CINXE.COM

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "//www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="//www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"><title>Psalm 88 Pulpit Commentary</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/5001com.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 4800px), only screen and (max-device-width: 4800px)" href="/4801.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1550px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1550px)" href="/1551.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1250px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1250px)" href="/1251.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1050px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1050px)" href="/1051.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 900px), only screen and (max-device-width: 900px)" href="/901.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 800px), only screen and (max-device-width: 800px)" href="/801.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 575px), only screen and (max-device-width: 575px)" href="/501.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-height: 450px), only screen and (max-device-height: 450px)" href="/h451.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /><script type="application/javascript" src="https://scripts.webcontentassessor.com/scripts/8a2459b64f9cac8122fc7f2eac4409c8555fac9383016db59c4c26e3d5b8b157"></script><script src='https://qd.admetricspro.com/js/biblehub/biblehub-layout-loader-revcatch.js'></script><script id='HyDgbd_1s' src='https://prebidads.revcatch.com/ads.js' type='text/javascript' async></script><script>(function(w,d,b,s,i){var cts=d.createElement(s);cts.async=true;cts.id='catchscript'; cts.dataset.appid=i;cts.src='https://app.protectsubrev.com/catch_rp.js?cb='+Math.random(); document.head.appendChild(cts); }) (window,document,'head','script','rc-anksrH');</script></head><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/psalms/88.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="//biblehu.com/bmcom/psalms/88-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="//biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="../">Pulpit Commentary</a> > Psalm 88</div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../psalms/87.htm" title="Psalm 87">◄</a> Psalm 88 <a href="../psalms/89.htm" title="Psalm 89">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading">Pulpit Commentary</div><div class="chap"><div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/88-1.htm">Psalm 88:1</a></div><div class="verse"><<A Song <i>or</i> 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 <i>and</i> night before thee:</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 1.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">O Lord God of my salvation.</span> This is the one "word of trust," which some get rid of by an emendation. But the Septuagint supports the existing Hebrew text; and it is in harmony with the rest of Scripture. The saints of God never despair. <span class="cmt_word">I have cried day and night</span> <span class="cmt_word">before thee;</span> literally, <span class="accented">by day have I cried</span> - <span class="accented">by night before thee</span>; a trembling, gasping utterance (Kay). </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/88-2.htm">Psalm 88:2</a></div><div class="verse">Let my prayer come before thee: incline thine ear unto my cry;</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 2.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">Let my prayer come before thee: incline thine ear unto my cry</span> (comp. <a href="/psalms/86-1.htm">Psalm 86:1, 6</a>). </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/88-3.htm">Psalm 88:3</a></div><div class="verse">For my soul is full of troubles: and my life draweth nigh unto the grave.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 3.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">For my soul is full of troubles</span> (see <a href="/job/10-15.htm">Job 10:15</a>). <span class="cmt_word">And my life draweth nigh unto the grave;</span> literally, <span class="accented">unto Sheol</span> - the place of departed spirits (comp. <a href="/job/10-21.htm">Job 10:21, 22</a>). </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/88-4.htm">Psalm 88:4</a></div><div class="verse">I am counted with them that go down into the pit: I am as a man <i>that hath</i> no strength:</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 4.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">I am counted with them that go down into</span> <span class="cmt_word">the pit</span>; <span class="accented">i.e.</span> "to the grave." I am reckoned as one just about to die. <span class="cmt_word">I am as a man that hath no strength.</span> All my strength is departed from me; I am utterly feeble and weak - a mere shadow of my former self. Physical weakness, something like paralysis, seems to be meant. