Psalm 88

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Psalms 88

This psalm is a lamentation, one of the most melancholy of all the psalms; and it does not conclude, as usually the melancholy psalms do, with the least intimation of comfort or joy, but, from first to last, it is mourning and woe. It is not upon a public account that the psalmist here complains (here is no mention of the afflictions of the church), but only upon a personal account, especially trouble of mind, and the grief impressed upon his spirits both by his outward afflictions and by the... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Psalms 88:1-9

It should seem, by the titles of this and the following psalm, that Heman was the penman of the one and Ethan of the other. There were two, of these names, who were sons of Zerah the son of Judah, 1 Chron. 2:4, 6. There were two others famed for wisdom, 1 Kgs. 4:31; where, to magnify Solomon's wisdom, he is said to be wiser than Heman and Ethan. Whether the Heman and Ethan who were Levites and precentors in the songs of Zion were the same we are not sure, nor which of these, nor whether any of... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Psalms 88:10-18

In these verses, I. The psalmist expostulates with God concerning the present deplorable condition he was in (Ps. 88:10-12): ?Wilt thou do a miraculous work to the dead, and raise them to life again? Shall those that are dead and buried rise up to praise thee? No; they leave it to their children to rise up in their room to praise God; none expects that they should do it; and wherefore should they rise, wherefore should they live, but to praise God? The life we are born to at first, and the... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Psalms 88

INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 88 A Song cf15I or Psalm for the sons of Korah, to the chief Musician upon Mahalath Leannoth, Maschil of Heman the Ezrahite. Of the word "maalath", See Gill on Psalm 53:1 . "Leannoth" signifies "to answer". Perhaps this song was to be sung alternately, or by responses. Both words are thought by some, as Aben Ezra, to be the beginning of a song, to the tune of which this was set; and by others a musical instrument, on which it was sung; a hollow one, as the word... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Psalms 88:1

O Lord God of my salvation ,.... The author both of temporal and spiritual salvation; see Psalm 18:46 from the experience the psalmist had had of the Lord's working salvation for him in times past, he is encouraged to hope that he would appear for him, and help him out of his present distress; his faith was not so low, but that amidst all his darkness and dejection he could look upon the Lord as his God, and the God of salvation to him; so our Lord Jesus Christ, when deserted by his... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Psalms 88:2

Let my prayer come before thee ,.... Not before men, as hypocrites desire, but before the Lord; let it not be shut out, but be admitted; and let it come with acceptance, as it does when it ascends before God, out of the hands of the angel before the throne, perfumed with the much incense of his mediation, Revelation 8:3 , incline thine ear unto my cry ; hearken to it, receive it, and give an answer to it; Christ's prayers were attended with strong crying, and were always received and... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Psalms 88:3

For my soul is full of troubles ,.... Or "satiated or glutted" F5 שבעה "saturata", Pagninus, Montanus, Musculus, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Cocceius; "satiata", Tigurine version. with them, as a stomach full of meat that can receive no more, to which the allusion is; having been fed with the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, so that he had his fill of trouble: every man is full of trouble, of one kind or another, Job 14:1 especially the saint, who besides his... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Psalms 88:4

I am counted with them that go down into the pit ,.... With the dead, with them that are worthy of death, with malefactors that are judicially put to death, and are not laid in a common grave, but put into a pit together: thus Christ was reckoned and accounted of by the Jews; the sanhedrim counted him worthy of death; and the common people cried out Crucify him; and they did crucify him between two malefactors; and so he was numbered or counted with transgressors, and as one of them, Isaiah... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Psalms 88:5

Free among the dead ,.... If he was a freeman, it was only among the dead, not among the living; if he was free of any city, it was of the city of the dead; he looked upon himself as a dead man, as one belonging to the state of the dead, who are free from all relations, and from all business and labour, and removed from all company and society; he thought himself quite neglected, of whom there was no more care and notice taken than of a dead man: like the slain that lie in the grave, whom... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Psalms 88:6

Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit ,.... The Targum interprets it of "captivity which was like unto the lowest pit;' and so Jarchi and Kimchi. Some understand it of a prison or dungeon, into which the psalmist was put; it may be interpreted of the pit of the grave, into which Christ was laid; though he continued in it not so long as to see corruption; from that prison and judgment he was quickly taken, Psalm 16:10 , "in darkness"; both corporeal and spiritual, Matthew 27:45 , and it... read more

Group of Brands