Psalms 88:7

7 Your anger smothers me; you subdue me with it, wave after wave. Selah

Psalms 88:7 Meaning and Commentary

Psalms 88:7

The wrath lieth hard upon me
So some good men apprehend, when they are under afflictive dispensations of Providence, and are left of God, and have not his immediate presence, and the discoveries of his love; though fury is not in him, nor does any wrath in reality fall upon them, only it seems so to them; see ( Psalms 38:1 Psalms 38:2 ) ( Lamentations 3:1 ) , but the wrath of God did really lie with all the effects of it upon Christ, as the surety of his people, when he was made sin, and a curse for them; see ( Psalms 89:38 ) ,

and thou hast afflicted me with all thy waves;
the afflictions of God's people are compared to waves and billows of the sea, which are many, and come one upon the back of another, and threaten to overwhelm and sink; see ( Psalms 42:7 ) and so the sufferings of Christ are signified by waters coming into him, and floods overflowing him; and hence they are called a baptism, ( Psalms 69:1 Psalms 69:2 ) ( Luke 12:50 ) , and these were brought upon him by the Lord; he spared him not; he laid the whole chastisement, all the punishment due to the sins of his people, on him; he caused every wave to come upon him, and him to endure all sorrows and sufferings the law and justice of God could require.

Selah. (See Gill on Psalms 3:2).

Psalms 88:7 In-Context

5 drifting among the dead lying in the grave, like dead bodies— those you don't remember anymore, those who are cut off from your power.
6 You placed me down in the deepest pit, in places dark and deep.
7 Your anger smothers me; you subdue me with it, wave after wave. Selah
8 You've made my friends distant. You've made me disgusting to them. I can't escape. I'm trapped!
9 My eyes are tired of looking at my suffering. I've been calling out to you every day, LORD— I've had my hands outstretched to you!
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