GRUMBLINGPSALM 881A Song. A Psalm of the Korahites.To the leader: According to Mahalath Leannoth.A Maskil of Heman the Ezrahite.O YHWH, God of my salvation, when, at night, I cry out in your presence, 2let my prayer come before you; incline your ear to my cry. 3For my soul is full of troubles, and my life draws near to Sheol. 4I am counted among those who go down to the Pit; I am like those who have no help, 5like those forsaken among the dead, like the slain that lie in the grave, like those whom you remember no more, for they are cut off from your hand. 6You have put me in the depths of the Pit, in the regions dark and deep. 7Your wrath lies heavy upon me, and you overwhelm me with all your waves.Selah8You have caused my companions to shun me; you have

made me a thing of horror to them. I am shut in so that I cannotescape; 9my eye grows dim through sorrow. Every day I call

on you, O YHWH; I spread out my hands to you. 10Do you work wonders for the dead? Do the shades rise up to praise you?Selah11Is your steadfast love declared in the grave, or yourfaithfulness in Abaddon? 12Are your wonders known in the darkness, or your saving help in the land of forgetfulness?13But I, O YHWH, cry out to you; in the morning my prayercomes before you. 14O YHWH, why do you cast me off? Why

do you hide your face from me? 15Wretched and close to death from my youth up, I suffer your terrors; I am desperate. 16Your wrath has swept over me; your dread assaults destroy me.17They surround me like a flood all day long; from all sidesthey close in on me. 18You have caused friend and neighbor to

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shun me; my companions are in darkness.Well now, if you weren’t depressed before I read this psalm of lament..!INTRODUCTION

[Many decades ago, the commentator Matthew Henry said Psalm 88 was “melancholy, mourning and woe from start to finish.” John Calvin reflected on Psalm 88 in this way: “This psalm contains very grievous lamentations, poured forth by its inspired penman when under very severe affliction, and almost at the point of despair.”]

Psalm 88 has often been described as being unique among the Psalms because of its total lack of encouragement or hope. It is therefore not surprising that, in terms of public reading or

use as preaching material, Psalm 88 is invisible; it doesn’t exist.So, as we explore why this psalm is in the Psalter at all, we must hold in our minds three things:1. The Psalms are poems that were meant to be sung – they were

(and actually still are) Israel’s praise and worship catalogue.2. When human beings are complaining and grumbling, whether to

YHWH or to one another, they do not normally do so by bursting into song, and nor do they normally do so by speaking in poetry.

3. Psalm 88 was written and arranged at a later date from the specific time and events that it was relevant to; that later writing of the words and the composing of the music had a specific purpose in mind.Psalm 88 was not, in itself, the author’s original complaint to YHWH at the same time that he was originally in that situation, but rather it was his later reflective expression of that complaint.The psalmist had come through the situation that he wrote about in the psalm, and he wrote his psalm at a later date as he looked back and reflected on his experiences during those dark days.

ARE THE PSALMS UNIQUE?

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The Old Testament Psalter is a collection of poems (to be sung) that are typical of a literary form which the Hebrews, in common with other cultures, used from at least the Exodus right up until the post-exilic (or second Temple) period.In that sense, they are not unique – but, actually, they are unique.

[Geological excavations have shown us that Biblical psalms have many similarities to Egyptian poetry and Ugaritic texts, and this suggests adaptation of form from one culture to another. There was in Syria-Palestine a shared cultural tradition of poetry-building that included both the Canaanites in the Late Bronze Age from whom we have the Ugaritic texts, and the Israelites from whom we have early Hebrew poetry, including early Psalms. Such links between cultures have great historical significance.The existence of this shared cultural tradition suggests that the Israelites were marked off from the Canaanites not so much by any ethnic distinctiveness as by their exclusive religious conviction that they were the true covenant people that were called together by YHWH himself. No other people made that claim.It was the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls at Qumran that provided important and fascinating information on the book of Psalms. The sect at Qumran was deeply preoccupied with the Law of Moses, and the scrolls include numerous references from the Psalms, as well as providing over thirty copies of the Psalms.The text of the largest Psalms scroll had three startling features. First, that the sequence of the Psalms in that text was altogether different from that in the traditional Hebrew text; second, that other poetic sequences were mixed in with the Psalms; and third, that the text itself varied from the traditional Hebrew.]

What makes the Psalms unique among all other similar poetic literature from across that whole region was not the form of the text

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itself, which was common, but rather they were unique because of the person of YHWH to whom the Psalms were addressed.WHAT IS PSALM 88’s PURPOSE?What emotions do you think that people should be able to express in their prayers to YHWH?Anger? Frustration? Despair? Loneliness? Disappointment?

