To the Leader: According to Mahalathleannoth

GRUMBLING

PSALM 88

1A Song.A Psalm of the Korahites.

To the leader: According to MahalathLeannoth.

A Maskil of Heman the Ezrahite.

O YHWH, God of my salvation, when, at night, I cry out in your presence, 2let my prayer come before you; incline your ear to my cry.3For my soul is full of troubles, and my life draws near toSheol.4I am counted among those who go down to the Pit; I am likethose who have no help, 5like those forsaken among thedead, like the slain that lie in the grave, like those whom you remember no more, for they are cut off from your hand.6You have put me in the depths of the Pit,in the regions darkand deep.7Your wrath lies heavy upon me, and youoverwhelm mewith all your waves.

Selah

8You have caused my companions to shun me; you havemade

me a thing of horror to them.I am shut in so that Icannot

escape; 9my eye grows dimthrough sorrow.Every dayI call on

you, O YHWH; I spread out my hands toyou.10Do youwork

wonders for the dead? Do the shades rise up to praiseyou?

Selah

11Is your steadfast love declared in the grave, or your

faithfulness in Abaddon? 12Are your wonders known in the

darkness, or your saving help in the land of forgetfulness?

13But I, O YHWH, cry out to you;in the morning my prayer

comes before you.14O YHWH, why do you cast me off?Why do

you hide your face from me?15Wretched and close to death

from my youth up, I sufferyour terrors; I am desperate.16Your

wrath has swept over me; your dread assaultsdestroy me.

17They surround me like a flood all day long; from all sides

they close in on me. 18You have caused friend and neighbor to

shun me;my companions are in darkness.

Well now, if you weren’t depressed before I read this psalm of lament..!

INTRODUCTION

[Many decades ago, the commentator Matthew Henry said Psalm 88 was “melancholy, mourning and woe from start to finish.”John Calvin reflected onPsalm 88 in this way: “This psalm contains very grievous lamentations, poured forth by its inspired penman when under very severe affliction, and almost at the point of despair.”]

Psalm 88 has often been described as being unique among the Psalms because of its total lack of encouragement or hope.

• It is therefore not surprising that, in terms of public reading or use as preaching material, Psalm 88 is invisible; it doesn’t exist.

So, as we explore why this psalm is in the Psalter at all, we must hold in our minds three things:

1. The Psalms are poems that were meant to be sung – they were (and actually still are) Israel’s praise and worship catalogue.

1. When human beings are complaining and grumbling, whether to YHWH or to one another, they do not normally do so by bursting into song, and nor do they normally do so by speaking in poetry.

1. Psalm 88 was written and arranged at a later date from the specific time and events that it was relevant to; that later writing of the words and the composing of the music had a specific purpose in mind.

Psalm 88 was not, in itself, the author’s original complaint to YHWHat the same time that he was originally in that situation, but rather it was his later reflective expression of that complaint.

The psalmist had come through the situation that he wrote about in the psalm, and he wrote his psalm at a later date as he looked back and reflected on his experiences during those dark days.

ARE THE PSALMS UNIQUE?

The Old Testament Psalter is a collection of poems (to be sung) that are typical of a literary form which the Hebrews, in common with other cultures, used from at least the Exodus right up until the post-exilic (or second Temple) period.

In that sense, they are not unique – but, actually, they are unique.

[Geological excavations have shown us that Biblical psalms have many similarities to Egyptian poetry and Ugaritic texts, and this suggests adaptation of form from one culture to another.There was in Syria-Palestine a shared cultural tradition of poetry-building that included both the Canaanites in the Late Bronze Age from whom we have the Ugaritic texts, and the Israelites from whom we have early Hebrew poetry, including early Psalms.Such links between cultures have great historical significance.

The existence of this shared cultural tradition suggests that the Israelites were marked off from the Canaanites not so much by any ethnic distinctiveness as by their exclusive religious conviction that they were the true covenant people that were called together by YHWH himself. No other people made that claim.

It was the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls at Qumran that provided important and fascinating information on the book of Psalms. The sect at Qumran was deeply preoccupied with the Law of Moses, and the scrolls include numerous references from the Psalms, as well as providing over thirty copies of the Psalms.

The text of the largest Psalms scroll had three startling features. First, that the sequence of the Psalms in that text was altogether different from that in the traditional Hebrew text; second, that other poetic sequences were mixed in with the Psalms; and third, that the text itself varied from the traditional Hebrew.]

What makes the Psalms unique among all other similar poetic literature from across that whole regionwasnot the form of the text itself, which was common, but rathertheywere unique because ofthe person of YHWH to whom the Psalmswere addressed.

WHAT IS PSALM 88’s PURPOSE?

What emotions do you think that people should be able to express in their prayers to YHWH?

