Psalms 88

Psalms 881. A Song. A Psalm. To (or by) the Sons of Korah. To the Chief Musician. Concerning afflictive sickness.

A didactic Psalm. By Heman the Ezrahite. The first word of this title elsewhere denotes a song of praise or triumph. See above, on Psalms 42:8; Psalms 83:1. It is here prefixed, however, to the most despondent psalm in the collection, in which the complaints and lamentations are relieved by no joyful anticipations or expressions of strong confidence. The only satisfactory explanation of these facts is afforded by the supposition, that Psalms 88 and Psalms 89 were intended to constitute a pair or double psalm, like the first and second, third and fourth, ninth and tenth, forty-second and forty-third, etc.

The desponding lamentations of Psalms 88 are then merely introductory to the cheering expectations of Psalms 89. This supposition also explains the unusual length of the inscription now before us, the first part of which may then be considered as belonging to both psalms, while the last clause corresponds to the title of Psalms 89. Afflictive sickness, literally sickness to afflict or humble. For the figurative use of sickness, and the sense of this inscription, see above, on Psalms 53:1. Heman the Ezrahite is mentioned, with Asaph and Ethan, as chief musicians in the reign of David, 1 Chronicles 6:18-33; 1 Chronicles 15:17; 1 Chronicles 16:41-42. The Heman and Ethan, spoken of in 1 Chronicles 2:6 as Ezrahites (i. e. sons of Zerah), and in 1 Kings 5:11, as eminent for wisdom, are supposed by some to be different persons, because they were of the tribe of Judah, while others suppose that they were Levites adopted into that tribe.

The Psalm before us neither requires nor admits of any minute or artificial subdivision.

2. (Psalms 88:1) Jehovah, God of my salvation, (by) day have I cried, and by night, before thee. God of my salvation, the God in whom I trust to save me, because he is a saving God, or God my Saviour. See above, on Psalms 85:4. Day and by night are related to each other here, as night and by day are in Psalms 77:2. Before thee implies that his cries were not mere instinctive expressions of distress, but prayers addressed to God. With the whole verse compare Psalms 22:2).

3. (Psalms 88:2) Let my prayer come before thee; incline thine ear unto my cry. The first petition is that his prayer may attract the divine attention, which is varied in the last clause by the figure of one bending down to catch a faint or distant cry. See above, on Psalms 17:6; Psalms 31:2; Psalms 71:2.

4. (Psalms 88:3) For sated with evils is my soul, and my life to the grave draws near. Evils, sufferings, distresses. As life is plural in Hebrew, it can be construed regularly with the plural verb; but as this is properly a causative, it may also be construed with evils, or with men indefinitely, they have brought my life near to the grave. The first construction is favoured by the analogy of Psa 107:18. The grave, sheol, the state of the dead. See above, on Psalms 6:5.

5. (Psalms 88:4) I am reckoned with those going down to the pit; I am (or am become) as a man with no strength. With the first clause compare Psalms 28:1; Psalms 143:7. With no strength, literally (to whom) there is no strength. The last word in Hebrew occurs only here, but a cognate form in Psalms 22:19). There is in the original an antithesis, which cannot be conveyed by mere translation, arising from the fact that the first word for man is one implying strength.

6. (Psalms 88:5) With (or among) the dead, free, like the slain, lying in the grave, whom thou rememberest no more, and they by (or from) thy hand are cut off. As to be God’s servant is the highest privilege and honour (Psalms 86:16), so to be free from his service (Job 3:19) is to be miserable. The reference is not to death in general, but to death by violence and as a punishment. The slain, literally the (mortally) wounded. See above on Psalms 69:26. The latter half of the verse contains a strong poetical description of the wicked, as no longer the objects of God’s protecting care. Of the two translations, from and by thy hand, the first conveys the same idea with the foregoing words, while the second represents the destruction of God’s enemies as the work of his own hands.

7. (Psalms 88:6) Thou hast placed me in a deep pit, in dark places, in abysses. A deep pit, literally a pit of low or under places. See above, on Psalms 63:9; Psalms 86:13, and compare Ezekiel 26:20. The dark places are those of the invisible and lower world. Abysses, deeps, or depths of water. See above, on Psalms 69:2

8. (Psalms 88:7). Upon me weighs thy wrath, and (with) all thy waves thou dost oppress me. Selah. The word translated waves corresponds etymologically to breakers. See above, on Psalms 42:7. With the first clause compare Psalms 38:2. The verb to oppress or afflict is applied in historical prose to the oppression of Israel in Egypt, Genesis 15:13, Exodus 1:12. The infinitive of the same verb occurs in the title of the psalm before us. The Selah indicates the depth of his distress, and the necessity of a pause before resuming the description.

