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Psalm Eighty-eight
New King James Version (NKJV)
YLT
A
Song
a Psalm
by sons of Korah
to the Overseer
`Concerning the Sickness of
Afflictions.' -- An instruction
by Heman the Ezrahite.
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 "maalath" seems to
signify
a wind instrument: others are of opinion that they intend the subject
matter of the psalm
and render them
"concerning the disease to
afflict"
or "the afflicting disease"F1; either a
bodily one
which threatened with death
under which the psalmist now was; or a
soul disorder
being under desertions
and a sense of divine wrath
which were
very afflicting. The psalm is called "Maschil"
which may be
translated "causing to understand"; it being instructive to persons
in a like case to apply to God
as he did; and if it respects Christ
it
teaches many things concerning him
his sorrows and his sufferings: the author
of it is said to be Heman the Ezrahite; the Targum calls him Heman the native
and the Septuagint render it Heman the Israelite
and Arama says this is
Abraham. There were two of this name
one the son of Zerah
the son of Judah
and so might be called the Zerahite
and with the addition of a letter the
Ezrahite; he is mentioned along with others as famous for wisdom
1 Chronicles 2:6
but this man seems to be
too early to be the penman of this psalm: though Dr. LightfootF2 is
of opinion that this psalm was penned by this Heman many years before the birth
of Moses; which and the following psalm are the oldest pieces of writing the
world has to show
being written by two men who felt and groaned under the
bondage and affliction of Egypt
which Heman here deplores
and therefore
entitles his elegy "Maalath Leannoth
concerning sickness by affliction";
and accordingly he and his brethren are called the sons of Mahali
1 Kings 4:31. There was another Heman
who
was both a singer in David's time
and the king's seer
who seems most likely
to be the person
1 Chronicles 6:33
he was when he wrote
this psalm under sore temptations
desertions
and dejections
though not in
downright despair; there is but one comfortable clause in it
and that is the
first of it; many interpreters
both ancient and modern
think he is to be
considered throughout as a type of Christ
with whom everything in it more
exactly agrees than with anyone man else. The Targum
Jarchi
and Kimchi
interpret it of the people of Israel in captivity; and so the Syriac version
entitles it
"concerning
the people that were in Babylon;'
but
a single person only is designed throughout. SpinosaF4 affirms
from
the testimony of Philo the Jew
that this psalm was published when King
Jehoiachin was a prisoner in Babylon
and the following psalm when he was
released: but this is not to be found in the true Philo
but in Pseudo-PhiloF4.
Psalm 88:1 O
Lord
God of my
salvation
I have cried out day and night before You.
YLT
1O Jehovah
God of my
salvation
Daily I have cried
nightly before Thee
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 Father
still called him
his God
and believed that he would help him
Psalm 22:1.
I have cried day and night before thee
or "in
the day I have cried
and in the night before thee"; that is
as the
Targum paraphrases it
"in
the night my prayer was before thee.'
prayer
being expressed by crying shows the person to be in distress
denotes the
earnestness of it
and shows it to be vocal; and it being both in the day and
in the night
that it was without ceasing. The same is said by Christ
Psalm 22:2 and is true of him
who in the
days of his flesh was frequent in prayer
and especially in the night season
Luke 6:12 and particularly his praying in
the garden the night he was betrayed may be here referred to
Matthew 26:38.
Psalm 88:2 2 Let my prayer come before
You; Incline Your ear to my cry.
YLT
2My prayer cometh in before
Thee
Incline Thine ear to my loud cry
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 heard
Hebrews 5:7.
Psalm 88:3 3 For my soul is full of
troubles
And my life draws near to the grave.
YLT
3For my soul hath been full
of evils
And my life hath come to Sheol.
