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Commentaries and Other Bible Study Helps - Prayer Tents - Prayer Tents
Psalm 6. This is an individual lament, also from David. It is especially suited to one whose hard circumstances have led him to see his sins and to repent of them. For this reason Psalm 6 is often included in the "Penitential Psalms" (cf. Psalms 32; 38 [and note]; 51; 130; 143).
6:1-5 Plea for Mercy. These verses arise from some life-threatening situation; a sickness would fit the description, as would a number of other desperate crises. The song interprets the situation as coming from God's displeasure at some particular sins. This does not mean that all desperate situations are evidence of God's displeasure, only that some may be; the psalm provides a vehicle for singing to God properly in such cases.
6:4 for the sake of your steadfast love. Those who are penitent appeal to God's love and mercy, and not to their own well-doing.
6:5 Sheol is a proper name in Hebrew; sometimes it serves as a poetic name for the grave, to which all go (e.g., 141:7), and other times it names the dim destination to which the wicked go but not the faithful (e.g., 49:14-15). If it refers to the grave here, the idea is that the dead do not have the privilege of recounting God's praise in public worship. The verse expresses the fear that the psalmist's sins, if not forgiven, would separate him from God's presence.
