Psalms 88

Psalms 88:1-9

This psalm is the most melancholy of all the psalms; from first to last it is full of mourning, lamentation, and woe. We have, 1. The great prelare of spirit that the psalmist was under, ver. 3—6. 2. The breath of God, which was the cause of that prelare, ver. 7, 15—17. 3. The wickedness of his friends, ver. 8, 18. 4.

Vol. I.

The application be made to God by prayer, ver. 1, 2, 9, 13. 5. His humble explanations and pleadings with God, ver. 10, 12, 14. And herein he seems to have been a type of Christ, to whom these things are more applicable than to any other.

A long or psalm for the sons of Korah, to the chief musician upon Mahalah Leannoth, * Mafchil of * Heman the Karahite.

1. O LORD God of my salvation, * I have cried day and night before thee. 2. Let my prayer come before thee: incline thine ear unto my cry. 3. For my soul is full of troubles: and * my life draweth nigh unto the grave. 4. I am counted with them that go down into the pit: I am as a man that hath no strength. 5. * Free among the dead, like the Slain that lie in the grave whom thou remembereth no more: and they are cut off from thy hand. 6. Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit, in darkness, in the deep. 7. Thy wrath lieth hard upon me, and * thou hast afflicted me with all thy waves, Selah. 8. * 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. 9. * Mine eye mourneth by reason of affliction: LORD, I have called daily upon thee, * I have stretched out my hands unto thee.

The penman of this psalm is called Heman the Karahite: there were two of this name; the one famed for wisdom, 1 Chron. xi. 6. 1 Kings iv. 31. He other, who lived in David’s time, a finger, and the king’s feet, 1 Chron. vi. 33. xv. 17, 19, who was probably the person. The title of it is Mahalah Leannoth, which some suppose to be the medical instrument; others, to signify the subject of the psalm, The afflicting disuse, whether of body or soul, or it may be of both, for it is evidently penned in great bitterness; and except in the address to God, whom he calls the God of my salvation, affords not one comfortable word of hope. Yet where God is our salvation, though we are sunk in deepest distress, and all the storms and billows go over us, we shall at last emerge, and cannot finally perish.

1. His prayer is fervent and importunate. O Lord God of my salvation, from whom alone I can expect relief, I have cried day and night before thee, long and often, and still continue to look up, though my troubles are unabated. Let my prayer come before thee, and incline thine ear unto my cry; that in the days of his flesh the Redeemer poured out his prayers, with strong crying and tears, unto him who was able to face him from death, Heb. v. 7. and in all our trials, to a throne of grace must we continually fly, and never faint, or be weary of praying and waiting upon God, till he is pleased to visit us with his salvation, and say to our tempestuous souls, Priest, he shall.

2. His forrows are enlarged. For my soul is full of trouble, and soul troubles are the forest of all others: a wounded spirit who can bear yet with these, God is sometimes pleased to exercise his dearest saints, and they must not count this fiery trial strange: and my life draweth nigh unto the grave, unable to support the burden, or unto hell, to disalld were his apprehensions, now the light of God’s countenance was withdrawn. The Son of God repeated these deep complaints, and with a bitterness which never any soul but his tafted, Math. xxvi. 38.

3. He is reduced to the brink of despair. I am counted with them that go down into the pit, as a dead man, or among malefactors, whose dead bodies were cast into the pit together. I am as a man that hath no strength, helpless and hopeless: free among the dead, of that ghastly family, like the Slain that lie in the grave, whom thou remembereth no more, no longer the objects of his providential care; and they are cut off from thy hand, no more stretched out to feed them, or by thy hand, and that is of all deaths the most miserable, which is sent as a judgment from God. Thou hast laid me in the lowest deep, sunk under the most deplorable distress, in darkness, both with regard to the concerns of body and soul; and in the deep, lower he cannot be, but in the belly of hell. Among those who go down to the lowest pit, yea, among the vital malefactors was the Son of God reckoned; and though the mighty God, as unable to help himself, he yielded up his body to be nailed to the tree: with the Slain he lay down, and virded the mansions of the dead, cut off by the hand of justice, under the transgressions of his people, Ss. liii. 8. Note, Though the faith of God’s people never falseth, it may sometimes, in those who are in general the strongest believers, be so shaken, and unbelief to prevalent, that they are ready to give up all for last, and conclude their state desperate.

4. A sense of divine wrath was the bitterest part of his sufferings. Thy wrath lieth hard upon me, hath worn them his gloomy fears, though towards his people there is no wrath in God; and thou hast afflicted me with all thy waves, one dark providence and distressing that succeeding another, as if he was about to overwhelm him in the abyss of misery: thus may God’s dearest

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children suffer under that most painful of all their troubles, the fear of his intolerable anger. What he feared, really felt on Jesus, our substitute, who bore our fine, and the wrath due to them, on his own body on the tree; and over him every wave of justice broke terrible, till in death he paid the dreadful debt.

