Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 77:4
Thou holdest mine eyes waking: I am so troubled that I cannot speak.
4. Thou heldest open the lids of mine eyes:
I was perplexed, and could not speak.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
4. The word rendered waking in A.V., watching in R.V., probably means the guards or lids of the eyes. The general sense is clear. In his agony of sorrow he was sleepless and speechless: it was God who withheld sleep from his eyes. He was ‘troubled,’ perplexed and agitated (Gen 41:8; Dan 2:3) by the riddle of Israel’s present rejection and humiliation, and in this perplexity he pondered ( Psa 77:5) on the glorious record of God’s mercies to His people in the days of old.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
4 9. In the vigils of the night he pondered on the history of the past, and asked himself with earnest questionings whether it were possible that God could have utterly cast off His people, and changed His character as a gracious and merciful God.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Thou holdest mine eyes waking – literally, Thou holdest the watchings of my eyes. Gesenius (Lexicon) translates the Hebrew word rendered waking, eyelids. Probably that is the true idea. The eyelids are the watchers or guardians of the eyes. In danger, and in sleep, they close. Here the idea is, that God held them so that they did not close. He overcame the natural tendency of the eye to shut. In other words, the psalmist was kept awake; he could not sleep. This he traces to God. The idea is, that God so kept himself before his mind – that such ideas occurred to him in regard to God – that he could not sleep.
I am so troubled – With sad and dark views of God; so troubled in endeavoring to understand his character and doings; in explaining his acts; in painful ideas that suggest themselves in regard to his justice, his goodness, his mercy.
That I cannot speak – I am struck dumb. I know not what to say. I cannot find anything to say. He must have a heart singularly and happily free by nature from scepticism, or must have reflected little on the divine administration, who has not had thoughts pass through his mind like these. As the psalmist was a good man, a pious man, it is of importance to remark, in view of his experience, that such reflections occur not only to the minds of bad people – of the profane – of sceptics – of infidel philosophers, but they come unbidden into the minds of good people, and often in a form which they cannot calm down. He who has never had such thoughts, happy as he may and should deem himself that he has not had them, has never known some of the deepest stirrings and workings of the human soul on the subject of religion, and is little qualified to sympathize with a spirit torn, crushed, agitated, as was that of the psalmist on these questions, or as Augustine and thousands of others have been in after-times. But let not a man conclude, because he has these thoughts, that therefore he cannot be a friend of God – a converted man. The wicked man invites them, cherishes them, and rejoices that he can find what seem to him to be reasons for indulging in such thoughts against God; the good man is pained; struggles against them: endearours to banish them from his soul.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 4. Thou holdest mine eyes waking] Literally, thou keepest the watches of mine eyes – my grief is so great that I cannot sleep.
I am so troubled that I cannot speak.] This shows an increase of sorrow and anguish. At first he felt his misery, and called aloud. He receives more light, sees and feels his deep wretchedness, and then his words are swallowed by excessive distress. His woes are too big for utterance. “Small troubles are loquacious; the great are dumb.” Curae leves loquuntur; ingentes stupent.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Thou holdest mine eyes waking, by those sharp and continual griefs, and those perplexing and tormenting thoughts and cares, which from time to time thou stirrest up in me.
I am so troubled that I cannot speak; the greatness of my sorrows stupifies my mind, and makes me both lifeless and unable to speak; nor can any words sufficiently express the extremity of my misery.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
4. holdest . . . wakingor,”fast,” that I cannot sleep. Thus he is led to express hisanxious feelings in several earnest questions indicative of impatientsorrow.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Thou holdest mine eyes waking,…. Or, “the watches”, or rather “keepers of the eyes” m; the eyebrows, which protect the eyes; these were held, so that he could not shut them, and get any sleep; so R. Moses Haccohen interprets the words, as Jarchi observes; and so the Targum,
“thou holdest the brows of my eyes;”
a person in trouble, when he can get some sleep, it interrupts his sorrow, weakens it at least, if it does not put a stop to it; wherefore it is a great mercy to have sleep, and that refreshing, Ps 127:1, but to have this denied, and to have wearisome nights, and be in continual tossing to and fro, is very distressing:
I am so troubled that I cannot speak; his spirits were so sunk with weariness, and want of sleep in the night, that he could not speak in the morning; or his heart was so full with sorrow, that he could not utter himself; or it was so great that he could not express it; or his thoughts were such that he dared not declare them; or he was so straitened and shut up in himself that he could not go on speaking unto God in prayer.
