Psalms 102:1-28

Psalms 102

DESCRIPTIVE TITLE

The Prayer of a Humbled One brings a Threefold Answer of Peace.

ANALYSIS

Stanza I., Psalms 102:1-11, A Humbled One's Complaint. Stanza II., Psalms 102:12-17, The FIRST CONCLUSION, Adapting the psalm to the Close of the Captivity in Babylon. Stanza III., Psalms 102:18-22, The SECOND CONCLUSION, Adapting the psalm to a Future Generation. Stanza IV., Psalms 102:23-28, The Original Conclusion now placed at the Close of the Composite Psalm.

(Lm.) PrayerBy the Humbled One when he fainteth and before Jehovah poureth out his Soliloquy.[364]

[364] Or: murmuring, complaint.

1

Jehovah! oh hear my prayer,

and let my cry for help unto thee come in.

2

Do not hide thy face from me,

in the day of my distress incline thine ear unto me;
in the day I keep calling haste thee answer me;

3

For vanished in[365] smoke are my days,

[365] Some cod. (w. Aram., Sep., Vul.): likeGn.

and my bones like a hearth are burned through.[366]

[366] So Dr., Del.

4

Smitten like herbage and withered is my heart,

for I have forgotten to eat my bread.

5

By reason of the noise of my groaning

cleaveth my bone to my flesh.

6

I am like a pelican of the desert,

I am become like an owl of the ruins:

7

I have watched and moaned[367] like a solitary bird on a roof.

[367] So Gt. Cp. Psalms 55:17Gn.

8

All the day have mine enemies reproached me,

they who are mad against me by me have sworn.[368]

[368] Cp. Isaiah 65:15, Jeremiah 29:22, He who swears by one in misfortune says -May I bear the like if I break my faith.-'T.G. 802.

9

For ashes like bread have I eaten,

and my drink with my tears have I mingled,

10

Because of thine indignation and thy wrath;

for thou hast lifted me up and flung me away.

11

My days are like a shadow that is stretehed-out,

and I myself like herbage shall dry up.

12

But thou Jehovah to the ages sittest (enthroned),

and thy memorial[369] is to generation after generation.

[369] Cp. Exodus 3:15. Some cod. thy throneGn.

13

Thou wilt arise and have compassion upon Zion.

for it is time to shew her favour[370] for the set time hath come:

[370] Or: to be gracious unto her.

14

For thy servants take pleasure in her stones,

and on her dust look with favour.

15

So will the nations revere the name of Jehovah,

and all the kings of the earth thy glory:

16

Because Jehovah hath built up Zion

hath appeared in his glory,

17

Hath turned unto the prayer of the destitute

and hath not despised their prayer.

18

Let this be written for a generation to come,

and let a people to be created offer praise unto Yah:

19

That he hath looked forth from his holy height,[371]

[371] Cp. Isaiah 63:15.

Jehovah from the heavens unto the earth hath directed his gaze:

20

To hear the groaning of the prisoner,[372]

[372] Isaiah 42:7; Isaiah 61:1, Psalms 79:11.

to loose such as are appointed to die:[373]

[373] Ml.: the sons of death.

21

That they may tell in Zion of the name of Jehovah,

and his praise in Jerusalem:

22

When the peoples are gathered together,[374]

[374] Isaiah 60:4.

and the kingdoms to serve Jehovah.

23

He hath humbled[375] in the way my[376] strength,[377]

[375] The Heb. word here may be either humbled or answered.
[376] Ancient authorities are divided between my and his.
[377] For the effect of these variations see Exposition.

he hath shortened my days.

24

I sayMy GOD! do not take me away in the midst of my days,

through the generation of generations are thy years:

25

Of old the earth thou didst found,

and the work of thy hands are in the heavens:[378]

[378] Cp. Isaiah 48:13; Isaiah 44:24.

26

They shall perish but thou shalt endure,

and they all like a garment shall wear out,

as a vesture shalt thou change them and they shall vanish;

27

But thou art the Same,[379]

[379] Ml.: he That is He who is (as opposed to the transistory fabric of the world)Dr. Cp. Deuteronomy 32:39, Isaiah 41:4; Isaiah 43:10; Isaiah 46:4; Isaiah 48:12.

and thy years shall have no end:

28

The sons of thy servants shall abide,

and their seed before thee shall be established.

