Psalms 88

The Book of Psalms
Chapter 88

Chapter Overview:

This is the most melancholy of all the psalms: it is all lamentation, and mourning, and woe. Here we have the pressure of spirit which the psalmist was under, ver. 1 - 9.
His humble pleadings with God, ver. 10 - 14.
A farther declaration of his affliction, ver. 15 - 18.
Title of the psalm. Leannoth - Which seems to be the name of the instrument. Heman - Probably the same person who was famous in David's time, both for his skill in musick, and for wisdom.
88:4Counted - l am given up by my friends for a lost man.
88:5Free - Well nigh discharged from the warfare of the present life, and entered as a member into the society of the dead. Whom - Thou seemest to neglect and bury in oblivion.
88:7Waves - With they judgments, breaking in furiously upon me like the waves of the sea.
88:10Wonders - In raising them to life. To praise thee - In this world?
88:12Forgetfulness - In the grave, where men are forgotten by their nearest relations.
88:13Prevent - Come to thee before the dawning of the day, or the rising of the sun.
88:17Water - As the waters of the sea encompass him who is in the midst of it.