Psalm 38:7

EXPOSITION

Verse 7. For my loins are filled with a loathsome disease -- a hot, dry, parching disorder, probably accompanied by loathsome ulcers. Spiritually, the fire burns within when the evil of the heart is laid bare. Note the emphatic words, the evil is loathsome, it is in the loins, its seat is deep and vital -- the man is filled with it. Those who have passed through the time of conviction understand all this. And there is no soundness in my flesh. This he had said before, and thus the Holy Spirit brings humiliating truth again and again to our memories, tears away every ground of glorying, and makes us know that in us, that is, in our flesh, there dwelleth no good thing.

EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS

Verse 7. For my loins are filled with a loathsome disease. The word here used, according to Gesenius (Lex.), properly denotes the internal muscles of the loins near the kidneys, to which the fat adheres. The word rendered loathsome -- the word disease being supplied by our translators -- is derived from (hlq), kalah, a word which means to roast, to parch, as fruit, grain, etc.; and then, in the form used here, it means scorched, burned; hence, a burning or inflammation; and the whole phrase would be synonymous with an inflammation of the kidneys. The word here used does not imply that there was any eruption, or ulcer, though it would seem from verse five that this was the fact, and that the inflammation had produced this effect. Albert Barnes.

Verse 7. A loathsome disease. In many things our estimates are extravagant; but we never over estimate the evil of sin. It is as corrupting as it is damning. It covers the soul with plague spots, with the leprosy. Isaiah 1:5-6 . William S. Plumer.

HINTS FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS

None.