Psalms · Chapter 88

Verse 1. O Lord God of my salvation] This is only the continuation of prayers and supplications already often sent up to the throne of grace.

Verses 1-4. O Lord God of my salvation — Who hast so often saved me in former distresses; I have cried day and night before thee — Thus God’s own elect are said, by Christ, to cry to him, Luke 18:7; and thus ought men always to pray and not to faint. Let my prayer come before thee — To be accepted of thee. For my soul is full of troubles — Troubles of mind, from a sense of God’s wrath and departure from him, as appears verses 14-

16. I am counted with them that go down into the pit — I am given up by my friends and acquaintance for a lost man.

1. O Lord God of my salvation—A genuine outburst of holy trust in the faithfulness of God; but the sunshine is soon lost amid the blackest clouds. Day and night—Unceasingly and for a long time. So David, Psalm 22:2.

Verse 2. Let my prayer come before thee] It is weak and helpless, though fervent and sincere: take all hinderances out of its way, and let it have a free passage to thy throne. One of the finest thoughts in the Iliad of Homer concerns prayer; I shall transcribe a principal part of this incomparable passage—incomparable when we consider its origin:— Kai gar te Litai eisi Diov kourai megaloio,

Cwlai te, russai te, parablwpev tJ ofqalmw,

Ai ra te kai metopisqJ Athv alegousi kiousai,

JH dJ Ath sqenarh te kai artipov, ouneka pasav

Pollon upekproqeei, fqanei de te pasan epJ aian,

BlaptousJ anqrwpouv, ai dJ exakeontai poissw,

JOs men tJ aidesetai kourav Diov, asson iousav,

Tonde megJ wnhsan, kai tJ ekluon euxamenoio.

JOv de kJ anhnhtai, kai te sterewv apoeiph,

Lissontai dJ ara taige Dia Kroniwna kiousai,

Tw athn amJ epesqai, ina blafqeiv apotish.

AllJ, Acileu, pore kai su Diov kourhsin epesqai

Timhn, htJ allwn per epignamptei frenav esqlwn.

Iliad., ix. 498-510.

Prayers are Jove’s daughters; wrinkled, lame, slant-eyed, Which, though far distant, yet with constant pace

Follow offence. Offence, robust of limb,

And treading firm the ground, outstrips them all,

And over all the earth, before them runs

Hurtful to man: they, following, heal the hurt.

Received respectfully when they approach,

They yield us aid, and listen when we pray.

But if we slight, and with obdurate heart

Resist them, to Saturnian Jove they cry.

Against, us supplicating, that offence

May cleave to us for vengeance of the wrong.

Thou, therefore, O Achilles! honour yield

To Jove’s own daughters, vanquished as the brave

Have ofttimes been, by honour paid to thee.

COWPER.

On this allegory the translator makes the following remarks: “Wrinkled, because the countenance of a man, driven to prayer by a consciousness of guilt, is sorrowful and dejected. Lame, because it is a remedy to which men recur late, and with reluctance. Slant-eyed, either because in that state of humiliation they fear to lift up their eyes to heaven, or are employed in taking a retrospect of their past misconduct. The whole allegory, considering when and where it was composed, forms a very striking passage.”

Prayer to God for mercy must have the qualifications marked above. Prayer comes from God. He desires to save us: this desire is impressed on our hearts by his Spirit, and reflected back to himself. Thus says the allegory, “Prayers are the daughters of Jupiter.” But they are lame, as reflected light is much less intense and vivid than light direct. The desire of the heart is afraid to go into the presence of God, because the man knows, feels, that he has sinned against goodness and mercy. They are wrinkled-dried up and withered, with incessant longing: even the tears that refresh the soul are dried up and exhausted. They are slant-eyed; look aside through shame and confusion; dare not look God in the face. But transgression is strong, bold, impudent, and destructive: it treads with a firm step over the earth, bringing down curses on mankind. Prayer and repentance follow, but generally at a distance. The heart, being hardened by the deceitfulness of sin does not speedily relent. They, however, follow: and when, with humility and contrition, they approach the throne of grace, they are respectfully received. God acknowledges them as his offspring, and heals the wounds made by transgression. If the heart remain obdurate, and the man will not humble himself before his God, then his transgression cleaves to him, and the heartless, lifeless prayers which he may offer in that state, presuming on God’s mercy, will turn against him; and to such a one the sacrificial death and mediation of Christ are in vain. And this will be the case especially with the person who, having received an offence from another, refuses to forgive. This latter circumstance is that to which the poet particularly refers. See the whole passage, with its context.

