1. “Title of the psalm.” This psalm is inscribed “To the chief Musician on Neginoth upon Sheminith.” On the meaning of the phrase “Chief Musician on Neginoth,” see the notes at the title to Psalms 4:1-8 : The phrase “upon Sheminith” occurs here for the first time, and modifies the meaning of the title. The word Sheminith - שׁמינית shemı̂ynı̂yth - means properly “the eighth,” and corresponds exactly to our word “octave,” the eighth. It means in modern music an interval of seven degrees, or twelve semitones. It contains five full tones, and two semitones. It is supposed by Gesenius (Lexicon) here to denote “the lowest and gravest notes of the scale, sung by men, the modern bass or basso.” The word occurs, in the musical use, in 1 Chronicles 15:21, in enumerating various names of musicians, “Mattithiah, and Elipheleh, etc., with harps on the Sheminith to excel;” margin, “or eighth.” It is also found in the title to Psalms 12:1-8 : It does not elsewhere occur in reference to music in the Scriptures. It is probably not possible now to ascertain the precise meaning of the word as applicable to ancient music, and it is not important. The phrase “upon the octave” would properly be the true rendering of it; and this was doubtless quite intelligible at the time. It would be difficult to explain many of the musical terms now in use, after the lapse of two or three thousand years. If the term, however, was used, as is supposed by Gesenius, to denote the bass, its meaning is not difficult. It would then mean that the psalm was designed to be sung, accompanied with the instruments designated by “Neginoth,” and with the voices appropriate to this “octave” - the bass voices. The usual bass voice might be supposed to be adapted to the sentiment in the psalm.
2. “The author of the psalm.” The psalm purports to have been written by David, and there is nothing in the psalm to lead us to doubt the truth of this representation. It may be assumed, therefore, to be his.
3. “The occasion on which the psalm was written.” In the, running title in the English version this psalm is called “David’s complaint in his sickness.” It is hardly necessary to say that these running titles were prefixed by the translators, and that there is nothing in the Hebrew that corresponds with this. Still, this has been a very prevailing tradition as to the occasion on which this psalm was composed. Dr. Horsley prefixes this title to it: “A penitential prayer in the character of a sick person,” and in the exposition of this psalm supposes that the suppliant is a mystical personage, and that the object is to represent the feelings of a penitent under the image of such a personage, or that “the sick person is the believer’s soul laboring under a sense of its infirmities and anxiously expecting the promised redemption; the sickness is the depravity and disorder occasioned by the fall of man.” Luther entities it “A penitential prayer (Bussgebet), for the health of the body and the soul.” DeWette regards it as the prayer of one oppressed or in trouble, under the image of a sick person; and in this opinion Rosemnuller concurs. Others regard it as a psalm composed in view of sickness, and suppose it was written in consequence of sickness brought upon David in consequence of the rebellion of Absalom. Indeed, there has been a pretty general concurrence among expositors in the sentiment that, as the two previous psalms were composed in view of that rebellion, so this was also. Calvin supposes that it was not composed specifically in view of “sickness,” but of some great calamity that brought David to feel that he was near the borders of the grave, and that was thus the means of bringing the sins of his past life impressively to his remembrance.
In this uncertainty, and this want of positive testimony as to the occasion when the psalm was composed, it is natural to look to the psalm itself, and to inquire whether there are any “internal” indications which will enable us to determine with any degree of probability the circumstances of the writer at the time of its composition. The psalm, then, has the following internal marks as to the occasion on which it was composed:
I. The writer was in the midst of enemies, and in great peril on account of them. “Mine eye is consumed because of grief; it waxeth old because of all mine enemies,” Psalms 6:7. “Depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity,” Psalms 6:8. “Let all mine enemies be ashamed and sore vexed,” Psalms 6:10. We cannot be mistaken, then, in supposing that this was at some period in the life of David, when his numerous enemies pressed hard upon him and endangered his life.
II. He was crushed and broken-hearted on account of these trials; he had not strength of body to bear up under the weight of accumulated woes; he sank under the burden of these troubles and calamities, and was brought near to the grave. There were many and formidable external foes who threatened his life; and there was, on some account, connected with this, deep and crushing “mental” anguish, and the result was actual and dangerous sickness - so that he was led to contemplate the eternal world as near to him. It became a case, therefore, of real sickness caused by unique outward troubles. This is manifest from such expressions as the following: - “I am weak; heal me: my bones are vexed” Psalms 6:2. “In death there is no remembrance of thee; in the grave who shall give thee thanks?” Psalms 6:5. “I am weary with my groaning; I water my couch with my tears: mine eye is consumed with grief,” Psalms 6:6-7. This is such language as would be used by one who was crushed and broken-hearted with grief, and who, unable to bear up under the weighty load was laid, as the result of it, on a bed of languishing. It is not uncommon that outward troubles become too great for the feeble human frame to bear, and that, crushed beneath them, the body is laid upon a bed of languishing, and brought to the borders of the grave, or to the grave itself.
III. The psalmist expresses a feeling which is common in such cases - a deep anxiety on the subject of his own sin, as if these calamities had come upon him on account of his transgressions, and as a punishment for his sins. This is implied in Psalms 6:1 : “O Lord, rebuke me not in thine anger, neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure.” He looked upon this as a “rebuke” from God, and construed it as an expression of “hot displeasure.” This is the prompting of natural feeling when one is afflicted, for this inquiry spontaneously arises in the mind, whether the affliction is not on account of some sin which we have committed, and is not to be regarded as proof that God is angry with us. It is an inquiry as proper as it is natural, and David, in the circumstances referred to, seems to have felt its full force.
Taking all these considerations into view, it seems probable that the psalm was composed during the troubles brought upon David in the rebellion of Absalom, and when, crushed by the weight of these sorrows, his strength gave way, and he was laid on a bed of languishing, and brought near to the grave.
4. “The contents of the psalm.” The psalm contains the following points:
I. A plea of the author for mercy and compassion in trouble, under the apprehension that God was rebuking and punishing him for his sins, Psalms 6:1-2. His deep sufferings, described in the following verses, had, as remarked above, led him to inquire whether it was not on account of his sins that he was afflicted, and whether he ought not to regard his sorrow as proof that God was displeased with him for his sins.
II. A description of his sufferings, Psalms 6:2-7. He had been crushed with sorrow, and had become “weak;” his very “bones” were “vexed;” he was drawing near to the grave; he was weary with his groaning; he watered his couch with his tears; his eye was consumed with grief. These sufferings were partly bodily and partly mental; or rather, as suggested above, probably his mental sorrows had been so great as to prostrate his physical frame, and to lay him on a bed of languishing.
III. The assurance that God had heard his prayer, and that he would triumph over all his enemies, and that all his troubles would pass away, Psalms 6:8-10. Hope breaks in suddenly upon his afflicted soul, and, under this exulting feeling, he addresses his enemies, and tells them to depart from him. They could not be successful, for the Lord had heard his prayer. This sudden answer to prayer - this happy turn of thought - often occurs in the Psalms, as if, while the psalmist was pleading, an immediate answer to prayer was granted, and light broke in upon the darkened mind.