Psalm 102

Psalms 102:1

“Prayer of the poor man, when he is in anguish, and pours out his supplication before the Lord. He speaks of a poor man, not of this world, but of the one about whom it is written: 'Blessed are the poor in spirit.' When he is in anguish: when he calls to mind his sins, both past and present. Pours out: with his whole heart, not with his lips. But who is able to pour out his prayer before the Lord? Who is able not to be stung by his own conscience?”

Psalms 102:1

“Hear my prayer, O Lord. Or O Jehovah. Sincere supplicants are not content with praying for praying's sake, they desire really to reach the ear and heart of the great God. It is a great relief in time of distress to acquaint others with our trouble, we are eased by their hearing our lamentation, but it is the sweetest solace of all to have God himself as a sympathizing listener to our plaint. That he is such is no dream or fiction, but an assured fact.”

Psalms 102:2

“Turn not away your face from me. If anyone prays with a pure heart, and is not accused by his own conscience, he can say this. For the sinner does not dare to say, turn not away your face from me: but rather he says: 'Turn away your face from my sins.'”

Psalms 102:2

“Hide not thy face from me in the day when I am in trouble. Do not seem as if thou didst not see me, or wouldst not own me. Smile now at any rate. Reserve thy frowns for other times when I can bear them better, if, indeed, I can ever bear them; but now in my heavy distress, favour me with looks of compassion. Incline thine ear unto me. Bow thy greatness to my weakness.”

Psalms 102:3

“For my days have failed away like smoke. For example, I was a little child, and while I know it not, I came into the age of youth, and again into full age, and while I know it not, I have grown old: and my days have failed away like smoke. But some people think themselves to be everlasting, and they persevere in their sin. And my bones are withered like a dry twig for kindling. By 'bones' he means strength itself.”

Psalms 102:3

“For my days are consumed like smoke. My grief has made life unsubstantial to me, I seem to be but a puff of vapour which has nothing in it, and is soon dissipated. The metaphor is very admirably chosen, for, to the unhappy, life seems not merely to be frail, but to be surrounded by so much that is darkening, defiling, blinding, and depressing, that, sitting down in despair, they compare themselves to men wandering in a dense fog, and themselves so dried up thereby that they are little better than pillars of smoke.”

Psalms 102:4

“I am smitten like grass, and my heart is withered. Just as it is also written elsewhere: 'Man, his days are like grass.' For such is the life of men: it is green, and quickly it withers. Because I have forgotten to eat my bread. He did not say, I had no desire to eat, or I despised eating. To such a degree did the memory of my sins come upon me, and such penance did I do, that I even forget to eat, having my longing set on God, and considering him alone.”

Psalms 102:4

My heart is smitten, like a plant parched by the fierce heat of a tropical sun, and withered like grass, which dries up when once the scythe has laid it low. The psalmist's heart was as a wilted, withered flower, a burned up mass of what once was verdure. His energy, beauty, freshness, and joy, were utterly gone, through the wasting influence of his anguish. So that I forget to eat my bread, or "because I forget to eat my bread."

Psalms 102:5

“By reason of the voice of my groaning my bone has cleaved to my flesh. Let those who do penance learn how they ought to do penance. For I so dried myself up, that I was without flesh, and my skin clung to my bones. He said 'flesh' for 'skin.'”

Psalms 102:5

“By reason of the voice of my groaning,.... Under the burden of sin, and pressure of afflictions: my bones cleave to my skin; was quite emaciated, reduced to a skeleton, became nothing but skin and bone (e); which sometimes is occasioned, as by outward afflictions, so by soul troubles: or "to my flesh" (f); flesh is put for skin; see Job 19:20. (e) "Ossa atque pellis sum", Plauti Capteivei, Act. 1. Sc. 2. v. 26. Asinaria 3. 6. v. 28. (f) לבשרי "carni meae", V. L. Pagninus, Montanus, &c.”

Psalms 102:5

“By reason of the voice of my groaning my bones cleave to my skin. He became emaciated with sorrow. He had groaned himself down to a living skeleton, and so in his bodily appearance was the more like the smoke-dried, withered, burnt-up things to which he had previously compared himself. It will be a very long time before the distresses of the church of God make some Christians shrivel into anatomies, but this good man was so moved with sympathy for Zion's ills that he was wasted down to skin and bone.”