Verses 1-4. O Lord God of my salvation — Who hast so often saved me in former distresses; I have cried day and night before thee — Thus God’s own elect are said, by Christ, to cry to him, Luke 18:7; and thus ought men always to pray and not to faint. Let my prayer come before thee — To be accepted of thee. For my soul is full of troubles — Troubles of mind, from a sense of God’s wrath and departure from him, as appears verses 14-

16. I am counted with them that go down into the pit — I am given up by my friends and acquaintance for a lost man.

2. Let my prayer come before thee—My prayer shall come before thee. The future tense and declarative form of the verb indicate faith and purpose in the suppliant to seek help only and continually in God.

Verses 1-4. O Lord God of my salvation — Who hast so often saved me in former distresses; I have cried day and night before thee — Thus God’s own elect are said, by Christ, to cry to him, Luke 18:7; and thus ought men always to pray and not to faint. Let my prayer come before thee — To be accepted of thee. For my soul is full of troubles — Troubles of mind, from a sense of God’s wrath and departure from him, as appears verses 14-

16. I am counted with them that go down into the pit — I am given up by my friends and acquaintance for a lost man.

3. For my soul is full of troubles—Life can endure no more. From this to verse 9, the author urges his great distress as an argument for the divine interposition. My life draweth nigh unto the grave—My life reacheth to, or toucheth, sheol. This proximity to death is called “gates of death,” Psalm 9:13; 107:18.

V. 4. Counted-I am given up by my friends for a lost man.

Verse 4. I am counted with them, &c.] I am as good as dead; nearly destitute of life and hope.

Verses 1-4. O Lord God of my salvation — Who hast so often saved me in former distresses; I have cried day and night before thee — Thus God’s own elect are said, by Christ, to cry to him, Luke 18:7; and thus ought men always to pray and not to faint. Let my prayer come before thee — To be accepted of thee. For my soul is full of troubles — Troubles of mind, from a sense of God’s wrath and departure from him, as appears verses 14-

16. I am counted with them that go down into the pit — I am given up by my friends and acquaintance for a lost man.

4. I am counted—I am already reckoned among the dead. The pit— Another word for grave, and equal to sheol, verse 3. See verse 6. As a man that hath no strength—Literally, As a strong man, or warrior, without strength.

V. 5. Free-Well nigh discharged from the warfare of the present life, and entered as a member into the society of the dead. Whom-Thou seemest to neglect and bury in oblivion.

Verse 5. Free among the dead] חפשי במתים bammethim chophshi, I rather think, means stripped among the dead. Both the fourth and fifth verses seem to allude to a field of battle: the slain and the wounded, are found scattered over the plain; the spoilers come among them, and strip, not only the dead, but those also who appear to be mortally wounded, and cannot recover, and are so feeble as not to be able to resist. Hence the psalmist says, “I am counted with them that go down into the pit; I am as a man that hath no strength,” Psalm 88:4. And I am stripped among the dead, like the mortally wounded (חללים chalalim) that lie in the grave. “Free among the dead,” inter mortuos liber, has been applied by the fathers to our Lord’s voluntary death: all others were obliged to die, he alone gave up his life, and could take it again, John 10:18. He went into the grave, and came out when he chose. The dead are bound in the grave; he was free, and not obliged to continue in that state as they were. They are cut off from thy hand.] An allusion to the roll in which the general has the names of all that compose his army under their respective officers. And when one is killed, he is erased from this register, and remembered no more, as belonging to the army; but his name is entered among those who are dead, in a separate book. This latter is termed the black book, or the book of death; the other is called the book of life, or the book where the living are enrolled. From this circumstance, expressed in different parts of the sacred writings, the doctrine of unconditional reprobation and election has been derived. How wonderful!

