Psalms 102

Psalms 1021. A Prayer. By a Sufferer, when he is troubled, and before Jehovah pours out his complaint. The psalm is called a prayer, because petition constitutes its substance. See above, on Psalms 90:1. The translation for the sufferer (or afflicted) would also be grammatical, and perfectly consistent with the real design of the composition.

But phrases of this kind, in the titles of the psalms, so constantly indicate the author or performer, and when only one occurs, the former, that a departure from this usage here is highly improbable, and the assumption of it altogether arbitrary. At the same time, the indefinite expression, a sufferer, or a a afflicted person, seems to be intentionally used for the purpose of giving the psalm an unrestricted application, though the primary reference is no doubt to the suffering kings of Israel, in whom the sufferings of the people were concentrated and represented. The other terms of the inscription all occur in psalms of David: troubled (or overwhelmed) in Psalms 61:2; complaint (or moaning) in Psalms 55:2; Psalms 64:1; and pouring out the soul in Psalms 62:8. This agrees with the general Davidic character of the composition, and favours Hengstenberg’s hypothesis, not otherwise demonstrable, nor even very probable, that this psalm forms the connecting link between the pious resolutions of Ps. ci. and the joyful acknowledgments of Ps. ciii., and was composed in prophetic foresight of the straits to which the theocratical state should be reduced, and in which the sufferings of David, here immediately described, should, as it were, be realised anew. The psalm may be divided into two parts, in the first of which the tone of lamentation or complaint predominates, Psalms 102:1-11, while in the second it is tempered and controlled by the contemplation of God’s attributes, and confident anticipation of his favour, Psalms 102:12-28).

2. (Psalms 102:1) Jehovah, hear my prayer, and let my cry (for help) unto thee come. With this verse compare Psalms 4:1; Psalms 17:6; Psalms 18:6; Psalms 54:2. There is no more reason for regarding these resemblances as imitations by a later writer in the case before us than in any of the others. And if not such, they may serve to shew, that David only asks, for the future or for others, that favour which he has himself sought and experienced already.

3. (Psalms 102:2) Hide not thy face from me; in the day (there is) distress to me, incline to me thine ear; in the day I call, make haste (and) answer me. Compare Psalms 10:1; Psalms 13:1; Psalms 17:6; Psalms 18:6; Psalms 27:9; Psalms 31:2; Psalms 56:9; Psalms 66:13; Psalms 71:2. We find here accumulated nearly all the phrases used by David to express the same ideas elsewhere. This is not unnatural if we suppose him to have been preparing a form of complaint and supplication for the use of his successors in their worst distresses.

4. (Psalms 102:3) For wasted in smoke are my days, and my bones like a burning are kindled. With the first clause compare Psalms 37:20. The bones are mentioned as the seat of strength. See above, on Psalms 6:2, Psalms 31:10, Psalms 35:10; Psalms 42:10. This description, although strictly applicable to the case of individual sufferers, may also be applied to the decline of the theocratic monarchy and the approach of its catastrophe.

5. (Psalms 102:4) Smitten like grass and withered is my heart, for I have forgotten to eat my bread. The first verb is used to describe the effect of the sun on plants, Psalms 121:6, Isaiah 49:10. (Compare Jonah 4:7.) The heart is mentioned as the seat of life. The common version of the last clause (so that I forget) is ungrammatical. The failure of the strength is rather described as immediately occasioned by the want of food (1 Samuel 28:20), and this by loss of appetite from extreme distress. See below, on Psalms 107:18, and compare 1 Samuel 1:7; 1 Samuel 20:34, 1 Kings 21:4. Forgotten to eat, literally forgotten from eating, so as not to eat, a common idiomatic use of the preposition from in Hebrew.

6. (Psalms 102:5) From the voice of my groaning, my hone cleaves to my flesh. The word voice implies an audible and loud expression of distress. The first clause means, in consequence of the agony which makes me groan. My bone may signify each of my bones, or be used collectively for the whole skeleton or framework of the body. The only natural explanation of this clause is that it describes emaciation, as a consequence and symptom of extreme distress. See above, on Psalms 22:14; Psalms 22:17.

7. (Psalms 102:6) I resemble a pelican of the wilderness; I am become like an owl (haunting) ruins. The simple idea conveyed by these figures is that of extreme loneliness and desolation. Beyond the fact that they inhabit solitudes, the natural history of the birds mentioned is of no exegetical importance.