Psalms 102:6

“I have become like the pelican of the wilderness. There are said to be two kinds of these birds. One lives in the waters, and its food is fish; and one lives in the wilderness, and its food is venomous creatures, that is, serpents and crocodiles and lizards. Now these birds are called in Latin 'onocrotali.' To that one therefore have I become like, which lives in the wilderness, which eats venomous creatures: that is, my food was to me as it were poison. I have become like the night-raven in its dwelling-place.”

Psalms 102:6

“I am like a pelican of the wilderness, a mournful and even hideous object, the very image of desolation. I am like an owl of the desert; loving solitude, moping among ruins, hooting discordantly.”

Psalms 102:6

“IN the 102nd Psalm, the Believer likens himself to an owl, and in the 103rd Psalm, in almost the parallel verse, he is compared to an eagle. What a blessing it is that the saints of God, in the olden times, were moved by the Holy Spirit to write down their experiences. And what a mercy it is that they wrote them out so fully! They have not given us miniatures so much as full-length portraits. Especially was this the case with David—again and again he draws himself to the very life.”

Psalms 102:7

“I watch, and am like a sparrow alone upon the house top: I keep a solitary vigil as the lone sentry of my nation; my fellows are too selfish, too careless to care for the beloved land, and so like a bird which sits alone on the housetop, I keep up a sad watch over my country. The Psalmist compared himself to a bird, —a bird when it has lost its mate or its young, or is for some other reason made to mope alone in a solitary place.”

Psalms 102:8

“Mine enemies reproach me all the day,.... For his principles and practices, being different from theirs; for his religion, and preciseness in it; for his faith and profession of it, and for his holy walk and conversation.”

Psalms 102:8

“Mine enemies reproach me all the day. Their rage was unrelenting and unceasing, and vented itself in taunts and insults, the Psalmist's patriotism and his griefs were both made the subjects of their sport. Pointing to the sad estate of his people they would ask him, "Where is your God?" and exult over him because their false gods were in the ascendant. Reproach cuts like a razor, and when it is continued from hour to hour, and repeated all the day and every day, it makes life itself undesirable. And they that are mad against me are sworn against me.”

Psalms 102:8

“In this they were unwearied; they did it all the day; it was a continual dropping. His enemies were very outrageous: They are mad against me, and very obstinate and implacable. They are sworn against me; as the Jews that bound themselves with an oath that they would kill Paul; or, They have sworn against me as accusers, to take away my life.”

Psalms 102:9

“For I have eaten ashes like bread. I dipped my bread in ashes, and so ate it. If therefore the prophet says this, what should we do? And I mingled my drink with weeping. Nothing was sweet to me, neither bread, nor drink: but I longed only for the heavenly bread, that is, Christ.”

Psalms 102:9

“For I have eaten ashes like bread. He had so frequently cast ashes upon his head in token of mourning, that they had mixed with his ordinary food, and grated between his teeth when he ate his daily bread. One while he forgot to eat, and then the fit changed, and he ate with such a hunger that even ashes were devoured. Grief has strange moods and tenses. And mingled my drink with weeping. His drink became as nauseous as his meat, for copious showers of tears had made it brackish.”

Psalms 102:9

“Bread - The sense is, dust and ashes are as familiar to me as the eating of my bread; I cover my head with them; I sit, yea, lie down in them, as mourners often did.”

Psalms 102:10

“Because of the face of your wrath and indignation. And all these things I did, considering your coming and the judgment to come. Because lifting me up you have dashed me down. Let those say this who were once holy, and fell: for having been exalted in their virtues, afterward they fell. Since indeed the saints say: because lifting me up you held me.”

Psalms 102:10

“Because of thine indignation and thy wrath: for thou hast lifted me up and cast me down. A sense of the divine wrath which had been manifested in the overthrow of the chosen nation and their sad captivity led the Psalmist into the greatest distress. He felt like a sere leaf caught up by a hurricane and carried right away, or the spray of the sea which is dashed upwards that it may be scattered and dissolved.”