Verse 5. Free among the dead — Well nigh discharged from the warfare of the present life, and entered, as a member, into the society of the dead; or, removed from all the affairs and conversation of men as if I were really dead. Like the slain, whom thou rememberest no more — Whom thou seemest wholly to neglect and to bury in oblivion. He speaks of these matters, not as they are in truth, for he knew very well that forgetfulness was not incident to God, and that God did remember all the dead, and would call them to an account; but only as to appearance, and the opinion of the world, and the things of this life. And they are cut off from thy hand — From the care and conduct of thy providence, which is to be understood as the former clause.

Verse 5. Free among the dead, like the slain. I dwell in solitude, immured, and exempt from the duties of life. So the word is used in 2 Chronicles 26:21, respecting the secluded state of a leper. It had been more consoling, if like St. Paul, he had cheered the prison-house with the bright hope that the Lord had laid up a crown of righteousness for him, and for all them that love his appearing.

5. Free among the dead—If yvph, (haphshee,) is to be translated free, as in the common version, which is its prevailing sense; it must here denote freedom “from the cares and oppression of life,” and so Dr. Robinson. Thus it is used, Job 3:19, “There [in death] the servant is free from the master.” This sense also would suit to the political condition of the author. Death would free him from the Chaldean yoke. But this is not in harmony with the connexion or scope. Better to translate prostrate among the dead. Furst: “My couch is among the dead.” Gesenius: “Among the dead I am laid prostrate.” The next clause explains it. Like the slain that lie in the grave—Like those killed in battle who lie down in the grave. The expression is very strong. It is not merely to die, nor to be buried, but to be in sheol among the spirits of the departed. So the same verb, to lie, signifies, (Genesis 47:30,) “I will lie with my fathers.” Whom thou rememberest no more—That is, with a view to treat them as living men upon the earth. The word remember is never used in the metaphysical sense of simply recalling past impressions or ideas, but always in the ethical sense—that is, with the adsignification of the object or purpose of remembering. From thy hand—By thy hand. So Exodus 2:23: “Sighed by reason of the bondage.” Hebrew, Sighed from, that is, from the effects of, their bondage. In the text the reference is to those who are dead from—from the effects of—God’s hand by reason of his judgments.

Verses 6, 7. Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit, &c. — In hopeless and remediless calamities. Thus greatly may good men be afflicted, and such dismal apprehensions may they have concerning their afflictions, and such dark conclusions may they sometimes be ready to make concerning the issue of them, through the power of melancholy, and the weakness of faith. Thy wrath lieth hard upon me — The sense of thy wrath, or rather, the effects of it, as the next clause explains it. Thou hast afflicted me with all thy waves — With thy judgments breaking in furiously upon me, like the waves of the sea.

Ver. 6. Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit. The grave of trouble, darkness, and depression.

6. Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit—In verses 4, 5, he was already in the pit and in sheol. Here, in the “lowest” or deepest pit. In darkness— The pit is so deep that the daylight is shut out. In the deeps—The depths of the ocean are intended, (as in Nehemiah 9:11; Job 41:31; Psalm 107:24,) to the Hebrew always a mystery and a terror. But the psalmist might have comforted himself by the promise of Psalm 68:22. Compare “lowest sheol” and “lower parts of the earth.” Psalm 67:9; 86:13.

V. 7. Waves-With they judgments, breaking in furiously upon me like the waves of the sea.

Verse 7. Thou hast afflicted me with all thy waves.] The figures in this verse seem to be taken from a tempest at sea. The storm is fierce, and the waves cover the ship.

