Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 6:2
Have mercy upon me, O LORD; for I [am] weak: O LORD, heal me; for my bones are vexed.
2. Have mercy upon me ] Be gracious unto me. See note on Psa 4:1.
I am weak ] R.V., I am withered away, retaining the primary meaning of the word. Cp. Nah 1:4, where it is rendered languisheth.
heal me ] So Jeremiah prays (Psa 17:14), combining this petition with that of Psa 6:4. Cp. Job 5:18; Psa 30:2; Psa 41:4; Psa 147:3.
for my bones are vexed ] Even the solid framework of the body, the seat of its strength and solidity, is racked and shaken well nigh to dissolution. Cp. Psa 22:14. ‘The bones,’ in the language of Hebrew poetry, denote the whole physical organism of the living man, as being the fundamental part of it. Hence they are the seat of health (Pro 16:24), or of pain, as here. In some passages, ‘the bones’ come to be identified with the man himself, as a living agent. Cp. Psa 35:10. On the word ‘vexed,’ see note on Psa 2:5.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Have mercy upon me, O Lord – That is, be gracious to me; or, show me compassion. This language may be used either in view of sin, of suffering, or of danger. It is a cry to God to interpose, and remove some present source of trouble, and may be employed by one who feels that he is a sinner, or by one on a bed of pain, or by one surrounded by enemies, or by one at the point of death, or by one who is looking out with apprehension upon the eternal world. It is commonly, indeed (compare Psa 51:1), a cry to God in view of sin, pleading for pardon and salvation; but here it is a cry in view of trouble and danger, outward sorrow and mental anguish, that had overcome the strength of the sufferer and laid him on a bed of languishing. See introduction to the psalm, Section 3.
For I am weak – The original word here, ‘umlal, means properly to languish or droop, as plants do that are blighted, Isa 24:7, or as fields do in a drought, Isa 16:8, and is here applied to a sick person whose strength is withered and gone. The condition of such an one is beautifully compared with a plant that withers for lack of moisture; and the word is used in this sense here, as referring to the psalmist himself when sick, as the result of his outward and mental sorrows. Such an effect has not been uncommon in the world. There have been numberless cases where sorrow has prostrated the strength – as a plant withers – and has brought on languishing sickness.
O Lord, heal me – This is language which would be properly applied to a case of sickness, and therefore, it is most natural to interpret it in this sense in this place. Compare Isa 19:22; Isa 30:26; Job 5:18; Gen 20:17; Psa 60:2; 2Ch 16:12; Deu 28:27.
For my bones are vexed – The word vexed we now commonly apply to mental trouble, and especially the lighter sort of mental trouble – to irritate, to make angry by little provocations, to harass. It is used here, however, as is common in the Scriptures, in reference to torment or to anguish. The bones are the strength and framework of the body, and the psalmist means here to say that the very source of his strength was gone; that that which supported him was prostrated; that his disease and sorrow had penetrated the most firm parts of his body. Language is often used in the Scriptures, also, as if the bones actually suffered pain, though it is now known that the bones, as such, are incapable of pain. And in the same manner, also, language is often used, though that use of the word is not found in the Scriptures, as if the marrow of the bones were especially sensitive, like a nerve, in accordance with what is the common and popular belief, though it is now known that the marrow of the bones is entirely insensible to suffering. The design of the psalmist here is to say that he was crushed and afflicted in every part of his frame.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Psa 6:2
Have mercy upon me, O Lord, for I am weak.
Cure for the souls weakness
There is a very immediate connection between soul sickness and bodily ailments. The material affects the mental, and presently the mental affects the soul. When David was weak in body he became more than ever conscious of his sinful condition before God. And the enemy took advantage of his weakness and oppressed him when his heart was sore sick. The saints extremity becomes the devils opportunity to annoy and to distress him. But he was by no means forsaken of his God.
I. The complaint–Soul weakness. It is not a disease exactly, and yet there are points about it which make it very much like a disease. Many persons cannot say they are ill, but there is a lack of physical force, a lack of stamina. They are the weaklings of the flock; and it is so in Christian experience. There are Christians lacking that power which makes a man act like a man, and speak like a man, and think with vigour and purpose, Next to listlessness, there is with these invalids a sort of fretfulness. Everything–even the grasshopper–becomes a burden to them. Then there comes to these poor sick souls a sort of fearfulness, their nervous force has gone. These people are very retiring in disposition–nervous, and bashful, and hesitating, very timid and timorous. What are the causes of this spiritual disease? Some are born frail. But the weakness is often due to the disease of harbouring unkind thoughts about anybody. An unhealthy climate is often the reason, physically speaking, for weakness of health. Weakness may be due to unwholesomeness of food.
