Davids Harp Strung and Tuned, Book 3 · Psalm 88
PSAL. LXXXVIII.
THIS preſent Pſalm expreſſeth to the life the ſad caſe of an afflicted, and a troubled ſoul, complaining to God upon the vehemence of the diſeaſe, and ſenſe of death, that he could feel no comfort.
Four parts of this Pſalm.
1. A Petition, verſ. 1, 2.
2. The cauſe of this Petition, the miſery he was in, which he deſcribes, from verſ. 3. to 9.
3. The effect which this his miſerable condition wrought upon him, which was,
1. A ſpecial Prayer, verſ. 9, 13.
2. An expoſtulation with God for deliverance, verſ. 10, 11, 12.
4. A grievous Complaint, from verſ. 14. to 18.
1. The firſt part. His Petition grounded on four Arguments.The Prophet offers his Petition, but before he commenceth it, he premiſeth four Arguments that may perſwade the admittance of it.
1. His confidence and reliance on God. O Lord God of my ſalvation. Vers. 1
2. His earneſtneſs to ſpeed. I have cryed.
3. His aſſiduity in it. Day and night.
4. Yea, and that ſincerely. Before thee.
And then he tenders his requeſt for audience. Let my prayer come before thee, Vers. 2 encline thine ear unto my cry.
2. And then next he ſets forth the pitiful condition he was in, The ſecond part.that thereby he might move God to take compaſſion, which he amplifies divers wayes.The ſad condition he was in.
1. From the weight and variety of his troubles, many they were, and preſs'd him to death. For my ſoul is full of troubles, and my life draweth nigh to the grave. Vers. 3
2. From the danger of death in which he was, which is illuſtrated by three degrees.
1. That he was Moribundus, no hope of life in him, even by the eſtimate of all men. I am counted with them that go down to the pit; I am as a man that hath no ſtrength.
2. That he was planè mortuus, but as a dead man. Free among the dead. Freed from all the buſineſs of this life, as far ſeperate from them, as a dead man.
3. Yea, dead and buried. Like the ſlain, that lie in the grave: whom thou remembreſt no more, i.e. to care for in this life, and they are cut off from thy hand, i.e. thy providence, thy cuſtody, as touching matters of this life.
3. And yet he farther amplifies his ſad condition by two Similitudes.Which he amplifies by two Similitudes.
1. Of a man in ſome deep, dark Dungeon. Thou haſt laid me in the loweſt pit, in darkneſs, in the deeps: As was Jeremiah, Cap. 37.
2. Of a man in a Wrack at Sea, that is compaſſed with the waves, to which he compares Gods anger. Thy wrath lieth hard upon me, and thou haſt afflicted me with all thy waves. Ʋnda que impellitur unda. The recourſe of his troubles was perpetual, one no ſooner gone, but another ſucceeded.
2. And to add to this his ſorrow, his friends, And over and above, his friends afforded him no comfort: Which he amplifies by an Auxeſis.(whoſe viſits in extremity uſe to alleviate the grief of a troubled ſoul) even theſe proved perfidious, and came not at him; He had no comfort from them. Which was Gods doing too, the more was his grief. The auxeſis is here very elegant.
1. Thou haſt put away my acquaintance far from me. Thou.
2. Thou haſt made me an abomination to them. No leſs, an abomination.
3. I am ſhut up, I cannot come forth. As a man in priſon, I cannot come at them, and they will not come to me.
3. The effect of which grievous affliction, was threefold. 1. The third part. The effects this wrought on him.An internal grief and waſting of the body. 2. An ardent affection in prayer. And 3. An expoſtulation with his God.
1. My eye mourns by reaſon of affliction. An evidence it is, that I am troubled and grieved to the heart, 1A waſting of the body.that my eye droops and fails. For when the animal and vital ſpirits ſuffer a decay, the eye will quickly, by her dimneſs, deadneſs, and dulneſs, diſcover it.
2. It produced an ardent affection, a continuance, 2A fervency in prayer.and aſſiduity in prayer, which is here made evident by the adjuncts.