Verses 6, 7. Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit, &c. — In hopeless and remediless calamities. Thus greatly may good men be afflicted, and such dismal apprehensions may they have concerning their afflictions, and such dark conclusions may they sometimes be ready to make concerning the issue of them, through the power of melancholy, and the weakness of faith. Thy wrath lieth hard upon me — The sense of thy wrath, or rather, the effects of it, as the next clause explains it. Thou hast afflicted me with all thy waves — With thy judgments breaking in furiously upon me, like the waves of the sea.

7. Thou hast afflicted me with all thy waves—The figure of the deeps, verse 6, is brought forward. He is in the boiling depths of the ocean, and a heavy tempest is raging over him. See Jonah 2:3; Psalm 42:7.

Verse 8. Thou hast made me an abomination] This verse has been supposed to express the state of a leper, who, because of the infectious nature of his disease, is separated from his family-is abominable to all, and at last shut up in a separate house, whence he does not come out to mingle with society.

Verses 8, 9. Thou hast put away mine acquaintance far from me — I can have no more familiarity or intercourse with my friends than if I were in another world; for thy providence hath removed, or rendered them incapable, or disinclined, to be serviceable to me. Thou hast made me an abomination unto them — They are not only shy, but weary of me; and I am looked upon by them, not only with contempt, but with abhorrence. Reader, do not think it strange if thou should be called to encounter such a trial as this, since Heman, who was so famed for wisdom, was thus neglected when the world frowned upon him, and despised as a broken vessel, in which is no pleasure. I am shut up — A close prisoner under the arrest of the divine wrath; I cannot come forth — There being no way of escape open. He therefore lies down and sinks under his troubles, because he sees not any probability of getting out of them. Mine eye mourneth by reason of affliction — But though I thus give vent to my grief, my troubled spirit receives no relief thereby: nevertheless, I have called daily upon thee — My weeping has not hindered my praying. I have stretched out my hands unto thee — For help and deliverance, though hitherto without effect, for thou dost not hear nor answer me.

8. Mine acquaintance—The neighbouring nations. The psalmist is speaking from the soul of his people. The social aspect of his sufferings now appears. An abomination unto them—Abominations, the plural form, is intensive—an assemblage of abominations. The hatred and loathing contempt of the neighbouring nations developed fearfully against the Hebrews at the time of their fall by the Chaldeans. See Psalm 137:7; Ezekiel 26:2; Zephaniah 2:8, 9; Lamentations 3:14. I am shut up, and I cannot come forth—An unquestionable description of prison life, fitly applying to King Jehoiachin, who passed thirty-six years of the captivity in a Babylonian prison. 2 Kings 24:12, 15, and 25:27-30; Jeremiah 52:31-34. See Lamentations 3:6-9.

Verses 8, 9. Thou hast put away mine acquaintance far from me — I can have no more familiarity or intercourse with my friends than if I were in another world; for thy providence hath removed, or rendered them incapable, or disinclined, to be serviceable to me. Thou hast made me an abomination unto them — They are not only shy, but weary of me; and I am looked upon by them, not only with contempt, but with abhorrence. Reader, do not think it strange if thou should be called to encounter such a trial as this, since Heman, who was so famed for wisdom, was thus neglected when the world frowned upon him, and despised as a broken vessel, in which is no pleasure. I am shut up — A close prisoner under the arrest of the divine wrath; I cannot come forth — There being no way of escape open. He therefore lies down and sinks under his troubles, because he sees not any probability of getting out of them. Mine eye mourneth by reason of affliction — But though I thus give vent to my grief, my troubled spirit receives no relief thereby: nevertheless, I have called daily upon thee — My weeping has not hindered my praying. I have stretched out my hands unto thee — For help and deliverance, though hitherto without effect, for thou dost not hear nor answer me.

