Psalm 88 Overview
Among the Dead
Psalm 88
Welcome to the Overview of Psalm 88
This page will introduce and provide orientation to Psalm 88 as a whole. It includes the following sections:
Author
- The sons of Korah; Heman the Ezrahite
Book
- Book 3 of the Psalter (Chapters 73–89)
Psalm 88 in a Nutshell
- “YHWH, God of my salvation, I have been crying out day and night before you. I am like the slain who are lying in the tomb, whom you do not remember anymore.” Many powerful Psalms are laments, songs that cry out to God about pain and suffering. The psalmist expresses frustration and anger about difficult or unjust situations and asks where God is, and if God even remembers him.
- Psalm 88 is a powerful lament, especially because, unlike in many laments, the psalm does not end with God responding. The psalmist closes the song still under heavy affliction, without hearing from God about salvation or an end to the suffering. The power of the psalm is in why the psalmist no longer fears death, even while the suffering continues.
“Among the Dead” This title is a memorable phrase that helps remember the unique character and content of this psalm.
- There are two separate sections about death in this psalm, one in v. 6 and the other in vv. 11-13. In these sections, the psalmist does not even mention himself or what he suffers. The topic is the world of the dead and what they, the dead, suffer. There is no life in the world of the dead and YHWH is not present there. The poem does not mention YHWH’s name even one time in these two sections. When this happens in Hebrew poetry, it communicates that the poet feels like God is not with him.
- He feels like he is in the world of the dead, "Among the Dead", far away from life and God.
Purpose The Purpose was the psalmist's probable intent or reason for writing this psalm.
- To lament the psalmist's suffering at God's hands.
Content The Content is a concise summary of the whole psalm's content.
- Because you are afflicting me, YHWH, I am dying. Save me! Even if you do not, I will keep praying.
Message The Message is the main idea the psalmist probably wanted the audience to remember upon or after hearing the psalm.
- Even without knowing the reason for his ongoing suffering, the psalmist will continue to pray.
Psalm 88 At-a-Glance
These sections divide the content of the psalm into digestible pieces, and are determined based on information from many of our layers, including Semantics, Poetics, and Discourse. The columns, left to right, contain: the verse numbers; the main title of the section; a brief summary of the content of that section (quote marks indicate the text is taken directly from the English text of the psalm (as per our Close-but-Clear translation); and an icon to visually represent and remember the content.
Afflicted and Fearing Death (vv. 2–10)
Throughout this first section, the psalmist has been praying, as he faces his greatest fear of all: death and being completely cut off from YHWH, forgotten by him in the land of the forgotten. The description in v. 5 is of one who is actually the lowest among the dead, an outcast among the dead! The slain were the lowest of the low, such as those who received no burial honors, those utterly cut off from YHWH and not even remembered by him anymore.
Facing Death (vv. 11–13)
In vv. 11-13, this fear is faced directly. There is a series of rhetorical questions that highlight the distance between—on the one hand—his wonders, love and faithfulness and—on the other—the world of the dead. This simultaneously gives vent to what the psalmist fears as well as presenting the rationale for why YHWH should act. It is not the psalmist alone who wants to be in relationship with YHWH. YHWH himself longs for his character—his goodness, faithful love and wonders—to be praised by his people.
Afflicted and Continuing to Pray (vv. 14–19)
Verse 14 starts with “but I.” Very often in Hebrew poetry there is a “but” followed by someone’s name or a pronoun. This often marks a significant transition, and here it represents a profound psychological shift away from everything having to do with death and, instead, to an unceasing determination to continue calling upon YHWH. As long as he calls out, the relationship continues. If he is correct about YHWH’s character of faithfulness, then all this is required is that he, the psalmist, also remain faithful in calling out.
Background Orientation for Psalm 88
Following are the common-ground assumptionsCommon-ground assumptions include information shared by the speaker and hearers. In our analysis, we mainly use this category for Biblical/Ancient Near Eastern background. which are the most helpful for making sense of the psalm.
- Sheol is the Biblical denomination for the underworld, the realm of the dead, located under the Earth. (Am 9:2, Ezek 31: 17, Pro 5:5). People who are about to die consider themselves to be in or at the gates of Sheol (Ps 30:4, 2Sam 22:6, Jonah 2:3), but YHWH can always redeem them from there (Hos 13:14, Jonah 2:3, Ps 30:4, 49:16).
