Psa 88:3-9 | Clarke

‏ Psalms 88:3-9

Verse 4. I am counted with them, &c.] I am as good as dead; nearly destitute of life and hope.

Verse 5. Free among the dead] bammethim chophshi, I rather think, means stripped among the dead. Both the fourth and fifth verses seem to allude to a field of battle: the slain and the wounded, are found scattered over the plain; the spoilers come among them, and strip, not only the dead, but those also who appear to be mortally wounded, and cannot recover, and are so feeble as not to be able to resist. Hence the psalmist says, "I am counted with them that go down into the pit; I am as a man that hath no strength," Ps 88:4. And I am stripped among the dead, like the mortally wounded ( chalalim) that lie in the grave. "Free among the dead," inter mortuos liber, has been applied by the fathers to our Lord's voluntary death: all others were obliged to die, he alone gave up his life, and could take it again, Joh 10:18. He went into the grave, and came out when he chose. The dead are bound in the grave; he was free, and not obliged to continue in that state as they were.

They are cut off from thy hand.] An allusion to the roll in which the general has the names of all that compose his army under their respective officers. And when one is killed, he is erased from this register, and remembered no more, as belonging to the army; but his name is entered among those who are dead, in a separate book. This latter is termed the black book, or the book of death; the other is called the book of life, or the book where the living are enrolled. From this circumstance, expressed in different parts of the sacred writings, the doctrine of unconditional reprobation and election has been derived. How wonderful!

Verse 7. Thou hast afflicted me with all thy waves.] The figures in this verse seem to be taken from a tempest at sea. The storm is fierce, and the waves cover the ship.

Verse 8. Thou hast made me an abomination] This verse has been supposed to express the state of a leper, who, because of the infectious nature of his disease, is separated from his family-is abominable to all, and at last shut up in a separate house, whence he does not come out to mingle with society.