Psalm 31:9
Have mercy upon me, O LORD, for I am in trouble: mine eye is consumed with grief, yea, my soul and my belly.
Have mercy upon me, O Lord, for I am in trouble,.... A sudden change of case and frame this! and so it is with the people of God; as soon as, out of one trouble, they are in another; these are what are appointed for them, and lie in their pathway to heaven, and are necessary; and under them it is quite right to betake themselves to the Lord, who is a merciful God; and it is best to cast themselves upon his mercy, having no merit of their own to plead with him; and they may freely tell him all their distresses, as the psalmist here does, and hope for grace and mercy to help them in time of need;
mine eye, is consumed with grief; expressed by tears; through the multitude of which, by reason of trouble, his sight was greatly harmed; according to Jarchi, the word signifies, that his sight was so dim as is a man's when he puts a glass before his eyes, to see what is beyond the glass: this shows that the invention of spectacles was before the year 1105; for in that year Jarchi died; and proves it more early than any other writer has pretended to {a}; for the commonly received opinion is, that they were invented at the latter end of the thirteenth or beginning of the fourteenth century; but the apostle, as A-Lapide thinks, respects them, in 1 Corinthians 13:12; and they are mentioned by Plautus {b}, who lived almost two hundred years before the birth of Christ: the same Jarchi observes on Psalms 6:7;
yea, my soul and my belly; perhaps he could not eat his food, or digest it, which brought upon him internal disorders, and even brought his soul or life into danger.
{a} See Chambers's Dictionary on the word "Spectacles".
{b} Vid. Ainsworth's Lat. Dict. in voce "Conspicill". & Panciroll. Rer. Memorab. par. 2. tit. 15. & Salmath. in ib. p. 268.