Psalms 88:8. I am shut up, and I cannot come forth— This is the description of a person confined for leprosy, which causes him to be avoided, as a subject of abhorrence even to all his friends. read more
Psalms 88:10-13. Wilt thou shew wonders to the dead— The Psalmist in this, and the following verses, exaggerates his own distress, and the seeming impossibility of relief, by representing himself as a dead man, and his state of misery and affliction as a state of death: nor can the words be taken in the literal sense, except they be referred to Him to whom God did indeed declare his loving-kindness in the grave, and his faithfulness in death. We need not observe to the scriptural reader, that... read more
Psalms 88:15. I am afflicted, and ready to die— I have been low and expiring from my youth: i.e. "Even from my youth I have laboured under this misery, which now so dreadfully afflicts me." read more
Psalms 88:17. Like water— "Like floods coming from several places, and at last meeting together to inclose and swallow me up." read more
Psalms 88:18. And mine acquaintance into darkness— My acquaintance are not to be seen. Literally, My acquaintance a place of darkness; Lost in darkness; vanished out of sight. REFLECTIONS.—1. The prayer of the Psalmist 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;... read more
PSALM 88 :-. Upon Mahalath—either an instrument, as a lute, to be used as an accompaniment (Leannoth, "for singing") or, as others think, an enigmatic title (see on :-, Psalms 88:2, and Psalms 88:2- :, titles), denoting the subject—that is, "sickness or disease, for humbling," the idea of spiritual maladies being often represented by disease (compare Psalms 6:5; Psalms 6:6; Psalms 22:14; Psalms 22:15, c.). On the other terms, see on Psalms 88:4 and Psalms 88:4- :. Heman and Ethan (see on... read more
1, 2. Compare on the terms used, Psalms 22:2; Psalms 31:2. read more
3. grave—literally, "hell" (Psalms 16:10), death in wide sense. read more
4. go . . . pit—of destruction (Psalms 28:1). as a man—literally, "a stout man," whose strength is utterly gone. read more
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Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible - Psalms 88:4-5
Psalms 88:4-5. I am as a man that hath no strength— I am become as a man that hath no substance: [A mere shadow without solidity.] Psalms 88:5. Set loose among the dead: [Set at liberty, as it were, from under the hand, the government of God:] Like the slain that are laid in the sepulchre, whom thou rememberest no more; for they are cut off from under thy hand. The meaning is, that he was removed from all the affairs and conversation of men, as much as if he were really dead. Thus in 2Ch 26:21... read more