9. Mine eye mourneth… I have called daily… I have stretched out my hands—My eye, voice, and hands give expression daily of my suffering and peril, and plead for me. Thus far the psalmist’s prayer is grounded on his miserable state, but now he introduces another argument, and pleads that God will be glorified more in his salvation than in his death.

V. 10. Wonders-In raising them to life. To praise thee-In this world?

Verse 10. Wilt thou show wonders to the dead!] מתים methim, dead men.

Shall the dead] רפאים rephaim, “the manes or departed spirits.” Arise and praise thee?] Any more in this life? The interrogations in this and the two following verses imply the strongest negations.

Verses 10-12. Wilt thou show wonders to the dead? — Namely, in raising them to life again in this world? No: I know thou wilt not. And therefore now hear and help me, or it will be too late. Shall the dead arise and praise thee? — Namely, among mortal men in this world? Shall thy lovingkindness be declared in the grave? &c. — I am not without hopes, that thou bearest a real good-will toward me, and wilt faithfully perform thy gracious promises made to me, and to all that love thee, and call upon thee in truth, but then this must be done speedily, or I shall be utterly incapable of receiving such a mercy. Shall thy wonders be known in the dark? — In the grave, which is called the land of darkness, Job 10:21,

22. Thy righteousness in the land of forgetfulness? — The grave, so called, either, 1st, Because there men forget and neglect all the concerns of this life, being indeed but dead carcasses without any sense or remembrance. Or, rather, 2d, Because there men are forgotten even by their nearest relations.

10. Wilt thou show wonders to the dead—A wonder, singular, a token, a proof of saving power and favour. God’s “wonders,” for the edification of living men, are shown to the living, not to the dead. Why, then, should he be left to die? Shall the dead arise and praise thee—The “dead,” here, does not refer to dead bodies, but to disembodied spirits, or, as the ancient idea was, the shades or manes of the dead; and the rising must not be understood of a resurrection of the body, but of the rising up, as from a recumbent posture, of the shades or spirits of the departed in their abode in sheol. µyapr, (rephaim,) here translated dead, is a different word from “dead” in the previous clause, and is the term for giants, (as Genesis 14:5; Deuteronomy 2:11, 20,) and the climax seems to require the sense of mighty dead, or shades of the mighty, as in Isaiah 14:9: “Sheol… raiseth for thee the mighty dead, all the great chiefs of the earth.”—Lowth. These spirits were living, but had no sensible connexion with this world. The sense, therefore, is this: “Wilt thou produce a wonder to the dead? Shall the [spirits of the] mighty dead rise up [in their abode in sheol] and praise thee?” Nothing could make it more clear that the Hebrews considered living men to be debarred all direct intercommunion with the dead, so that the latter could not rise up and declare to the living what are the divine dispensations to them, and thus cause their experiences to become salutary to the living. And hence the argument all along implies, that if help were not quickly shown to the suppliant psalmist, while yet numbered with the living, the moral effect of his deliverance would be lost, and God would not be glorified by it. As to the supposed adverse bearing of this and other texts on the belief of man’s immortality, see on Psalm 115:17, and the references there made. We say with Bishop Alexander: “How could Christianity, all quivering with the hopes and fears of another life, have issued from Judaism, if Judaism had possessed nothing of the kind?”

Verse 11. Or thy faithfulness in destruction?] Faithfulness in God refers as well to his fulfilling his threatenings as to his keeping his promises. The wicked are threatened with such punishments as their crimes have deserved; but annihilation is no punishment. God therefore does not intend to annihilate the wicked; their destruction cannot declare the faithfulness of God.