- The "outcasts" (חָפְשִׁי) were a low social class, despised and excommunicated. Cf. Exegetical Issue on v. 6a.
- The "slain" (חֲלָלִים) are those who die in a violent way, particularly in battle (1Sam 17:52, 31:8, 2Sam 1:19, 1Kings 11:15, Jer 51:4). They were a despised class in the Netherworld, since they were buried in mass graves (שׁׁכְבֵי קֶבֶר), if at all (cf. Ezek 32:20-23).
- Some common images for death and Sheol are: the Pit (בּוֹר), namely the tomb, entry point to Sheol (Ezek 26:20, Prov 1:12, Ps 30:4, Isa 38:18); darkness (Job 17:13; 3:5, Ps 107:10); deep waters (Lam 3:54-55, Ps 18:5-6 69:2-3, Jonah 2:4,6). Additionally, there are several psalms which share the motif of a judgment by water (Pss 18 [2 Sam 22]; 66; 69; 88; 124; 144 plus the psalm in Jonah 2).
- YHWH’s policies do not include interfering in Sheol. It is the "land of oblivion", the inhabitants of which are forgotten by YHWH (cf. v. 6b, Ps 31:13, Eccl 9:5), and therefore no voice is raised to praise the wonders of YHWH (see Ps 6:6; 30:10; 115:17; Isa 38:18-19). cf. also Exegetical Issue #1.
Background Situation for Psalm 88
The background situation is the series of events leading up to the time in which the psalm is spoken. These are taken from the story triangle – whatever lies to the left of the star icon.
There are 4 participants/characters in Psalm 88:
- YHWH's outbursts of wrath (חֲמָתֶךָ, חֲרוֹנֶיךָ v. 8a, 17a), YHWH's waves (ָמִ֝שְׁבָּרֶ֗יך v. 8b), YHWH's terrifying assaults (אֵמֶ֣יךָ, בִּ֝עוּתֶ֗יךָ v. 16b, 17b) are taken as YHWH's agents of destruction sent to afflict the psalmist (cf. common-ground assumption for v. 17b in Story Behind the Psalm for a more detailed argumentation). Since their role in the context of the psalm is identical with YHWH's, but they are not identical to him, they are considered related participants.
- The soul (נֶפֶשׁ) is often used as a substitute for a personal pronoun, particularly in poetry (e.g. Psa 11:1; 7:3; cf. comment next on נֶפֶשׁ in Semantics), while the eye (עֶיִן) may be used, like in v. 10a, as a synecdoche for the whole person (e.g. 1Sam 14:27, 29; Gen 27:1; Job 17:7; Ps 6:8; 38:11; cf. common-ground assumption for v. 10a in Story Behind the Psalm and comment on v. 10a in Semantics, esp. Goldingay 2007). Therefore, the psalmist's soul and the psalmist's eye are understood as synonymous participants of the Psalmist.
- In a similar way to YHWH's waves, outbursts of wrath and terrifying assaults, which were taken as YHWH's semi-independent agents and thus as related participants (see box above), we consider the psalmist's prayer as an agent acting on behalf of the psalmist in front of YHWH, as also indicated by virtue of it being the subject of a dynamic verb, and therefore define it as a related participant.
- The friends of the psalmist are not strictly agentive, but are still taken as participants for two reasons. First, they constitute the causee in both causative verbs of v. 9a and v. 19a (הִרְחַקְתָּ, "to make shun") and would therefore be the agents of a corresponding underlying non-causative clause. In this sense, they are similar to YHWH's messengers expounded in the previous paragraph. Second, they are pivotal to the message of the psalm, as their estrangement from the psalmist is a major reason for his misery.
- The slain have an identical function in the psalm to the one of the dead, as the psalmist's situation is compared to both of them. However, being a subset of the larger set of the dead, they are not identical with it. The specific choice of the slain in v. 6b is deliberate and meaningful (cf. common-ground assumption for v. 6b in Story Behind the Psalm for a more detailed argumentation) and they are therefore considered related, not synonymous, participants.