서론
无标题
英文原文
This psalm is a lamentation, one of the most melancholy of all the psalms; and it does not conclude, as usually the melancholy psalms do, with the least intimation of comfort or joy, but, from first to last, it is mourning and woe. It is not upon a public account that the psalmist here complains (here is no mention of the afflictions of the church), but only upon a personal account, especially trouble of mind, and the grief impressed upon his spirits both by his outward afflictions and by the remembrance of his sins and the fear of God's wrath. It is reckoned among the penitential psalms, and it is well when our fears are thus turned into the right channel, and we take occasion from our worldly grievances to sorrow after a godly sort. In this psalm we have, I. The great pressure of spirit that the psalmist was under, Ps 88:3-6. II. The wrath of God, which was the cause of that pressure, Ps 88:7,15-17. III. The wickedness of his friends, Ps 88:8,18. IV. The application he made to God by prayer, Ps 88:1,2,9,13. V. His humble expostulations and pleadings with God, Ps 88:10,12,14. Those who are in trouble of mind may sing this psalm feelingly; those that are not ought to sing it thankfully, blessing God that it is not their case.
1-9
Sorrowful Complaints; Complaining to God
悲苦的哀诉；向神哀诉
可拉后裔的诗诗，交与伶长，调用麻哈拉利暗俄。以斯拉人以探的训诲诗。
¹ 耶和华拯救我的神啊，我昼夜在你面前呼吁。
² 愿我的祷告达到你面前，求你侧耳听我的呼求。
³ 因为我心里满了患难，我的性命临近阴间。
⁴ 我和下坑的人同列，如同无力的人一样。
⁵ 被丢在死人之中，好像被杀的人躺在坟墓里；你不再记念他们，他们被你的手所断绝。
⁶ 你把我放在极深的坑里，在黑暗地方，在深处。
⁷ 你的忿怒压住我；你用一切的波浪困住我。细拉。
⁸ 你把我所认识的隔在远处，又使我为他们所憎恶；我被拘困，不得出来。
⁹ 我的眼睛因困苦而干瘪。耶和华啊，我天天求告你，向你举手。
从本诗与下篇诗的标题看来，似乎希幔是一篇的作者，以探是另一篇的作者。有同名者二，是犹大之子谢拉的儿子（代上 2:4,6）。又有以智慧闻名的同名者二（王上 4:31），那里为显扬所罗门的智慧，说他比希幔和以探更有智慧。那些作利未人、作锡安诗歌领唱的希幔与以探是否同一人，我们不能确定；这些诗篇是这几位中哪一位所写，也无定论。有一位希幔是首席歌唱者之一，被称为王的先见，即先知，是在神的话语中（代上 25:5）；这人很可能也是先见，却看不见自己的安慰——他是别人的教师与安慰者，自己却将安慰拒之门外。本诗最初的话，也是全诗惟一安慰与支持之语。在他周围尽是云雾黑暗；但在开始哀诉之前，他称神为拯救他的神——这暗示他虽处境险恶仍指望拯救，并仰望神作为拯救的来源，倚靠他作成这拯救。此处诗人是
