Psalm 102 -- Divine Conversation between Father and Son continued, Part 4 of 4 -- The Dilemma Resolved

--continuing from where we left off-- 

Psalm 102:25 "Of old You founded the earth, And the heavens are the work of Your hands.
26 "Even they will perish, but You endure; And all of them will wear out like a garment; Like clothing You will change them and they will be changed.
27 "But You are the same, And Your years will not come to an end.  

Hebrews 1:10 And, "You, Lord, in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the works of your hands;
11 they will perish, but You remain; and they all will become old like a garment,
12 and like a mantle you will roll them up; like a garment they will also be changed. But You are the same, and Your years will not come to an end."

Where is Christ in Psalm 102 itself? One thing is clear--we know with certainty that He is in verses 25 through 27. We know this because Hebrews 1 tells us. And, in these verses Hebrews tells us that God is directly addressing Christ. Psalm 102:25-27 is written in second person. The writer to the Hebrews is quoting from the Septuagint version, "You, Lord, in the beginning..."

Moving forward in our explanation, two characters are clearly evident in Psalm 102. Character one is the person I have been naming as "the psalmist". His is the first person voice. The second character is God. The psalmist addresses God by using the second person--You. In Psalm 102, God's nature is clearly distinct and different from that of the distressed psalmist.

When we read the psalm straight through as literature, those are the only two characters we find--God and the psalmist.

(Verses 16 through 22 may be an extension of the second person voice found in verses 12 through 15, or they may be a kind of third person generalized narrator's voice. The voice used in verses 16 through 22 reminds me of John 3:16-21. There we are not completely sure if Jesus is still addressing Nicodemus, or perhaps if the apostle who is writing steps in with his own narrative voice. In Psalm 102, myself, I tend to hear the inhabitants of heaven saying these words, as a kind of heavenly chorus that knows, understands, and greatly appreciates all that is going on.

Additionally, the writer of the psalm, the one who penned the words onto paper, is anonymous. Because scholars do not know who wrote the psalm, the writer is invisible to us and not relevant to our understanding of the psalm.)

So, God and the psalmist are the only two well-defined characters in the psalm. But, Hebrews tells us that Christ is a character in the Psalm, because God is addressing Christ directly. Therefore, I conclude that the first person voice of the psalmist is the voice of Christ, from start to finish. I see in the entire psalm a holy conversation, a prayer in which both the pray-er--Christ--and Him to whom the prayer is addressed--God--speak back and forth to each other. The occasion might be Christ's prayer in the Garden, perhaps even the cross itself. The two voices are prophetic first and second person throughout, with the exception of the third person of verses 16 to 22 mentioned above.

It's frightening to say these things, because the ground on which we tread is holy ground, and we do not wish to profane it by our mere presence. But Jesus in his human nature is the most humble human being ever to live, and I hope, pray, and believe that the Holy Spirit bids us enter in to this most holy place within the veil; otherwise, why would this psalm be in the Bible?

I'm going to post the psalm again, with the actual scripture in italics, but narrating it very briefly as it unfolds--the narrated parts are in brackets. This is just to get you started. Please read the entire psalm again many times over, without interruption, no notes, just the Holy Spirit ministering to your heart. This is the New American Standard Bible, except where noted:

Psalm 102 

[Introduction:]

1a A Prayer of the Afflicted when he is faint and pours out his complaint before the LORD. 

[The voice of Christ in his full humanity--perhaps face down in the garden sweating blood, perhaps on the cross:]

1b Hear my prayer, O LORD! And let my cry for help come to You.
2 Do not hide Your face from me in the day of my distress; Incline Your ear to me; In the day when I call answer me quickly.
3 For my days have been consumed in smoke, And my bones have been scorched like a hearth.
4 My heart has been smitten like grass and has withered away, Indeed, I forget to eat my bread.
5 Because of the loudness of my groaning My bones cling to my flesh.
6 I resemble a pelican of the wilderness; I have become like an owl of the waste places.
7 I lie awake, I have become like a lonely bird on a housetop.
8 My enemies have reproached me all day long; Those who deride me have used my name as a curse.
9 For I have eaten ashes like bread And mingled my drink with weeping
10 Because of Your indignation and Your wrath, For You have lifted me up and cast me away.
11 My days are like a lengthened shadow, And I wither away like grass.

