Psalms 102:9

Psa 102:9 For I have eaten ashes like bread, and mingled my drink with weeping,

Ver. 9. For I have eaten ashes like bread] Being cast on the ground as a mourner, I know not whether I eat bread or dust; this relisheth to me as well as that, my mouth is so out of taste.

And mingled my drink with weeping] I forbare not to weep, no, not while I drank; for tow is dry, and wine driveth away sorrow, we say; not so from me. Wine is called by Simonides in Athenaeus αμυντωρ δυσφροσυναων, an expeller of sadness.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Psa 102:9-10. I have eaten ashes like bread — That is, instead of eating my bread, I have laid down in dust and ashes. Or, dust and ashes are as constant and familiar to me as the eating of my bread; I cover my head with them; I sit, yea, lie down among them, as mourners often did, by which means the ashes might easily be mingled with their meat as tears were with their drink, as mentioned in the next clause. And mingled my drink, &c. — He alludes to the custom of mingling their wine with water. Because of thy indignation, &c. — Because I not only conflict with men, but with the Almighty God, and with his anger. For thou hast lifted me up, and cast me down — As a man lifts up a person or thing as high as he can, that he may cast it down to the ground with greater force. Or, he aggravates his present reproach and misery by the consideration of that great honour and happiness to which God had formerly advanced him, as Job did, chap. 29., 30., and the church, Lam 1:7.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

10. (Psa 102:9) For ashes like bread have I eaten, and my drink with weeping have mixed. The ashes, in which he sat, or with which he was covered, as a sign of mourning, became mingled with his food, and his tears fell into his drink. This last word is, in Hebrew, of the plural number, drinks or beverages, analogous to victuals as a simple synonyme of food. As an opposite example of the same idiomatic difference, the word translated ashes is a singular in Hebrew. The whole verse is a strong poetical description of constant and extreme distress.

Joseph Addison Alexander, The Psalms Translated and Explained (1850) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

I have not risen out of my mourning to take my refection.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Verse 9. I have eaten ashes like bread] Fearful of what they might do, we all humbled ourselves before thee, and sought thy protection; well knowing that, unless we were supernaturally assisted, we must all have perished; our enemies having sworn our destruction.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

9 For I have eaten ashes like bread Some think that the order is here inverted, and that the letter כ, caph, the sign of similitude, which is put before לחם, lechem, the word for bread, ought to be placed before אפר, epher, the word for ashes; as if it had been said, I find no more relish for my bread than I do for ashes; and the reason is, because sorrow of heart produces loathing of food. But the simpler meaning is, that lying prostrate on the ground, they licked, as it were, the earth, and so did eat ashes instead of bread. It was customary for those who mourned to stretch themselves at full length with their faces on the ground. The prophet, however, intended to express a different idea — to intimate, that when he partook of his meals, there was no table set before him, but his bread was thrown upon the ground to him in a foul and disgusting manner. Speaking, therefore, in the person of the faithful, he asserts that he was so fixed to the ground that he did not even rise from it to take his food. The same sentiment is expressed in the last part of the verse, I have mingled my drink with weeping; for while mourners usually restrain their sorrow during the short time in which they refresh themselves with food, he declares that his mourning was without intermission. Some, instead of reading in the first clause, as bread, read, in bread; and as the two letters, כ, caph, and ב, beth, nearly resemble each other, I prefer reading in bread, which agrees better with the second clause.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(9) Ashes like bread.—Lam_3:16. A figurative expression, like “dust shall be the serpent’s meat” (Isa_65:25; comp. Gen_3:14). With the last clause comp. Psa_42:3, “tears have been my meat day and night.” So too, as an emblem of disappointment, a modern poet:—

“But even while I drank the brook, and ate

The goodly apples, all these things at once

Fell into dust, and I was left alone.”

TENNYSON: Holy Grail.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

9. They may well do so; for what can be more wretched than his plight? Mourning and tears are as it were his food and drink. Cp. Psa_42:3; Psa_80:5. For ashes as the symbol of mourning, cp. Job_2:8; Lam_3:16; Eze_27:30.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Because of thine indignation and thy wrath,.... This was the burden of his complaint, what gave him the greatest uneasiness; not so much the reproach of his enemies, and his other outward afflictions, as the sense he had of God's wrath and indignation. The people of God are as deserving of his wrath as others; and when they are awakened to a sense of sin and danger, or the law enters into their consciences, it works wrath there, and leaves nothing but a fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, till comfort is given; and under afflictive providences they are very ready to conclude, that the wrath of God is upon them; but this is only their apprehension of things; it is not in reality: for God has not appointed them to wrath, and has swore he will not be wroth with them; Christ has bore it for them, in their room and stead; and being justified by his blood and righteousness, they are saved from it; but then the sense they have of it is very terrible, and there is no rest, peace, and comfort in their souls, while under the apprehensions of it:

for thou hast lifted me up, and cast me down; as a man that, in wrestling, has the advantage of his antagonist, lifts him up as high as he can, that he may throw him with the greater force upon the ground; in like manner the psalmist thought the Lord was dealing with him: or this may express his changeable state and condition, sometimes lifted up, and sometimes cast down, and which is the case of every believer, more or less; all have their liftings up, and their castings down: when God first calls them by his grace, he raises them from a low estate, lifts them up out of an horrible pit, takes them from the dunghill, sets them among princes to inherit the throne of glory: when he comforts them with the consolations of his Spirit, he is the lifter up of their heads; when he grants his presence, and lifts up the light of his countenance: when he discovers his love, and makes their mountain to stand strong; when he shows them their interest in himself, as their covenant God, in Christ, as their Redeemer and Saviour, and grants them the communion of the Holy Ghost; and when their graces are in lively exercise, then is it a time of lifting up: and they are cast down when corruptions prevail, when grace is weak, when God hides his face, and when afflictions lie heavy on them: this was now the case of the psalmist, and perhaps the remembrance of his liftings up in former times was an aggravation of it.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

For I have eaten ashes like bread - I have seated myself in ashes in my grief (compare Job 2:8; Job 42:6; Isa 58:5; Isa 61:3; Jon 3:6; Dan 9:3; Mat 11:21); and ashes have become, as it were, my food. The ashes in which he sat had been mingled with his food.

And mingled my drink with weeping - Tears have fallen into the cup from which I drank, and have become a part of my drink. The idea is, that he had shed copious tears; and that even when he took his food, there was no respite to his grief.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

For; so this verse gives a reason either of his great sadness, expressed Psa 102:6,7, or why they swore by him in the sense last given. Or, surely, as this particle is oft used. Or, therefore, because of those bitter reproaches last mentioned. I have eaten ashes like bread: the sense is, Dust and ashes are as constant and familiar to me as the eating of my bread; I cover my head with them; I sit, yea, lie down and roll myself in them, as mourners oft did, 2Sa 13:19; Job 2:8,12; 16:15; Isa 47:1; Mic 1:10; by which means the ashes might easily be mingled with their meat, as tears were with their drink in the next clause. Mingled my drink with weeping; he alludes to the custom of mingling their wine with water.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Ver. 9. For I have eaten ashes like bread. He had so frequently cast ashes upon his head in token of mourning, that they had mixed with his ordinary food, and grated between his teeth when he ate his daily bread. One while he forgot to eat, and then the fit changed, and he ate with such a hunger that even ashes were devoured. Grief has strange moods and tenses.

And mingled my drink with weeping. His drink became as nauseous as his meat, for copious showers of tears had made it brackish. This is a telling description of all-saturating, all-embittering sadness, and this was the portion of one of the best of men, and that for no fault of his own, but because of his love to the Lord's people. If we, too, are called to mourn, let us not be amazed by the fiery trial as though some strange thing had happened unto us. Both in meat and drink we have sinned; it is not therefore wonderful if in both we are made to mourn.

Ver. 9. I have eaten ashes like bread. Though the bread indeed be strange, yet not so strange as this, that having complained before of forgetting to eat his bread, he should now on a sudden fall to eating of ashes like bread. For had he not been better to have forgotten it still, unless it had been more worth remembering? For there is not in nature so unfit a thing to eat as ashes;it is worse than Nebuchadnezzar's grass. Sir R. Baker.

Ver. 9. I have mingled my drink with weeping. If you think his bread to be bad, you will find his drink to be worse; for he mingles his drink with tears: and what are tears, but brinish and salt humours? and is brine a fit liquor to quench one's thirst? May we not say here, the remedy is worse than the disease? for were it not better to endure any thirst, than to seek to quench it with such drink? Is it not a pitiful thing to have no drink to put in the stomach, but that which is drawn out of the eyes? and yet whose case is any better? No man certainly commits sin, but with a design of pleasure; but sin will not be so committed; for whosoever commit sin, let them be sure at some time or other to find a thousand times more trouble about it than ever they found pleasure in it. For all sin is a kind of surfeit, and there is no way to keep it from being mortal but by this strict diet of eating ashes like bread and mingling his drink with tears. O my soul, if these be works of repentance in David, where shall we find a penitent in the world besides himself? To talk of repentance is obvious in everyone's mouth; but where is any that eats ashes like bread, and mingles his drink with tears? Sir R. Baker.

Ver. 9. The sorrows of the saintstheir number, bitterness, sources, correctives, influences, and consolations.