一、祷告之人，常献自己于祷告——但如今在患难中更是如此；因有人受苦吗？让他祷告。他得安慰因他曾祷告；他抱怨因虽然祷告却仍在患难之中。他1. 极其恳切：「我向你呼吁（诗 88:1），又向你举手（诗 88:9），如同要抓住你，甚至要抓住那怜悯，怀着生怕错过、失去它的圣洁敬畏。」2. 极其频繁恒切：我天天求告你（诗 88:9），不，昼夜呼吁（诗 88:1）。人应当常常祷告，不可灰心；神自己所拣选的人昼夜呼吁他——不但早晚以祷告开始每日每夜，更将一日一夜消磨在祷告之中。这才是常常祷告；当我们恒切祷告，便在祷告中得着应允。3. 他将祷告指向神，并单单从他指望、渴慕答复（诗 88:2）：「愿我的祷告达到你面前」——为要蒙你悦纳，不是在人前为要被人看见，如法利赛人的祷告。他不要人听见他的祷告，却说：「主啊，求你侧耳听我的呼求，因我将这事交托给你；随你所喜悦给我答复吧。」
二、忧患之人，故此有人认为他在本诗中作基督的预表——基督在十字架上、有时在十字架之前，其抱怨与本诗大意相同。他呼喊（诗 88:3）：我心里满了患难；基督也说，如今我心忧愁；在 agonizing（挣扎）中说：我心极其忧伤，几乎要死——正如此处的诗人，因他说：我的性命临近阴间。 希幔是极有智慧的人，又是极善良的人，是属神的人，又是歌唱者，所以可推想他性情开朗；然而如今却心志忧伤，内心烦乱，濒于绝望。内心的烦恼是最厉害的烦恼，有时神的圣徒仆人中最优秀的也严重受其困扰。人的灵——即使最伟大的人——也不能永远支撑他的软弱，会在其下沉没衰颓；心灵忧伤，谁能承当呢？
三、他视自己为将死之人，心如要因忧愁破裂（诗 88:5）：「被丢在死人之中（那阴森团体中的一员），好像被杀的人躺在坟墓里，其腐烂灭亡无人理睬、无人关心；不，你不再记念他们，不再保护或供给他们的身体，他们便轻易成为朽坏与蛆虫的掠物；他们被你的手所断绝，那手素来扶持他们、向他们伸出；如今既不再有此需要，他们便从这手中被断绝，又被这手所断绝（因为神不向阴间伸手，伯 30:24）；「你把我放在极深的坑里」——低无可低，我境遇低微，我心低沉，在黑暗地方，在深处（诗 88:6），不断下沉，看不见逃脱之路，到了绝境，几乎要放弃一切。善人受苦之深可至此，他们对患难所生的可怕观感可至此，他们有时对患难结局所作的阴暗结论可至此——这都是忧郁的权势与信心的软弱所致。
四、他最抱怨的是神对他的不悦，这便是把苦胆与茵陈调入患难与痛苦之中的（诗 88:7）：你的忿怒压住我。 他若能在患难中辨别出神的恩眷与慈爱，这患难在他身上就轻省；但这却重重压住他——重得他几乎要在其下沉没昏厥。这怒气在他心上的印象，就是神用以管教他的波浪——这些波浪滚滚而来，一波接一波，他几乎未从一暗念中复原，又被另一个所压；这些波浪以喧嚣狂怒拍打他；不是有些，乃是一切的波浪都用来管教他、压倒他。神所爱的儿女有时也会自视为可怒之子，没有任何外在的烦恼能比这感觉压得更重。
五、他的忧愁更加添，因朋友离弃他，对他形同陌路。在患难中，若有爱我们、与我们表同情的人在身边，乃是安慰；但这善人却无此等人——这使他不是借此控告他们、控以背叛、忘恩与残忍，而是向神投诉，看见神在这一部分患难中的手（诗 88:8）：你把我所认识的隔在远处。 是护理挪去他们，或使他们无力帮助他，或使他们的心与他疏远；因为每一样受造之物对我们所是（也仅止于所是），正是神使他成为的那样。我们旧识若回避我们，我们指望他们善待的人反而不善，我们当以对待其他患难同样的忍耐顺服神旨来忍受这事（伯 19:13）。不但如此，他的朋友不但对他生疏，更因他贫穷困苦而恨恶他：「你使我为他们所憎恶；他们不但回避我，更厌弃我，我被人看为——不但可藐视，更可憎。」 希幔虽以智慧闻名，但当世人向他变脸时，竟被人轻忽如无悦可取之器皿——我们不可因这样的试炼以为怪。
六、他视自己的情形为无可帮助、无可挽救：「我被拘困，不得出来」——如同严密的囚犯，在神圣怒气的拘押之下，毫无逃脱之路。他因此躺卧，在忧愁中下沉，因他看不见有脱出的可能。他如此悲叹（诗 88:9）：我的眼睛因困苦而干瘪。 有时借流泪抒发忧愁，可给烦扰的心灵几分舒缓。然而流泪不可阻碍祷告；我们当在泪中撒种：我的眼睛干瘪，但我天天求告你。让祷告与眼泪同行，二者必一同蒙悦纳。我听见你的祷告，我看见你的眼泪。
英文原文
Sorrowful Complaints; Complaining to God
A song or psalm for the sons of Korah, to the chief musician upon Mahalath Leannoth, Maschil of Heman the Ezrahite.
