(4) Smitten.--As by the sun. Exactly as in Hosea 9:16.

So that I forget.--Better, for I have forgotten, &c. For this mark of deep sorrow comp. 1Samuel 1:7; 1Samuel 20:34, &c. (Comp. Homer, Iliad, xxiv. 129.)

Verse 4. - My heart is smitten. As with a stroke from the sun (see Psalm 121:6; Hosea 9:16). And withered like grass. As grass upon the house tops (Psalm 129:6), or, indeed, in any exposed place under an Eastern sun. So that I forget to eat my bread; literally, for I forget, etc. The fact is adduced as a proof of the heart's condition (comp. Job 33:20; 1 Samuel 1:7; 1 Samuel 20:34, etc.).

102:1-11 The whole word of God is of use to direct us in prayer; but here, is often elsewhere, the Holy Ghost has put words into our mouths. Here is a prayer put into the hands of the afflicted; let them present it to God. Even good men may be almost overwhelmed with afflictions. It is our duty and interest to pray; and it is comfort to an afflicted spirit to unburden itself, by a humble representation of its griefs. We must say, Blessed be the name of the Lord, who both gives and takes away. The psalmist looked upon himself as a dying man; My days are like a shadow.My heart is smitten, and withered like grass,.... Like grass in the summer solstice (d), which being smitten with the heat of the sun, or by some blast of thunder and lightning, is dried up, and withers away; so his heart was smitten with a sense of sin, and of God's wrath and displeasure at him, and with the heat of affliction and trouble, that it failed him, and he could not look up with joy and comfort:

so that I forget to eat my bread; sometimes, through grief and trouble, persons refuse to eat bread, as Jonathan and Ahab, which is a voluntary act, and purposely done; but here, in the psalmist, there was such a loss of appetite, through sorrow, that he forgot his stated meals, having no manner of inclination to food: some understand this of spiritual food, the bread of life, refusing to be comforted with it; so the Targum,

"for I forgot the law of my doctrine.''

(d) "Quasi solstitialis herba paulisper fui", Plauti Pseudolus, Acts 1. Sc. 1. v. 36.