The bands of death encompassed me, and the anguish of Sheol took hold of me; I found trouble and sorrow
Psalm 116 looks back on a rescue, and verse 3 tells how close the danger came. Who is speaking? A believer at the end of his strength, Israel in a coming hour of distress, or Christ Himself.
Older translations read "sorrows of death" and "the pains of hell." The word behind "hell" is Sheol. One writer shows why Sheol is not the same as the grave.
For the wicked, Sheol is linked with pain and sorrow… The word for the grave, qeber, is never linked in this way with judgment and sorrow. The body in the grave is unconscious. It cannot feel pain or sorrow. The soul is conscious, and in the condition of Sheol it can feel such things.
The speaker has reached the point where every human help has run out.
This was a dreadful position. He was at the end of human strength, past all help from any creature, and the gates of death and hell stood wide open before him, ready to receive him. What could he do but throw himself on the mercy of God?
The next verse turns to prayer. One writer says that is what such trouble is for.
If we keep walking in the paths of rebellion and self-will, we can be sure that we too will find "trouble and sorrow" — trouble and sorrow so deep that it will force us to our knees. Dear Christian, have you turned away from the presence of the Lord? Have you grown cold and hard? Have you stopped praying? Have you lost the joy you once had in Christ? Take warning, and take heart, from Jonah.
Read as prophecy, the verse points to a future hour of affliction.
Psalm 116 speaks the language of faith at the very moment God brings fresh deliverance. Still reading the Psalms as prophecy, we may see in verse 3 a hint of the sorrows of the great tribulation, when the godly had been brought right down to the gates of death and "hell," or "Sheol."
Another writer adds what that rescue produced.
The 116th psalm comes in here to show how close Israel had come to those terrible jaws of death. Without the mercy of God they would have been swallowed up in utter ruin. It is the sense of this deliverance that brings their hearts to God, and makes them His servants forever.
Commentators differ on the speaker. Some hear the godly of a future day; others hear Christ, and place the words at the cross.
Heaven could be offered to men only when the claims of God's holy government were met, and our Lord met them in full by His atoning death on the cross. He could take up the psalmist's words as His own experience there: "The snares of death encompassed me; the pangs of Sheol laid hold on me" (Ps. 116:3).
The psalmist did not only suffer; he also spoke. One writer traces that speech to faith.
The same spirit of faith held up the psalmist when the sorrows of death closed round him, when he found trouble and sorrow, and when he was greatly afflicted. Even then he could speak of life, for he said, "I will walk before the LORD in the land of the living." Then he tells us how he could speak of life with death all around him: "I believed, therefore I have spoken."
The conditions of verse 3 still meet us; what has changed is where death leads.
Every tie we form in this world will one day be broken. Death comes before us. Its dark waters roll in on the soul when a loved one is taken from us, or when serious illness lays us aside. Yet for the Christian the position is so different, for we know that death only leads into the presence of Christ, which is far better. The Lord Jesus has gone through the dark, raging flood of death Himself, so that we may pass through the waters on dry ground.
- Surrounded — Death and Sheol close in on the psalmist. Unlike the grave, Sheol is linked with conscious pain and sorrow.
- Emptied — Every human help is gone and the gates of death stand open. Nothing is left but to throw himself on God's mercy.
- Driven — Trouble and sorrow do their work when they force a person to his knees. Jonah is both the warning and the encouragement.
- Heard — As prophecy, the psalm remembers Israel almost swallowed by death. That rescue is what makes them God's servants forever.
- Speaking — Faith believed, so it spoke of walking in the land of the living while death still pressed. For the Christian, death now leads straight into the presence of Christ.
Then called I upon the name of Jehovah I beseech thee, Jehovah, deliver my soul.
Psalm 116 opens with a man who loves the Lord, because the Lord heard him. Verse 4 is the prayer itself — a few words shouted from the edge of the grave. Two questions sit behind it: what drove him to call, and what he wanted rescue from.
The cry comes after the psalmist describes being trapped by death's cords. One writer traces the sequence: the trouble uncovered the Lord's love, and drew out his own love in return.
