24 I will say, O my God, take me not away before my time; your years go on through all generations:
Are you not eternal, O Lord my God, my Holy One? for you there is no death. O Lord, he has been ordered by you for our punishment; and by you, O Rock, he has been marked out to put us right.
Let your wrath be turned away from me, so that I may be comforted, before I go away from here, and become nothing.
Truly, God is great, greater than all our knowledge; the number of his years may not be searched out.
But the Lord is King for ever: he has made ready his high seat for judging.
I said, In the quiet of my days I am going down into the underworld: the rest of my years are being taken away from me. I said, I will not see the Lord, even the Lord in the land of the living: I will not see man again or those living in the world. My resting-place is pulled up and taken away from me like a herdsman's tent: my life is rolled up like a linen-worker's thread; I am cut off from the cloth on the frame: from day even to night you give me up to pain. I am crying out with pain till the morning; it is as if a lion was crushing all my bones. I make cries like a bird; I give out sounds of grief like a dove: my eyes are looking up with desire; O Lord, I am crushed, take up my cause. What am I to say? seeing that it is he who has done it: all my time of sleeping I am turning from side to side without rest. O Lord, for this cause I am waiting for you, give rest to my spirit: make me well again, and let me come back to life. See, in place of peace my soul had bitter sorrow. but you have kept back my soul from the underworld; for you have put all my sins out of your memory. For the underworld is not able to give you praise, death gives you no honour: for those who go down into the underworld there is no hope in your mercy. The living, the living man, he will give you praise, as I do this day: the father will give the story of your mercy to his children. O Lord, quickly be my saviour; so we will make my songs to corded instruments all the days of our lives in the house of the Lord. And Isaiah said, Let them take a cake of figs, and put it on the diseased place, and he will get well. And Hezekiah said, What is the sign that I will go up to the house of the Lord?
John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace to you and peace, from him who is and was and is to come; and from the seven Spirits which are before his high seat;
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.