Psalm 88:3-9

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

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

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Psalms 88:7

The wrath lieth hard upon me ,.... So some good men apprehend, when they are under afflictive dispensations of Providence, and are left of God, and have not his immediate presence, and the discoveries of his love; though fury is not in him, nor does any wrath in reality fall upon them, only it seems so to them; see Psalm 38:1 , but the wrath of God did really lie with all the effects of it upon Christ, as the surety of his people, when he was made sin, and a curse for them; see Psalm... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Psalms 88:8

Thou hast put away mine acquaintance far from me ,.... His familiar friends, who were well known to him, and he to them: it is a mercy and privilege to have good acquaintance, and hearty faithful friends, to converse and advise with, whether about things civil or religious; and it is an affliction to be deprived of them; and oftentimes in distress and adversity they drop and fail, which is an additional trouble: this was the ease of Job and of David, Job 19:13 and here of Heman, who... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Psalms 88:9

Mine eye mourneth by reason of affliction ,.... Or dropped tears, as the Targum, by which grief was vented; see Psalm 6:7 . Lord, I have called daily upon thee, I have stretched out my hands unto thee ; in prayer, as the Targum adds, this being a prayer gesture: notwithstanding his troubles continued and increased, he did not leave off praying, though he was not immediately heard and answered, which is what is tacitly complained of, as in Psalm 22:2 . Christ, in his troubles in the... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Psalms 88:4

I am counted with them, etc. - I am as good as dead; nearly destitute of life and hope. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Psalms 88:5

Free among the dead - צפשי במתים bammethim chophshi , I rather think, means stripped among the dead. Both the fourth and fifth verses seem to allude to a field of battle: the slain and the wounded, are found scattered over the plain; the spoilers come among them, and strip, not only the dead, but those also who appear to be mortally wounded, and cannot recover, and are so feeble as not to be able to resist. Hence the psalmist says, "I am counted with them that go down into the pit; I am... read more

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