For my soul is full of troubles
.... Or "satiated or
glutted"F5שבעה "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 outward troubles has inward ones
arising from indwelling sin
the
temptations of Satan
and divine desertions
which was now the case of the
psalmist: this may be truly applied to Christ
who himself said
when in the
garden
"my soul is exceeding sorrowful
even unto death"
Matthew 26:38
he was a man of sorrows all
his days
but especially at that time
and when upon the cross
forsaken by his
Father
and sustaining his wrath: "his soul" was then "filled
with evil things"F6ברעות "in
malis"
Pagninus
Montanus; "malis"
Junius & Tremellius
&c.
as the words may be rendered:
innumerable evils compassed him about
Psalm 40:12
the sins of his people
those
evil things
were imputed to him; the iniquity of them all was laid upon him
as was also the evil of punishment for them; and then he found trouble and
sorrow enough:
and my life draweth nigh unto the grave: a phrase
expressive of a person's being just ready to die
Job 33:22 as the psalmist now thought he
was
Psalm 88:5
it is in the plural number
"my lives"F7חיי "vitae
meae"
Montanus
Michaelis. ; and so may not only denote the danger he was
in of his natural life
but of his spiritual and eternal life
which he might
fear
being in darkness and desertion
would be lost
though they could not;
yea
that he was near to "hell" itself
for so the wordF8לשאול "ad orcum"
Cocceius; "inferno"
Gejerus; "ad infernum"
Michaelis; so Ainsworth. may be rendered; for
when the presence of God is withdrawn
and wrath let into the conscience
a
person in his own apprehension seems to be in hell as it were
or near it; see Jonah 2:2. This was true of Christ
when he
was sorrowful unto death
and was brought to the dust of it
and under divine
dereliction
and a sense of the wrath of God
as the surety of his people.
Psalm 88:4 4 I am counted with those
who go down to the pit; I am like a man who has no strength
YLT
4I have been reckoned with
those going down [to] the pit
I have been as a man without strength.
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 53:3.
I am as a man that hath no strength; for his
"strength" was "dried up like a potsherd"
Psalm 22:15
though he was the mighty God
and
as man
was made strong by the Lord for himself.
Psalm 88:5 5 Adrift among the dead
Like
the slain who lie in the grave
Whom You remember no more
And who are cut off
from Your hand.
YLT
5Among the dead -- free
As
pierced ones lying in the grave
Whom Thou hast not remembered any more
Yea
they by Thy hand have been cut off.
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 thou rememberest no
more; in a providential way
as in life
to clothe them
and feed
them
and protect and preserve them; in which sense God is said to be mindful
of men
Psalm 8:4
who when dead have no need to be
minded
and remembered in such a manner; otherwise God does remember the dead
and takes care of their dust
and will raise them again; and especially he
remembers his own people
those that sleep in Jesus
who will be thought of in
the resurrection morn
and will be raised first
and brought with Christ; see Job 14:13
and they are cut off from thy hand; that is
the slain that
lie in the grave
the dead that are buried there; these are cut off from the
hand of Providence
they needing no supplies from thence as in the time of
life. The Targum is
"and
they are separated from the face of thy majesty.'
or
"they are cut off by thine hand"F9מידך
"manu tua"
Junius & Tremellius
Piscator
Amama. ; by the
immediate hand of God
in a judicial way; so Christ in his death was like one
of these
he was cut off in a judicial way
not for his own sins
but for the
transgressions of his people
Isaiah 53:8.
Psalm 88:6 6 You have laid me in the
lowest pit
In darkness
in the depths.
YLT
6Thou hast put me in the
lowest pit
In dark places
in depths.
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 is in the Hebrew text
"in darknesses"F11במחשכים
"in loca tenebrosa"
Tigurine version
Musculus; "in tenebrosissimis"
Junius & Tremellius; "in densis tenebris"
Piscator; "in
caligines
vel obscuritates"
Gejerus.
denoting both:
in the deeps; in the deep waters of affliction
sorrows
and sufferings; see Psalm 69:1. The allusion is to a dark and
deep pit
under ground
such as in the eastern countries they used to put their
captives and prisoners into in the night
and take them out in the morning; and
which custom continues still among the Turks. Leo AfricanusF12Descriptio
Africae
l. 3. p. 413. says he has seen three thousand Christian captives
together
clothed in a woollen sack
and chained to one another; and in the
night put into pits or ditches under ground; see Zechariah 9:11.
Psalm 88:7 7 Your wrath lies heavy upon
me
And You have afflicted me with all Your waves. Selah
YLT
7Upon me hath Thy fury lain
And [with] all Thy breakers Thou hast afflicted. Selah.
