Psalms 102
PATA Prayer of the afflicted, when he is overwhelmed, and poureth out his Complaint before the Lord.’. ARGUMENT; A Prayer composed by some pious person, (towards the latter end of the captivity of Babylon, or rather presently after their return from thence to their own country, ver. 13, 14.) who was extremely afflicted, and even overwhelmed, with grief and trouble, to see the temple still lie in its rubbish, and the rebuilding of it hindered by many enemies. This was the cause of those sad complaints and lamentations, wherein he takes the liberty to represent their condition unto the Lord, and thereby give some ease to his oppressed spirit: which began to lift up itself in some comfortable hopes, when he considered both the faithfulness of God to his promises, and the honour it would be to him, when the nations round about should see their wonderful restoration happily completed, and thereby be invited to embrace their religion. Which proved a lively emblem of the coming of the gentiles into the church of Christ: the eternity of whose kingdom is here prophesied of, in the conclusion of the Psalm. Which, as Theodorct well expresses it, may serve for any man’s use, who wrestles with any great calamity, and implores the Divine favour for his help and deliverance. It may be applied also to his Sad condition, who groans under the burden of his sins, and cries for mercy: being the fifth among those seven which are called penitential Psalms.
Psalms 102:1
JtjLEAR my prayer, O Lord, and let my cry come unto thee. Reject not my humble supplication, O Lord; but graciously admit the earnest request, which, with lamentable cries, I present unto thy majesty.
Psalms 102:2
Hide not thy face from me in the day when I am in trouble; incline thine ear tinto me: in the day when I call answer me speedily. The distress wherein I am is exceeding great; which will move thee, I hope, to moderate thy anger, and not absolutely refuse my petition: but rather to grant me the more favourable audience, and to send me the speedier relief; when I implore it in the time of the sorest calamity.
Psalms 102:3
For my days are consumed like smoke, and my bones are burnt as a hearth. For my days are spent as dismally as if I lived and breathed in smoke; and the anguish I sutfer is so sharp, that it penetrates to my very bones, and makes them as parched and dry as the fire doth the hearth.
Psalms 102:4
My heart is smitten, and withered like grass; so that I forget to eat my bread. My vital spirits are exhausted; and flag like the grass when it is struck with a pestilential blast: for, together with my appetite, I have lost even the thoughts of my necessary food.
Psalms 102:5
By reason of the voice of my groaning my bones cleave to my skin. Sadness hath seized on me to such a degree, that I do nothing but groan and sigh: which hath wasted me away to skin and bone.
Psalms 102:6
I am like a jielican of the wilderness?Iam like an owl of the’ desert. I take no delight in the company of my friend;?; but sfcek for lonesome places, like a pelican in the wilderness; where I may bemoan myself like the bittern in the desert.
Psalms 102:7
I watch, and am as a sparrow alone upon the house-top,. Grief and sorrow banish sleep from mine eyes; and make me like those solitary birds, which spend the night on the tops of houses, in doleful shrieks and cries.
Psalms 102:8
iline enemies reproach vie all the day; and they that are mad against me are sworn against me. This hath exposed me to the scorn of my enemies, who do nothing but upbraid me with my misery: and, not content therewith, are so furiously bent upon my ruin, that they have entered into a combination, and sworn they will destroy me.
Psalms 102:9
For I have eaten ashes like bread, and mingled my drink with weeping. Which hath still more increased my affliction, and made me lie down in the ashes: where, while I mourn and weep, they mingle themselves M’ith my bread, as tears do with my drink.
Psalms 102:10
Because of thine indignation and thy wrath: for thou hast lifted me up, and cast me dow7i. Because thy anger still continues in great severity against us; for thou hadst lifted me up in glorious hopes, (Ezra i. 5. ii. 68. iii. 10.) thou hast dashed them all in pieces, (Ezra iv. 4. 24.) and thereby given me the sorer fall.
Psalms 102:11
My days are like a shadow that decUneth; and I am withered like grass. And whilst I wait for better times, my life declines apace; like a shadow, which, being come near to its utmost length, is ready to vanish: for I have very little strength remaining; but droop and languish, like the dried grass; which is ripe for the mower’s hand.
Psalms 102:12
But thou, O Lord, shalt endure for ever, and thy remembrance unto all generations. All my comfort is, that, though I die, thou abidest to all eternity; and canst hereafter remedy all these evils, which thou dost not think fit to redress at present: and wilt, I am confident; for all generations have transmitted down unto us the memorial of thy faithfulness, and the glorious things thou hast done for thy people.