Psalms 102:11

“My days have declined like a shadow. If my days, how much more my nights? that is, if the light, how much more the darkness? And I have withered like grass. For as grass, so man passes away, and is dried up.”

Psalms 102:11

“My days are like a shadow that declineth. His days were but a shadow at best, but now they seem to be like a shadow which was passing away. A shadow is unsubstantial enough, how feeble a thing must a declining shadow be? No expression could more forcibly set forth his extreme feebleness. And I am withered like grass. He was like grass, blasted by a parching wind, or cut down with a scythe, and then left to be dried up by the burning heat of the sun.”

Psalms 102:12

“Now the writer's mind is turned away from his personal and relative troubles to the true source of all consolation, namely, the Lord himself, and his gracious purposes towards his own people. But thou, O Lord, shalt endure for ever. I perish, but thou wilt not, my nation has become almost extinct, but thou art altogether unchanged. The original has the word "sit, "—"thou, Jehovah, to eternity shalt sit:" that is to say, thou reignest on, thy throne is still secure even when thy chosen city lies in ruins, and thy peculiar people are carried into captivity.”

Psalms 102:12

“Contrast with man's frailty (compare Ps 90:1-7). thy remembrance--that by which Thou art remembered, Thy promise. Hence it is here adduced. for--or, "when." the set time, &c.--the time promised, the indication of which is the interest felt for Zion by the people of God.”

Psalms 102:13

“You, rising up, will have mercy on Sion. From this little verse it is manifest that this psalm is spoken in the person of Sion, and not in the person of the prophet. Now Sion is she who is set upon a watchtower, and looks out upon the things which come from afar. This Sion therefore, who is set on high and on a lofty place, has fallen. Therefore 'let him who stands take heed lest he fall.' Because it is the time to have mercy on her, because the time has come.”

Psalms 102:13

“Thou shalt arise, and have mercy upon Zion. He firmly believed and boldly prophesied that apparent inaction on God's part would turn to effective working. Others might remain sluggish in the matter, but the Lord would most surely bestir himself. Zion had been chosen of old, highly favoured, gloriously inhabited, and wondrously preserved, and therefore by the memory of her past mercies it was certain that mercy would again be showed to her.”

Psalms 102:13

“The hope of deliverance is built upon the goodness of God--"Thou wilt have mercy upon Zion, for she has become an object of thy pity;" and upon the power of God--"Thou shalt arise and have mercy, shalt stir up thyself to do it, shalt do it in contempt of all the opposition made by the church's enemies." The zeal of the Lord of hosts shall do this.”

Psalms 102:14

“For its stones have pleased your servants. The stones are the saints: but the earth, that is, sinners, stand in need of the Lord's mercy.”

Psalms 102:14

“For thy servants take pleasure in her stones, and favour the dust thereof. They delight in her so greatly that even her rubbish is dear to them. It was a good omen for Jerusalem when the captives began to feel a home-sickness, and began to sigh after her. We may expect the modern Jews to be restored to their own land when the love of their country begins to sway them, and casts out the love of gain.”

Psalms 102:15

“So the heathen shall fear the name of the Lord. Mercy within the church is soon perceived by those without. When a candle is lit in the house, it shines through the window. When Zion rejoices in her God, the heathen been to reverence his name, for they hear of the wonders of his power, and are impressed thereby. And all the kings of the earth thy glory. The restoration of Jerusalem was a marvel among the princes who heard of it, and its ultimate resurrection in days yet to come will be one of the prodigies of history.”

Psalms 102:15

“It will be a happy means perhaps of their conversion, at least of their conviction; for so the heathen shall fear the name of the Lord, shall have high thoughts of him and his people, and even the kings of the earth shall be affected with his glory.”

Psalms 102:16

“When the Lord shall build up Zion, he shall appear in his glory. As kings display their skill and power and wealth in the erection of their capitals, so would the Lord reveal the splendour of his attributes in the restoration of Zion, and so will he now glorify himself in the edification of his church. Never is the Lord more honourable in the eyes of his saints than when he prospers the church.”

Psalms 102:16

“When the Lord shall build--or better, "Because the Lord hath built," &c., as a reason for the effect on others; for in thus acting and hearing the humble, He is most glorious.”