[Psalm 88 is classified by Gunkel as an individual lament psalm, allowing expression of individual grief within the setting of the assembled congregation. He says that such psalms as this reflect very deeply and very honestly the turmoil in the heart of a man. The confessions of Jeremiah show a prophet cursing, lamenting, and expressing anger – emotions that are embedded in the whole of the Scriptures. Sometimes these emotions are directed against enemies but, in a real and moving honesty, they are sometimes directed against YHWH himself.]

Psalms of lament make up a large part of the book of Psalms, and they should not be ignored just because they may be hard for us to deal with properly in the context of a worship service. The Psalms are all about real life, they are all about real issues,

they are certainly all about real hardships. Perhaps most strikingly of all, they are all about the inability of

the psalmist to comprehend why bad things should continually happen to YHWH’s own people.

Yet, the question “Why?”, which is the Psalms biggest question about suffering, is only really answered by the (unspoken) counter-question “Why not?”

HOW WAS PSALM 88 USED?In exploring how Psalm 88 was used by Israel in ancient times, I am giving you what I believe is the answer that makes most sense – but other interpretations are available.I believe that this particular psalm was a song that was meant to be used as a performed expression of anguish, and that it featured as part of a larger performance of the Psalms in worship.

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If this particular psalm was a song that was meant to be a performed expression of anguish in that way, how would this be balanced or countered, since Psalm 88 appears to contain no real hope? I believe that the answer to that question lies in knowing that

many psalms were linked up into pairs. Psalm 88 and Psalm 89 were a linked pair. In performance terms, Psalm 89 was the answer – the balance

– to Psalm 88. The performance of the mournful Psalm 88 was balanced and

answered by the following joyful performance of Psalm 89.The rejoicing of Psalm 89 from verse one to verse thirty-seven would immediately follow the melancholy of Psalm 88. The wonders, faithfulness, deeds and majesty of YHWH in

Psalm 89 made a fitting response to its depressing predecessor.The praise of YHWH up to verse 37 of Psalm 89 lasted twice as long as the misery that preceded it in Psalm 88. This would also give Psalm 88 its unique meaning, for the

answers to the deep questions it raised were found outside the psalm itself (in Psalm 89), even as the answers to the deepest questions we human beings raise are found outside ourselves.

Psalm 89 is a reminder that, with YHWH, there is always hope! And that hope rests solely in the character – the name – of

YHWH.After the joyful section up to verse 37, Psalm 89 then has its next fifteen verses returning to the already stated issues of Psalm 88. It is almost as though, after the verses of praise of YHWH that

are contained in Psalm 89, the complaints of Psalm 88 were then restated in Psalm 89 as a reminder – or as a reprise.

This restatement or reprise does not nullify the praise that has just gone before, but rather it brings in the demand for a response by restating the themes of Psalm 88.

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Could it have been that the listeners of the performance of Psalm 88 were then being asked to give their own response to the questions and painful issues raised by Psalm 88 as they heard the answer of Psalm 89? Would the listeners choose the answers of Psalm 89? Surely so! For they were a people of faith!Furthermore, could the use of these two psalms together in a performance be the reason why Psalm 89 closes with a double ‘Amen’?

[THE AUTHORSIt was an Ezrahite, Heman, who wrote Psalm 88, and another Ezrahite, Ethan, who wrote Psalm 89. John Calvin, in his commentary on the Psalms, suggested that Heman is probably the same person as spoken of in 1 Kings 4:31, where Solomon, commended for his wisdom, is compared with Ethan, Heman, Chalcol and Darda. That Heman and Ethan should be mentioned together in this way in 1 Kings is very interesting in light of the fact that Psalms 88 and 89 stand together in the Psalter and are linked as a pair.]

Let us now consider how the psalmist built his case for grumbling to YHWH:1. Psalm 88 had the psalmist telling YHWH about the frequent

occasions in which he had prayed to YHWH – thus he laid out his consistent case of complaint before YHWH.

2. The psalmist did not mince his words in telling YHWH how desperate his situation was – thus he laid out his consistent case of complaint before YHWH.

3. The psalmist mentioned other people only to emphasise his own desperate situation – thus he laid out his consistent case of complaint before YHWH.

4. The psalmist spoke of the extremes of death and the dead – thus he laid out his consistent case of complaint before YHWH.

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That was how the Psalmist built his case and presented his complaints to YHWH.TEXT OF PSALM 88VERSE 1O YHWH, God of my salvation…I believe that the way that the main text of this psalm begins gives us a big clue about how it was used.This beginning of Psalm 88 makes clear that the psalm is about issues of faith, not issues of despair.In this respect, thise beginning of Psalm 88 mirrors the close of Psalm 89 and the two psalms are wrapped together with an inclusio.The first verse (proper) of Psalm 88 O YHWH, God of my salvation… and the last verse of Psalm 89 Blessed be YHWH forever. Amen and amen. are like bookends that hold together everything in between.Both psalms are really focused on YHWH – they are not focused on the people who are experiencing what those psalms describe.And the message here was: “YHWH, are you listening to me?”VERSE 2Let my prayer come before you; incline your ear to my cry.The Hebrew expression here speaks very strongly of the father and son relationship, which directly reflected YHWH’s fatherhood of Israel.This is a cry of relationship far more than it is a cry of despair.And the message here was: “YHWH, are you listening to me?”VERSE 3For my soul is full of troubles, and my life draws near to

Sheol. Every mother knows that young children do not have minor

crises.