Psalms 102:13
TItou shalt arise, and have mercy upon Zion: for the time to favour her, yea, the set time, is come. It will not be long before thou dost take pity upon the desolations of Zion, and raise her out of her ruins: for the time prefixed for her punishment being expired, (Jer. xxix. 10, 11.) it is the season now, the appointed season, for thy mercy in her restoration. Ver.’ 14. For thy servants take pleasure in her stones, and favour the dust thei-eof] For her scattered stones arc far more dear to thy pious worshippers, than the goodliest palaces in Babylon: and therefore they cannot look upon her dust and rubbish, without the most sensible grief and commiseration.
Psalms 102:15
So the heathen shall fear the name of the Lord, and all the kings of the earth thy glory. Especially when they consider how thy glory suffers thereby: whereas the nations who now contemn thee, will stand in awe of thee; O Lord, all their kings and princes will reverence thy glorious power, the fame of which now seems to lie buried in her ruins.
Psalms 102:16
When the Lord shall build up Zion, he shall appear in his glory. When they shall see Zion rebuilt (which the Lord alone can bring about), and his glorious majesty there worshipped with the ancient, solemnities:
Psalms 102:17
He will regard the prayer of the destitute, and not despise their prayer. And the prayers of miserable captives, who were stripped of all, prevail with him, not only for their liberty, but for their entire restitution to their former splendour.
Psalms 102:18
This shall be written for the generations to come: and the people which shall be created shall praise the Lord. This wonderful deliverance shall never be forgotten, but remain upon record to the following generation: who shall transmit the memory of it to their posterity, that they may also look upon themselves as a people created anew to praise the Lord.
Psalms 102:19
For he hath looked doivn from the height of his sanctuary; from heaven did the Lord behold the earth. Because, in much mercy, he hath been pleased to preserve a miserable nation from utter destruction: and though he be infinitely exalted above all our thoughts, yet the Lord hath graciously condescended to mind the afflicted condition of this distressed country:
Psalms 102:20
To hear the groaning of the prisoner; to loose those that are appointed to death. And to be moved by onr groans to deliver us out of a sad captivity: and to rovive us when we had reason to look upon ourselves as dead and hopeless.
Psalms 102:21
To declare the name of the Lord in Zion, and his praise in Jerusalem. That we might go and recount in his temple the famous things which he hath done; and make the holy city sound with the praises of his power, goodness, and truth; which he hath declared in our restoration.
Psalms 102:22
When the people are gathered together, and the kingdoms, to serve the Lord. When all the people shall be gathered together, there to worship the Divine Majesty; and other kingdoms join with us unanimously in his service.
Psalms 102:23
He weakened my strength in the way; he shortened my days. I had hopes to have lived to see this blessed time, and thought I had been in the way to it; (Ezra iii. 8, &c.) but he hath stopped our vigorous beginnings, (Ezra iv. 4.) and thereby so sorely afflicted me, that 1 feel I am like to fall short of my expectations.
Psalms 102:24
I said, O my God, take me not away in the midst of my days: thy years are throughout all generations. Though I prayed most earnestly to him, and said, O my God, who hast so graciously begun our deliverance, take me not away before it be completely finished; but let mo see thy promise fulfilled, which thou, who diest not (as we do), I am sure, wilt not fail to make good.
Psalms 102:25
Of old liast thou laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the work of thy hands. For it cannot be too hard for thee to raise Zion out of her ruins; who hast, many ages ago, created this goodly fabric of heaven and earth hy thy eternal word, (Heb. i. 10.) Ver. 2G. They shall perish, but thou shalt endure; yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; as a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed.] And thou dost neither decay nor alter, in process of time, as thy creatures do; some of which shall perish, but thou shalt eternally subsist^ all of them shall grow old, like our garments, with long wearing: even the heavens themselves, which now enwrap the earth, as our clothes do our bodies, shall be folded up, (Jleb. i. 12.) and laid aside like a tattered garment, when thou shalt command that alteration.'
Psalms 102:27
But thou art the same, and thy years shall have no end. But thou (and thy word) art still the very same; and shalt always continue so, without any the least variation. >
Psalms 102:28
The children of thy servants shall continue, and, their seed shall be established before thee. Yet all that I conclude from hence is only this: that though I do not live to see our perfect restoration, yet, according to thy un; alterable purpose, the temple and Jerusalem shall be rebuilt; and the children of thy servants, who now are in great distress, be peaceably settled there; yea, their posterity after them remain immoveable in their favour, and enjoy the tokens of thy Divine presence among them,