1. A Song. A Psalm. To (or by) the Sons of Korah. To the Chief Musician. Concerning afflictive sickness. A didactic Psalm.. By Heman the Ezrahite. The first word of this title elsewhere denotes a song of praise or triumph. See above, on Ps. xlii. 9 (8), lxxxiii. 1. It is here prefixed, however, to the most despondent psalm in the collection, in which the complaints and lamentations are relieved by no joyful anticipations or expressions of strong confidence. The only satisfactory explanation of these facts is afl”orded by the supposition, that Ps. lxxxviii. and lxxxix were intended to constitute a pair or double psalm, like the first and second, third and fourth, ninth and tenth, forty-second and forty-third, &c. The desponding lamentations of Ps. lxxxviii. are then merely introductory to the cheering expectations of Ps. lxxxix. This supposition also explains the unusual length of the inscription now before us, the first part of which may then be considered as belonging to both psalms, while the last clause corresponds to the title of Ps. lxxxix. Afflictive sickness, literally sickness to afflict or humble. For the figurative use of sickness, and the sense of this inscription, see above, on Ps. liii. 1. Heman the Ezrahite is mentioned, with Asaph and Ethan, as chief musicians in the reign of David, 1 Chron. vi. 18 (33), XV. 17, xvi. 41, 42. The Heman and Ethan, spoken of in 1 Chron. ii. 6 as Ezrahites (i. e. sons of Zerah), and in 1 Kings v. 11, as eminent for wisdom, are supposed by some to be different persons, because they were of the tribe of Judah, while others suppose that they were Levit’^s adopted into that tribe. The Psalm before us neither requires nor admits of any minute or artificial subdivision.
2 (1). Jehovah, God of my salvation, (by) day have I cried, and by night, be/ore thee. God of my salvation, the God in whom I trust to save me, because he is a saving God, or God my Saviour. See above, on Ps. lxxxv. 5 (4), Day and by night are related to each other here, as night and by day are in Ps. lxxvii. 3 (2). Before theeimiplies that his cries were not mere instinctive expressions of distress, but prayers addressed to God. With the whole verse compare Ps. xxii. 3 (2).
3 (2). Let my prayer come before thee; incline thine ear unto my cry. The first petition is that his prayer may attract the divine attention, which is varied in the last clause by the figure of one bending down to catch a faint or distant cry. See above, on Ps. xvii. 6, xxxi. 3 (2), lxxi. 2.
4 (3). For sated with evils is my soul, and my life to the grave draws near. Evils, sufferings, distresses. As life is plural in Hebrew, it can be construed regularly with the plural verb; but as this is properly a causative, it may also be construed with evils, or with men indefinitely, they have brought my life near to the grave. The first construction is favoured by the analogy of Ps. cvii. 18. The grave, sheol, the state of the dead. See above, on Ps. vi. 6 (5).
5 (4). / am reckoned with those going down to the pit; I am (or am become) as a man with no strength. With the first clause compare Ps. xxviii. 1, cxliii. 7. With no strength, literally (to whom) there is no strength. The last word in Hebrew occurs only here, but a cognate form in Ps. xxii, 20 (19). There is in the original an antithesis, which cannot be conveyed by mere translation, arising from the fact that the first word for man is one implying strength.
6 (5). With (or among) the dead, free, like the slain, lying in the grave, whom thou rememberest no more, and they by (or from) thy hand are cut off. As to be God’s servant is the highest privilege and honour (Ps. lxxx^i. 16), 80 to be free from his service (Job iii. 19) is to be miserable. The reference is not to death in general, but to death by violence and as a punishment. The slain, literally the (mortally) wounded. See above on Ps. lxix. 27 (26). The latter half of the verse contains a strong poetical description of the wicked, as no longer the objects of God’s protecting care. Of the two translations, from and by thy hand, the first conveys the same idea with the foregoing words, while the second represents the destruction of God’s enemies as the work of his own hands.
7 (6). Thou hast placed me in a deep pit, in dark places, in abysses. A deep pit, literally a pit of low or under places. See above, on Ps. lxiii. 10 (9), lxxxvi. 13, and compare Ezek. xxvi. 20. The dark places are those of the invisible and lower world. Abysses, deeps, or depths of water. See above, on Ps. lxix. 3 (2).
8 (7). Upon me weighs thy wrath, and (with) all thy waves thou dost oppress me. Selah. The word translated waves corresponds etymologically to breakers. See above, on Ps. xlii. 8 (7). With the first clause compare Ps. xxxviii. 3 (2). The verb to oppress or afflict is applied in historical prose to the oppression of Israel in Egypt, Gen. xv. 13, Exod. i. 12. The infinitive of the same verb occurs in the title of the psalm before us. The Selah indicates the depth of his distress, and the necessity of a pause before resuming the description.