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/88-5.htm">Psalm 88:5</a></div><div class="verse">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.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 5.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">Free among</span> <span class="cmt_word">the dead;</span> or, "east out among the dead." Placed with corpses, as one that needs burial. <span class="cmt_word">Like the slain that lie in the grave.</span> Like those who are thrown into a pit dug on a battlefield, among whom there are often some who have not breathed their last (see the Prayerbook Version). <span class="cmt_word">Whom thou rememberest no more.</span> We have already beard the complaint that in death there is no remembrance of God on the part of man (<a href="/psalms/6-5.htm">Psalm 6:5</a>); now we have the converse statement, that neither is there then any remembrance of man on the part of God. The psalmist speaks, not absolute truth, but the belief of his day - a belief which vanished when life and immortality were brought to light by the gospel. <span class="cmt_word">And they are out off from thy hand;</span> <span class="accented">i.e.</span> severed from thee, shut up in a place where thou dwell eat not (see <a href="/job/10-21.htm">Job 10:21, 22</a>). </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/88-6.htm">Psalm 88:6</a></div><div class="verse">Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit, in darkness, in the deeps.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 6.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit.</span> The affliction whereof the psalmist complains has come direct from the hand of Cod. It is some severe stroke of illness which has brought him to his last gasp. The "lowest pit" is here metaphorical - the deepest depth of calamity. <span class="cmt_word">In darkness;</span> literally, <span class="accented">in darknesses</span>, where no ray of thy favour shines upon me. <span class="cmt_word">In</span> <span class="cmt_word">the deeps</span> (comp. <a href="/psalms/69-2.htm">Psalm 69:2</a>, "deep waters, where the floods overflow him"). </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/88-7.htm">Psalm 88:7</a></div><div class="verse">Thy wrath lieth hard upon me, and thou hast afflicted <i>me</i> with all thy waves. Selah.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 7.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">Thy wrath lieth hard upon</span> <span class="cmt_word">me.</span> Here the cause of all the psalmist's sufferings is touched; God was angry with him (comp. ver. 16). <span class="cmt_word">And thou hast afflicted me with all thy waves</span> (comp. <a href="/psalms/42-7.htm">Psalm 42:7</a>, "All thy waves and thy billows have gone over me"). </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/88-8.htm">Psalm 88:8</a></div><div class="verse">Thou hast put away mine acquaintance far from me; thou hast made me an abomination unto them: <i>I am</i> shut up, and I cannot come forth.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 8.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">Thou hast put away mine acquaintance far from me.</span> Compare the similar complaint of Job (<a href="/job/19-13.htm">Job 19:13, 14</a>); and see also <a href="/psalms/31-11.htm">Psalm 31:11</a>; and <span class="accented">infra</span>, ver. 18. <span class="cmt_word">Thou hast made me an abomination unto them.</span> So Job (<a href="/job/9-31.htm">Job 9:31</a>; <a href="/job/19-19.htm">Job 19:19</a>; <a href="/job/30-10.htm">Job 30:10</a>). It may be suspected that the psalmist's affliction was of a kind which made him "unclean." <span class="cmt_word">I am shut up.</span> Not in prison, as Jeremiah (<a href="/jeremiah/32-2.htm">Jeremiah 32:2</a>; <a href="/jeremiah/33-1.htm">Jeremiah 33:1</a>; <a href="/jeremiah/36-5.htm">Jeremiah 36:5</a>), but probably as unclean, or as suspected of Being unclean (see <a href="/leviticus/13-4.htm">Leviticus 13:4-33</a>). And I cannot come forth. I am not allowed to quit my chamber. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/88-9.htm">Psalm 88:9</a></div><div class="verse">Mine eye mourneth by reason of affliction: LORD, I have called daily upon thee, I have stretched out my hands unto thee.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 9.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">Mine eye mourneth by reason of affliction;</span> or, "mine eye hath grown feeble" (comp. <a href="/job/17-7.htm">Job 17:7</a>). <span class="cmt_word">Lord, I have called daily upon thee;</span> or, "all day." I have stretched out my hands unto thee. The attitude of earnest prayer (comp. <a href="/job/11-13.htm">Job 11:13</a>; <a href="/psalms/68-31.htm">Psalm 68:31</a>, etc.). </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/88-10.htm">Psalm 88:10</a></div><div class="verse">Wilt thou shew wonders to the dead? shall the dead arise <i>and</i> praise thee? Selah.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 10.