Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 142:3
When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, then thou knewest my path. In the way wherein I walked have they privily laid a snare for me.
3. When my spirit fainteth upon me, THOU knowest my path,
In the way wherein I must walk have men hidden a snare for me.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
3, 4. Jehovah knows his peril, and his loneliness.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
When my spirit was overwhelmed within me – Luther renders this, When my spirit was in distress. The Hebrew word rendered overwhelmed means, in Kal, to cover as with a garment; then, to be covered as with darkness, trouble, sorrow; and then, to languish, to faint, to be feeble: Psa 77:3; Psa 107:5. The idea here is, that, in his troubles, he had no vigor, no life, no spirit. He did not see how he could escape from his troubles, and he had no heart to make an effort.
Then thou knewest my path – Thou didst see all. Thou didst see the way that I was treading, and all its darkness and dangers, implying here that God had made it an object to mark his course; to see what egress there might be – what way to escape from the danger. It was in no sense concealed from God, and no danger of the way was hidden from him. It is much for us to feel when we are in danger or difficulty that God knows it all, and that nothing can be hidden from him.
In the way wherein I walked – In my path; the path that I was treading.
Have they privily laid a snare for me – They treated me as a man would treat his neighbor, who should spread a snare, or set a trap, for him in the path which he knew he must take. The word rendered have privily laid means to hide, to conceal. It was so concealed that I could not perceive it. They did it unknown to me. I neither knew that it was laid, nor where it was laid. They meant to spring it upon me at a moment when I was not aware, and when I should be taken by surprise. It was not open and manly warfare; it was stealth, cunning, trick, art.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Psa 142:3
When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, then Thou knewest my path.
Affliction and consolation
I. The dejection which he felt.
1. A painful consciousness of past guilt.
2. An oppressive endurance of present trouble.
3. A keen anticipation of future ills.
II. The refuge that he sought. Then Thou knewest my path. It supposes that God was consulted about his path, that the case was distinctly brought before God in prayer, and that the case was one which would bear to be submitted to the Divine inspection.
III. The mercy that he found. God did bring his soul out of prison. Every wish was accomplished (Psa 18:1-50.).
1. By the kindness of friends (1Sa 23:16).
2. By promises of His Word.
3. By events in Providence.
4. By consolations of His Spirit.
5. By translating from earth to heaven. (S. Thodey.)
A memorial of past troubles
I. A humble appeal. Thou knewest my path,–Thou knewest that my cause was just, and the steps which I took for obtaining redress were holy.
1. The path of prayer (verse 1).
2. The way of faith,–choosing God for his portion, trusting Him as his refuge, expecting bountiful treatment at His hands (verses 5, 7). Without this choice of God as our portion, and confidence in Him, prayer is mere selfishness, and has nothing to distinguish it from the cries of the lost.
II. A contrite confession. Thou knewest how impatient I was even when professing meek submission. I could bear the great trial of Sauls persecution, but not the lighter one of Nabals churlish insolence. Thou knewest the crookedness of my path, when by false pretences I evaded an enemy and deceived a friend; using sinful artifice where I should have relied in truth upon the God of truth.
III. A thankful acknowledgment of the Lords gracious conduct towards David when his spirit was overwhelmed. Then Thou knewest my path: Thou didst approve my course; and therefore didst support and comfort me under my trials. But how much greater occasion has the believer in Christ to make this thankful acknowledgment! Conclusion–
1. Let the children of God lay their account for sufferings and sorrows here below: heavy sorrows and dreadful sufferings, it may be. Such things are appointed for us, because needful, as is the furnace to separate the dross from the pure ore.
2. All trouble should lead us to God–not from Him. There is in the blessed God health and cure for all diseases of the mind; balm in Gilead, and a never-failing Physician there.
3. Let us all cherish the thought that God knows our path; in the fullest sense of the words knows our every step. To the sincere Christian, to the upright soul this truth is full of comfort. (C. Hodgson, M. A.)
