| Barnes' Notes on the Bible I am counted with them that go down into the pit - I am so near to death that I may be reckoned already as among the dead. It is so manifest to others that I must die - that my disease is mortal - that they already speak of me as dead. The word "pit" here means the grave - the same as Sheol in the previous verse. It means properly (1) a pit, (2) a cistern, Genesis 37:20, (3) a prison or dungeon, Isaiah 24:22, (4) the grave, Psalm 28:1; Psalm 30:4; Isaiah 38:18. I am as a man that hath no strength - Who has no power to resist disease, no vigor of constitution remaining; who must die. Clarke's Commentary on the BibleI am counted with them, etc. - I am as good as dead; nearly destitute of life and hope. Gill's Exposition of the Entire BibleI am counted with them that go down into the pit,.... With the dead, with them that are worthy of death, with malefactors that are judicially put to death, and are not laid in a common grave, but put into a pit together: thus Christ was reckoned and accounted of by the Jews; the sanhedrim counted him worthy of death; and the common people cried out Crucify him; and they did crucify him between two malefactors; and so he was numbered or counted with transgressors, and as one of them, Isaiah 53:3. I am as a man that hath no strength; for his "strength" was "dried up like a potsherd", Psalm 22:15, though he was the mighty God, and, as man, was made strong by the Lord for himself. Geneva Study BibleI am counted with them that go down into the pit: I am as a man that hath no strength: Wesley's Notes 88:4 Counted - l am given up by my friends for a lost man. Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary4. go . pit-of destruction (Ps 28:1). as a man-literally, "a stout man," whose strength is utterly gone. Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary88:1-9 The first words of the psalmist are the only words of comfort and support in this psalm. Thus greatly may good men be afflicted, and such dismal thoughts may they have about their afflictions, and such dark conclusion may they make about their end, through the power of melancholy and the weakness of faith. He complained most of God's displeasure. Even the children of God's love may sometimes think themselves children of wrath and no outward trouble can be so hard upon them as that. Probably the psalmist described his own case, yet he leads to Christ. Thus are we called to look unto Jesus, wounded and bruised for our iniquities. But the wrath of God poured the greatest bitterness into his cup. This weighed him down into darkness and the deep. |