m “vigilias”, Pagninus, Montanus, Vatablus, Tigurine version; “palpebras oculorum meorum”, Musculus, Cocceius; “palpebras quasi custodias oculorum”, Michaelis.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
He calls his eyelids the “guards of my eyes.” He who holds these so that they remain open when they want to shut together for sleep, is God; for his looking up to Him keeps the poet awake in spite of all overstraining of his powers. Hupfeld and others render thus: “Thou hast held, i.e., caused to last, the night-watches of mine eyes,” – which is affected in thought and expression. The preterites state what has been hitherto and has not yet come to a close. He still endures, as formerly, such thumps and blows within him, as though he lay upon an anvil ( ), and his voice fails him. Then silent soliloquy takes the place of audible prayer; he throws himself back in thought to the days of old (Psa 143:5), the years of past periods (Isa 51:9), which were so rich in the proofs of the power and loving-kindness of the God who was then manifest, but is now hidden. He remembers the happier past of his people and his own, inasmuch as he now in the night purposely calls back to himself in his mind the time when joyful thankfulness impelled him to the song of praise accompanied by the music of the harp ( belongs according to the accents to the verb, not to , although that construction certainly is strongly commended by parallel passages like Psa 16:7; Psa 42:9; Psa 92:3, cf. Job 35:10), in place of which, crying and sighing and gloomy silence have now entered. He gives himself up to musing “with his heart,” i.e., in the retirement of his inmost nature, inasmuch as he allows his thoughts incessantly to hover to and fro between the present and the former days, and in consequence of this ( fut. consec. as in Psa 42:6) his spirit betakes itself to scrupulizing (what the lxx reproduces with , Aquila with ) – his conflict of temptation grows fiercer. Now follow the two doubting questions of the tempted one: he asks in different applications, Psa 77:8-10 (cf. Psa 85:6), whether it is then all at an end with God’s loving-kindness and promise, at the same time saying to himself, that this nevertheless is at variance with the unchangeableness of His nature (Mal 3:6) and the inviolability of His covenant. (only occurring as a 3. praet.) alternates with (Psa 12:2). is an infinitive construct formed after the manner of the Lamed He verbs, which, however, does also occur as infinitive absolute ( , Eze 36:3, cf. on Psa 17:3); Gesenius and Olshausen (who doubts this infinitive form, 245, f) explain it, as do Aben-Ezra and Kimchi, as the plural of a substantive , but in the passage cited from Ezekiel (vid., Hitzig) such a substantival plural is syntactically impossible. is to draw together or contract and draw back one’s compassion, so that it does not manifest itself outwardly, just as he who will not give shuts ( ) his hand (Deu 15:7; cf. supra, Psa 17:10).
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
4. Thou hast held the watches of my eyes. (288) This verse is to the same effect with the preceding. The Psalmist affirms that he spent whole nights in watching, because God granted him no relief. The night in ancient times was usually divided into many watches; and, accordingly, he describes his continued grief, which pre. vented him from sleeping, by the metaphorical term watches. When he stated a little before that he prayed to God with a loud voice, and when he now affirms that he will remain silent, there seems to be some appearance of discrepancy. This difficulty has already been solved in our exposition of Psa 32:3, where we have shown that true believers, when overwhelmed with sorrow, do not continue in a state of unvarying uniformity, but sometimes give vent to sighs and complaints, while, at other times, they are silent as if their mouths were stopped. It is, therefore, not wonderful to find the prophet frankly confessing that he was so overwhelmed, and, as it were, choked, with calamities, as to be unable to open his mouth to utter even a single word.
(288) Some of the Jewish commentators interpret this clause thus: “Thou holdest the brows of my eyes.” The eyebrows which protect the eyes were held, so that he could not shut them and obtain sleep. Sleep to a person in trouble has the effect of interrupting his sorrow for a time, and of weakening it by refreshing the body. It is, therefore, in such circumstances, a great blessing, and is earnestly desired. But to have this denied, and for the sufferer to have sleepless and wearisome nights appointed to him, is a great aggravation of his distress.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(4) Thou holdest mine eyes waking.Rather, Thou hast closed the guards of my eyesi.e., my eyelids. The Authorised Version mistakes the noun. guards, for a participle, and mistranslates it by the active instead of the passive. For the verb hold in the sense of shut, see Neh. 7:3, and Job. 26:9, where God is described as veiling His throne in cloud, and so shutting it up, as it were, from the access of men.