(Nm.)

PARAPHRASE

Psalms 102

A prayer when overwhelmed with trouble.

Lord, hear my prayer! Listen to my plea!
2 Don-'t turn away from me in this time of my distress. Bend down Your ear and give me speedy answers,
3, 4 For my days disappear like smoke. My health is broken and my heart is sick; it is trampled like grass and is withered. My food is tasteless, and I have lost my appetite.
5 I am reduced to skin and bones because of all my groaning and despair.
6 I am like a vulture in a far-off wilderness, or like an owl alone in the desert.
7 I lie awake, lonely as a solitary sparrow on the roof.
8 My enemies taunt me day after day and curse at me.
9, 10 I eat ashes instead of bread. My tears run down into my drink because of Your anger against me, because of Your wrath. For You have rejected me and thrown me out.
11 My life is passing swiftly as the evening shadows. I am withering like grass.
12 While you, Lord, are a famous King forever. Your face will endure to every generation.
13 I know that You will come and have mercy on Jerusalemand now is the time to pity herthe time You promised help.
14 For Your people love every stone in her walls and feel sympathy for every grain of dust in her streets.
15 Now let the nations and their rulers tremble before the Lord, before His glory.
16 For Jehovah will rebuild Jerusalem! He will appear in His glory!
17 He will listen to the prayers of the destitute, for He is never too busy to heed there requests.
18 I am recording this so that future generations will also praise the Lord for all that He has done. And a people that shall be created shall praise the Lord.
19 Tell them that God looked down from His Temple in heaven,
20 And heard the groans of His people in slaverythey were children of deathand released them,
21, 22 So that multitudes would stream to the Temple to praise Him, and His praises were sung throughout the city of Jerusalem; and many rulers throughout the earth came to worship Him.

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23 He has cut me down in middle life, shortening my days.
24 But I cried to Him, O God, You live forever and forever! Don-'t let me die half through my years!
25 In ages past You laid the foundations of the earth, and made the heavens with Your hands!
26 They shall perish, but You go on forever. They will grow old, like worn-out clothing, and You will change them as a man putting on a new shirt and throwing away the old one!
27 But You Yourself never grow old. You are forever, and Your years never end.

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28 But our families will continue; generation after generation will be preserved by Your protection.

EXPOSITION

The marked structural peculiarities of this psalm are probably best explained by the supposition that it was at first the soliloquy of an individual, and was afterwards adapted for national use on two successive occasions. The first and last stanzas (Psalms 102:1-11; Psalms 102:23-28) in all likelihood constituted the original psalm. The former of these is mainly a prolonged complaint, which may well have been written by or for King Hezekiah, since it strikingly meets his case, and runs closely parallel with his prayer as preserved in Isaiah 38. Throughout this stanza the personal note predominatesit is I and me all the way through; and the observable thing is, that there is no return to this personal note until Psalms 102:23 is reached, on the recurrence of which, however, we are again reminded of Hezekiah,for. who so likely as he to have saidTake me not away in the midst of my days! and although, even then, the psalm does not close exactly as we might have expected Hezekiah to close it, yet nothing inconsistent comes in: the personal note still prevails, though only in the lofty strain which sets the abiding personality of Jehovah over against the frail and fleeting personality of the suppliant. Precisely how this contrast could have seemed to be a pertinent Divine response to the long drawn-out wail of the personal sufferer, it may be that a sacrificed line or phrase would have clearly shewn. As a working hypothesis, however, we can easily assume that these two personally dominated stanzas formed the original Hezekian psalm.

