With "For" in ver. 3 the psalmist begins the dreary description of his affliction, the desperate and all but deodly character of which he spreads before God as a reason for hearing his prayer. Despair sometimes strikes men dumb, and sometimes makes them eloquent. The sorrow which has a voice is less crushing than that which is tongueless. This overcharged heart finds relief in self-pitying depicting of its burdens, and in the exercise of a gloomy imagination, which draws out in detail the picture of the feebleness, the recumbent stillness, the seclusion and darkness of the dead. They have "no strength." Their vital force has ebbed away, and they are but as weak shadows, having an impotent existence, which does not deserve to be called life. The remarkable expression of ver. 5, "free among the dead," is to be interpreted in the light of Job iii. 19, which counts it as one blessing of the grave, that "there the servant is free from his master." But the psalmist thinks that that "freedom" is loathsome, not desirable, for it means removal from the stir of a life, the heaviest duties and cares of which are better than the torpid immunity from these, which makes the state of the dead a dreary monotony. They lie stretched out and motionless. No ripple of cheerful activity stirs that stagnant sea. One unvarying attitude is theirs. It is not the stillness of rest which prepares for work, but of incapacity of action or of change. They are forgotten by Him who remembers all that are. They are parted from the guiding and blessing influence of the Hand that upholds all being. In some strange fashion they are and yet are not. Their death has a simulacrum of life. Their shadowy life is death. Being and non-being may both be predicated of them. The psalmist speaks in riddles; and the contradictions in his speech reflect his dim knowledge of that place of darkness. He looks into its gloomy depths, and he sees little but gloom. It needed the resurrection of Jesus to flood these depths with light, and to show that the life beyond may be fuller of bright activity than life here—a state in which vital strength is increased beyond all earthly experience, and wherein God's all-quickening hand grasps more closely, and communicates richer gifts than are attainable in that death which sense calls life.
Ver. 7 traces the psalmist's sorrows to God. It breathes not complaint but submission, or, at least, recognition of His hand; and they who, in the very paroxysm of their pains, can say, "It is the Lord," are not far from saying, "Let Him do what seemeth Him good," nor from the peace that comes from a compliant will. The recognition implies, too, consciousness of sin which has deserved the "wrath" of God, and in such consciousness lies the germ of blessing. Sensitive nerves may quiver, as they feel the dreadful weight with which that wrath presses down on them, as if to crush them; but if the man lies still, and lets the pressure do its work, it will not force out his life, but only his evil, as foul water is squeezed from cloth. Ver. 7 b is rendered by Delitzsch "All Thy billows Thou pressest down," which gives a vivid picture; but "billows" is scarcely the word to use for the downward rushing waters of a cataract, and the ordinary rendering, adopted above, requires only natural supplements.
Ver. 8 approaches nearer to a specification of the psalmist's affliction. If taken literally, it points to some loathsome disease, which had long clung to and made even his friends shrink from companionship, and thus had condemned him to isolation. All these details suggest leprosy, which, if referred to here, is most probably to be taken, as sickness is in several psalms, as symbolic of affliction. The desertion by friends is a common feature in the psalmists' complaints. The seclusion as in a prison-house is, no doubt, appropriate to the leper's condition, but may also simply refer to the loneliness and compulsory inaction arising from heavy trials. At all events, the psalmist is flung back friendless on himself, and hemmed in, so that he cannot expatiate in the joyous bustle of life. Blessed are they who, when thus situated, can betake themselves to God, and find that He does not turn away! The consciousness of His loving presence has not yet lighted the psalmist's soul; but the clear acknowledgment that it is God who has put the sweetness of earthly companionship beyond his reach is, at least, the beginning of the happier experience, that God never makes a solitude round a soul without desiring to fill it with Himself.
