Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 88:15
I [am] afflicted and ready to die from [my] youth up: [while] I suffer thy terrors I am distracted.
15. Will God have no pity upon one whose whole life has been spent at the point of death? Could this be said of Israel as a nation? ‘From youth’ is of course frequently used of the nation (Psa 129:1-2; Jer 32:30; &c.), but Israel’s existence had not been continuously wretched and precarious.
while I suffer &c.] I have borne thy terrors (till) I am distracted. Terrors is a favourite word with Job. The word rendered distracted occurs here only and is of doubtful meaning. Possibly it is a false reading for another word meaning faint or stupefied (Psa 38:8).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
I am afflicted and ready to die – I am so afflicted – so crushed with sorrow and trouble – that my strength is nearly gone, and I can endure it but a little longer.
From my youth up – That is, for a long time; so long, that the remembrance of it seems to go back to my very childhood. My whole life has been a life of trouble and sorrow, and I have not strength to bear it longer. It may have been literally true that the author of the psalm had been a man always afflicted; or, this may be the language of strong emotion, meaning that his sufferings had been of so long continuance that they seemed to him to have begun in his very boyhood.
While I suffer thy terrors – I bear those things which produce terror; or, which fill my mind with alarm; to wit, the fear of death, and the dread of the future world.
I am distracted – I cannot compose and control my mind; I cannot pursue any settled course of thought; I cannot confine my attention to anyone subject; I cannot reason calmly on the subject of affliction, on the divine government, on the ways of God. I am distracted with contending feelings, with my pain, and my doubts, and my fears – and I cannot think clearly of anything. Such is often the case in sickness; and consequently what we need, to prepare us for sickness, is a strong faith, built on a solid foundation while we are in health; such an intelligent and firm faith that when the hour of sickness shall come we shall have nothing else to do but to believe, and to take the comfort of believing. The bed of sickness is not the proper place to examine the evidences of religion; it is not the place to make preparation for death; not the proper place to become religious. Religion demands the best vigor of the intellect and the calmest state of the heart; and this great subject should be settled in our minds before we are sick – before we are laid on the bed of death.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Psa 88:15
I am afflicted and ready to die from my youth up: while I suffer Thy terrors, I am distracted.
Religious terrors
As the comforts which true religion affords are the only sure support against the evils and calamities to which every condition of life is more or less exposed, so the terrors of religion, being very grievous in themselves, exclusive of these comforts, add weight to all our miseries, and are a burden too heavy for the spirit of a man to sustain. These terrors arise from–
I. Uncertainty in religion. The religious man fears God because he knows Him; and therefore he fears Him, as a wise, just, good, and merciful Father and Judge ought to be feared: his fear is full of love and reverence, and has nothing dreadful in it, unless guilt and a wounded conscience arm it with unnatural terrors; but the superstitious man fears God, just as children and weak men fear spirits and apparitions; he trembles at the thought of Him, he flies from he knows not what, seeks refuge he knows not where; and this hurry and confusion of mind he calls religion; but the psalmist has given it a better name, it is distraction.
II. False notions of God, and of the honour and worship due to Him. We ought never to expect more from God than He has expressly promised, or than He may grant consistently with the measures by which His providence rules and governs the world. If we exceed these bounds, religion, instead of being our comfort, will soon become our torment; but we, and not religion, will be to blame. If we consider that this world is a state of trial, and that afflictions are trials, we can never lay it down to ourselves, that God will relieve us at our request from all afflictions; for this would be owning ourselves in a state of trial, and, at the same time, expecting that no trial should come near us: It is supposing that God has shown us a way to defeat the great end of His providence in sending us into this world; He sent us here to be proved, and yet we think to prevail on Him not to prove us.
III. A conscience wounded under the sense of guilt. Natural religion has no cure for this; because the title by obedience being forfeited, there are no certain principles of reason from which we can conclude how far, and to what instances, the mercy of God will extend; because we can have no assurance of ourselves that our sorrow is such, and our resolutions of amendment such as may deserve mercy; and lastly, because this whole matter is founded upon reasons and speculations too exact, and too refined, to be of common use to mankind. This last reason alone will sufficiently justify the wisdom and goodness of God, in proposing to the world a safe and general method for the salvation of sinners; for what if you have penetration enough to see a way for sinners to escape under natural religion; must your great parts be a measure for Gods dealing with the world? Shall thousands and thousands live and die without comfort because they cannot reason as you do? This consideration should make those who have the highest opinion of themselves, and therefore of natural religion, adore the goodness of God in condescending to the infirmities of men, and showing them the way to mercy, which they were unable to find out. This He has done by the revelation of the Gospel of Christ, which is the sinners great charter of pardon, a certain remedy against all the terrors and fears of guilt.
