Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 116:3
The sorrows of death compassed me, and the pains of hell got hold upon me: I found trouble and sorrow.
3. The cords of death encompassed me,
And the straitnesses of Sheol gat hold of [lit. found ] me.
The parallelism decides for the meaning cords in Psa 18:5, though pangs (LXX ) is also a possible rendering, and may be the meaning here. But here too Death and Sheol are probably represented as hunters lying in wait for their prey with nooses and nets, or driving it into a defile from which it cannot escape. Cp. Lam 1:3.
The P.B.V. renders wrongly I shall find I will call. The crisis is evidently past.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
3, 4. The Psalmist’s prayer in peril. Cp. Psa 18:4-6.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The sorrows of death – What an expression! We know of no intenser sorrows pertaining to this world than those which we associate with the dying struggle – whether our views in regard to the reality of such sorrows be correct or not. We may be – we probably are – mistaken in regard to the intensity of suffering as ordinarily experienced in death; but still we dread those sorrows more than we do anything else, and all that we dread may be experienced then. Those sorrows, therefore, become the representation of the intensest forms of suffering; and such, the psalmist says, he experienced on the occasion to which he refers. There would seem in his case to have been two things combined, as they often are:
(1) actual suffering from some bodily malady which threatened his life, Psa 116:3, Psa 116:6,Psa 116:8-10;
(2) mental sorrow as produced by the remembrance of his sins, and the apprehension of the future, Psa 116:4. See the notes at Psa 18:5.
And the pains of hell – The pains of Sheol – Hades; the grave. See Psa 16:10, note; Job 10:21-22, notes; Isa 14:9, note. The pain or suffering connected with going down to the grave, or the descent to the nether world; the pains of death. There is no evidence that the psalmist here refers to the pains of hell, as we understand the word, as a place of punishment, or that he mean, to say that he experienced the sorrows of the damned. The sufferings which he referred to were these of death – the descent to the tomb.
Gat hold upon me – Margin, as in Hebrew, found me. They discovered me – as if they had been searching for me, and had at last found my hiding place. Those sorrows and pangs, ever in pursuit of us, will soon find us all. We cannot long escape the pursuit Death tracks us, and is upon our heels.
I found trouble and sorrow – Death found me, and I found trouble and sorrow. I did not seek it, but in what I was seeking I found this. Whatever we fail to find in the pursuits of life, we shall not fail to find the troubles and sorrows connected with death. They are in our path wherever we turn, and we cannot avoid them.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Psa 116:3-4
The sorrows of death compassed me.
To souls in agony
I. First, here is the wretched condition into which many a poor awakened soul has been brought.
1. Many a troubled conscience feels the sorrows of death; that is to say, he is the subject of griefs similar to those which beset sinners on their dying beds. They are all around him–these sorrows of the past, and the present, and the future.
2. Awakened sinners sometimes feel what they describe as the pains of hell: not that any living man does endure the pains of hell to the extent which they are suffered in hell, but still a dreadful foretaste of those pains may he experienced by an awakened conscience. What are these pains of hell? Remorse; a sense of condemnation; a terrible despair; a crushing sense of misery.
3. But the case was worse than this, for the poor soul felt no alleviation and knew of no escape. These things were by themselves, unsoftened, left in all their terror, the gall was unmixed, the vinegar undiluted. Notice the language. The sorrows of death compassed me. It is a very strong word. When the hunters seek their prey they form a cordon around the poor animal that is to be destroyed. The poor panting creature looks to the right, but a man with a spear is there, he looks to the left and there are the dogs. Before and behind him are more spearmen, more hounds, more hunters; there is no way of escape. So does an awakened soul discern no rescue, no loophole by which it may be delivered. The text says, The pangs of hell gat hold upon me. Gat hold, as if the jaws of the lion had really gripped the lamb, or the paws of the bear were hugging the poor defenceless sheep. Gat hold upon me, as though Gods terrible sergeant from the court of justice had laid his band upon his shoulder, and said, I arrest thee in the name of God to lie in hells prison, and perish for ever. Many a soul has felt that, and felt also that it could not get away from the terrible grip.
