Psa 102:3 | KingComments | STEP | The sufferings of the Messiah during His life on earth were deep. We find in His physical suffering, in the suffering of His soul, in the suffering from the side of men, and in the suffering from the side of God. To be able to somewhat empathize with the reality of His feelings that He shares with us in these verses, we need the help of God’s Spirit. Often it is with us as with Peter, James and John. The Lord Jesus asks them to watch with Him, while He is very distressed and troubled because of the work He is going to accomplish on the cross. But they fall asleep, while the Lord Jesus is in severe battle, and He has asked them to watch with Him ( ; ). He complains that His days “have been consumed in smoke” ( ). So quickly and volatile He sees His days passing, while no result is visible. The effort of His life in the service of His God has cost Him everything, but it all seems to have been in vain (cf. ). It is the suffering of the deathbed, facing death. His “bones have been scorched like a hearth”. The bones glow with a high fever, which makes the strength disappear. His heart has been smitten with the affliction in which He is ( ). It is “smitten like grass and has withered away”. The life has gone out of it through dehydration. He is so engrossed in affliction that He has forgotten to “eat” His “bread”. The affliction of Zion, which He feels to be His affliction, has completely seized Him, He cannot think of anything else. All appetite has disappeared. His suffering is visible. He suffers intense pains. Because of “the loudness of” His “groaning”, His bones cling to His flesh ( ; cf. ). The loud groaning takes all His energy. His bones become visible through His skin. Added to this is His great loneliness! He felt Himself to be “a pelican of the wilderness” and “like an owl of the waste places” ( ). It is not certain which bird, of which the name is translated here as “pelican”, it was. What we do know for sure is that this bird is lonely. A wilderness is an exemplar of loneliness. The owl is a bird that lives in solitude and has waste places as its natural habitat. The emphasis is on the fact that the environment has become a mess. This has become the Lord’s habitat. No one understood Him, neither His family nor His disciples. He has been alone in His perfect apprehension of the real spiritual situation of Jerusalem and Zion, which have become a mess. Under this He has suffered. His suffering is not just present during the day. He complains that He lies awake ( ). The affliction is so great that it keeps Him awake, restless. He cannot sleep because of it. Loneliness is often felt even more deeply at night than during the day. The Lord says that He has “become like a lonely bird [or: sparrow] on a housetop”. The sparrow mostly lives with others. A lonely sparrow on the roof is an exemplar of solitude, which at the same time makes him vulnerable to birds of prey, his natural enemies. The Hebrew word is actually the general term for “bird”, which is often translated as “sparrow”. A solitary bird on the roof at night is an exemplar of restlessness, but also of vulnerability. That the Lord Jesus is lonely does not mean that He is left alone. Added to the pain of solitude is the scorn of His enemies which they pour out on Him all day long ( ; cf. ). It is as rubbing salt in someone’s wounds. There is no one who feels sorry for Him. On the contrary, His enemies exploit His vulnerability to rage against Him. Thereby they use His Name “as a curse”. They swear by His Name that they will do Him harm. We can compare it to names like those of Zedekiah and Ahab, which were used as a curse during the time of exile ( ). Thus the name of the psalmist is used as a curse by saying to someone: ‘May happen to you what happened to the psalmist!’ It is a curse. It is also not just a few who want to harm Him, but a whole group. Daily food consists of bread and drink. For the Lord, it was not so. In He says that He forgot to eat His bread. Now He says that He has “eaten ashes like bread” ( ). Bread serves to strengthen ( ). From ashes all life is gone and speaks of death and the sorrow that accompanies it ( ). What He drank, He “mingled … with weeping” (cf. ). Drinking serves to refresh, but tears are caused by sorrow. To drink tears means to drink sorrow. This does not refresh, but depresses. These are mourning rituals ( ; ). That ashes are eaten instead of sprinkled on the head and tears are drunk instead of shed means extreme mourning. Twice in the Gospels it is mentioned that the Lord Jesus wept ( ; ). One time it is silently shedding tears, and the other time it is crying aloud. Here we read that His whole life was marked by tears and sorrow. Here we get a deep glimpse into the soul, the emotional life of the Lord. If we can get an eye and a heart for this as we walk with Him, how much more precious He becomes to us! In , Christ is speaking to God. We see this in the use of the words “You” and “Your”. Then in we hear the reasons for His cry for help. In , Christ speaks to God again. He says to God that He accepts suffering from His hand. He speaks of what God has done to Him. He tells the LORD, His God, that He has “lifted” Him “up”, or exalted Him, to be the Messiah of His people. But instead of being able to take possession of the kingdom, He has “cast” Him “away”, or humiliated Him (cf. ). Instead of living a long life in the favor of God as Messiah to His people, His days are “like a lengthened shadow” ( ; ). When shadows lengthen, it indicates that the sun will soon set and it will be night. The Messiah does not see it getting light, but He sees that soon night will fall over His life. He foresees His death. He experiences that He withers away “like grass” (cf. ). All prosperity disappears from His life, all life flows from His body.

‏ Psalms 102:3

Lifted Up and Cast Away

The sufferings of the Messiah during His life on earth were deep. We find in Psa 102:3-5 His physical suffering, in Psa 102:6-7 the suffering of His soul, in Psa 102:8 the suffering from the side of men, and in Psa 102:9-10 the suffering from the side of God.