¹ O LORD God of my salvation, I have cried day and night before thee:
² Let my prayer come before thee: incline thine ear unto my cry;
³ For my soul is full of troubles: and my life draweth nigh unto the grave.
⁴ I am counted with them that go down into the pit: I am as a man that hath no strength:
⁵ Free among the dead, like the slain that lie in the grave, whom thou rememberest no more: and they are cut off from thy hand.
⁶ Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit, in darkness, in the deeps.
⁷ Thy wrath lieth hard upon me, and thou hast afflicted me with all thy waves. Selah.
⁸ Thou hast put away mine acquaintance far from me; thou hast made me an abomination unto them: I am shut up, and I cannot come forth.
⁹ Mine eye mourneth by reason of affliction: LORD, I have called daily upon thee, I have stretched out my hands unto thee.
It should seem, by the titles of this and the following psalm, that Heman was the penman of the one and Ethan of the other. There were two, of these names, who were sons of Zerah the son of Judah, 1Ch 2:4,6. There were two others famed for wisdom, 1Ki 4:31, where, to magnify Solomon's wisdom, he is said to be wiser than Heman and Ethan. Whether the Heman and Ethan who were Levites and precentors in the songs of Zion were the same we are not sure, nor which of these, nor whether any of these, were the penmen of these psalms. There was a Heman that was one of the chief singers, who is called the king's seer, or prophet, in the words of God (1Ch 25:5); it is probable that this also was a seer, and yet could see no comfort for himself, an instructor and comforter of others, and yet himself putting comfort away from him. The very first words of the psalm are the only words of comfort and support in all the psalm. There is nothing about him but clouds and darkness; but, before he begins his complaint, he calls God the God of his salvation, which intimates both that he looked for salvation, bad as things were, and that he looked up to God for the salvation and depended upon him to be the author of it. Now here we have the psalmist,
I. A man of prayer, one that gave himself to prayer at all times, but especially now that he was in affliction; for is any afflicted? let him pray. It is his comfort that he had prayed; it is his complaint that, notwithstanding his prayer, he was still in affliction. He was, 1. Very earnest in prayer: "I have cried unto thee (Ps 88:1), and have stretched out my hands unto thee (Ps 88:9), as one that would take hold on thee, and even catch at the mercy, with a holy fear of coming short and missing of it." 2. He was very frequent and constant in prayer: I have called upon thee daily (Ps 88:9), nay, day and night, Ps 88:1. For thus men ought always to pray, and not to faint; God's own elect cry day and night to him, not only morning and evening, beginning every day and every night with prayer, but spending the day and night in prayer. This is indeed praying always; and then we shall speed in prayer, when we continue instant in prayer. 3. He directed his prayer to God, and from him expected and desired an answer (Ps 88:2): "Let my prayer come before thee, to be accepted of thee, not before men, to be seen of them, as the Pharisees' prayers." He does not desire that men should hear them, but, "Lord, incline thy ear unto my cry, for to that I refer myself; give what answer to it thou pleasest."
II. He was a man of sorrows, and therefore some make him, in this psalm, a type of Christ, whose complaints on the cross, and sometimes before, were much to the same purport with this psalm. He cries out (Ps 88:3): My soul is full of troubles; so Christ said, Now is my soul troubled; and, in his agony, My soul is exceedingly sorrowful even unto death, like the psalmist's here, for he says, My life draws nigh unto the grave. Heman was a very wise man, and a very good man, a man of God, and a singer too, and one may therefore suppose him to have been a man of a cheerful spirit, and yet now a man of sorrowful spirit, troubled in mind, and upon the brink of despair. Inward trouble is the sorest trouble, and that which, sometimes, the best of God's saints and servants have been severely exercised with. The spirit of man, of the greatest of men, will not always sustain his infirmity, but will droop and sink under it; who then can bear a wounded spirit?
