Psalms 88:8

8 You have caused my companions to shun me; you have made me a thing of horror to them. I am shut in so that I cannot escape;

Psalms 88:8 Meaning and Commentary

Psalms 88:8

Thou hast put away mine acquaintance far from me
His familiar friends, who were well known to him, and he to them: it is a mercy and privilege to have good acquaintance, and hearty faithful friends, to converse and advise with, whether about things civil or religious; and it is an affliction to be deprived of them; and oftentimes in distress and adversity they drop and fail, which is an additional trouble: this was the ease of Job and of David, ( Job 19:13 Job 19:14 ) ( Psalms 31:11 ) and here of Heman, who attributes it to God, as done by him; as also Job does, in the place referred to; for as it is the Lord that gives favour in the sight of men, he can take it away when he pleases: this is true of Christ, and the like is said of him, ( Psalms 69:8 ) , and by his "acquaintance", familiars, and friends, may be meant his apostles, who, upon his being apprehended, forsook him, and fled; who, though they were not all alienated in their affections, yet stood at a distance from him; Peter, though he followed him, it was afar off, and at last he denied him; and others of acquaintance and intimates stood afar off, beholding was done to him on the cross; and his familiar friend, Judas, lifted up his heel against him, and basely betrayed him, ( Matthew 26:50 Matthew 26:56 Matthew 26:58 ) ( Luke 23:49 ) ( Psalms 41:9 ) ,

thou hast made me an abomination unto them;
to some of them, as to Judas, and to many that hosanna'd him into Jerusalem, and within a few days cried "Crucify him, crucify him", ( Matthew 21:9 ) ( Matthew 27:22 Matthew 27:23 ) compare with this ( Isaiah 53:3 ) .

I am shut up, and I cannot come forth;
the Targum renders it,

``shut up in the house of prison,''

in a prison; and so some literally understand it of the author of the psalm being in a prison, or dungeon, in the time of the captivity: but it is rather to be understood of some bodily disease, by which he was detained a prisoner at home, and of his being bound in fetters, and held in the cords of affliction; which was as a prison to him, and in which when the Lord "shuts up a man, there can be no opening", ( Job 36:8 ) ( 12:14 ) , or else of soul troubles, being in great darkness and desertion; so that his soul was as in a prison, and could not come forth in the free exercise of grace, and needed the free Spirit of God to set him at liberty; see ( Psalms 142:7 ) ( 51:12 ) , this may be applied to Christ, when in the hands of Judas, and the hand of soldiers with him, who took him, and bound him, and led him to the high priest; and when he was encompassed with bulls of Bashan, and enclosed by the assembly of the wicked, as he hung on the cross, ( Psalms 22:12 Psalms 22:16 ) .

Psalms 88:8 In-Context

6 You have put me in the depths of the Pit, in the regions dark and deep.
7 Your wrath lies heavy upon me, and you overwhelm me with all your waves. (Selah)
8 You have caused my companions to shun me; you have made me a thing of horror to them. I am shut in so that I cannot escape;
9 my eye grows dim through sorrow. Every day I call on you, O Lord; I spread out my hands to you.
10 Do you work wonders for the dead? Do the shades rise up to praise you? (Selah)
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.