To be able to somewhat empathize with the reality of His feelings that He shares with us in these verses, we need the help of God’s Spirit. Often it is with us as with Peter, James and John. The Lord Jesus asks them to watch with Him, while He is very distressed and troubled because of the work He is going to accomplish on the cross. But they fall asleep, while the Lord Jesus is in severe battle, and He has asked them to watch with Him (Mt 26:36-43; Mk 14:32-40).

He complains that His days “have been consumed in smoke” (Psa 102:3). So quickly and volatile He sees His days passing, while no result is visible. The effort of His life in the service of His God has cost Him everything, but it all seems to have been in vain (cf. Isa 49:4a). It is the suffering of the deathbed, facing death. His “bones have been scorched like a hearth”. The bones glow with a high fever, which makes the strength disappear.

His heart has been smitten with the affliction in which He is (Psa 102:4). It is “smitten like grass and has withered away”. The life has gone out of it through dehydration. He is so engrossed in affliction that He has forgotten to “eat” His “bread”. The affliction of Zion, which He feels to be His affliction, has completely seized Him, He cannot think of anything else. All appetite has disappeared.

His suffering is visible. He suffers intense pains. Because of “the loudness of” His “groaning”, His bones cling to His flesh (Psa 102:5; cf. Job 19:20). The loud groaning takes all His energy. His bones become visible through His skin.

Added to this is His great loneliness! He felt Himself to be “a pelican of the wilderness” and “like an owl of the waste places” (Psa 102:6). It is not certain which bird, of which the name is translated here as “pelican”, it was. What we do know for sure is that this bird is lonely. A wilderness is an exemplar of loneliness.

The owl is a bird that lives in solitude and has waste places as its natural habitat. The emphasis is on the fact that the environment has become a mess. This has become the Lord’s habitat. No one understood Him, neither His family nor His disciples. He has been alone in His perfect apprehension of the real spiritual situation of Jerusalem and Zion, which have become a mess. Under this He has suffered.

His suffering is not just present during the day. He complains that He lies awake (Psa 102:7). The affliction is so great that it keeps Him awake, restless. He cannot sleep because of it. Loneliness is often felt even more deeply at night than during the day. The Lord says that He has “become like a lonely bird [or: sparrow] on a housetop”. The sparrow mostly lives with others. A lonely sparrow on the roof is an exemplar of solitude, which at the same time makes him vulnerable to birds of prey, his natural enemies.

The Hebrew word is actually the general term for “bird”, which is often translated as “sparrow”. A solitary bird on the roof at night is an exemplar of restlessness, but also of vulnerability.

That the Lord Jesus is lonely does not mean that He is left alone. Added to the pain of solitude is the scorn of His enemies which they pour out on Him all day long (Psa 102:8; cf. Isa 53:3). It is as rubbing salt in someone’s wounds. There is no one who feels sorry for Him. On the contrary, His enemies exploit His vulnerability to rage against Him.

Thereby they use His Name “as a curse”. They swear by His Name that they will do Him harm. We can compare it to names like those of Zedekiah and Ahab, which were used as a curse during the time of exile (Jer 29:22). Thus the name of the psalmist is used as a curse by saying to someone: ‘May happen to you what happened to the psalmist!’ It is a curse. It is also not just a few who want to harm Him, but a whole group.

Daily food consists of bread and drink. For the Lord, it was not so. In Psa 102:4 He says that He forgot to eat His bread. Now He says that He has “eaten ashes like bread” (Psa 102:9). Bread serves to strengthen (Psa 104:14). From ashes all life is gone and speaks of death and the sorrow that accompanies it (Jer 6:26).

What He drank, He “mingled … with weeping” (cf. Psa 42:3). Drinking serves to refresh, but tears are caused by sorrow. To drink tears means to drink sorrow. This does not refresh, but depresses. These are mourning rituals (Jer 6:26; Est 4:1). That ashes are eaten instead of sprinkled on the head and tears are drunk instead of shed means extreme mourning.

Twice in the Gospels it is mentioned that the Lord Jesus wept (Jn 11:35; Lk 19:41). One time it is silently shedding tears, and the other time it is crying aloud. Here we read that His whole life was marked by tears and sorrow. Here we get a deep glimpse into the soul, the emotional life of the Lord. If we can get an eye and a heart for this as we walk with Him, how much more precious He becomes to us!

In Psa 102:1b-2, Christ is speaking to God. We see this in the use of the words “You” and “Your”. Then in Psa 102:3-9 we hear the reasons for His cry for help. In Psa 102:10, Christ speaks to God again. He says to God that He accepts suffering from His hand. He speaks of what God has done to Him. He tells the LORD, His God, that He has “lifted” Him “up”, or exalted Him, to be the Messiah of His people. But instead of being able to take possession of the kingdom, He has “cast” Him “away”, or humiliated Him (cf. Psa 30:7).

Instead of living a long life in the favor of God as Messiah to His people, His days are “like a lengthened shadow” (Psa 102:11; Psa 109:23). When shadows lengthen, it indicates that the sun will soon set and it will be night. The Messiah does not see it getting light, but He sees that soon night will fall over His life. He foresees His death. He experiences that He withers away “like grass” (cf. Psa 102:5). All prosperity disappears from His life, all life flows from His body.