XXXVIII. Reading only the first part of this psalm (Psalms 38:1), we should positively assign it to some individual sufferer who had learnt the lesson which St. Jerome says is here taught: “if any sickness happens to the body, we are to seek for the medicine of the soul.” But, reading on, we find t... [ Continue Reading ]
O LORD, REBUKE. — See Note, Psalms 6:1, of which verse this is almost a repetition.... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THINE ARROWS... — The same figure is used of the disease from which Job suffered (elephantiasis? Job 6:4); of famine (Ezekiel 5:16); and generally of divine judgments (Deuteronomy 32:23). By itself it therefore decides nothing as to the particular cause of the Psalmist’s grief. STICK FAST. — Be... [ Continue Reading ]
REST... — Better, _health._ The Hebrew is from a root meaning _to be whole. Peace_ (see margin), the reading of the LXX. and Vulg. is a derived meaning.... [ Continue Reading ]
ARE GONE OVER MINE HEAD. — Like waves or a flood. (Comp. Psalms 18:15; Psalms 69:2; Psalms 69:15. Comp. “A sea of troubles.” — _Hamlet,_ Acts 3, scene 1)... [ Continue Reading ]
WOUNDS. — Better, _stripes,_ as in LXX. STINK AND ARE CORRUPT. — Both words denote suppuration; the first in reference to the offensive smell, the second of the discharge of matter; the whole passage recalls Isaiah 1:6, _seq._ FOOLISHNESS. — Men are generally even more loth to confess their folly... [ Continue Reading ]
I AM TROUBLED. — Better, I am made to writhe (see margin), I am bowed down exceedingly, All day long I go about squalid. (See Psalms 35:14, and comp. Isaiah 21:3.) The usual Oriental signs of mourning are alluded to in the last clause.... [ Continue Reading ]
LOATHSOME DISEASE. — The Hebrew word is a passive participle of a verb meaning to _scorch,_ and here means _inflamed_ or _inflammation._ Ewald renders “ulcers.” The LXX. and Vulg., deriving from another root meaning _to be light,_ or _made light of,_ render “mockings.”... [ Continue Reading ]
I AM FEEBLE AND SORE BROKEN. — Better, _I am become deadly cold, and am quite worn out._ DISQUIETNESS. — Properly, _roaring._ Thus, _of the sea_ (Isaiah 5:30), _of lions_ (Proverbs 19:12; Proverbs 20:2). A very slight alteration once suggested by Hitzig, but since abandoned, would give here, “I roa... [ Continue Reading ]
ALL MY DESIRE. — Notice the clutch at the thought of divine justice, as the clutch of a drowning man amid that sea of trouble.... [ Continue Reading ]
PANTETH. — Better, _palpitates._ The Hebrew word, like _palpitate,_ expresses the beating of the heart, by its sound, _secharchar. _... [ Continue Reading ]
SORE is rather _stroke,_ as in margin, or _plague._ His friends, looking on him as “one smitten of God,” and thinking “he must be wicked to deserve such pain,” abandon him as too vile for their society. KINSMEN. — Render rather, as in margin, _neighbours,_ or _near ones._ Those who should have bee... [ Continue Reading ]
REPROOFS. — Better, _replies_ or _justifications,_ (For the whole passage comp. Isaiah 53:7.)... [ Continue Reading ]
THOU WILT HEAR. — _Thou_ is emphatic.... [ Continue Reading ]
LEST. — It is better to carry on the force of the particle of condition: For I said, Lest they should rejoice over me: Lest, when my foot slipped, they should vaunt themselves against me.... [ Continue Reading ]
SORRY. — The note of true penitence is here. The sorrow is for the _sin_ itself, not for its miserable results.... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT MINE ENEMIES ARE LIVELY. — See margin. But the parallelism and a comparison with Psalms 35:19 lead to the suspicion that the true reading is “without cause.”... [ Continue Reading ]