Anger? Frustration? Despair? Loneliness? Disappointment?

[Psalm 88 is classified byGunkel as an individual lament psalm, allowing expression of individual grief within the setting of the assembled congregation.He says that such psalms as this reflect very deeply and very honestly the turmoil in the heart of a man.The confessions of Jeremiah show a prophet cursing, lamenting, and expressing anger – emotions that are embedded in the whole of the Scriptures.Sometimes these emotions are directed against enemies but, in a real and moving honesty, they are sometimes directed against YHWH himself.]

Psalms of lament make up a large part of the book of Psalms, and they should not be ignored just because they may be hard for us to deal with properly in the context of a worship service.

• The Psalms are allabout real life, they are all about real issues, they are certainly all about real hardships.

• Perhaps most strikingly of all, they are all about the inability of the psalmist to comprehend why bad things shouldcontinually happen to YHWH’s own people.

• Yet, the question “Why?”, which is the Psalms biggest question about suffering, is only really answered by the (unspoken) counter-question“Why not?”

HOW WAS PSALM 88 USED?

In exploring how Psalm 88 was used by Israel in ancient times, I am giving you what I believe is the answer that makes most sense– but other interpretations are available.

I believe that this particular psalm was a song that was meant to be used as a performed expression of anguish, and that it featured as part of a larger performance of the Psalms in worship.

If this particular psalm was a song that was meant to be a performed expression of anguish in that way, how would this be balanced or countered, since Psalm 88 appears to contain no real hope?

• I believe that the answer to that question lies in knowing that many psalms were linked up into pairs.

• Psalm 88 and Psalm 89 were a linked pair.

• In performance terms, Psalm 89 was the answer – the balance – to Psalm 88.

• The performance of the mournful Psalm 88 was balanced and answered by the following joyful performance of Psalm 89.

The rejoicing of Psalm 89 from verse one to verse thirty-seven would immediately follow the melancholy of Psalm 88.

• The wonders, faithfulness, deeds and majesty of YHWHin Psalm 89 made a fitting response to its depressing predecessor.

The praise of YHWHup to verse 37 of Psalm 89 lasted twice as long as the misery that preceded it in Psalm 88.

• This would also give Psalm 88 its unique meaning, for the answers to the deep questions it raisedwere found outside the psalm itself (in Psalm 89), even as the answers to the deepest questions we human beings raise are found outside ourselves.

Psalm 89 is a reminder that, with YHWH, there is always hope!

• And that hope rests solely in the character – the name – of YHWH.

After the joyful section up to verse 37, Psalm 89 then has its next fifteen verses returning to the already stated issues of Psalm 88.

• It is almost as though,after the verses of praise of YHWH that are contained in Psalm 89, the complaints of Psalm 88 werethen restated in Psalm 89 as a reminder – or as a reprise.

This restatement or reprise does not nullify the praise that has just gone before, but rather it brings in the demand for a response by restating the themes of Psalm 88.

Could it have been that the listeners of the performance of Psalm 88 were then being asked to give their own response to the questions and painful issues raised by Psalm 88 as they heard the answer of Psalm 89?

• Would the listeners choose the answers of Psalm 89?

• Surely so!

• For they were a people of faith!

Furthermore, could the use of these two psalms together in a performance be the reason why Psalm 89 closes with a double ‘Amen’?

[THE AUTHORS

It was an Ezrahite, Heman, who wrote Psalm 88, and another Ezrahite, Ethan, who wrote Psalm 89.John Calvin, in his commentary on the Psalms, suggested that Heman is probably the same person as spoken of in 1 Kings 4:31, where Solomon, commended for his wisdom, is compared with Ethan, Heman, Chalcol and Darda.That Heman and Ethan should be mentioned together in this way in 1 Kings is very interesting in light of the fact that Psalms 88 and 89 stand together in the Psalter and are linked as a pair.]

Let us now consider how the psalmist built his case for grumbling toYHWH:

1. Psalm 88 had the psalmist telling YHWH about the frequent occasions in which he had prayed to YHWH – thus he laid out his consistent case of complaint before YHWH.

1. The psalmist did not mince his words in telling YHWH how desperate his situation was – thus he laid out his consistent case of complaint before YHWH.

1. The psalmist mentioned other people only to emphasise his own desperate situation – thus he laid out his consistent case of complaint before YHWH.

1. The psalmist spokeof the extremes of death and the dead – thus he laid out his consistent case of complaint before YHWH.

That was how the Psalmist built his case and presented his complaints to YHWH.

TEXT OF PSALM 88

VERSE 1

O YHWH, God of my salvation…

I believe that the way that the main text of this psalm begins gives us a big clue about how it was used.

This beginning of Psalm 88 makes clear that the psalm is about issues of faith, not issues of despair.