In the verses that follow the psalmist describes the circumstances which revealed the love of the Lord, and called forth his own love. He was brought near to death and found trouble and sorrow. When at death's door, beyond all human help, the godly man had called upon the name of the Lord. In answer to his cry, he found the Lord to be "gracious," "righteous," and "merciful" — One who preserves the simple and helps the helpless.
Another writer treats that order as the rule, not the exception.
God wants His fallen creature, man, saved and blessed. But like the writer of Psalm 116, we have to be brought low before God before we are ready to accept the cup of salvation that He offers… He was as weak as a man can be, past all help any creature could give, and the gates of death and hell stood wide open before him, ready to receive him. What could he do but throw himself upon the mercy of God?
Commentators differ over what "deliver my soul" asks for. One writer reads the whole psalm and ties it to rescue from death itself — from sheol, the place of the dead:
Whatever application these words may have to release from spiritual death, verse 15 makes it clear that the ultimate deliverance in view is from death in sheol. This must be the "death of His saints" that stays precious in the eyes of the Lord. Rescue from it is the reason for the thanksgiving, "You have loosed my bonds" (v. 16).
Another writer reads the psalm as Israel's confession in a day still to come. He hears the prayer reach past the body:
What is the reason for Israel's finally calling on the Lord? "The pains of death" faced her. "The pangs of sheol" threatened her with trouble and sorrow. That drove her out of her old indifference, and she saw that no one but the Lord could help her (v. 3). Then her imploring cries were not only for bodily deliverance, but for that of her soul (v. 4).
He calls on the name of the Lord, and the next verses say who that Lord is. Faith shelters in God's character, and that turns the cry of verse 4 into the rest of verse 7.
What a resource it is to find shelter and confidence in the very character of God Himself! He is faithful; He cannot deny Himself. Faith takes hold of this, and it holds the heart up in troubles that would otherwise sweep over it like a flood. "I have been brought low," he adds, "but He will save me." What God has done in the past gives him confidence. So in verse 4 he cries to the Lord for deliverance, and by verse 7 he can say, "Return, O my soul, to your rest; for the LORD has dealt bountifully with you."
One writer aims these words at anyone who has drifted from God, and sets them beside Jonah, the prophet who ran from Him.
Perhaps one of my readers is following Jonah in a life of rebellion and self-will, too proud and too far from God to pray. Take note of how God deals with man. Remember that God can make the proudest spirit bow, and can bring a prayer out of the hardest heart… If we keep walking in the paths of rebellion and self-will, we can be sure that we too will find "trouble and sorrow." It will be such trouble and such sorrow that it forces us to our knees.
Psalms 115 to 118 belonged to the Passover meal. One writer asks what that means for the night Jesus was betrayed.
At their Passover Supper the Jews used to recite Psalms 113 and 114 after the "first cup." Then, after the "third cup" — called the "cup of blessing" — they sang Psalms 115 to 118. If the Lord here used the same psalms, how well they would apply and be fulfilled in Him.
- Brought low — he prays only at death's door, past all human help. God brings a person that low to make him ready for salvation.
- Then he called — trouble that drives a proud or drifting heart to its knees is God at work, as He was with Jonah.
- On the name — he appeals to who God is, not to his own worth. God's character is the whole ground of his confidence.
- Deliver my soul — the plea reaches past the body. Writers tie it both to rescue from death and to the salvation of the soul.
- Return to your rest — God answers the cry of verse 4 so fully that by verse 7 the same man tells his own soul to rest, because the Lord has dealt bountifully with him.
Gracious is Jehovah and righteous; and our God is merciful.
A man at death's door called out to God, and God heard him. This verse is what he said next: three words for God — gracious, righteous, merciful — learned the hard way.
The verse belongs to a man who had run out of options.
In the verses that follow, the psalmist describes what showed him the love of the Lord and drew out his own love. He was brought near to death and found trouble and sorrow. When at death's door, beyond all human help, the godly man had called upon the name of the Lord. In answer to his cry, he found the Lord to be "gracious," "righteous," and "merciful." He is the preserver of the simple and the helper of the helpless. The simple man is not necessarily a wicked person, but one who may be easily deceived by the wicked.
The psalm moves in a set order: the cry, then God's character, then His ways, then rest. And rest comes while the trouble is still there.