Verses 10-12. Wilt thou show wonders to the dead? — Namely, in raising them to life again in this world? No: I know thou wilt not. And therefore now hear and help me, or it will be too late. Shall the dead arise and praise thee? — Namely, among mortal men in this world? Shall thy lovingkindness be declared in the grave? &c. — I am not without hopes, that thou bearest a real good-will toward me, and wilt faithfully perform thy gracious promises made to me, and to all that love thee, and call upon thee in truth, but then this must be done speedily, or I shall be utterly incapable of receiving such a mercy. Shall thy wonders be known in the dark? — In the grave, which is called the land of darkness, Job 10:21,

22. Thy righteousness in the land of forgetfulness? — The grave, so called, either, 1st, Because there men forget and neglect all the concerns of this life, being indeed but dead carcasses without any sense or remembrance. Or, rather, 2d, Because there men are forgotten even by their nearest relations.

Ver. 11. Shall thy lovingkindness be declared in the grave? David uses the same argument in Psalm 30., to excite the divine compassion. He repeats his pathetic addresses. “In the morning shall my prayer prevent thee,” as when, in time of great need, we gain a benefactor’s ear before he has entered on the business of the day. Morning prayer, like a morning fire, burns clear.

11. Destruction—The Hebrew word is simply parallel to grave in the previous line; equal to sheol, place of the dead. There is no allusion whatever to annihilation. These poetical descriptions must always be construed phenomenally, as they appear to the eye with reference to living men, never in the abstract or metaphysical sense.

V. 12. Forgetfulness-In the grave, where men are forgotten by their nearest relations.

Verse 12. The land of forgetfulness?] The place of separate spirits, or the invisible world. The heathens had some notion of this state. They feigned a river in the invisible world, called Lethe, lhqh, which signifies oblivion, and that those who drank of it remembered no more any thing relative to their former state.

—————Animæ, quibus altera fato

Corpora debentur, lethæi ad fluminis undam

Securos latices et longa oblivia potant.

VIRG. Æn. vi. 713.

To all those souls who round the river wait

New mortal bodies are decreed by fate;

To yon dark stream the gliding ghosts repair,

And quaff deep draughts of long oblivion there.

Verses 10-12. Wilt thou show wonders to the dead? — Namely, in raising them to life again in this world? No: I know thou wilt not. And therefore now hear and help me, or it will be too late. Shall the dead arise and praise thee? — Namely, among mortal men in this world? Shall thy lovingkindness be declared in the grave? &c. — I am not without hopes, that thou bearest a real good-will toward me, and wilt faithfully perform thy gracious promises made to me, and to all that love thee, and call upon thee in truth, but then this must be done speedily, or I shall be utterly incapable of receiving such a mercy. Shall thy wonders be known in the dark? — In the grave, which is called the land of darkness, Job 10:21,

22. Thy righteousness in the land of forgetfulness? — The grave, so called, either, 1st, Because there men forget and neglect all the concerns of this life, being indeed but dead carcasses without any sense or remembrance. Or, rather, 2d, Because there men are forgotten even by their nearest relations.

12. The dark—Same as “grave.” So adhv, hades, (answering everywhere to lwav, sheol,) is compounded of a, privative, (not,) and eidw, (to see,) not to see, unseen, and means the world I do not see, the unseen world. The same is called darkness in the text. Land of forgetfulness—So called because the dead, after a few generations, are generally forgotten from the records of the living. This is true to fact in all ages with the masses of mankind. And is not death, in its physical aspect, still viewed, under the Christian religion, in the same chilling and gloomy light? Even the Saviour said: “The night cometh, when no man can work.” John 9:4. To the instincts of our nature death must ever be saddening and abhorrent. Its terrors are swallowed up only through faith and hope in the infinite “beyond”—a moral victory over what is still, per se, an unchanged natural evil. “The psalter would be incomplete without expressions of the sadness which comes with the prospect of death.”—Bishop Alexander. Without this a great moral lesson would be lost, and the Bible would be untrue to itself and to nature.

V. 13. Prevent-Come to thee before the dawning of the day, or the rising of the sun.

Verse 13. Shall my prayer prevent thee.] It shall get before thee; I will not wait till the accustomed time to offer my morning sacrifice, I shall call on thee long before others come to offer their devotions.

