Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 43:1

Judge me, O God, and plead my cause against an ungodly nation: O deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man.

1. Judge me &c.] An appeal to God the Judge to do him justice and vindicate his innocence by delivering him from the power of his insolent foes. For the language cp. Psa 7:8; Psa 26:1; Psa 35:1; Psa 35:24.

against an ungodly nation ] Lit. from, i. e. by delivering me from, a nation without lovingkindness; heathen destitute of all feeling of humanity. For the meaning of chsd see notes on Psa 4:3; Psa 12:1; and Appendix, Note 1.

the deceitful and unjust man ] The leader of the heathen, who had distinguished himself by treachery and malignity, may be meant. But it is better to understand the words collectively as a further description of the ‘inhuman nation’ in general, men of deceit and malignity.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

1, 2. Prayer for deliverance, grounded upon God’s relation to him.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Psa 43:1-5 . A passionate prayer for deliverance from his enemies and restoration to the privileges of the sanctuary.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Judge me, O God – This does not mean, Pronounce sentence upon me; but, Undertake my cause; interpose in my behalf; do justice in the case. He regarded his own cause as right; he felt that he was greatly wronged by the treatment which he received from people, and he asks to have it shown that he was not guilty of what his enemies charged on him; that he was an upright man, and a friend of God. See Psa 7:8, note; Psa 26:1, note.

And plead my cause – See the notes at Psa 35:1. Against an ungodly nation. Margin, unmerciful. Literally, from a nation not merciful, or not; religious. The idea is, that the nation or people referred to manifested none of the spirit of religion in their conduct toward him; that he was treated with severity and injustice. This entire description would agree well with the state of things in the time of the rebellion of Absalom, when David was driven from his home and his throne: 2 Sam. 15, following.

O deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man – Margin, as in Hebrew, from a man of deceit and iniquity. This would apply well to the case and character of Absalom, or perhaps more directly and properly to the character and counsel of Ahithophel, among the leading conspirators in the rebellion of Absalom, to whose counsels much of the rebellion was owing: 2Sa 15:31; compare 2Sa 16:23; 2Sa 17:14, 2Sa 17:23.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Psa 43:1-5

Judge me, O God, and plead my cause.

The souls double appeal

I. An appeal to God.

1. For Divine vindication.

2. For Divine deliverance.

3. For Divine information.

4. For Divine guidance.

II. An appeal to self. He was conscious of–

1. The personality of his soul.

2. The sorrow of his soul.

3. The interests of his son! (Homilist.)

In exile

I. The exiles prayer.

1. For judgment against the accusations of an ungodly nation. Nothing uncommon for the Christian to be the target of wrong charges.

2. For deliverance from the deceitful and unjust man.

3. For light and truth to lead him back to Zion.

II. The exiles promise.

1. To go to the altar, i.e. for sacrifice, consecration, worship.

2. To seize the harp for thanksgiving and praise.

Religious services should be gladsome; those in the home as well as those in the sanctuary. Our hearts too often like muffled drums beating funeral marches, rather than like well-tuned harps sending forth strains of sweetest harmony and gladdest adoration, etc.

III. The exiles soliloquy.

1. A question.

2. A response.

Cast down!–Hope. Disquieted!–Praise. Praise Him who is the health, the beauty, the ruddy glow, the youth, of thy countenance, and thy God. (J. O. Keen, D. D.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

PSALM XLIII

The psalmist begs God to take his part against his enemies,

1, 2;

to send his light and truth to guide him to the tabernacle, 3;

promises, if brought thither, to be faithful in the Divine

service, 4;

chides himself for despondency, and takes courage, 5.

NOTES ON PSALM XLIII

There is no title to this Psalm in the Hebrew, nor in the Chaldee. The Syriac says it was composed “by David when Jonathan told him that Saul intended to slay him.” The Arabic says of this, as of the preceding, that it is a prayer for the backsliding Jews. It is most evidently on the same subject with the forty-second Psalm, had the same author or authors, and contains the remaining part of the complaint of the captive Jews in Babylon. It is written as a part of the forty-second Psalm in forty-six of Kennicott’s and De Rossi’s MSS.

Verse 1. Judge me, O God, and plead my cause] ribah ribi, a forensic term, properly enough translated, plead my cause, be my counsellor and advocate.

Ungodly nation] The Babylonians; the impious, perfidious, wicked, and deceitful Babylonians.

The deceitful and unjust man.] Nebuchadnezzar.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

Judge me; or, judge or give sentence for me, as this phrase is used, Psa 26:1, and elsewhere.

Ungodly, or unmerciful, i.e. cruel or inhuman; for it is a meiosis. Nation; so he calls the company of his enemies for their great numbers, and because they were the far greatest part, and almost the whole body of the nation.

Deceitful and unjust; who covereth his wicked designs with fair and false pretences; which sort of men are hateful to thee, and to all good men.

Man; either Saul; or rather, Ahithophel or Absalom. For he speaks of the holy hill of Zion, Psa 43:3, which was not so till after Sauls time. Or man may be put collectively for the men of that time.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

1. Judgeor, “vindicate”(Ps 10:18).

plead, &c. (Ps35:1).

ungodlyneither incharacter or condition objects of God’s favor (compare Ps4:3).

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

Judge me, O God,…. The Targum adds, with the judgment of truth; see Ro 2:2;

and plead my cause; which was a righteous one; and therefore he could commit it to God to be tried and judged by him, and could put it into his hands to plead it for him; [See comments on Ps 35:1];

against an ungodly nation; meaning either the Philistines, among whom he was; or his own nation, when they joined his son Absalom in rebellion against him: some understand it of the great numbers that were with Saul, when he was persecuted by him;

O deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man; either Absalom, who, under pretence of a vow he had vowed in Hebron, got leave of David to go thither, and then engaged in a conspiracy against him; or Ahithophel, who had been his friend and acquaintance, but now joined with Absalom. It is true of Saul, who, under pretence of friendship, sought his ruin, and to whom he expressed himself almost in the same words here used; see 1Sa 18:17.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

The Elohimic Judica (the introit of the so-called Cross or Passion Sunday which opens the celebritas Passionis ), with which the supplicatory and plaintive first strophe of the Psalm begins, calls to mind the Jehovic Judica in Psa 7:9; Psa 26:1; Psa 35:1, Psa 35:24: judge me, i.e., decide my cause (lxx , Symmachus ). has the tone upon the ultima before the which begins with the half-guttural , as is also the case in Psa 74:22; Psa 119:154. The second prayer runs: vindica me a gente impia ; standing for contra in consequence of a constr. praegnans . is here equivalent to one practising no towards men, that is to say, one totally wanting in that , by which God’s is to be imitated and repaid by man in his conduct towards his fellow-men. There is some uncertainty whether by one chief enemy, the leader of all the rest, is intended to be mentioned side by side with the unloving nation, or whether the special manner of his enemies is thus merely individualised. means roguish, mischievous conduct, utterly devoid of all sense of right. In Psa 43:2 the poet establishes his petition by a twofold Why. He loves God and longs after Him, but in the mirror of his present condition he seems to himself like one cast off by Him. This contradiction between his own consciousness and the inference which he is obliged to draw from his afflicted state cannot remain unsolved. , God of my fortress, is equivalent to who is my fortress. Instead of we here have the form , of the slow deliberate gait of one who is lost in his own thoughts and feelings. The sting of his pain is his distance from the sanctuary of his God. In connection with Psa 43:3 one is reminded of Psa 57:4 and Exo 15:13, quite as much as of Psa 42:9. “Light and truth” is equivalent to mercy and truth. What is intended is the light of mercy or loving-kindness which is coupled with the truth of fidelity to the promises; the light, in which the will or purpose of love, which is God’s most especial nature, becomes outwardly manifest. The poet wishes to be guided by these two angels of God; he desires that he may be brought (according tot he Chethb of the Babylonian text , “let come upon me;” but the which follows does not suit this form) to the place where his God dwells and reveals Himself. “Tabernacles” is, as in Psa 84:2; Psa 46:5, an amplificative designation of the tent, magnificent in itself and raised to special honour by Him who dwells therein.

Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament

Appeals and Petitions.

      1 Judge me, O God, and plead my cause against an ungodly nation: O deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man.   2 For thou art the God of my strength: why dost thou cast me off? why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?   3 O send out thy light and thy truth: let them lead me; let them bring me unto thy holy hill, and to thy tabernacles.   4 Then will I go unto the altar of God, unto God my exceeding joy: yea, upon the harp will I praise thee, O God my God.   5 Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God.

      David here makes application to God, by faith and prayer, as his judge, his strength, his guide, his joy, his hope, with suitable affections and expressions.

      I. As his Judge, his righteous Judge, who he knew would judge him, and who (being conscious of his own integrity) he knew would judge for him (v. 1): Judge me, O God! and plead my cause. There were those that impeached him; against them he is defendant, and from their courts, where he stood unjustly convicted and condemned, he appeals to the court of heaven, the supreme judicature, praying to have their judgment given against him reversed and his innocency cleared. There were those that had injured him; against them he is plaintiff, and exhibits his complaint to him who is the avenger of wrong, praying for justice for himself and upon them. Observe, 1. Who his enemies were with whom he had this struggle. Here was a sinful body of men, whom he calls an ungodly or unmerciful nation. Those that are unmerciful make it appear that they are ungodly; for, those that have any fear or love of their master will have compassion on their fellow-servants. And here was one bad man the head of them, a deceitful and unjust man, most probably Saul, who not only showed no kindness to David, but dealt most perfidiously and dishonestly with him. If Absalom was the man he meant, his character was no better. As long as there are such bad men out of hell, and nations of them, it is not strange that good men, who are yet out of heaven, meet with hard and base treatment. Some think that David, by the spirit of prophecy, calculated this psalm for the use of the Jews in their captivity in Babylon, and that the Chaldeans are the ungodly nation here meant; to them it was very applicable, but only as other similar scriptures, none of which are of private interpretation. God might design it for their use, whether David did or no. 2. What is his prayer with reference to them: Judge me. As to the quarrel God had with him for sin, he prays, “Enter not into judgment with me, for then I shall be condemned;” but, as to the quarrel his enemies had with him he prays, “Lord, judge me, for I know that I shall be justified; plead my cause against them, take my part, and in thy providence appear on my behalf.” He that has an honest cause may expect that God will plead it. “Plead my cause so as to deliver me from them, that they may not have their will against me.” We must reckon our cause sufficiently pleaded if we be delivered, though our enemies be not destroyed.

      II. As his strength, his all-sufficient strength; so he eyes God (v. 2): “Thou art the God of my strength, my God, my strength, from whom all my strength is derived, in whom I strengthen myself, who hast often strengthened me, and without whom I am weak as water and utterly unable either to do or suffer any thing for thee.” David now went mourning, destitute of spiritual joys, yet he found God to be the God of his strength. If we cannot comfort ourselves in God, we may stay ourselves upon him, and may have spiritual supports when we want spiritual delights. David here pleads this with God: “Thou art the God on whom I depend as my strength; why then dost thou cast me off?” This was a mistake; for God never cast off any that trusted in him, whatever melancholy apprehensions they may have had of their own state. “Thou art the God of my strength; why then is my enemy too strong for me, and why go I mourning because of his oppressive power?” It is hard to reconcile the mighty force of the church’s enemies with the almighty power of the church’s God; but the day will reconcile them when all his enemies shall become his footstool.

      III. As his guide, his faithful guide (v. 3): Lead me, bring me to thy holy hill. He prays, 1. That God by his providence would bring him back from his banishment, and open a way for him again to the free enjoyment of the privileges of God’s sanctuary. His heart is upon the holy hill and the tabernacles, not upon his family-comforts, his court-preferments, or his diversions; he could bear the want of these, but he is impatient to see God’s tabernacles again; nothing so amiable in his eyes as those; thither he would gladly be brought back. In order to this he prays, “Send out thy light and thy truth; let me have this as a fruit of thy favour, which is light, and the performance of thy promise, which is truth.” We need desire no more to make us happy than the good that flows from God’s favour and is included in his promise. That mercy, that truth, is enough, is all; and, when we see these in God’s providences, we see ourselves under a very safe conduct. Note, Those whom God leads he leads to his holy hill, and to his tabernacles; those therefore who pretend to be led by the Spirit, and yet turn their backs upon instituted ordinances, certainly deceive themselves. 2. That God by his grace would bring him into communion with himself, and prepare him for the vision and fruition of himself in the other world. Some of the Jewish writers by the light and truth here understand Messiah the Prince and Elias his forerunner: these have come, in answer to the prayers of the Old Testament; but we are still to pray for God’s light and truth, the Spirit of light and truth, who supplies the want of Christ’s bodily presence, to lead us into the mystery of godliness and to guide us in the way to heaven. When God sends his light and truth into our hearts, these will guide us to the upper world in all our devotions as well as in all our aims and expectations; and, if we conscientiously follow that light and that truth, they will certainly bring us to the holy hill above.