Verses 1 and 2, in the usual way, state the full result of all he went through. Then verse 3 shows how deep the pressure was: he found trouble and sorrow. But the effect is that he calls on the Lord (v. 4). All His character comes before the soul (v. 5), and then His ways (v. 6). The result is, "Return, O my soul, to your rest; for the LORD has dealt bountifully with you." Yet nothing suggests the circumstances changed. Only the eye has lifted from man's hand… to the Lord's, to see His dealing in all that He had allowed to come upon him.
Grace stands beside righteousness here. The rescue itself comes from both at once.
First comes the statement of how the deliverance came… It comes only through the grace and righteousness of Jehovah — the mercy of God, which he celebrates (vv. 3-6).
That character is also why the cry was answered at all.
Of course the Lord answered, for His very nature is gracious, righteous and merciful (v. 5). He preserves the simple — not the double-minded, but those who will face facts as they are. When they are brought low, they admit it, and they can put their full trust in the One who hears and answers prayer.
The verse ends with "our God" — a word of belonging. Some read the whole psalm as thanksgiving that Christ Himself leads, standing among His people.
Psalm 116 is a psalm of thanksgiving… He does not love the Lord as a man under the law does, but as one who was first loved. He loves Him for deliverance, because he was heard when judgment and evil were upon his soul. Christ leads this thanksgiving or return of heart to Jehovah, saying, our God is merciful (v. 5). It is the thanksgiving cry for deliverance, and it produces love… His own Spirit rejoices in the deliverance as one of the people, and so says "our God."
On that reading, Christ leads His people's worship and shares with them what He has received.
So He comes before us in this verse as the leader of His people's worship: "Gracious is the LORD, and righteous; our God is merciful" (v. 5). Jesus has entered on the rich reward of His accepted work. And He joins to Himself, in the ever-blessed sharing of His joys, all who receive by faith that abundance of grace and that gift of righteousness.
The verse also has a use for anyone whose own stubbornness has landed them in trouble. Jonah took that road to prayer.
If we keep walking in the paths of rebellion and self-will, we may be quite sure that we too will find trouble and sorrow. It will be trouble deep enough to force us to our knees. Dear Christian, have you turned away from the presence of the Lord? Have you grown cold and hard, stopped praying, lost the joy you once had in Christ? Take warning, and take heart, from Jonah. Listen to the fifth verse of that lovely Psalm 116… Does it not remind you of the very character that Jonah gave of God? That is what you and I will find our God to be; if we will only return, He will "abundantly pardon."
- Cry — The verse is what a man says after calling on God from death's door, beyond all human help.
- Character — He answered because of what He is: gracious, righteous, merciful, the helper of the helpless.
- Righteousness — The rescue comes through God's grace and His righteousness, not grace alone.
- Rest — Seeing His character brings the soul back to rest, even when nothing outside has changed.
- Company — "Our God" is a shared word; Christ leads the thanksgiving as one of the people, drawing them into His own joy.
Jehovah keepeth the simple I was brought low, and he saved me.
The psalm looks back on a moment when death seemed certain. This verse says why the Lord answered that cry, and it raises two questions: who are "the simple," and why does being brought low lead to rescue?
The line does not report a single incident. It states what the Lord is always like. That is what faith leans on when circumstances offer nothing else.
Moreover, it was Jehovah's character to preserve the simple. As He has acted, He can act. What a resource it is to find shelter and confidence in the very character of God Himself! He is faithful; He cannot deny Himself. Faith takes hold of this. It lifts the heart up when troubles press in that would otherwise sweep over it like a flood.
Here the cry of the earlier verses gets its answer, and it comes when human help has run out.
When at death's door, beyond all human help, the godly man had called upon the name of the Lord. In answer to his cry, he found the Lord to be "gracious," "righteous," and "merciful." He is the preserver of the simple and the helper of the helpless.
The word points to weakness, not wickedness.
The simple man is not necessarily a wicked person. He is someone the wicked can easily deceive.
Another writer sets the word against a divided heart:
Of course, the Lord answered, for His very nature is gracious, righteous and merciful (v. 5). He preserves the simple — not the double-minded, but those who will face facts as they are. Being brought low, they acknowledge it, and may fully depend on the One who hears and answers prayer.
Commentators differ in emphasis. One hears weakness in the word; the other hears an undivided heart. Both describe someone with no resource but God.
