1 <A Prayer of the man who is in trouble, when he is overcome, and puts his grief before the Lord.> Give ear to my prayer, O Lord, and let my cry come to you.
2 Let not your face be veiled from me in the day of my trouble; give ear to me, and let my cry be answered quickly.
3 My days are wasted like smoke, and my bones are burned up as in a fire.
4 My heart is broken; it has become dry and dead like grass, so that I give no thought to food.
5 Because of the voice of my sorrow, my flesh is wasted to the bone.
6 I am like a bird living by itself in the waste places; like the night-bird in a waste of sand.
7 I keep watch like a bird by itself on the house-top.
8 My haters say evil of me all day; those who are violent against me make use of my name as a curse.
9 I have had dust for bread and my drink has been mixed with weeping:
10 Because of your passion and your wrath, for I have been lifted up and then made low by you.
11 My days are like a shade which is stretched out; I am dry like the grass.
12 But you, O Lord, are eternal; and your name will never come to an end.
13 You will again get up and have mercy on Zion: for the time has come for her to be comforted.
14 For your servants take pleasure in her stones, looking with love on her dust.
15 So the nations will give honour to the name of the Lord, and all the kings of the earth will be in fear of his glory:
16 When the Lord has put up the walls of Zion, and has been been in his glory;
17 When he has given ear to the prayer of the poor, and has not put his request on one side.
18 This will be put in writing for the coming generation, and the people of the future will give praise to the Lord.
19 For from his holy place the Lord has seen, looking down on the earth from heaven;
20 Hearing the cry of the prisoner, making free those for whom death is ordered;
21 So that they may give out the name of the Lord in Zion, and his praise in Jerusalem;
22 When the peoples are come together, and the kingdoms, to give worship to the Lord.
23 He has taken my strength from me in the way; he has made short my days.
24 I will say, O my God, take me not away before my time; your years go on through all generations:
25 In the past you put the earth on its base, and the heavens are the work of your hands.
26 They will come to an end, but you will still go on; they all will become old like a coat, and like a robe they will be changed:
27 But you are the unchanging One, and your years will have no end.
28 The children of your servants will have a safe resting-place, and their seed will be ever before you.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Psalms 102
Commentary on Psalms 102 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
PSALM 102
Ps 102:1-28. A Prayer of the afflicted, &c.—The general terms seem to denote the propriety of regarding the Psalm as suitably expressive of the anxieties of any one of David's descendants, piously concerned for the welfare of the Church. It was probably David's composition, and, though specially suggested by some peculiar trials, descriptive of future times. Overwhelmed—(compare Ps 61:2). Poureth out—pouring out the soul—(Ps 62:8). Complaint—(Ps 55:2). The tone of complaint predominates, though in view of God's promises and abiding faithfulness, it is sometimes exchanged for that of confidence and hope.
1-3. The terms used occur in Ps 4:1; 17:1, 6; 18:6; 31:2, 10; 37:20.
4. (Compare Ps 121:6).
so that I forget—or, "have forgotten," that is, in my distress (Ps 107:18), and hence strength fails.
5. voice … groaning—effect put for cause, my agony emaciates me.
6, 7. The figures express extreme loneliness.
8. sworn against me—or literally, "by me," wishing others as miserable as I am (Nu 5:21).
9. ashes—a figure of grief, my bread; weeping or tears, my drink (Ps 80:5).
10. lifted … cast me down—or, "cast me away" as stubble by a whirlwind (Isa 64:6).
11. shadow … declineth—soon to vanish in the darkness of night.
12. Contrast with man's frailty (compare Ps 90:1-7).
thy remembrance—that by which Thou art remembered, Thy promise.
13, 14. Hence it is here adduced.
for—or, "when."
the set time, &c.—the time promised, the indication of which is the interest felt for Zion by the people of God.
15-17. God's favor to the Church will affect her persecutors with fear.
16. When the Lord shall build—or better, "Because the Lord hath built," &c., as a reason for the effect on others; for in thus acting and hearing the humble, He is most glorious.
18. people … created—(compare Ps 22:31), an organized body, as a Church.
19-22. For—or, "That," as introducing the statement of God's condescension. A summary of what shall be written.
to loose … appointed—or, "deliver" them (Ps 79:11).
21. To declare, &c.—or, that God's name may be celebrated in the assemblies of His Church, gathered from all nations (Zec 8:20-23), and devoted to His service.
23-28. The writer, speaking for the Church, finds encouragement in the midst of all his distresses. God's eternal existence is a pledge of faithfulness to His promises.
in the way—of providence.
weakened—literally, "afflicted," and made fearful of a premature end, a figure of the apprehensions of the Church, lest God might not perform His promise, drawn from those of a person in view of the dangers of early death (compare Ps 89:47). Paul (Heb 1:10) quotes Ps 102:26-28 as addressed to Christ in His divine nature. The scope of the Psalm, as already seen, so far from opposing, favors this view, especially by the sentiments of Ps 102:12-15 (compare Isa 60:1). The association of the Messiah with a day of future glory to the Church was very intimate in the minds of Old Testament writers; and with correct views of His nature it is very consistent that He should be addressed as the Lord and Head of His Church, who would bring about that glorious future on which they ever dwelt with fond delightful anticipations.