In these verses appear three prominent features of the Hebrew conception of the underworld. It is a place of “destruction” (comp. Job 26:6; Job 28:22), of “darkness” (comp. Psalms 88:6), and of “forgetfulness,” which may imply not only that the dead are forgotten, both of God and men (comp. Psalms 31:12 with Psalms 88:5), but that they themselves have, to borrow the heathen figure, drunk of the water of Lethe. (Comp. Psalms 6:5; Psalms 30:9, and for both ideas combined Ecclesiastes 9:5-10.)
Related Commentaries of Psalms 88:11
Psalms 88:11-12
11 Shall thy lovingkindness be declared in the grave? or thy faithfulness in destruction?
12 Shall thy wonders be known in the dark? and thy righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?