1. His voice. I have call'd dayly upon thee. It was, 1. Clamor. 2. Aſſiduns.
2. By the extenſion of his hands. I have ſtretch'd out my hands to thee. Men uſe to do ſo when they expect help, when they look to receive, whence we uſually ſay, Lend me thy hand.
3. 3His expoſtulation with God.The third effect was, an expoſtulation with his God, in which he preſſeth God to ſpare his life, from the inconvenience that might thereby happen, viz. that thereby he ſhould be diſenabled to praiſe God, and celebrate his name, as he was bound, and did deſire to do, among the living. An Argument uſed before, Pſal. 6. & 30. This Argument, though it ſavours too much of humane frailty, foreign.yet he thought thereby to move God, who above all things, is jealous of his own glory, which he conceiv'd in his death, would ſuffer loſs, and therefore he asks,
1. Wilt thou ſhew wonders among the dead? That is, My deſire is, that which ought to be of every pious man, to ſet forth thy honour, which cannot be done, if I now go to the grave, except by ſome miracle I ſhould be raiſed from thence.
2. For, Shall the dead ariſe again, and praiſe thee? 'Tis the living, the living that ſhall ſet forth thy power, thy goodneſs, thy fidelity in keeping thy promiſes, to the ſons of men. The dead, as dead, cannot do this, and the dead return not from the grave to do it, except by miracle.
3. For farther yet, Shall thy loving-kindneſs be declared in the grave? or thy faithfulneſs in deſtruction? Shall thy wonders be known in the dark, and thy righteouſneſs in the Land of forgetfulneſs? Such is the grave, a place of Oblivion, for Abraham is ignorant of us. The goodneſs and faithfulneſs of God, which he makes known to his Church in this life, are not known, nor can be declared by the dead, the living ſee them, the living have experience of them, and therefore he deſires his life may be ſpared for that end, leſt if he dye now, that faculty, ability ſhould be taken from him. He ſhould be able no longer to reſound the praiſe of God, which is the true end, that any man ought to deſire life.
4. The fourth part.And ſo he returns to his Complaint, and repeats again what he had ſaid before, and almoſt in the ſame words. And gives three inſtances.
1. He repeats his complaint.He gives an inſtance in his prayer. But unto thee have I cryed, O Lord, and in the morning ſhall my prayer prevent thee. He prayed, he cryed, 1That God ſeemed not to hear him.earneſtly, early, not drowſily, not ſleepily, for he did prevent God. He prayed, and would continue in prayer, and yet all was in vain.
2. For God ſeems to be inexorable, which he complains of next, and asks why it ſhould be ſo? 2He asks why it ſhould be ſo.Lord, why caſteſt thou off my ſoul? why hidest thou thy face from me? Even the beſt of Gods Servants, have been brought to that ſtrait, that they have not had a ſenſe of Gods favour: But conceiv'd themſelves neglected, deſerted by him, and diſcountenanc'd.
3. His ſecond inſtance is, his preſent affliction mention'd before, verſ. 4, 3That he is afflicted, which he aggravates foreign.5, 6, 7. I am afflicted, and ready to dye. Which he doth here exaggerate.
1. From the time and continuance of it; It was a very long grief, for he had borne it even from his youth up.
2. From the cauſe. It proceeded not from ſome outward and humane cauſe, that might have been borne and helped. But it was an affliction ſent by God, Thy terrors have I ſuffered. It came from a ſenſe of Gods wrath.
3. From an uncomfortable effect. It wrought in his ſoul, amazement, unreſt, a perpetual trouble, aſtoniſhment. Thy terrors have I ſuffered with a troubled mind: I am diſtracted with them. And he amplifies this wrath by the former Similees, 2And amplifies by the former Simile of Waves.verſ. 7. Of Waves, and water.
1. Thy fierce wrath goes over me: as waves over a mans head at Sea. Thy terrors have cut me off, cut off my life as a Weavers Thrum.
2. They came round about me like water. 2. Dayly like water. 3. They compaſſed me about, Simul, together, as if they conſpired my ruine, there were many of them, All thy waves, verſ. 7.