IV. Accidental disorders of mind or body. Whatever the union of soul and body is, so united they are, that the disorders of one often derive themselves to the other. A melancholy mind will waste the strength and bring paleness and leanness upon the body; disorders in the body do often affect the mind; a stroke of the palsy will rob a man of the use of his understanding, and leave him disabled in mind as well as body. For this reason it is that I ascribe some religious fears to the disorders of the body, though they properly belong to the mind. These terrors cannot be imputed as a blemish to religion; not by him, at least, who acknowledges the providence of God, and whose principle of religion is reason; for all madness is destructive of reason, as much as these terrors are of religion: they are both destructive: they are evils to which we must submit; and if we cannot account for the reason of them, it becomes us to be dumb, and not open our mouths in His presence whose ways are past finding out. (Bp. Sherlock.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 15. From my youth up.] I have always been a child of sorrow, afflicted in my body, and distressed in my mind. There are still found in the Church of God persons in similar circumstances; persons who are continually mourning for themselves and for the desolations of Zion. A disposition of this kind is sure to produce an unhealthy body; and indeed a weak constitution may often produce an enfeebled mind; but where the terrors of the Lord prevail, there is neither health of body nor peace of mind.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
From my youth up; my whole life hath been filled with a succession of deadly calamities. O Lord, take some pity upon me, and let me have a little breathing space before I die.
I suffer thy terrors upon my mind and conscience, which do accompany and aggravate my outward miseries.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
15. from . . . youth upall mylife.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
I am afflicted,…. In body and mind, from within and from without, by Satan, by the men of the world, and by the Lord himself; which is the common lot of God’s people, Ps 34:19 and was the case of the Messiah, who was afflicted both with the tongues and hands of men, by words, by blows, and by the temptations of Satan; and was smitten and afflicted of God, by divine justice, as the sinner’s surety: see Ps 22:24 or
I am poor a; which as it is a character, which, for the most part, agrees with the saints, who are the poor of this world God has chosen, to whom the Gospel is sent, and by whom it is received, and who are effectually called by it, so likewise belongs to Christ, Zec 9:9,
and ready to die, from my youth up; a sickly unhealthful person from his infancy, and often in danger of death; which last was certainly the case of Christ in his infancy, through the malice of Herod; and many times afterwards, when grown up, through the attempts of the Jews to take away his life: some render it, “I am ready to die through concussion”, or “shaking” b; meaning some very rough and severe dispensation of Providence, such an one as Job expresses by shaking him to pieces, Job 16:12 and was literally true of Christ, when his body was so shaken by the jog of the cross, that all his bones were put out of joint, Ps 22:14
while I suffer thy terrors; or “bear” c them, or “carry”, even terrible afflictions, in which he had terrible apprehensions of the wrath of God in them, of death they would issue in, and of an awful judgment that should follow that; all which are called the terrors of the Lord, Job 6:4, and which the saints, when left to God, have some dreadful apprehensions of: such were the terrors of the Lord the Messiah endured, when in a view of the sins of his people being laid upon him, and of the wrath of God coming on him for them, his sweat was, as it were, great drops of blood falling to the ground, Lu 22:44. Compare with this Ps 18:4.
I am distracted: not out of his mind, deprived of his senses, and without the use of reason; but his thoughts were distracted and confused, and his mind discomposed with the terrors of God upon him: the Hebrew word “aphunah” is only used in this place, and is difficult of interpretation, and is variously derived and rendered: some take it to be of the same root with “pen”, which signifies “lest, perhaps” d; seeing persons in a panic are apt to use such expressions; perhaps, or it may be, such and such things will befall me; forming and framing in their minds ten thousand dreadful things, which they fear are coming upon them; so Aben Ezra and Kimchi; and is applied by Cocceius e to the solicitous care and fear of Christ concerning his body, the church, Heb 5:7 others derive it from “ophen”, which signifies a wheel, and so may be rendered, “I am wheeled about” f; always in motion, and have no rest day nor night; as Christ was after his apprehension, being carried from place to place, and from bar to bar: others derive it from the Arabic word “aphan” g, which signifies to be in want of counsel and advice: Christ though, as God, needed no counsel, nor did he take counsel with any; and, as Mediator, is the wonderful Counsellor; yet, as man, he needed it, and had it from his Father, for which he blesses him, Ps 16:7, others from the Hebrew root “phanah”, which signifies to look unto, as persons in a panic look here and there; and as Christ did when suffering, who looked, and there was none to help, Isa 63:5. The Syriac and Arabic versions render it “amazed”, or “astonished”, which is said of Christ, Mr 14:33, the Vulgate Latin version is “troubled”, which also agrees with Christ, Joh 12:27 as he must needs be, when his enemies surrounded him, the sins of his people were upon him, the sword of justice awaked against him, and the wrath of God on him, as follows.