In the way where I walked have they privily laid a snare for me.—
The dangers of youth
I see before me a class of young men about to go forth into the world. I know their way will be strewed with dangers. By all the love I bear them I am constrained to point out to them some of their perils.
I. The dangers of youth.
1. A- general exposedness to temptation. Full of passions easily excited, and warm as the current of their youthful blood; led on by an imagination as active as their youthful limbs and mostly unchecked by experience,–forming images which are constantly mistaken for realities,–which inflame and mislead the passions and bewilder the judgment; set down as strangers in the midst of a world whose objects and inhabitants present destructive blandishments to their inexperience,-whose beauties and amusements, in the absence of the love of God, are fat, ally adapted to their youthful tastes; how can they escape? at least, how dreadfully exposed are they.
2. Under all these exposures they are constantly forming habits, as uncontrollable and despotic as an Eastern sultan, and harder to be dethroned. Through inexperience and incaution, and the impetuosity of their youthful passions, they are liable to become petrified in evil habits, as fixed as the coral reefs of the ocean.
3. Young men, as they enter into business, are in danger of settling down into the love of the world, into views and aims confined to themselves and their own circle, separating them from the great republic of man, and keeping them from employing their powers and their property in promoting the happiness of the human family.
4. Another danger to which young men are exposed is indolence in action; betaking themselves to no profession, or pursuing it saunteringly, unsteadily, and to little effect; wasting life in idleness or in pleasure; in either case enervating the man in both body and soul, and making him a burden to himself and a disgraceful cumberer of the ground.
5. Young men are exposed to theological errors of every form and every degree of criminality and danger, from the slightest obliquity respecting a positive institution, up to blaspheming infidelity.
II. The defences to be set up against them.
1. In regard to the last-mentioned danger my advice to you is, first of all, settle your minds on the question whether the Bible is a revelation from God, and such a revelation as will guide believers into all truth unmixed with error; in order that your faith may rest on the testimony of God and not on the authority of men, you ought to find the fullest evidence that God has spoken, and spoken in a way to furnish a safe and sure rule of faith and practice. All this being settled in the affirmative, you ought to lose no time in grounding yourselves on a system of doctrines drawn from the obvious meaning of that book, supported by the general analogy of faith. Subject your reason to the Divine teachings. Put it to school to Christ as a humble pupil.
2. Avoid all kinds of professional business arid all occasions which are specifically fraught with temptation.
3. Avoid all connections with bad men, and, as far as possible, with men whose influence would tend to warp you from the truth, or from a correct course of judging or of acting.
4. Vigilantly guard against the beginning of every evil habit, in heart, intellect, or conduct. By watchfulness it is easy to prevent the first irregularity; but who can vanquish an evil habit?
5. Let your reading be safe. Not many novels, not u perpetual round of angry politics, not a constant poring upon theological errors.
6. Let it be a settled rule to make some advance in knowledge every day, and every day to bring to pass something for the good of mankind.
7. Establish the settled habit of prayer. Without prayer you have no security against one of these dangers. Without Christ you can do nothing. These rules you will find it hard to keep with a fallen nature, and impossible unless you observe another; which leads me to say–
8. That in the outset you must devote your hearts and souls and lives to the service of God. Without doing this you will not pray effectually, and of course will have no security against one of these dangers. Without this you will be the enemies of God: and what security against any evil can an enemy of God Have in a world which He governs? (E. D. Griffin, D. D.)
Hidden snares
Recently it was announced, as one of the latest discoveries, that a kind of telescope had been constructed which would enable any one looking through it to see far away down into quiet seas, and gaze on the wrecked and sunken ships that lie there. If only we had such an instrument in the spirit realm which we could put into the hands of men and women infatuated with sin, and so show them the moral wrecks of even last year! What a gift for a young man or woman as a permanent warning against the perils of life–the opening of their eyes to the devices of the destroyer! (H. O. Mackey.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 3. Then thou knewest my path.] When Saul and his army were about the cave in which I was hidden, thou knewest my path – that I had then no way of escape but by miracle: but thou didst not permit them to know that I was wholly in their power.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Thou knewest, to wit, practically, so as to direct me to it.
