Psalms 38
A PSALM OF DAVID. TO SERVE AS A MEMORIAL
"TO SERVE AS A MEMORIAL": This is according to S.R. Hirsch who translates from the Hebrew (LaHaZCiR). The King James (KJ) renders it, "TO BRING TO REMEMBRANCE", which is also acceptable.
S.R. Hirsch says that David had been sick and recovered. In this Psalm we relates his feelings at the time of illness so that even in better days of good health he may remember what depths he was plunged into.

[Psalms 38:1] O LORD, REBUKE ME NOT IN THY WRATH: NEITHER CHASTEN ME IN THY HOT DISPLEASURE.

[Psalms 38:2] FOR THINE ARROWS STICK FAST IN ME, AND THY HAND PRESSETH ME SORE.

[Psalms 38:3] THERE IS NO SOUNDNESS IN MY FLESH BECAUSE OF THINE ANGER; NEITHER IS THERE ANY REST IN MY BONES BECAUSE OF MY SIN.

[Psalms 38:4] FOR MINE INIQUITIES ARE GONE OVER MINE HEAD: AS AN HEAVY BURDEN THEY ARE TOO HEAVY FOR ME.

[Psalms 38:5] MY WOUNDS STINK AND ARE CORRUPT BECAUSE OF MY FOOLISHNESS.
"FOOLISHNESS": Hebrew "Ivalti" from the root AVL or EVL (with an "aleph") meaning something like "criminal irresponsibility". There is a related word "AVL" (with an "ayin") meaning viciousness or evil. The English word "evil" derives from these roots. One could say that it is evil to be irresponsible?
S.R.Hirsch says that AVL or EVL (with an "aleph") means "vacillating" and so we have the Hebrew word "OOLI" from the same word and meaning "perhaps". Indecision can be close to foolishness.
David recognizes that his suffering and illness were caused by his foolishness.
Rabbi Avraham Kook once said that mental illness is caused by sins against the spirit and physical illness by sin against the body. They are both connected. Not taking proper care of one's own health is also an offence. Much sickness is caused by lack of control of emotion or of habit. Even sicknesses caused by viruses and germs etc may be partially induced by a prior psychological condition. [I could go on in the same vein until I get sick and then I might change my tune: - IN fact after writing the above I did encounter a medical problem which up until then had been unusual for me. We should be careful of how we speak].

[Psalms 38:6] I AM TROUBLED; I AM BOWED DOWN GREATLY; I GO MOURNING ALL THE DAY LONG.

[Psalms 38:7] FOR MY LOINS ARE FILLED WITH A LOATHSOME DISEASE: AND THERE IS NO SOUNDNESS IN MY FLESH.

[Psalms 38:8] I AM FEEBLE AND SORE BROKEN: I HAVE ROARED BY REASON OF THE DISQUIETNESS OF MY HEART.

[Psalms 38:9] LORD, ALL MY DESIRE IS BEFORE THEE; AND MY GROANING IS NOT HID FROM THEE.
David only really wanted to serve God. He repented of his sin and was to be cured of the sickness that ailed him. We are not at the same level as David but David wrote this Psalm for us to learn from and in a sense suffered for us. We too can repent and be saved not only in a spiritual sense but also in a physical one.

[Psalms 38:10] MY HEART PANTETH, MY STRENGTH FAILETH ME: AS FOR THE LIGHT OF MINE EYES, IT ALSO IS GONE FROM ME.

[Psalms 38:11] MY LOVERS AND MY FRIENDS STAND ALOOF FROM MY SORE; AND MY KINSMEN STAND AFAR OFF.
This theme is repeated often in the Book of Proverbs. People do not like a loser. We ourselves often instinctively draw away from sickness and misfortune even when those afflicted are close to us.

[Psalms 38:12] THEY ALSO THAT SEEK AFTER MY LIFE LAY SNARES FOR ME: AND THEY THAT SEEK MY HURT SPEAK MISCHIEVOUS THINGS, AND IMAGINE DECEITS ALL THE DAY LONG.
People who are sick deserve our sympathy. Visiting the sick and being nice to them can make things much easier for them and does us good. When a person has enemies however his calamities can serve as an occasion to pounce upon him. To kick a man when he is down is a natural instinct especially when we were strongly tempted anyway to kick him when he was up.

[Psalms 38:13] BUT I, AS A DEAF MAN, HEARD NOT; AND I WAS AS A DUMB MAN THAT OPENETH NOT HIS MOUTH.

[Psalms 38:14] THUS I WAS AS A MAN THAT HEARETH NOT, AND IN WHOSE MOUTH ARE NO REPROOFS.

[Psalms 38:15] FOR IN THEE, O LORD, DO I HOPE: THOU WILT HEAR, O LORD MY GOD.
God is on our side. He wants us to repent and correct ourselves and He wants to do good unto us.