      IV. As his joy, his exceeding joy. If God guide him to his tabernacles, if he restore him to his former liberties, he knows very well what he has to do: Then will I go unto the altar of God, v. 4. He will get as near as he can unto God, his exceeding joy. Note, 1. Those that come to the tabernacles should come to the altar; those that come to ordinances should qualify themselves to come, and then come to special ordinances, to those that are most affecting and most binding. The nearer we come, the closer we cleave, to God, the better. 2. Those that come to the altar of God must see to it that therein they come unto God, and draw near to him with the heart, with a true heart: we come in vain to holy ordinances if we do not in them come to the holy God. 3. Those that come unto God must come to him as their exceeding joy, not only as their future bliss, but as their present joy, and that not a common, but an exceeding joy, far exceeding all the joys of sense and time. The phrase, in the original, is very emphatic–unto God the gladness of my joy, or of my triumph. Whatever we rejoice or triumph in God must be the joy of it; all our joy in it must terminate in him, and must pass through the gift to the giver. 4. When we come to God as our exceeding joy our comforts in him must be the matter of our praises to him as God, and our God: Upon the harp will I praise thee, O God! my God. David excelled at the harp (1Sa 16:16; 1Sa 16:18), and with that in which he excelled he would praise God; for God is to be praised with the best we have; it is fit he should be, for he is the best.

      V. As his hope, his never-failing hope, v. 5. Here, as before, David quarrels with himself for his dejections and despondencies, and owns he did ill to yield to them, and that he had no reason to do so: Why art thou cast down, O my soul? He then quiets himself in the believing expectation he had of giving glory to God (Hope in God, for I shall yet praise him) and of enjoying glory with God: He is the health of my countenance and my God. That is what we cannot too much insist upon, for it is what we must live and die by.

Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary

Psalms 43

A Deliverance Plea

Scripture v. 1-5:

Exiled, still away from home, and the house of God in Jerusalem, David desired to be vindicated from the taunting of his enemies, that he might return to the house of God to worship again in Jerusalem.

Verse 1 is a Davidic plea for the Lord to judge him and plead his cause as just before and against an ungodly nation. He asked for Divine deliverance from the deceitful, traitorous, and unjust man Absalom, who through greed and covetousness had sought to seize the throne and kingdom of Israel from David by leading an insurrection against him. He had experienced “How sharper is a serpent’s tooth it is to have a thankless child!” With cruel ingratitude his son had turned his back upon him, sought to have him killed, Eph 6:1-3.

Verse 2 affirms that the “Guardian-God” is his strength; And he inquires why God has taken away or cut off his good favor from him. Directly he asked the Lord why he had to go on mourning all the day, or day after day, because of the oppression of his enemies. He knew that God was strong enough to subdue them in a moment. He trusted the “fortress-God,” as his protector, and his rock. He cried for delivery, please, Psa 42:9; Psa 27:1; Psa 31:4; Psa 37:39; Isa 26:4.

Verse 3 pleads “O send out thy light and truth, let them lead me,” an eloquent plea for direction of life, Psa 19:14. He asks that the light (favor and good will) of God bring him again to the holy hill and tabernacle of God in Jerusalem; From this he had been gone too long, ; Exo 15:13; Psa 78:68; Psa 132:13. The “curtains” of the ark resided at this time on “the holy hill,” in Zion, 2Sa 7:2.

Verse 4 pledges that then David would go up to the altar of God, there to sacrifice to his God of exceeding (excelling) joy, Psa 42:8. He further pledged to praise God upon the harp, even praise Him as his personal God, as Paul trusted Him, and praised Him, 1Co 9:15; Rom 12:1-2; 2Ti 1:12. He longed not so much to go to his home or his palace, as to the house of God; O, that men would have such longing today, Psa 127:1; Heb 10:24-25; Eph 3:21.

Verse 5 concludes with a formal appeal to his soul, Psa 42:5; Psa 42:11. He asserts that there is no real reason for his soul to be fretting, agitated, disquieted, etc. He could still trust in and call upon the lifegiving and sustaining (elohim) God, Act 17:28. He concluded that he would just keep on praising Him whose favor was on him so many ways, even under his oppressions, by his enemies. All that one does should glorify Him in spite of daily cares and circumstances, 1Co 10:31; Gal 6:9; Heb 13:5.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

1 Judge me, O God! David, in the first place, complains of the extreme cruelty of his enemies; but in the verses which immediately follow, he shows that there was nothing which he felt to be more grievous, than to be deprived of the opportunity of access to the sanctuary. We have an evidence of his enjoying the testimony of a good conscience in this, that he commends the defense of his cause to God. The term judge, which he first makes use of, is nothing else than to undertake the defense of one’s cause; and he expresses his meaning more clearly by adding, plead my cause The substance and object of his prayer, indeed, were, that he might be delivered from the wicked and malicious men by whom he was undeservedly persecuted. But as it is to the miserable and guiltless, who are wrongfully afflicted, that God promises his help, David, in the first place, submits himself to be examined by him, that, having discovered and thoroughly proved the rectitude of his cause, he may at length grant him aid. And as it is a most cheering source of consolation for us to find that God disdains not to take cognisance of our cause, so also, it is vain for us to expect that he will avenge the injuries and wrongs which are done to us, unless our own integrity be so manifest as to induce him to be favorable to us against our adversaries. By the unmerciful nation is to be understood the whole company of David’s enemies, who were cruel, and destitute of all the feelings of humanity. What follows, concerning the deceitful and wicked man, might indeed be applied to Saul; but it seems rather to be a form of speech in which, by enallage, the singular number is used for the plural.

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

RUIN AND REDEMPTION

Psalms 42-50

WE have already called attention to the fact that the Books of the Psalms constitute a Pentateuch, and there are excellent students of the Word who consider that the five Books of the Psalms correspond, in spiritual character, to the five volumes that constitute the Pentateuch.

Beginning, then, with the forty-second chapter and concluding with the seventy-second, we have the second Book, which is supposed to parallel Exodus.

Exodus is the Book of Redemption, the story of Israels recovery from Egyptian bondage. This fact is voiced in the following sentence, Thou in Thy mercy hast led forth the people which Thou hast redeemed; Thou hast guided them in Thy strength unto Thy holy habitation (Exo 15:13).

It will be conceded also that the types in Exodus turn the attention to redemption. Even the Divine title Jah, the abbreviated form of Jehovah, is employed first in the Book of Exodus (Exo 15:3) and it is a significant fact that this same title is employed in this second Book of the Psalms (Psa 68:4).

There are those also who see another point of parallelism: The Book of Exodus opens with a picture of oppression in Egypt, while the second Book of the Psalms opens with a cry for God. The second Book of the Psalms also refers, in passing, to localities and individuals, as for instance, Sinai and Miriam, found in the second Book of the Pentateuch.

It is not unnatural, therefore, to discuss the first ten chapters of this Book under heads that would naturally remind one of the old Exodus experience, namely, The Ruin Realized, The Deliverance Needed, and the Deliverer Discovered.

THE RUIN REALIZED

First, in The conscious loss of God!

As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after Thee, O God.

My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God; when shall I come and appear before God? My tears have been my meat day and night, while they continually say unto me, Where is thy God? When I remember these things, I pour out my soul in me; for I had gone with the multitude, I went with them to the House of God, with the voice of joy and praise, with a multitude that kept holyday.

Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me? hope thou in God; for I shill yet praise Him for the kelp of His countenance (Psa 42:1).

One wonders at such language. It involves figurative difficulties and also excites a certain astonishment. Does the hart always pant after the water-brooks? No! There is but one time when the hart pants after the water-brooks and that is when he is chased by his enemy, when the dog is on his trail, or the wolf pack has sighted or scented him and is crowding him hard. Then the exhaustion of the race is such, and the terrible fear that takes possession of him is so great, that moisture leaves his body and he is compelled shortly to reach the brook and be refilled and refreshed that his strength may suffice in further efforts of escape. In truth it is commonly the habit of a deer or hart, when thus in danger, not only to seek the brook for drink, but to plunge its entire body into the water with the dual purpose of cooling the fevered veins and at the same time throwing the enemy off the scent and thereby securing time in which to escape the vicinity of danger.

Its a satisfactory figure then. The Psalmist had his enemies, and as they pressed him hard, thirsting for his life-blood, he felt his need of Gods refreshing and protecting presence. In all likelihood David wrote these words at the very time when he was being hunted like the partridge on the mountain; when Absaloms henchmen sought his life. He was compelled to accomplish a hiding in a well over which a woman threw a cover and spread corn thereon until the danger was over-past, and David and his followers made their escape over Jordan as recorded in 2 Samuel 17.

In evidence of this probable fact, it will be remembered that that chapter closed with the statement that certain people

brought beds, and basons, and earthen vessels, and wheat, and barley, and flour, and parched corn, and beans, and lentiles, and parched pulse,

And honey, and butter, and sheep, and cheese of kine, for David, and for the people that were with him, to eat; for they said, The people is hungry, and weary, and thirsty, in the wilderness (2Sa 17:28-29).

It is great to believe that God is the answer to heart-hunger. It is great to know that God is rest for the weary. It is good to know that in Him is an unfailing fountain for the thirsty. It is good to believe that God is for the hour of danger and need!

Second, the consequent sense of loneliness!

O my God, my soul is cast down within me; therefore will I remember Thee from the land of Jordan, and of the Hermonites, from the hill Mizar.

Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of Thy waterspouts; all Thy waves and Thy billows are gone over me.

Yet the Lord will command His lovingkindness in the daytime, and in the night His song shall be with me, and my prayer unto the God of my life.

I will say unto God my rock, Why hast Thou forgotten me? why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?

As with a sword in my bones, mine enemies reproach me; while they say daily unto me, Where is thy God?

Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope thou in God; for I shall yet praise Him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God (Psa 42:6-11).

It is doubtful if there is any more disquieting experience than the feeling that one has lost God. One of the most pathetic questions to be found in all the Book of the Psalms is (Psa 77:7-9), Will the Lord cast off for ever? and will He be favourable no more? Is His mercy clean gone for ever? Doth His promise fail for evermore? Hath God forgotten to be gracious? Hath He, in anger, shut up His tender mercies?

Such is an hour in which the soul is cast down. Such is the day in which the waves and billows go over one. Frightful is the feeling that one is God-forsaken. The oppression of the enemy is then heavy indeed. The very bones are thrust through with the sword and the daily reproaches of the enemy, Where is thy God? produce a disquieted spirit, and praises perish from the lips and the countenance shows no health!

But even here Jesus has gone before! On the Cross even He cried, My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me? (Mat 27:46). That was the darkest hour of His days on earth.

Three times in very recent years, young women have come to me, whose God has been taken from them by the false philosophies of the present-day college-life and teaching, and with cheeks scalded with hot tears, have told how they lost Him, how their teachers had taken away their Lord, and they could no longer find Him; how even their very eyes had been blinded, not alone to His beauty, but also to His existence; and how heart-loneliness and soul-anguish had followed. One might imagine that with David there was sufficient mental and even physical resources to keep from despair, but it is doubtful if any or all the natural resources of life bring the least satisfaction to the soul that feels that God is gone. The consciousness of His presence and the certainty of His loving-kindness these and these alone can satisfy the soul. That is the true meaning of Davids cry for both.

The third suggestion is inevitablewhen one has consciously lost his God and has come into the consequent sense of loneliness, he seeks to no other than did David.

He cried for the Light!

Judge me, O God, and plead my cause against an ungodly nation; O deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man.

For Thou art the God of my strength; why dost Thou cast me off? why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?

O send out Thy light and Thy truth; let them lead me; let them bring me unto Thy holy hill, and to Thy tabernacles;

Then will I go unto the altar of God, unto God my exceeding joy; yea, upon the harp will I praise Thee, O God my God.

Why art Thou east down, O my soul? and why art Thou disquieted within me? hope in God; for I shall yet praise Him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God (Psa 43:1-5).

The significant sentence in this Psalm is this: O send out Thy light and Thy truth: let them lead me; let them bring me unto Thy holy hill, and to Thy tabernacles (Psa 42:3).

How strange; and yet, how natural! Men are always asking God to do what He has long since done. They are asking Him to show mercy. He has proffered it a thousand times, and it is always awaiting the man who will appropriate it. They are asking that He send out light as if He could withhold it, even! God is light! The difficulty with men is that they turn their backs on God and look into the darkness cast by their own shadows, and feel as if the light did not exist. It is a strange conclusion, but it is a natural product of human sin and human skepticism. No man ever got light by asking for it. The light is secured by turning to it.

I saw some years ago a statement that illustrates just what I mean. Dwight S. Bayley, writing in the Sunday School Times, said, It was just after sunset, and I was enjoying a short wheel ride before supper. The sun had sunk behind the mesa, whose outline drew its dark, rugged silhouette boldly against the red sky beyond. Presently I came to the railroad crossing, and there I dismounted to stand and watch the western glory. The rails stretched their parallel course east and west, and, as I looked toward the east, to see if any train were approaching, I saw the track soon disappear into the gloom of the approaching night. But turning again to the west, I saw the rails become two paths of shining light, penetrating, and, for the moment, making me forget the gathering dusk.

