Psalm 88

A song, a psalm written by the Korahites; for the music director; according to the machalath-leannoth style; a well-written song by Heman the Ezrachite.

In 1 Chron 6:33,37, Heman is identified as the leader of the Korahite guild.

This has been described as a ‘psalm without hope’. ‘Most pastors will have had to minister in such a situation, holding the hand of a dear fellow-believer sinking into seemingly comfortless sorrows and facing eternity without assurance. And most believers will have encountered – in lesser or greater degree – the dark valley which excludes sunlight and where Jesus and his love, the gospel and its assurances, heaven and its compensations all refer to someone else. The psalm tells us that unrelieved suffering may still be our lot. It reminds us that we are not in heaven yet but part of a groaning creation (Rom. 8:18-23). It sets before us a shining example of the faith that holds on and of resolute occupancy of the place of prayer. Here is one walking in darkness, without light, and trusting in the name of the Lord and leaning on his God (Isa. 50:10).’ (NBC)

‘In Psalm 88 the psalmist’s existence is about to cease. This is evidenced by the words used to denote death: “the pit” (vv. 4, 6); “the dead” (vv. 5, 10); “the grave” (vv. 5, 11); “the darkest depths” (v. 6); “the lowest pit” (v. 6); “Abaddon” (v. 11); “the place of darkness” (v. 12); “the land of oblivion” (v. 12); and “darkness” (v. 18). The psalmist says, “my life draws near to Sheol” (v. 3), the penumbral expanse of the netherworld. The psalmist then asks the rhetorical questions: “Do you work wonders for the dead? Do the shades rise up to praise you? Is your steadfast love declared in the grace, or your faithfulness in Abaddon? Are your wonders known in the darkness, or your saving help in the land of forgetfulness?” (vv. 10-12 NRSV). As with Psalm 6:4-6 the point is that one must be alive in order to praise God. The reference reveals a cognizance of the concept of an individual’s resurrection even though the questions are unanswered (cf. Psalm 7:15; 49:15).’ (EDBT)

As Mays remarks, there are no expressions of trust or of praise in this psalm, and only one petition (v2).  The psalmist feel close to death, his friends are gone, and God seems absent.

‘The psalm reminds us how sad our understanding of death must be when imagination has only the end of life as its subject. It stands in contrast to the picture of the state of the dead who have died in the Lord drawn in the New Testament, where imagination has been given eschatological hope (see Revelation 14).’ (Mays)

The psalm is, as Spurgeon remarks, quite fragmentary, suggesting the incoherence that can accompany grief.

88:1 O LORD God who delivers me!
By day I cry out
and at night I pray before you.

The God who saves me – This is just about the only ray of sunlight in the entire psalm.

‘That little word “my” opens for a moment a space between the clouds through which the Sun of righteousness casts one solitary beam. Generally speaking, you will find that when the Psalm begins with lamentation, it ends with praise; like the sun, which, rising in clouds and mist, sets brightly, and darts forth its parting rays just before it goes down. But here the first gleam shoots across the sky just as the sun rises, and no sooner has the ray appeared, than thick clouds and darkness gather over it; the sun continues its course throughout the whole day enveloped in clouds; and sets at last in a thicker bank of them than it ever had around it during the day. “Lover and friend hast thou put far from me, and mine acquaintance into darkness.” In what a dark cloud does the sun of Heman set!—(J.C. Philpot, quoted by Spurgeon)

88:2 Listen to my prayer!
Pay attention to my cry for help!

Despite God’s apparent indifference, our Lord in Lk 18:7f assures us that he hears such cries.

Virtually the only positive thing in this psalm is that the psalmist continues to pray.

88:3 For my life is filled with troubles
and I am ready to enter Sheol.
88:4 They treat me like those who descend into the grave.
I am like a helpless man,
88:5 adrift among the dead,
like corpses lying in the grave,
whom you remember no more,
and who are cut off from your power.

‘I am as good as dead.’

88:6 You place me in the lowest regions of the pit,
in the dark places, in the watery depths.
88:7 Your anger bears down on me,
and you overwhelm me with all your waves.
(Selah)

88:8 You cause those who know me to keep their distance;
you make me an appalling sight to them.
I am trapped and cannot get free.
88:9 My eyes grow weak because of oppression.
I call out to you, O LORD, all day long;
I spread out my hands in prayer to you.
88:10 Do you accomplish amazing things for the dead?
Do the departed spirits rise up and give you thanks?
(Selah)

As Kidner says, it is among the living that miracles are seen, God’s praises sung, his love declared, and his deliverance exhibited.  It is characterised by inactivity, silence, severing of ties, corruption.  Death is indeed an enemy – the ‘last enemy’, according to the NT.  Faith must see beyond death to resurrection if there is to be any hope.

88:11 Is your loyal love proclaimed in the grave,
or your faithfulness in the place of the dead?
88:12 Are your amazing deeds experienced in the dark region,
or your deliverance in the land of oblivion?
88:13 As for me, I cry out to you, O LORD;
in the morning my prayer confronts you.
88:14 O LORD, why do you reject me,
and pay no attention to me?
88:15 I am oppressed and have been on the verge of death since my youth.
I have been subjected to your horrors and am numb with pain.
88:16 Your anger overwhelms me;
your terrors destroy me.

God seems to be his bitter enemy.  All his earthly friends have been taken (v18).

88:17 They surround me like water all day long;
they join forces and encircle me.
88:18 You cause my friends and neighbors to keep their distance;
those who know me leave me alone in the darkness.

‘With darkness as its final word, what is the role of this psalm in Scripture? For the beginning of an answer we may note, first, its witness to the possibility of unrelieved suffering as a believer’s earthly lot. The happy ending of most psalms of this kind is seen to be a bonus, not a due; its withholding is not a proof of either God’s displeasure or his defeat. Secondly, the psalm adds its voice to the ‘groaning in travail’ which forbids us to accept the present order as final. It is a sharp reminder that ‘we wait for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies’ (Rom. 8:22f.). Thirdly, this author, like Job, does not give up. He completes his prayer, still in the dark and totally unrewarded. The taunt, ‘Does Job fear God for naught?’, is answered yet again. Fourthly, the author’s name allows us, with hindsight, to see that his rejection was only apparent (see the opening comments on the psalm). His existence was no mistake; there was a divine plan bigger than he knew, and a place in it reserved most carefully for him.’ (Kidner)

‘The psalm reminds us of the limits set for praying that is not based on the knowledge that God raised Messiah Jesus from the grave. This Old Testament prayer sounds like a cry to hear that good news as its answer.’ (Mays)