a “pauper”, V. L. Pagninus, Junius Tremellius “inops”, Cocceius, Michaelis. b “a concussione”, Luther, Schmidt, Junius Tremellius “propter concussionem”, Piscator; “prae concussione”, Gejerus. c “portavi”, Pagninus, Montanus; “fero”, Tigurine version, Piscator; “tuli”, Musculus, Cocceius; “pertuli portavi”, Michaelis. d a “ne forte”, Amama, Gejerus; “anxius timeo vel metno, ne hoc vel illud fiat”, Michaelis. e Lex. Heb. p. 663. f Heb. “rotor, seu instar rotae circumagor”, Piscator. g “consilii inops fuit”, Castel. Lex. col. 199.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The reason why he says that he was ready to die (518) from his youth, (verse 15,) is uncertain, unless it may be considered a probable conjecture that he was severely tried in a variety of ways, so that his life, as it were, hung by a thread amidst various tremblings and fears. Whence also we gather that God’s wraths and terrors, of which he speaks in the 16 verse, were not of short continuance. He expresses them in the 17 verse as having encompassed him daily. Since nothing is more dreadful than to conceive of God as angry with us, he not improperly compares his distress to a flood. Hence also proceeded his doubting. (519) for a sense of the divine anger must necessarily have agitated his mind with sore disquietude. But it may be asked, How can this wavering agree with faith? It is true, that when the heart is in perplexity and doubt, or rather is tossed hither and thither, faith seems to be swallowed up. But experience teaches us, that faith, while it fluctuates amidst these agitations, continues to rise again from time to time, so as not to be overwhelmed; and if at any time it is at the point of being stifled, it is nevertheless sheltered and cherished, for though the tempests may become never so violent, it shields itself from them by reflecting that God continues faithful, and never disappoints or forsakes his own children.
(518) “ C’est, se cachent.” — Fr. marg. “That is, hide themselves.” Walford reads, “The darkness of death is my associate;” on which he has the following note: — “ The darkness of death. I take this literally to mean, ‘My acquaintance, or he that knoweth me, is darkness personified:’ — orcus, abaddon.”
(519) The original word for “ready to die” is גוע, goveang It is literally, I labour, or pant for breath, I breathe with pain and difficulty, as a person in great affliction and distress. The verb sometimes signifies to expire; but it does not so strictly express as imply death, from the obstruction of breathing that accompanies it. (See Parkhurst’s Lexicon, גגע, 1, 2.)
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(15) Terrors.Another of the many expressions which connect this psalm with the book of Job. (See Job. 6:4; Job. 9:34, &c.)
Distracted.The Hebrew word is peculiar to the place. The ancient versions all agree in taking it as a verb, and rendering it by some general term denoting trouble. But the context evidently requires a stronger word, and possibly connecting with a cognate word meaning wheel, we may get, I turn giddy. A change of a stroke in one letter would give I grow frigid. (Comp. Psa. 38:8.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
15. Ready to die from my youth up Literally, Dying from my youth. So repeated and terrible were the chastisements of God for disobedience, from the days of Moses till now, that, comparatively, the nation had lived a dying life. What an experience for a professed worshipper of God, whether Jew or Christian!
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Psa 88:15. I am afflicted, and ready to die I have been low and expiring from my youth: i.e. “Even from my youth I have laboured under this misery, which now so dreadfully afflicts me.”
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Psa 88:15 I [am] afflicted and ready to die from [my] youth up: [while] I suffer thy terrors I am distracted.
Ver. 15. I am afflicted, &c. ] He was brought up in the school of temptations, and kept in this form from his youth. He was put soon to it, and so deep lessons had he set him, that he had like to have lost his wits. I am distracted, saith he, I am held upon the wheel.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
afflicted: Psa 73:14, Job 17:1, Job 17:11-16, Isa 53:3
while: Psa 22:14, Psa 22:15, Job 6:4, Job 7:11-16, Isa 53:10, Zec 13:7, Luk 22:44
Reciprocal: Rth 1:20 – dealt Job 9:18 – will not Job 9:28 – afraid Job 16:6 – my grief Job 20:25 – terrors Job 21:6 – Even when Job 30:15 – Terrors Psa 18:5 – The sorrows Psa 25:16 – for I Psa 31:10 – my life Psa 38:1 – rebuke Psa 42:7 – all thy Psa 55:5 – horror Psa 88:3 – soul Psa 109:22 – and my Isa 51:20 – full Jer 17:17 – a terror Lam 3:1 – the man 2Co 5:11 – the terror 1Jo 4:18 – fear hath
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
88:15 I [am] afflicted and ready to die {l} from [my] youth up: [while] I suffer thy terrors I am distracted.
(l) I am always in great dangers and sorrows as though my life would utterly be cut off every moment.