And as I stood there in the sweet silence of the closing day, I thought of One who is the Light of the world. How many, said I, find their path dark, and leading only into deeper gloom, because they are facing away from the light. And how many, thank God, forget the surrounding dusk, and tread a path that is clear and joyful, because they are walking toward the Light.

Gods light is shining constantly and as certainly for one as for another. Those who face toward it will be led by it. By it they will be brought unto Gods Holy hill and unto Gods tabernacle. By it they will go unto the altar of God with exceeding joy, and in consequence of it they will praise God with the harp and hope in Him who is the help of their countenance and their God.

But we pass to the future study,

THE DELIVERANCE NEEDED

Gods help is a matter of history!

We have heard with our ears, O God; our fathers have told us, what work Thou didst in their days, in the times of old.

How Thou didst drive out the heathen with Thy hand, and plantedst them; how Thou didst afflict Thy people, and cast them out.

For they got not the land in possession by their own sword, neither did their own arm save them: but Thy right hand, and Thine arm, and the light of Thy countenance, because Thou hadst a favour unto them.

Thou art my King, O God: command deliverances for Jacob.

Through Thee will we push down our enemies: through Thy Name mil we tread them under that rise up against us.

For I will not trust in my bow, neither shall my sword save me.

But Thou hast saved us from our enemies, and hast put them to shame that hated us.

In God we boast all the day long, and praise Thy Name for ever. Selah (Psa 44:1-8).

The providential dealings of God are matters of history. He made records long before Edison devised his scheme of catching the voice and giving permanence to words. So important were His acts that men made note of them and not only rehearsed them, but wrote them down that the future might be refreshed by the reading; and perhaps the most dependable records that exist in the archives of man relate to Gods dealings with His people and with the world.

We live in a day when men are attempting to trace God in nature, or, if they deny His existence, to tell us what nature itself has accomplished. They talk of what took place trillions of years ago and what happened a few billions since, and what man was doing 500,000 summers gone. And then they have the effrontery to call that science, or even to speak of it as the history of the ages. They seem to forget that science is knowledge gained and verified, and they seem to ignore the fact that history is a systematic record of past events, especially the record of events in which man has taken part. What nonsense then to talk of the history of a trillion or a million or even of 20,000 years ago!

Scientists, at this present moment, are mad with speculations, and in order to add authority to their speech they name it science or history, when it is neither.

But we have history, and it honors God. It tells how He bared His arm in behalf of His people; how it was His Word rather than their sword that gave His people the promised land, and His arm, not their own strength that saved them, and His favor that prospered them. It was in a power Divine that they pushed down their enemies and trod under foot those who rose against them. In Him alone, had they any right to boast.

Stopford Brooke truthfully said, God dwells in the great movements of the world, in the great ideas which act in the human race. Find Him there in the great interests of man. Find Him by sharing in those interests, by helping all who are striving for truth, for education, for progress, for liberty all over the world.

The man who said, Gods in His Heavenalls well with the world, spoke a half truth, which is always a whole falsehood. God is in His Heaven ; but all is not well with the world! That is not Gods fault! He is constantly intervening in the affairs of men to make things right. He is constantly overthrowing heathenism in that interest. He is constantly favoring His people to that very end. God doesnt favor His people because He is partial; but He favors them because He is righteous. God doesnt favor His own because they are His own, and He has no interest in others. He saves His own because His own are worth saving and were willing, and He overwhelms their enemies because their enemies are evil.

The history of Divine providence is at once the most interesting and the most inspiring history ever written. We do well to study the relationship that God sustained to our fathers. We do well to make ourselves acquainted with how He wrought with them and how He fought for them. The man who would make God his King, and be content under that Divine administration, must needs know God, who He is and what He has done. In other words, history must be His teacher and the record of Divine providences the inspiration of His faith.

The charge of Gods withdrawal is unjust.

But Thou hast cast off and put us to shame; and goest not forth with our armies.

Thou makest us to turn back from the enemy: and they which hate us spoil for themselves.

Thou hast given us like sheep appointed for meat; and hast scattered us among the heathen.

Thou sellest Thy people for nought, and dost not increase Thy wealth by their price.

Thou makest us a reproach to our neighbours, a scorn and a derision to them that are round about us.

Thou makest us a byword among the heathen, a shaking of the head among the people.

My confusion is continually before me, and the shame of my face covered me,

For the voice of him that reproacheth and blasphemeth; by reason of the enemy and avenger.

All this is come upon us, yet have we, not forgotten Thee, neither have we dealt falsely in Thy covenant.

Our heart is not turned back, neither have our steps declined from Thy way;

Though thou hast sore broken us in the place of dragons, and covered us with the shadow of death.

If we have forgotten the Name of our God, or stretched out our hands to a strange god;

Shall not God search this out? for He knoweth the secrets of the heart.

Yea, for Thy sake are we kilted all the day long; we are counted as sheep for the slaughter.

Awake, why steepest Thou, O Lord? arise, cast us not off for ever.

Wherefore hidest Thou Thy face, and forgettest our affliction and our oppression.

For our soul is bowed down to the dust: our belly cleaveth unto the earth,

Arise for our help, and redeem us for Thy mercies sake (Psa 44:9-26).

The Psalmist certainly has spiritual chills and fevers. One moment he is filled with praises to God and the next he is mouthing complaints.

Thou hast cast off, and put us to shame; and goest not forth with our armies,

Thou makest us to turn back from the enemy: and they which hate us spoil for themselves,

Thou hast given us like sheep appointed for meat; and hast scattered us among the heathen,

Thou sellest Thy people for nought, and dost not increase Thy wealth by their price,

Thou makest us a reproach to our neighbours, a scorn and a derision to them that are round about us,

Thou makest us a byword among the heathen, a shaking of the head among the people,

My confusion is continually before me, and the shame of my face hath covered me,

For the voice of him that reproacheth and blasphemeth; by reason of the enemy and avenger,

All this is come upon us, yet have we not forgotten Thee, neither have we dealt falsely in Thy covenant,

Our heart is not turned back, neither have our steps declined from Thy way;

Though Thou hast sore broken us in the place of dragons, and covered us with the shadow of death.

If we have forgotten the Name of our God, or stretched out our hands to a strange god;

Shall not God search this out? for He knoweth the secrets of the heart,

Yea, for Thy sake are we killed all the day long; we are counted as sheep for the slaughter,

Awake, why steepest Thou, O Lord? Arise, cast us not off for ever,

Wherefore hidest Thou Thy face, and forgettest our affliction and our oppression?

For our soul is bowed down to the dust: our belly cleaveth unto the earth,

Arise for our help, and redeem us for Thy mercies sake (Psa 44:9-26),

What biliousness! Strange what foolish speech can escape the lips of true believers and how unjustifiable complaints can characterize a Christian! It is always true perhaps that a man looking into the past, thinks God treated his fathers better than He is treating him. That is because he sees in history the very path by which his fathers were led, and marks the fact that it is a path which, however crooked, leads ever upward and ever onward toward the shining gates of the Celestial City. He doesnt see the bleeding feet that pressed that path. He cannot mark the edges of the sharp stones that cut deeply into the flesh. The distance is too great for him to make observation in minutiae! He cam not even tell how precipitous the difficulty hills were. He cannot even see any of the lions that stalked that path or the dangers that beset the journey! And so he concludes that God was good to his fathers, but that He is forgetting him.

It is a foolish reasoning! We sing quite often, at least in orthodox circles,

Faith of our fathers, living still,

In spite of dungeon, fire and sword,

O how our hearts beat high with joy

Wheneer we hear that glorious word!

Faith of our fathers, holy faith,

We will be true to thee, till death.

But the sad part of it is that we sing it without experience of dungeon, without smell of fire, and without ever having felt the edge of the sword.

We render a second verse:

Our fathers chained in prisons dark,

Were still in heart and conscience free;

And blest would be their childrens fate,

If they, like them, should die for Thee:

Faith of our fathers, holy faith,

We will be true to thee till death.

But the probabilities are that if we had a little touch of dungeon, fire and sword, or any prospect whatever of martyrdom, we would make a louder complaint than the Psalmist here records. We would think that we were utterly forgotten, that God had turned His back upon us and flung us willingly into the hands of our enemies, to let us be eaten as sheeps meat, or sold for nothing according to the opponents pleasure. We would imagine that He had made us a reproach to our neighbours, a scorn and derision to men of the world, a byword among the heathen and that all this had come upon us in spite of our utter loyalty to Him, and our perfect keeping of every covenant made and our upright walk.

How ridiculous! What poor occasions we have for parading our faithfulness or even referring to the importunity of our prayers, or, for that matter, to the sacrifices we have made. We slip ourselves and imagine that God is slipping. We turn our backs upon Him and imagine that He has hid His face. We call upon Him to arise for our help when the truth is that He is up already and we are down!

It is difficult to be patient with people that not only complain of their fellows, but even reach the point where they complain of God; and seldom is there any instance of the sort divorced from personal unworthiness and self-blame.

Gods Son is the souls adequate solace!

My heart is inditing a good matter: I speak of the things which I have made touching the King: my tongue is the pen of a ready writer.

Thou art fairer than the children of men: grace is poured into Thy lips: therefore God hath blessed Thee for ever.

Gird Thy sword upon Thy thigh, O most mighty, with Thy glory and Thy majesty.

And in Thy majesty ride prosperously because of truth and meekness and righteousness; and Thy right hand shall teach Thee terrible things.

Thine arrows are sharp in the heart of the Kings enemies; whereby the people fall under Thee.

Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: the sceptre of Thy Kingdom is a right sceptre.

Thou lovest righteousness and hatest wickedness: therefore God, Thy God, hath anointed Thee with the oil of gladness above Thy fellows.

All Thy garments smelt of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia, out of the ivory palaces, whereby they have made Thee glad.

Kings daughters were among Thy honourable women: upon Thy right hand did stand the queen in gold of Ophir.

Hearken, O daughter, and consider, and incline thine ear; forget also thine own people, and thy fathers house;

So shall the king greatly desire thy beauty: for He is thy Lord; and worship thou Him.

And the daughter of Tyre shall be there with a gift; even the rich among the people shall intreat thy favour.

The kings daughter is all glorious within: her clothing is of wrought gold.

She shall be brought unto the king in raiment of needlework: the virgins her companions that follow her shall be brought unto Thee.

With gladness and rejoicing shall they be brought: they shall enter into the Kings palace.

Instead of thy fathers shall be thy children, whom Thou mayest make princes in all the earth.

I will make Thy Name to be remembered in all generations: therefore shall the people praise Thee for ever and ever (Psa 45:1-17).

Beyond all question, this is a picture of Jesus, the King, the One fairer than the children of men, into whose lips grace is poured; who wears the sword at His thigh and whose glory and majesty and might know no measure; whose truth, meekness and righteousness render majestic; the power of whose right hand is to be truly feared; the sharpness of whose arrows can lay the enemy low and whose throne is established; whose sceptre is a right sceptre; who loves righteousness, hates iniquity, and who is, therefore, the One that God hath anointed with the oil of gladness above His fellows. As if to put beyond question who this person is, the Psalmist says, All Thy garments smell of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia; out of the ivory palaces, whereby they have made Thee glad (Psa 45:8).

When was there ever any life in this world that had the aroma of beauty and sweetness about it that Christs life had? Kings daughters were among Thy honourable women: upon Thy right hand did stand the queen of Ophir, plainly refers to the women redeemed by His Word and to the Church, His coming Bride, the Bride whose beauty the King Himself desired and in whose worship He delighted.

What a picture this also of the Churchs pleasure in her Lord!

The kings daughter is all glorious within, her clothing is of wrought gold.

She shall be brought unto the King in raiment of needlework: the virgins her companions that follow her shall be brought unto Thee.

With gladness and rejoicing shall they be brought: they shall enter into the Kings palace.

Instead of Thy fathers shall be Thy children, whom Thou mayest make princes in all the earth.

I will make Thy Name to be remembered in all generations: therefore shall the people praise Thee for ever and ever (Psa 45:13-17).

Join all the glorious names Of wisdom, love, and power,That ever mortals knew,Or angels ever bore:All are too mean to speak His worth,Too mean to set the Saviour forth.

Great Prophet of our God,Our tongues shall bless Thy Name;By Thee the joyful newsOf our salvation came,The joyful news of sins forgiven,Of hell subdued, and peace with Heaven.

Jesus, our great High Priest,Has shed His Blood and died;Our guilty conscience needsNo sacrifice besides:His precious Blood did once atone And now it pleads before the throne.

THE DELIVERER DISCOVERED

The forty-fifth chapter, then, discovers the Deliverer in Christ, the coming One, the all glorious One! That naturally leads to the exclamations of the forty-sixth chapter.

Faith finds herself a voice.

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble;

Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;

Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah.

There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the City of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the most High.