The verse divides people by what they lean on when sorrow reaches its limit.
Those who rely on their own wisdom are powerless before the sorrows of death. But those who call on the Lord with a simple heart find that He "preserves the simple." The Psalmist was brought low, face to face with great trouble and sorrow. There he realises that his help has come from God, and so his soul can rest in the sense of the Lord's goodness. This is what the godly go through, and these are the blessed results of passing through trials with God.
Being brought low comes first, and salvation follows. One commentator sets this beside Jonah, who sank as low as he could go:
It is well for us when we are down. Look again at that beautiful Psalm 116, verse 6: "when I was brought low, He saved me." It is when we are brought down, when our pride is brought low, that He is able to save us. As soon as Jonah reached the very bottom, he said, "I went down to the bottoms of the mountains; the bars of the earth closed upon me forever." Then at once we read, "But You have brought up my life from the pit, O Jehovah my God."
Deliverance is not the end of the story. It creates affection and settles the soul.
Psalm 116 celebrates this deliverance when they were at the very point of death... In this view it is a continual recital of the gracious mercy of Jehovah: they were brought low and He helped them. It drew out their love to Him. Such was Jehovah's character. He preserves the simple. The soul that had been tried so severely could return to its rest.
That rest then shapes how he lives:
The Lord has given him rest of soul, and deliverance from death. So he can look to the future with confidence and say, "I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living." Rest of soul leads to a godly walk that has the Lord for its object.
- Low — Being brought down is not what blocks salvation. It is the moment of it. He saves when pride has nothing left to defend.
- Simple — The one He preserves is easy to deceive and undefended. Others read the word as undivided. Either way, he has no resource but God.
- Character — He preserves the simple because that is what He is like. He is faithful and cannot deny Himself, so what He has done He can do again.
- Rest — Realising the help came from God, the soul stops striving and settles in His goodness.
- Walk — Rest of soul does not end in relief; it produces love for Him and a life lived before Him.
Return unto thy rest, O my soul; for Jehovah hath dealt bountifully with thee.
A man who has just come back from the edge of death turns and speaks — not to God, but to himself. The command sounds strange at first. Why would a soul need telling to go back to rest? And what does God's generosity have to do with obeying it?
The word "return" carries a history. It assumes the soul once had a settled place and left it, and that the deliverance now opens the road back.
The deliverance brings them back to the place of rest they once left. They left it to chase empty things, and that only brought distance and unrest. They may well welcome such a return, for in delivering them the Lord has dealt bountifully with them (v. 7).
Nothing here says the trouble has lifted. What moves is not the situation but the psalmist's gaze. It lifts off man's hand and onto the Lord's dealing behind it all.
Yet there is no hint that the circumstances have changed. The eye has only lifted from man's hand to the Lord's, to see His dealing in all that God allowed to come upon him. So by faith the soul already anticipates the full result in resurrection.
Nothing here tells the soul to calm itself by force of will. The command points instead to evidence: what God is, and what He has already done.
Past answers, and God's preservation of him up to now, tell him that He has inclined His ear... What a resource it is to find shelter and confidence in the very character of God Himself! He is faithful; He cannot deny Himself. Faith lays hold of this, and lifts the heart up in the middle of troubles that would otherwise flood over it and completely overwhelm it... God's past actions give him confidence. So in verse 4 he cries to Jehovah for deliverance, and in verse 7 he can say, "Return, O my soul, to your rest; for the LORD has dealt bountifully with you."
This rest is not the end of activity. It grows out of confidence in God, and it sends the man out walking.
The psalmist goes on to describe how the Lord's gracious dealings in the time of trial affected his soul. First, the Lord's bountiful dealings bring him into rest — the rest that comes from confidence in God. Then he gladly credits every blessing he has received to the Lord... The Lord has given him rest of soul, and deliverance from death: He has dried his tears and kept his feet. So he can look ahead with confidence and say, "I will walk before the LORD in the land of the living." Rest of soul leads to a godly walk that has the Lord for its object.
One writer reads the psalm first as the voice of a people brought low and rescued, and then as a pattern for every believer, since an apostle later quoted it.
