Psalms 88:6

6 Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit, in darkness, in the deeps.

Psalms 88:6 Meaning and Commentary

Psalms 88:6

Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit
The Targum interprets it of

``captivity which was like unto the lowest pit;''

and so Jarchi and Kimchi. Some understand it of a prison or dungeon, into which the psalmist was put; it may be interpreted of the pit of the grave, into which Christ was laid; though he continued in it not so long as to see corruption; from that prison and judgment he was quickly taken, ( Psalms 16:10 ) ( Isaiah 53:8 ) , "in darkness"; both corporeal and spiritual, ( Matthew 27:45 Matthew 27:46 ) , and it is in the Hebrew text "in darknesses" ^F11, denoting both:

in the deeps;
in the deep waters of affliction, sorrows, and sufferings; see ( Psalms 69:1 Psalms 69:2 ) . The allusion is to a dark and deep pit, under ground, such as in the eastern countries they used to put their captives and prisoners into in the night, and take them out in the morning; and which custom continues still among the Turks. Leo Africanus ^F12 says he has seen three thousand Christian captives together, clothed in a woollen sack, and chained to one another; and in the night put into pits or ditches under ground; see ( Zechariah 9:11 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

F11 (Mykvxmb) "in loca tenebrosa", Tigurine version, Musculus; "in tenebrosissimis", Junius & Tremellius; "in densis tenebris", Piscator; "in caligines, vel obscuritates", Gejerus.
F12 Descriptio Africae, l. 3. p. 413.

Psalms 88:6 In-Context

4 I am counted with them that go down into the pit; I am as a man that hath no strength,

5 cast among the dead like the slain that lie in the grave, whom Thou rememberest no more, and who are cut off from Thy hand.

6 Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit, in darkness, in the deeps.

7 Thy wrath lieth hard upon me, and Thou hast afflicted me with all Thy waves. Selah

8 Thou hast put away mine acquaintances far from me; Thou hast made me an abomination unto them. I am shut up, and I cannot come forth;