Verses 13-18. In the morning shall my prayer prevent thee — That is, shall be offered to thee early, before the ordinary time of morning prayer, or before the dawning of the day, or the rising of the sun. The sense is, Though I have hitherto got no answer to my prayers, yet I will not give over praying and hoping for an answer. Why hidest thou thy face from me? — This proceeding seems not to agree with the benignity of thy nature, nor with the manner of thy dealing with thy people. I am ready to die from my youth up — My whole life hath been filled with a succession of deadly calamities. O Lord, take some pity upon me, and let me have a little breathing space before I die. While I suffer thy terrors — Upon my mind and conscience, which accompany and aggravate my outward miseries, I am distracted — I am so astonished, that I know not what to do with myself. They came about me like water — As the waters of the sea encompass him who is in the midst, and at the bottom of it.

13. Unto thee have I cried—Here faith rallies and reasserts herself, as in verse 1. No relief has yet come, but the psalmist gives himself to prayer, which itself implies hope.

Verse 14. Why castest thou off my soul?] Instead of my soul, several of the ancient Versions have my prayer. Why dost thou refuse to hear me, and thus abandon me to death?

Verses 13-18. In the morning shall my prayer prevent thee — That is, shall be offered to thee early, before the ordinary time of morning prayer, or before the dawning of the day, or the rising of the sun. The sense is, Though I have hitherto got no answer to my prayers, yet I will not give over praying and hoping for an answer. Why hidest thou thy face from me? — This proceeding seems not to agree with the benignity of thy nature, nor with the manner of thy dealing with thy people. I am ready to die from my youth up — My whole life hath been filled with a succession of deadly calamities. O Lord, take some pity upon me, and let me have a little breathing space before I die. While I suffer thy terrors — Upon my mind and conscience, which accompany and aggravate my outward miseries, I am distracted — I am so astonished, that I know not what to do with myself. They came about me like water — As the waters of the sea encompass him who is in the midst, and at the bottom of it.

14. Lord, why—Still the mystery returns to perplex. Why should God thus, by delay, seem to choose his destruction rather than his salvation?

Verse 15. From my youth up.] I have always been a child of sorrow, afflicted in my body, and distressed in my mind. There are still found in the Church of God persons in similar circumstances; persons who are continually mourning for themselves and for the desolations of Zion. A disposition of this kind is sure to produce an unhealthy body; and indeed a weak constitution may often produce an enfeebled mind; but where the terrors of the Lord prevail, there is neither health of body nor peace of mind.

Verses 13-18. In the morning shall my prayer prevent thee — That is, shall be offered to thee early, before the ordinary time of morning prayer, or before the dawning of the day, or the rising of the sun. The sense is, Though I have hitherto got no answer to my prayers, yet I will not give over praying and hoping for an answer. Why hidest thou thy face from me? — This proceeding seems not to agree with the benignity of thy nature, nor with the manner of thy dealing with thy people. I am ready to die from my youth up — My whole life hath been filled with a succession of deadly calamities. O Lord, take some pity upon me, and let me have a little breathing space before I die. While I suffer thy terrors — Upon my mind and conscience, which accompany and aggravate my outward miseries, I am distracted — I am so astonished, that I know not what to do with myself. They came about me like water — As the waters of the sea encompass him who is in the midst, and at the bottom of it.

15. Ready to die from my youth up—Literally, Dying from my youth. So repeated and terrible were the chastisements of God for disobedience, from the days of Moses till now, that, comparatively, the nation had lived a dying life. What an experience for a professed worshipper of God, whether Jew or Christian!

Verse 16. Thy fierce wrath goeth over me.] It is a mighty flood by which I am overwhelmed.