III. He looked upon himself as a dying man, whose heart was ready to break with sorrow (Ps 88:5): "Free among the dead (one of that ghastly corporation), like the slain that lie in the grave, whose rotting and perishing nobody takes notice of or is concerned for, nay, whom thou rememberest no more, to protect or provide for the dead bodies, but they become an easy prey to corruption and the worms; they are cut off from thy hand, which used to be employed in supporting them and reaching out to them; but, now there is no more occasion for this, they are cut off from it and cut off by it" (for God will not stretch out his hand to the grave, Job 30:24); "thou hast laid me in the lowest pit, as low as possible, my condition low, my spirits low, in darkness, in the deep (Ps 88:6), sinking, and seeing no way open of escape, brought to the last extremity, and ready to give up all for gone." Thus greatly may good men be afflicted, 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.
IV. He complained most of God's displeasure against him, which infused the wormwood and the gall into the affliction and the misery (Ps 88:7): Thy wrath lies hard upon me. Could he have discerned the favour and love of God in his affliction, it would have lain light upon him; but it lay hard, very hard, upon him, so that he was ready to sink and faint under it. The impressions of this wrath upon his spirits were God's waves with which he afflicted him, which rolled upon him, one on the neck of another, so that he scarcely recovered from one dark thought before he was oppressed with another; these waves beat against him with noise and fury; not some, but all, of God's waves were made use of in afflicting him and bearing him down. Even the children of God's love may sometimes apprehend themselves children of wrath, and no outward trouble can lie so hard upon them as that apprehension.
V. It added to his affliction that his friends deserted him and made themselves strange to him. When we are in trouble it is some comfort to have those about us that love us, and sympathize with us; but this good man had none such, which gives him occasion, not to accuse them, or charge them with treachery, ingratitude, and inhumanity, but to complain to God, with an eye to his hand in this part of the affliction (Ps 88:8): Thou hast put away my acquaintance far from me. Providence had removed them, or rendered them incapable of being serviceable to him, or alienated their affections from him; for every creature is that to us (and no more) that God makes it to be. If our old acquaintance be shy of us, and those we expect kindness from prove unkind, we must bear that with the same patient submission to the divine will that we do other afflictions, Job 19:13. Nay, his friends were not only strange to him, but even hated him, because he was poor and in distress: "Thou hast made me an abomination to them; they are not only shy of me, but sick of me, and I am looked upon by them, not only with contempt, but with abhorrence." Let none think it strange concerning such a trial as this, when Heman, who was so famed for wisdom, was yet, when the world frowned upon him, neglected, as a vessel in which is no pleasure.
VI. He looked upon his case as helpless and deplorable: "I am shut up, and I cannot come forth, a close prisoner, under the arrests of divine wrath, and no way open of escape." He therefore lies down and sinks under his troubles, because he sees not any probability of getting out of them. For thus he bemoans himself (Ps 88:9): My eye mourneth by reason of affliction. Sometimes giving vent to grief by weeping gives some ease to a troubled spirit. Yet weeping must not hinder praying; we must sow in tears: My eye mourns, but I cry unto thee daily. Let prayers and tears go together, and they shall be accepted together. I have heard thy prayers, I have seen thy tears.