They were brought low and He helped them. It drew out their love to Him. Such was Jehovah's character. He preserves the simple. The soul, tried so deeply, could return to its rest... The apostle's quotation shows that these psalms hold holy principles of life for every believer. Despite suffering and trial, trust in Jehovah opened the believer's mouth.
Another writer pushes the deliverance further still — rescue out of Sheol, the place of the dead:
These words may have some application to release from spiritual death. Even so, verse 15 makes it clear that the deliverance finally in view is from death in Sheol. This must be the "death of His saints" that remains precious in the eyes of the Lord. And rescue from it is the reason for the thanksgiving, "You have loosed my bonds."
- Return. The verse calls the soul back to a rest it once had and left. Deliverance reopens the door, and the soul may well welcome the way back.
- Rest. This is not the rest of solved problems. It is "the rest that comes from confidence in God", and it is on offer while the trouble is still in the room.
- Reason. The command carries its own argument: He has dealt bountifully. Faith takes shelter in God's character and in what He has already done.
- Redirection. What changes is the eye — lifted off human hands and onto the Lord's hand in everything He allowed.
- Result. Rest of soul does not end in stillness. It produces a walk before the Lord and an opened mouth. That principle belongs to every believer, not only to the one who first sang it.
For thou hast delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from tears, my feet from falling.
The verse looks back on a rescue and names three things God did, each one spoken straight to Him. Behind it stands a man who had been at death's door. The psalm asks what such a rescue should produce in the person rescued.
The psalmist does not divide the credit. Each of the three clauses has the same subject, and the change in him flows from that.
The psalmist goes on to describe the effect on his soul of the Lord's gracious dealings with him in the time of trial. First, he is brought into rest, as the result of the Lord's bountiful dealings — the rest that comes from confidence in God. Then he gladly credits every blessing he has received to the Lord. He can say, "You have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling." The Lord has done it all. The Lord has given him rest of soul, and deliverance from death; He has dried his tears and kept his feet. So he can look ahead with confidence and say, "I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living." Rest of soul leads to a godly walk that has the Lord for its object.
Why does God let anyone come to such a point at all? One writer answers from the psalmist's case.
Man's extremity is God's opportunity, as the psalmist shows. He praises the Lord for His grace, righteousness, and mercy. Then he can say, "You have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling." This is also the blessed experience of everyone who is brought low before God and throws himself on His mercy. God takes no pleasure in the sorrows of men. Yet in His great mercy and wisdom He often leads them into ways of sorrow and distress, so that they may come to the end of themselves and trust Him wholly.
Verse 7 was the psalmist talking to himself; verse 8 turns and speaks to God. One writer calls that turn a privilege in itself. He then asks what it should mean for anyone rescued from more than an early grave.
Turning to God, after having spoken to his own soul, the writer of the psalm can say, "For you have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling." It is a blessed thing to tell others what we have been through. It is blessed to think over the grace and mercy of God. But it is a wonderful privilege to return to God after praying to Him, and to acknowledge that He has answered our prayers. If this speaks of someone kept from death to live a little longer on earth, think of those who know what it is to be delivered from the judgment of God, and to have passed from death into life. What praise and thanksgiving should come from their hearts?
The three clauses are not all true of the believer in the same way today. One writer says so plainly. He also notes that the psalmist's circumstances had not changed — his view of them had.
There is no hint that the circumstances changed. Only the eye has lifted from man's hand to the Lord's. Verse 11 shows us who the instruments of the sorrow were — lying men. Now he sees the Lord's dealing in all that God had allowed to come upon him, so that the soul anticipates by faith the full result in resurrection. By grace we can do the same with the first clause of verse 8 — but what about the second and the third?
Commentators also read the psalm forward, to a coming age of blessing on earth. On that reading the dried tears and steadied feet describe a whole people, not one man's escape.
The grace of God has delivered their soul from death, taken the tears from their eyes, and kept their feet from stumbling (v. 8). How deeply the godly will feel it! This millennial blessing stands in contrast to the world as it is now — "the land of the dying."
Commentators differ on how far the deliverance reaches. One writer asks what happens to those who are not delivered.
Many a saint who enters the great tribulation will not be delivered, as the book of Revelation makes very plain. Verse 15 of our psalm fits with this. The death of those who fall before the persecuting power of Satan will be very precious in the sight of the Lord. He will show this by the special resurrection that Revelation 20:4 speaks of.