Verses 13-18. In the morning shall my prayer prevent thee — That is, shall be offered to thee early, before the ordinary time of morning prayer, or before the dawning of the day, or the rising of the sun. The sense is, Though I have hitherto got no answer to my prayers, yet I will not give over praying and hoping for an answer. Why hidest thou thy face from me? — This proceeding seems not to agree with the benignity of thy nature, nor with the manner of thy dealing with thy people. I am ready to die from my youth up — My whole life hath been filled with a succession of deadly calamities. O Lord, take some pity upon me, and let me have a little breathing space before I die. While I suffer thy terrors — Upon my mind and conscience, which accompany and aggravate my outward miseries, I am distracted — I am so astonished, that I know not what to do with myself. They came about me like water — As the waters of the sea encompass him who is in the midst, and at the bottom of it.

16. Cut me off—Thy terrible judgments have severed me from the living.

V. 17. Water-As the waters of the sea encompass him who is in the midst of it.

Verse 17. They came round about me daily like water] Besides his spiritual conflicts, he had many enemies to grapple with. The waves of God’s displeasure broke over him, and his enemies came around him like water, increasing more and more, rising higher and higher, till he was at last on the point of being submerged in the flood.

Verses 13-18. In the morning shall my prayer prevent thee — That is, shall be offered to thee early, before the ordinary time of morning prayer, or before the dawning of the day, or the rising of the sun. The sense is, Though I have hitherto got no answer to my prayers, yet I will not give over praying and hoping for an answer. Why hidest thou thy face from me? — This proceeding seems not to agree with the benignity of thy nature, nor with the manner of thy dealing with thy people. I am ready to die from my youth up — My whole life hath been filled with a succession of deadly calamities. O Lord, take some pity upon me, and let me have a little breathing space before I die. While I suffer thy terrors — Upon my mind and conscience, which accompany and aggravate my outward miseries, I am distracted — I am so astonished, that I know not what to do with myself. They came about me like water — As the waters of the sea encompass him who is in the midst, and at the bottom of it.

17. They came round… like water—The figure again changes. The psalmist is enclosed in a flood, and whelmed, as in verses 6, 7.

Verse 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 Ëcjm מידעי 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——]

[——Persic——]

Ruftem sauee khuteereh bekerestem bezar

Az Hijereh Doostan ke aseer fana shudend:

Guftem Eeshah Kuja shudend? ve Khatyr

Dad az sada jouab Eeshan Kuja!

“Weeping, I passed the place where lay my friends

Captured by death; in accents wild I cried,

Where are they? And stern Fate, by Echoes voice,

Returned in solemn sound the sad Where are they?”

J. B. C.

Verses 13-18. In the morning shall my prayer prevent thee — That is, shall be offered to thee early, before the ordinary time of morning prayer, or before the dawning of the day, or the rising of the sun. The sense is, Though I have hitherto got no answer to my prayers, yet I will not give over praying and hoping for an answer. Why hidest thou thy face from me? — This proceeding seems not to agree with the benignity of thy nature, nor with the manner of thy dealing with thy people. I am ready to die from my youth up — My whole life hath been filled with a succession of deadly calamities. O Lord, take some pity upon me, and let me have a little breathing space before I die. While I suffer thy terrors — Upon my mind and conscience, which accompany and aggravate my outward miseries, I am distracted — I am so astonished, that I know not what to do with myself. They came about me like water — As the waters of the sea encompass him who is in the midst, and at the bottom of it.

18. Lover and friend—The removal of these may well form the climax of his misery. All lost; not even the sympathy of friendship left to alleviate the horror of his despair. Mine acquaintance into darkness—Hebrew, My acquaintances… darkness. “Into,” is not in the text. The idea is, not that God had put his acquaintances (plural) “into” darkness, but that with darkness, henceforth, should be his intimate and only companionship. The complaint has now reached its climax, as in Job 17:14: “I called to corruption, Thou art my father; to the worm, Thou art my mother and my sister.” Such complaints, like Ecclesiastes, seem designed to suggest what human sorrow is, and must be, apart from the hope of divine favour and eternal life. See Psalm 143:3; Lamentations 3:6.