Albert Barnes Commentary Psalms 6

O Lord, rebuke me not in your anger - as if God was rebuking him through the affliction He was bringing upon him. This is the point on which the psalmist's attention is now fixed. He had apparently been contemplating his afflictions and inquiring into their cause. He was led to the conclusion that his suffering might be for his sins, and that his trials were to be interpreted as proof that God was angry with him. He speaks, therefore, of God as visiting him in His anger and in His hot displeasure, and pleads with Him that He would not thus rebuke and chasten him.

The word rebuke here, like the word rendered chasten, properly refers to the reproof of an offender by words, but may also be used to denote the reproof God administers by His providential dealings when He brings judgment upon anyone for his sins. This is the meaning here. The psalmist did not anticipate that God would openly reprove him for his sins; but he regarded God's dealings with him as such a reproof, and he pleads that the tokens of this reproof might be taken away. The whole language indicates a connection between suffering and sin—the feeling we have when afflicted that it must be on account of our sins.

Neither chasten me - This word denotes substantially the same thing and is used here in the sense of punishing.

In your hot displeasure - literally, in your heat. We speak of anger or wrath as burning or consuming. Compare Genesis 39:19; Numbers 11:33; Deuteronomy 11:17; Psalms 106:40; Job 19:11; Job 32:2–3; and Psalms 2:12.

Have mercy upon me, O Lord - That is, be gracious to me, or show me compassion. This language may be used either in view of sin, suffering, or danger. It is a cry to God to intervene and remove some present source of trouble, and may be used by one who feels that he is a sinner, or by one on a bed of pain, or by one surrounded by enemies, or by one at the point of death, or by one who is looking out with apprehension upon the eternal world.

It is commonly, indeed , a cry to God in view of sin, pleading for pardon and salvation. But here it is a cry in view of trouble and danger, outward sorrow and mental anguish, that had overcome the strength of the sufferer and laid him on a bed of languishing. See introduction to the psalm, Section 3.

For I am weak - The original word here, אמלל 'ûmlal, properly means to languish or droop, as plants do that are blighted (Isaiah 24:7), or as fields do in a drought (Isaiah 16:8). It is here applied to a sick person whose strength is withered and gone. The condition of such a person is beautifully compared with a plant that withers for lack of moisture, and the word is used in this sense here, referring to the psalmist himself when sick, as the result of his outward and mental sorrows.

Such an effect has not been uncommon in the world. There have been numberless cases where sorrow has prostrated the strength—as a plant withers—and has brought on languishing sickness.

O Lord, heal me - This is language which would be properly applied to a case of sickness, and therefore, it is most natural to interpret it in this sense in this place. Compare Isaiah 19:22; Isaiah 30:26; Job 5:18; Genesis 20:17; Psalms 60:2; 2 Chronicles 16:12; Deuteronomy 28:27.

For my bones are vexed - The word “vexed” we now commonly apply to mental trouble, and especially the lighter kinds of mental trouble—to irritate, to make angry by little provocations, to harass. It is used here, however, as is common in the Scriptures, in reference to torment or anguish. The bones are the strength and framework of the body, and the psalmist means here to say that the very source of his strength was gone; that what supported him was prostrated; and that his disease and sorrow had penetrated the firmest parts of his body.

Language is often used in the Scriptures as if the “bones” actually suffered pain, though it is now known that the bones, as such, are incapable of pain.

Similarly, language is often used (though this particular usage concerning marrow is not found in the Scriptures) as if the “marrow” of the bones were especially sensitive, like a nerve, in accordance with common and popular belief, even though it is now known that the marrow of the bones is entirely insensible to suffering.

The psalmist’s design here is to say that he was crushed and afflicted in every part of his frame.

My soul is also sore vexed - The word "soul" here is used in the sense in which it is commonly understood by us, as denoting the mind. The idea is that his sorrows were not merely those of the physical body. They had a deeper seat than even the bones. His mind, his soul, was also full of anguish, because of the circumstances that surrounded him and had caused these bodily afflictions.

But thou, O Lord - This is a broken sentence, as if he had begun an address to God but did not complete it. It is as if he had said, "Here I suffer and languish; my sorrows are deep and unmitigated; as for you, O Lord"—as if he were about to say that he had hoped God would intervene, or that His dealings were mysterious, or that they seemed strange or severe. But he ends the sentence with no language of complaint, but simply by asking "how long" these sorrows were to continue.

How long? - That is, how long will you leave me to suffer like this? How long shall my unmitigated anguish continue? How long will it be before you intervene to relieve me? The language implies that in his perception it was already a long time—as time usually seems long to a sufferer , and that he was constantly watching for God to intervene and help him. This is language that all people may be inclined to use on beds of pain and languishing. It seems indeed long to them now; it will, however, seem short when they look back on it from the glories of the heavenly world (Compare 2 Corinthians 4:17–18).

Return, O Lord, deliver my soul - As if he had departed from him, and had left him to die. The word “soul” in this place is used, as it often is, in the sense of “life,” for in the next verse he speaks of the grave to which he evidently felt he was rapidly descending.

O save me - Save my life; save me from going down to the grave. Deliver me from these troubles and dangers.

For your mercies’ sake -

• As an act of mere mercy, for he felt that he had no claim, and could not urge it as a matter of right and justice; and
• In order that God’s mercy might be manifest, or because he was a merciful Being, and might, therefore, be appealed to on that ground.

These are proper grounds, now, on which to make an appeal to God for his interposition on our behalf; and, indeed, these are the only grounds on which we can plead with him to save us.

For in death - In the state of the dead; in the grave.

There is no remembrance of thee - They who are dead do not remember you or think of you. The ground of this appeal is that it was regarded by the psalmist as a desirable thing to remember God and to praise Him, and that this could not be done by one who was dead. He prayed, therefore, that God would spare his life and restore him to health, that he might praise Him in the land of the living.

A sentiment similar to this occurs in Psalms 30:9: What profit is there in my blood, when I go down to the pit? Shall the dust praise thee? Shall it declare thy truth? So also in Psalms 88:11: Shall thy loving-kindness be declared in the grave? Or thy faithfulness in destruction? Likewise, in the language of Hezekiah (Isaiah 38:18): The grave cannot praise thee; death cannot celebrate thee; they that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth. See the notes on that passage.

A similar sentiment is also found in Job 10:21-22 (see the notes on that passage). Regarding the meaning of this, the following points may be noted:

1. It must be admitted that among the ancient saints there was much less understanding of the future state than we have, and that often, when expressing their feelings, they seemed to speak as if all were dark beyond the grave.

2. But, although they spoke this way in their sorrow and despondency, on other occasions they also expressed their belief in a future state and their expectation of happiness in a coming world (compare, for example, Psalms 16:10–11; Psalms 17:15).

3. Does their language in times of despondency and sickness not express the feelings that we often have now, even with all the understanding we possess and all the hopes we cherish? Are there not times in the lives of the pious, even though they have a strong prevailing hope of heaven, when their thoughts are fixed on the grave as a dark, gloomy, repulsive prison, and so fixed on it as to lose sight of the world beyond? And in such moments, does life not seem as precious and desirable to us as it did to David, to Hezekiah, or to Job?

In the grave - Hebrew, בשׁאול bish^e'ôl — “in Sheol.” For the meaning of the word, see Isaiah 5:14 (note), Isaiah 14:9 (note), and Job 7:9 (note). Its meaning here does not differ materially from the word “grave.”

Who shall give thee thanks? - Who shall praise you? The idea is that none would then praise God. It was the land of silence . This language implies that David desired to praise God, but that he could not hope to do it in the grave.