O LORD, rebuke me not in thine anger, neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure.
Title.-See the note on Title of Psalms 4:1-8.
Upon Sheminith - [feminine of Shªmiyniyt (H8067)], the eighth (Exodus 22:30). From 1 Chronicles 15:21, ('the sinkers were appointed) with harps on the Sheminith to excel," or 'oversee,' Gesenius takes it to mean the lowest of the three keys of the human voice, an octave, or eighth below the treble, the base sung by men having a bass voice; as "on Alamoth" х `ªlaamowt (H5961), 1 Chronicles 15:20] answers to the treble, or female voice, as the word literally means. Hengstenberg takes it as indicating the time, as measured according to the number eight. This is the first of the seven Penitential Psalms-namely, Psalms 6:1-10; Psalms 32:1-11; Psalms 38:1-22; Psalms 51:1-19; Psalms 102:1-28; Psalms 130:1-8; Psalms 143:1-12.
Psalms 6:1-10.-David's prayerful complaint in distress well-nigh unto death (Psalms 6:1-7); his triumphant deliverance from foes in answer to prayer (Psalms 6:8-10).
Rebuke - from yaakach (H3198). Do not reprove by laying sufferings on me. Rebuke with words is not what is meant. David prays not merely for an abatement of his suffering, but for its removal (cf. Psalms 6:2, "heal me.") Psalms 6:8-10 imply his complete deliverance. In Jeremiah 10:24 the prayer is for abatement of suffering: "O Lord, correct me but with judgment; not in thine anger, lest thou bring me to nothing." Chastisement results from God's "anger;" not always against some special sin of the believer (John 9:2-3), but against his sin in general. David's distress arose from outward enemies in the first instance (Psalms 6:7-10); then, looking on his outward distress as the punishment of past sins, he felt these as a grievous burden, sore vexing his soul (Psalms 6:3). The inward struggle acted on his bodily frame (Psalms 6:2), bringing him to the verge of the "grave (Psalms 6:5). Prayer at last gives vent to his burdened feelings; then follows joy in the Lord, enabling him to triumph over outward distress, and in spirit to see his enemies already conquered (Psalms 6:7-10). 'When plied with such assaults, one must have recourse to no other refuge than to the angry Lord Himself-believing against hope (Romans 4:18). When men seek consolation in a worldly way, and have recourse to some inferior creature they fall, to their great hurt, out of the hand of God, who would have held them up, and purified them. If the clay, while being turned, falls out of the hand of the potter, it becomes more unhappily shattered than before insomuch that it is useless, and the potter throws it away as good for nothing' (Luther).