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 89:38
and thou hast afflicted me with all thy waves; the
afflictions of God's people are compared to waves and billows of the sea
which
are many
and come one upon the back of another
and threaten to overwhelm and
sink; see Psalm 42:7 and so the sufferings of Christ
are signified by waters coming into him
and floods overflowing him; and hence
they are called a baptism
Psalm 69:1
and these were brought upon him
by the Lord; he spared him not; he laid the whole chastisement
all the
punishment due to the sins of his people
on him; he caused every wave to come
upon him
and him to endure all sorrows and sufferings the law and justice of
God could require.
Selah. See Gill on Psalm 3:2.
Psalm 88:8 8 You have put away my
acquaintances far from me; You have made me an abomination to them; I am
shut up
and I cannot get out;
YLT
8Thou hast put mine
acquaintance far from me
Thou hast made me an abomination to them
Shut up --
I go not forth.
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 attributes
it to God
as done by him; as also Job does
in the place referred to; for as
it is the Lord that gives favour in the sight of men
he can take it away when
he pleases: this is true of Christ
and the like is said of him
Psalm 69:8
and by his
"acquaintance"
familiars
and friends
may be meant his apostles
who
upon his being apprehended
forsook him
and fled; who
though they were
not all alienated in their affections
yet stood at a distance from him; Peter
though he followed him
it was afar off
and at last he denied him; and others
of acquaintance and intimates stood afar off
beholding was done to him on the
cross; and his familiar friend
Judas
lifted up his heel against him
and
basely betrayed him
Matthew 26:50
thou hast made me an abomination unto them; to some of
them
as to Judas
and to many that hosanna'd him into Jerusalem
and within a
few days cried "Crucify him
crucify him"
Matthew 21:9 compare with this Isaiah 53:3.
I am shut up
and I cannot come forth; the Targum
renders it
"shut
up in the house of prison
'
in
a prison; and so some literally understand it of the author of the psalm being
in a prison
or dungeon
in the time of the captivity: but it is rather to be
understood of some bodily disease
by which he was detained a prisoner at home
and of his being bound in fetters
and held in the cords of affliction; which
was as a prison to him
and in which when the Lord "shuts up a man
there
can be no opening"
Job 36:8
or else of soul troubles
being
in great darkness and desertion; so that his soul was as in a prison
and could
not come forth in the free exercise of grace
and needed the free Spirit of God
to set him at liberty; see Psalm 142:7
this may be applied to Christ
when in the hands of Judas
and the hand of soldiers with him
who took him
and bound him
and led him to the high priest; and when he was encompassed with
bulls of Bashan
and enclosed by the assembly of the wicked
as he hung on the
cross
Psalm 22:12.
Psalm 88:9 9 My eye wastes away because
of affliction. Lord
I have called daily upon You; I have stretched out my hands to You.
YLT
9Mine eye hath grieved
because of affliction
I called Thee
O Jehovah
all the day
I have spread out
unto Thee my hands.
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
garden
and on the cross
prayed for himself
for divine support and
assistance
as man; for his friends
disciples
and apostles
and for all that
should believe in him through them; and even for his enemies.
Psalm 88:10 10 Will You work wonders for
the dead? Shall the dead arise and praise You? Selah
YLT
10To the dead dost Thou do
wonders? Do Rephaim rise? do they thank Thee? Selah.
