Psalm VI

To the chief Musician on Neginoth upon Sheminith, A Psalm of David.

1 O Lord, rebuke me not in thine anger, — neither chasten me in thy hot

displeasure.

2 Have mercy upon me, O Lord; fori am weak: O Lord, heal me; for

my bones are vexed.

3 My soul is also sore vexed: — but thou, O Lord, how long?

4 Return, 0 Lord, deliver my soul: — oh save me for thy mercies’ sake!

5 For in death there is no remembrance of thee: — in the grave who shall

give thee thanks?

6 I am weary with my groaning!

All the night make I my bed to swim; — I water my couch with my tears.

7 Mine eye is consumed because of grief; — it waxeth old because of all

mine enemies.

8 Depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity; for the Lord hath heard the

voice of my weeping.

9 The Lord hath heard my supplication; — the Lord will receive my prayer. 10 Let all mine enemies be ashamed and sore vexed:

Let them return and be ashamed suddenly.

Hitherto, the harp of Judah, and the sacred instruments of varied chords, have sounded little concerning the Just One’s inward sorrows. But now the Psalmist points “the Chief Musician” to the “Neginoth,” mentioned in Psahn iv., and at the same time to “Sheminith, “”f some eight-stringed instrument, as if both together must be used for a theme so intensely melancholy as these verses handle.

We mig t at once say to the reader, This is not David, it is the Son of David; the grief is too deep for any other, —” Yon never fciw a vessel ofUlx sorroivy

* This Psalm, and Psalms xxxii, xx.xviii, li, cii, cxxx, cxl, and cxlii, seven in all, form “the Penitential Psalms” — which in Popish days a penitent was taught to use, as Naaman at Jordan, and the lepers at purification, used a sevenfold washing or sprinkling.

f Augustine has a long passage in which he discusses the question, whether there is any reference to the Last Day in the number ‘■’■eight;” and is inclined to think that the Eternal Day may be meant. Some recent critics find an “octave“’ in the word, and others” the eighth tune.” This very obscui ity as to the sense of such technical terms, confirms the proof of the indisputable antiquity of the writing, like some of those names in I Chronicle.”, for which we can find no etvniology in written Hebrew.

David may have been led by the Holy Ghost to write it when in anguish of soul, as well as suffering of body; through such a bruised reed the Spirit of God may have breathed. But surely he meant to tell of One greater than David, — “the Man of sorrows.” Perhaps David had some seasons of anguish in his wanderings in the wilderness of Judah that furnished a shadow of the grief of Him who was to come, “bearing our griefs and carrying our sorrows.” Awakened souls experience horror of soul and alarming apprehensions of divine indignation, such as this Psalm expresses. A clear sight of sin, while the face of the Mediator is hid, produces this state of soul. Occasionally, too, believers feel, from peculiar causes, glooms that may be expressed in the words of this Psalm more fitly than any other. And particular clauses in it will express many of a believer’s frames, even as ver. 6. “Lord, how long?”-w&s Calvin’s favourite utterance. Still, it is chiefly of the true David that this iswritteu. We may suppose every word used by Him in some of those nights which He passed in desert places, or in the garden of Gethsemane.

What cries are these? “Lord, rebuke me not in thy wrath.’’ me itwd. Is not this the same voice that cried, “Father, if it be possible, remove this cup from me?” Again: “Have mercy upon me, 0 Lord, for I am weak.” Is not this the same who said, “The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak?” (Matt. xxvi. 34!.) We listen, and again He cries, “My soul is sore vexed.” Is it not the voice of Him who, as He entered the garden, spoke with such affecting sadness to his disciples, “My soul is exceeding sorrowful V (Matt. xxvi. 38.) Yes, He said,” even unto death.’^ And in this Psalm we hear Him tell some of his forebodings of death. It seems to be the very hour referred to in Heb. vi. 7, — the hour of “strong crying and tears to Him who was able to save him from death.” For here are his strong reasonings with God, — “In death there is no remembrance of thee; in the grave, who shall give tJiee thanks?” This expostulation undoubtedly is such as a member of Christ could use; for Hezekiah used it (Isa. xxxviii. 18), pleading that, if taken away, he could do no more for the making known God’s name and glory among men. But how peculiarly forcibly it becomes in the lips of Jesus! If he be given over to death,

22 PSALM VI. — THE ElGIiTEOUS ONE S COMFORTLESS COUCH.

i.e., left under its power, then neither He, nor any one of all those whom the Father had given Him, can ever give praise.

The dark night becomes darker. It is midnight. “/ am weary with my groaning. Mine eye is consumed with grief. It ivascea old, because of all mine ettemies.” “The eye is the mirror and gauge of soundness, not merely as respects the soul, but the body also,” says a well-known commentator. On his brow, anguish had shed more snows (see John viii. 57,) than threescore winters, in their natural course, might else have sprinkled there; for inconceivably stupendous must His view of sin have been, and his sense of its loathsomeness, his discovery of its hurt to God and man, and his horror under the wrath due to it. But all at once there is a change. The angel from heaven strengthens Him. (Luke xxii. 43.) He is revived by the Father’s promise, “I have glorified thee, and will glorify thee again.” He sees his foes “confounded and terrified” by the look of that very countenance, which they once could spit upon (ver. 10).

It is only at this one point that this Psalm presents anything bearing on the prophetic future. But certainly it does at this turn present us with a glimpse of the Seconds Coming of Him whose First Coming was so full of woe. “The voice of the turtle is heard again,” says a German commentator; and truly it is so. For, at ver. 8, the Suffering One sees “the glory that is to follow,” and exclaims, “Depart from me ye workers of iniquity,” words which are employed by himself in Luke xiii. 27, in describing the terms in which, as judge, He will address the multitudes of the unsaved on the Great Day, when He has risen up and has shut to the door.

Was it not designed that this ending should draw more attention to the beginning? Let the sinner now consider the Suffering One, lest the sentence pass on him, “Depart.” Come, and see here what a price was paid for the soul’s redemption; and if you have felt anguish of spirit under a sense of deserved wrath, let it cease when you find the Man of sorrows presenting all his anguish as the atonement for your soul. Thus will the reader use aright this most pathetic Psalm, in meditating on whiVli he is shewn —

Th’- ennifnrtlcss cnuclt of the lllr/yifeoiis One.