TRV
Study This Verse
Public-domain commentary
Matthew Henry
From his Commentary on the Whole Bible. Henry comments on passages, not single verses — this entry covers Psalms 88:1–9.
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, Ch1 2:4, Ch1 2:6. There were two others famed for wisdom, Kg1 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 (Ch1 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 (Psa 88:1), and have stretched out my hands unto thee (Psa 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 (Psa 88:9), nay, day and night, Psa 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 (Psa 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 (Psa 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 (Psa 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 (Psa 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 (Psa 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 (Psa 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 (Psa 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.
Historical interpretation
Historical Reception
3 surviving comments on this verse. Each one is dated, so this reads as a timeline rather than a list.
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Nor was Mary less than was befitting the mother of Christ. When the apostles fled, she stood before the cross and with reverent gaze beheld her Son’s wounds, for she awaited not her child’s death but the world’s salvation. Or perhaps that “regal chamber” knew that through her Son’s death would be the world’s redemption, and through her own death she thought she would give herself for the common good. But Jesus had no need of a helper in redeeming all, for he saved all without a helper. Therefore he says, “I have become as a man without help, free among the dead.” Indeed, he received the devotion of his parent, but he did not seek another’s aid.
Next, David made it clear that Christ would be buried when he said, “They have put me in the lowest pit in the dark places and in the shadow of death.” Nor was David silent about the spices used on his shroud. Since the women brought myrrh, spice and cassia, hear what the prophet said: “Your robes are all fragrant with myrrh, spice and cassia, and with them the daughters of kings gladdened you in your honor.” See how he also predicted that Christ would rise again. “You will not leave my soul in hell, nor will you allow your holy one to see corruption.” Isaiah expressed the same thing in a different way. For he said, “The Lord wishes to cleanse him from his wounds, to show him light, to justify the righteous one who has served many well.”
"Free among the dead" [Psalm 88:5]. In these words our Lord's Person is most clearly shown: for who else is free among the dead but He who though in the likeness of sinful flesh is alone among sinners without sin? [Romans 8:3] ...He therefore, "free among the dead," who had it in His power to lay down His life, and again to take it; from whom no one could take it, but He laid it down of His own free will; who could revive His own flesh, as a temple destroyed by them, at His will; who, when all had forsaken Him on the eve of His Passion, remained not alone, because, as He testifies, His Father forsook Him not; [John 8:29] was nevertheless by His enemies, for whom He prayed, who knew not what they did, ...counted "as one who has no help; like them that are wounded, and lie in the grave." But he adds, "Whom thou dost not yet remember:" and in these words there is to be remarked a distinction between Christ and the rest of the dead. For though He was wounded, and when dead laid in the tomb, [Matthew 27:50, 60] yet they who knew not what they were doing, or who He was, regarded Him as like others who had perished from their wounds, and who slept in the tomb, who are as yet out of remembrance of God, that is, whose hour of resurrection has not yet arrived. For thus the Scripture speaks of the dead as sleeping, because it wishes them to be regarded as destined to awake, that is, to rise again. But He, wounded and asleep in the tomb, awoke on the third day, and became "like a sparrow that sits alone on the housetop," that is, on the right hand of His Father in Heaven: and now "dies no more, death shall no more have dominion over Him." [Romans 6:9] Hence He differs widely from those whom God has not yet remembered to cause their resurrection after this manner: for what was to go before in the Head, was kept for the Body in the end. God is then said to remember, when He does an act: then to forget, when He does it not: for neither can God forget, as He never changes, nor remember, as He can never forget. "I am counted" then, by those who know not what they do, "as a man that has no help:" while I am "free among the dead," I am held by these men "like them that are wounded, and lie in the grave." Yet those very men, who account thus of Me, are further said to be "cut away from Your hand," that is, when I was made so by them, "they were cut away from Your hand;" they who believed Me destitute of help, are deprived of the help of Your hand: for they, as he says in another Psalm, have dug a pit before me, and are fallen into the midst of it themselves. I prefer this interpretation to that which refers the words, "they are cut away from Your hand," to those who sleep in the tomb, whom God has not yet remembered: since the righteous are among the latter, of whom, even though God has not yet called them to the resurrection, it is said, that their "souls are in the hands of God," [Wisdom 3:1] that is, that "they dwell under the defence of the Most High; and shall abide under the shadow of the God of Heaven." But it is those who are cut away from the hand of God, who believed that Christ was cut off from His hand, and thus accounting Him among the wicked, dared to slay Him.
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Summary
Psalms 88:5 encapsulates the psalmist's profound and unremitting despair, where he likens his existential state to that of the dead—isolated, forgotten by God, and utterly severed from divine care. This verse stands as a stark articulation of deep anguish, reflecting a unique spiritual and physical crisis of feeling completely cut off from all hope and divine remembrance, a lament without a discernible shift towards resolution.