God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved; God shall help her, and that right early.

The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved; He uttered His voice, the earth melted.

The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.

Come, behold the works of the Lord, what desolations He hath made in the earth.

He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth;

He breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder; He burneth the chariot in the fire.

Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.

The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah (Psa 46:1-11).

It is a great utterance. It is a rebound from the black unbelief of chapter forty-four. A man is never quite so happy, never quite so joyful, as when he comes out of the storm into calm, out of the black night into a bright morning, out of poverty and weakness into riches and strength, out of feelings of insufficiency into a consciousness of Gods sufficiency.

It is a triumphant utterance:

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble;

Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;

Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof (Psa 46:1-3).

Is it possible that this is the same man who wrote but yesterday

Thou hast cast off, and put us to shame; and goest not forth with our armies;

Thou makest us to turn back from the enemy; and they which hate us spoil for themselves;

Thou hast given us like sheep appointed for meat; and hast scattered us among the heathen;

Thou sellest Thy people for nought, and dost not increase Thy wealth by their price;

Thou makest us a reproach to our neighbours, a scorn and a, derision to them that are round about us;

Thou makest us a byword among the heathen (Psa 44:9-14)?

Yes, the very same man! What is the difference? This: yesterday the Psalmist had his eyes upon himself; he reflected upon his weakness, his failure, his confusion, his shame! Today, he has his eyes upon God. The night is gone, the sun has risen. The flood is over, and in its stead there is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the City of God. * * God is in the midst of her: she shall not be moved; God shall help her, and that right early; the heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved; He uttered His voice, the earth melted; the Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge (Psa 46:4-7). Oh, what a change! The God of refuge is with us.

God is the refuge of His saints,

When storms of sharp distress invade;

Ere we can offer our complaints,

Behold Him present with His aid.

Loud may the troubled ocean roar;

In sacred peace our souls abide,

While every nation, every shore,

Trembles and dreads the swelling tide.

There is a stream, whose gentle flow

Supplies the City of our God,

Life, love, and joy still gliding through,

And watering our Divine abode.

That sacred stream, thy holy word,

Our grief allays, our fear controls;

Sweet peace thy promises afford,

And give new strength to fainting souls.

Praise discovers fit expression.

O clap your hands, all ye people; shout unto God with the voice of triumph;

For the Lord Most High is terrible; He is a great King over all the earth;

He shall subdue the people under us, and the nations under our feet.

He shall choose our inheritance for us, the excellency of Jacob whom He loved. Selah.

God is gone up with a shout, the Lord with the sound of a trumpet

Sing praises to God, sing praises; sing praises unto, our King, sing praises.

For God is the King of all the earth; sing ye praises with understanding.

God reigneth over the heathen; God sitteth upon the throne of His holiness.

The princes of the people are gathered together, even the people of the God of Abraham; for the shields of the earth belong unto God; He is greatly exalted.

Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised in the City of our God, in the mountain of His holiness;

Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King.

God is known in her palaces for a refuge.

For, lo, the kings were assembled, they passed by together.

They saw it, and so they marvelled; they were troubled, and hasted away.

Fear took hold upon them there, and pain, as of a woman in travail.

Thou breakest the ships of Tarshish with an east wind.

As we have heard, so have we seen in the city of the Lord of hosts, in the city of our God; God will establish it for ever. Selah.

We have thought of Thy loving-kindness, O God, in the midst of Thy Temple.

According to Thy Name, O God, so is Thy praise unto the ends of the earth; Thy right hand is full of righteousness.

Let mount Zion rejoice, let the daughters of Judah be glad, because of Thy judgments.

Walk about Zion, and go round about her; tell the towers thereof.

Mark ye well her bulwarks, consider her palaces; that ye may tell it to the generation following.

For this God is our God for ever and ever; He will be our Guide even unto death (Psa 47:1 to Psa 48:14).

Was there ever a more blissful burst of true belief? This is an instance in which the Psalmist starts a solo, but his singing becomes a contagion; it swells not to a duet or quartette, but into a mighty chorus. He directs; O clap your hands, all ye people; shout unto God with the voice of triumph (Psa 47:1); and he gives the reason, He is a great King over all the earth; He shall subdue the people under us, and the nations under our feet; He shall choose our inheritance for us? (Psa 47:2-4); and as if to bring the last tongue to praises, he calls to all that have breath, Sing praises to God, sing praises; sing praises unto our King; sing praises (Psa 47:6).

O worship the King, all glorious above,

And gratefully sing His wonderful love,

Our Shield and Defender, the Ancient of days,

Pavilioned in splendor, and girded with praise.

Thy bountiful care what tongue can recite?

It breathes in the air, it shines in the light,

It streams from the hills, it descends to the plain

And sweetly distills in the dew and the rain.

Frail children of dust, and feeble as frail,

In Thee do we trust, nor find Thee to fail;

Thy mercies how tender, how firm to the end,

Our Maker, Defender, Redeemer, and Friend!

God and God alone is adequate.

Hear this, all ye people; give ear, all ye inhabitants of the world;

Both low and high, rich and poor, together.

My mouth shall speak of wisdom; and the meditation of my heart shall be of understanding.

I will incline mine ear to a parable; I will open my dark saying upon the harp.

Wherefore should I fear in the days of evil, when the iniquity of my keels shall compass me about?

They that trust in their wealth, and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches;

None of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him;

(For the redemption of their soul is precious, and it ceaseth for ever;)

That He should still live forever, and not see corruption.

For he seeth that wise men die, likewise the fool and the brutish person perish, and leave their wealth to others.

Their inward thought is, that their houses shall continue for ever, and their dwelling places to all generations; they call their lands after their own names; nevertheless man being in honour abideth not; he is like the beasts that Perish.

This their way is their folly; yet their posterity approve their sayings. Selah.

Like sheep they are laid in the grave; death shall feed on them; and the upright shall have dominion over them in the morning; and their beauty shall consume in the grave from their dwelling.

But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave; for He shall receive me. Selah.

Be not thou afraid when one is made rich, when the glory of his house is increased;

For when he dieth he shall carry nothing away; his glory shall not descend after him.

Though while he lived he blessed his soul; and men will praise thee, when thou doest well to thyself.

He shall go to the generation of his fathers; they shall never see light.

Man that is in honour, and understandeth not, is like the beasts that perish.

The mighty God, even the Lord, hath spoken, and called the earth from; the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof.

Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined.

Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence; a fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him.

He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that he may judge his people.

Gather My saints together unto Me; those that have made a covenant with Me by sacrifice; and the heavens shall declare His righteousness; for God is judge Himself. Selah.

Hear, O My people, and I will speak; O Israel, and I will testify against Thee; I am God, even thy God.

I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices or thy burnt-offerings, to have been continually before Me.

I will take no bullock out of thy house, nor he goats out of thy folds;

For every beast of the forest is Mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills.

I know all the fowls of the mountains; and the wild beasts of the field are mine.

If I were hungry, I would not tell Thee; for the World is mine, and the fulness thereof.

Will I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats?

Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay thy vows unto the most High;

And call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify Me.

But unto the wicked God saith, What hast thou to do to declare My statutes, or that thou shouldest take My covenant in thy mouth?

Seeing thou hatest instruction, and castest My words behind thee.

When thou sawest a thief, then thou consentedst with him, and hast been partaker with adulterers.

Thou givest thy mouth to evil, and thy tongue frameth deceit.

Thou sittest and speakest against thy brother; thou slanderest thine own mothers son.

These things hast Thou done, and I kept silence; Thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as Thyself; but I will reprove thee, and set them in order before thine eyes.

Now consider this, ye that forget God, lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver.

Whoso offereth praise glorifieth Me; and to him that ordereth his conversation aright will I shew the salvation of God.

Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Thy loving-kindness; according unto the multitude of Thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.

Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.

For I acknowledge my transgressions; and my sin is ever before me.

Against Thee, Thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in Thy sight; that Thou oughtest be justified when Thou speakest, and be clear when Thou judgest.

Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.

Behold, Thou desirest truth in the inward parts; and in the hidden part Thou shalt make me to know wisdom.

Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and 1 shall be whiter than snow.

Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the hones which Thou hast broken may rejoice.

Hide Thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities.

Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.

Cast me not away from Thy presence; and take not Thy holy spirit from me.

Restore unto me the joy of Thy salvation; and uphold me with Thy free spirit.

Then will I teach transgressors Thy ways; and sinners Shall be converted unto Thee.

Deliver me from blood-guiltiness, O God, Thou God of my salvation; and my tongue shall sing aloud of Thy righteousness.

O Lord, open Thou my lips; and my mouth shall shew forth Thy praise.

For Thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it; thou delightest not in burnt-offering.

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise.

Do good in Thy good pleasure unto Zion; build Thou the walls of Jerusalem.

Then shalt Thou be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness, with burnt-offering and whole burnt-offering; then shall they offer bullocks upon Thine altar (Psa 49:1 to Psa 51:19).

Here we come to the conclusion of the matter, so far, at least, as certain experiences are concerned; and that conclusion is that God, and God alone, is adequate. He would have all the people hear it, men of both high and low degree, rich and poor. The perverse, the boastful, the corrupt, the brutish, he would have them see that their way is folly, that death awaits them and Sheol will consume; but God will redeem his soul and receive him into glory. He would have men realize that even death shall strip them of both wealth and honour, they will perish as the beasts do, but the mighty one will remain. The Jehovah who called the earth from the rising of the sun to the going down thereof, whose perfection of beauty doth shine, and whose speech is above the storm, and to him the heavens themselves will respond and the very earth tremble will gather His saints to Himself and show His covenant by His sacrifice, while the heavens declare His righteousness; and then, as if God Himself was at hand to speak, the Psalmist steps aside and gives audience to the voice Divine,

O Israel, * * I am Thy God, even Thy God.

I do not reprove them of these sacrifices nor the multiplication of burnt offerings;

I will not take a bullock out of thy house, nor a he goat from thy folds, since I have no need;

Every beast of the forest is Mine, the cattle on a thousand hills;

I know all the birds of the hills and that which moveth in the fields.

If I were hungry, I would not tell thee, for the world is Mine and the fullness.

I am no eater of bulls flesh, nor drinker of goats blood.

I am God; sacrifice to Me thanksgiving and pay to Me thy vows and call upon Me in the day of trouble and I will deliver thee and thou shalt glorify Me (Psa 50:7-15).

Then, after having shown his attitude toward the wicked, and the wickeds attitude toward Him, and after having warned these God-forgetters, of the day of judgment when none shall deliver, he concludes, He that offereth praise, glorifieth Me; and he that altereth his way, will I show the salvation of God (Psa 50:23)

I have sought to bring you this morning the three major thoughts to be found in these ten chapters. Beyond all question they are the Recognition of Ruin by Sin, the Conscious Need of a Deliverer, and the Joyful Discovery of God. I confess frankly, very frankly, that I have had other objectives than merely to interpret these Psalms. I believe that knowledge of Scripture always fruits in increased faith and further, in effective service. I am anxious that you should know God, that you should know Him as one who can redeem us from the ruin of sin, that you should know Him as one who can meet all the demands of the heart life, that you should know Him as one who proved His power and love to your predecessors, that you should know Him as one who is the source of strength against adversaries and for all conceivable service.

There are tasks ahead, great undertakings, as important and prophetic as enormous; and I want you to enter upon them, upon those that are immediately ahead of us for this week and for those that are planned for the two weeks following, believing God and trusting Him for all needed strength.

We are told that when Napoleon was leading his soldiers over the Alps, the cold and fatigue of the journey caused many of them to falter. Some were about to turn back. Napoleon ordered the band to play, and the spirits of some of the men revived, but not all. Then he told them to play music that would remind them of the home-land and more of them revived. Then at his word, the buglers sounded the bugle call. The men sprang to arms, and new life surged into the brains of every breathing body, for they knew not where the enemy might be.

Activity is the best and surest cure for faltering souls. My candid conviction is this, that the effort of this church will be glorious in proportion as we actively undertake big things and bring them to pass; and why not? when Jehovah is our God.

Fuente: The Bible of the Expositor and the Evangelist by Riley

INTRODUCTION

This psalm was composed by the same author as the preceding one, and has reference to the same occasion. It is fitted to impart help and encouragement to the afflicted and desponding in their troubles. The pious spirit of the author is clearly seen in the psalm.

DEVOUT LONGINGS

The poet pours out his heart to God in petitions, expostulations, and promises; but the prevailing tone of the psalm is that of intense desire. He longs

I. For vindication and deliverance. Judge me, O God, and plead my cause against an ungodly nation; O deliver me (Psa. 43:1-2). Notice

1. The character of his enemies. An ungodly nation, the deceitful and unjust man. The word which is translated ungodly is in the margin more correctly rendered unmerciful. Hengstenberg renders it unloving. It is a word which may most fitly be applied to the conduct of the Jewish nation at the time of the rebellion of Absalom, to which time the psalm most probably refers. In the conduct of an immense number of the people towards David, there was no love, no mercy; but base ingratitude, injustice, and cruelty. The deceitful and unjust man may have been said of many at the time to which we suppose the psalm to refer, and pre-eminently of Absalom and Ahithophel (Comp. 2 Samuel 15; 2 Samuel 16; 2 Samuel 17.) The Psalmist was contending against men who were cruel, treacherous, and unjust.