Wilt thou show wonders to the dead?.... The Lord does show
wonders to some that are spiritually dead
dead in Adam
dead in law
dead in
trespasses and sins
by quickening them; whereby the wonders of his grace and
love
and of his power
and the exceeding greatness of it
are displayed; for
the conversion and quickening of a dead sinner is a marvellous event
like that
of; raising Lazarus from the dead
and causing Ezekiel's dry bones to live:
likewise the Lord will show wonders to those that are corporeally dead
by
raising them from the dead; which work
though not incredible
yet is very
wonderful
and can only be accounted for by the attributes of Divine
Omniscience and Omnipotence: yea
he would
and he has shown wonders to Christ
when dead
by raising him up again
and giving him glory
and that before he
saw corruption
and as the head and representative of his people; and by
raising many of the saints also
after his resurrection:
shall the dead arise and praise thee? the
spiritually dead
when they are made alive
and rise out of their graves of
sin
praise the Lord for the exertion of his grace and power upon them; which
is one end of their being formed anew
quickened
and converted; and those that
are corporeally dead
such of them as shall rise again to everlasting life
their mouths will be filled with everlasting praise: but here the author of the
psalm suggests
that in a little time he should be among the dead
unless he
had speedy help and deliverance from his troubles; to whom wonders are not
shown
but to the living; and who ordinarily do not rise again to this mortal
state
to praise the Lord in it: or
considering them as the words of Christ
he suggests
that none of the above things would be done
unless he was a
conqueror over death and the grave
and was raised from thence himself; and so
these expostulations carry in them the nature of a prayer
even of the prayer
of Christ
as man
to be assisted in overcoming all his enemies
and to be
raised from the dead
as Cocceius and others think: the Greek and Vulgate Latin
versions are
"shall
physicians rise again?'
of
whom the Jews had a bad opinion; See Gill on 2 Chronicles 16:12.
Selah. See Gill on Psalm 3:2.
Psalm 88:11 11 Shall Your lovingkindness
be declared in the grave? Or Your faithfulness in the place of
destruction?
YLT
11Is Thy kindness recounted
in the grave? Thy faithfulness in destruction?
Shall thy lovingkindness be declared in the grave?.... Where he
saw himself now going
and where should he be detained
and not raised out of
it
the lovingkindness of God to him
as his Son
and as man and Mediator
and
to his people in the gift and mission of him to be their Saviour and Redeemer
how would that be declared and made known? now it is
Christ being raised
and
his ministers having a commission from him to preach the Gospel
in which the
lovingkindness of God is abundantly manifested:
or thy faithfulness in destruction? the grave
so called
from dead bodies being cast into it
and wasted
consumed
and destroyed in it:
the meaning may be
that should he be laid in the grave
and there putrefy and
rot
and not be raised again
where would be the faithfulness of God to his
purposes
to his covenant and promises
to him his Son
and to his people?
Psalm 88:12 12 Shall Your wonders be
known in the dark? And Your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?
YLT
12Are Thy wonders known in
the darkness? And Thy righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?
Shall thy wonders be known in the dark?.... A
description of the grave again; see Job 10:21
The sense may be
should he
continue in the dark and silent grave
how would the wonders of the grace of
God
of electing
redeeming
justifying
pardoning
and adopting grace
be made
known; the wonders of Christ's person and offices
and the wondrous things
and
doctrines of the Gospel
relating thereunto? as the glory of these would be
eclipsed
there would be none to publish them:
and thy righteousness in the land of forgetfulness? the grave
where the dead lie
who
having lost all sense of things
forget what were done
in this world
and they themselves are quickly forgotten by the living; and had
Christ continued in this state
and had not risen again to our justification
how would his justifying righteousness have been revealed
as it is from faith
to faith in the Gospel
which is therefore called the word and ministration of
righteousness?
Psalm 88:13 13 But to You I have cried
out
O Lord
And in the morning my prayer comes before You.
YLT
13And I
unto Thee
O
Jehovah
I have cried
And in the morning doth my prayer come before Thee.
But unto thee have I cried
O Lord
.... Formerly
and had
been heard
answered
and relieved
and which was an encouragement to cry again
to him in his distress; Christ was always heard
John 11:42
or
now
in his present case
yet was not heard
at least not immediately answered; which was the case of the
Messiah
when forsaken by his God and Father
Psalm 22:1
yet still determines to
continue praying
as follows:
and in the morning shall my prayer prevent thee; not before
the Lord is awake
and can hear; for he neither slumbers nor sleeps
and he
always hears: but the meaning is
that he would pray before he entered upon
another business; this should be the first thing in the morning he would do
and this he would do before others did
or he himself used to do; before the
usual time of morning prayer; signifying
he would pray to him very early
which
is expressive of his vehemency
fervency
and importunity and earnestness
and
what a sense he had of his case
and of his need of divine help: so Christ rose
early in the morning
a great while before day
to pray
Mark 1:35. See Gill on Psalm 5:4.