[The voice of God the Father, or perhaps the Holy Spirit, ministering to Christ in his discouraged, suffering humanity. It is the voice of comfort, reminding Christ of who He is eternally. It's an animated voice of strength, reminding the man Jesus of His identity as Lord and Savior, head of Zion. It's the voice of encouragement, pointing the suffering Man to the future outcome. When read this way, both God and Christ share the same name, Jehovah:]

12 But You, O LORD, abide forever, And Your name to all generations.
13 You will arise [see Mark 8:31; Luke 18:33; John 11:23; and 1 Thessalonians 4:14, 16 for the same Greek verb used in the same way] and have compassion on Zion; For it is time to be gracious to her, For the appointed time has come.
14 Surely Your servants find pleasure in her stones And feel pity for her dust.
15 So the nations will fear the name of the LORD And all the kings of the earth Your glory.

[Narrator, or the voice of God continuing, describing the incarnation--its motives and outcome:]

16 For the LORD has built up Zion; He has appeared in His glory.
17 He has regarded the prayer of the destitute And has not despised their prayer.
18 This will be written for the generation to come, That a people yet to be created may praise the LORD.
19 For He looked down from His holy height; From heaven the LORD gazed upon the earth,
20 To hear the groaning of the prisoner, To set free those who were doomed to death,
21 That men may tell of the name of the LORD in Zion And His praise in Jerusalem,
22 When the peoples are gathered together, And the kingdoms, to serve the LORD.

[Christ the suffering man]

23 He has weakened my strength in the way; He has shortened my days.
24a I say, "O my God, do not take me away in the midst of my days,

[Septuagint]
[narrator:]

23a He answered him in the way of his strength: 

[Christ:]

tell me the fewness of my days.
24a Take me not away in the midst of my days:

[God replying:]

NASB 24b "Your years are throughout all generations.
25 "Of old You founded the earth, And the heavens are the work of Your hands.
26 "Even they will perish, but You endure; And all of them will wear out like a garment; Like clothing You will change them and they will be changed.
27 "But You are the same, And Your years will not come to an end.
28 "The children of Your servants will continue, And their descendants will be established before You."

----------------
----------------

Further thoughts and application:

When read this way, it is not hard to see and understand why the inspired writer to the Hebrews attributed verses 25 through 27 to God addressing Christ.

Further, reading the whole psalm as a divine conversation in two parts in no way compromises the exact text. One needs neither to add words to the text, nor to subtract them. Also, there is no concept, word, or line in the psalm, when read as a conversation, that contradicts any other portion of scripture. It's in complete agreement with all other parts of scripture.

When I first read Psalm 102, I knew nothing. I did not read it as a scholar. I simply read the psalm from start to finish. I read the psalm with my heart, not my head. Reading the psalm from start to finish in simple ignorance, without great learning, the psalm opened up to me in the way I just described. In the years since, everything I have come to know about scripture confirms for me that initial understanding.

This article was mostly written with my head. Over the years, I couldn't help but notice that not much is said concerning this psalm. So, I wrote it with my head, feeling that I had to "prove" scripturally the validity of what my heart saw in that first reading, and continues to see today. I'm writing it down, because this psalm is so very, very precious.

I see Psalm 102 as an invitation by God to us His children, the younger siblings of Christ, to enter in to the travail of His dearly beloved Son in the time He spent among us on earth. By doing so, our worship of Christ is magnified. Our love for God is increased. Our comprehension of the ministry of the Holy Spirit is deepened.
Further, our own walk is helped. We are encouraged in our travails, just as Christ was encouraged in His.

I have two other reasons for writing this article. The first is simple to explain. I want my children to have a written record of my heart. There may come a day in their lives when they would want to know, a day when I am gone and will be unable to tell them.

The second reason is that I want to encourage others to read, read, and read again their Bibles. Certain passages of scripture don't always open up to us the first or second time they are read. Frequently, it is after many readings that particular passages unfold in our hearts.

