Psa 88:3-4 | KingComments | STEP | Heman goes on to tell God why he calls to Him, which we see by the word “for” ( ). He is not satisfied with the good that God has promised to those who serve Him, but with “troubles”. “Enough” means: nothing more can be added; he has reached the breaking point. To emphasize this we are given a list of synonyms in these verses to describe how the water has come to his lips. He is not connected to life, but to death. He is, as it were, living dead. Through all the affliction his “life has drawn near to Sheol”. He is already “reckoned among those who go down to the pit” ( ). He sees himself as doomed. This is the perspective that he also has in mind according to those around him: not life, but the pit, the grave, death. His fate is like that of all people whose life is over. There is no strength in him to resist this descent. He has “become like a man without strength”. Affliction has robbed him of his strength and made him powerless, he is literally deadly tired. That he says of himself that he is “forsaken among the dead” ( ) – literally free among the dead – means that he is free from the disciplining hand of God like all the other dead. This thought is confirmed by the second sentence of this verse. He sees himself “like the slain who lie in the grave”. ‘Slain’ brings to mind those who have died in war. By this he means a mass grave where he is not given a tomb and cannot be identified. He has become an anonymous victim, a number. The psalmist here means a senseless death, a dishonorable death. He adds that God no longer thinks about them, that God no longer has any concern for them as the living. “They are cut off from Your hand.” With a dead person God can no longer deal like He does with a living one. Of course He also has authority over the dead, but this is about His dealings with people living on earth. For the New Testament believer it is different. He knows that after his death he will praise the Lord in paradise. He tells God that He has “put” him “in the lowest pit” ( ). Putting into a pit is done to a wicked person ( ), for the greatest wicked person the deepest (lowest) pit is dug. The complaint of now turns into an accusation against God. ‘You have done this, You have rejected and forsaken me.’ In doing so he acknowledges God’s dealings with him. In the same way, further on in the psalm, he attributes everything to God’s actions. He continually says what God does to him. This action presses very hard on him. He describes the lowest pit as “dark places” and “depths”. It is, as it were, a superlative of the realm of the dead, the deepest realm of the dead (cf. ). We would say in ordinary language, not just dead, but ‘stone dead’. All around him is darkness. He cannot look upward, to the light, because he is so deeply mired in afflicted. He tells God that His wrath “has rested upon” him ( ). “Rested upon” is literally “rests on” in the sense of “crushing”. The meaning is: ‘Your wrath/grimness/poison crushes me’. It is as if God’s wrath is put to rest by crushing him, that much he feels himself the target of that wrath. He is “afflicted” with all God’s waves. This reminds one of the Lord Jesus, but His suffering goes far beyond that. On the cross, in the three hours of darkness, He received all the waves of God’s wrath upon Him because of the sins of His own that were laid upon Him. That is not the case with Heman. The waves of affliction come only upon him and only affect him. It is God’s discipline or education to draw His own to Himself. Heman here is a type of the remnant of Israel in the end time. This is the teaching that the maskilim will receive and pass on to others. This distress also concerns his loneliness and rejection by his “acquaintances” ( ; ). This is what Job also experienced ( ). He tells God that He has “removed” them far from him. And as if that weren’t bad enough, He has also made him “an object of loathing to them”. Not only has he been abandoned, but his acquaintances give him a wide berth. To them he is like a leper, someone with a contagious, stinking disease, from whom one must stay away (cf. ). We also see this with the Lord Jesus ( ). Thus the psalmist is “shut up” in his own situation. This is the condition of a leper ( ). We would say today – we write April 2020, during the corona crisis – ‘he is quarantined’. In his affliction he is also isolated in solitude. Heman himself has no strength to get out of his affliction and suffering. Around him there is no one to look after him and give him any help or comfort. He feels like Job, who complains that God has blocked his way and therefore he cannot come to the light ( ). His eye, which looks out to God for deliverance from his affliction, “has wasted away because of affliction” ( ). He finds himself in bitter misery. He cries “every day” to the “LORD”, the God of the covenant. Surely God will not forget that He made a covenant with His people, to which he belongs, to bless them, will He? Heman, as a picture of total helplessness, spreads out his hands to Him. To whom else can he spread out his hands? He knows that only God can help him. If only God will take his spread out hand, he will be set free.