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">Wilt thou show wonders to the dead?</span> Am I to receive no mercy till I am dead? and then wilt thou work a miracle for my restoration and deliverance? <span class="cmt_word">Shall the dead arise and praise thee?</span> rather, <span class="accented">the shades</span> (<span class="accented">rephaim</span>); comp. <a href="/job/26-5.htm">Job 26:5</a>. The word <span class="accented">rephaim</span> designates the wan, shadowy ghosts that have gone down to Hades (Sheol), and are resting there. Shall these suddenly rise up and engage in the worship and praise of God? The psalmist does not, any more than Job (Job 14:14), expect such a resurrection. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/88-11.htm">Psalm 88:11</a></div><div class="verse">Shall thy lovingkindness be declared in the grave? <i>or</i> thy faithfulness in destruction?</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 11.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">Shall thy loving kindness be declared in the grave?</span> Wilt thou wait till I am in my grave before thou showest any mercy upon me? or, Will not that be too late? <span class="cmt_word">Can thy faithfulness to thy promises be shown in destruction?</span> literally, <span class="accented">in Abaddon</span>; <span class="accented">i.e.</span> "perdition" - a name of Sheol (cf. <a href="/job/26-6.htm">Job 26:6</a>; <a href="/job/28-22.htm">Job 28:22</a>). </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/88-12.htm">Psalm 88:12</a></div><div class="verse">Shall thy wonders be known in the dark? and thy righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 12.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">Shall thy wonders be known in the dark?</span> (compare above, ver. 10). <span class="cmt_word">And thy righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?</span> "The land of forgetfulness," or "of oblivion," is another name for Hades, or Sheol - not that there are supposed to be no memories of the past in it (<a href="/isaiah/14-16.htm">Isaiah 14:16, 17</a>), but that all is faint and shadowy there, consciousness but a half-consciousness, remembrance but a half-remembrance. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/88-13.htm">Psalm 88:13</a></div><div class="verse">But unto thee have I cried, O LORD; and in the morning shall my prayer prevent thee.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 13.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">But unto thee have I cried, O Lord;</span> literally, <span class="accented">but as for me, to thee have I cried.</span> The psalmist returns from the somewhat vague speculations of vers. 10-12 to fact and to himself. He is not yet a mere shade, an inhabitant of Sheol; he is in the flesh, upon the earth; he can still cry, and does still cry, to Jehovah. There is thus still a faint gleam of hope for him. <span class="cmt_word">And in the morning shall my prayer prevent thee.</span> The psalmist will draw out God's mercy, as it were, before its time, by importuning him with early and continual prayer (comp. vers. 1, 9). </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/88-14.htm">Psalm 88:14</a></div><div class="verse">LORD, why castest thou off my soul? <i>why</i> hidest thou thy face from me?</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 14.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">Lord, why cutest thou off my soul?</span> The psalmist speaks here, like Job, as one aggrieved. What has he done to be "cast off"? He is evidently not aware of having sinned any grievous sin, and does not understand why he is visited with such grievous sufferings. <span class="cmt_word">Why hidest thou thy face from me?</span> Perhaps it is his insensibility, his unconsciousness of real sins and shortcomings, that has drawn down upon the psalmist his chastisement. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/88-15.htm">Psalm 88:15</a></div><div class="verse">I <i>am</i> afflicted and ready to die from <i>my</i> youth up: <i>while</i> I suffer thy terrors I am distracted.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 15.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">I am afflicted and ready to die from my youth up</span>. This is a new point. The psalmist's afflictions have not come upon him recently. He does not merely mean, as some have supposed, that, like other men, as soon as he was born he began to die, but speaks of something, if not absolutely peculiar to himself, yet at any rate rare and abnormal - a long continuance in a dying state, such as could only have been brought about by some terribly severe malady. <span class="cmt_word">While I suffer thy terrors I am distracted</span>; literally, <span class="accented">I have endured thy terrors</span>; <span class="accented">I am exhausted.