Psalms 89:46

“How long, Lord, wilt thou hide thyself? for ever? etc.] When God hides his face front his people, though it is but for a little while, it seems long, and a kind of an eternity to them; and so it seemed to the man Christ Jesus; and indeed what he endured, when his Father hid his face from him, was of the same kind with an eternal absence; (see <191301>Psalm 13:1 22:1), shall thy wrath burn like fire? it did so when Christ bore the sins of his people, and all the punishment due unto them; when his strength was dried up like a potsherd; when he, the antitype of the passover lamb roasted with fire, was sacrificed for us; all which is entirely consistent with God’s everlasting and invariable love…”

“How long, Lord? - How long is this to continue? Can it be that this is to continue always? Is there to be no change for the better? Are the promises which have been made, never to be fulfilled? Compare Psalms 13:1, note; Psalms 77:7-9, notes. Wilt thou hide thyself for ever? - Thy favor. Wilt thou never come forth and manifest thyself as the Helper of those who trust in thee? Shall thy wrath burn like fire? - Fire which entirely consumes; fire which never ceases as long as there is anything to burn; fire which never puts itself out, but which wholly destroys that on which it preys. return to 'Top of Page'”

“89:46-47 The psalmist wonders if he will live to see the end of the Lord’s anger. Our lifetimes are short, like a day in the Lord’s sight (90:4, 10).”

“How: Psa 13:1, Psa 13:2, Psa 79:5, Psa 85:5, Psa 90:13 wilt: Psa 10:1, Psa 88:14; Job 23:9; Isa 8:17, Isa 45:15; Hos 5:15 thy wrath: Psa 78:63; Jer 4:4, Jer 21:12; Th2 1:8; Heb 12:29 Psalms 89:47”

“After this statement of the present condition of things the psalmist begins to pray for the removal of all that is thus contradictory to the promise. The plaintive question, Psa 89:47, with the exception of one word, is verbatim the same as Psa 79:5. The wrath to which quousque refers, makes itself to be felt, as the intensifying (vid., Psa 13:2) לנצח implies, in the intensity and duration of everlasting wrath. חלד is this temporal life which glides past secretly and unnoticed ( Psa 17:14); and זכר־אני is not equivalent to זכרני (instead of which by way of emphasis only זכרני אני can be said), but אני מה־חלד stands for מה־חלד אני - according to the sense equivalent to אני מה־חדל, Psa 39:5,…”