9 (8). Thou hast put far my acquaintances from me; thou hast made me an abomination to them; (I am) shut up and cannot come forth The circumstance complained of in the first clause, is one often mentioned as an aggravation of distress. See above, on Ps. xxxi. 12 (11), xxxviii. 12 (11), lxix. 9 (8), and compare Ps. xxvii. 10. The next clause shews that he complains of something more than mere neglect. Made me, literally put or placed me. See above, on Ps. xxxix. 9 (8). There may be an allusion to the statement in the history, that the Israelites were an abomination, an object of religious detestation and abhorrence, to their Egyptian masters. See Gen. xliii. 32, xlvi. 34. The last clause is by some understood to mean, I am encompassed by inextricable difficulties. Compare Lam. iii. 7, Job iii. 23. Others, with more probability, connect it with what goes before, and understand the sense to be, that he is not willing to expose himself to this unmerited hatred and contempt. See Job xxxi. 34, and compare Ps. xliv. 14 (13), lxxx. 7 (6).
10 (9). My eye decays by reason of affliction; I invoke thee, 0 Jehovah, evei-y day; I spread out unto thee my hands. With the first clause compare Ps. vi. 8 (7), xxxi. 10 (9), xxxviii. U (10), lxix. 4 (3). With the last compare Ps. xliv. 21 (20). The first Hebrew verb is one of rare occurrence; a derivative noun is used by Moses, Deut. xxviii. 65. The preterites represent the suffering as no new thing, but one of long continuance.
11 (10). Wilt thou to the dead do wonders, or shall ghosts arise (and) thank thee? Selah. The argument implied is that the present life is the appropriate time for those favours which belong to it. See above, on Ps. vi. 6 (5). The word Rephaim, in the last clause, is the name of a Canaanitish race of giants, but is applied poetically to the gigantic shades or spectres of the dead. See my note on Isa, xiv. 9. Do wonders, literally wonder, as in Ps. lxxvii. 12 (11).
12 (11). Shall thy mercy he recounted in the grave, thy faithfulness in destruction? The last word (Abaddon) appears elsewhere in conjunction with the grave and death, as a poetical equivalent. See Prov. xv. 11, Job xxvi. 6, xxviii. 22.
13 (12). Shall thy wonders he known in the dark, and thy righteousness in the land of forgetfulness? These are varied metaphorical descriptions of the state of death, considered negatively as the privation or the opposite of life. Darkness is here opposed to the light of life or of the living, Ps. lvi. 14 (13). The land of forgetfulness, where men forget, Eccles. ix. 5, 6, 10, and are forgotten, Ps. xxxi. 13 (12).
14 (13). And I unto thee, 0 Jehovah, have cried, and in the morning shall my prayer come before thee. What he has done he is still resolved to do, as the only means of safety. Hence the alternation of the preterite and future. The first verb means to cry for help. See above, on Ps. xviii. 42 (41). With the last clause compare Ps. v. 4 (3), lvii. 9 (8), lix. 17 (16). The verb has its proper sense of coming before one or into his presence. See above, on Ps. xvii. 13, xviii. 6 (5), xxi. 4 (3).
15 (14). Why, 0 Jehovah, wilt thou reject my soul, wilt thou hide thy face from, me? The first verb means to reject with abhorrence. See above, on Ps. xliii. 2, xliv. 10, 24 (9, 23), lx. 3, 12 (1, 10), lxxiv. 1, lxxvii. 8 (7). The question implies that such rejection would be inconsistent with God’s faithfulness, and is therefore not expressive of entire despondence.
16 (15). Wretched (am) I and expiring from, childhood; I have home thy terrors; I despair. Expiring, ready to perish, at the point of death, a strong description of extreme distress. The childhood may be that of the individual sufferer, or of Israel as a nation (Hos. xi. 1). Both applications may have been intended.
17 (16). Over me have passed thine indignations; thy terrors have destroyed me. TIio image in the first clause is the same as in Ps. xlii. 8 (7). Indignations, literally heats or inflammations, but always applied to anger. The plural occurs only here. The unusual form of the last verb is supposed by some to have been coined by the writer, for the sake of an allusion to Lev. XXV. 23.
18 (17). They have surrounded me like waters all the day; they have encompassed me at once (or all together). The figure of overwhelming waves is still continued. The subject of the verbs can only be the indignations and the terrors of ver. 17 (16).
19 (18). Than hast put far from me lover and friend; my acquaintances (are) darkness (or a dark place). The fu”st clause is a repetition of ver. 9 (8). The other is obscure, and is supposed by some to mean, my acquaintances vanish, disappear in darkness; by others, my acquaintances give way to darkness, are succeeded by it; my only friend is now the dark place, i. e. the grave or death. Thus understood, the sentiment is not unlike that in Job xvii. 14.