My path; what paths I should choose whereby I might escape Saul, when I fled hither and thither in deserts, and mountains, and woods; and which way I should get out of his hands when he and all his men were at the caves mouth, which passed my skill.
Wherein I walked; wherein I used to walk, or they supposed that I would walk.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
3. thou knewest . . . pathTheappeal is indicative of conscious innocence; knowest it to be right,and that my affliction is owing to the snares of enemies, and is notdeserved (compare Psa 42:4;Psa 61:2).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
When my spirit was overwhelmed within me,…. Ready to sink and faint under the present affliction, being attended with the hidings of God’s face, and with unbelieving frames; which is sometimes the case of God’s people, and with which they are as it were covered and overwhelmed, as well as with a sense of sin, and with shame and sorrow for it; see Ps 61:2;
then thou knewest my path: the eyes of the Lord are upon all men, and he knows their goings, none of them are hid from him; and he sees and approves of the way, of the life and conversation of his people in general; and particularly observes what way they take under affliction, which is to apply to him for help and deliverance, Ps 1:6. R. Moses in Aben Ezra and Kimchi interpret it of the path he walked in, which was right and not evil, for which he could appeal to God, that knows all things; it may literally intend the path David took to escape the fury of Saul, that pursued him from place to place;
in the way wherein I walked have they privily laid a snare for me; let him take which way he would, there were spies upon him, or men that were in ambush to take him; and snares were everywhere laid for him to entrap him; see Ps 140:5.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The prayer of the poet now becomes deep-breathed and excited, inasmuch as he goes more minutely into the details of his straitened situation. Everywhere, whithersoever he has to go (cf. on Psa 143:8), the snares of craftily calculating foes threaten him. Even God’s all-seeing eye will not discover any one who would right faithfully and carefully interest himself in him. , look! is a graphic hybrid form of and , the usual and the rare imperative form; cf. 1Sa 20:40 (cf. Jer 17:18), and the same modes of writing the inf. absol. in Jdg 1:28; Amo 9:8, and the fut. conv. in Eze 40:3. is, as in Rth 2:19, cf. Ps 10, one who looks kindly upon any one, a considerate (cf. the phrase ) well-wisher and friend. Such an one, if he had one, would be or (Psa 16:8), for an open attack is directed to the arms-bearing right side (Psa 109:6), and there too the helper in battle (Psa 110:5) and the defender or advocate (Psa 109:31) takes his place in order to cover him who is imperilled (Psa 121:5). But then if God looks in that direction, He will find him, who is praying to Him, unprotected. Instead of one would certainly have sooner expected or as the form of introducing the condition in which he is found; but Hitzig’s conjecture, , “looking for days and seeing,” gives us in the place of this difficulty a confusing half-Aramaism in = in the sense of in Dan 8:27; Neh 1:4. Ewald’s rendering is better: “though I look to the right hand and see ( ), yet no friend appears for me;” but this use of the inf. absol. with an adversative apodosis is without example. Thus therefore the pointing appears to have lighted upon the correct idea, inasmuch as it recognises here the current formula , e.g., Job 35:5; Lam 5:1. The fact that David, although surrounded by a band of loyal subjects, confesses to having no true fiend, is to be understood similarly to the language of Paul when he says in Phi 2:20: “I have no man like-minded.” All human love, since sin has taken possession of humanity, is more or less selfish, and all fellowship of faith and of love imperfect; and there are circumstances in life in which these dark sides make themselves felt overpoweringly, so that a man seems to himself to be perfectly isolated and turns all the more urgently to God, who alone is able to supply the soul’s want of some object to love, whose love is absolutely unselfish, and unchangeable, and unbeclouded, to whom the soul can confide without reserve whatever burdens it, and who not only honestly desires its good, but is able also to compass it in spite of every obstacle. Surrounded by bloodthirsty enemies, and misunderstood, or at least not thoroughly understood, by his friends, David feels himself broken off from all created beings. On this earth every kind of refuge is for him lost (the expression is like Job 11:20). There is no one there who should ask after or care for his soul, and should right earnestly exert himself for its deliverance. Thus, then, despairing of all visible things, he cries to the Invisible One. He is his “refuge” (Psa 91:9) and his “portion” (Psa 16:5; Psa 73:26), i.e., the share in a possession that satisfies him. To be allowed to call Him his God – this it is which suffices him and outweighs everything. For Jahve is the Living One, and he who possesses Him as his own finds himself thereby “in the land of the living” (Psa 27:13; Psa 52:7). He cannot die, he cannot perish.