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When something goes wrong for the child – that child’s entire world falls apart.

The wise and experienced human parent has a magic sponge, or a clever cloth, or a special word; something that they use that makes everything better and puts the child’s world back together again.

What does YHWH have for his children when their world has fallen apart?

And the message here was: “YHWH, are you listening to me?”

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VERSES 4,5I am counted among those who go down to the Pit; I am like those who have no help, like those forsaken among the dead, like the slain that lie in the grave, like those whom you remember no more, for they are cut off from your hand.By speaking of himself as being counted among those in the Pit, like those who have no help, like the slain lying in the grave, like those that YHWH remembers no more, the psalmist is seeing his plight as being beyond any human help or intervention – for only YHWH could help him then.And the message here was: “YHWH, are you listening to me?”VERSE 6You have put me in the depths of the Pit, in the regions darkand deep.The psalmist now says that his situation is YHWH’s responsibility, because it was YHWH himself who put him there.Since it was YHWH himself who put him there, there can be no way back.And the message here was: “YHWH, are you listening to me?”VERSE 7Your wrath lies heavy upon me, and you overwhelm me with

allyour waves.The psalmist believed that his plight was because of YHWH’s wrath that was ignited against him because of something that he had said or done, and that was a very human response.When a Christian is in distress or difficulty of one kind or another, our first reaction may often be to wonder what they have done to deserve it.It is a very human response to look for blame – whose fault is it?Selah closes this section of the psalm and calls for serious reflection and prayer about this desperate situation.And the message here was: “YHWH, are you listening to me?”

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VERSE 8You have caused my companions to shun me; you have made me a thing of horror to them.The psalm restarted and it was clearly YHWH’s fault that all the psalmist’s friends had all deserted him.No, it was far worse than that – YHWH had actually made the psalmist a thing of horror to his friends.The psalmist was echoing the child’s cry when his world had fallen apart: “Nobody loves me, everybody hates me.”And the message here was: “YHWH, are you listening to me?”VERSE 9Every day I call on you, O YHWH; I spread out my hands to

you.The psalmist reminded YHWH that he kept reminding YHWH about how his world had fallen apart.The psalmist had said the right things (Every day I call on you) and he had done the right things (I spread out my hands to you) – so why was he still in that desperate situation?Why was YHWH still ignoring his son’s plight?And the message here was: “YHWH, are you listening to me?”VERSE 10Do you work wonders for the dead? Do the shades rise up topraise you?The psalmist then reminded YHWH that the dead cannot praise YHWH, and nor can YHWH work wonders for the dead – so YHWH you better remember me before I am one of them and it is too late!The second Selah now caused another break in the song with the initiative left in YHWH’s hands.

And the message here was: “YHWH, are you listening to me?”VERSES 11,12

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11Is your steadfast love declared in the grave, or yourfaithfulness in Abaddon? 12Are your wonders known in thedarkness, or your saving help in the land of forgetfulness?The song returned and the psalmist restated the reminder that the grave is too late for YHWH to make his glory known. It is easy for us today to forget that the psalmist was writing a

long time before the incarnation. The psalmist did not have the resurrection evidence of Easter to

give him hope, as we do.And the message here was: “YHWH, are you listening to me?”VERSE 13But I, O YHWH, cry out to you; in the morning my prayer

comesbefore you.Once again the psalmist reminded YHWH that he was faithful in praying to YHWH about his situation.So, isn’t it about time you did something to vindicate me, O YHWH? But heaven was in a different time zone to the psalmist!And the message here was: “YHWH, are you listening to me?”VERSE 14O YHWH, why do you cast me off? Why do you hide your face from me?“Nobody loves me” continued here as the psalmist quizzed YHWH about why he had turned away from the psalmist when he was in such a desperate plight.The cry “Why do you hide your face from me?” is a powerful cry that evokes the memory of the Aaronic blessing in which YHWH’s face is revealed to his people.NUMBERS 6:22-2622The LORD spoke to Moses, saying: 23Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, Thus you shall bless the Israelites: You shall say to them, 24The LORD bless you and keep you; 25the LORD

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make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you; 26the LORD lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace.And the message here was: “YHWH, are you listening to me?”VERSE 15Wretched and close to death from my youth up, I suffer your terrors; I am desperate.The desperate situation that the psalmist found himself in warped his sense of history and chronology and, at the same time, it made him see himself as someone who had always suffered from God’s abandonment – even from his youth.And the message here was: “YHWH, are you listening to me?”VERSES 16,1716Your wrath has swept over me; your dread assaults destroy me. 17They surround me like a flood all day long; from all sides they close in on me. If YHWH really had turned his face away from the psalmist, then it had to be that YHWH’s divine wrath had fallen upon that helpless human being. Like a flood, the assaults of YHWH were relentless and would

surely have finished him off very soon. Hope had been extinguished, faith had suffocated, and death

was all that is left to look forward to – but only if death really brought relief.

