Psalms 88:1 «A Song [or] Psalm for the sons of Korah, to the chief Musician upon Mahalath Leannoth, Maschil of Heman the Ezrahite. » O LORD God of my salvation, I have cried day [and] night before thee:
A Psalm or Song] Psalmus totus luctuosus, a doleful ditty, beginning and ending with complaints; and therefore sung in the primitive times, among other penitential psalms, as the public confession of persons excommunicated.
Upon Mahalath Leannoth] A musical instrument sounding heavily as a shaulm doth, and therefore called infirmity, for humbling, or for antiphenies. A fit title.
Maschil of Heman the Ezrahite] i.e. The instruction of Heman, who was a very wise man, 1 Kings 4:31, descended of Zerah, the son of Judah, 1 Chronicles 2:4, and thence called the Ezrahite, brother to Ethan, who penned the next psalm, 1 Chronicles 2:6. Nobile par fratrum.
Ver. 1. O Lord God of my salvation] This is the only one expression of his faith found in this whole psalm, and it nmst be understood that he thus believed and prayed, as here, Psalms 88:2, when he was at worst, and most despairingly complained.
I have cried day and night unto thee] Though in such a state as they were, Acts 27:20, when neither sun nor star appeared, yet he cast anchor, and prayed still for day.