In this respect, thise beginning of Psalm 88 mirrors the close of Psalm 89 and the two psalms are wrapped togetherwith an inclusio.

The first verse (proper) of Psalm 88 O YHWH, God of my salvation… and the last verse of Psalm 89 Blessed be YHWH forever. Amen and amen. are like bookends that hold together everything in between.

Bothpsalms are really focused on YHWH – they are notfocused on the people who are experiencing what those psalms describe.

And the message here was: “YHWH, are you listening to me?”

VERSE 2

Let my prayer come before you; incline your ear to my cry.

The Hebrew expression here speaks very strongly of the father and son relationship, which directly reflected YHWH’s fatherhood of Israel.

This is a cry of relationship far more than it is a cry of despair.

And the message here was: “YHWH, are you listening to me?”

VERSE 3

For my soul is full of troubles, and my life draws near toSheol.

• Every mother knows that young children do not have minor crises.

• When something goes wrong for the child – that child’s entire world falls apart.

• The wise and experienced human parent has a magic sponge, or a clever cloth, or a special word; something that they use that makes everything better and puts the child’s world back togetheragain.

• What does YHWH have for his children when their world has fallen apart?

And the message here was: “YHWH, are you listening to me?”

VERSES 4,5

I am counted among those who go down to the Pit; I am like

those who have no help, like those forsaken among thedead,

like the slain that lie in the grave, like those whom you

remember no more, for they are cut off from your hand.

By speaking of himself as being counted among those in the Pit, like those who have no help, like the slain lying in the grave, like those that YHWH remembers no more, the psalmist is seeing his plight as being beyond any human help or intervention – for only YHWHcould help him then.

And the message here was: “YHWH, are you listening to me?”

VERSE 6

You have put me in the depths of the Pit, in the regions dark

and deep.

The psalmist now says that his situation is YHWH’s responsibility, because it was YHWH himself who put him there.

Since it was YHWHhimself who put him there, there can be no way back.

And the message here was: “YHWH, are you listening to me?”

VERSE 7

Your wrath lies heavy upon me, and you overwhelm mewith all

your waves.

The psalmist believed that his plight was because of YHWH’s wrath that was ignited against him because of something that he had said or done, and that was a very human response.

When a Christian is in distress or difficulty of one kind or another, our first reaction may often be to wonder what they have done to deserve it.

It is a very human response to look for blame – whose fault is it?

Selah closes this section of the psalm and calls for serious reflection and prayer about this desperate situation.

And the message here was: “YHWH, are you listening to me?”

VERSE 8

You have caused my companions to shun me; you havemade me a thing of horror to them.

The psalm restarted and it was clearly YHWH’s fault that all the psalmist’s friends had all deserted him.

No, it was far worse than that – YHWH had actually made the psalmist a thing of horror to his friends.

The psalmist was echoing the child’s cry when his world had fallen apart: “Nobody loves me, everybody hates me.”

And the message here was: “YHWH, are you listening to me?”

VERSE 9

Every day I call on you, O YHWH; I spread out my hands toyou.

The psalmist remindedYHWH that he kept reminding YHWH about how his world had fallen apart.

The psalmist had said the right things (Every day I call on you) and

he had done the right things (I spread out my hands to you) – so

whywas hestill in that desperate situation?

Why was YHWH still ignoring his son’s plight?

And the message here was: “YHWH, are you listening to me?”

VERSE 10

Do you work wonders for the dead?Do the shades rise upto

praise you?

The psalmist then remindedYHWH that the dead cannot praise YHWH, andnor can YHWHwork wonders for the dead – so YHWH you better remember me before I am one of them and it is too late!

The second Selah now caused another break in the song with the initiative left in YHWH’shands.

And the message here was: “YHWH, are you listening to me?”

VERSES 11,12

11Is your steadfast love declared in the grave, or your

faithfulness in Abaddon? 12Are your wonders known in the

darkness, or your saving help in the land of forgetfulness?

The song returned and the psalmist restated the reminder that the grave is too late for YHWH to make his glory known.

• It is easy for us today to forget that the psalmist was writing a long time before the incarnation.

• The psalmist did not have the resurrection evidence of Easter to give him hope, as we do.

And the message here was: “YHWH, are you listening to me?”

VERSE 13

But I, O YHWH, cry out to you; in the morning my prayercomes

before you.

Once again the psalmist remindedYHWH that he was faithful in praying to YHWH about his situation.

So, isn’t it about time you did something to vindicate me, O YHWH?

• But heaven was in a different time zone to the psalmist!

And the message here was: “YHWH, are you listening to me?”

VERSE 14

O YHWH, why do you cast me off? Why do you hide yourface from me?

“Nobody loves me” continued here as the psalmist quizzedYHWHabout why he had turned away from the psalmist when he was in such a desperate plight.