Consider and hear me, O LORD my God: lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death;
In the verse sleep is used as a figure for death, with sleeping on into that sleep meaning to perish. The cry to be kept from that sleep carries a spiritual meaning, calling those sunk in insensibility and lethargy to be awakened and roused from their stupor. That awakening is a being made alert to God, lest unawakened insensibility end in perishing.
This call to be roused is pressed with special urgency because the coming of the Lord draws near.
In the verse sleep is used as a figure for death, with sleeping on into that sleep meaning to perish. The cry to be kept from that sleep carries a spiritual meaning, calling those sunk in insensibility and lethargy to be awakened and roused from their stupor. That awakening is a being made alert to God, lest unawakened insensibility end in perishing.
This call to be roused is pressed with special urgency because the coming of the Lord draws near.