9. (Psalms 88:8) Thou hast put far my acquaintances from me; thou hast made me an abomination to them; (I am) shut up and cannot come forth. The circumstance complained of in the first clause, is one often mentioned as an aggravation of distress. See above, on Psalms 31:11; Psalms 38:11; Psalms 69:8, and compare Psalms 27:10. The next clause shews that he complains of something more than mere neglect. Made me, literally put or placed me. See above, on Psalms 39:8.

There may be an allusion to the statement in the history, that the Israelites were an abomination, an object of religious detestation and abhorrence, to their Egyptian masters. See Genesis 43:32; Genesis 46:34. The last clause is by some understood to mean, I am encompassed by inextricable difficulties. Compare Lamentations 3:7, Job 3:23. Others, with more probability, connect it with what goes before, and understand the sense to be, that he is not willing to expose himself to this unmerited hatred and contempt. See Job 31:34, and compare Psalms 44:13; Psalms 80:6.

10. (Psalms 88:9) My eye decays by reason of affliction; I invoke thee, 0 Jehovah, every day; I spread out unto thee my hands. With the first clause compare Psalms 6:7; Psalms 31:9; Psalms 38:10; Psalms 69:3. With the last compare Psalms 44:20. The first Hebrew verb is one of rare occurrence; a derivative noun is used by Moses, Deuteronomy 28:65. The preterites represent the suffering as no new thing, but one of long continuance

11. (Psalms 88:10) Wilt thou to the dead do wonders, or shall ghosts arise (and) thank thee? Selah. The argument implied is that the present life is the appropriate time for those favours which belong to it. See above, on Psalms 6:5. The word Rephaim, in the last clause, is the name of a Canaanitish race of giants, but is applied poetically to the gigantic shades or spectres of the dead. See my note on Isaiah 14:9. Do wonders, literally wonder, as in Psalms 77:11.

12. (Psalms 88:11) Shall thy mercy be recounted in the grave, thy faithfulness in destruction? The last word (Abaddon) appears elsewhere in conjunction with the grave and death, as a poetical equivalent. See Proverbs 15:11, Job 26:6; Job 28:22.

13. (Psalms 88:12) Shall thy wonders be known in the dark, and thy righteousness in the land of forgetfulness? These are varied metaphorical descriptions of the state of death, considered negatively as the privation or the opposite of life. Darkness is here opposed to the light of life or of the living, Psalms 56:13). The land of forgetfulness, where men forget, Ecclesiastes 9:5-6; Ecclesiastes 9:10, and are forgotten, Psalms 31:12.

14. (Psalms 88:13) And I unto thee, 0 Jehovah, have cried, and in the morning shall my prayer come before thee. What he has done he is still resolved to do, as the only means of safety. Hence the alternation of the preterite and future. The first verb means to cry for help. See above, on Psalms 18:41. With the last clause compare Psalms 5:3; Psalms 57:8; Psalms 59:16. The verb has its proper sense of coming before one or into his presence. See above, on Psalms 17:13; Psalms 18:5; Psalms 21:3.

15. (Psalms 88:14) Why, O Jehovah, wilt thou reject my soul, wilt thou hide thy face from me? The first verb means to reject with abhorrence. See above, on Psalms 43:2; Psalms 44:9; Psalms 44:23; Psalms 60:1; Psalms 60:10; Psalms 74:1; Psalms 77:7. The question implies that such rejection would be inconsistent with God’s faithfulness, and is therefore not expressive of entire despondence.

16. (Psalms 88:15) Wretched (am) I and expiring from childhood; I have borne thy terrors; I despair. Expiring, ready to perish, at the point of death, a strong description of extreme distress. The childhood may be that of the individual sufferer, or of Israel as a nation (Hosea 11:1). Both applications may have been intended.

17. (Psalms 88:16) Over me hare passed thine indignation; thy terrors have destroyed me. The image in the first clause is the same as in Psalms 42:7. Indignations, literally heats or inflamations, but always applied to anger. The plural occurs only here. The unusual form of the last verb is supposed by some to have been coined by the writer, for the sake of an allusion to Leviticus 25:23.

18. (Psalms 88:17) They have surrounded me like waters all the day; they have encompassed me at once (or all together). The figure of overwhelming waves is still continued. The subject of the verbs can only be the indignations and the terrors of Psa 88:16.

19. (Psalms 88:18) Thou halt put far from me lover and friend; my acquaintances (are) darkness (or a dark place). The flyst clause is a repetition of Psa 88:8. The other is obscure, and is supposed by some to mean, my acquaintances vanish, disappear in darkness; by others, my acquaintances give way to darkness, are succeeded by it; my only friend is now the dark place, i.e. the grave or death. Thus understood, the sentiment is not unlike that in Job 17:14.