[Psalms 38:16] FOR I SAID, HEAR ME, LEST OTHERWISE THEY SHOULD REJOICE OVER ME: WHEN MY FOOT SLIPPETH, THEY MAGNIFY THEMSELVES AGAINST ME.
David made a few grievous mistakes in his life and his enemies took advantage of it. So too our relations with others can be a mixture of love and hate, of gratitude and resentment, both from their side and from ours. When misfortune strikes there is a tendency for the negative side of things to express themselves. " MY SON, DESPISE NOT THE CHASTENING OF THE LORD; NEITHER BE WEARY OF HIS CORRECTION:
"FOR WHOM THE LORD LOVETH HE CORRECTETH; EVEN AS A FATHER THE SON IN WHOM HE DELIGHTETH" [Proverbs 3:11-12].

[Psalms 38:17] FOR I AM READY TO HALT, AND MY SORROW IS CONTINUALLY BEFORE ME.

[Psalms 38:18] FOR I WILL DECLARE MINE INIQUITY; I WILL BE SORRY FOR MY SIN.

[Psalms 38:19] BUT MINE ENEMIES ARE LIVELY, AND THEY ARE STRONG: AND THEY THAT HATE ME WRONGFULLY ARE MULTIPLIED.

[Psalms 38:20] THEY ALSO THAT RENDER EVIL FOR GOOD ARE MINE ADVERSARIES; BECAUSE I FOLLOW THE THING THAT GOOD IS.
This whole Psalm can also be applied to the Jewish people. David often identified himself with the whole of Israel and with Judah. He had a feeling about what would happen.

[Psalms 38:21] FORSAKE ME NOT, O LORD: O MY GOD, BE NOT FAR FROM ME.
HaMairi (Rabbi Menachem HaMeiri 1249-1306, Provence, France):
"This Psalm should be interpreted as referring to our long Exile in which our troubles were multiplied and those who seek our lives speak falsehood about us and our faith. Our enemies grow mightier and more complacent while they hate us for seeking to do goodthe bottom line is that we request God to hurry and quicken our Redemption, Amen and Amen."

[Psalms 38:22] MAKE HASTE TO HELP ME, O LORD MY SALVATION.
The Psalms are an English (as well as a Hebrew) book.
"Absent Voices. The Story of Writing Systems in the West" by Rochelle Altman, 2004, Oak Knoll Press, USA:

"More than 300 attempts to translate the Psalms into metrical English show up between the fourteenth and nineteenth centuries" (p.159).
This applies only to England and was unknown elsewhere. She claims that already in the 500s CE there existed translations into Anglo-Saxon dialect DIRECTLY from the Hebrew.
Some of these translators were close to being inspired. [The King James translation is also a work of genius]. The Anglo-Saxon transcribers received their knowledge of Hebrew from "Celtic" sources amongst whom she claims there existed colonies of Phoenician or Hebrew origin who had maintained an ongoing contact with the Middle East. Another source for this knowledge (according to Altman) was the fact that Christianity came to Cornwall and Wales from the Punic (Phoenician) colonies of Spain and North Africa and these spoke a dialect of Hebrew. A few (amongst many) points made by Altman are:
"Modern English and Hebrew, along with modern Italian, are unusual among both Indo-European and Semitic languages for their parsing rhymes. All three are very similar. If we listen to speakers of these languages and can only hear the rhymes, but not the words, we cannot immediately tell which language is being spoken." (p.177).
By "parsing rhymes" Altman is claiming that breaking a sentence into its component parts (parsing) we obtain a rhythm that is only found in English, Modern Italian, and Hebrew.
She says that in this sense Modern Hebrew is closer to Biblical Hebrew than to Medieval Hebrew and that Modern English is the same in this matter as Old English.

Benjamin Disraeli (an important and famous Prime Minister of Great Britain, born Jewish, 1804-81):
"The most popular poet in England is the Sweet Singer of Israel. Since the days of the heritage, there never was a race who sang so often the odes of David as the people of Great Britain. It was the 'sword of the Lord and of Gideon' that won the boasted liberties of England; and the Scots upon their hillsides achieved their religious freedom chanting the same canticles that cheered the heart of Judah amid their glens."

Incidentally, the Psalms play an important part in the Jewish liturgy. It is not uncommon to find Jewish men and women who know the entire Book of Psalms in Hebrew by heart. Many popular religious and even non-religious songs are based on the Psalms. Expressions taken from the Psalms have become part of everyday language. Books of tapes of all the Psalms may be obtained sung to various tunes and cantilation (rules of chanting) according to the different communities, e.g. Yemenite, Sephardic, Ashkenazic, etc.