seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Psalm 88[a]
A song. A psalm of the Sons of Korah. For the director of music. According to mahalath leannoth.(b) A maskil[c] of Heman the Ezrahite.
1 Lord, you are the God who saves me;
day and night I cry out to you.
2 May my prayer come before you;
turn your ear to my cry.
day and night I cry out to you.
2 May my prayer come before you;
turn your ear to my cry.
3 I am overwhelmed with troubles
and my life draws near to death.
4 I am counted among those who go down to the pit;
I am like one without strength.
5 I am set apart with the dead,
like the slain who lie in the grave,
whom you remember no more,
who are cut off from your care.
and my life draws near to death.
4 I am counted among those who go down to the pit;
I am like one without strength.
5 I am set apart with the dead,
like the slain who lie in the grave,
whom you remember no more,
who are cut off from your care.
6 You have put me in the lowest pit,
in the darkest depths.
7 Your wrath lies heavily on me;
you have overwhelmed me with all your waves.[d]
8 You have taken from me my closest friends
and have made me repulsive to them.
I am confined and cannot escape;
9 my eyes are dim with grief.
in the darkest depths.
7 Your wrath lies heavily on me;
you have overwhelmed me with all your waves.[d]
8 You have taken from me my closest friends
and have made me repulsive to them.
I am confined and cannot escape;
9 my eyes are dim with grief.
I call to you, Lord, every day;
I spread out my hands to you.
10 Do you show your wonders to the dead?
Do their spirits rise up and praise you?
11 Is your love declared in the grave,
your faithfulness in Destruction[e]?
12 Are your wonders known in the place of darkness,
or your righteous deeds in the land of oblivion?
I spread out my hands to you.
10 Do you show your wonders to the dead?
Do their spirits rise up and praise you?
11 Is your love declared in the grave,
your faithfulness in Destruction[e]?
12 Are your wonders known in the place of darkness,
or your righteous deeds in the land of oblivion?
13 But I cry to you for help, Lord;
in the morning my prayer comes before you.
14 Why, Lord, do you reject me
and hide your face from me?
in the morning my prayer comes before you.
14 Why, Lord, do you reject me
and hide your face from me?
15 From my youth I have suffered and been close to death;
I have borne your terrors and am in despair.
I have borne your terrors and am in despair.
16 Your wrath has swept over me;
your terrors have destroyed me.
17 All day long they surround me like a flood;
they have completely engulfed me.
18 You have taken from me friend and neighbor—
darkness is my closest friend.
a. Psalm 88:1 In Hebrew texts 88:1-18 is numbered 88:2-19.
b. Psalm 88:1 Title: Possibly a tune, “The Suffering of Affliction”
c. Psalm 88:1 Title: Probably a literary or musical term
d. Psalm 88:7 The Hebrew has Selah (a word of uncertain meaning) here and at the end of verse 10.
e. Psalm 88:11 Hebrew Abaddon
When bad things happen.... Then.....God gets attention!
This commentary is from the easy English site.
This is a psalm by someone that was ill since he was a child. It may have been Heman himself, or someone that Heman knew. It is the saddest of the psalms. He prays, but God does not seem to listen. So he feels that he is already in Sheol. Sheol was a dark place under the ground. The Jews believed that people went there when they died. The worst bit of Sheol was the Pit. People that went there never came out. But nowhere does the psalm say that the writer had done something very wrong. Yet God was attacking him, doing very bad things to him. Why? God gives no reason. Yet Heman still says "every morning I pray to you", verse 13. That is what the psalm teaches us. If things get bad … pray to God every morning!
In verses 7, 16 and 17, Heman writes about water. His trouble is like the sea. It is heavy and pours over him. It is all round him like a flood. It makes him feel that he cannot move. It was like being in a prison, verse 8, and he cannot get out. We do not know what the prison was. Maybe he was so ill that he could not move. Maybe people put him in a place where they could not see him. This was because he looked so bad. His friends and the people that loved him did not want to look at him, verses 8, 18. He made them feel sick!
Maybe the prison in verse 8 is Sheol itself. He is "near to Sheol", verse 3, which means "almost dead", verse 5. There is nothing that he can do, only pray: and God does not answer! He sends no help. Heman asks if God does miracles for the people in Sheol. The answer then was "No!" But the story from Luke’s Gospel at the top of the psalm says that for Christians the answer may be "Yes". Jesus made the widow’s son alive again! He came back from Sheol. But this is not usual. We must make sure that we tell God that we believe in him and love him before we die!
Ok... here's the story from Luke mentioned above....
Jesus went into a town called Nain. Many of his disciples and a lot of people went with him. Now when he came near to the gate of the town, he saw a dead man. They were carrying him out. His mother was a widow and the dead man was her only son. A big crowd of people from the town was with her. And when the Lord (Jesus) saw her, he was very sorry for her. He said to her, "Do not weep". And he came and touched the coffin. The men carrying it stood still. And he said, “Young man, I say to you, get up”. And the dead man got up and began to speak. And Jesus gave him to his mother. And everybody was afraid. They said that God was really great and that a prophet had come among them. And (they said) that God had visited his people. (Luke 7:11-16)
I thought I heard about the guy who wrote this poem..... this is from enduringword.com.As for the author and singer of the Psalm, Heman the Ezrahite, there are many mentions of a Heman in the days of David and Solomon. Assuming that they all refer to the same man, he was noted for:
· His great wisdom (1 Kings 4:31).
· His being a Kohathite, among the sons of Korah (1 Chronicles 6:33).
· His musical ability and service (1 Chronicles 6:33, 15:17-19, 16:41-42, 25:1, 2 Chronicles 5:12, 35:15).
· His many and exceptional sons (1 Chronicles 25:5-6).
· His service to the king (1 Chronicles 25:6).
The identity of the singer of this dark song helps us to understand it.
“A doleful ditty, beginning and ending with complaints; and therefore sung in the primitive times, among other penitential psalms, as the public confession of persons excommunicated.” (John Trapp)
Hey.... if this musician.... a Levite no less.... who always worked in the Temple.... who always served God.... could write such a sad song..... then who am I to think my song is sadder..... Not all Psalms are beautiful poems