As I explained in the blog article titled, "How I Do Bible Study", posted on August 9, 2010, something happened to me in early 2009. I was reading through the entire psalter for the third complete time, when I heard the psalms speak extremely loudly and clearly to my own heart. During this period, I became absolutely convinced of the character and nature of God--God is good, and He loves His people. I further saw and knew that His goodness and love included me.

In the past, I had heard and known God's love in a real way, an intimate way, as I would often sit reading the written sermons of a certain preacher. But this was different--it was God's Word Himself telling me directly through scripture that He loves me.

Reading the writings of famous theologians, both present and past, helps us with our doctrine. Correct doctrine is of extreme importance, because it is both the backdrop and the stage upon which we act out our Christian walk. We base our choices and decisions in life on the doctrine concerning God that we believe.

But reading the writings of famous theologians is not a substitute for hearing God speak to us directly in His own Word, the Bible. Nothing on earth is quite like that.

So, I simply want to encourage you, by giving you an example in Psalm 102, of the wonderful fruit that can be found when we 1) pray to God for understanding, 2) and read His scripture many times over in the light that His own Holy Spirit sheds upon our hearts. There's nothing wrong with double checking Bible study notes and commentators for confirmation and/or correction. But these are supplements, not the food itself. And, God did give us--

Hebrews 8:11 No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest.

Thank-you for bearing with me.

------------------
------------------
Father, I thank you for Your goodness poured out in Jesus Christ. Thank You for Your written word. Thank You for Your Holy Spirit. Father, I leave all this in Your hands. Thank You for helping me, allowing me, and I believe encouraging me to get this all written down. I pray that You would use it to the praise of Your glory, for Your kingdom's sake. I pray, Lord, that anything I've written that is not of You would simply die, and I know, Lord, that only by Your grace would it be read or benefit anyone, anyway. I love You, most holy heavenly Father. You have been good to me. I pray for the lost, that by Your grace You would open their hearts to Your love in Jesus Christ. Amen.

Psalm 102 -- Divine Conversation between Father and Son continued, Part 3 of 4 -- The Dilemma

--continuing from where we left off--

[author's note: I apologize for the seeming complexity of this post. What I see is clear in my mind, but it is hard to explain what I see simply. If you want to skip this one, please do, and just go to the next post, which has the main idea of all four posts in it.]

Explanation of Psalm 102 Part 3, The Dilemma 

Psalm 102:25 "Of old You founded the earth, And the heavens are the work of Your hands.
26 "Even they will perish, but You endure; And all of them will wear out like a garment; Like clothing You will change them and they will be changed.
27 "But You are the same, And Your years will not come to an end.

Hebrews 1:10 And, "You, Lord, in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the works of your hands;
11 they will perish, but You remain; and they all will become old like a garment,
12 and like a mantle you will roll them up; like a garment they will also be changed. But You are the same, and Your years will not come to an end."

The verses in Hebrews above apply this passage to Christ. But Hebrews tells us that it was not the psalmist as a human in the psalm who was addressing Christ in this passage, "Of old, You founded the earth,..." but, it was God who was addressing Christ. The entire context in Hebrews 1, in which the closing verses of Psalm 102 (minus its very last verse) are embedded, is about words of God addressed to Christ in Old Testament scripture. For example-- 

Hebrews 1:5 For to which of the angels did He ever say, "You are my Son, today I have begotten You"? And again, "I will be a Father to Him and He shall be a Son to me"? (Psalm 2:7, 2 Samuel 7:14)

Going back to the quotation from Psalm 102, Hebrews tell us that the psalmist--the individual in the lament, the one praying to God--it was not his persona as a human who was addressing Christ, but God was addressing Christ. How did the psalmist know to speak this way, from God to Christ? And, how did the writer to the Hebrews know to apply this passage, almost completely out of context, as it were, as being spoken by God to Christ?

In other words, my question is this, if the whole of Psalm 102 represents a single speaker--who in some of the verses laments his own pitiable condition and in other verses praises the eternity and greatness of God--how did the writer to the Hebrews know to apply verses 25 through 27 to Christ? What is there in these verses that would cause us to think that the psalmist, who appears to be addressing God, in actual fact is really God addressing Christ?  