10-18
Pleading with God
向神恳求
¹⁰ 你岂要行奇事给死人看么？难道阴魂要起来称赞你么？（细拉） ¹¹ 你的慈爱岂能宣告在坟墓里么？你的信实岂能在灭亡之处被传扬么？ ¹² 你的奇事岂能在幽暗里为人所知么？你的公义岂能在于遗忘之地被知道么？ ¹³ 耶和华啊，我却呼求你；早晨我的祷告要达到你面前。 ¹⁴ 耶和华啊，你为何丢弃我？为何掩面不顾我？ ¹⁵ 我自幼受苦，几乎死亡；我受你的惊恐，慌张不安。 ¹⁶ 你的烈怒漫过我身；你的惊吓把我剪除。 ¹⁷ 这些终日如水环绕我，一齐都来围困我。 ¹⁸ 你把我的良朋密友隔在远处；把我所认识的隔在黑暗中。
在这些经文中，
一、诗人就他如今所处可悲的境况与神理论（诗 88:10-12）：「你要向死人『行奇事』，使他们复活么？那些死了葬了的人要『起来称赞你』么？不；他们把这事留给他们的子孙在他们的位置上起来称赞神；无人指望他们如此行；他们当为何起来，当为何而活，岂不正是为要称赞神么？我们生来所得的生命，并我们盼望至终要得着的复活之生命，都必如此献上。但『你向百姓的慈爱，岂能在坟墓里被传扬』，无论是由其中之人传扬，还是向其中之人传扬？你向应许的信实，岂能在灭亡之处被宣告？『你的奇事』岂能在黑暗中行出来、在那里被人知道，『你的公义』岂能在坟墓——就是那『遗忘之地』，那里的人什么都不记念，自己也不被记念——被人知道？」离世的灵魂诚然可以知道神的奇事，并传扬他的信实、公义、慈爱；但已死的人体却不能；它们既不能在安慰中领受神的恩惠，也不能在赞美中回报。我们不可把这些理论看作绝望的话，好像他以为神不能或不愿帮助他，更不可以为它们含有对末日死人复活的任何不信；他乃是如此向神求速速的拯救：「主啊，你是良善的，你是信实的，你是公义的；这些属性要在我得救时显明出来，但若不赶紧，便为时已晚；因为我必死去，再无拯救可言，必死去，再不能领受任何安慰——而且就在不久之间。」约伯屡次如此恳求（伯 7:8,10,21）。
二、他决意继续恳切祷告，并因拯救迟延而更加恳切（诗 88:13）：「『我却呼求你』——我多次如此行，并从中得着安慰，因此我必继续如此行；『早晨我的祷告要达到你面前。』」请注意，虽然我们的祷告未蒙立时应允，我们却不可因此放弃祷告，因为「异象要等候到定期，终局必临，并不虚谎」。神迟延答应，为要试炼我们的忍耐和在祷告中的恒切。他决意趁早寻求神，在早晨——当他精神活泼、白日的事务尚未拥入之时；在早晨——当他经过黑夜的静寂孤单被忧虑和愁思所翻腾之后；但他怎能说「我的祷告要达到你面前」呢？这不是说他能比神更早醒起祷告，因为神既不打盹也不睡觉；这话的意思是，他要比寻常更早起来祷告，要比他惯常祷告的时辰更早（「达到」即「在前」之意）。我们的苦难越大，我们在祷告中当越发恳切和认真。「我的祷告要呈到你面前，及早与你相会，并不等候怜悯开端之时才得着鼓励，反要凭着信心和盼望，在白日未明之前便伸手向往。」神常常以他的怜悯赶在我们的祷告和期望之前；我们当以我们的祷告和期望赶在他的怜悯之前。
三、他记下他要在祷告中对神说的话。1. 他要谦卑地就自己如今被遗弃的苦境与神理论（诗 88:14）：「主啊，你为何丢弃我？是什么惹动你，把我当作被弃的人对待？『求你指明我因何与你相争。』」他以惊奇的心说这话——神竟丢弃一个老仆人，竟丢弃一个决意不丢弃神的人：「人丢弃我，并不为奇；但主啊，你为何丢弃我？你的恩赐和选召是没有后悔的。你『为何掩面不顾我』，像对我发怒，要么对我毫无恩惠，要么有也不让我知道？」没有什么比神掩面不顾更叫神的儿女伤痛；也没有什么比神丢弃他的灵魂更叫他惧怕。日头若被云遮蔽，地便黑暗；但日头若全然离弃地面，把它丢弃不顾，那地要成为何等的牢狱！2. 他要谦卑地重复先前所发的怨言，直到神怜恤他。