Psalms 88

Psalms 88THEME: Confidence in God in the midst of sufferingThis is “A Song or Psalm for the sons of Korah, to the chief Musician upon Mahalath Leannoth, Maschil of Heman the Ezrahite.” It is a doleful psalm. Psalms 87 was all glory; this psalm is all gloom. It is a lamentation. It is the darkest wail of woe in the Book of Psalms.

Psalms 88:1

The one ray of hope in this psalm is that He is the “God of my salvation,” and the psalmist is holding on to that. It is mere speculation, of course, but this psalm has been applied to Job and to Uzziah who had leprosy and to Jeremiah in the dungeon and to Hezekiah when he was sick. But no matter who is in view, this psalm describes great suffering. Yet in all of his suffering and affliction he maintains his confidence in God as the God of his salvation. That is the great theme of this psalm.

Psalms 88:15

He is in a tough place. Wrath, death, the grave, and darkness are summed up together by the sufferer.

Psalms 88:16

Unlike other psalms which begin with deep distress but end with the joy of deliverance, this psalm closes with the word darkness. Hengstenberg has this comment: “The Psalm ends with an energetic expression of its main thoughtthe immediate vicinity of death. The darkness is thickest at the end just as it is in the morning, before the rising of the sun.”