2. The dejection of his spirit. Why dost Thou cast me off? Why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy? The entire tone of the psalm forbids us to think that David felt himself rejected of God. But his circumstances at the time seemed inconsistent with the guardianship of God; and he, therefore, appeals to Him on the matter. See notes on Psa. 42:9.

3. The nature of his petition. Judge me, O God, and plead my cause. The enemies of the poet were many and virulent. They persecuted him and reproached him as a man forsaken by God. And here he appeals to God for vindication. He could honestly and fearlessly appeal to the Lord to judge between him and his enemies. He had given no occasion to them for the treatment he received from them. And if God grant him deliverance from them, that will be an unmistakable evidence of the Divine judgment, a clear vindication of the persecuted and much-suffering poet. So he prays that God would interpose and deliver him and thus vindicate him. For this he longs.

4. The strength of his plea. For Thou art the God of my strength. Hengstenberg: For Thou art my guardian-God. The Psalmist pleads that he was looking to God for strength and protection; that he was trusting in the Lord. This plea is never urged sincerely and earnestly but what it avails with God.

II. For restoration to the tabernacle of God. O send out Thy light and Thy truth; let them lead me, &c. (Psa. 43:3-4). Notice

1. He longs chiefly for restoration to the tabernacle of God. His great desire is to be brought again unto Gods holy hill and tabernacles. The centre of all the Psalmist wishes is his return to the sanctuary, because the exclusion from that was, of all the marks of the Divine displeasure under which he suffered, the most palpable. In his return to the sanctuary, he would find a matter-of-fact justification, a pledge of the return of Gods grace.Hengstenberg. His heart is set, says Matthew Henry, upon the holy hill and the tabernacles, not upon his family comforts, his court preferments, or his diversions; he could bear the want of these, but he is impatient to see Gods tabernacles again; nothing so amiable in his eyes as those,thither he would gladly be brought back.

2. He looks for the realisation of his longings through the favour and faithfulness of God. O send out Thy light and Thy truth. Gods light here is equivalent to His favour or mercy, and His truth to His faithfulness. And the Psalmist prays that through these he may be led back to the enjoyment of the privileges and blessings from which he was at present so cruelly exiled. Blessed is that man who, like David, sets his hope firmly in the favour and faithfulness of God. His hope shall attain unto splendid fruition.

3. He promises to avail himself of the opportunities of worship when he is restored to the tabernacles of God. Then will I go unto the altar of God, &c. He will worship

(1) With sacrifice. I will go unto the altar of God, with sacrifices for sin and offerings of gratitude.

(2) With delight. Unto God my exceeding joy. (See the sketch on this verse.)

(3) With praise. Yea, upon the harp will I praise Thee, O God, my God. Instrumental music was largely used by the Hebrews in their worship. David excelled at the harp (1Sa. 16:16-18), and with that in which he excelled he would praise God; for God is to be praised with the best we have; it is fit He should be, for He is the best.M. Henry.

4. He encourages his soul to expect the realisation of his longings. Why art Thou cast down, O my soul? &c. (Psa. 43:5). (See homiletic sketch on Psa. 43:5, and notes on Psa. 43:5 and Psa. 42:11 of the preceding psalm.)

CONCLUSION.In this psalm the poet appears to us as a glorious example of a man whose hope is steadily fixed in God. Heroic was he in his trust in the Lord. In the first verse, we see him calmly trusting in the righteous judgment of God; in the second, he rests in God as his strength; in the third, he looks expectantly to God for restoration to his dearest privileges; in the fourth, he resolves to adore Him as his exceeding joy and his most treasured possession; in the fifth, he exults in confident anticipation of the enjoyment of all that he most deeply longed for; and all this at a time when circumstances seemed all against him, and when to the eye of sense his prospects were of the darkest. Brave, trustful poet, we cannot but admire thee! Let us also imitate him in this respect.

THE ALTAR OF GOD

(Psa. 43:4.)

Then will I go unto the altar of God, unto God my exceeding joy.
The text opens to us two important views.

I. The peculiar nature of that worship which God has authorised. It is going to the altar of our God. By the altar only can God be approached. Behold, then, the true character of acceptable worship.

1. There is in it a recognition of our sin. There was no altar in Paradise. When John beheld a vision of heaven, he saw no temple therein. But in the present state, in approaching God, we go to His altar. The sacrifice of Christ is made particularly prominent in the Christian scheme to remind us that we are sinful men, and cannot draw near to God in our own name.

2. An acknowledgment of our just liability to punishment. Worship is not a claim of right, but a plea for mercy. Sentence of death is denounced against every transgressor of the law of God, and in such a prayer as that of the publican its justice is acknowledged. The ancient offerer of sacrifice acknowledged this, and we do the same when we flee to Christs atonement.

3. The true worship of God recognises Him as propitious through an atonement appointed by Himself. It was not an altar of human device to which the Psalmist resolved to go, but to the altar of his God. The cross is the altar of God, His Son is the victim; the precious blood of Christ is the accepted atonement; and coming to Him in faith, our sin is purged and our persons are accepted.

4. Our worship being an approach to the altar of God, we are assured of constant access to Him. The priests had their courses, that there might be no intermission in the service. The fire of the altar was never extinct. The altar was always there to receive the sacrifice, and the altar of incense was an emblem of the acceptance of perpetual prayer. The sacrifice of Christ needs never to be repeated. It was offered once for all, for by one offering He hath for ever perfected them that are sanctified. Our High Priest never dies, but hath obtained an unchangeable priesthood. Access to the throne of grace is ever given, and our prayers are always accepted.

II. The emphatic description which is given us of the joy which results from it. To God my exceeding joy. Blessed is the man whom Thou choosest, &c. How amiable are Thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts!

Contemplate the sources of this joy, that you may aspire after it.

1. We are placed in the presence of a Being of infinite glory and perfection. The joy in question supposes reconciliation with God, and when that is effected all our intercourse with Him may be adoring gratitude. We cannot approach the sublime of nature, we cannot be brought into the presence of an elevated character, without a deeply interested and joyous impression; but here God reveals Himself to man. Infinite beauty, glory, purity, and perfection says, Come up to me in the holy mount; and in answer to our prayer, I beseech Thee, show me Thy glory, He makes all His goodness pass before us. David anticipated this joy (Psa. 63:1-2).

2. True worship enables us to appropriate this display of glory to ourselves. There is an inexpressible emphasis in the words My God. All His glory is ours. Is He the everlasting God? Then, because He lives, I shall live also. Is His fulness infinite? Then my supplies are secure. All my springs are in Thee. Is He omnipotent? Then, if God be for us, who can be against us? And whatever other perfections He has are mine. Mine is His wisdom, His mercy, and His love.

3. It is the joy of confidence. The very reason why we seek God is the want of confidence in everything beside, and in Him we may confide absolutely. God in Christ assures us of this. The philosopher tells me to span the heavens. I am an atom, a nothing. I look upon God incarnate, and all my chilling calculations fly. I am not unnoticed among His works. He came to this world, minify it as you may, to seek and to save that which was lost. When I go to the altar of my God, I see that He is love. He that so loved me can never be indifferent to me, and can never forget me.

4. The joy of renewed assurances of His favour to us. Doubts and fears may oppress and chill, till we steadfastly behold His beauty in the sanctuary, and by renewed acts of faith obtain richer manifestations of His love, when our peace flows like a river. Comp. Psa. 73:16-17; Psa. 73:28.

5. There is the joy of hope. The tabernacle was an emblem of heaven.Richard Watson, abridged.

Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell

THE PSALMS
BOOK THE SECOND
Psalms 42, 43
DESCRIPTIVE TITLE

A Debarred Worshipper Mastering his Sorrow.

ANALYSIS

Stanza I., Psa. 42:1-5, A Debarred Worshipper, Nursing his Grief, nevertheless Strives to Rise Above it. Stanza II., Psa. 42:6-11, Deeply Feeling his Personal Condition, the Sufferer Encourages Himself by Recalling a Past Deliverance, and begins to Pray Hopefully, though Sorely Dismayed by Outward Troubles. Stanza III. (43), Psa. 42:1-5, Looking his Public Troubles in the Face, the Psalmist Prays for a Triumphant Deliverance.

(Lm.) An Instructive Psalm.

1

As a hind cometh longing up to channels of water

so my soul longeth for thee O God!

2

Athirst is my soul for Godfor a GOD who liveth,

when shall I enter in and see[453] the face of God?

[453] So it shd. beG, Intro., 458; and so it is in some cod. (w. 1 ear. Pr. edn., Aram., Syr.)Gn. It is probable that in the original it was see the face of YahwehBr.

3

My tears have served me for food day and night,

through its being said unto me all the dayWhere is thy God?

4

These things would I fain remember and pour out upon my my soul

how I used to pass over in a throng
used to lead them in procession unto the house of God,
with the sound of jubilation[454] and thanksgiving

[454] Or: of a ringing cry.

a crowd keeping festival!

5

Why shouldst thou despair O my soul and groan upon me?

Wait thou for God, for yet shall I thank him,

as the great salvation[455] of my[456] person[457] and my God.[458]

[455] Pr. intensive.

[456] M.T.: hisclearly in error for my: cp. Psa. 42:11 and Psa. 43:5.

[457] So O.G. 447a. Or: the health of my countenance; or: the victory of my presence. The same alternatives apply to Psa. 42:11 and Psa. 43:5.

[458] Should probably be addedDr. To the same effectDel.

6

Over myself[459] my soul keeps despairing[460] therefore will I remember thee,[461]

[459] Stands emphatically at the beginning of the sentence.Kp., Del.
[460] Frequentative. Is cast down blunts the point.
[461] That is, what I learned of thee.

from the land of Jordan and the Hermonsfrom Mount Mizar,

7

Deep unto deep calling out to the sound of thy waterfalls:

all thy breakers and thy billows over one passed.

8

By day may Jehovah command his kindness and by night his song,

with me a prayer to the God of my life.[462]

[462] Specially fitting, if the writer was thinking of an occasion when God saved his life. Some cod. however read: to a living GodGn.

9

I would fain say to GodO my Cliff! wherefore hast thou forgotten me?

wherefore should I gloomily walk through the oppression of an enemy?

10

Like[463] a shattering in my bones have mine adversaries reproached me,

[463] So some cod. M.T.: beth, With the effect of; or At the cost ofO.G. 90a, 3.

through their saying unto me all the day, Where is thy God?

11

Why shouldest thou despair O my soul and why groan upon me?

Wait thou for God, for yet shall I thank him,
as the great salvation[464] of my person and my God.

[464] Cp. Psa. 42:5.

(Nm.)

PARAPHRASE

Psalms 42

As the deer pants for water, so I long for You, O God.
2

I thirst for God, the living God. Where can I find Him to come and stand before Him?

3

Day and night I weep for His help, and all the while my enemies taunt me. Where is this God of yours? they scoff.

4, 5 Take courage, my soul! Do you remember those times (but how could you ever forget them!) when you led a great procession to the Temple on festival days, singing with joy, praising the Lord? Why then be downcast? Why be discouraged and sad? Hope in God! I shall yet praise Him again! Yes, I shall again praise Him for His help.[465]

[465] Literally, for the help of His countenance.

6

Yet I am standing here depressed and gloomy; but I will meditate upon Your kindness to this lovely land where the Jordan River flows and where Mount Hermon and Mount Mizar stand.

7

All your waves and billows have gone over me, and floods of sorrow pour upon me like a thundering cataract.[466]

[466] Literally, deep calls to deep at the noise of Your waterfalls.

8

Yet day by day the Lord also pours out His steadfast love upon me, and through the night I sing His songs and pray to God who gives me life.

9

O God my Rock, I cry, why have You forsaken me? Why must I suffer these attacks from my enemies?

10

Their taunts pierce me like a fatal wound; again and again they scoff, Where is that God of yours?

11

But O my soul, dont be discouraged! Dont be upset! Expect God to act! For I know that I shall again have plenty of reason to praise Him for all that He will do! He is my help! He is my God!

Psalms 43

(Nm.)

1

Vindicate me O God and plead my cause against a nation without kindness,

from a man of deceit and perversity wilt thou deliver me!

2

For thou art my protecting God[467] wherefore hast thou rejected me?

[467] Ml.: My God of stronghold.

wherefore should I gloomily wander[468] through the oppression of an enemy?

[468] Or: march to and fro. Go mourningDel. Why go I about in dark attireDr.

3

Send forth thy light and faithfulnesslet them lead me,

let them bring me into thy holy mountain[469] and unto thy habitations!

[469] Cp. 2Ch. 3:1; 2Ch. 33:15, Isa. 30:29, Jer. 26:18, Mic. 3:12.

