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Frederick Brotherton Meyer

F.B. Meyer's 'Through the Bible' Commentary - Psalms 88:1-18

a Cry from the Waves Psalms 88:1-18 Most of the psalms which begin in sorrow end in exuberant joy and praise. This is an exception. There seems to be no break in the monotony of grief and despair. In Psalms 88:1-8 it would appear that the psalmist was oppressed by some loathsome disorder which made even his friends shrink from companionship. But it is a hopeful sign when, even in such circumstances, a man can still speak of God as “the God of my salvation.” In Psalms 88:9-18 the psalmist... read more

G. Campbell Morgan

G. Campbell Morgan's Exposition on the Whole Bible - Psalms 88:1-18

This is a song sobbing with sadness form beginning to end. It seems to have no gleam of light or of hope. Commencing with an appeal to Jehovah to hear, it proceeds to describe the terrible sorrows through which the singer is passing. He is whelmed with trouble, and nigh unto death. Moreover he is alone; his acquaintances are put away from him. Death is a terrible outlook, for the singer sees no light in it. Therein God Himself will be unknown, and unable to succour. Again the song sings in... read more

Arthur Peake

Arthur Peake's Commentary on the Bible - Psalms 88:1-18

LXXXVIII. A Leper’ s Prayer.— This Ps. has striking peculiarities. The suffering here portrayed has been long and terrible. The Psalmist has been tormented by sickness from his youth ( Psalms 88:15). Yahweh has “ put lover and friend away from him.” This seclusion was, no doubt, due to leprosy, which was a living death, separating a man from his dearest. The malady was supposed to come directly from God: it was His “ stroke” par excellence. The Psalmist mentions no enemies, he confesses no... read more

Matthew Poole

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible - Psalms 88:7

Thy wrath; either, first, the sense of thy wrath; or rather, secondly, the effects of it; as the next clause explains this. With all thy waves; with thy judgments, breaking in furiously upon me like the waves of the sea. read more

Joseph Exell

Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary - Psalms 88:1-18

INTRODUCTIONSuperscription.—“A Song or Psalm,” i.e., combining the properties of both a Psalm and a song. “For the sons of Korah,” see Introduction to Psalms 42:0. “The expression, ‘To the Chief Musician,’ amounts to a notice that we have before us a proper Church song.” “Upon Mahalath Leannoth.” On “Mahalath,” see Introduction to Psalms 53:0. “ ‘Leannoth’ is variously rendered, according as it is derived from עָנָה, to suffer, be afflicted, or from עָנָה, to chant, sing. Gesenius, De Wette,... read more

Chuck Smith

Chuck Smith Bible Commentary - Psalms 88:1-18

Psalms 88:1-18 is just a sad psalm, all the way through. There just seems to be no hope; it's just miserable. When you really are feeling lower than low, and you think there is absolutely no way out, there's no answer, this is it, this is the end, then you can read Psalms 88:1-18 . And you can, you know... it'll say, well, yes, that's right. I have, man, that's... I'm there, you know.O LORD God of my salvation, I have cried day and night before thee: Let my prayer come before thee: incline... read more

Joseph Sutcliffe

Sutcliffe's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments - Psalms 88:1-18

Dr. Lightfoot affirms that this, and the eighty ninth psalm, were written by Heman and Ethan, sons of Zerah, or the Ezrahites mentioned in 1 Chronicles 2:6. Consequently, they lived about the time when the male infants were slain in Egypt. But, though this be true of the former psalm, it cannot be true of the latter, because David is mentioned in the fourth verse; and not as a Cyrus who should be born, but as being then alive. Others think that the authors of these psalms were two levites of... read more

Joseph Exell

The Biblical Illustrator - Psalms 88:1-18

Psalms 88:1-18O Lord God of my salvation, I have cried day and night before Thee.A portrait of a suffering manI. Depicting his wretched state. He speaks of himself as “full of troubles,” satiated with sufferings.1. He represents himself as tottering on the grave and without power (Psalms 88:2-5).2. Crushed by agonies and conscious of the Divine displeasure (Psalms 88:6-7).3. Bereft of friends, and the subject of social contempt (Psalms 88:8).4. Deprived of liberty and exhausted with grief. “I... read more

Joseph Exell

The Biblical Illustrator - Psalms 88:7

Psalms 88:7Thy wrath lieth hard upon me, and Thou hast afflicted me with all Thy waves.For the troubledAs men, the people of God share the common lot of men, and what is that but trouble? Yea, there are some sorrows which are peculiar to Christians, some extra griefs of which they partake because they are believers, though these are something more than balanced by those peculiar and bitter troubles which belong to the ungodly, and are engendered by their transgressions, from which the Christian... read more

John Trapp

John Trapp Complete Commentary - Psalms 88:7

Psa 88:7 Thy wrath lieth hard upon me, and thou hast afflicted [me] with all thy waves. Selah. Ver. 7. Thy wrath lieth hard upon me ] So it did upon David, Psalms 32:3 , but especially upon the Son of David, the Lord Christ, of whose sufferings these were but types, or as chips of his cross. And thou hast afflicted me with all thy waves ] But all this while it is thy doing, and that carrieth comfort in it. read more

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