Hebrews 1:8 But of the Son He [God] says, ...Hebrews 1:10 And, "You, Lord, in the beginning..."

Or, if we say that the psalmist didn't know that he was speaking in the voice of God to Christ, we are still left with wondering how the writer to the Hebrews did know that there was a switch in these particular words, that these particular words are indeed to be seen as the words of God the Father to Christ the Son. How did he know this? There are many, many prayers of humans to God in the Old Testament. The vast majority of these prayers are nowhere seen in the New Testament as being God speaking to Christ.

Notice that the writer to the Hebrews does not say, "I am applying this passage as though God were speaking to His Son." Nor does he say, "This passage represents God speaking to His Son." No, the writer to the Hebrews is making a very strong case to struggling Jewish believers. He is working very hard to show them beyond a shadow of doubt that Jesus is indeed the long awaited Messiah, the Christ, the Son of God. And so he says to them quite definitely, This IS God speaking to His Son, and this is what He says.

But, I myself cannot find anything in the text of Psalm 102 that would cause me to see a shift from the psalmist addressing God to God addressing Christ. Well, we say that the writer to the Hebrews had a divine revelation which told him that this passage in the Old Testament applied to Christ. Yes, I wholeheartedly believe that the writer to the Hebrews was under divine inspiration in interpreting this passage to be God addressing Christ His Son.

But wait, are we to understand then, that divine volition planned, in the writing of scripture, to use this particular moment--in the psalmist's ardent plea for extended life--to switch persona from the psalmist addressing God to God addressing Christ? That God chose to employ these verses as the best moment and the exactly correct spot in scripture in which He God would address His Son? And that the writer to the Hebrews, without the aid of a New Testament interpretation as guide, was able to see this switch out of the myriad of other prayers to God in the Psalms? That is what we are saying, if we read the psalm as the voice of a single speaker throughout.

This passage, as Hebrews explicitly tells us, is actually the voice of God addressing Christ. That is not arguable. The Bible says it. But if we follow the usual interpretations, this would mean that God is addressing Christ through the voice of the lonely, beleaguered, dying psalmist, who for his part thinks that he is addressing God. This is what commentators tell us, if only indirectly through omission. We are being asked to understand that suddenly, the dying psalmist, whom we understood previously to be addressing God, is no longer addressing God, but that his voice is actually God addressing Christ. Way too complicated for me.

It's a dilemma. And it goes against the grain of how we normally read literature. There are not normally sudden changes of personae without warning. Even in prophecy; even in divinely revealed scripture. Generally, the rule is that we should read scripture as we read other literature. The words must make plain sense as written. As generally interpreted, this reading of Psalm 102 in light of Hebrews does not make sense to me.

to be continued

Psalm 102 -- Divine Conversation between Father and Son continued, Part 2 of 4

--continuing where we left off--

12 But You, O LORD, abide forever, And Your name to all generations.
13 You will arise and have compassion on Zion; For it is time to be gracious to her, For the appointed time has come.
14 Surely Your servants find pleasure in her stones And feel pity for her dust.
15 So the nations will fear the name of the LORD And all the kings of the earth Your glory.

Verse 12 introduces the next section, from verse 12 to verse 15, with a sudden conjunction of contrast--"but"--and a sharp change of voice from "I" to "You".

Reading this section as it is normally read causes us to think that the psalmist has turned his attention to the Lord, which indeed, the words do in fact say. "But You, O LORD". The word for LORD here is the same as it was in verse 1, that is, Jehovah. Normally, we understand that the psalmist at this point is contrasting his own dire predicament with the eternality of his God.

The focus here, however, is now on Zion, rather than on the psalmist. What has changed the psalmist's heart so, that even while in the midst of his pain and agony--his bones visible through his flesh, his belly hungry, having had only the food of ashes mingled with tears, he being an outcast separated from his friends, his loneliness in the presence of his enemies, his life withering away in sorrow, and about to die--he now shifts his focus to Zion? Does he see his personal suffering as representative of the suffering of Zion as a whole? Yes. One can most assuredly read the psalm this way, especially at this point. I will have more to say on this later, that is, another direction from which to understand these same words.