And the message here was: “YHWH, are you listening to me?”VERSE 18You have caused friend and neighbor to shun me; my companions are in darkness.Friends, neighbours and companions had all deserted the psalmist – he was completely alone with no-one to help him.And the message here was: “YHWH, are you listening to me?”TELL ME THE OLD, OLD STORY

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[Job would have understood the psalmist’s situation. But the psalmist didn’t even have any Job’s comforters. Reading Psalm 88 without the notation and without knowing where it was from, could cause the reader to very easily believe that it was from the book of Job. Indeed, the whole psalm could easily fit in very well to the book of Job. Perhaps they shared the same common features in the uses to which they were put.]

The use of Psalm 88 as musical drama in this context would have been very powerful, as would the immediate following response of Psalm 89.But, there is another factor to take into account in this suggested presentation that I have put before you. The issues of suffering and justice that are raised by both Psalm

88 and the book of Job, can frequently puzzle us as modern readers of the Scriptures, particularly with regard to the way in which YHWH is addressed by the psalmists.

It is easy for us in the age and culture in which we live to misunderstand the setting of both the psalms of lament and the book of Job. The ancient Jews thought of judgement in terms of a case being

presented in an earthly court of justice – just like we do. The difference between those Jews then and us Christians is

that we Christians today tend to think of the case as being a criminal case that is being tried with Christians in the dock desperately trying to defend themselves and hoping for a ‘not guilty’ verdict in the criminal court.

But that is not how the Jews of those days saw it. The Jew in those days pictured the case as a civil case with the

Jew as the plaintiff who was hoping for a resounding triumph and resulting heavy damages from the civil court.

In that context, the language of both the book of Job and of the psalms of lament (including Psalm 88) make perfect sense, since the plaintiff was arguing from only one side, and he was demanding justice from the judge, who is YHWH.

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IT AIN’T NO SIN TO GET THE BLUESAs I draw towards a close, I will suggest that there is a great need for us as Christians to re-examine what we mean by worship – as well as what we do not mean by worship.Does Christian worship music today leave any room for those people who may be hurting, who may be depressed, who may be doubting, or who may be struggling in any shape or form? Does our worship catalogue tend to give the impression that it’s

a sin to get the blues, or that we should never feel rejected, or that we would be weak to feel lonely, or that it is sinful to be angry?

Are we in danger of giving the idea that only the ‘Happy, clappy Bappy’ may take part in worship?

Must we go on ignoring Psalm 88 and the other psalms of lament, as we surely have tended to do?

[Psalms 88 and 89 lend themselves very well to presentation. Consider, for example, the impact of a presentation in which the misery of Psalm 88 is poured from a lone singer’s heart, and then a group of singers respond by singing Psalm 89 to verse thirty-seven.A lone singer could then address the reprise of Psalm 88 to the congregation to seek a personal response from each of them. The wonderful impact of such a powerful presentation can hardly be exaggerated, yet Psalm 88 hardly ever sees daylight in church today.]

Consider the power of hearing Psalm 89 as an answer to Psalm 88, and so hearing the faithfulness and majesty of YHWH proclaimed as an answer to the troubles of the heart.Surely many people – including young people – would identify with the psalmist as they themselves grapple with the same sorts of difficult issues that he was grappling with. Many people would identify with the psalmist as he cried out to

YHWH in the way that he did. In our world today, many refugees and migrants could find real

meaning in Psalm 88.15

Real issues of real people were addressed here in Psalm 88.Putting a sugar coating on life is not an accusation that could be laid at the door of Heman the Ezrahite.The compilers and arrangers of the Psalms were realists, and real issues were not swept under the carpet or ignored.We can learn a lot from this in church life today. Let the world know that we Christians are real people who hurt,

who bleed and who die, just like everyone else. A community of faith, hope and love must make room for the

people who are hurting, wounded, lonely and depressed. Let us be big enough to face the fact that life for people is

sometimes filled with exactly the same kinds of issues that Heman raised with YHWH here in Psalm 88.

Let our church be a community that has songs like Psalm 88 on our lips and in our lives.

Of course we know that, when all is said and done, God will arise and his enemies will be scattered.May it be so for the glory of YHWH.Amen and amen.

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