Psalm 88:14 14 Lord
why do You cast off my soul? Why do You hide Your face from me?
YLT
14Why
O Jehovah
castest
Thou off my soul? Thou hidest Thy face from me.
Lord
why castest thou off my soul?.... Here begins his
prayer
which he determined to present early in the morning
and consists of
expostulations
and a representation of his distressed case: this shows that he
was under soul desertion
and which was what so greatly afflicted him;
imagining that his soul was cast off by the Lord
and had no more share in his
affection
and was no more under his care
and in his sight: such
expostulations of the saints
the church
and people of God
in a like case
are elsewhere met with
Psalm 43:3 and may be applied to Christ
when his soul was exceeding sorrowful unto death
and was made an offering for
sin; and particularly when he was forsaken by his Father: the Targum is
"why
hast thou forsaken my soul?'
and
rises the word "sabachtha"
which Christ did when on the cross
Matthew 27:46
the Septuagint version is
"wherefore
O Lord
dost thou reject my prayers?'
"why
hidest thou thy face from me?" which is a denial of sensible communion
a
withdrawing the influences and communications of divine grace for a time; and
which sometimes is the case of the best of men
as Job
David
and others; and
is very grieving and distressing to them; and
for the most part
is on account
of sin; it is sin which separates between God and his people
and causes him to
hide his face from them
or not grant them his gracious presence: this was the
case of Christ
who knew no sin
while he was suffering for the sins of his
people; see Psalm 69:17 compared with Matthew 27:46.
Psalm 88:15 15 I have been
afflicted and ready to die from my youth; I suffer Your terrors; I am
distraught.
YLT
15I [am] afflicted
and
expiring from youth
I have borne Thy terrors -- I pine away.
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 poorF1עני
"pauper"
V. L. Pagninus
Junius & Tremellius; "inops"
Cocceius
Michaelis. ; which as it is a character
which
for the most part
agrees with the saints
who are the poor of this world God has chosen
to whom
the Gospel is sent
and by whom it is received
and who are effectually called
by it
so likewise belongs to Christ
Zechariah 9:9
and ready to die
from my youth up; a sickly unhealthful
person from his infancy
and often in danger of death; which last was certainly
the case of Christ in his infancy
through the malice of Herod; and many times
afterwards
when grown up
through the attempts of the Jews to take away his
life: some render it
"I am ready to die through concussion"
or
"shaking"F2מנער "a
concussione"
Luther
Schmidt
Junius & Tremellius; "propter
concussionem"
Piscator; "prae concussione"
Gejerus. ; meaning
some very rough and severe dispensation of Providence
such an one as Job
expresses by shaking him to pieces
Job 16:12 and was literally true of Christ
when his body was so shaken by the jog of the cross
that all his bones were
put out of joint
Psalm 22:14.
while I suffer thy terrors; or "bear"F3נשאתי "portavi"
Pagninus
Montanus;
"fero"
Tigurine version
Piscator; "tuli"
Musculus
Cocceius; "pertuli portavi"
Michaelis. them
or "carry"
even terrible afflictions
in which he had terrible apprehensions of the wrath
of God in them
of death they would issue in
and of an awful judgment that
should follow that; all which are called the terrors of the Lord
Job 6:4
and which the saints
when left to
God
have some dreadful apprehensions of: such were the terrors of the Lord the
Messiah endured
when in a view of the sins of his people being laid upon him
and of the wrath of God coming on him for them
his sweat was
as it were
great drops of blood falling to the ground
Luke 22:44. Compare with this Psalm 18:4.