16 For the LORD has built up Zion; He has appeared in His glory.
17 He has regarded the prayer of the destitute And has not despised their prayer.
18 This will be written for the generation to come, That a people yet to be created may praise the LORD.
19 For He looked down from His holy height; From heaven the LORD gazed upon the earth,
20 To hear the groaning of the prisoner, To set free those who were doomed to death,
21 That men may tell of the name of the LORD in Zion And His praise in Jerusalem,
22 When the peoples are gathered together, And the kingdoms, to serve the LORD.

The psalm continues speaking of Zion in the section which encompasses verses 16 through 22, but in the third person. The vista has changed tremendously. It is almost as though the dying psalmist had been granted a vision of a vast panoramic nature. He is seeing God in His glory from a very great height, as it were from heaven itself, and the extent of the vision is unto the far distant future. It's nothing less than prophecy. Both prophetic past tense and future tense are being used.

There is messianic imagery within these verses, as well. When Jesus went into the temple after having been tempted in the wilderness, he stood and read these well-known words from Isaiah--

Luke 4:18 "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed, to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord."

The words just above are the ones Jesus used to announce the beginning of his ministry. Compare Psalm 102:13-- 

13 You will arise and have compassion on Zion; For it is time to be gracious to her, For the appointed time has come.

Also, compare verse 20 of our psalm with the passage from Luke--

20 To hear the groaning of the prisoner, To set free those who were doomed to death,

But the Psalm continues, moving on to the next section, and back to the voice of first person.

23 He has weakened my strength in the way; He has shortened my days.
24a I say, "O my God, do not take me away in the midst of my days,

The psalm makes a sudden, dramatic shift here, back to the original plight of the first person speaker, about to die, which we saw in verses 1 to 11. The "he" referred to might seem to be the same "he" of the previous section, which would be God. Then, the psalmist does indeed address God directly in verse 24a.

This is where the Septuagint throws an entirely different light on the whole passage. Brenton's translation of this passage says--

23 He answered him in the way of his strength: tell me the fewness of my days.
24a Take me not away in the midst of my days:

But before I explain this in detail, let's move on to hear what comes next--

NAU 24b "Your years are throughout all generations.
25 "Of old You founded the earth, And the heavens are the work of Your hands.
26 "Even they will perish, but You endure; And all of them will wear out like a garment; Like clothing You will change them and they will be changed.
27 "But You are the same, And Your years will not come to an end.
28 "The children of Your servants will continue, And their descendants will be established before You."

 LXX Brenton 24b thy years are through all generations.
25 In the beginning thou, O Lord, didst lay the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands.
26 They shall perish, but thou remainest: and they all shall wax old as a garment; and as a vesture shalt thou fold them, and they shall be changed.
27 But thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail.
28 The children of thy servants shall dwell securely, and their seed shall prosper for ever.

If we continue, as we have been doing, on the assumption that there is but one speaker throughout the entire psalm, a single speaker who is speaking all the parts, then, we have in this section another great jump in his frame of mind. Verse 23 NAU describes his immediate condition--he is about to die. In verse 24a he pleads with God not to let this happen, because he is in the "midst of" his "days". In other words, chronologically and ordinarily he would still have many years yet to live. He's only lived out half of his life. If, as scripture says, a man has about 70 years in his lifespan, Psalm 90:10, then, that would put the psalmist at about 35 years of age when he was about to die here. Verse 24a tells us that he doesn't want to die.

But then verse 24b has this enormous jump again, the speaker switches his point of view away from himself and onto the eternality of God, just as happened previously in the shift from verse 11 to verse 12. This is the way the psalm is generally read, and this is the way the commentaries are written, including that of Spurgeon.

With regard to verse 24a, the NAU says, "Take me not away". There is a note in Treasury of David by Henry Cowles in the Explanatory Notes and Quaint Sayings section. He says, "'Take me not away' is more exactly, 'Take me not up'". This agrees with Green's Interlinear Hebrew Bible, which also says, "O my God, do not take me up in the half of my days;"

The commentators say that the psalm ends on a high note of faith, the psalmist by faith expressing the greatness of God in contrast to his own frailty.

to be continued

Psalm 102 -- Divine Conversation between Father and Son Part 1 of 4

I have always been jealous of the two unnamed disciples who walked with Jesus on the road to Emmaus that special day following His resurrection. The Bible says concerning what Jesus did during that wonderful time of fellowship they had with Him, the risen Lord--

Luke 24:27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.