</span> (On the endurance of God's "terrors," see <a href="/job/6-4.htm">Job 6:4</a>; <a href="/job/9-34.htm">Job 9:34</a>; <a href="/job/13-21.htm">Job 13:21</a>.) The natural result would be a state, not of distraction, but of exhaustion. (So Kay, and substantially Professor Cheyne.) </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/88-16.htm">Psalm 88:16</a></div><div class="verse">Thy fierce wrath goeth over me; thy terrors have cut me off.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 16.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">Thy fierce wrath goeth over me.</span> "Overwhelms me;" <span class="accented">i.e.</span> "like a fiery flood" (see above, ver. 7). Thy terrors have cut me off. A different word is used for "terrors" from that which occurs in ver. 15, and one elsewhere occurring only in <a href="/job/6-4.htm">Job 6:4</a>. The verb also is one characteristic of Job (Job 6:17; 23:17), and means "extinguish," or "exterminate." </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/88-17.htm">Psalm 88:17</a></div><div class="verse">They came round about me daily like water; they compassed me about together.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 17.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">They came round about me daily like water.</span> God's terrors encompass the psalmist "daily," or "all day long," like water; <span class="accented">i.e.</span> like an overwhelming flood (compare the first clause of ver. 16). <span class="cmt_word">They compassed me about together;</span> or, "they compass me about <span class="accented">in a mass</span>." </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/88-18.htm">Psalm 88:18</a></div><div class="verse">Lover and friend hast thou put far from me, <i>and</i> mine acquaintance into darkness.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 18.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">Lover and friend hast thou put far from me</span> (comp. ver. 8 and <a href="/job/19-13.htm">Job 19:13</a>). <span class="cmt_word">And mine acquaintance into darkness</span>; literally, <span class="accented">and my intimates</span> [<span class="accented">are</span>] <span class="accented">darkness</span>; <span class="accented">i.e.</span> "when I look for a friend or an acquaintance, my eye meets nothing but darkness," or "dark space." <span class="p"><br /><br /></span> <span class="p"><br /><br /></span> </div></div></div><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center">The Pulpit Commentary, Electronic Database. Copyright © 2001, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2010 by <a href="//biblesoft.com">BibleSoft, inc.</a>, Used by permission<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><a href="/">Bible Hub</a></div></div></div></div></td></tr></table></div><div id="left"><a href="../psalms/87.htm" onmouseover='lft.src="/leftgif.png"' onmouseout='lft.src="/left.png"' title="Psalm 87"><img src="/left.png" name="lft" border="0" alt="Psalm 87" /></a></div><div id="right"><a href="../psalms/89.htm" onmouseover='rght.src="/rightgif.png"' onmouseout='rght.src="/right.png"' title="Psalm 89"><img src="/right.png" name="rght" border="0" alt="Psalm 89" /></a></div><div id="botleft"><a href="#" onmouseover='botleft.src="/botleftgif.png"' onmouseout='botleft.src="/botleft.png"' title="Top of Page"><img src="/botleft.png" name="botleft" border="0" alt="Top of Page" /></a></div><div id="botright"><a href="#" onmouseover='botright.src="/botrightgif.png"' onmouseout='botright.src="/botright.png"' title="Top of Page"><img src="/botright.png" name="botright" border="0" alt="Top of Page" /></a></div></td></tr></table></div><div id="rightbox"><div class="padright"><div id="pic"><iframe width="100%" height="860" scrolling="no" src="//biblescan.com/mpc/psalms/88-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></div></div></div><div id="rightbox4"><div class="padright2"><div id="spons1"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"><tr><td class="sp1"><br /><br /></td></tr></table></div></div></div> <div id="bot"><div align="center"> <script id="3d27ed63fc4348d5b062c4527ae09445"> (new Image()).src = 'https://capi.connatix.com/tr/si?token=51ce25d5-1a8c-424a-8695-4bd48c750f35&cid=3a9f82d0-4344-4f8d-ac0c-e1a0eb43a405'; </script> <script id="b817b7107f1d4a7997da1b3c33457e03"> (new Image()).src = 'https://capi.connatix.com/tr/si?token=cb0edd8b-b416-47eb-8c6d-3cc96561f7e8&cid=3a9f82d0-4344-4f8d-ac0c-e1a0eb43a405'; </script><br /><br />  <div id='div-gpt-ad-1529103594582-2'> </div><br /><br />  <div id='div-gpt-ad-1529103594582-0' style='max-width: 300px;'> </div><br /><br />  <div id='div-gpt-ad-1529103594582-3'> </div><br /><br />  <div id='div-gpt-ad-1529103594582-1' style='max-width: 300px;'> </div><br /><br />  <div align="center" id='div-gpt-ad-1531425649696-0'> </div><br /><br /> <ins class="adsbygoogle" style="display:inline-block;width:200px;height:200px" data-ad-client="ca-pub-3753401421161123" data-ad-slot="3592799687"></ins> <script> (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); </script> <br /><br /> </div><iframe width="100%" height="1500" scrolling="no" src="/botmenubhpar.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></div></body></html>