‏ Psalms 88:3-4

The Extend of the Affliction

Heman goes on to tell God why he calls to Him, which we see by the word “for” (Psa 88:3). He is not satisfied with the good that God has promised to those who serve Him, but with “troubles”. “Enough” means: nothing more can be added; he has reached the breaking point. To emphasize this we are given a list of synonyms in these verses to describe how the water has come to his lips. He is not connected to life, but to death. He is, as it were, living dead. Through all the affliction his “life has drawn near to Sheol”.

He is already “reckoned among those who go down to the pit” (Psa 88:4). He sees himself as doomed. This is the perspective that he also has in mind according to those around him: not life, but the pit, the grave, death. His fate is like that of all people whose life is over. There is no strength in him to resist this descent. He has “become like a man without strength”. Affliction has robbed him of his strength and made him powerless, he is literally deadly tired.

That he says of himself that he is “forsaken among the dead” (Psa 88:5) – literally free among the dead – means that he is free from the disciplining hand of God like all the other dead. This thought is confirmed by the second sentence of this verse. He sees himself “like the slain who lie in the grave”. ‘Slain’ brings to mind those who have died in war. By this he means a mass grave where he is not given a tomb and cannot be identified. He has become an anonymous victim, a number. The psalmist here means a senseless death, a dishonorable death.

He adds that God no longer thinks about them, that God no longer has any concern for them as the living. “They are cut off from Your hand.” With a dead person God can no longer deal like He does with a living one. Of course He also has authority over the dead, but this is about His dealings with people living on earth. For the New Testament believer it is different. He knows that after his death he will praise the Lord in paradise.

He tells God that He has “put” him “in the lowest pit” (Psa 88:6). Putting into a pit is done to a wicked person (Psa 94:13), for the greatest wicked person the deepest (lowest) pit is dug. The complaint of Psa 88:3-4 now turns into an accusation against God. ‘You have done this, You have rejected and forsaken me.’ In doing so he acknowledges God’s dealings with him. In the same way, further on in the psalm, he attributes everything to God’s actions. He continually says what God does to him.

This action presses very hard on him. He describes the lowest pit as “dark places” and “depths”. It is, as it were, a superlative of the realm of the dead, the deepest realm of the dead (cf. Psa 86:13b). We would say in ordinary language, not just dead, but ‘stone dead’. All around him is darkness. He cannot look upward, to the light, because he is so deeply mired in afflicted.

He tells God that His wrath “has rested upon” him (Psa 88:7). “Rested upon” is literally “rests on” in the sense of “crushing”. The meaning is: ‘Your wrath/grimness/poison crushes me’. It is as if God’s wrath is put to rest by crushing him, that much he feels himself the target of that wrath.

He is “afflicted” with all God’s waves. This reminds one of the Lord Jesus, but His suffering goes far beyond that. On the cross, in the three hours of darkness, He received all the waves of God’s wrath upon Him because of the sins of His own that were laid upon Him. That is not the case with Heman. The waves of affliction come only upon him and only affect him. It is God’s discipline or education to draw His own to Himself. Heman here is a type of the remnant of Israel in the end time. This is the teaching that the maskilim will receive and pass on to others.

This distress also concerns his loneliness and rejection by his “acquaintances” (Psa 88:8; Psa 88:18). This is what Job also experienced (Job 19:13-14). He tells God that He has “removed” them far from him. And as if that weren’t bad enough, He has also made him “an object of loathing to them”. Not only has he been abandoned, but his acquaintances give him a wide berth. To them he is like a leper, someone with a contagious, stinking disease, from whom one must stay away (cf. Lev 13:46). We also see this with the Lord Jesus (Psa 102:6-7).

Thus the psalmist is “shut up” in his own situation. This is the condition of a leper (Lev 13:46). We would say today – we write April 2020, during the corona crisis – ‘he is quarantined’. In his affliction he is also isolated in solitude. Heman himself has no strength to get out of his affliction and suffering. Around him there is no one to look after him and give him any help or comfort. He feels like Job, who complains that God has blocked his way and therefore he cannot come to the light (Job 3:23).

His eye, which looks out to God for deliverance from his affliction, “has wasted away because of affliction” (Psa 88:9). He finds himself in bitter misery. He cries “every day” to the “LORD”, the God of the covenant. Surely God will not forget that He made a covenant with His people, to which he belongs, to bless them, will He? Heman, as a picture of total helplessness, spreads out his hands to Him. To whom else can he spread out his hands? He knows that only God can help him. If only God will take his spread out hand, he will be set free.