It is good for us as Christians to pray to God and ask Him by His Holy Spirit to open to our understanding all the scriptures concerning Christ in the Old Testament.

One of the greatest blessings of my Christian life has been seeing Christ in the Psalms. I attribute this to the Holy Spirit opening them to my heart that way.

The first time this happened to me was when I was reading Psalm 102 many years ago, as a fairly young Christian. In those days, I had just discovered the Septuagint Bible, and I would read in it from time to time. While the Septuagint is not looked upon by modern scholars and exegetes as a reliable translation, it was the Bible that many of the Jewish folk of Jesus' day used. I like it for the simple reason that it does speak plainly of the Redeemer. So much of our current translations, accurate to the Hebrew as they may be, lose the flavor and passion of real speech. They seem formalized to abstraction, and the passionate point of God's word is often muted and neutralized. Be all this as it may, it was the Septuagint text (English translation) which brought the words of Psalm 102 alive in my heart.

Psalm 102 is fairly long, but I'm going to post it here for easy reference. I'm using the New American Standard, and I'm dividing it into four sections, according to the voice of the speaker, either first person--"I", second person--"you", or third person--"he".

Psalm 102 opens in the first person--the psalmist is using the word "I".

Psalm 102:1 A Prayer of the Afflicted when he is faint and pours out his complaint before the LORD. Hear my prayer, O LORD! And let my cry for help come to You.
2 Do not hide Your face from me in the day of my distress; Incline Your ear to me; In the day when I call answer me quickly.
3 For my days have been consumed in smoke, And my bones have been scorched like a hearth.
4 My heart has been smitten like grass and has withered away, Indeed, I forget to eat my bread.
5 Because of the loudness of my groaning My bones cling to my flesh.
6 I resemble a pelican of the wilderness; I have become like an owl of the waste places.
7 I lie awake, I have become like a lonely bird on a housetop.
8 My enemies have reproached me all day long; Those who deride me have used my name as a curse.
9 For I have eaten ashes like bread And mingled my drink with weeping
10 Because of Your indignation and Your wrath, For You have lifted me up and cast me away.
11 My days are like a lengthened shadow, And I wither away like grass.
 
The psalm switches to second person--"you"--in verse 12.

12 But You, O LORD, abide forever, And Your name to all generations.
13 You will arise and have compassion on Zion; For it is time to be gracious to her, For the appointed time has come.
14 Surely Your servants find pleasure in her stones And feel pity for her dust.
15 So the nations will fear the name of the LORD And all the kings of the earth Your glory.

 Verses 16 through 22 are in third person, as though a narrator were speaking--"he, his".

16 For the LORD has built up Zion; He has appeared in His glory.
17 He has regarded the prayer of the destitute And has not despised their prayer.
18 This will be written for the generation to come, That a people yet to be created may praise the LORD.
19 For He looked down from His holy height; From heaven the LORD gazed upon the earth,
20 To hear the groaning of the prisoner, To set free those who were doomed to death,
21 That men may tell of the name of the LORD in Zion And His praise in Jerusalem,
22 When the peoples are gathered together, And the kingdoms, to serve the LORD.

Verses 23 and 24a are in first person again--"I, my".

23 He has weakened my strength in the way; He has shortened my days.
24a I say, "O my God, do not take me away in the midst of my days,

Verse 24b returns to second person, which remains to the end of the psalm--"you, your".

24b Your years are throughout all generations.
25 "Of old You founded the earth, And the heavens are the work of Your hands.
26 "Even they will perish, but You endure; And all of them will wear out like a garment; Like clothing You will change them and they will be changed.
27 "But You are the same, And Your years will not come to an end.
28 "The children of Your servants will continue, And their descendants will be established before You."

Explanation of Psalm 102

The introduction to the whole psalm says--

1a A Prayer of the Afflicted when he is faint and pours out his complaint before the LORD.

