Psalms 88:7

7 Thy wrath lieth hard upon me, and thou hast afflicted [me] with all thy waves. 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 Free among the dead, like the slain that lie in the grave, whom thou rememberest no more: and they 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 my acquaintance far from me; thou hast made me an abomination to them: [I am] shut up, and I cannot come forth.

9 My eye mourneth by reason of affliction: LORD, I have called daily upon thee, I have stretched out my hands to thee.