Psalms 38.
David moveth God to take compassion of his pitiful case.
A Psalm of David, to bring to remembrance.
Title. להזכיר לדוד מזמור mizmor ledavid lehazkiir. A psalm of David, &c.— David's memorial psalm, Whether David really laboured under any grievous sickness which gave occasion to this psalm; or whether, under the representation of a sick man, he poetically describes his own lamentable distress; this psalm was composed by him, to put him in remembrance of that affliction, with which he confesses his sinfulness had provoked God to visit him. Theodoret, and many other commentators, think that David was not sick; but that in this psalm he called to remembrance all the sad disasters which had befallen him; as the murder of his son Amnon, the rebellion of his son Absalom, and all the other calamities mentioned in his history. But Dr. Delaney is of opinion, that this psalm, as well as the three next, were occasioned by a grievous distemper with which David was afflicted, and which he considered as the chastisement of God upon him for his sins. That this calamity fell upon him about the time when a dangerous and rebellious conspiracy was formed against him, appears from the same psalms; and, forasmuch as we hear of no more than one conspiracy of that kind formed against him, it follows that his sickness fell upon him about this time: and, that his distemper was that which is now known to us under the name of the smallpox, is, as I conceive, very probable from the same psalms. The reader will find this opinion defended in the 7th chapter of the 4th book of the Life of David. But, whether this psalm be understood in a literal or allegorical sense, David bewails his sins so pathetically in it, that it is reckoned among the penitential psalms. We would just observe, that by bringing to remembrance, in the title, may be meant his praying to God to remember him, and deliver him out of his afflictions.

Psalms 38:2. For thine arrows, &c.— For thine arrows are entered deep into me, and thy hand is come down upon me. Mudge.

Psalms 38:4. For mine iniquities— i.e. The punishment of them; as Psalms 31:10; Psalms 32:5.—Are gone over my head, is an allusion to the boisterous waves of the sea; under which a man who is shipwrecked is just ready to sink. This comparison is frequent in the psalms. Compare Psalms 42:7; Psalms 69:2; Psalms 124:4-5.

Psalms 38:5. Because of my foolishness— i.e. "As a just punishment of my folly; whereby, to satisfy my unreasonable desires, I have inconsiderately offended thee." See 2 Samuel 11:2-4. David in the next verse represents the greatness of his affliction by the posture in which mourners walked at funerals; I am bowed down greatly, &c. Compare Psalms 35:14.

Psalms 38:7. For my loins are filled, &c.— An anonymous writer on the psalms, who differs in opinion from Dr. Delaney, observes, that these words are not to be taken literally, but as figurative expressions, signifying the excessive misery and extreme wretchedness of the Psalmist's condition. We find the same way of speaking, and almost the same words, used in Scripture, for the same purpose, by the prophets. Thus Ezekiel 21:6. Sigh therefore, thou son of man! with the breaking of thy loins; and with bitterness sigh before their eyes: where the latter part of the verse explains the former, meaning the same thing. So Isa 21:3 exclaims upon a like occasion, Therefore are my loins filled with pain: pangs have taken hold upon me, as the pangs of a woman who travaileth; I was bowed down at the hearing of it. Now no man ever imagined that Ezekiel's loins were broken; or that Isaiah had a pain in his back, like that of a woman in labour; but every one understands these expressions properly; viz. as denoting the prophet's great grief and concern: and why should we not conclude that the prophet David used the like expressions in a like sense; especially as he almost begins this psalm with bold figurative expressions, and describes his miserable condition, Psa 38:2 by the arrows of God sticking in him, and his hand pressing him sore? See also Eze 29:7 which should be, and madest all their loins to shake; by which this seems to have been a sort of proverbial expression, to signify great fear, as well as grief; and so we find Daniel describing the horror which seized Belshazzar, chap. 5: Psalms 38:6, by the joints of his loins being loosed.

Psalms 38:12. Lay snares for me— Use violence against me.