4. His third inſtance, which is the ſame, verſ. 8. 3And by the perfidiouſneſs of his friends.The perfidiouſneſs and deſertion of his friends. foreign. A loving friend is ſome comfort in diſtreſs, but this he found not. Lover and friend haſt thou put far from me. And mine acquaintance into darkneſs. They appear no more to me, to give me any counſel, help, or comfort, than if they were hid in perpetual darkneſs.
Tempora cum fiunt nubila, ſolus ero….
foreign.
The Prayer collected out of the eighty eighth Pſalm.
O Merciful God, the ſole Author of my ſalvation, Vers. 1 for thou alone canſt ſave me, day and night have I cryed before thee, Vers. 9 without any intermiſſion I have ſtretch'd out my hands unto thee, Vers. 13 and in the morning my prayer ſhall prevent thee. O let then my humble ſupplication come before thee, and encline thine ear unto my cry.
For my ſoul is ſo filled and overwhelmed with troubles, that I am weary of them, and my life draweth nigh to the grave. I am accounted in all mens judgement, for a dead man, my ſtrength is ſo little, or none at all, that I am like thoſe that deſcend into the pit, where taking up my reſt among the dead, I ſhall be fréed from thoſe cares and neceſſary dutyes of this life. I am become like thoſe, who have received the wound of death, whom thou haſt cut off by thy hand, and laid in the Land where all things are forgotten.
O Lord, let it be thy pleaſure to deliver me, make haſte to help me, O Lord; O ſpare me a little, that I may recover my ſtrength, before I go hence, and be no more ſéen. For wilt thou ſhew wonders to the dead? and ſhall any raiſe the dead, that they ſhould ſound forth thy praiſes among the living? ſhall any dead man declare thy power and loving-kindneſs to the living? and thy faithfulneſs in performance of thy promiſes, when he is deſtroyed? ſhall thy wonderous works be made known in the Cells of darkneſs? and thy righteouſneſs publiſhed by them, who have utterly forgotten, and are totally ignorant of thoſe things, that are done in the earth? Preſerve me therefore, O thou that breathedſt into my noſtrils the breath of life, and continue me longer in thy Church, that I may there declare thy goodneſs, thy truth, and thy wonders to the ſons of men.
Experience I have, that all my acquaintance are but miſerable comforters, nor lover, nor friend doth come to pity me, to them I am become an abomination, they ſtand all afar off, and their faces are, as it were, wrapt up in darkneſs, and wilt thou alſo, O my God, hide thy face from me? wilt thou alſo caſt off my ſoul? I am afflicted, and ready to dye, even from my youth up, thy terrors I have ſuffered with a troubled ſoul; yea, I have been ſo amazed and aſtoniſhed with them, that I have been even diſtracted, and ready to diſpair. In me there hath appeared manifeſt ſigns of thy diſpleaſure, for thou haſt laid me in the loweſt pit, and impriſon'd me in darkneſs, and in the depth of calamities. As wave ſacreeds wave, ſo thy fierce wrath goeth over me, it lies hard upon me, and I am afflicted with all thy ſtorms, theſe billows came round about me dayly like water, and not one after another ſet upon me, but they engirt me all together.
My eye mourns, Vers. 8 and grows dim, by reaſon of affliction; Lord, then hear my err, that I dayly preſent unto thee; Turn from thy fierce anger, and ſhew me again the light of thy countenance. Deliver me from theſe thy terrors, from the grave, from this death, and I will magnifie thy name and mercy among the living. O Lord, give a gracious anſwer to theſe my ſighs and prayers, ſtand not far off for ever; Forſake me not in my diſtreſs, but make haſte to help. For thou alone art the God of my ſalvation, if thou leave me, I muſt periſh. Wherefore, good Father, ſuccour me, and pardon my ſin, which hath brought this thy juſt indignation upon me, for the merits of thy dearly beloved Son Ieſus Chriſt my Lord. And thou, O ſweet Saviour, which thy ſelf haſt ſuffered, and waſt for my ſake tempted, be a merciful and faithful High Prieſt to me in things pertaining to God, make reconciliation for my ſins, and ſuccour me that am tempted. Amen.