You have put me in the lowest pit, in dark places, in the depths.
Psalm 88:7
Psalm 88 is well known to many Bible readers. Especially at the gathering for the breaking of bread, this psalm is often read because we can apply it to Christ. And it is indeed worth reflecting on this psalm.
The theme of the psalm
The theme of this psalm can be described with a verse from the fifth book of Moses: “Cursed is he who does not confirm the words of this Law by doing them.” (Deuteronomy 27:26) – or, as it is rendered in Galatians 3:10: “Cursed is everyone who does not keep on doing everything that is written in the book of the Law.”
Even though the psalmist does not speak at any point in this psalm about having acted against the Law, the verses clearly show what it means to be cursed: separation—from blessing, from people, from God, and from life[1]. The psalmist says that God no longer remembers him, that he is cut off from His hand (v. 6), that acquaintances, friends, and companions are removed from him (vv. 9, 19), and that God hides His face from him (v. 15). He feels what it means to be cursed.
The Jewish remnant
This feeling will be what the Jewish remnant has in the time of tribulation. The Psalms show that during the seven years of tribulation the remnant increasingly recognizes how greatly the people of Israel have sinned against God: in Psalm 7:4 it is still a cautious question whether there is wrong on their hands; in Psalm 19:13 the remnant already speaks of hidden sins; and in later psalms it openly confesses its sins (Ps 25, 32, 38, 41). A first climax of this insight is Psalm 51[2].
The third book of the Psalms shows that the remnant must experience the enemies’ attacks on Israel[3]. The next book of Psalms already has the prophetic background that Christ appears in power and glory[4]. It is as though the remnant in our psalm at the end of the third book looks back on the seven years of tribulation and understands why so much suffering has come upon the people: throughout its history, the people had constantly broken God’s Law. And therefore they had deserved the curse of the Law.
Christ made a curse
Galatians 3 shows us that Christ became a curse (in an incomparably more comprehensive sense than the remnant)—namely, in the three hours of darkness on the cross. There (and only there) Christ became a curse, so that He could redeem from the curse of the Law those who actually would have deserved the curse (Galatians 3:13). That is why we can also apply Psalm 88 to Christ. He felt the separation from God deeply (v. 15); He suffered under the judgment of God, which He bore for us (vv. 4, 8, 17, 18); He suffered just as much from the fact that He was forsaken by people close to Him (vv. 9, 19); and He had His impending death in view (vv. 10–13).
Now one might object that verse 16 cannot refer to the three hours of darkness. It says there: “I have been suffering and ready to die from my youth on”. And it is indeed the case that Christ was forsaken and judged by God only during the three hours. With regard to the future remnant, we understand this thought well: Israel had a long history of transgressions of the Law and therefore stood under the wrath of God “from youth on.” But as we read this verse, we can also think that the anticipatory sufferings of the Lord will have been before His heart from His youth on (cf. Luke 22:41–44; John 12:27)[5].
“LORD, God of my salvation”
It is striking that in this psalm only one person speaks. We read the personal address twenty-five times (you, to you, your, you). This psalm is a single prayer. The heading in verse 2 makes that very clear: “LORD, God of my salvation, I have cried out by day and in the night before You!” As in Psalm 22:3, night and day indicate a constant, unceasing cry.
With the words “LORD, God of my salvation,” the psalmist turns to the eternal and unchangeable God, who has an interest in the relationship with man (especially the people of Israel), and who has often intervened for his salvation. Christ too, as a true Man, experienced that during His life: no one realized the relationship with the LORD as perfectly as He did (cf. Ps 16:2). And throughout His life He experienced how God intervened for His salvation (cf. Ps 16:1)—whether in the slaughter of the children in Bethlehem (Matthew 2:13–18), on the hill at Nazareth (Luke 4:30), in the temple (John 8:59), or in Solomon’s portico (John 10:31, 39). And so, in the deepest sufferings, He too turns in full confidence to the God of His salvation. Yet in the three hours of darkness He was not saved by Him, did not experience any favor from Him, but was instead placed by this very God of His salvation in the lowest pit, pressed down and struck. The One who had always saved Him until then was the One who now “destroyed” Him (cf. v. 17). That made His suffering the most dreadful of the dreadful.
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