II. The prescription. Have mercy upon me, O Lord. Gods mercy must be the antidote for my misery. This is the only remedy for spiritual weakness. If I go to the physician and complain of weakness he will probably give me some medicine which may not be very palatable. Well, then, take the medicine. (Thomas Spurgeon.)
The cry for mercy
To fly and escape the anger of God, he sees no means in heaven or in earth, and therefore he retires himself to God, even to Him who wounded him, that He might heal him. He flies not with Adam to the bush, nor with Saul to the witch, nor with Jonas to Tarshish, but he appeals from an angry and just God to a merciful God. Next, observe what David craves–mercy; whereby we may perceive that he was brought to a consideration of his own misery, or else he needed not to have asked for mercy. Then it is necessary, that to the end we may more effectually crave pardon, every one of us first have a sense and feeling of our own sin and misery. Moreover, see that David doth not present his merits, whereby to redeem the filthiness of his sins, neither yet prayers, praises, almsdeeds, victory over Gods foes, wherein he was frequent, but he leaveth them all as a broken reed, to the which he could not well lean in the day of his spiritual temptation, and hath his only refuge in Gods mercy. The merits of men (alas!) what are they? The best works we do are so full of imperfections that there is more dross than gold in them. What man would be content for good gold to receive such coin as is nearby altogether dross? And think ye God for His perfect law, which He gave us to observe and do, will receive our imperfect works? David, under the name of mercy, includeth all things, according to that of Jacob to his brother Esau, I have gotten mercy, and therefore I have gotten all things. Desirest thou anything at Gods hands? Cry for mercy, out of which fountain all good things will spring to thee. The blind men, seeking their sight, cried, Have mercy upon us, Thou Son of David. The Canaanite, who had her daughter possessed, cried, Have mercy upon me. If ye have purchased the Kings pardon, then ye may enjoy the privileges of His kingdom; if ye have mercy, ye have all that God can give you, ye have title to Christ, to heaven, to all the creatures, ye are freed and delivered from the prison of hell. (A. Symson.)
A good plea for the penitent
But is this not a weak plea, to allege weakness for a plea? weak indeed with men who commonly tread hardest upon the weakest, and are ever going over where the hedge is lowest; but no weak plea with God, whose mercy is ever ready upon all occasions, and then most when there is most need; and seeing there is greatest need where there is greatest weakness, therefore no plea with God so strong as this, Have mercy upon me, O God, for I am weak. But why should David pray for mercy to help his weakness? for what can mercy do? Mercy can but pity his weakness; it is strength that must relieve it. But is it not that mercy, I may say; is as the steward of Gods house, and hath the command of all He hath; that if wisdom be wanting for direction, mercy can procure it; if justice be wanting for defence, mercy can obtain it; if strength be wanting for support, mercy can command it; and therefore no plea so perfect to be urged with God as this, Have mercy upon me, O God, for I am weak? But why should David make his weakness a motive to God for mercy? for is not weakness an effect of sin? and can God love the effect when He hates the cause? But it is not the weakness in David that God loves, but the acknowledging of his weakness; for what is this but the true humility? and who knows not in how high account such humility is with God, seeing it is indeed of this wonderful condition, that though nothing be so low, yet nothing reacheth so high, and therefore no motive so fit to move God as this, Have mercy upon me, O God, for I am weak. Mercy, indeed, looks down upon no object so directly as upon weakness, and weakness looks up to no object so directly as to mercy; and therefore they cannot choose but meet, and meeting, not choose but embrace each other: mercy, weakness as her client; weakness, mercy as her patron; that no plea can be so strong with God as this, Have mercy upon me, O God, for I am weak. (Sir Richard Baker.)
An argument taken from weakness
But behold what rhetoric he trieth to move God to cure him: I am weak; an argument taken from his weakness; which indeed were a weak argument to move any man to show his favour, but is a strong argument to prevail with God. If a diseased person would come to a physician, and only lament the heaviness of his sickness, he would say, God help thee; or an oppressed person come to a lawyer, and show him the estate of his action and ask his advice, he would answer, That is a golden question; or to a merchant to crave raiment, he will either have present money or a surety; or a courtier for favour, you must have your reward ready in your hand. But coming before God, the most forcible argument ye can use is your necessity, poverty, tears, misery, unworthiness, and confessing them to Him, it shall be an open door to furnish you with all things that He hath. (A. Symson B. D.)