8. (Psalms 102:7) I have watched, and have been like a sparrow dwelling alone upon a house-top. The first words suggest the idea of a solitary vigil. As to the word translated sparrow, see above, on Psalms 84:3. The word dwelling is supplied in the translation of the last clause, in order to retain the form of the original expression, which is that of an active participle. Some suppose the idea to be that of a bird, deprived of its mate or of its young.

9. (Psalms 102:8) All the day my enemies have taunted me, my infuriated (foes) swear by me. The verb in the first clause suggests the ideas of contempt and hatred, calumny and insult. See above, on Psalms 42:10. The first word of the last clause is a passive participle, my enraged (or maddened) ones, those who are mad (i.e. insane with enmity) against me. The last phrase does not mean swear at me, i.e. vent their rage by oaths and curses, nor are sworn against me, neither of which is justified by Hebrew usage; but swear by me. i. e. use me as a formula of execration, imprecating upon others misery like mine. Compare Isaiah 65:15, Jeremiah 29:22. The preterite forms imply a long previous continuance of this furious persecution, as all the day does its constant, unremitted raging.

10. (Psalms 102:9) For ashes like bread have I eaten, and my drink with weeping have mixed. The ashes, in which he sat, or with which he was covered, as a sign of mourning, became mingled with his food, and his tears fell into his drink. This last word is, in Hebrew, of the plural number, drinks or beverages, analogous to victuals as a simple synonyme of food. As an opposite example of the same idiomatic difference, the word translated ashes is a singular in Hebrew. The whole verse is a strong poetical description of constant and extreme distress.

11. (Psalms 102:10) Because of thine indignation and thy wrath; for thou hast taken me up and cast me away. The first clause describes his suffering as the fruit of God’s displeasure. See above, on Psalms 90:7. The antithesis presented in the common version of the last clause (lifted me up and cast me down) does not seem to be the sense of the original, in which there is probably allusion to the figure of a storm or whirlwind catching things up and blowing them away. The Prayer Book version of the first verb (taken me up) is more exact.

12. (Psalms 102:11) My days (are) like a shadow inclined, and I (myself) like the grass wither. An inclined shadow is an unusual and obscure expression, but seems to mean a shadow verging towards its disappearance, ready to vanish away. The double or reflexive pronoun (I myself) in the translation of the last clause is necessary to convey the full force of the Hebrew pronoun, which is seldom expressed, except when it is meant to be emphatic, I wither, am withering, or about to wither.

13. (Psalms 102:12) And thou Jehovah, to eternity shall sit, and thy memory (shall endure) to generation and generation. Here again the pronoun is emphatic, and exhibits a strong contrast between God’s eternity and human frailty. While I wither like the grass, thou endurest for ever, and not only so, but reignest, sittest on the throne. See above, on Psalms 9:7; Psalms 29:10; Psalms 55:19. The word memory seems here to be employed for the sake of the antithesis which it implies. While I perish and am utterly forgotten, thy existence and thy memory shall last for ever. It may, however, have the same sense as in Psalms 30:4, namely, the divine perfection, associated in our memory with the name of God. Thou shalt not only reign for ever, but be worthy, as an infinitely perfect being, so to do.

14. (Psalms 102:13) Thou wilt arise, wilt have mercy upon Zion, when (it is) time to favour her, when the set time is come. The pronoun is again emphatic. Thou, the God, thus glorious and immutable, wilt certainly arise from this apparent inaction, and have mercy or compassion on thy people, when the time fixed in thy eternal purpose is arrived. The sense of when, thus given to the Hebrew particle, although less usual, is sometimes absolutely necessary, and is therefore admissible in this case, where it suits the sense much better than the ordinary sense of for. Or the one may be resolved into the other, by explaining the whole thus: thou wilt certainly arise and have compassion upon Zion, at the proper time, FOR there is a time fixed at which thou dost design to favour her. For the meaning of the word translated set time, see above on Psalms 75:2.