4

So would I enter in unto the altar of Godunto the God who gladden my youth,[470]

[470] So the Sep.a beautiful and suggestive reading.

so will I thank thee with a lyre Jehovah[471] my God!

[471] So Sep., preferred by Kp. and others.

5

Why shouldst thou despair O my soul and why groan upon me?

Wait thou for God, for yet shall I thank him,

as the great salvation[472] of my person and my God.

[472] Cp. Psa. 42:5.

(Lm.) To the Chief Musician.
(CMm.) For the sons of korah = the patriarchs of song.
Cp. Intro., Chap. II., 3.

PARAPHRASE

Psalms 43

O God, defend me from the charges of these merciless, deceitful men.
2

For You are God, my only place of refuge. Why have You tossed me aside? Why must I mourn at the oppression of my enemies?

3

Oh, send out Your light and Your truthlet them lead me. Let them lead me to Your Temple on Your holy mountain, Zion.

4

There I will go to the altar of God my exceeding joy, and praise Him with my harp. O Godmy God!

5

O my soul, why be so gloomy and discouraged? Trust in God! I shall again praise Him for His wondrous help; he will make me smile again,[473] for He is my God!

[473] Literally, He is the help of my countenance.

EXPOSITION

The crowning feature of this (double) psalm is its lofty and intense spirituality: A soul athirst for God; moved by strong desire for fellowship with Godto be conscious of his nearness, to be face to face with him; assured that such a realisation will be as satisfying as for a thirsty animal to drink of the cooling stream.
The next thing noticeable in this (double) psalm, is the beauty of its formin three stanzas, each with a refrain repeated in identical words; and easily detected when this structure is observed, a gradual advance from sheer sorrow, to circumspect petition, and then to bold entreaty.
Perhaps the third thing to arrest our attention is, the psychological wonder of a Sufferer striving to master his sorrow and to rise above it.
Probably the surest way to observe these three leading features with interest and profit is to institute an investigation into the probable authorship of the psalm.
David has been thought of: though we are no longer under any obligation to presuppose that he wrote it, inasmuch as this psalm is really an orphan psalm, since undoubtedly the sons of korah were singers, or a class of singers, and not authors. Nevertheless, it is an interesting fact, that David has been regarded as the probable writer of this pathetic composition; several circumstances combining to give this hypothesis an air of probabilitychiefly his intense love for the worship of Jehovahs house in Jerusalem, and his flight from the holy city on occasion of Absaloms rebellion. That David crossed over the Jordan, and then turned north, ascending the high lands of Gilead as far as Mahanaim, and so came into full view of Mount Hermon on the north is another circumstance rather favourable to this conclusion. The objections to this view are: first, That, even so, David did not go far enough north to get among the waterfalls of the Upper Jordan; and, second, That he was surrounded by faithful friends, all the time, and not by enemies who would keep mocking him with the taunt, Where is thy God?to which we may add, third, That, formidable as was Absaloms rebellion, David would scarcely refer to it as the oppression of an enemy. These considerations preclude our deciding for David. Some would add, that the very absence of Davids name from the head of the psalm should, among other reasons, count for something, why David could not have penned this psalm,seeing the many evidences of care to place his name wherever it had any right to stand.

Under these circumstances, some have thought of an unknown Levite as author, on account of the memory, so vividly preserved by the writer, of having headed processions to the Temple in happier days. This conjecture has little else to support it; and, in Short, it can scarcely be said that any Levite occupied so important and central a position as this psalm requires. The desperate suggestion that this psalm may have been written by King Jehbiachin on his way to Babylon, may safely be dismissed; since the writer, at any rate, hoped soon to return to the holy city; and we must not go out of our way to court failure for the hope of the psalm.
It is time to say: That for no man, as author of this psalm, can such numerous and strong reasons be advanced as for King Hezekiah, notwithstanding one or two apparent reasons to the contrary. Let us look at the reasons for and against.
In favour of this conclusion the following weighty reasons may be alleged:First, the writer appears to be suffering from two chief causes: one personal to himself, and one of a more public character. He is apparently suffering from some personal disease, which amounts to a disfigurement of his face or disablement of his person. Hence the force of his description of God as the health of his countenance; or the salvation of his person, or the triumph of his presence. And then there is an enemy, under whose oppression he has to groan, whose taunts he has to bear. Now the significant thing is: That in Hezekiah both these causes of suffering met: He was struck for death with leprosy, and the Assyrian army was at the gate of Jerusalem:the Assyrian, a mighty and oppressive nation indeedwell answering to the description, A nation without kindness, whose foul-mouthed representative the villain Rabshakeh was, who mercilessly hurled his taunts against Hezekiah, and deceitfully perverted facts to degrade Hezekiah in the eyes of his own people. To these leading reasons in favour of the authorship of Hezekiah, there are several others to be added: Such as his tearsmentioned here, and mentioned in the history; his lyreof which also we read both here and in the history; his enthusiastic participation in the worship of the Temple, in reference to which it may safely be said that the very word in the 4th verse (of Psalms 42) passed over or crossed over is exquisitely adapted to describe the kings procession from the Royal Palace to the Temple, since there was a splendid viaduct connecting the two. It is extremely unlikely that such a combination of reasons for any other author can be found.

The one objection that may be urged can easily be obviated. The writer, it may be said, was not merely a debarred worshipper but a banished worshipper; since he prays to be led back into the holy mountain, proving that he was away from Jerusalem. Standing alone, that objection might have been plausible, though not conclusive; seeing that the language is perfectly consistent with mere enforced banishment from Mount Moriahthe mountain of the house (Cp. 2Ch. 3:1; 2Ch. 35:15, Isa. 2:2; Isa. 30:29, Jer. 26:18, Mic. 3:12), and we know that Hezekiah regarded it as an ascent to visit Jehovahs temple (Isa. 38:22). From that holy place, while his plague was upon him, he was debarred. Perhaps a still stronger objection to the claims of Hezekiah to be regarded as the author of this psalm, will be framed upon the assumption that the writer was far away from Jerusalem when he penned itthat, in fact, he was still among the waterfalls of the upper Jordan. But this assumption is quite to mistake that allusionquite to lose grip of the fact that that allusion was a memory; a memory not recalled while he was in the north, but a memory of a thrilling experience which befell him when he was in the north. To be sure of this, we have only to adhere to an accurate rendering of Psa. 42:6 : Over myselfover my own deplorable bodily condition, my soul keeps despairingkeeps falling into fits of despondency: thereforebecause of this, that I may repress altogether this tendency to hopelessness, I will rememberI will recall an incident which befell me when I was a young man visiting the Upper Jordan: I will remember theein thy marvellous kindness which was then made wonderful to me by rescuing me from drowning in the rapids of the Upper Jordan. A storm came on; the waters, rolling down the mountain sides, caused a spate; the waterfalls were roused to activity; the lakes into which their waters descended answered to each other, deep calling unto deep. I was in personal peril, all thy breakers and thy billows passed over meall seemed lost, when I found myself landed on a cliff; the flood that engulfed me, saved me, it carried me to a safe spotmy feet were on a rock: the waters abated, and I was saved! Yea, O my Cliff, O thou God of my life, the gladdener of my youthful days,thus will I remember thee, and fortify myself against these fits of despondency. The beauty of the poets picturesque reference can with difficulty be suppressed, however slovenly the translators rendering, however dull the expositors imagination. Nevertheless, it may perhaps be remarked, without presumption, that, for lack of a correct historical point of observation, the psalmists graphic allusion has been deplorably enfeebled. The words have been inexactly rendered; the incident has been represented as part fact and part figure, to the enfeebling of both, instead of being first taken as a connected whole in its literal completeness, and then employed as a whole in its metaphorical application to the sufferers now present bodily conditionas by no means excluding hope; the preposition mem, from, has been assumed to bind the writer to be at the Jordan when he remembers, instead of leaving him free afterwards to recall the incidents from the Jordan: and thus, in fine, one of the most beautiful things in the Psalms has dwindled into very small dimensions indeed, and become unavailable for any practical purpose. Whereas, on the other hand, the treating of the whole thing as a memory, throws into delightful vividness both the singular designation of Jehovah as the writers Cliff, and the peculiarly touching allusion to Jehovah as the gladdener of his youth. And thus, in fact, we are getting back not only Heze-kiahs name into the authorship of the Psalms; but, as a consequence, we are recovering precious snatches of his autobiography.

Thus refreshed by our study, let us turn back again and make the first thing noticed, also the last thing to abide in our hearts. This we may do by the trite observation that we do not thirst for things of which we have no knowledge. To thirst for God as a living God, we must first know him to be such; and know the incomparable satisfaction to be thence derived. Hezekiah knew the living God of Israel: he had seen his faceonly figuratively, representatively, adumbratively, it may be. But there was divine reality in it. The cloud of glory was therebehind the veil: the fire consumed the sacrifices: the Urim and Thummim gave responses: the prophets brought messages. The character of God gave the soul perfect satisfactionhis might gave protectionhis promises imparted hopehis pardon inspired love. These things, Hezekiah had known and enjoyed; and, though for the present there was a hiding of Jehovahs face, the memory of the brightness and blessedness of its revelation was not lost. What he had once enjoyed he desired to enjoy againdesired with an intensity of desire and keen sense of need which only the figure of thirst could represent. We, too, must know God in order to thirst for him. May the blessed sense of nearness to him abide with us in all the freshness and force of the fuller revelation of himself which he has made in Christ Jesus our Lord!

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

1.

Do you agree with the reasons of Rotherham for rejecting David as the author of this psalm? Discuss.

2.

Discuss the arguments in favor of attributing this psalm to Hezekiah. (It would seem that Hezekiah is the master-organizer of many psalmswhy is Rotherham so strong in this preference?)

3.

Whoever wrote this psalm, his deep desire for God is a marvelous example for us. This is in a special way a psalm for all sometimes apathetic Christians. Read verses one through five for the attitude that will return us to our first love.

4.

Suppose at sometime in our experience we were prevented from assemblingwe were physically hindered from holding religious serviceswould the words of the psalmist in Psa. 42:4-5 relate to us? Discuss.

5.

What is your estimate of Rotherhams interpretation of Psa. 42:6-7 as that of: I will recall an incident which befell me when I was a young man visiting the upper Jordan.? Discuss.

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

1.

Why are these two psalms here inseparably considered?

2.

What were the charges made against the psalmist by the merciless deceitful men?

3.

In what sense has God ever tossed anyone aside?

4.

How can the highly figurative language of send forth thy light and faithfulnesshave any bearing on our needs? Discuss.

Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

XLIII.

(1) An ungodly nation.In the Hebrew simply a negative term, a nation not khasd, i.e., not in the covenant. But naturally a positive idea of ungodliness and wickedness would attach to such a term.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

1. Judge me, O God It was David’s habit to appeal his cause to God, because he would be judged only by the divine law and justice. Psa 7:8; Psa 26:1.

Plead my cause The petition is, that God would enter as a third person in the suit, or controversy, and argue and conduct it for the petitioner. It answers exactly to the idea of intercessor or advocate. See Psa 35:1; Heb 9:24 ; 1Jn 2:1.

Ungodly nation It may mean a nation devoid of piety, or one not kindly disposed, unmerciful, hostile. So Psa 12:1. Entering the controversy in behalf of David, God is asked to do, in word or deed, whatever the equity of the case, or the chosen mode of controversy, calls for.

Deceitful and unjust man This may apply to Ahithophel, or, taking the noun collectively, to any man of his class.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

‘Judge me, O God,

And plead my cause against an ungodly nation,

Oh deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man.

For you are the God of my strength,

Why have you cast me off?

Why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?’

He calls on God to judge him, with a view to vindicating him because of his love for Him, and to plead his cause before the godless nation which holds him. He seeks to be delivered from the hand of the deceitful and unjust men who represent that nation. The singular is signifying unjust man in general. They do not walk in God’s ways and therefore God must surely finally deliver him (who does walk in God’s ways) from their hands. For He is the God of his strength (and thus his rocky fortress).

So he again asks (compare Psa 42:9) why God has seemingly cast him off, and allowed him to go in mourning because of the oppression of his enemies. He echoes the words of all those who have found themselves in difficult situations which do not seem to tie in with God’s love. And it gives assurance that God does know of our situation. The fact that we have this psalm available demonstrates that eventually he was released or ransomed.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Conclusion of the Preceding Psalm.