A forcible plea
The tears of our misery are forcible arrows to pierce the heart of our heavenly Father, to deliver us and pity our hard case. The beggars lay open their sores to the view of the world, that the more they may move men to pity them. So let us deplore our miseries to God, that He, with the pitiful Samaritan, at the sight of our wounds may help us in due time. (A. Symson B. D.)
O Lord, heal me.—
Healing
There is something very soothing, very beautiful in that word Heal. It seems so full of beneficence, so full of restoration, so full of balm. Heal, so near Health–it is a beautiful word. The healing is found in Him. There are some medicines which are called polychrists, they heal so many diseases. Heaven knows but one Polychrist. It is one to heal not only many diseases, but all, and that one is the touch of Christ. (P. B. Tower, M. A.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 2. Have mercy] I have no merit. I deserve all I feel and all I fear.
O Lord, heal me] No earthly physician can cure my malady. Body and soul are both diseased, and only God can help me.
I am weak] umlal. I am exceedingly weak; I cannot take nourishment, and my strength is exhausted.
My bones are vexed.] The disease hath entered into my bones.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Have mercy upon me; I plead not my merit, but thy free mercy.
I am weak; or, I languish; my body pines away and my spirit fails through my excessive pains or troubles.
Heal me, i.e. the distempers of my soul and body, of both which this word is used, Psa 41:4; 107:18,20.
My bones are vexed; my torment is so deep and so general, that it reacheth and is very grievous even to my bones, though they are inward, and might seem to be out of the reach of it, and also strong and senseless, and therefore can best bear it. See the like expressions Job 4:14; 33:19; Psa 38:3; 51:8.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
2. I am weakas a culled plant(Isa 24:4).
my bonesthe veryframe.
are vexed (Ps2:5) shaken with fear.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Have mercy upon me, O Lord,…. He knew he was a sinner, both by original sin and actual transgression, which he was always ready to own; he knew that what he had done deserved the wrath of God, even his hot displeasure; and that for such things it came upon the children of disobedience: he knew that there was mercy with God through Christ, and therefore he flees unto it, pleads for it, and entreats the manifestation of forgiving love: he pleads no merits of his own, nor makes any mention of former works of righteousness done by him, but throws himself upon the mercy of God in Christ; giving this as a reason,
for I [am] weak; either in body, through some disease upon him; or in soul, being enfeebled by sin, and so without spiritual strength to do that which was good of himself; to exercise grace, and perform duty, and much less to keep the law of God, or make atonement for sin, or to bear the punishment of it;
O Lord, heal me; meaning either his body, for God is the physician of the body, he wounds and he heals; so he healed Hezekiah and others; and he should be sought to in the first place by persons under bodily disorders: or else his soul, as in Ps 41:4; sin is the disease of the soul, and a very loathsome one it is, and is incurable but by the balm of Gilead, and the physician there; by the blood of Christ, and forgiveness through it; and the forgiveness of sin is the healing of the diseases of the soul, Ps 103:3;
for my bones are vexed; with strong pain; meaning his body, as Kimchi and Aben Ezra observe; because these are the foundation of the body, and the more principal parts of it: and this may be understood of his grief and trouble of heart for his sins and transgressions, which is sometimes expressed by the bones being broke, and by there being no rest in them, Ps 51:8.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
2. Have mercy upon me. As he earnestly calls upon God to be merciful to him, it is from this the more clearly manifest, that by the terms anger and indignation he did not mean cruelty or undue severity, but only such judgment as God executes upon the reprobate, whom he does not spare in mercy as he does his own children. If he had complained of being unjustly and too severely punished, he would now have only added something to this effect: Restrain thyself, that in punishing me thou mayest not exceed the measure of my offense. In betaking himself, therefore, to the mercy of God alone, he shows that he desires nothing else than not to be dealt with according to strict justice, or as he deserved. In order to induce God to exercise his forgiving mercy towards him, he declares that he is ready to fail: Have mercy upon me, O Jehovah, for I am weak As I have said before, he calls himself weak, not because he was sick, but because he was cast down and broken by what had now befallen him. And as we know that the design of God in inflicting punishment upon us, is to humble us; so, whenever we are subdued under his rod, the gate is opened for his mercy to come to us. Besides, since it is his peculiar office to heal the diseased to raise up the fallen, to support the weak, and, finally, to give life to the dead; this, of itself, is a sufficient reason why we should seek his favor, that we are sinking under our afflictions.
