1 {A Song, a Psalm for the sons of Korah. To the chief Musician. Upon Mahalath Leannoth. An instruction. Of Heman the Ezrahite.} Jehovah, God of my salvation, I have cried by day [and] in the night before thee.
And shall not God at all avenge his elect, who cry to him day and night, and he bears long as to them?
My God, I cry by day, and thou answerest not; and by night, and there is no rest for me:
Hide not thy face from me; put not thy servant away in anger: thou hast been my help; cast me not off, neither forsake me, O God of my salvation.
But when the kindness and love to man of our Saviour God appeared, not on the principle of works which [have been done] in righteousness which *we* had done, but according to his own mercy he saved us through [the] washing of regeneration and renewal of [the] Holy Spirit, which he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; that, having been justified by *his* grace, we should become heirs according to [the] hope of eternal life.
Be gracious unto me, O Lord; for unto thee do I call all the day.
{To the chief Musician. On Mahalath: an instruction. Of David.} The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God! They have corrupted themselves, and have done abominable iniquity: there is none that doeth good.
For he was wiser than all men; than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, and Calcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol; and his fame was in all the nations round about.
night and day beseeching exceedingly to the end that we may see your face, and perfect what is lacking in your faith?
not robbing [their masters], but shewing all good fidelity, that they may adorn the teaching which [is] of our Saviour God in all things.
I am thankful to God, whom I serve from [my] forefathers with pure conscience, how unceasingly I have the remembrance of thee in my supplications night and day,
and herself a widow up to eighty-four years; who did not depart from the temple, serving night and day with fastings and prayers;
I have set watchmen upon thy walls, Jerusalem; all the day and all the night they shall never hold their peace: ye that put Jehovah in remembrance, keep not silence,
Jehovah, the Lord, is the strength of my salvation: thou hast covered my head in the day of battle.
Blessed be the Lord: day by day doth he load us [with good], the ùGod who is our salvation. Selah.
By terrible things in righteousness wilt thou answer us, O God of our salvation, thou confidence of all the ends of the earth, and of the distant regions of the sea. ...
{[A Psalm] of David.} Jehovah is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? Jehovah is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?
He shall receive blessing from Jehovah, and righteousness from the God of his salvation.
Let thine ear now be attentive, and thine eyes open, to hear the prayer of thy servant, which I pray before thee at this time, day and night, for the children of Israel thy servants, confessing the sins of the children of Israel, which we have sinned against thee: both I and my father's house have sinned.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Psalms 88
Commentary on Psalms 88 Matthew Henry Commentary
Psalm 88
This psalm is a lamentation, one of the most melancholy of all the psalms; and it does not conclude, as usually the melancholy psalms do, with the least intimation of comfort or joy, but, from first to last, it is mourning and woe. It is not upon a public account that the psalmist here complains (here is no mention of the afflictions of the church), but only upon a personal account, especially trouble of mind, and the grief impressed upon his spirits both by his outward afflictions and by the remembrance of his sins and the fear of God's wrath. It is reckoned among the penitential psalms, and it is well when our fears are thus turned into the right channel, and we take occasion from our worldly grievances to sorrow after a godly sort. In this psalm we have,
Those who are in trouble of mind may sing this psalm feelingly; those that are not ought to sing it thankfully, blessing God that it is not their case.
A song or psalm for the sons of Korah, to the chief musician upon Mahalath Leannoth, Maschil of Heman the Ezrahite.
Psa 88:1-9
It should seem, by the titles of this and the following psalm, that Heman was the penman of the one and Ethan of the other. There were two, of these names, who were sons of Zerah the son of Judah, 1 Chr. 2:4, 6. There were two others famed for wisdom, 1 Ki. 4:31, where, to magnify Solomon's wisdom, he is said to be wiser than Heman and Ethan. Whether the Heman and Ethan who were Levites and precentors in the songs of Zion were the same we are not sure, nor which of these, nor whether any of these, were the penmen of these psalms. There was a Heman that was one of the chief singers, who is called the king's seer, or prophet, in the words of God (1 Chr. 25:5); it is probable that this also was a seer, and yet could see no comfort for himself, an instructor and comforter of others, and yet himself putting comfort away from him. The very first words of the psalm are the only words of comfort and support in all the psalm. There is nothing about him but clouds and darkness; but, before he begins his complaint, he calls God the God of his salvation, which intimates both that he looked for salvation, bad as things were, and that he looked up to God for the salvation and depended upon him to be the author of it. Now here we have the psalmist,
Psa 88:10-18
In these verses,