4. Once more, the psalmist felt no comfort from any exertion that he made. That takes in the last sentence of the texts description. I found trouble and sorrow; so that he looked for something, but the only result of his search was that he found trouble and sorrow. Do you remember, in the days when you were under bondage on account of sin, how you bound yourself apprentice to Moses to work out your own salvation by your own goodness? What did you get? Surely you found trouble in the work, and sorrow as its wages. You found trouble and sorrow. Perhaps you went to Mr. Legality, and he and his son, Mr. Morality, did what they could for you; but if you were really awakened all that you got from them was trouble and sorrow. That was the whole result of it.
II. The awakened sinners course of action. What did he do? First, he called–called upon Gods name, lifted up his heart, and lifted up his voice, and called as a man might do who is lost in a fog and calls to a neighbour, hoping to hear a voice that will guide him; or as one who is far away in the bush of Australia and gives a call in the hope that some human voice may respond to it. This call is often described as a cry–a natural, simple, inartificial, unpleasant, but most effectual style of expressing our distress. Oh, sinner, if God has really been at work with you, and put you where I have been describing, you will call to God now. Now, notice, he says, Then called I upon the name of the Lord. The sinner had forgotten the Lord till then, and now the Lord came to his remembrance. When did he call? That is the important point in this text. Then called I upon the name of the Lord. Then. Was that the first time in his life? Perhaps it was. Begin at once, O sinner. When his condition was at its very worst, then he called upon God. Why did he not stop till he became better? He knew that delays are dangerous. And now for his prayer. Here it is–O Lord, I beseech Thee, deliver my soul. A very natural prayer, was it not? He just said what he meant, and meant what he said, and that is the way to pray. It is a very short prayer. Many a prayer is too long by twenty times. It is smothered under a bed-full of words. It was a humble prayer: O Lord, I beseech Thee. It is the language of one who is bowed into the dust. It was an intense prayer: O Lord, I beseech Thee, deliver my soul. But I want you most of all to notice that it was a scriptural prayer. There are three great little prayers in Scripture,–O Lord, I beseech Thee, deliver my soul; God, be merciful to me a sinner; and, Lord, remember me when Thou comest into Thy kingdom. These are all contained in the Lords Prayer. O Lord, I beseech Thee, deliver my soul, is Deliver us from evil. God be merciful to me a sinner,–what is that but Forgive us our trespasses? And what is the prayer, Lord, remember me when Thou comest into Thy kingdom, but that grand petition, Thy kingdom come? How wonderfully comprehensive is that prayer which our Lord Jesus has given us for a model. All prayers may be condensed into it, or distilled from it.
III. Deliverance (verse 8). He gained a great deal more than he asked for. He prayed, O Lord, I beseech Thee, deliver my soul, and God delivered his soul from death, his eyes from tears, and his feet from falling. He asked for one thing, and he obtained it, and two other things besides; for it is our Heavenly Fathers way to do exceedingly abundantly above what we ask or even think. He gained deliverance from death; for souls can die though they cannot cease to exist. They die when separated from God; all souls are dead until by union to God they are quickened into spiritual life. His eyes were also cleared from tears. Who is not free from sorrow when he is free from the fear of the death-penalty? Forgiveness brings joy at its heel wherever it comes. And then, having gained salvation and joy, the Lord gave him stability. Those feet that were so apt to slide were set fast, and the fear of future apostasy was removed by the gracious securities which God gave to him that He would never leave him. Thus he had a blessing for his soul, his eyes, and his feet–salvation, joy, and stability. The last word to be said is this–these same blessings can be had by others. Gracious is the Lord and righteous; yea, our God is merciful. That is why the Lord heard Davids prayer–because He is gracious, and He loves to show grace to sinners. It was also because He is righteous, and therefore keeps His promise. Remember, too, that if your distresses are like Davids you may use the same prayer, because you have the same promises. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 3. The sorrows of death] chebley maveth, the cables or cords of death; alluding to their bonds and fetters during their captivity; or to the cords by which a criminal is bound who is about to be led out to execution; or to the bandages in which the dead were enveloped, when head, arms, body, and limbs were all laced down together.
The pains of hell] metsarey sheol, the straitnesses of the grave. So little expectation was there of life, that he speaks as if he were condemned, executed, and closed up in the tomb. Or, he may refer here to the small niches in cemeteries, where the coffins of the dead were placed.
