John Gill Commentary Psalms 102

Hear my prayer, O Lord
The prayer of a poor, destitute, and afflicted one; his own, and not another's; not what was composed for him, but composed by him; which came out of his own heart, and out of unfeigned lips, and expressed under a feeling sense of his own wants and troubles; and though dictated and inwrought in his heart by the Spirit of God, yet, being put up by him in faith and fervency, it is called his own, and which he desires might be heard:

and let my cry come unto thee ;
he calls his prayer cry, because it was uttered in distress, and with great vehemency and importunity; and he prays that it might come unto God, even into his ears, and be regarded by him, and not shut out: prayer comes aright to God, when it comes through Christ, and out of his hands, perfumed with the incense of his mediation.

Hide not your face from me in the day when I am in
trouble
Your Shechinah, as the Targum: when God hides his face at any time from his people, it is a trouble to them, and very grievous; but especially when they are in any other trouble besides; it is very afflicting, indeed, when to their outward trouble this is added, which was Job's case, (Job 23:1–3).

incline your ear unto me; condescend, in great grace and goodness, to stoop and bow your ear, and listen to the voice of my supplication:

in the day when I call, answer me speedily; good men are always for speedy answers of prayer; they would have them the day, the hour, the moment they are calling upon God: sometimes answers are returned as soon, (Isaiah 65:24), the case of the psalmist was very distressing, and, as he thought at least, required haste, and therefore requests a speedy answer.

For my days are consumed like smoke
Which suddenly rises up, is easily dissipated, and quickly disappears; so sudden, short, and transient, are the days of man's life; see (James 4:14).

Or "in smoke" ^F3, as the Syriac version; his days were spent in great obscurity, in the darkness of affliction, temptation, and desertion; and in so much vexation, trouble, and uneasiness, as if he had lived in smoke all his time: and

my bones are burnt as an hearth ;
on which fire is continually made for the preparation of food, and other uses: or as a "trivet", or "gridiron": so the Targum: or as a frying pan; so the Arabic version: the meaning is, that, through trouble and grief, his bones, the strongest parts of his body, the props and supports of it, were so weakened and enfeebled, the strength of them so exhausted, that they were as if they had been parched and burnt up, as the hearth by fire; see (Proverbs 17:22) (Psalms 22:15) .

FOOTNOTES:

• F3: (Nveb) "in fumo", Montanus.

My heart is smitten, and withered like grass
Like grass in the summer solstice ^F4, which being smitten with the heat of the sun, or by some blast of thunder and lightning, is dried up, and withers away;

so his heart was smitten with a sense of sin, and of God's wrath and displeasure at him, and with the heat of affliction and trouble, that it failed him, and he could not look up with joy and comfort:

so that I forget to eat my bread;
Sometimes, through grief and trouble, persons refuse to eat bread, as Jonathan and Ahab, which is a voluntary act, and purposely done; but here, in the psalmist, there was such a loss of appetite, through sorrow, that he forgot his stated meals, having no manner of inclination to food.

Some understand this of spiritual food, the bread of life, refusing to be comforted with it; so the Targum, for I forgot the law of my doctrine.

FOOTNOTES:

• F4: "Quasi solstitialis herba paulisper fui", Plauti Pseudolus, Act. 1. Sc. 1. v. 36.

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 ^F5; which sometimes is occasioned, as by outward afflictions, so by soul troubles: or "to my flesh" ^F6; flesh is put for skin; see (Job 19:20) (4:8) .

FOOTNOTES:

• F5: "Ossa atque pellis sum", Plauti Capteivei, Act. 1. Sc. 2. v. 26. Asinaria 3. 6. v. 28.
• F6: yrvbl "carni meae", V. L. Pagninus, Montanus