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
3. When, my spirit, etc. Though he owns here that he felt anxiety, yet he confirms what he had said as to the constancy of his faith. The figure which he uses of his spirit being perplexed, (246) aptly represents the state of the mind in alternating between various resolutions when there was no apparent outgate from danger, and increasing its distress by resorting to all kinds of devices. He adds, that though there was no apparent way of safety, God knew from the beginning in what way his deliverance should be effected. Others put a different meaning upon this clause, thou knowest my way, as if David asserted God to have been witness of his integrity, but the other is the more correct, that God knew the way to deliver him, while his own mind was distracted by a variety of thoughts, and yet could not conceive any mode of extrication. The words teach us, when we have tried every remedy and know not what to do, to rest satisfied with the conviction that God is acquainted with our afflictions, and condescends to care for us, as Abraham said —
“
The Lord will provide.” (Gen 22:8.)
(246) “ Or c’est une belle similitude quand il dit que son esprit a este en tortille et enveloppe,” etc. — Fr.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(3) When my spirit.Literally, in the muffling upon me of my spirit. When my spirit was so wrapped in trouble and gloom, so muffled round with woe that I could not see the path before me, was distracted and unable to chose a. line of conduct, Thou (emphatic) knewest my path. (Comp. for the same verb Psa. 61:2; Psa. 77:3.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
3. Overwhelmed Or, fainted. He was completely enveloped in doubt, anxiety, apprehension, so that he was unable to judge and decide what to do, as Psa 107:5; Jon 2:7.
Then thou knewest my path God knew and comprehended his situation, and kindly chose his path, and made a way for his escape. Job 23:10; Psa 31:7-8.
In the way wherein I walked In my daily, or ordinary, manner of life. Every movement was watched and criticised for evil.
Privily laid a snare Treacherously placed in his path inducements to wrong, in the hope that he might fall into their “snare.”
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Psa 142:3-4. When my spirit, &c. Now, when my spirit is overwhelmed within me, yet thou knowest my path. “Though the lowness of my spirits renders me incapable of providing for my own escape; yet thou art able to conduct me by the right path.” Here he is supposed to make an effort for escaping. He finds he is way-laid in the path that he had designed to take: he looks on the right hand (for I consider the verbs as infinitive) but does not see the persons with whom he had concerted his escape. He despairs of getting off. Mudge. The reader will observe the beautiful brevity of the sentences in the 4th verse. Dr. Chandler renders the last clause, There is no one that concerns himself for my life. The Psalmist complains, and prays that God would regard it with compassion, that no one consulted his safety, or took any care to preserve his life. For napshi, should be rendered in this and many other places, my life, and not my soul.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Psa 142:3 When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, then thou knewest my path. In the way wherein I walked have they privily laid a snare for me.
Ver. 3. When my spirit was overwhelmed within me ] Or, covered over, with grief, as the Greek expoundeth it.
Then thou knewest my path
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
spirit. Hebrew. ruach. App-9.
was overwhelmed = fainted. Hebrew = was darkened. Compare Psa 77:3; Psa 107:5; Psa 143:4. Elsewhere only Jon 2:8, and Lam 2:12.
then = then [I remembered] Thou knewest, &c.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Psa 142:3-5
Psa 142:3-5
“In the way wherein I walk
Have they hidden a snare for me.
