Bible Commentaries
Psalms 88

Verses 1-18

Psalms 88

Midnight, Soul-Suffering

This psalm seems to have been written by one who considered he had contracted an incurable malady, perhaps leprosy. A description of despair and a cloud of increasing midnight gloom extends thru the Psalm, to the last word of the last verse, "darkness." It is the saddest of ail the 150 Psalms, yet, in the end, the Psalmist longs to live on, that he may praise the Lord.

Scripture v. 1-18:

Verse 1-3 describe one in deathly despair. The cry of the despairing opens with "a window of hope", shuts the "door of despair," as he appeals to the Lord God of "my salvation," my deliverance, or "my way out," much as the cry of the Messiah, Psalms 22:2 and that of the church elect of God of this age, Luke 18:7-8. The cry of the despairing one pleads with his living, covenant God, to hear or give heed to his crying prayer, that he made day and night, and respond in granting relief to his pending death. He adds, "my soul is full of troubles, and my life draweth nigh unto the grave," (Hob. shed), suffers torments of hell, Psalms 107:18; Habakkuk 2:5. Sheol of the Old Testament, like Hades of the Greek N. T., alludes primarily to the place of conscious torments of the soul beyond death, Luke 16:23-25.

Verses 4, 5 continue to complain, "I am counted (reckoned or numbered) with them that go down to the pit, (as a dead person): I am (exist) as a man that hath no strength," limp or stiff in death. For the dead have no strength, Psalms 28:1; Psalms 31:12; See too Exodus 26:20; Job 17:1; Isaiah 38:17-18; Jonah 2:6; 2 Corinthians 1:9.

Verse 5 explains that in this state of despair he is "free among the dead, like the slain that lie in the grave," cut off from further human service, like a slave in death, Job 3:19. He is counted as dead, like a leper was by law, isolated or quarantined to a living death of isolation from the people of God and His service, 2 Chronicles 26:21. Them God remembered no more for His service, for He has cut them off by His hand.

Verses 6, 7 lament "thou has laid me in the lowest pit, in darkness, in the deeps," in "dark places," of Sheol or Hades, "the lowest hell," Psalms 74:20; Ezekiel 26:20; See too La 3; 6; Psalms 113:9; Psalms 143:3; Psalms 136:13.
Verse 7 adds, "Thy wrath lieth hard (heavy) upon me, and thou hast afflicted me with all thy waves," with repeated surges of waves and billows of pain, as repeatedly expressed Psalms 38:1; Psalms 38:3-4; Job 6:4; Job 10:16; Psalms 90:7; Psalms 102:10; John 3:36; Romans 2:5; 1 Peter 2:24; Revelation 6:16. "Selah," meditate on, digest, or find nourishment in this.

Verses 8, 9 extend the description of this despair, so much like that of Joseph, Job, and our Lord, "Thou hast put away my acquaintances far from me, made me an abomination unto them; I am shut up, and cannot’ come forth," Job 19:13; Psalms 27:10; Psalms 31:11; John 1:11; John 7:5; John 16:32; Genesis 46:34; La 3:27; Job 31:34.
Verse 9 appeals "mine eye mourneth by reason of affliction ... Lord, I have called daily upon thee, I have stretched .out (in hope) my hands unto thee," a plea that cannot be forever denied to a covenant son, or heir, Psalms 145:18-19. With the eye, mouth, and hands he had prayed, was certain to be heard, Psalms 6:7; Psalms 69:3; Romans 10:13; Isaiah 55:6-7.

Verse 10 Inquires "wilt thou show wonders to the dead? Shall the dead arise and praise thee? Selah." The inquiry is rhetoric in nature, indicating that he will show wonders to the dead, causing them to arise from the grave to praise Him for His holiness of nature and justice in all His deeds; For He is the "God of the living," not of the dead, Matthew 22:32; Daniel 12:3; John 5:28-29. See also Psalms 49:14-15; Psalms 16:10-11; Job 19:25. Meditate here.

Verses 11, 12 lament, "shall thy loving kindness be declared in the grave or thy faithfulness in destruction?" It will not, will it? Surely it will not is the idea. It is added, "Your wonders will not be known or comprehended in the darkness or your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness, will they?" This suggests that they surely will not, for there is a certain resurrection, Genesis 3:15; See too Isaiah 38:18-19; Job 10:21; Isaiah 8:2; Ecclesiastes 8:10; Ecclesiastes 9:5; Isaiah 8:2; Matthew 8:12.

Verse 13 describes the despairing one as praying without ceasing, Luke 18:1; As he cried to the Lord, rising up early in the morning, knocking on the Lord’s door, as a workman arriving earlier than expected, Psalms 5:3; Psalms 57:8; Mark 1:35; Psalms 21:3; Isaiah 65:1; Isaiah 65:24.

Verse 14, 15 appeal prayerfully, inquiring just why the Lord had cast off and turned his face away from this despairing soul. It is so much like the cry of the Messiah upon the cross, Psalms 22:1; Matthew 27:46; Mark 15:34.
Verse 15 laments "I am afflicted and ready to die from my youth up; while I (continually) suffer thy terrors I am distracted." This relates Israel’s suffering from her youth, in Egypt, as well as our Lord’s being haunted from youth, when Herod and His enemies sought His life, to destroy Him, even until His death, Psalms 129:1; Hosea 2:15; Hosea 11:1; Matthew 2:13-18; Job 6:4; Job 7:11; Psalms 22:14-15; Isaiah 53:8; John 12:27: Luke 22:41.

Verse 16 complains that the fierce wrath and terrors from the Lord are cutting off the despairing sufferer, without hope, unless there is immediate intervention to save, Jonah 2:9.

Verse 17 adds that "they", the terrors of the Lord, came round about the despairing one daily, like surging, billowing, strangling waves of certain pending death, v. 16. He cried for extended mercy and deliverance, a prayer certain to be heard, La 3:22; Psalms 145:18-19; Psalms 40:1-3.

Verse 18 concludes "lover and friend hast thou put far from me, and mine acquaintance into darkness," separate or secluded, as a leper in isolation, or as our Lord, whose family, friends, disciples, and nation forsook Him and fled, John 1:11; Job 19:13; Psalms 31:1; See too Matthew 26:56; Mark 14:50; 2 Timothy 4:16. John 7:5 reads, "Neither did his brethren believe in him," Psalms 69:8.