15. (Psalms 102:14) When thy servants love her stones, and her dust regard with favour. Both verbs in Hebrew mean to favour, or more strongly to delight in, to take pleasure in. See above, Psalms 62:4; Psalms 85:1. Stones and dust are here put for ruins or rubbish, as in Nehemiah 4:2; Nehemiah 4:10. The verse may be understood as a condition or a premonition of her restoration, that before it takes place, God will fill his servants with affectionate concern for her desolate condition. The same sense may be obtained without de parting from the usual sense of the particle. Thou wilt have mercy upon Zion, FOR thy servants already look with interest and strong desire on her ruins, a sure sign of the approaching restoration.

16. (Psalms 102:15) And nations shall fear the name of Jehovah, and all kings of the earth thy glory. The impression of awe, unavoidably produced by these exhibitions of Jehovah’s attributes, shall not be limited to Israel, but extend to other nations, and even kings shall vie with each other in their reverential admiration of his regal honours. Compare the similar expressions of Isiah (Isaiah 59:19).

17. (Psalms 102:16) Because Jehovah has built Zion; he has been seen in his glory. These are not praeterita prophetica, describing future events as past; nor are they to be taken as mere presents, but as denoting a relative past, dependent on the futures of the verse preceding. The nations and their kings are to fear because Jehovah has built (i. e. will then have built) Zion. Still another construction may seem possible, viz. “when Jehovah has built Zion he shall be seen in his glory.” But in this case, Hebrew usage would require the last verb, if not both, to have the future form.

18. (Psalms 102:17) He has turned unto the prayer of the destitute, and has not despised their prayer. This verse continues to assign the reason why the nations and their kings will be struck with awe, viz., because this great and glorious God has turned round, as it were, and listened to the prayer of the destitute and granted their petition. The word translated destitute occurs only here and in Jeremiah 17:6; but from its etymological affinities and its intensive form, appears to mean stark naked, and then figuratively, stripped of everything, impoverished, entirely destitute.

19. (Psalms 102:18) This shall be written for an after generation, and a people (yet to be) created shell praise Jah. This fulfilment of God’s promise and illustration of his attributes is left on record for the learning or instruction of posterity. Compare 1 Corinthians 10:11. An after generation, as in Psalms 48:13. Equivalent in meaning, but abridged in form, is the expression in the passage upon which these are founded, Psalms 22:30. See also Psalms 71:18.

Created may have the force of a gerundive, as the passive particle often has in Hebrew; or it may mean (then) created (but not now). See above, on Psalms 22:31. As the verb create is applied only to divine acts, its use here seems to indicate that what is meant is not merely a future generation, a race yet to come into existence, but a people in the strict sense, an organised body to be formed hereafter by sovereign authority and almighty power. Shall praise Jah, recognise Jehovah as possessing and as being all that is denoted by his name.

20. (Psalms 102:19) For he has leaned from the high, place of his holiness! Jehovah, from heaven to earth has looked. The first word may also be translated that, and the verse be understood as an amplification of the pronoun this at the beginning of Psa 102:18. This is what shall be written for a future generation; this is what they shall praise Jah for; viz. that he has looked, etc. To avoid the repetition of the English verb, as well as to add life to the description, the Hebrew verb is here represented by what seems to be its primary meaning. See above, on Psalms 14:2; Psalms 85:11, and compare Deuteronomy 26:15.

21. (Psalms 102:20) To hear the groaning of the prisoner, to loose the sons of mortality. The construction is continued from the foregoing verse, and the design of God’s thus looking down is stated. The word translated groaning is almost peculiar to the Psalms of David, and according to its etymology properly denotes suffocation. To loose, literally to open, sometimes applied to the opening of a dress for the purpose of removing it, as in Psalms 30:11; then to the loosening of chains, as in Psalms 116:16; then to the deliverance of the prisoner himself. Sons of mortality or death, i.e., those doomed to die. See above, on Psalms 79:11.

22. (Psalms 102:21) To recount in Zion the name of Jehovah, and his praise in Jerusalem. This, according to the laws of Hebrew syntax, does not necessarily denote an act of God himself, as the similar construction in the preceding verse does, but may have a vaguer sense equivalent to saying that his name may be declared in Zion. To recount God’s name is to recount the mighty deeds which constitute it, and the celebration of which constitutes his praise. Zion is still represented as the great scene of Jehovah’s triumphs, not, however, as the capital of Israel or Judah merely, but as the radiating centre of religious light and influence to all the earth.