I am so troubled.The verb is used elsewhere of the awestruck state into which the mind is thrown by a mysterious dream (Gen. 41:8; Dan. 2:1; Dan. 2:3), and once (Jdg. 13:25) of inspiration, such as impelled the judges of old to become the liberators of their country. The parallelism here shows that it is used in the first connection. The poet has been struck dumb (the verb is rendered strike in the Lexicons) by a mysterious dream; he is too overawed to speak.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
4. Thou holdest mine eyes waking Thou holdest the watches, or guards, of my eyes; that is, my eyelids. Sleep is God’s merciful gift, (Psa 127:2,) and wakefulness is here confessed as a judgment.
I cannot speak But he could moan, as in Psa 77:3. The extremes of loud moaning and speechless silence indicate the paroxysm and excess of his sorrow.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Psa 77:4. Thou holdest mine eyes, &c. Thou didst keep the watches of mine eyes. I was troubled, and spake not.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Psa 77:4 Thou holdest mine eyes waking: I am so troubled that I cannot speak.
Ver. 4. Thou holdest mine eyes waking ] Thou holdest the watches of mine eyes, that is, mine eyebrows, saith the Chaldee, so that I can neither sleep nor speak. Job complaineth of the like misery, Job 7:8 See Psa 38:10
That I cannot speak eyes = eyelids; or, Thou keepest mine eyelids from closing.
Psa 77:4-9
Psa 77:4-9
AN EXPRESSION OF THE PSALMIST’S DOUBTS
“Thou holdest mine eyes watching;
I am so troubled that I cannot speak.
I have considered the days of old,
The years of ancient times.
I call to remembrance my song in the night:
I commune with mine own heart;
And my spirit maketh diligent search.
Will the Lord cast off forever?
And will he be favorable no more?
Is his lovingkindness clean gone forever?
Doth his promise fail forever more?
Hath God forgotten to be gracious?
Hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies?”
“Thou holdest mine eyes watching” (Psa 77:4). The Anchor Bible translates this: “Mine eyes are accustomed to vigils; I pace the floor and do not recline.
“I call to remembrance my song in the night” (Psa 77:6). “Many have been the songs that he either composed or sang; and he had once derived much spiritual comfort from them; but they gave him no help now, and aroused no feelings of confident faith.
The six plaintive questions of Psa 77:7-9 are eloquent expressions indeed of the doubts and fears of the psalmist. He strongly desired to find negative answers to all these questions, but the harsh conditions confronting the nation of Israel seemed to demand an affirmation of his worst fears, namely, that God indeed: (1) had cast off; (2) was no longer favorable; (3) His lovingkindness gone; (4) His promise had failed; (5) had forgotten to be gracious; (6) and had shut up His tender mercies.
No, God had not really “forgotten” His promise, nor shut off His mercies, nor cast off His true people, but the promises to Israel had always been conditional, that condition being their faithfulness to God; and when Israel no longer met that condition, God’s blessings indeed ceased. That is why that such questions as these, as regarded the vast majority of ancient Israel, were indeed required to be answered affirmatively.
E.M. Zerr:
Psa 77:4. David was so troubled at times that it kept him from sleeping. His distress was so depressing that lie was unable to express himself.
Psa 77:5. David was a normal human being even though an inspired man when writing or speaking for God. He had his hours of personal sorrow in which he expressed himself from the standpoint of an uninspired man. (See comments at Job 38:3.) While in one of these moods he got to thinking of the past.
Psa 77:6. In one of the scenes of the past he recalled that he was able to sing in the night, whereas now he was so sad that he could not even speak.