Here we learn that the psalmist is praying to the Lord. He is afflicted, faint, and he is pouring out--passionately--his complaint.

1b Hear my prayer, O LORD! And let my cry for help come to You.

In the second half of verse 1 above, the prayer begins. We see the psalmist crying to the Lord for help. Both occurrences of "Lord" in this first verse are the Hebrew word for Jehovah, the personal God of the Israelites.

2 Do not hide Your face from me in the day of my distress; Incline Your ear to me; In the day when I call answer me quickly.

In verse 2, the psalmist identifies the time frame of his prayer as "the day of my distress". It is a calamitous day, a singular day, a certain day. It's the day when the psalmist calls upon the Lord and needs help quickly. Delayed help will be no help, for the psalmist is at a crisis point.

Verses 3-11 describe further the distress of the psalmist. It is a physical distress and an emotional distress brought about by the physical.

3 For my days have been consumed in smoke, And my bones have been scorched like a hearth.

The imagery of verse 3 is that of burning, destruction. The psalmist's life is being destroyed before his eyes, and his bones have the great pain of fire in them.

4 My heart has been smitten like grass and has withered away, Indeed, I forget to eat my bread.

Verse 4 speaks of the psalmist's heart, which is also being destroyed like grass in the heat of a very hot day. Although bread seems to be available to the psalmist, his distress and suffering are so great that he has forgotten to eat it. The Septuagint uses an explanatory conjunction between heart and bread. "My heart is dried up; for I have forgotten to eat my bread."

5 Because of the loudness of my groaning My bones cling to my flesh.

In verse 5, the psalmist is groaning so loudly and vehemently that his bones are clinging to his flesh. Anyone who happened to see the psalmist at this time would see his bones sticking out from inside his flesh. Because the psalmist had not been eating regularly, his body is most likely very thin, which would add to the effect of the visible tension that is causing his bones to cling to his flesh.

6 I resemble a pelican of the wilderness; I have become like an owl of the waste places.

In verse 6, the psalmist sees himself as being alone in a remote and wasted place. He has no friends with him. Further, the birds that the psalmist names are birds of prey or carrion eaters. Leviticus 11:13 names them as an abomination. So, even if the psalmist had friends who wanted to be with him at this time, they could not minister to him by touch without breaking the Law.

7 I lie awake, I have become like a lonely bird on a housetop.

Verse 7 adds sleepless watchfulness to the list of his ailments, with the loneliness directly named.

8 My enemies have reproached me all day long; Those who deride me have used my name as a curse.

In verse 8, the psalmist tells us that indeed he is not alone. Some translations (KJV and others) use present tense, "My enemies curse me all the day long; those who rave against me have sworn against me." (Green)

9 For I have eaten ashes like bread And mingled my drink with weeping

Verse 9 takes the psalmist back to the burning motif with which he began in verse 3. Ashes, produced by fire, are his food. These ashes might signify repentance, or mourning, but definitely humiliation and shame. Ashes for food do not make the heart glad, nor are they nourishing. Ashes for food do not signify the freedom of joy in the Lord's presence, but the opposite.

10 Because of Your indignation and Your wrath, For You have lifted me up and cast me away.

Verse 10 reveals the cause of the psalmist's suffering--it is the indignation and wrath of God Himself. Indignation means intense anger. Wrath signifies God's intense displeasure concerning the the actions of someone. God has "lifted" the psalmist "up" and cast him away from Himself.

"Lifted me up" is interesting. In Genesis 7:17 the waters of the flood, symbolic of God's wrath upon the entire sinful human race, "lifted up" the ark above the waters, symbolic of God's grace displayed on the cross. Although it is a different verb entirely, Moses "lifted up" the serpent in the wilderness (John 3:14), and in the same verse, Jesus said that He Himself must be "lifted up".

The same is with "cast me away". Although the verbs in the original are not the same as each other, the thought is very close, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Matthew 27:46)


11 My days are like a lengthened shadow, And I wither away like grass.

Verse 11 summarizes the psalmist's thought that his life is ebbing away and soon to reach its end.

To be continued