他向神陈明两件事作为苦情：（1）神成了他的惊吓：「我受你的惊恐」（诗 88:15）。他不断有可怖的意念，想到神因他的罪向他发烈怒，并那烈怒的后果。想到神、想到要落入他手中、要在他面前受他判语，便使他恐惧。他想到神的不悦和他威严的可怕，便流汗战栗。请注意，甚至那些预定要得神恩惠的人，有时也可能暂时受他的惊恐。儿子的灵先是奴仆的惧怕之灵。可怜的约伯曾抱怨神的「惊吓摆阵攻击他」（伯 6:4）。诗人这里自我解释，告诉我们他所谓「神的惊吓」是指什么——即他的「烈怒」。我们当看那些惊吓在他身上留下何等可怕的印象，伤他何等之深。〔1〕几乎夺去他的性命：「我『受苦』……几乎要死」（原文作『交出灵魂』）；「你的惊吓把我剪除」（诗 88:16）。地狱——那永远的剪除，使被定罪的罪人永远与神和一切福乐隔绝——岂不就是神的惊吓抓住罪人的良心并啃噬它么？〔2〕几乎夺去他的理智：「我受你的惊恐，慌张不安。」主的惊吓在许多人身上，甚至在一些敬虔人身上，产生了这悲惨的果效，使他们完全不能自主——这情形至为可怜，当以极大的怜恤看待。〔3〕这事已持续很久：「我自幼受苦。」他从幼年起便受忧郁之苦，在忧伤的学校里受教。若我们以忧愁开始我们的日子，并悲哀的日子延续已久，不要以为奇怪，要让患难生忍耐。可注意的是，希幔——他后来成为大有智慧和良善的人——竟「自幼受苦，几乎死亡」，并受神的惊吓。许多人也是如此：在少年时负轭，对他们大有好处；忧伤对他们远比欢笑有益；在年少时多受苦难、多次几乎要死的人，因神的恩典得着了惯常的严肃和对世界的脱俗之心，终身大有益处。有时神所定要作大事奉的人，正是藉着这类的操练预备他们。〔4〕他如今的苦难已达极点，比以往更甚。神的惊吓如今四面环绕他，以致他从各方都受各样苦难的攻击，任何方位都没有舒爽的气息。它们如水泛滥一般一同冲入；并且是终日，整天如此；以致他毫无安息，毫无喘息，没有丝毫的歇息之时，没有清醒的间隙，也没有一线盼望。这便是这位大有智慧、敬虔之人的苦境；他四面被惊吓围困，竟找不到避难之所，无处可以躲风。（2）世上没有一个朋友能给他安慰（诗 88:18）：「你把我的良朋密友隔在远处。」有的已死，有的远在他方，或许许多人对他无情。除了信仰的安慰之外，友谊和交往的安慰是其次的；因此无友（在今生而言）几乎等于无安慰；对于那些曾经有过朋友、如今失去的人，这灾祸更觉沉重。诗人以这话结束他的怨言，仿佛这才是完成他忧愁之笔、为这幅忧郁之画添上最后一笔的事。若我们的朋友因分散的护理被隔在远处，不，若因死亡的缘故我们的熟人被迁入黑暗，我们当以之为大苦，但也当承认并顺服神在此事中的手。
英文原文
Pleading with God
¹⁰ Wilt thou show wonders to the dead? shall the dead arise and praise thee? Selah.
¹¹ Shall thy lovingkindness be declared in the grave? or thy faithfulness in destruction?
¹² Shall thy wonders be known in the dark? and thy righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?
¹³ But unto thee have I cried, O LORD; and in the morning shall my prayer prevent thee.
¹⁴ LORD, why castest thou off my soul? why hidest thou thy face from me?