The psalmist again opens with an appeal, followed by a vow of faithfulness to Jehovah and His worship.

v. 1. Judge me, O God, vindicating his cause, and plead my cause, as the all-wise advocate against wickedness, against an ungodly nation, a generation of men not in God’s favor. O deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man, who is full of falsehood and wickedness, devoid of every idea of right and justice.

v. 2. For Thou art the God of my strength, his Refuge and Stronghold by virtue of his trust in Him; why dost Thou cast me off, turning away from him in scorn, as from something loathsome? Why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy? Cf Psa 42:9.

v. 3. O send out Thy light, that of His grace and mercy tending toward the salvation of men, and Thy truth, the faithfulness which keeps His promises without fail; let them lead me; let them bring me unto Thy holy hill, where His Sanctuary had been erected, and to Thy tabernacles, where the Lord dwelled in the midst of His people, letting the light of His essence appear in the revelation of His love in the Messiah, Joh 1:14.

v. 4. Then will I go unto the altar of God, to the place of His worship, unto God, my exceeding Joy, in whom all the highest delights of the believer are personified; yea, upon the harp will I praise Thee, a small zither-like instrument used in divine worship, O God, my God, the emphasis again being placed upon the personal relation of the believer to his God, his highest Good. The believer having reached this point of assurance, he admonishes himself for the third time:

v. 5. Why art thou cast down, O my soul, and why art thou disquieted within me? Hope in God; for I shall yet praise Him, who is the Health of my countenance and my God. All believers will guard against coming to their place of worship in a mechanical, dead manner, their hearts rather being united with God in the fellowship of true faith, exulting in Him as their greatest delight.

Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann

EXPOSITION

THE close connection of this psalm with the preceding has been already noticed (see the introduction to Psa 42:1-11.). We must not, however, suppose an accidental detachment. Rather Psa 43:1-5, is a supplementary stanza, added subsequently by the same or a different writer. Being intended as a continuation, the psalm has naturally no title.

Psa 43:1

Judge me, O God (comp. Psa 35:24). And plead my cause. (comp. Psa 35:1). God’s intervention is asked in the struggle between David and his enemies, on the assumed ground that he is in the right, and not they. God will, of course, only interpose if this is so. Against an ungodly nation; or, an unkind, unloving nation. Though called , as in Isa 1:4, still Israel is meant. They were “unloving,” both towards God and towards their king. O deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man. Either Absalom or Ahithophel may be meant; or “man” may be used abstractedly for David’s enemies generally.

Psa 43:2

For thou art the God of my strength; i.e. the God in whom is all my strength (Psa 28:7). Why dost thou cast me off? An equivalent to the “Why hast thou forgotten me?” of Psa 42:9. Why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy? Repeated, with the variation of a single word, from Psa 42:9.

Psa 43:3

O send out thy light and thy truth (Psa 40:11; Psa 57:3, where, however, “mercy () and truth” take the place of “light and truth”). Both words equally signify God’s favour. Let them lead me. As the pillar of fire and of the cloud led the Israelites into the promised land, so let God’s “light and truth” now lead David back to Jerusalem and God’s “holy hill of Zion.” Let them bring me unto thy holy hill, and to thy tabernacles; or, thy dwelling-place. In his exile it was David’s most earnest desire to revisit the tabernacle which he had set up on Mount Zion, where God’s presence dwelt, and prayer was most acceptably offered (see 2Sa 15:25; Psa 42:2). He had made his being brought back to it a test of the return of God’s favour (2Sa 15:25, 2Sa 15:26).

Psa 43:4

Then will I go unto the altar Of God. As the special place where thanksgiving ought to be made, and sacrifice offered (see 2Sa 6:17; 1Ch 16:1). Unto God my exceeding Joy; literally, unto God the gladness of my exultation. Yea, upon the harp will I praise thee, O God my God. The psalmist has before him some such scene as that depicted in 2Sa 6:1-23. and 1Ch 15:25-29, where, amid shouts and singing and dancing, and “with sound of the cornet, and with trumpets, and with cymbals, with psalteries and harps,” a joyful procession approached the tabernacle, David himself taking part in it.

Psa 43:5

Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God. The refrain of Psa 42:11 is here repeated totidem verbis; and the plaint of the exiled monarch is brought to an end. The burden of the refrain is hope and confidence. Notwithstanding the woes of the present, the writer has no doubt in respect of the future; he will yet have occasion to “praise” God, whom he feels to be “his Godhis Health and Salvation.

HOMILETICS

Psa 43:4

God my exceeding Joy.

As the Bible teems with thoughts which never would have entered men’s minds without Divine teaching, so also of feelings, which, had they not been real, men would never have aspired or pretended to. Among these is that “exceeding joy” in God which the text expresses. If it be true that “the fleshly heart is enmity against God,” then this joy must be supernatural. But not unnatural. Only because man is fallen can it ever be natural to him to forget God, to be careless about his Maker. This joy is the returning of the heart to its original key-note.

I. THE REASONABLENESS OF THIS JOY. On account:

1. Of all that God is in him-selfhis glorious perfection.

2. Of all that he is to usto mankind; to his people; to each believer personally. “O God, my God!” We can say this, as Christians, with fuller knowledge, more glorious warrant. “The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

II. HINDRANCES TO THIS JOY.

1. Poor, unworthy thoughts of God.

2. Forgetfulness, equivalent to temporary unbelief.

3. A murmuring, unthankful, discontented spirit, underrating our mercies and overrating or rebelling against our trials.

4. Sin.

III. SHALL WE SAY THE RARITY OF THIS JOY? Let each one judge. At all events, its unspeakable desirableness. Both for the happiness and the usefulness of it; a powerful motive to holiness; a witness to others for God (Psa 34:8; Psa 66:16).

HOMILIES BY C. CLEMANCE

Psa 43:1-5

God the salvation of the countenance; or, a light heart makes a bright face.

Dr. Binnie remarks, “The forty-second and forty-third [psalms] (which go together), were almost certainly written by the Korahites who accompanied David in his flight beyond the Jordan during Absalom’s rebellion.” Nearly all modern critics consider that this and the preceding psalm formed originally but one. So the similarity of Psa 42:5, Psa 42:11 and Psa 43:5 would suggest. There is a variation between some of the expressions in the former and those in the latter; but there is nothing in this psalm which needs elaborate explanation. There is, however, an expression in both of them, which contains in itself a doctrine of amazing depth, one of which thousands of living believers are perpetual illustrations and proofs, though, as a doctrine, it receives far too little notice. The doctrine is connected with the religion of the face, and is thisthat when Divine light shines in the soul of man, it will cause a radiance all its own to beam from the countenance; that God is indeed the salvation of a man’s features. An Irishman was once asked what made him look so happy after his conversion. “Oh,” he said, “Christ lightens our hearts, and then he brightens our face.” As Dickson quaintly remarks hereon, “As when the Lord withdraweth both the outward tokens of his favour and his inward consolation for a time, the countenance of the godly cannot but be heavy, cast down, and look sad, like a man that is sick; so when God returneth to comfort and to own his own, either both inwardly and outwardly, or inwardly only, the man’s face looketh cheerful: he is the health of my countenance.” The Rev. Joseph Cook, of Boston, U.S; in a remarkable lecture on Solar Self-Culture, says, “There is only one form of culture that gives supremacy, and that is the form which produces the solar look; and the solar look comes only from the Light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world. It may be incontrovertibly proved, by the coolest induction from fixed natural law, that the highest culture must be that through which the solar look shines, and that this look is possible only when there exists in the soul glad self-surrender to the innermost holiest of Conscience. In that innermost holiest Christianity finds a personal Omnipotence.” We are all familiar enough, indeed, with the generally admitted fact that the face is an index of character, but the truths underlying that fact demand from us closer attention than is sometimes given thereto.

I. IT IS AN ORDINANCE OF GOD, THAT IN A WAY EITHER OF MERCY OR OF JUDGMENT, THE FACE SHOULD BE THE INDEX OF THE SOUL. When Moses had been on the mount, communing with God, his face shone. When Hannah had laid her burden before God, her countenance was no more sad. When Stephen was before the council, in the midst of hostile, angry men, his face was as the face of an angel. The late devout Samuel Martin, of Westminster, had a face so radiant through fellowship with God, that when a friend had called on him with Dean Stanley, the dean remarked afterwards, “I am glad you took me to call there; I have seen the face of an angel.” The truth that communion with God lights up the face is recognized by Dante, who, speaking of Beatrice, says

” with such gladness, that God’s love
Seem’d from her visage shining.”

To work out this thought on its darker side would be as terrible as on its brighter side it is enchanting. How are some faces that once bid fair to be beautiful, spoilt by the deeply graven lines of vice and crime! Our present theme puts before us, however, the brighter side, and it is one on which we may well love to linger. For note further

II. THAT THE DEVOUT SOUL LOVES TO COMMUNE WITH GOD. The whole of Psa 42:1-11. and 43, shows us this. And the experience of believers is perpetually verifying this, in prayer there is an upward look of the whole being. “Unto thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul;” “Our eyes wait upon the Lord our God;” “I will lift up mine eyes to the hills.” And in this uplooking of the man there is an entirely different set of mental and spiritual powers and energies at work than when the habit of looking downward or around, or even the habit of not looking at all, is in exercise. The soul is in communion with the best and dearest of Friends, enjoying a luxury of fellowship with which a stranger cannot intermeddle.

III. WHEN THE SOUL THUS COMMUNES WITH GOD, GOD SENDS HIS GIFTS DOWN INTO THE SOUL. God reveals himself within, and makes us full of joy with his countenance; and in revealing himself he brings with him purity, peace, and power; and when such privilege is realized, the outer discomforts of life are forgotten in a joy unspeakable and full of glory. The temptations of the evil one cease to have power when God is near; the heaviest toil can be undertaken, and the weightiest cross be carried with cheerfulness and even with song; and since by the law of association we grow like those we love most, we, beholding the glory of the Lord, shall be changed into the same image, from glory to glory!

IV. THE EFFECT OF ALL THIS WILL BE THE SALVATION OF THE FACE. Such is the remarkable expression in Psa 43:5; it is translated, “the health of my countenance;” literally it is, “the salvation of my face.” Even so Christ isis nowthe Saviour of the body, and in the emancipation of the spirit from sin he is redeeming the face from ignoble marks and traits. How often have we known a man’s face marvellously changed at his conversion, not by evolution, but by regeneration. “He doesn’t look like the same man!” is an exclamation often heard. A well-known minister was converted while preaching. Such a radiance instantly shone into his face, that an enthusiastic Methodist jumped up and exclaimed, “The parson’s converted! The parson’s converted!” A brave Scotch soldier, whose countenance rarely wore a smile, and from whose lips never a word was heard as to his personal religion, suddenly beheld the glory of the words, “Him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out;” and as suddenly radiance gleamed from his face, the padlock fell off his lips, and he exclaimed, “rye Christ by the hand! I’ve Christ by the hand!” And in his second volume the Rev. J. G. Paten, writing of a convert from heathenism, says, “His once sullen countenance became literally bright with inner light”. See also ‘Leaves from my Note-book,’ by Rev. Wm. Haslam, p. 99. All the spiritual gifts which God bestowsjoy, peace, purity, strengthwill find corresponding expression in the lines and features of the countenance, giving demonstrative evidence of the present power of Divine grace even over the body, and yielding no dim prophetic forecast of the day when Christ shall alter the fashion of our bodies of humiliation, and transform them to the fixed type of his body of glory. Hence throughout the Book of Revelation, the purity of the blessed is indicated by their being robed in white, i.e. not the whiteness of snow, but the brightness of the star. If even here, with such partial sanctification, the bodily change is so great, what will it be when the purifying and glorifying processes are completewhen every soul will be full of love, and every’ face will be a perfect index of the soul? How beautiful must faces be when perfect love is reflected therefrom!

V. THE SUBJECT IS NOT ONLY ONE OF GREAT DOCTRINAL INTEREST; IT IS ALSO FRAUGHT WITH DEEP PRACTICAL SIGNIFICANCE.

1. Let us cultivate the habit of observation, and make a religious study of the human face. The holiest men will never be mistaken for hardened atheists:

2. Let us each seek to realize the duty of letting the face speak for God. And it will, if we are constantly in talk with God. His peace, his purity, his power, imparted to the soul within, will certainly make their mark without.

3. Let the young take care of their faces. God made them to be beautiful, not with that beauty which is no deeper than the skin, but with the “beauty of holiness.” Be true. Love and follow the right. Live to please God. In all your troubles speak to God. And your face wilt show the result; for God will be the “health of” your “countenance.” Amen.C.

HOMILIES BY W. FORSYTH

Psa 43:1-5

Strengthening the heart in God.

What Jonathan did for David when he went to him into the wood of Ziph, David does here for himselfhe strengthens his heart in God (1Sa 23:16). “Hope in God.” We learn here that

I. HOPE IS BASED ON GOD‘S REVELATION OF HIMSELF. We only know God as he is pleased to make himself known to us. In his works and in his Word we find the same character. The lesson comes to us from all sides that God is true, and that his laws should be trusted. Therefore we feel safe in putting ourselves in line with his will; in wholly surrendering ourselves to his guidance and keeping. Whatever may have been dark or dim in ancient days is now made clear in Christ. He hath revealed the Father. Therefore we say to our heart, “Hope in God.”

