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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 88:15

I am afflicted ,.... In body and mind, from within and from without, by Satan, by the men of the world, and by the Lord himself; which is the common lot of God's people, Psalm 34:19 and was the case of the Messiah, who was afflicted both with the tongues and hands of men, by words, by blows, and by the temptations of Satan; and was smitten and afflicted of God, by divine justice, as the sinner's surety: see Psalm 22:24 or I am poor F1 עני "pauper", V. L. Pagninus, Junius &... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Psalms 88:16

Thy fierce wrath goeth over me ,.... Or "wraths" F8 חרוניך "irae tuae", Pagninus, Montanus; "furores tui", Musculus, Tigurine version. , burning wrath; the whole of divine wrath, in all its fierceness, due to the sins of his people: these, like the mighty waves of the sea, passed over him, threatening to overwhelm him, Psalm 89:38 , thy terrors have cut me off ; from the presence of God, and out of his sight; as sometimes the Lord's people are ready to imagine, when forsaken by... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Psalms 88:15

From my youth up - I have always been a child of sorrow, afflicted in my body, and distressed in my mind. There are still found in the Church of God persons in similar circumstances; persons who are continually mourning for themselves and for the desolations of Zion. A disposition of this kind is sure to produce an unhealthy body; and indeed a weak constitution may often produce an enfeebled mind; but where the terrors of the Lord prevail, there is neither health of body nor peace of mind. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Psalms 88:16

Thy fierce wrath goeth over me - It is a mighty flood by which I am overwhelmed. read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Psalms 88:15

Verse 15 The reason why he says that he was ready to die (518) from his youth, (verse 15,) is uncertain, unless it may be considered a probable conjecture that he was severely tried in a variety of ways, so that his life, as it were, hung by a thread amidst various tremblings and fears. Whence also we gather that God’s wraths and terrors, of which he speaks in the 16th verse, were not of short continuance. He expresses them in the 17th verse as having encompassed him daily. Since nothing is... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Psalms 88:1-18

Metrically, the psalm is almost without divisions—"a slow, unbroken wail," expressive of "the monotony of woe." read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Psalms 88:1-18

The saddest psalm in the Psalter. For in well nigh all others, though there may be darkness of soul, a very night of darkness, yet we see the light arise; though we see "weeping endure for the night," yet we see also that "joy cometh in the morning." But in this psalm we do not see such coming of joy. The believer who wrote it was one who was called to "walk in darkness, and bad no light." But he is holding on; he prays, and perseveres in prayer; he recognizes the hand of God in his... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Psalms 88:1-18

Light in the darkness. This is the darkest, saddest psalm of all the Psalms. I. A PICTURE OF THE MOST DESPAIRING MISERY . Scarcely possible to think that such unalleviated misery ever existed. 1 . Utter physical and mental weakness and prostration. (Verse 6.) As good as dead. 2 . Utterly forsaken of all his friends. (Verses 8, 18.) And God had put them from him. 3 . Cast off from God, by reason of is wrath. (Verses 7, 14, 15, 16.) He is abandoned utterly... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Psalms 88:15

I am afflicted and ready to die from my youth up . This is a new point. The psalmist's afflictions have not come upon him recently. He does not merely mean, as some have supposed, that, like other men, as soon as he was born he began to die, but speaks of something, if not absolutely peculiar to himself, yet at any rate rare and abnormal—a long continuance in a dying state, such as could only have been brought about by some terribly severe malady. While I suffer thy terrors I am distracted ... read more

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