If the recurring cry to Jehovah in ver. 9 is taken, as we have suggested it should be, as marking a new turn in the thoughts, the second part of the psalm will include vv. 9-12. Vv. 10-12 are apparently the daily prayer referred to in ver. 9. They appeal to God to preserve the psalmist from the state of death, which he has just depicted himself as having in effect already entered, by the consideration which is urged in other psalms as a reason for Divine intervention (vi. 5, xxx. 9, etc.)—namely, that His power had no field for its manifestation in the grave, and that He could draw no revenue of praise from the pale lips that lay silent there. The conception of the state of the dead is even more dreary than that in vv. 4, 5. They are "shades," which word conveys the idea of relaxed feebleness. Their dwelling is Abaddon—i.e., "destruction,"—"darkness," "the land of forgetfulness" whose inhabitants remember not, nor are remembered, either by God or man. In that cheerless region, God had no opportunity to show His wonders of delivering mercy, for monotonous immobility was stamped upon it, and out of that realm of silence no glad songs of praise could sound. Such thoughts are in startling contrast with the hopes that sparkle in some psalms (such as xvi. 10, etc.), and they show that clear, permanent assurance of future blessedness was not granted to the ancient Church. Nor could there be sober certainty of it until after Christ's resurrection. But it is also to be noticed that this psalm neither affirms nor denies a future resurrection. It does affirm continuous personal existence after death, of however thin and shadowy a sort. It is not concerned with what may lie far ahead, but is speaking of the present state of the dead, as it was conceived of, at the then stage of revelation, by a devout soul, in its hours of despondency.
The last part (vv. 13-18) is marked, like the two preceding, by the repetition of the name of Jehovah, and of the allusion to the psalmist's continual prayer. It is remarkable, and perhaps significant, that the time of prayer should here be "the morning," whereas in ver. 1 it was, according to Delitzsch, the night, or, according to the other rendering, day and night. The psalmist had asked in ver. 2 that his prayer might enter into God's presence; he now vows that it will come to meet Him. Possibly some lightening of his burden may be hinted at by the reference to the time of his petition. Morning is the hour of hope, of new vigour, of a fresh beginning, which may not be only a prolongation of dreary yesterdays. But if there is any such alleviation, it is only for a moment, and then the cloud settles down still more heavily. But one thing the psalmist has won by his cry. He now longs to know the reason for his affliction. He is confident that God is righteous when He afflicts, and, heavy as his sorrow is, he has passed beyond mere complaint concerning it, to the wish to understand it. The consciousness that it is chastisement, occasioned by his own evil, and meant to purge that evil away, is present, in a rudimentary form at least, in that cry, "Why castest Thou off my soul?" If sorrow has brought a man to offer that prayer, it has done its work, and will cease before long, or, if it lasts, will be easier to bear, when its meaning and purpose are clear. But the psalmist rises to such a height but for a moment, though his momentary attaining it gives promise that he will, by degrees, be able to remain there permanently. It is significant that the only direct naming of Jehovah, in addition to the three which accompany the references to his prayers, is associated with this petition for enlightenment. The singer presses close to God in his faith that His hardest blows are not struck at random, and that His administration has for its basis, not caprice, but reason, moved by love and righteousness.
Such a cry is never offered in vain, even though it should be followed, as it is here, by plaintive reiterations of the sufferer's pains. These are now little more than a summary of the first part. The same idea of being in effect dead even while alive is repeated in ver. 15, in which the psalmist wails that from youth he had been but a dying man, so close to him had death seemed, or so death-like had been his life. He has borne God's terrors till he is distracted. The word rendered "I am distracted" is only used here, and consequently is obscure. Hupfeld and others deny that it is a word at all (he calls it an "Unwort"), and would read another which means to become torpid. The existing text is defended by Delitzsch and others, who take the word to mean to be weakened in mind or bewildered. The meaning of the whole seems to be as rendered above. But it might also be translated, as by Cheyne, "I bear Thy terrors, my senses must fail." In ver. 16 the word for wrath is in the plural, to express the manifold outbursts of that deadly indignation. The word means literally heat; and we may represent the psalmist's thought as being that the wrath shoots forth many fierce tongues of licking flame, or, like a lava stream, pours out in many branches. The word rendered "Cut me off" is anomalous, and is variously translated annihilate, extinguish, or as above. The wrath which was a fiery name in ver. 16 is an overwhelming flood in ver. 17. The complaint of ver. 8 recurs in ver. 18, in still more tragic form. All human sympathy and help are far away, and the psalmist's only familiar friend is—darkness. There is an infinitude of despair in that sad irony. But there is a gleam of hope, though faint and far, like faint daylight seen from the innermost recesses of a dark tunnel, in his recognition that his dismal solitude is the work of God's hand; for, if God has made a heart or a life empty of human love, it is that He may Himself fill it with His own sweet and all-compensating presence.
[PSALM LXXXIX]
1 The loving-kindnesses of Jehovah will I sing for ever,
To generation after generation will I make known Thy Faithfulness with my mouth.
2 For I said, For ever shall Loving-kindness be built up,
The heavens—in them wilt Thou establish Thy Faithfulness,
3 I have made a covenant with My chosen one,
I have sworn to David My servant;
4 For ever will I establish thy seed,
And build up thy throne to generation after generation. Selah.