Because this Psalm has been used in the thanksgiving of women after safe delivery, it has been supposed that the pain suffered in the act of parturition was equal for the time to the torments of the damned. But this supposition is shockingly absurd; the utmost power of human nature could not, for a moment, endure the wrath of God, the deathless worm, and the unquenchable fire. The body must die, be decomposed, and be built up on indestructible principles, before this punishment can be borne.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The sorrows of death; dangerous and deadly calamities, as bitter as death. Or, the cords of death.
Of hell; or, of the grave; or, of death; either killing pains, or such agonies and horrors as dying persons use to feel within themselves.
Gat hold upon me, Heb. found me, i.e. surprised me. Having been long pursuing me, at last they overtook me, and seized upon me, and I gave up myself for lost.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
3, 4. For similar figures fordistress see Psa 18:4; Psa 18:5.
gat hold upon meAnothersense (“found”) of the same word follows, as we speak ofdisease finding us, and of our finding or catching disease.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
The sorrows of death compassed me,…. Christ, of whom David was a type, was a man of sorrows all his days; and in the garden he was surrounded with sorrow; exceeding sorrowful even unto death, in a view of the sins of his people imputed to him, and under a sense of wrath for them, he was about to bear; and his agonies in the article of death were very grievous, he died the painful and accursed death of the cross. This was true of David, when Saul and his men compassed him on every side, threatening to cut him off in a moment; when he despaired of life, and had the sentence of death in himself, and saw no way to escape; and such a case is that of the people of God, or they may be said to be compassed about with the sorrows of death, when through a slavish fear of it they are all their lifetime subject to bondage; and especially when under dreadful apprehensions of eternal death.
And the pains of hell gat hold upon me; or “found me” e; overtook him, and seized upon him; meaning either the horrors of a guilty conscience under a sense of sin, without a view of pardon; which is as it were a hell in the conscience, and like the pains and torments of it: or “the pains of the grave” f; not that there are any pains felt there, the body being destitute of life, and senseless; but such sorrows or troubles are meant which threaten to bring down to the grave, which was the case of Jacob on the loss of his children,
Ge 37:35. This applied to Christ may design the wrath of God and curse of the law, which he endured in the room and stead of his people, as their surety; and which were equivalent to the pains of the damned in hell; or it may refer to his being laid in the grave, in a strait and narrow place, as the word g signifies; where he lay bound in grave clothes, till he was loosed from the pains and cords of death, it being not possible he should be held by them, Ac 2:24,
[See comments on Ps 18:4] [See comments on Ps 18:5]
I found trouble and sorrow; without seeking for them; they seized and took hold of him, on David, and his antitype, when in the above circumstances; and often do the saints find trouble and sorrow from a body of sin and death, from the temptations of Satan, divine desertions, and afflictive providences. Aben Ezra refers the one to the body, the other to the soul.
e “invenerunt me”, Pagninus, Montanus, &c. f “sepulchri”, Vatablus, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator. g “augustiae”, Pagninus, Montanus, &c.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(3) The pains of hell.Or, oppressions of Shel, if we retain the text. But a very slight change in a single letter brings the clause into closer correspondence with Psa. 18:5-6, whence it is plainly borrowed, the nets of Shel. We may reproduce the original more exactly by using, as it does, the same verb in the last two clauses of the verse:
Nets of Shel caught me,
Trouble and sorrow I catch.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
3. Sorrows of death Hebrew, Cords of death, in allusion to the use of “cords,” or ropes, for leading animals, binding prisoners, punishment by strangulation, etc., in all which the idea of abject and helpless submission is conveyed. See 1Ki 20:31-32. Cords of death denote that the subject is condemned to die. See on Psa 118:5. The verse is a quotation from Psa 18:4-5.
Pains of hell Hebrew, straits of sheol, , ( metzar,) radically means a compressed, narrow place, a strait, where a fugitive is easily captured, and figuratively, distress. The straits of sheol had shut him in; a proverbial phrase for the environments of death. The word occurs literally Lam 1:3, and figuratively Psa 118:5. In the text it is parallel to “cords of death,” in previous member.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Psa 116:3. The sorrows of death The Hebrew signifies, The snares of death. See Psa 18:4-5.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
If Psa 22 be, as it is universally allowed by the church to be, prophetical of Christ, is there not a sufficient agreement between these verses and a certain portion of that Psalm, to believe that the writer here refers to it? Psa 22:15-21 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Psa 116:3 The sorrows of death compassed me, and the pains of hell gat hold upon me: I found trouble and sorrow.
