Psalm 88 has a somber tone from beginning to end. The song is sung "upon Mahalath Leannoth", showing that it is a lament. The word mahalath occurs only in Psalm 88:1 and Psalm 53:1. "Mahalath" means sickness or suffering (remember the name of one of Ruth's sons - Mahlon). Also, "Leannoth" means humiliation. The last word of this Psalm is "darkness" (v. 18). The only ray of hope in this Psalm is the Person to Whom the Psalmist addresses in this psalm: the "O LORD God of my salvation" (v. 1). Here we find a reference to the name Jesus/Yeshua, "salvation".
The Psalmist is so distressed, that he has neither definite petition for deliverance nor hope. His cry to God is only a long drawn complaint, which brings no respite from his pains nor brightening of his spirit. But yet to address God as the God of his salvation, to discern His hand in the infliction of sorrows, is the operation of true though feeble faith. "Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him," is the very spirit of this Psalm.
The prayer of anguish arises from the greatness of the distress (v. 2~4), which has brought the sufferer near to death (v. 5~6), and is the effect of God's wrath (v. 7~8), and has cast him out from his acquaintance as an object of abhorrence (v. 9~10). There then follows a succession of lamentations as to the condition after death (v. 11~13), in connection with which is uttered the question which agitates him most deeply, why God should then turn away from him in the midst of his supplications (v. 14-15). A return is then made to the lamentations over his miseries, which surround him like billows and darkness (v. 16~18).
A Song or Psalm for the sons of Korah, to the chief Musician upon Mahalath Leannoth, Maschil of Heman the Ezrahite. O LORD God of my salvation, I have cried day and night before thee:
Psalms 88:2
Let my prayer come before thee: incline thine ear unto my cry;
Psalms 88:3
For my soul is full of troubles: and my life draweth nigh unto the grave.
Psalms 88:4
I am counted with them that go down into the pit: I am as a man that hath no strength:
Psalms 88:5
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.
Psalms 88:6
Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit, in darkness, in the deeps.
Psalms 88:7
Thy wrath lieth hard upon me, and thou hast afflicted me with all thy waves. Selah.
Psalms 88:8
Thou hast put away mine acquaintance far from me; thou hast made me an abomination unto them: I am shut up, and I cannot come forth.
Psalms 88:9
Mine eye mourneth by reason of affliction: LORD, I have called daily upon thee, I have stretched out my hands unto thee.
Psalms 88:10
Wilt thou shew wonders to the dead? shall the dead arise and praise thee? Selah.
Psalms 88:11
Shall thy lovingkindness be declared in the grave? or thy faithfulness in destruction?
Psalms 88:12
Shall thy wonders be known in the dark? and thy righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?
Psalms 88:13
But unto thee have I cried, O LORD; and in the morning shall my prayer prevent thee.
Psalms 88:14
LORD, why castest thou off my soul? why hidest thou thy face from me?
Psalms 88:15
I am afflicted and ready to die from my youth up: while I suffer thy terrors I am distracted.
Psalms 88:16
Thy fierce wrath goeth over me; thy terrors have cut me off.
Psalms 88:17
They came round about me daily like water; they compassed me about together.
Psalms 88:18
Lover and friend hast thou put far from me, and mine acquaintance into darkness.
This points first of all to the humiliation of Christ through suffering on the cross of Calvary, as the basis for all the blessings of the remnant ("all my springs are in thee", Psalms 87:7). The rock had to be struck if He were to become for us a source of living water (Luke 24:26).
Secondly, it points to the path of suffering that Israel had to go through, the purging of the remnant, through Assyria, the disciplining rod of God (Isaiah 10:5; Deuteronomy 28:49-57; Joel 2:1-14) in order to arrive at the glorious redemption. Compare the way Joseph's brothers had to go, the prison, in order to come to restoration. For us, too, it is true , (Romans 8:17).
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