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1
A Vivid Picture of Isolation
Commentators explain that the psalmist chooses the pelican and the owl to paint a vivid picture of profound isolation and melancholy. These birds were known for inhabiting desolate wildernesses and ruins, away from community. Like them, the psalmist feels cut off, enveloped in a sorrow that, as one scholar notes, is "sombre" and "austere," making him a mournful creature seeking solitude.
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Book Overview
Psalms
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Commentaries
7
Albert Barnes
On Psalms 102:6
18th Century
Theologian
I am like a pelican of the wilderness - A bird in the midst of desolation becomes a striking image of loneliness and distress. The …
Charles Ellicott
On Psalms 102:6
19th Century
Bishop
Pelican. See Leviticus 11:18.
It has been objected that the pelican, being a water-bird, cannot, therefore, be the kâat…
Charles Spurgeon
On Psalm 102:3–7
19th Century
Preacher
For my days are consumed like smoke, and my bones are burned as an hearth. My heart is smitten, and withered like grass; so that I forget to ea…
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John Calvin
On Psalms 102:6
16th Century
Theologian
I have become like a pelican of the wilderness. Instead of rendering the original word as pelican, some translate it as bitte…
John Gill
On Psalms 102:6
17th Century
Pastor
I am like a pelican of the wilderness
It may be so called, to distinguish it from another of the same name that live…
Matthew Henry
On Psalms 102:1–11
17th Century
Minister
The whole word of God is of use to direct us in prayer; but here, as often elsewhere, the Holy Spirit has put words into our mouths. Here is a pray…