Psalms 102:16

“This is expected from the favour of God; that will set all to rights, and nothing but that, and therefore Daniel prays ( Dan. ix. 17 ), Cause thy face to shine upon thy sanctuary, which is desolate. The building up of Zion is as great a favour to any people as they can desire.”

Psalms 102:17

“OBSERVE that the verse which precedes the text describes the Lord as appearing in His Glory. His Zion is to be built up and therefore her King puts on the robes of His splendor. The imagery sets forth the Lord as a great Monarch, superintending with great pomp and state, the building of a sumptuous palace. We see Him commanding the architects and the workmen, and passing from point to point amid attending courtiers. Trumpets are sounding, banners are displayed, princes and nobles glitter in their array and the King appears in His Glory.”

Psalms 102:18

“This shall be written for the generation to come. A note shall be made of it, for there will be destitute ones in future generations, —"the poor shall never cease out of the land, "—and it will make glad their eyes to read the story of the Lord's mercy to the needy in former times. Registers of divine kindness ought to be made and preserved; we write dcwn in history the calamities of nations, —wars, famines, pestilences, and earthquakes are recorded; how much rather then should we set up memorials of the Lord's lovingkindness!”

Psalms 102:18

“Many that are now unborn shall, by reading the history of the church, be wrought upon to turn proselytes. The people that shall be created anew by divine grace, that are a kind of first-fruits of his creatures, shall praise the Lord for his answers to their prayers when they were more destitute.”

Psalms 102:19-20

“For he hath looked down from the heights of his sanctuary, or "leaned from the high place of his holiness, " from heaven did the Lord behold the earth, looking out like a watcher from his tower. What was the object of this leaning lrom the battlements of heaven? Why this intent gaze upon the race of men? The answer is full of astounding mercy; the Lord does not look upon mankind to note their grandees, and observe the doings of their nobles, but to hear the groaning of the prisoner; to loose those that are appointed to death.”

Psalms 102:19-22

“I SUPPOSE the first sense of this passage would be just this. Israel had been carried away captive and only the poorest of the people had been left in the land. Jerusalem was a heap. Zion had been plowed with the plow of desolation. The whole country was, compared with its former state, like a desert. But in due time, God, who had peculiar favor towards His people, though He had sorely smitten them, would look down upon them. From the height of His sanctuary in Heaven, He would look down upon the ruins of His sanctuary on earth.”

Psalms 102:20

“To hear the groaning - By sin, all the inhabitants of the earth are miserable. They have broken the Divine laws, are under the arrest of judgment, and all cast into prison, They have been tried, found guilty, and appointed to die; they groan under their chains, are alarmed at the prospect of death, and implore mercy.”

Psalms 102:21

“To declare the name of the Lord in Zion, and his praise in Jerusalem. Great mercy displayed to those greatly in need of it, is the plainest method of revealing the attributes of the Most High. Actions speak more loudly than words; deeds of grace are a revelation even more impressive than the most tender promises. Jerusalem restored, the church re-edified, desponding souls encouraged, and all other manifestations of Jehovah's power to bless, are so many manifestoes and proclamations put up upon the walls of Zion to publish the character and glory of the great God.”

Psalms 102:22

“When the people are gathered together, and the kingdoms, to serve the Lord. The great work of restoring ruined Zion is to be spoken of in those golden ages when the heathen nations shall be converted unto God; even those glorious times will not be able to despise that grand event, which, like the passage of Israel through the Red Sea, will never be eclipsed and never cease to awaken the enthusiasm of the cliosen people.”

Psalms 102:22

“But it may look further, at the conversion of the Gentiles to the faith of Christ in the latter days. Christ has proclaimed liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those that were bound, that they may declare the name of the Lord in the gospel-church, in which Jews and Gentiles shall unite.”

Psalms 102:23

“He weakened my strength in the way. Here the Psalmist comes down again to the mournful string, and pours forth his personal complaint. His sorrow had cast down his spirit, and even caused weakness in his bodily frame, so that he was like a pilgrim who limped along the road, and was ready to lie down and die. He shortened my days. Though he had bright hopes for Jerusalem, he feared that he should have departed this life long before those visions had become realities; he felt that he was pining away and would be a shortlived man.”