Time rolls on. The great exile to Babylon for seventy years takes place. Towards the close of this period, some gifted scribe observes the striking parallel between the afflicted king and the afflicted nation; and, to adapt the old psalm to new conditions, especially to hearten and prepare his people for a return to the Fatherland to restore and rebuild Jerusalem, he introduces the present Second Stanza (Psalms 102:12-17). It would seem to be prejudiced and arbitrary not to suppose some such occasion for the touching allusions to Jerusalem's stones and dust, and especially the inspiriting belief that the set time to compassionate Zion had now arrived, which this stanza includes. Looking again through this second stanza with these thoughts in mind, we are, on the one hand, no longer surprised to find in it no further reference to the original suppliant King; but, on the other hand, we easily realise how perfectly in keeping it is with the national intention suggested that the psalmist should indulge in a purely national outlook; a sort of glorified forecast of the grand things now to be expected by the redeemed and renewed Chosen People. The poet rises to a prophetic anticipation of those coming good things, when not only should Zion have been re-built, but Jehovah have appeared in his glory, and in every way have signally turned to and not despised the prayer of the as yet destitute nation.

But as time passes, it is realised that the Return itself is only feebly and by instalments accomplished; and especially that, as yet, there are no signs of the friendly gathering of nations to witness Jehovah's glory and to serve him which the prophetsespecially Isaiahhad led them to expect. Hence a further addition is made to this now national psalm, by a significant intimation that the main fulfilment of it awaits a coming generation: even if a new Israel has to be created to witness its complete accomplishment, the promises of Jehovah shall be ultimately fulfilled. Jehovah, meanwhile, is not indifferent; but wherever, under the whole heavens, there are prisoners belonging to Israel crying to him in their misery, there his eye rests, thence the cry comes into his ears. The prisoners are to be releasedto come to Zionto rehearse in Jerusalem Jehovah's praise under circumstances most auspicious: When the peoples are gathered together, And the kingdoms to serve Jehovah. No doubt the picture is an ideal one: only to be made real after unforeseen delays. For, as Kirkpatrick well says, in abatement of our surprise that, As a matter of fact the return was an insignificant event, and no startling results immediately followed it:Prophecy constantly combines in one view the nearer and the remoter future, depicting the eventual result, without indicating the steps by which it is to be reached.

Another easy movement, and the structure of the whole psalm is accounted for. After the two additions contained in Stanzas II. and III. had been made, it may then have been observed by a final editor that the original close of the personal psalm still held good, furnishing a most fitting conclusion for the whole composite psalm; which was therefore added,quite possibly by Ezra, with or without a finishing touch to complete the unification of the whole as one of the Songs of Zion.
Probably there are but few present-day readers of the psalms who cannot find assistance in some such modest theory of origin of this psalm as the foregoing. Better far so to apprehend how the psalm may have assumed its present form, than to be driven to the unwelcome conclusion that it is radically and irremediably incoherent; seeing especially that such a conclusion is likely to foster the deplorable habit of regarding Holy Scripture as a mere fetish, whose chief value lies in a meaningless repetition of sounds in which sense is at a discount.

The reasons for regarding Psalms 102:23 as originally continuous with Psalms 102:11 will become more and more evident on examination. Not only does the personal element then reappear after being so long in abeyance, but it reappears with the same theme uppermost: Psalms 102:11 is speaking of my days, and it is to my days that Psalms 102:23 returns.

It is no doubt a little disconcerting to observe that, just where this junction reveals itself, there some difficulty should appear as to both rendering and reading. As to rendering, attention may be called to the undoubted fact that the very first word in Psalms 102:23 (-anah) may be rendered either humbled, as in this translation, or answered, as in the ancient Greek version, the Septuagint. As to reading, it is not to be denied that on the length of a single down-stroke it depends whether the affixed pronoun to the noun strength be my or hismy strength or his strength. If the latter were clearly ruled out by the context, we might serenely disregard it; and, as a fact, it is declined in this translation on the ground of a smaller amount of probability in its favour. Yet by no means so decisively declined as to make it unworthy of further notice. Not only is there the circumstance to be reckoned with that in some Hebrew copies and in the Sep. and Vul. versions the pronoun his is preferred; but there is the further stubborn fact to be admitted that the Septuagint has woven out of the two doubtful elements an entirely different result from that which appears above and in our public versions (A.V., R.V., and P.B.V.); the Septuagint rendering being as follows: He answered him in the way of his strength: tell me the shortness of my days. Do not take me away, &c. It is perhaps impossible to be quite sure that there is nothing of importance in this ancient result; although, of course, it may be merely an ancient mistake in construing the original Hebrew text: hence it is here passed on for the respectful consideration of candid critics; and the more readily, because of a slight misgiving that something further than now appears originally stood here-something possibly tending to set forth Hezekiah as a type of the Messiah in respect of the shortening of his days. Suffice it to have called attention to this remarkable variation; in order now to resume a working assurance, sincerely felt, that in the rendering and reading followed in the text of this translation, as near an approach to absolute truth is made as our present means admit. It may be reassuring to observe that nothing further is here at stake than simply the precise terms in which Psalms 102:23 should appear as the original continuation of Psalms 102:11. Even the Septuagint rendering could still be said to resume the personal strain of the psalm in respect of the days of the individual sufferer. These nice points being thus disposed of, we are fairly entitled to review the psalm as a whole in regard to its larger outstanding features.

