Ver. 1. O Lord God of my salvation] This is the only one expression of his faith found in this whole psalm, and it nmst be understood that he thus believed and prayed, as here, Psalms 88:2, when he was at worst, and most despairingly complained. I have cried day and night unto thee] Though in such a state as they were, Acts 27:20, when neither sun nor star appeared, yet he cast anchor, and prayed still for day.
Ver. 2. Let my prayer come before thee] He did not cast out brutish and wild complaints and moans in misery, as it is natural for people to do, but poured forth his soul into God’s blessed bosom, and now prayeth an answer.
Ver. 3. For my soul is full of trouble] Hypotyposis hominis luctuosissime affecti. Here we have the lively picture of a man under bitter affliction. Extraordinary wise he was, and extraordinary troubles he had. None out of hell suffer more than God’s dearest children. This good man felt himself in the suburbs of hell, as it were. And my life draweth nigh unto the grave] Or, unto hell. The same word signifieth both, because death is hell’s harbinger, and would be so to the elect, but for Christ.
Ver. 4. I am counted with them, &c.] I am looked upon as irrecoverable, given up for desperate. Conclamatum est. I am as a man that hath no strength] A man no man; weak as water, ακιας αναρ ανθρωπος.
Ver. 5. Free among the dead] Free of that company, one of the many among the manes, or ghosts; a free denizen of that society of that moiety of mankind that are dead. Yea, I am mortuorum minimus, as R. Jonah rendereth it, according to the Arabic, A mundo manumissus. Like the slain that lie in the grave] That are thrown on heaps into a pit, as after a field fought (R. David). Whom thou rememberest no more] As to this present world, and as it may seem to others, with whom out of sight out of mind; dead folk are soon forgotten. Varro thinks Lethum, death, hath i ts name απο την ληθης, from forgetfulness; because they which have now forgotten all the world should soon be forgotten of the world. And they are cut off from thine hand] Thy providence over them in matters belonging to life is at an end.
Ver. 6. Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit] In cisterna infimorum, in the deepest dungeon, in lutoso lacu, such as Jeremiah was cast into, Jeremiah 37:15,16 In the deeps] In voraginibus, out of which none escapes, nothing can be buoyed up, as they call it.
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.
Ver. 8. Thou hast put away mine acquaintance, &c.] Job and David complain of the like misery. Optimum solatium sodalitium; but woe to him that is alone. I am shut up] Miserably inclaved in this forlorn comfortless condition, a perpetual prisoner.
Ver. 9. Lord, I have called daily upon thee] Which he would not have done if he had cast away his confidence; for “how shall they call upon him in whom they have not believed?” Romans 10:14. The saints, when they want the sun, yet they have the daystar in their hearts.
Ver. 10. Wilt thou show wonders to the dead?] Wilt thou delay to deliver me till I am dead, and then raise me again by a miracle, that I may praise thee? But he should have considered that God neither needeth our poor praises nor can his help ever come too late. Shall the dead arise] Heb. the giants, that is, those that are swallowed up of death, as the giants were of the deluge.
Ver. 11. Shall thy loving kindness, &c.] The same again, and Psalms 88:12 a third time, pro more dolentium. See Psalms 6:5 30:9.
Ver. 12. In the land of forgetfulness] So the state and place of the dead is called; and why: [See Trapp on “Ps 88:5”]
Ver. 13. But unto thee have I cried] Oh, condescend to thy poor crying creature in extremity. In the morning] [See Trapp on “Ps 5:3”]
Ver. 14. Lord, why castest thou off, &c.] Luther saith of himself, that after his conversion he lay three days in desperation. And afterwards, he sometimes suffered such desertions, ut nec calor, nec sanguis, nec sensus, nec vex, superesset, saith an eyewitness (Just. Jon. Ep. ad Melan.).
Ver. 15. I am afflicted, &c.] He was brought up in the school of temptations, and kept in this form from his youth. He was put soon to it, and so deep lessons had he set him, that he had like to have lost his wits. I am distracted, saith he, I am held upon the wheel.
Ver. 16. Thy fierce wrath, &c.] As rivers of brimstone. Have cut me off] Multis excisionibus ideoque duplicatur Tau.
Ver. 17. They compassed me about] As the water compasseth the earth like a girdle.
Ver. 18. Lover and friend, &c.] See Psalms 88:8, and mark how mournfully he concludeth; as doth also the Church, Lamentations 5:22. Maschil of Ethan the Ezrahite] Who having out lived Solomon, and seen both the defection of the ten tribes from the house of David, and the woeful work made by Shishak, king of Egypt, in the kingdom of Judah, 2 Chronicles 12:1-9 composed this psalm (as it may seem), and left it for an eruditive or instruction to all succeeding ages what to do in such dismal changes and concussions. That Jewish doctor mentioned by Aben Ezra was more ignorent than wise, who would neither read nor hear this psalm, Quia videtur dura de Deo proferre, because it seemeth to speak harshly of God, Psalms 89:39.