23. (Psalms 102:22) In the gathering of peoples together, and kingdoms to serve Jehovah. This verse is necessary to complete and qualify the sense of that before it. God has looked down from heaven to deliver his people and receive their praise, not in their secluded, insulated state, but in their glorious reunion with the converted nations. The first verb is a passive infinitive in Hebrew, in their being gathered. The preposition in relates both to the time and to the act of convocation. To serve Jehovah, not only as a King, but as a God, to be both his subject and his worshipper. Compare Psalms 2:11.

24. (Psalms 102:23) He has humbled in the way his strength; he has, shortened my days. The Psalmist here resumes the tone of complaint, but only for a moment, and as an introduction to what follows. Humbled, weakened, or afflicted. In or by the way of his providential guidance, as distinguished from the glorious end to which it led. His strength and my days seem clearly to refer to the same person. To avoid this harsh enallage, the masoretic critics changed a single letter, and for his strength read my strength, which, though adopted in most versions, is an obvious evasion of a supposed difficulty. With the last clause compare Psalms 89:45. See also Psalms 55:23.

25. (Psalms 102:24) I will say, O my God, take me not up in the half of my days; through generation of generations (are) thy years. Take up, cause to ascend, i.e. as some suppose, like smoke, which is very forced and far-fetched. Others make it simply mean to take away, which gives a good sense, but is not sufficiently sustained by usage. Better than either is the supposition that death or removal out of life is here described by a figure corresponding to the actual departure of Enoch and Elijah. See Genesis 5:24, 2 Kings 2:1; 2 Kings 2:3; 2 Kings 2:5; 2 Kings 2:10-11. In the half (or midst) of my days; see above, on Psalms 55:23) and compare Isaiah 38:10.

Generation of generations, i. e. all generations, as in Psalms 72:5, Isaiah 51:8. He prays that God, whose years are endless, would not, as it were, grudge the few days granted to his creatures. See above, on Psalms 39:5.

26. (Psalms 102:25) At first thou the earth didst found, and the work of thy hands (are) the heavens. The phrase at the beginning means originally to the face, and then before, as an adverb both of time and place; but this would be ambiguous here, since it might be understood as a conjunction, before thou didst found the earth, expressing the same idea as in Psalms 90:2. It here means long ago, of old, in the beginning. With the last clause compare Psalms 8:3; Psalms 19:1; Psalms 33:6. God’s creative power is here added to his eternity, in order to enhance the contrast between his infinity and man’s littleness, as a reason for compassion to the latter.

27. (Psalms 102:26) They shall perish and thou shalt stand, and all of them like a garment shall wear out, like a dress shalt thou change them and they shall change. The contrast is brought out as pointedly as possible in Hebrew, in by the insertion of the pronouns they and thou, neither of which is grammatically necessary to the expression of the meaning. Stand, stand fast, endure, remain, continue. All of them, without exception, even the noblest of God’s works, shall at least lose their present form, and in that sense perish, a sense which may be still more readily put upon the parallel verb pass away or change. The twofold usage of the English verb, as active and neuter, or transitive and intransitive, makes it an appropriate representative of the primitive and derivative forms of the Hebrew verb. The corresponding verb, in the second member of the sentence, means not only to wax old, but, as the necessary consequence, to wear out. See above, on Psalms 32:3, and compare Psalms 49:14.

28. (Psalms 102:27) And Thou (art) He— and thy years shall not be finished. The construction of the first clause is disputed. Some read it, Thou thyself and thy years shall not end. Others, Thou art the same, giving the same sense with the Greek, which is actually used here to translate it in the Septuagint. In favour of the version first above given, is its agreement with the usage of the Hebrew words, with the analogy of Deu 32:39, and Isaiah 43:10, and with the context here. The meaning then is, Thou art the Unchangeable One just described. Or, it is Thou, and nothing else, that shall thus endure. Be finished, spent, consumed, as the Hebrew word invariably means. What is elsewhere literally said of the violent destruction of human life is here transferred to the lapse of time.

29. (Psalms 102:28) The sons of thy servants shall abide, and their seed before thee shall be established. This might also be translated as a prayer, let the sons of thy servants continue, which is really included even in the prediction. Before thee, as in Genesis 17:1, Psalms 89:36. Be established, as in Psalms 89:37; Psalms 101:7. With this conclusion of the whole psalm compare Psalms 69:35-36; Psalms 90:16-17.