¹⁵ I am afflicted and ready to die from my youth up: while I suffer thy terrors I am distracted.
¹⁶ Thy fierce wrath goeth over me; thy terrors have cut me off.
¹⁷ They came round about me daily like water; they compassed me about together.
¹⁸ Lover and friend hast thou put far from me, and mine acquaintance into darkness.
In these verses,
I. The psalmist expostulates with God concerning the present deplorable condition he was in (Ps 88:10-12): "Wilt thou do a miraculous work to the dead, and raise them to life again? Shall those that are dead and buried rise up to praise thee? No; they leave it to their children to rise up in their room to praise God; none expects that they should do it; and wherefore should they rise, wherefore should they live, but to praise God? The life we are born to at first, and the life we hope to rise to at last, must thus be spent. But shall thy lovingkindness to thy people be declared in the grave, either by those or to those that lie buried there? And thy faithfulness to thy promise, shall that be told in destruction? shall thy wonders be wrought in the dark, or known there, and thy righteousness in the grave, which is the land of forgetfulness, where men remember nothing, nor are themselves remembered? Departed souls may indeed know God's wonders and declare his faithfulness, justice, and lovingkindness; but deceased bodies cannot; they can neither receive God's favours in comfort nor return them in praise." Now we will not suppose these expostulations to be the language of despair, as if he thought God could not help him or would not, much less do they imply any disbelief of the resurrection of the dead at the last day; but he thus pleads with God for speedy relief: "Lord, thou art good, thou art faithful, thou art righteous; these attributes of thine will be made known in my deliverance, but, if it be not hastened, it will come too late; for I shall be dead and past relief, dead and not capable of receiving any comfort, very shortly." Job often pleaded thus, Job 7:8,10:21.
II. He resolves to continue instant in prayer, and the more so because the deliverance was deferred (Ps 88:13): "Unto thee have I cried many a time, and found comfort in so doing, and therefore I will continue to do so; in the morning shall my prayer prevent thee." Note, Though our prayers be not answered immediately, yet we must not therefore give over praying, because the vision is for an appointed time, and at the end it shall speak and not lie. God delays the answer in order that he may try our patience and perseverance in prayer. He resolves to seek God early, in the morning, when his spirits were lively, and before the business of the day began to crowd in—in the morning, after he had been tossed with cares, and sorrowful thoughts in the silence and solitude of the night; but how could he say, My prayer shall prevent thee? Not as if he could wake sooner to pray than God to hear and answer; for he neither slumbers nor sleeps; but it intimates that he would be up earlier than ordinary to pray, would prevent (that is, go before) his usual hour of prayer. The greater our afflictions are the more solicitous and serious we should be in prayer. "My prayer shall present itself before thee, and be betimes with thee, and shall not stay for the encouragement of the beginning of mercy, but reach towards it with faith and expectation even before the day dawns." God often prevents our prayers and expectations with his mercies; let us prevent his mercies with our prayers and expectations.