After David has protested that he placed his hope of salvation in the mercy of God alone, and has sorrowfully set forth how much he is abased, he subjoins the effect which this had in impairing his bodily health, and prays for the restoration of this blessing: Heal me, O Jehovah And this is the order which we must observe, that we may know that all the blessings which we ask from God flow from the fountain of his free goodness, and that we are then, and then only, delivered from calamities and chastisements, (85) when he has had mercy upon us. — For my bones are afraid This confirms what I have just now observed, namely, that, from the very grievousness of his afflictions, he entertained the hope of some relief; for God, the more he sees the wretched oppressed and almost overwhelmed, is just so much the more ready to succor them. He attributes fear to his bones, not because they are endued with feeling, but because the vehemence of his grief was such that it affected his whole body. He does not speak of his flesh, which is the more tender and susceptible part of the corporeal system, but he mentions his bones, thereby intimating that the strongest parts of his frame were made to tremble for fear. He next assigns the cause of this by saying, And my soul is greatly afraid. The connective particle and, in my judgment, has here the meaning of the causal particle for, as if he had said, so severe and violent is the inward anguish of my heart, that it affects and impairs the strength of every part of my body. I do not approve of the opinion which here takes soul for life, nor does it suit the scope of the passage.
(85) “ Des maux et chastiemens.” — Fr.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(2) I am weak.Properly, wither, or waste with disease, or languish, as in Hos. 4:3; Isa. 16:8.
Vexed.So LXX. and Vulg. Literally, affrighted. (Comp. Virgils gelidusque per ima cucurrit Ossa tremor.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
2. Weak Withered, languid, with sorrow.
My bones are vexed My bones have been troubled. The Niphal preterite of the verb indicates a disease of some continuance. So also the significant “how long?” Psa 6:3. The direct allusion to bodily suffering, in the absence of any confession of sin, and the prayer heal me ( ) the usual word for restoring the health all point to some physical suffering.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Psa 6:2. My bones are vexed Bones, reins, inward parts, often in scripture signify the same as heart, soul, thought; see Psa 35:10 where bones probably signify the same as here.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Psa 6:2 Have mercy upon me, O LORD; for I [am] weak: O LORD, heal me; for my bones are vexed.
Ver. 2. Have mercy upon me, O Lord ] As the woman in the story appealed from Philip to Philip, so doth David fly from God’s anger to God’s grace; for he had none else in heaven or earth to repair to, Psa 73:25 . He seeks here to escape him by closing with God, and to get off by getting within him.
For I am weak
O Lord, heal me
For my bones are vexed
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Have mercy = Be gracious, or show favour to.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
for I: Psa 38:7, Psa 41:3, Psa 103:13-17
heal: Psa 30:2, Gen 20:17, Exo 15:26, Num 12:13, Deu 32:39, Job 5:18, Jer 17:14, Hos 6:1, Mat 4:24
my: Psa 32:3, Psa 38:3, Psa 51:8, Job 19:21, Job 33:19-21
Reciprocal: Job 30:17 – My bones Psa 31:9 – my soul Psa 41:4 – heal Psa 77:2 – my Psa 102:4 – heart Hab 3:2 – in wrath Mat 9:12 – They that be whole Mat 15:22 – Have Luk 13:11 – a spirit Joh 12:40 – heal Heb 12:5 – nor faint
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Psa 6:2. Have mercy upon me I plead not my merit, but thy free mercy; for I am weak Or, I languish; my body pines away, and my spirit fails through my excessive pains and troubles. O Lord, heal me That is, the distempers of my soul and body, of both which the word , rapha, is used; for my bones are vexed That is, my inward parts. Bones, reins, inward parts, often in Scripture signify the same as heart, soul, thought: see Psa 35:10.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
6:2 Have mercy upon me, O LORD; for I [am] weak: O LORD, heal me; for my {b} bones are vexed.
(b) For my whole strength is abated.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The king then expressed his request positively. He begged for relief from his extreme discomfort. David spoke of his bones as representing his whole body (cf. Psa 31:10; Psa 32:3; Psa 38:3; Psa 42:10; Psa 102:3; Psa 102:5). This is a figure of speech called synecdoche in which the writer uses a prominent part in place of the whole.