5 And the heavens shall make known Thy wonders, Jehovah,
Thy Faithfulness also in the congregation of Thy holy ones.
6 For who in the skies can be set beside Jehovah,
[Or] likened to Jehovah, amongst the sons of the mighty ones?
7 A God very terrible in the council of the holy ones,
And dread above all round about Him.
8 Jehovah, God of Hosts, who like Thee is mighty, Jah?
And Thy Faithfulness [is] round Thee.
9 Thou, Thou rulest the insolence of the sea,
When its waves lift themselves on high, Thou, Thou stillest them.
10 Thou, Thou hast crushed Rahab as one that is slain,
By the arm of Thy strength Thou hast scattered Thine enemies.
11 Thine are the heavens, Thine also the earth,
The world and its fulness, Thou, Thou hast founded them.
12 North and south, Thou, Thou hast created them,
Tabor and Hermon shout for joy at Thy Name.
13 Thine is an arm with might,
Strong is Thy hand, high is Thy right hand.
14 Righteousness and Justice are the foundation of Thy throne,
Loving-kindness and Troth go to meet Thy face.
15 Blessed the people who know the festal shout!
Jehovah, in the light of Thy face they walk.
16 In Thy Name do they exult all the day,
And in Thy righteousness are they exalted.
17 For the glory of their strength art Thou,
And in Thy favour shall our horn be exalted.
18 For to Jehovah [belongs] our shield,
And to the Holy One of Israel our king.
19 Then Thou didst speak in vision to Thy favoured one and didst say,
I have laid help upon a hero,
I have exalted one chosen from the people,
20 I have found David My servant,
With My holy oil have I anointed him
21 With whom My hand shall be continually,
Mine arm shall also strengthen him,
22 No enemy shall steal upon him,
And no son of wickedness shall afflict him.
23 And I shatter his adversaries before him,
And them that hate him will I smite,
24 And My Faithfulness and My Loving-kindness [shall be] with him,
And in My name shall his horn be exalted.
25 And I will set his hand on the sea,
And his right hand on the rivers.
26 He, he shall call upon Me, My Father art Thou,
My God and the rock of my salvation.
27 Also I, I will give him [to be My] first-born,
Higher than the kings of the earth.
28 For ever will I keep for him My Loving-kindness,
And My covenant shall be inviolable towards him.
29 And I will make his seed [to last] for ever,
And his throne as the days of heaven.
30 If his sons forsake My law,
And walk not in My judgments,
31 If they profane My statutes,
And keep not My commandments,
32 Then will I visit their transgression with a rod,
And their iniquity with stripes.
33 But My Loving-kindness will I not break off from him,
And I will not be false to My Faithfulness.
34 I will not profane My covenant,
And that which has gone forth from My lips will I not change.
35 Once have I sworn by My holiness,
Verily I will not be false to David.
36 His seed shall be for ever,
And his throne as the sun before me,
37 As the moon shall he be established for ever,
And the witness in the sky is true. Selah.
38 But Thou, Thou hast cast off and rejected,
Thou hast been wroth with Thine anointed,
39 Thou hast abhorred the covenant of Thy servant,
Thou hast profaned his crown to the ground.
40 Thou hast broken down all his fences,
Thou hast made his strongholds a ruin.
41 All that pass on the way spoil him,
He is become a reproach to his neighbours.
42 Thou hast exalted the hand of his adversaries,
Thou hast made all his enemies rejoice.
43 Also Thou turnest the edge of his sword,
And hast not made him to stand in the battle.
44 Thou hast made an end of his lustre,
And cast his throne to the ground,
45 Thou hast shortened the days of his youth,
Thou hast wrapped shame upon him. Selah.
46 How long, Jehovah, wilt Thou hide Thyself for ever?
[How long] shall Thy wrath burn like fire?
47 Remember how short a time I [have to live],
For what vanity hast Thou created all the sons of men!
48 Who is the man who shall live and not see death,
[Who] shall deliver his soul from the hand of Sheol?
49 Where are Thy former loving-kindnesses, Jehovah,
Which Thou swarest to David in Thy faithfulness?
50 Remember, Lord, the reproach of Thy servants,
How I bear in my bosom the shame of the peoples(?)
51 Wherewith Thine enemies have reproached Thee, Jehovah,
Wherewith they have reproached the footsteps of Thine anointed.
52 Blessed be Jehovah for evermore.
Amen and Amen.