III. He sets down what he will say to God in prayer. 1. He will humbly reason with God concerning the abject afflicted condition he was now in (Ps 88:14): "Lord, why castest thou off my soul? What is it that provokes thee to treat me as one abandoned? Show me wherefore thou contendest with me." He speaks it with wonder that God should cast off an old servant, should cast off one that was resolved not to cast him off: "No wonder men cast me off; but, Lord, why dost thou, whose gifts and callings are without repentance? Why hidest thou thy face, as one angry at me, that either hast no favour for me or wilt not let me know that thou hast?" Nothing grieves a child of God so much as God's hiding his face from him, nor is there any thing he so much dreads as God's casting off his soul. If the sun be clouded, that darkens the earth; but if the sun should abandon the earth, and quite cast it off, what a dungeon would it be! 2. He will humbly repeat the same complaints he had before made, until God have mercy on him. Two things he represents to God as his grievances:—(1.) That God was a terror to him: I suffer thy terrors, Ps 88:15. He had continual frightful apprehensions of the wrath of God against him for his sins and the consequences of that wrath. It terrified him to think of God, of falling into his hands and appearing before him to receive his doom from him. He perspired and trembled at the apprehension of God's displeasure against him, and the terror of his majesty. Note, Even those that are designed for God's favours may yet, for a time, suffer his terrors. The spirit of adoption is first a spirit of bondage to fear. Poor Job complained of the terrors of God setting themselves in array against him, Job 6:4. The psalmist here explains himself, and tells us what he means by God's terrors, even his fierce wrath. Let us see what dreadful impressions those terrors made upon him, and how deeply they wounded him. [1.] They had almost taken away his life: "I am so afflicted with them that I am ready to die, and" (as the word is) "to give up the ghost. Thy terrors have cut me off," Ps 88:16. What is hell, that eternal excision, by which damned sinners are for ever cut off from God and all happiness, but God's terrors fastening and preying upon their guilty consciences? [2.] They had almost taken away the use of his reason: When I suffer thy terrors I am distracted. This sad effect the terrors of the Lord have had upon many, and upon some good men, who have thereby been put quite out of the possession of their own souls, a most piteous case, and which ought to be looked upon with great compassion. [3.] This had continued long: From my youth up I suffer thy terrors. He had been from his childhood afflicted with melancholy, and trained up in sorrow under the discipline of that school. If we begin our days with trouble, and the days of our mourning have been prolonged a great while, let us not think it strange, but let tribulation work patience. It is observable the Heman, who became eminently wise and good, was afflicted and ready to die, and suffered God's terrors, from his youth up. Thus many have found it was good for them to bear the yoke in their youth, that sorrow has been much better for them than laughter would have been, and that being much afflicted, and often ready to die, when they were young, they have, by the grace of God, got such an habitual seriousness and weanedness from the world as have been of great use to them all their days. Sometimes those whom God designs for eminent services are prepared for them by exercises of this kind. [4.] His affliction was now extreme, and worse than ever. God's terrors now came round about him, so that from all sides he was assaulted with variety of troubles, and he had no comfortable gale from any point of the compass. They broke in upon him together like an inundation of water; and this daily, and all the day; so that he had no rest, no respite, not the lest breathing-time, no lucid intervals, nor any gleam of hope. Such was the calamitous state of a very wise and good man; he was so surrounded with terrors that he could find no place of shelter, nor lie any where under the wind. (2.) That no friend he had in the world was a comfort to him (Ps 88:18): Lover and friend hast thou put far from me; some are dead, others at a distance, and perhaps many unkind. Next to the comforts of religion are those of friendship and society; therefore to be friendless is (as to this life) almost to be comfortless; and to those who have had friends, but have lost them, the calamity is the more grievous. With this the psalmist here closes his complaint, as if this were that which completed his woe and gave the finishing stroke to the melancholy piece. If our friends are put far from us by scattering providences, nay, if by death our acquaintance are removed into darkness, we have reason to look upon it as a sore affliction, but must acknowledge and submit to the hand of God in it.
本篇是一首哀歌,是所有诗篇中最忧郁的一篇;它并不像通常忧郁的诗篇那样以些许安慰喜乐的暗示作结,而是自始至终尽是悲哀与灾祸。诗人在此抱怨并非为公众的缘故(其中并未提及教会的苦难),而是为个人的缘故,尤其是内心的愁苦,以及因他外面的患难、并因记念自己的罪与惧怕神的震怒而压在他心头的忧痛。本篇被列在悔罪诗之中;当我们的恐惧如此被引入正轨,并因世上的苦情而有机会照神的意思忧愁,这是好的。在本诗中我们看见:一、诗人所受心灵极大的重压(诗88:3-6);二、神的震怒——那是重压的缘由(诗88:7,15-17);三、他朋友的恶待(诗88:8,18);四、他借祈祷向神发出的恳求(诗88:1,2,9,13);五、他谦卑地与神辩论申诉(诗88:10,12,14)。内心愁苦的人能切身地唱这首诗;不愁苦的人当存感恩的心唱,称颂神因自己的情形并非如此。