be in prayer. Nothing grieves a child of God so much as losing sight of him; nor is there any thing he so much dreads as God's casting off his soul. If the sun be clouded, that darkens the earth; but if the sun should leave the earth, what a dungeon would it be! Even those designed for God's favours, may for a time suffer his terrors. See how deep those terrors wounded the psalmist. If friends are put far from us by providences, or death, we have reason to look upon it as...

Verse Psalms 88:18. _LOVER AND FRIEND_] I have no comfort, and neither _friend_ nor _neighbour_ to sympathize with me. _MINE ACQUAINTANCE INTO DARKNESS._] All have forsaken me; or מידעי מחשך _meyuddai machsach_, "Darkness is my companion." Perhaps he may refer to the _death_ of his acquaintances; all were gone; there was none left to console him! That man has a dismal lot who has outlived all his old friends and acquaintances; well may such complain. In the removal of their friends they see little else than the triumphs of death. _Khosroo_, an eminent Persian poet, handles this painful subject with great delicacy and beauty in the following lines: - [---Persic---] [---Persic---] [---Persic---]...

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 the notes at Psalms 88:8. AND MINE ACQUAINTANCE INTO DARKNESS - The Septuagint and the Latin Vulgate render this, “my acquaintance from my misery.” Luther, “Thou hast caused my friends and neighbors, and my kindred, to separate themselves far from me, on account of such misery.” The literal rendering would be, my acquaintances are darkness. This may mean either that they had so turned away that he could not see them, as if they were in the dark; or, that his familiars now - his companions - were dark and dismal objects - gloom

EXPOSITION THE most mournful of all the psalms. After one almost formal "word of trust" (_Psalms 88:1_), the remainder is a continuous bitter cry of complaint, rising at times into expostulation (Psalms 88:10), and almost into reproach (Psalms 88:14). The tone is that of the earlier complaints of Job; and Job has been supposed by some to be the writer. But this is highly improbable. We may accept the statement of the title, that the monody was written by Heman the Ezrahite, who was a contemporary of. Solomon (1 Kings 4:31). It has no appearance of being composed at a time of national affliction. All

LOVER AND FRIEND HAST THOU PUT FAR FROM ME,.... This is mentioned in Psalms 88:8, and is here repeated; and the account is closed with it, to show that this was a most aggravating circumstance of his affliction, and which bore exceeding hard upon him; and this must be a very uncomfortable case, to be in distress, whether of body or mind, and to have no kind friend near to yield the least help, relief, and comfort; so Christ's lovers and friends, his disciples, who loved him and he loved them, and reckoned them as his friends, and was a friend to them, when he was taken by his enemies, they all forsook him, and fled, Matthew 26:56, AND MINE ACQUAINTANCE INTO DARKNESS; either by death into the dark grave, which Job calls the land of darkness and shadow of death,...

A Song or Psalm for the sons of Korah, to the chief Musician upon Mahaloth Leannoth, Maschil of Heman the Ezrahite. I think that this is the darkest of all the Psalms; it has hardly a spot of light in it. The only bright words that I know of are in the first verse the rest of the Psalm is very dark, and very dreary. Why, then, am I going to read it? Because, it may be, there is some poor heart here that is very heavy; you cannot tell out of this great crowd how many sorrowing and burdened spirits there may be amongst us; but there may be a dozen or two of persons who are driven almost to despair. My dear friend, if this is your case, I want you to know that somebody else has been just where you are. Remember how the shipwrecked man upon the lonely island all of a sudden came upon the footprints of another human being; so here, on the lone island of despondency, you shall be able to trace...

Psalms 88 The Deepest Soul Misery Poured Out _ 1. In deepest misery and distress (Psalms 88:1)_ 2. Crying and no answer (Psalms 88:8) This is a Maschil Psalm by Heman the Ezrahite. See 1 Kings 4:31; 1 Chronicles 6:33; 1Ch 6:44; 1 Chronicles 25:4. It is a Psalm of deepest distress, picturing the darkest experience with no ray of light or word of comfort. That it describes the real experience of a saint no one would doubt. But in it w

LXXXVIII. A LEPER'S PRAYER. This Ps. has striking peculiarities. The suffering here portrayed has been long and terrible. The Psalmist has been tormented by sickness from his youth (Psalms 88:15). Yahweh has put lover and friend away from him. This seclusion was, no doubt, due to leprosy, which was a living death, separating a man from his dearest. The malady was supposed to come directly from God: it was His stroke _par excellence._ The Psalmist mentions no enemies, he confesses no sin, he pleads no merits. Nor does he draw comfort from the thought of an afterlife. On the contrary, he shares the common belief in Sheol (Psalms 88:10). But he still holds to his faith in God, and assumes (Psalms 88:14) that there is

PUT FAR FROM ME. Compare Psalms 88:8, the corresponding member....