Psalms 88:1 «A Song [or] Psalm for the sons of Korah, to the chief Musician upon Mahalath Leannoth, Maschil of Heman the Ezrahite. » O LORD God of my salvation, I have cried day [and] night before thee: _A Psalm or Song_] _Psalmus totus luctuosus,_ a doleful ditty, beginning and ending with complai... [ Continue Reading ]
Let my prayer come before thee: incline thine ear unto my cry; Ver. 2. _Let my prayer come before thee_] He did not cast out brutish and wild complaints and moans in misery, as it is natural for people to do, but poured forth his soul into God's blessed bosom, and now prayeth an answer.... [ Continue Reading ]
For my soul is full of troubles: and my life draweth nigh unto the grave. Ver. 3. _For my soul is full of trouble_] _Hypotyposis hominis luctuosissime affecti._ Here we have the lively picture of a man under bitter affliction. Extraordinary wise he was, and extraordinary troubles he had. None out o... [ Continue Reading ]
I am counted with them that go down into the pit: I am as a man [that hath] no strength: Ver. 4. _I am counted with them, &c._] I am looked upon as irrecoverable, given up for desperate. _Conclamatum est._ I am as a man that hath no strength] A man no man; weak as water, ακιας αναρ ανθρωπος .... [ Continue Reading ]
Free among the dead, like the slain that lie in the grave, whom thou rememberest no more: and they are cut off from thy hand. Ver. 5. _Free among the dead_] Free of that company, one of the many among the manes, or ghosts; a free denizen of that society of that moiety of mankind that are dead. Yea,... [ Continue Reading ]
Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit, in darkness, in the deeps. Ver. 6. _Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit_] _In cisterna infimorum,_ in the deepest dungeon, _in lutoso lacu,_ such as Jeremiah was cast into, Jeremiah 37:15,16 _ In the deeps_] _In voraginibus,_ out of which none escapes, nothing... [ Continue Reading ]
Thy wrath lieth hard upon me, and thou hast afflicted [me] with all thy waves. Selah. Ver. 7. _Thy wrath lieth hard upon me_] So it did upon David, Psalms 32:3, but especially upon the Son of David, the Lord Christ, of whose sufferings these were but types, or as chips of his cross. _ And thou has... [ Continue Reading ]
Thou hast put away mine acquaintance far from me; thou hast made me an abomination unto them: [I am] shut up, and I cannot come forth. Ver. 8. _Thou hast put away mine acquaintance, &c._] Job and David complain of the like misery. _Optimum solatium sodalitium; _ but woe to him that is alone. _ I a... [ Continue Reading ]
Mine eye mourneth by reason of affliction: LORD, I have called daily upon thee, I have stretched out my hands unto thee. Ver. 9. _Lord, I have called daily upon thee_] Which he would not have done if he had cast away his confidence; for "how shall they call upon him in whom they have not believed?... [ Continue Reading ]
Wilt thou shew wonders to the dead? shall the dead arise [and] praise thee? Selah. Ver. 10. _Wilt thou show wonders to the dead?_] Wilt thou delay to deliver me till I am dead, and then raise me again by a miracle, that I may praise thee? But he should have considered that God neither needeth our p... [ Continue Reading ]
Shall thy lovingkindness be declared in the grave? [or] thy faithfulness in destruction? Ver. 11. _Shall thy loving kindness, &c._] The same again, and Psalms 88:12 a third time, _pro more dolentium._ See Psalms 6:5; Psalms 30:9 .... [ Continue Reading ]
Shall thy wonders be known in the dark? and thy righteousness in the land of forgetfulness? Ver. 12. _In the land of forgetfulness_] So the state and place of the dead is called; and why: _See Trapp on "_ Psa 88:5 _"_... [ Continue Reading ]
But unto thee have I cried, O LORD; and in the morning shall my prayer prevent thee. Ver. 13. _But unto thee have I cried_] Oh, condescend to thy poor crying creature in extremity. _ In the morning_] _See Trapp on "_ Psa 5:3 _"_... [ Continue Reading ]
LORD, why castest thou off my soul? [why] hidest thou thy face from me? Ver. 14. _Lord, why castest thou off, &c._] Luther saith of himself, that after his conversion he lay three days in desperation. And afterwards, he sometimes suffered such desertions, _ut nec calor, nec sanguis, nec sensus, nec... [ Continue Reading ]
I [am] afflicted and ready to die from [my] youth up: [while] I suffer thy terrors I am distracted. Ver. 15. _I am afflicted, &c._] He was brought up in the school of temptations, and kept in this form from his youth. He was put soon to it, and so deep lessons had he set him, that he had like to ha... [ Continue Reading ]
Thy fierce wrath goeth over me; thy terrors have cut me off. Ver. 16. _Thy fierce wrath, &c._] As rivers of brimstone. _ Have cut me off_] _Multis excisionibus ideoque duplicatur Tau._... [ Continue Reading ]
_They came round about me daily like water; they compassed me about together._ Ver. 17. _They compassed me about_] As the water compasseth the earth like a girdle.... [ Continue Reading ]
Lover and friend hast thou put far from me, [and] mine acquaintance into darkness. Ver. 18. _Lover and friend, &c._] See Psalms 88:8, and mark how mournfully he concludeth; as doth also the Church, Lamentations 5:22 .... [ Continue Reading ]