Look on my right hand, and see;
For there is no man that knoweth me:
Refuge hath failed me;
No man careth for my soul.
I cried unto thee, O Jehovah;
I said, Thou art my refuge,
My portion in the land of the living.”
“They have hidden a snare for me” (Psa 142:3 b). The Davidic nature of this complaint must be obvious to anyone. Such things as “snares,” “gins” and “traps” were common terms in David’s vocabulary of complaint.
“Look on my right hand and see” (Psa 142:4). “The right hand was the place of the advocate,” or the defense attorney, in all ancient court proceedings; and David here uses this as a metaphor declaring that there is no one to defend him, no one on his right hand.
“But thou art my refuge” (Psa 142:5). Briggs noted that, “`Thou’ is here emphatic, emphasizing that it is God, and no other, who is his refuge.
“Refuge” (Psa 142:5). “This word carries with it the meaning of, “Shelter from storm or danger.” See the words of Wesley’s hymn (above). Kidner identified the term “refuge” as, “A favorite word with David, as in Psa 57:1).
E.M. Zerr:
Psa 142:3. This verse makes another reference to the traps that were privily (privately) laid for David. The dread of them about overcame him, but the Lord was his helper for He knew where all of the snares were located.
Psa 142:4. The condition of distress was so terrible with the Psalmist that all human help seemed to be gone or unavailing.
Psa 142:5. When human help fails, the Lord will be the sure refuge for those who make the proper approach unto Him, willing to comply with the divine requirements.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
my spirit: Psa 22:14, Psa 61:2, Psa 102:4, Psa 143:4, Mar 14:33-36
then thou: Psa 1:6, Psa 17:3, Psa 139:2-4, Job 23:10
In the way: Psa 31:4, Psa 35:7, Psa 35:8, Psa 56:6, Psa 140:5, Psa 141:9, Jer 18:22, Mat 22:15
Reciprocal: Gen 27:41 – then Exo 3:7 – I know 1Sa 1:15 – poured 1Ki 8:38 – the plague Job 21:4 – is my complaint Psa 11:2 – that Psa 31:7 – known Psa 42:5 – Why art thou cast down Psa 57:6 – my soul Psa 77:3 – spirit Psa 86:7 – General Psa 102:1 – overwhelmed Lam 3:55 – General Hos 13:5 – know Joh 5:6 – and knew
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Psa 142:3. When my spirit was overwhelmed within me And ready to sink under the burden of grief and fear: when I was quite at a loss what steps to take, and almost ready to despair; then thou knewest my path That is, practically, so as to direct me what way I should take, in order that I might escape Saul and his men: or, thou knowest my sincerity and innocence, the straight path in which I have walked, and that I am not such a one as my persecutors represent me. And it was, and is, a comfort to me, that thou knewest this, and also, that thou knewest the danger that I was, and am, in, and how; in the way wherein I walked Suspecting no danger; they have privily laid a snare for me To entrap me. Saul gave Michal his daughter to David, on purpose that she might be a snare to him, 1Sa 18:21. And as he complains, every thing that was done to, or respecting him, was done with a design to insnare and destroy him. Yet, in the midst of all, he knew he was under the eye and guardian care of his all-wise and almighty Friend: in him he trusted, and this was his support and comfort. And such should be, at all times, the confidence of believers in the wisdom, the power, and the goodness of God, even when human prudence has done its utmost and is at its wits end.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
2. David’s lament of his condition 142:3-4
Even when David could not see his way clearly, God knew what course he should take to reach safety. It seemed to the psalmist that the path he took was one that his enemy had booby-trapped. Evidently if David had had a human defender, that person would have been standing at his right hand, but no one was there. He felt totally forsaken by all other people, and without God’s help, escape was impossible.