Ver. 3. The sorrows of death compassed me ] See Psa 18:4-5 , Pictura poetica ingentium periculorum. Sorrows, or pangs, and those deadly ones, and these compassed me as a bird in a snare, or a beast in a gin.
The pains of hell (or the griefs of the grave) gat hold] Heb. found me, as Num 32:23 .
I found trouble and sorrow
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
sorrows = cords. Put by Figure of speech Metonymy (of Cause), App-6, for the pains produced by them.
hell = Sheol. See App-35.
gat hold. Figure of speech Prosopopoeia. App-6.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Psa 116:3-4
Psa 116:3-4
HOW PRECARIOUS HIS SITUATION WAS
“The cords of death compassed me,
And the pains of Sheol gat hold upon me:
I found trouble and sorrow.
Then called I upon the name of Jehovah:
O Jehovah, I beseech thee, deliver my soul.”
Leupold noted that “Psa 116:3 here is based upon Psa 18:4. This verse describes his illness (or whatever the crisis was) in figurative language. “In the Old Testament, death is represented as a hunter with a cord and a net. In any lingering sickness, the cord gets tighter and tighter until all possibility of escape is cut off.
“I called upon the name of Jehovah … I beseech thee, deliver my soul” (Psa 116:4). This is a concise and very brief summary of his prayers to the Lord. In the throes of the terrible threat of death which was upon him, he did not cease to cry unto the Lord night and day.
E.M. Zerr:
Psa 116:3. Since the word for hell has several phases of meaning, the thought here is that David’s sorrows and pains were of the severest degree.
Psa 116:4. In the darkest hours of his distress, the Psalmist always called upon the Lord. Deliver my soul meant to rescue his entire being from the threatened injuries that were about to come from the hand of his enemies.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
hell
Heb. “Sheol,” (See Scofield “Hab 2:5”).
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
sorrows: Psa 18:4-6, Psa 88:6, Psa 88:7, Jon 2:2, Jon 2:3, Mar 14:33-36, Luk 22:44, Heb 5:7
gat hold upon me: Heb. found me
I found: Psa 32:3, Psa 32:4, Psa 38:6, Isa 53:3, Isa 53:4
Reciprocal: Gen 44:34 – come on 1Sa 2:6 – he bringeth 1Sa 20:3 – but a step 1Sa 23:27 – there came 1Sa 30:6 – was greatly 2Sa 22:6 – sorrows Job 16:16 – on my eyelids Job 36:8 – if Job 38:17 – the gates Psa 9:13 – thou Psa 13:2 – sorrow Psa 22:24 – but Psa 39:12 – hold Psa 40:2 – brought Psa 55:4 – terrors Psa 88:17 – They Psa 107:13 – General Psa 116:10 – I was greatly Psa 118:5 – called Psa 119:143 – Trouble Psa 120:1 – my distress Psa 130:1 – Out of Pro 13:14 – to Isa 37:3 – General Lam 3:55 – General Mat 5:4 – General Mat 14:30 – Lord Mat 26:38 – My Luk 8:24 – Master Luk 15:18 – will arise Act 2:24 – loosed Act 2:27 – leave Jam 5:13 – any among
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Psa 116:3-4. The sorrows of death compassed me Dangerous and deadly calamities as bitter as death: Hebrew, , cheblee maveth, the cords, or bands of death: see note on Psa 18:4-5. The pains of hell Or of the grave, or of death; either cutting, killing pains, or such agonies and horrors as dying persons often feel within themselves; gat hold upon me Hebrew, , found me, that is, surprised me. Having been long pursuing me, at last they overtook and seized upon me, and I gave up myself for lost. Then called I upon the name of the Lord Being brought to the last extremity, I made use of this, not as the last remedy, but as the old and only remedy which I had found, a balm for every wound.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
2. The psalmist’s account of his deliverance 116:3-11
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Evidently the writer had been very close to death. He pictured Death as reaching out to him with cords and almost trapping him, as a hunter snares an animal.
Imagine how the Lord Jesus must have felt as He sang these words during His last Passover in the Upper Room. He knew He was facing death.