I am distracted: not out of his mind
deprived of his
senses
and without the use of reason; but his thoughts were distracted and
confused
and his mind discomposed with the terrors of God upon him: the Hebrew
word "aphunah" is only used in this place
and is difficult of
interpretation
and is variously derived and rendered: some take it to be of
the same root with "pen"
which signifies "lest
perhaps"F4אפונה a פן "ne forte"
Amama
Gejerus; "anxius timeo vel metno
ne hoc vel illud fiat"
Michaelis. ; seeing persons in a panic are apt to use such expressions;
perhaps
or it may be
such and such things will befall me; forming and framing
in their minds ten thousand dreadful things
which they fear are coming upon
them; so Aben Ezra and Kimchi; and is applied by CocceiusF5Lex. Heb.
p. 663. to the solicitous care and fear of Christ concerning his body
the
church
Hebrews 5:7 others derive it from
"ophen"
which signifies a wheel
and so may be rendered
"I am
wheeled about"F6Heb. "rotor
seu instar rotae
circumagor"
Piscator. ; always in motion
and have no rest day nor night;
as Christ was after his apprehension
being carried from place to place
and
from bar to bar: others derive it from the Arabic word "aphan"F7"consilii
inops fuit"
Castel. Lex. col. 199.
which signifies to be in want of
counsel and advice: Christ though
as God
needed no counsel
nor did he take
counsel with any; and
as Mediator
is the wonderful Counsellor; yet
as man
he needed it
and had it from his Father
for which he blesses him
Psalm 16:7
others from the Hebrew root
"phanah"
which signifies to look unto
as persons in a panic look
here and there; and as Christ did when suffering
who looked
and there was
none to help
Isaiah 63:5. The Syriac and Arabic versions
render it "amazed"
or "astonished"
which is said of
Christ
Mark 14:33
the Vulgate Latin version is
"troubled"
which also agrees with Christ
John 12:27 as he must needs be
when his
enemies surrounded him
the sins of his people were upon him
the sword of
justice awaked against him
and the wrath of God on him
as follows.
Psalm 88:16 16 Your fierce wrath has gone
over me; Your terrors have cut me off.
YLT
16Over me hath Thy wrath
passed
Thy terrors have cut me off
Thy fierce wrath goeth over me
.... Or
"wraths"F8חרוניך "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 him
Psalm 31:22 or from the land of the living
as the Messiah was
and in a judicial way
though not for any sin of his own
Isaiah 53:8.
Psalm 88:17 17 They came around me all
day long like water; They engulfed me altogether.
YLT
17They have surrounded me as
waters all the day
They have gone round against me together
They came round about me daily like water
.... That is
the terrors of the Lord
the sorrows of death and hell
Psalm 18:4
this was the Messiah's case
when it was with him as is expressed Psalm 69:1
they compassed me about together; as waters coming from
many places
from all quarters
meet together
and together surround a person
or place in such circumstances was Christ
when the bulls of Bashan beset him
around
and the assembly of the wicked enclosed him
and innumerable evils
encompassed him about
Psalm 22:12.
Psalm 88:18 18 Loved one and friend You
have put far from me
And my acquaintances into darkness.
YLT
18Thou hast put far from me
lover and friend
Mine acquaintance [is] the place of darkness!
Lover and friend hast thou put far from me
.... This is
mentioned in Psalm 88:8
and is here repeated; and the
account is closed with it
to show that this was a most aggravating circumstance
of his affliction
and which bore exceeding hard upon him; and this must be a
very uncomfortable case
to be in distress
whether of body or mind
and to
have no kind friend near to yield the least help
relief
and comfort; so
Christ's lovers and friends
his disciples
who loved him and he loved them
and reckoned them as his friends
and was a friend to them
when he was taken
by his enemies
they all forsook him
and fled
Matthew 26:56
and mine acquaintance into darkness; either by death into the
dark grave
which Job calls the land of darkness and shadow of death
Job 10:21
or being removed from him
so
that he could not see them
it was all one to him as if they had been put into
darkness
into some dark dungeon
or into the grave itself: or the words may be
rendered
mine acquaintance are darknessF9מידעי
מחשך "noti mei sunt tenebrae"
Cocceius
Schmidt
Michaelis; "amici mei sunt caligo"
Gejerus. : this was the
case of Christ
when on the cross; he had none near him
no acquaintance about
him
but darkness; and darkness was over all the land for the space of three
hours; and a darkness was on his soul
being forsaken by his Father; and the
prince of darkness
with all the fiends of hell
were throwing their fiery
darts at him
Matthew 27:45. Thus ends this sorrowful and
mournful song; a joyful one follows.
──《John Gill’s
Exposition of the Bible》
New King James
Version (NKJV)