5. His friends deterred him in his troubles, but he saw God’s hand in the affliction. Thus half put away once acquaintance for from me; to find a kind and compassionate friend is an alleviation to our forerows; but he had none, or by divine Propheance they were removed from him, or incapacitated for serving him; thus half made me an abomination to them; perhaps, like Job’s friends, they misinterpreted his sufferings, as if they proved him a wicked man, and thunned him as such, which made it the more grievous: thus was Jesus also betrayed by one disciple, denied by another, forsaken of all. Let no follower of his therefore wonder, if dearest friends forsake, flight, or abbey him; he is then but as his Lord.

6. His case appeared remedied. I am that up, confined with bodily affliction, or in a prison of spiritual darkness, and I cannot come forth, see no door open, have no power to help myself, and can only vent my disconsolate forrows. Mine eye mourned by reason of affliction, but neither tears or prayers brought him relief: Lord, I have called daily unto thee, I have stretched out my hands unto thee, and yet found me relief: a discouraging case indeed! when even our prayers seem to return unanswered, and our miseries to continue unremoved. The agonizing prayers of Jesus spoke his deep apprehensions of the Divine wrath, from which the humanity shrunk, and wished the cup to pass from him, but it is decreed he must drink it.

7. ‘Wilt thou shew wonders to the dead? Shall the dead arise and praise thee? Selah. 11. Shall thy loving kindness be declared in the grave? or thy faithfulness in destruction? 12. Shall thy wonders be known in the dark? and thy righteousness in the land of forgetfulness? 13. But unto thee have I cried, O LORD, and in the morning shall my prayer prevent thee. 14. LORD, why cashett thou off my soul? why indect thou thy face from me? 15. I am afflicted and ready to die from my youth up: while I suffer thy terrors, I am distracted. 16. Thy fierce wrath goeth over me, thy terrors have cut me off. 17. They came round about me; daily like water, they compailed me about together. 18. Lover and friend hast thou put far from me, and mine acquaintance into darkness.

c. 10—18. From prayer, he proceeds,

1. To expeditations. Wilt thou shew wonders to the dead? Shall the dead arise and praise thee? they no more tell of his goodness, declare his loving-kindness, proclaim his faithfulness, ver. 11. display his amazing grace, or exalt his righteousness here below. Though in the eternal world they live, yet here God could receive no more service from them; and this he intimates must be his case, without speedy relief, as death would quickly put it out of his power for ever to glorify God among the living, Jud. vii. 8. & 21. Note, The great end for which a good man wishes to live, is to serve God’s interests in the world, and shew forth his praise.

2. He returns to prayer again. But unto thee have I cried, O Lord; he had done so, and resolved to continue unworthy, yea, more diligent in the work: and in the morning shall my prayer prevent thee, not that he could rise earlier to pray, than God would wake to hear, for he never flumbers nor sleeps; but he would begin before the usual time of prayer for others, and sooner than he himself was wont to pray, Mark 1. 35. Note, (1.) Early prayers will usually be most lively. (2.) The more affliction presses, the more pressing and persevering should be our supplications.

3. He determines what to say in his early approach to God. Lord, why cashett thou off my soul? he dreaded the thought of being abandoned of God, desired to know the cause why he contended thus with him, for cause no doubt there was, that it might be removed. Why indect thou thy face from me? better, infinitely better be without the light of the Sun, than of God’s countenance: so thinks a child of God. In like manner did the Saviour reason under his sad desertion on the tree, Matt. xxviii. 40.

4. He repeats his bitter complaints, and leaves them in God’s compaiblageate bosom. I am afflicted in body and mind, from earth and hell; and worth of all, even heaven seems to frown. Or, I am par, reduced to the deepest state of want and wretchedness, and ready to die from my youth up, so sickly, and so better with enemies, as Jesus was, even when a babe. While I suffer thy terrors, I am distracted; the frightful apprehensions of God’s wrath quite discomposed his spirit, and drove him for a while to the very brink of despair; and this hath been the case with many a soul now rejoicing in glory. Even the divine Redeemer once was far advanced at what he sails and saw, Mark xiv. 33. Thy

force wrath goeth over me, or wrath; such incessant waves of anguish and distress rolled upon him, and so inhapporable this wrath of God appeared, that he was ready to give over himself for loss: thy terrors have cut me off from the land of the living, as the Messiah was, Isa. liii. 8. or from God’s favour for ever, in which consists the misery of the damned, and he looked only for a place with them, so desperate his state appeared. Note, The way to heaven lies often by the very gates of hell. They come round about me daily like water, the terrors of God rising like a farmling flood; they compailed me about together, so that no escape seemed possible, as when the Egyptians were hemmed in by the sea on every side. Thus Jesus complained, Pfel. xxii. 12, 16. & 12. and to such affeals of temptation may his people be exposed. Lover and friend hast thou put far from me, taken from me, or become unkind and faithless; and mine acquaintance into darkness, or are darkness, dead, at least to him, as bringing no cheering beam of consolation, so alleviate his forrows; next to religion are the comforts of friendship; to be defiance of both, is wretchedness in perfection. Thus ends this mournful song: but though no word of comfort is added, we may supply it without fear; for none ever thus fowed in tears, who did not reap in joy.