Psalms 102:10*

Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

9. Eaten ashes like bread—As a mourner, he sits in, and covers himself with, ashes. (Lam_3:16,) and they mingled with his scanty food. Or, by a strong figure, it may mean “ashes instead of bread.” So, also, “My tears have been my food”— “bread of tears.” Psa_42:3; Psa_80:5

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

For I have eaten ashes like bread; i.e. "the "ashes" of humiliation have been my food. I have, as it were, fed on them." A literal mingling of ashes with his food is not to be thought of. And mingled my drink with weeping. (comp. Job_27:21 Job_30:22)

The real bitterness of human affliction.

"And that because of thine indignation and wrath." The conscience of sin makes men regard affliction as Divine judgment. For man, God"s favour is life, God"s frown is death death of peace, pleasure, hope. Man can lose everything and be rich if he can keep the sense of gracious relations with God. Man can keep everything, and be poor and miserable, if he has lost the sense of God"s favour. While this is true of every man, it is in an especial manner true of the man who has once known the joy of God"s smile and favour. It is such a man who feels the bitterness of human affliction when it is seen as Divine judgment. The Book of Job represents the struggle of good men to get right views of human affliction. And what comes out so clearly from its discussions is, that no one explanation will suffice. It may be Divine judgment; but Job"s friends are wrong when they say that it must be. It may be Divine chastisement for correction; but it would be a mistake to say that it is always chastisement. It may be pure testing, simple culture, God"s way of nourishing the good, and not involving the removal of any bad. When a sufferer can see suffering to be Divine culture, or even Divine chastisement, his trials lose their bitterness. But it is always hard to be compelled to call suffering Divine judgment.

I THIS MAY BE THE VIEW OF OUR TROUBLES THAT OTHERS TAKE. it is the view Job"s friends took at once, and they would hear nothing else. Job had at least secretly sinned, and his suffering was his judgment. Of Messiah it is said, "We did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted." It is what we first think of others, and what others first think of us. But it had better never be spoken, for it may not be true, and it will certainly add to the sufferer"s burden. What a mistake to think of the suffering Jesus as a malefactor!

II THIS MAY BE THE VIEW OF OUR TROUBLES THAT WE OURSELVES TAKE RIGHTLY. It may be the explanation. And some heart searching is proper at the beginning of all times of affliction. Perhaps we have been going astray, or becoming wilful or negligent. There are "secret faults," "presumptuous sins," "leavings of first love," which must be dealt thus with. God"s people have to come into judgments which will mark the character of their sins, and into chastisements which will deliver them from their power.

III THIS MAY BE THE VIEW OF OUR TROUBLES THAT WE OURSELVES TAKE WRONGLY. Many good Christians are too ready to think evil of themselves, and write bitter things against themselves. Absolute sincerity and truthfulness should be sought, even in dealing with our own faults and failings. We may even confess too much. R.T.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Bread - The sense is, dust and ashes are as familiar to me as the eating of my bread; I cover my head with them; I sit, yea, lie down in them, as mourners often did.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Ashes are his bread (cf. Lam 3:16), inasmuch as he, a mourner, sits in ashes, and has thrown ashes all over himself, Job 2:8; Eze 27:30. The infected שׁקּוי has שׁקּוּ = שׁקּוּו for its principal form, instead of which it is שׁקּוּי in Hos 2:7. "That Thou hast lifted me up and cast me down" is to be understood according to Job 30:22. First of all God has taken away the firm ground from under his feet, then from aloft He has cast him to the ground - an emblem of the lot of Israel, which is removed from its fatherland and cast into exile, i.e., into a strange land. In that passage the days of his life are כּצל נטוּי, like a lengthened shadow, which grows longer and longer until it is entirely lost in darkness, Psa 109:23. Another figure follows: he there becomes like an (uprooted) plant which dries up.

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

I eat ashes like bread

David would have sat in ashes as an act of mourning, therefore ashes would have fallen on his food. AT: "I eat ashes like I eat bread" or "As I mourn, ashes fall on the bread that I eat" (See: Simile)

mix my drink with tears

David did not purposefully mix his drink with tears; rather his tear would have fallen into his cup while he mourned and wept. AT: "my tears fall into the cup that I drink" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)

you have lifted me up to throw me down

God has not literally lifted and thrown David's body to the ground; rather David says this to describe what he is feeling and experiencing. AT: "it is like you have lifted me up to throw me down" (See: Metaphor)

translationWords

ash

rage

anger

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

those who scorn me Heb. מהוללי, those who scorn me, an expression of mockery.

swear by me They saw my misfortune and they swear by me and say, “If it is not so, what happened to Israel should happen to me.” “So may the Lord do to me as to Israel.”

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.