Psa 77:7-9. As David contrasted his present state of distress with the joyous ones of the past, he became fearful that the Lord was deserting him. It seemed that God had discarded his former mercies and was displaying his anger instead. With such a scene before the eyes of his memory David again felt indisposed to speak but plunged into a state of meditation which was indicated by the oft-repeated term Selah. See the comments at Psa 3:2 in connection with this paragraph.
holdest: Psa 6:6, Est 6:1, Job 7:13-15
I am: Job 2:13, Job 6:3
Reciprocal: Gen 45:15 – talked Job 7:4 – When Psa 63:6 – General Psa 102:7 – watch Jer 45:3 – I fainted Dan 6:18 – and
THE PSALM OF THE SLEEPLESS NIGHT
Thou holdest mine eyes waking.
Psa 77:4
I. The poet was in trouble, on what occasion cannot now be known, nor can we tell who wrote the poem, or at what period it was written. There are no traces of the authorship of David. But it is evidently very ancient. There is no allusion to the Temple worship. The one historical reference is to the Exodus. The appellation of the children of Israel, as sons of Jacob and Joseph, rather indicates that it was written prior to the division into two nations. Had it been of a late period Judah rather than Joseph would have been the term used. The word Jeduthun has no light for us.
All this makes the psalm really more helpful. The trouble was of a personal nature, hence the application of the poem is worldwide, suited for all in similar anxiety. It was not a national calamity, like the Captivity. It was my troublethe Psalmists own sorrow. The help he sought was not for the nation, but for himself. The darkness was that of a cloudy night, when no stars are seen, for, whatever the trial was, there came with it a doubt of the Divine mercy and a questioning of the Divine promise. Herein was the grief, for sorrow of soul is the soul of sorrow. He retired for rest, but the darkness brought no relief; indeed, in the quiet solitude of the bed-chamber the trouble seemed to increase. Thou holdest my eyelids, he says to God. Sleep came not. The poem presents a vivid delineation of the mental bewilderment of an ancient night.
II. He thought of the days of old, or, as in the original, of the morning.A Midrash note says of Abraham, who lived in the morning of faith. He recalled ancient times. He remembered one occasion when in the darkness he had such a sense of the Divine favour, that he sang for joy in the night season. At length he took the resolve to look away from self to an unchanging God. This anxiety, said he, is my infirmity, but I will think of the power of the Most High. He would turn round and no longer look at his own shadow, but at the bright sun. Soon the vision changes. On the canvas of the night comes vividly a scene of olden days. Other things were shut out, and this arose in his imagination.
It was the hour of Israels deliverance from Egypt. How far the Psalmists vision was true to fact we cannot tell, he adds much to the record in Exodus. It was very real to him, and depicts a scene more full of awe than his own then present tribulation. Those lightning flashes were the arrows of the Almighty. He was marching mysteriously through the sea. Then comes a sublime contrast. Right in the centre, calm beneath the illumined cloud, went onwards the chosen people, led safely through it all by the appointed guides, like a peaceful flock directed by its shepherds to fresh pasture. With this grand etching the psalm closes. What more indeed is needed? The moral is so obvious it needs no stating. That old story abides in the Church as a picture-lesson of the mysterious but sure ways of God, and shows a safe path through the stormy dark sea of every period of anxious sorrow.
Illustration
It is well to pray that we may make the most of the wakeful hours, that they may be no more wasted ones than if we were up and dressed. They are His hours, for the night also is Thine. It will cost no more mental effort (nor so much) to ask Him to let them be holy hours, filled with His calming presence, than to let the mind run upon the thousand other things which seem to find even busier entrance during the night.
With thoughts of Christ and things Divine
Fill up this foolish heart of mine.
It is an opportunity for proving the real power of the Holy Spirit to be greater than that of the Tempter. And He will without fail exert it, when sought for Christs sake.
Psa 77:4. Thou holdest mine eyes waking By those bitter and continual griefs, and those perplexing and distressing thoughts and cares, which thou excitest within me. I am so troubled that I cannot speak The greatness of my sorrow so stupifies and confuses my mind, that I can scarcely open my mouth to declare my grief in proper terms; nor can any words sufficiently express the extremity of my misery: see Job 2:13.
77:4 Thou holdest mine eyes {c} waking: I am so troubled that I cannot speak.
(c) Meaning that his sorrows were as watchmen that kept his eyes from sleeping.
On other similar occasions Asaph said he received peace by meditating on God. However, in this one, that activity brought him no rest or joy. God was keeping him awake, but he found no satisfaction in praising God.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)