Context
Literary Context
Psalm 88 is a singular and profoundly unsettling lament within the Psalter, distinguished by its complete lack of a turn towards hope, praise, or resolution. Attributed to Heman the Ezrahite, a Levitical musician, it is a raw, sustained outpouring of suffering, isolation, and a pervasive sense of divine abandonment. Verse 5 is deeply integrated into the psalmist's harrowing description of his dire physical and spiritual condition, where he feels his life ebbing away and identifies himself with those already consigned to the grave. This grim imagery intensifies his plea, underscoring his conviction that he is experiencing a metaphorical death while still alive, a state of being utterly beyond human or divine help or remembrance. The verse serves as a chilling climax to his self-identification with the perishing.
Historical & Cultural Context
In ancient Israelite thought, the grave, or Sheol, was generally conceived as a shadowy, silent realm of the dead, a place where active praise of God ceased and remembrance of Him was thought to be absent (as seen in Psalm 6:5). The concept of a bodily resurrection, while nascent in some prophetic traditions, was not yet fully developed or widely understood as it would be in later Jewish apocalyptic literature and Christian theology. Therefore, to be "free among the dead" or "cut off from thy hand" was a terrifying prospect, signifying ultimate separation from God's active care, covenant faithfulness, and the vibrant community of the living. The psalmist's anguish reflects a deep-seated fear of being forgotten by God, which, in their worldview, implied being outside the realm of His protective and redemptive intervention, a fate worse than physical death for one whose identity was rooted in the covenant.
Key Themes
This verse powerfully contributes to the psalm's overarching themes of profound despair, divine abandonment, and existential isolation. The psalmist's identification with "the slain that lie in the grave" vividly portrays a state of utter hopelessness, where "freedom" is grimly found only in the oblivion of death. The core of his anguish revolves around the terrifying belief that God has forgotten him ("whom thou rememberest no more"), signifying a terrifying loss of divine remembrance, which implies a cessation of God's active acknowledgment and intervention on his behalf. Furthermore, the declaration "they are cut off from thy hand" underscores a complete severance from God's protective power and sustaining presence, a terrifying prospect for any Israelite who understood God's hand as the source of all life, blessing, and covenant fidelity, as exemplified in passages like Psalm 145:16 and Deuteronomy 32:39.
Exposition and Analysis
Key Word Analysis
From the root meaning "to be free, exempt." This word, typically denoting liberation from bondage, tax, or care, carries a profound and grim irony in this context. Rather than signifying a positive release into a better state, it suggests a release from the burdens of life that comes only through the state of death. The psalmist is "at liberty" in the sense of being cast off, disconnected, and beyond the reach of the living—a chilling freedom from suffering found only in the grave.
A primitive root meaning "to mark (so as to be recognized), i.e., to remember; by implication, to mention." More than mere recollection, zâkar implies an active acknowledgment, a mindful consideration, and a readiness to act on behalf of someone. To be forgotten by God in this sense means to be outside His active care, covenant relationship, and redemptive intervention, representing one of the deepest fears for an Israelite who relied on God's faithfulness and covenant promises.
A primitive root meaning "to cut down or off; (figuratively) to destroy, divide, exclude, or decide." This verb, used in the passive voice (nigzar in the KJV's implied Hebrew), signifies being severed, isolated, or violently separated. When applied to God's "hand," it powerfully conveys a complete and terrifying removal from divine protection, power, and sustaining presence. It suggests a final, irreversible break from the source of life and help, a state of utter abandonment.
Verse Breakdown
"Free among the dead"
The psalmist expresses a state of utter isolation and hopelessness, identifying himself with those who have no life, no future, and no active connection to the living. This "freedom" is a chilling paradox, implying a release from life's suffering only through a state akin to death, where he is beyond the reach of human or divine help. It speaks to a profound existential despair, where the only perceived liberty is the grim finality of the grave.
"like the slain that lie in the grave"
This simile intensifies the death imagery, specifically invoking the helplessness and finality associated with violent death. The "slain" are beyond recovery, beyond hope, and beyond the possibility of intervention, mirroring the psalmist's perceived state. It emphasizes the irreversible nature of his condition, as if he is already a corpse, devoid of life and agency.
"whom thou rememberest no more"
This clause reveals the core of the psalmist's anguish: the terrifying belief that God has ceased to remember him. This is not a mere lapse of memory but a withdrawal of divine active care, covenant faithfulness, and intervention, leaving the psalmist in a state of ultimate abandonment. For an Israelite, divine remembrance was synonymous with divine favor and action, making its absence a source of profound spiritual terror.
"and they are cut off from thy hand."
