like one set loose among the dead, like the slain that lie in the grave, like those whom you remember no more, for they are cut off from your hand.
This psalm pours forth grievous lamentations from one nearly at despair, yet even in deep darkness he calls upon God to deliver him, displaying an invincible steadfastness of faith. The occasion remains debated: some hold it the prayer of a leper isolated by the law, others the voice of captive Israel in chains, yet all agree it speaks the language of one whom God has struck down.
AI summary
Commenting on Psalm 88:1-18
Free among the dead, that is the only liberty left to me. A man mortally wounded bleeds unheeded among the slain, unpitied and unsuccored to his last breath; so I sigh out my soul in loneliest sorrow, feeling as though God himself has forgotten me entirely. Never ridicule those crushed by melancholy; their pain is as real as a gaping wound, and all the harder to bear because it dwells in the soul where the inexperienced see only fancy.
AI summary
Before he utters a single complaint, he calls God the God of his salvation, the only words of comfort in all this psalm of clouds and darkness. This tells us he looked for salvation despite everything, and that he looked to God alone as its author. A man of prayer even in affliction, he had cried out earnestly, stretching his hands toward the Lord as one straining to catch hold of mercy itself.
AI summary
Commenting on Psalm 88:1-9