Psalms 102:23-28

“God's eternal existence is a pledge of faithfulness to His promises. in the way--of providence. weakened--literally, "afflicted," and made fearful of a premature end, a figure of the apprehensions of the Church, lest God might not perform His promise, drawn from those of a person in view of the dangers of early death (compare Ps 89:47).”

Psalms 102:23

“And then what becomes of the promise that Shiloh should arise out of Judah, the star out of Jacob, and the Messiah out of the family of David? If these fail, the promise fails. This the psalmist speaks of as in his own person, and it is very applicable to two of the common afflictions of this time:-- 1.”

Psalms 102:24

That which is said is also fulfilled in the saint: "I will recall you from there in the end." For the end is considered to be the perfection of things and the consummation of virtues. Indeed for this reason also another saint said, "Don't recall me in the midst of my days." And again the Scripture bestows testimony on the great patriarch Abraham since "Abraham died full of days."

Psalms 102:24

“I said, O my God, take me not away in the midst of my days. He betook himself to prayer. What better remedy is there for hcart-sickness and depression? We may lawfully ask for recovery from sickness and may hope to be heard. Good men should not dread death, but they are not forbidden to love life: for many reasons the man who has the best hope of heaven may nevertheless think it desirable to continue here a little longer, for the sake of his family, his work, the church of God, and even the glory of God itself.”

Psalms 102:24

“I said - Do not wholly destroy thy people Israel. In the midst - Before they come to a full possession of thy promises and especially of that fundamental promise of the Messiah.”

Psalms 102:25-27

Therefore the Image of the unalterable God must be unchangeable; for "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever." And David in the psalm says of him, "You, Lord, in the beginning have laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. They shall perish, but you remain; and they all shall grow old as does a garment. And you shall fold them up as a piece of clothing, and they shall be changed, but you are the same, and your years shall not fail."

Psalms 102:25

“Of old hast thou laid the foundation of the earth. Creation is no new work with God, and therefore to "create Jerusalem a praise in the earth" will not be difficult to him. Long ere the holy city was laid in ruins the Lord made a world out of nothing, and it will be no labour to him to raise the walls from their heaps and replace the stones in their courses.”

Psalms 102:25-27

“The apostle quotes these verses ( Heb. i. 10-12 ) and tells us, He saith this to the Son, and in that exposition we must acquiesce. It is very comfortable, in reference to all the changes that pass over the church, and all the dangers it is in, that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever.”

Psalms 102:26

“But when a man falls asleep, he does not rise until the heaven is sewn. This seems to indicate that until the heaven is renewed; for there will be a new heaven and a new earth, as it is written. For what is sewn is old: what is old will be changed. Lastly, listen to David saying: In the beginning you founded the earth, O Lord, and the works of your hands are the heavens.”

Psalms 102:26

“They shall perish,.... Both the heavens and the earth, though so well founded, and so firmly made; they shall be dissolved, melt, and pass away; not as to the substance, but as to the quality of them: or, as R.”

Psalms 102:26

“They shall perish, but thou shalt endure. The power which made them shall dissolve them, even as the city of thy love was destroyed at thy command; yet neither the ruined city nor the ruined earth can make a change in thee, reverse thy purpose, or diminish thy glory. Thou standest when all things fall. Yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; as a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed. Time impairs all things, the fashion becomes obsolete and passes away.”

Psalms 102:27

“But thou art the same, or, "thou art he." As a man remains the same when he has changed his clothing, so is the Lord evermore the unchanging One, though his works in creation may be changed, and the operations of his providence may vary.”

Psalms 102:27

“Christ will be the same in the performance that he was in the promise, the same to his church in captivity that he was to his church at liberty. Let not the church fear the weakening of her strength, or the shortening of her days, while Christ himself is both her strength and her life; he is the same, and has said, Because I live you shall live also.”

Psalms 102:28

“The children of thy servants shall continue. The Psalmist had early in the psalm looked forward to a future generation, and here he speaks with confidence that such a race would arise and be preserved and blessed of God. Some read it as a prayer, "let the sons of thy servants abide." Any way, it is full of good cheer to us; we may plead for the Lord's favour to our seed, and we may expect that the cause of God and truth will revive in future generations.”