- Brought low. God allows distress so that a person comes to the end of himself and trusts Him wholly.
- Delivered. Three rescues, one Rescuer — life spared, tears dried, feet held. He did all of it.
- Acknowledged. The rescued man turns back to God and says so. Answered prayer calls for a word back to the One who answered it.
- Rested. Confidence in God is what settles the soul, and rest of soul comes first — everything else grows out of it.
- Walking. Rest produces a walk before the Lord — He kept your feet so that you would walk with Him in view.
I will walk before Jehovah in the land of the living.
Psalm 116 is the song of a man who came close to death, cried out, and was rescued. Verse 9 is what he does with the life he gets back, and it raises two questions: what is this walk, and where is "the land of the living"?
The order matters. He is not walking to earn anything. He is describing what rest of soul produces in a man just rescued.
The Lord has done it all. The Lord has given him rest of soul, and deliverance from death: He has dried his tears and kept his feet. So he can look to the future with confidence and say, "I will walk before the LORD in the land of the living." Rest of soul leads to a godly walk that has the Lord for its object.
Readers often flatten this phrase into "safely" or "under God's care". One writer, commenting on the same phrase elsewhere in the Psalms, says it means far more than protection.
This does not mean only, as Moll says, that he may walk under "divine protection", however much that phrase may suggest it. No — he is to walk before God, who has protected him. This means what "to walk with God" meant for Enoch. It means the same for all who have walked that path since. It is the simplest way to describe a life fit for such company.
The man who says verse 9 is still surrounded by trouble. One writer finds the same faith holding up the apostle in his own trials.
The apostle goes on to speak of the power that sustained him through all these trials. It was the power of faith. The same spirit of faith sustained the psalmist when the sorrows of death surrounded him, when he found trouble and sorrow, and was greatly afflicted. Then he could speak of life, for he said, "I will walk before the LORD in the land of the living." Then he tells us how he could speak of life in the middle of death: "I believed, therefore have I spoken."
For the psalmist, the land of the living is this earth. His hope was to stay alive in it, though he still expected to die one day.
The hope is to be kept alive so as to live on the earth: "I will walk before the LORD in the land of the living" (Ps. 116:9; see also Pss. 37:19; 115:17). The hope of resurrection was there (Ps. 16:9), but the expectation was to go through death.
Commentators differ on how far the rescue reaches. Another writer looks at verse 15 and sees more than escape from an early grave: "the ultimate deliverance in view is from death in sheol" — the place of the dead (Frederick W. Grant).
One writer hears a whole people in this psalm, not just one man. Their rescue from death is what the walk of verse 9 follows.
Psalm 116 celebrates this deliverance when they were at the very point of death. Jehovah had heard them, and they would walk before the Lord in the land of the living. Seen this way, the psalm keeps retelling the gracious mercy of Jehovah. They were brought low, and He helped them. It drew out their love to Him.
Another writer applies the verse to Christ Himself: the world He walked through, and the one He will head:
Jesus once walked before Jehovah in the land of vanity. He was Himself the only living One in a world of death. So He will walk, as the anointed Head of Redemption, in the land of the living (verse 9).
The psalmist had escaped death for a time. Those who know a greater rescue have more reason for the same resolve. One writer turns it into a question.
Walking before Jehovah in the land of the living was a precious privilege for a man so near to the gates of death. But we can walk before God in the light of the full and perfect revelation He has made of Himself in the Person of the Son. We have the life the Son came to reveal, and we possess it in Him who is our life. We should still ask our own hearts whether we want to walk before God in the life He has given us.
- Rescued. God delivered the soul from death, the eyes from tears, the feet from falling. He did it all. The walk of verse 9 is the response, never the payment.
- Rested. Rest of soul comes before the walk, and produces it; a heart at rest walks with the Lord as its object.
- Before Him. To walk before the LORD is more than living under His protection. It is what "walking with God" meant for Enoch: a life fit for God's company.
- Spoken. Faith says these words while death still presses. The same spirit of faith held up the apostle in his own trials.
- Ahead. The psalmist looked for life on earth. Writers differ on whether the rescue reaches beyond it. The Christian walks before God in the fuller light of the Son.