Psalms 119:83

For I am become like a bottle in the smoke -Bottles in the East were commonly made of skins. See the notes atMatthew 9:17. Such “bottles,” hanging in tents where the smoke had little opportunity to escape, would, of course, become dark and dingy, and would thus be emblems of distress, discomfort, and sorrow. The meaning here is, that, by affliction and sorrow, the psalmist had been reduced to a state which would be well represented by such a bottle. A somewhat similar idea occurs inPsalms 22:15: “My strength is dried up like a potsherd.” See the notes at that place. Yet do I not forget thy statutes -Compare the notes atPsalms 119:51.