This final phrase is the ultimate expression of the psalmist's perceived abandonment. To be "cut off from thy hand" signifies a complete severance from God's power, protection, and sustaining presence. It implies that his life is no longer under divine control or care, leaving him utterly vulnerable, without hope, and outside the sphere of divine blessing and intervention.
Literary Devices
The psalmist employs several potent literary devices to convey his profound despair. Simile is prominently featured in the phrase "like the slain that lie in the grave," directly comparing the psalmist's living state to the ultimate finality and helplessness of the dead. This vivid comparison underscores the depth of his suffering and his feeling of being as good as dead. Hyperbole is also evident, as the psalmist's language is extreme, expressing a feeling of being literally "free among the dead" even while still alive, exaggerating his condition to convey its overwhelming and all-consuming nature. A chilling irony pervades the phrase "Free among the dead," as freedom is typically a positive concept, but here it denotes a grim liberty found only in the grave, a release from life's burdens through non-existence. Finally, anthropomorphism is used in "cut off from thy hand," attributing human-like qualities (a hand, the ability to cut off) to God, thereby powerfully emphasizing God's perceived withdrawal of power and the psalmist's complete removal from divine protection and sustenance.
Theological and Thematic Connections
Psalms 88:5 stands as a profound testament to the biblical allowance for raw, unmitigated lament. It challenges simplistic notions of faith always leading to immediate resolution or comfort, acknowledging that human experience can encompass seasons of deep, seemingly hopeless despair where even the presence of God feels absent. The psalmist's cry of being "forgotten" and "cut off" touches on the fundamental covenant relationship between God and His people, raising the terrifying question of what it means when that connection feels severed. While this psalm offers no resolution, it validates the experience of spiritual anguish and provides a voice for those who feel utterly abandoned, even by God. It serves as a crucial reminder that the biblical narrative embraces the full spectrum of human suffering, even when it appears to contradict God's promises of faithfulness, prompting us to seek deeper theological understanding of God's sovereignty and presence amidst profound darkness.
Reflection and Application
Psalms 88:5, in its profound darkness, offers a crucial validation for the human experience of deep, seemingly hopeless despair. It reminds us that the biblical narrative does not shy away from the raw realities of suffering, isolation, and the terrifying feeling of divine distance. For those grappling with severe depression, spiritual desolation, or a sense of being utterly forgotten by God, this psalm provides a powerful voice for their pain, demonstrating that even biblical figures wrestled with such profound anguish. It grants permission to lament without immediate resolution, acknowledging that faith journeys can include seasons of intense spiritual darkness where God's presence feels absent. While the psalmist expresses a pre-resurrection understanding of death and the grave, his cry of abandonment resonates deeply, inviting us to bring our most agonizing feelings before God, trusting that even in the silence, He hears and acknowledges our pain. This psalm, therefore, serves as a vital anchor for empathy, a guide for honest engagement with suffering, and ultimately, points us toward the ultimate hope that transcends the grave through Christ.
Questions for Reflection
FAQ
Is Psalm 88 truly unique among the laments in the Psalter?
Yes, Psalm 88 is notably unique within the collection of Psalms for its sustained tone of unmitigated despair. Unlike most other laments, which typically begin with a cry of distress but conclude with an expression of hope, trust, or praise (e.g., Psalm 13 or Psalm 22), Psalm 88 offers no such resolution. It starts in deep anguish and ends there, without any glimmer of light or shift in the psalmist's desperate plea. This makes it a crucial text for understanding the full spectrum of human suffering and the biblical allowance for a raw, unvarnished cry before God, even when comfort or resolution feels absent. It serves as a profound theological statement on the reality of human suffering and the honesty permitted in prayer.
Christ-Centered Fulfillment
While Psalms 88:5 expresses the psalmist's terrifying sense of being "free among the dead" and "cut off from thy hand" in a pre-resurrection context, its profound anguish finds its ultimate fulfillment and transformation in the person and work of Jesus Christ. Jesus, the true Lamb of God, fully entered into the depths of human suffering and abandonment. On the cross, He cried out, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Matthew 27:46), experiencing the ultimate severance from the Father's hand on behalf of humanity's sin, taking upon Himself the very curse of being "cut off" (Galatians 3:13). He truly descended into the realm of the dead, conquering Sheol itself, as prophesied in Psalm 16:10 and powerfully affirmed by Peter in Acts 2:27. Through His glorious resurrection, Jesus definitively broke the power of death and the grave, ensuring that those who are in Him are never truly "cut off" from God's hand, but are eternally remembered and held secure (John 10:28-29). Thus, the psalmist's lament, though ending in darkness, powerfully foreshadows the one who would experience ultimate abandonment to bring ultimate remembrance and everlasting life, transforming the grim "freedom among the dead" into the glorious freedom of resurrection and eternal communion with God (1 Corinthians 15:55-57).