Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 88:6
Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit, in darkness, in the deeps.
6. Thou hast laid me ] God is treating him as though he were actually dead. The same word is used in the same connexion in Psa 49:14.
in the lowest pit ] The nether world in the depths of the earth. Cp. Psa 86:13; Psa 63:9; Lam 3:55. The Targum explains it allegorically of the Exile. “Thou hast placed me in exile which is like the nether pit.” in darkness ] R.V. in dark places. So Sheol is described in Psa 143:3; Lam 3:6. Cp. Job 10:21-22.
in the deeps ] A word generally used of the depths of the sea: here metaphorically of the depths of misery (Psa 69:15; cp. Lam 3:54), or as another synonym for Sheol, which was supposed to be situated below the sea. Cp. Psa 71:20; Job 26:5.
The LXX and Syr. however read ‘shadow of death’ or ‘deep gloom’ (Psa 44:19, note). This reading only implies a transposition of the consonants in the Heb. text, and is supported by the parallel passage in Job 10:21-22, which seems to be in the Psalmist’s mind.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit – That is, I am as if I were thus laid; the deep grave seems now to lie so certainly before me, that it may be spoken of as if it were already my abode. The words rendered lowest pit mean literally the pit under, or beneath. The reference is to the sepulchre, as in Psa 88:4.
In darkness – The dark grave; the realms of the dead. See the notes at Job 10:21-22.
In the deeps – The caverns; the deep places of the earth or the sea. All these expressions are designed to convey the idea that he was near the grave; that there was no hope for him; that he must die. Perhaps also there is connected with this the idea of trouble, of anguish, of sorrow; of that mental darkness of which the grave was an image, and into which he was plunged by the prospect of death. The whole scene was a sad one, and he was overwhelmed with grief, and saw only the prospect of continued sorrow and gloom. Even a good man may be made afraid – may have his mind made sad and sorrowful – by the prospect of dying. See Isa. 38. Death is naturally gloomy; and when the light of religion does not shine upon the soul, and its comforts do not fill the heart, it is but natural that the mind should be full of gloom.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Either, first, in the grave; the same thing being expressed in divers words; or, secondly, in hopeless and remediless calamities.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
6. Similar figures for distressin Psa 63:9; Psa 69:3.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit,…. The Targum interprets it of
“captivity which was like unto the lowest pit;”
and so Jarchi and Kimchi. Some understand it of a prison or dungeon, into which the psalmist was put; it may be interpreted of the pit of the grave, into which Christ was laid; though he continued in it not so long as to see corruption; from that prison and judgment he was quickly taken, Ps 16:10, “in darkness”; both corporeal and spiritual,
Mt 27:45, and it is in the Hebrew text “in darknesses” k, denoting both:
in the deeps; in the deep waters of affliction, sorrows, and sufferings; see Ps 69:1. The allusion is to a dark and deep pit, under ground, such as in the eastern countries they used to put their captives and prisoners into in the night, and take them out in the morning; and which custom continues still among the Turks. Leo Africanus l says he has seen three thousand Christian captives together, clothed in a woollen sack, and chained to one another; and in the night put into pits or ditches under ground; see Zec 9:11.
k “in loca tenebrosa”, Tigurine version, Musculus; “in tenebrosissimis”, Junius Tremellius “in densis tenebris”, Piscator; “in caligines, vel obscuritates”, Gejerus. l Descriptio Africae, l. 3. p. 413.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
6 Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit. The Psalmist now acknowledges more distinctly, that whatever adversities he endured proceeded from the Divine hand. Nor indeed will any man sincerely betake himself to God to seek relief without a previous persuasion that it is the Divine hand which smites him, and that nothing happens by chance. It is observable that the nearer the prophet approaches God the more is his grief embittered; for nothing is more dreadful to the saints than the judgment of God.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(6) Lowest pit.See Note, Psa. 86:13.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
6. Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit In Psa 88:4-5, he was already in the pit and in sheol. Here, in the “lowest” or deepest pit.
In darkness The pit is so deep that the daylight is shut out.
In the deeps The depths of the ocean are intended, (as in Neh 9:11; Job 41:31; Psa 107:24,) to the Hebrew always a mystery and a terror. But the psalmist might have comforted himself by the promise of Psa 68:22. Compare “lowest sheol” and “lower parts of the earth.” Psalm 67:9; Psa 86:13
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Psa 88:6 Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit, in darkness, in the deeps.
Ver. 6. Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit ] In cisterna infimorum, in the deepest dungeon, in lutoso lacu, such as Jeremiah was cast into, Jer 37:15-16
In the deeps
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
lowest: Psa 40:2, Psa 86:13, Deu 32:22
darkness: Psa 143:3, Pro 4:19, Lam 3:2, Joh 12:46, Jud 1:6, Jud 1:13
deeps: Psa 69:15, Psa 130:1
Reciprocal: Gen 37:24 – the pit Job 10:21 – the land Psa 69:2 – deep waters Psa 71:20 – which Psa 116:3 – sorrows Lam 3:6 – in dark
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Psa 88:6-7. Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit, &c. In hopeless and remediless calamities. Thus greatly may good men be afflicted, and such dismal apprehensions may they have concerning their afflictions, and such dark conclusions may they sometimes be ready to make concerning the issue of them, through the power of melancholy, and the weakness of faith. Thy wrath lieth hard upon me The sense of thy wrath, or rather, the effects of it, as the next clause explains it. Thou hast afflicted me with all thy waves With thy judgments breaking in furiously upon me, like the waves of the sea.