The one thing which nothing can hide is the grandeur of the psalm: the way in which it sets over against the afflictions of the man and the afflictions of the nation, the eternity and elevation of Jehovah. Because of the stability of his throne and the inexhaustible resources of his being, there is hope for the nation; and because of the eternity of his years, there is solace for the individualthough this is implied rather than expressed in the present psalm. It seems to be implied in the sudden transition made by the suppliant (in Psalms 102:24) from his own days to the eternal years: as much as to sayWhy needest thou, whose years run on from generation to generation, cut down by one half my allotted days, few as they are at most? That, after all, the hope of the individual should be left thus, rather implied than expressed, may be attributed to the fact that as yet life and incorruption have not been illumined by the Gospel.

No such feebleness of expression can be affirmed of this psalm as regards the national hope. It is marvellous how strongly these holy men of old assert and reassert this. Zion is to be so favoured as to cause the nations to revere the name of Jehovah, and all the kings of the earth his glory. Not only will Jehovah build up Zion, but he himself will appear in his glory. When the imprisoned Israelites are released, they will come to Zion and rehearse their story. Concurrently with thisso the psalmist intimatesthere will be a gathering of peoples of kingdomsto serve Jehovah. The significance of these assurances ought on the face of them to be beyond dispute or doubt; especially when viewed in the light of Isaiah's predictions and of the Theocratic psalms (92-99) which we have lately studied. To allege that these foretellings are now being fulfilled in the Church, is not only to rob Israel, but it is to degrade the Church from her heavenly calling and to throw all scripture into confusion. It is respectfully submitted that Christian theologians ought to know the Pauline Epistles better than thus to teach.

The above allusion to the Theocratic Psalms suffices to remind us that, here as well as there, what is affirmed of Jehovah in the psalm is in the Epistle to the Hebrews alleged to have been spoken of the Son. Some expositors of the Psalms have shewn solicitude to discover this reference to the Son in this psalm as clearly as by the statement in the Epistle it might seem it ought to be discoverable; and it was partly from sympathy with that expectation, that care was taken to admit that all doubt could not at present be said to have been conclusively set at rest as to the exact terms of the original resumption of Hezekiah's psalm at Psalms 102:23. One able critic, at any rate, sees in the circumstance that the Divine name in Psalms 102:24 is El rather than Elohim, a probable note of transition to the Son. However this may be, it will probably be a relief to plain Christians to rest in the apparently well-warranted conclusion, that the radical significance of the Memorial name Jehovahas Yahweh, the Becoming One, renders the transition easy, when context and circumstance require it, to Him who in the fulness of time became flesh and tabernacled among us. As already suggested when expounding the Theocratic psalms, whenever visible Divine Manifestation is implied, then some veiling of Absolute Deity must also be understood; and this veil Christians already possess in Jesus on whom our Apostle Paul explicitly teaches was graciously bestowed The Name which is above every name (Philippians 2:9).

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

1.

Please try to appreciate the historical circumstances of this psalm. Discuss possibilities.

2.

Evidently at least three persons had a part in writing this psalm and three periods in the history of Israel are contemplated. Discuss.

3.

One thing which nothing can hide is the grandeur of the psalm: ... just what is involved in this grandeur and how is it expressed?

4.

Just what is (or was) the national hope of Israel? Discuss Rotherham's view point and others.

5.

What is said of God here is said of the Son in Hebrews, What is the significance of this?