II. HOPE IS CHARACTERISTIC OF THE RIGHTEOUS. We cannot hope in God till we are reconciled to God. Hope is not a chance thing, but born of faith. We cannot hope in God but as we are of the same mind with God. Hope is not an easy thing, but requires the putting forth of our own strength and will. “Like the highest forms of courage, it is a refusal to be borne down and cowed and depressed by evila refusal to indulge in the melancholy pleasure of looking and dwelling on the dark side of things.” This is an achievement possible only to the righteous, who not only have faith in God, but are able to enlist imagination in aid of faith (Joe 3:16; 1Pe 1:21).

III. HOPE IN GOD IS ESSENTIAL TO THE RIGHT DISCIPLINE OF LIFE. All kinds of trials come to us. There are troubles without and fears within. There are mistakes we cannot correct, losses we cannot repair, evils to ourselves and others sore to see, but sorer still because they cannot be remedied. Enemies rise up against us (Psa 43:1). Our hearts are ready to fail for fear, and “for looking after those things which are coming.” What are we to do? Shall we give way to despondency, and cry, like Jacob, “All these things are against me”? or shall we let Hope have her perfect work in calming and sustaining our souls? The answer is clear, “Hope in God.” Thus we gain strength (Psa 43:2); thus we secure guidance. God’s good angels of “light” and “truth” will lead us in the right way (Psa 43:3). Thus our path will be onward and upward, nearer to the serene heights and the pure air of heaven, where all is peace and love (Psa 43:4).

IV. HOPE IN GOD IS A SURE PROPHET OF THE GOOD TIME COMING. Every hope is in a sense a prophecy. But often the prophecy is false. Bright gleams the vision in the distance, but nearer approach and closer scrutiny prove that it is a delusion and a snare. It is like the mirage, which leaves the desert all the barer and the gloomier when it fades into the light of common day. But it is otherwise with the Christian’s hope. It is real. It stands inquiry. It verifies itself by the moral effects which it produces. All the future, onward into the vast eternal spaces, is covered by it; and to come. “Christ in us the Hope of glory!” “Thus living, eternal life is begun in our hearts; thus and thus only, under the teaching and moulding of the Divine Regenerator of our nature, does the heavenly life in time anticipate and herald and prepare for, and, blending with it, at last is lost in, the life of heaven for eternity” (Archer Butler).W.F.

Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary

Psalms 43.

David, praying to be restored to the temple, promises to serve God joyfully: he encourageth his soul to trust in God.

Title. The subject of this Psalm is so much the same with that of the preceding, that one is strongly tempted to believe it to be a continuation of it, particularly as there is no title to interrupt. Mudge. There seems however this difference, that the former was written when the affairs of the Psalmist were at the worst; but this, when they began to amend; when he had greater hopes of repossessing his kingdom, and recovering the command of his beloved Zion, where the tabernacle of God resided.

Psa 43:1. An ungodly nation la chasid. Chasid generally signifies passively a person or nation favoured of God. Under which notion it is applied to the Jewish nation in general, and some favoured persons in particular; but sometimes it signifies actively generous, beneficent, or the like; therefore, if David here speaks of the people in rebellion against him, lo chasid must signify an ungenerous, unkind, and ungrateful nation. Achitophel will well answer the character of a deceitful and crooked man.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

THE PSALTER
SECOND BOOK

Psalms 42-72

_______________

Psalms 42

To the chief Musician, Maschil, for the sons of Korah

1As the hart panteth after the water brooks,

So panteth my soul after thee, O God.

2My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God:

When shall I come and appear before God?

3My tears have been my meat day and night,

While they continually say unto me, Where is thy God?

4When I remember these things, I pour out my soul in me:

For I had gone with the multitude, I went with them to the house of God,
With the voice of joy and praise, with a multitude that kept holyday.

5Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me?

Hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him

For the help of his countenance.

6O my God, my soul is cast down within me: therefore will I remember thee

From the land of Jordan, and of the Hermonites, from the hill Mizar.

7Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy waterspouts:

All thy waves and thy billows are gone over me.

8Yet the Lord will command his lovingkindness in the daytime.

And in the night his song shall be with me,

And my prayer unto the God of my life.

9I will say unto God my rock, Why hast thou forgotten me?

Why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?

10As with a sword in my bones, mine enemies reproach me:

While they say daily unto me, Where is thy God?

11Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me?

Hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him,

Who is the health of my countenance, and my God.

Psalms 43

1Judge me, O God, and plead my cause against an ungodly nation:

O deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man.

2For thou art the God of my strength: why dost thou cast me off?

Why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?

3O send out thy light and thy truth: let them lead me;

Let them bring me unto thy holy hill, and to thy tabernacles.

4Then will I go unto the altar of God,

Unto God my exceeding joy:
Yea, upon the harp will I praise thee, O God my God.

5Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me?

Hope in God: for I shall yet praise him,

Who is the health of my countenance, and my God.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

Contents and Composition.In regard to the Title, see Introduction, 8, and 2. The division of the matter into two distinct Psalms is very ancient, since we find it in all the versions. But it does not follow from this that such was their original relation, and that we have here (Hengstenberg) a nearly connected pair of Psalms. Not only are the contents, the tone, the structure of the strophes, and particular turns of expression similar in both, but the progress of thought is such that the two strophes of Psalms 42, taken by themselves might have been worked by P. Gerhardt into a regular Church hymn; and yet they by no means have such a complete rounding off, that Psalms 43. can certainly be regarded as simply a later addition (Cocceius, Rudinger, Venema), nor need we (with Hofmann) insist upon its being wholly independent of the former. On the contrary we find in Psalms 43. the prayer which is necessary to link together the complaint and the hopeful submission of Psalms 42; and hence in a certain relation it might be used independently as a Church prayer on Judica Sunday.1 But if it be regarded as a third strophe organically connected with the two preceding ones, it explains the very marked contrast of the second strophe. Hence most modern interpreters favor the view of their original unity, which is also supported by many MSS. The subsequent separation of the Psalms is by no means inconceivable (Hengsten.), though the occasion of it is unknown. The third strophe, which has none of the local references of the second, might very easily have been used as an independent Church song (Clauss). For the fundamental thought in it is an eager desire to share in the services of the Temple with the great annual assemblies of worshippers,a desire which was quickened by the lively remembrance of former festivals, and which was still more intensified by the sense of present deprivation, and by a forced residence in a strange country and amidst heathen enemies. With this sentiment, the elegiac tone of the Psalm and its rythmic structure exactly agree. Thus in the three closing groups we find the most charming and touching thoughts united in a manner corresponding to the threefold aspect in which the fundamental sentiment is presented. There is first the desire, then the complaint, and finally the prayer with its so strongly expressed confidence in God. Very similar to it is Psalms 84. in which the Psalmist prays for the Messiah. This may be accounted for by the fact that here the poet expresses not Davids mind (Rosen., Hengsten., Tholuck), but speaks in his own name. Perhaps he was with David during his exile to the region east of Jordan, by reason of Absaloms rebellion (2Sa 17:24); for it closely resembles the Davidic Psalms of that period, (Del.) and in Psa 42:7, express mention is made of the Psalmists residence in that country. We need not suppose that this expressed longing for the temple came from a priest (Paul, De Wette, Rosen., Maur); nor from the people of Israel while in captivity (the Rabbins, Koster); nor does the supposed connection of Psa 42:8, with Jon 2:4, and of Psa 42:9, with Sir 18:4, oblige us to refer it to a later age. These remarkable expressions originated with the Psalm and illustrate its thoroughly independent character. Nor is there any historical ground obliging us to suppose that they were uttered either by King Jechoniah (Ewald); or by one of the nobles who accompanied him to Babylon; (Cleric.); or by Priests (Reuss); or by a Levite banished by Athaliah (Vaihinger); or by the High-priest Onias III. who in the second century before Christ, after the conquest of Jerusalem by the Egyptian general Skopas, is said to have been carried by him as a hostage, to the sources of the Jordan (Hitzig); or to Antiochus Epiphanes, (Rud., Olshaus.). It is remarkable that the name Jehovah is used Psa 42:9, while in other places Elohim is apparently employed for a special purpose, as for example in Psa 43:4, we have Elohim Elohai instead of Jehovah Elohai. [Wordsworth: These two Psalms are used together in the Hebrew Synagogues at the Great Festival of Tabernacles, Psalms 43. is appointed in the Gregorian use for Good-Friday, and in the present Latin Church for Easter eve.J. F.]

Psa 42:1. Panteth.The radical idea of is to direct oneself, to turn, to incline. (Hupfeld). [To ascend, i.e., the Arabic Tregelles.J. F.] This inclination may be both downwards and upwards; and hence its twofold construction with and , the latter in Joe 1:20. From this latter passage translated by Sept. Vulg, Chald., look up Gesenius and most of the moderns, after the Sept., Chald., Jerome, derive the sense of longing and desire. The word, however, does not mean a simply quiet longing and inward desire, but an audible panting produced by the agony of thirst. The rendering of it by the word to cry (Syr., Rabbins, Luth., Calvin, and most of the older expositors) is, however, too strong. Its application to the relation of the soul of man to God Psa 42:2, and to the beasts of the field, Joe 1:20, is explained by the fact that the Living God is often set forth as a spring of living water for the refreshment of the thirsty, Psa 36:10; Psa 84:3; Jer 2:13; Jer 17:13.[Alexander: The essential idea is that of intense desire and an overwhelming sense of want.J. F.] Names of animals are often used for either sex, or for both sexes. Here the word for hart, must be taken in a feminine sense [Germ. Hindin], as it is an image of the soul, the term for which in Hebrew is feminine, and is associated with feminine predicates. The particle of comparison refers, as the accent indicates, not to the whole sentence, but to the principal word in it, (Ewald, Gram., 360), hence the verb must be taken as relative to it.

Ver 2 refers, as is obvious from Exo 33:20, to the festive appearances of the people before the Lord, Exo 23:17; Exo 34:23, yet not in the sense of beholding the face of the Lord (Luther following some ancient expositors), though we find here the accusative but without the preposition which should stand before it. In this place the accusative is local and not objective. Hence it is not to be supposed that the reading designed by the Poet (Bttch., Olshaus.), was afterwards changed, by a sort of religious fear into , a reading which, by the way, is found in some MSS. and is favored by Dathe, Knapp, and others. The Septuagint has the right reading, but it translates the former line my soul thirsteth for the living God or after God the mighty the living, because when Elohim and El come together, the latter word is usually rendered . [Alexander: Of the two divine names here used, one (Elohim) describes God as an object of religious worship, the other (El) as a Being of infinite power.J. F.]

Psa 42:3. Tears become bread, not in the sense of nourishment, precious as bread (Calvin); nor of being a necessity like bread (De Wette); but of a substitute for bread. Job 3:24. Some take the meaning here to be the same as in 1Sa 1:7 i.e., forgetting to take food through sorrow (Hengst., Schegg), but the phrase is simply a picture of ones daily life (Stier, Hupfeld, Delitz.) as in Psa 80:6; Psa 103:10, 1Ki 22:29; Isa 30:20. [Perowne: My tears have been my daily portion.J. F.]

Psa 42:4. When I remember, (or think of). Many refer this to the scorn of enemies, and regard the statement as a hypothetical one, (Luther, Stier, Ges., Ewald,) the pilgrimage or the going with the multitude being the object of thought, i.e., of desire and hope. (So most ancient translators, Luth., Flam., Geier, Cleric., Stier, Kster). The description of the pilgrimage presents it, however, rather as an object of memory than desire. (Hup., Del., Hitzig). The imperfect form of the verb must not be taken in the sense of an optative future (that I might go), but as a preterite. [Barnes: Though the future tense is used as denoting what the state of his mind would be, the immediate reference is to the past. Perowne: Let me remember, fain would I remember.J. F] As he recalls those festive processions in which he had taken part, and contrasts them with his present condition, the soul of the Psalmist melts within him, like water, 1Sa 7:6; Job 30:16. He now pours out his heart in tears (Lam 2:19,) as at other times he has poured it out in lamentation and prayer, 1Sa 1:25; Psa 62:9; Psa 102:1; Psa 142:3.Multitude, lit. a mass of boughs, a thicket. [The word occurs no where else in Scripture.J. F.] A similar figure is used in Isa 10:17, in reference to the Assyrian army.The multitude that kept holy day, (2Sa 6:19; comp. Isa 30:29), is in apposition with the personal suffix of the verb, which in the Hithpael signifies to go slowly, Isa 38:15. But as the Hithpael can have no transitive meaning, this suffix does not stand for an accusative of the object, but must be taken in the sense of, in respect to it (Hitzig). This suits very well the place in the procession, which the Psalmist may have held as a Levite. If, on the other hand, it be taken as in apposition to the whole sentence, (Hupfeld) the suffix is out of place. Either this must be removed from the text as in Isa 38:15, (Cleric., Olsh.), or by a change of the vowel points the verb must be put into the Piel form (= that I might lead or guide them, as Aquil., Ewald, Vaihinger, and others). [Barnes: This does not refer to what had been in the past, but to what he confidently expected would be in the future.J. F.]

Psa 42:5. In the souls address to itself its unrest is very strongly expressed, as in Psa 55:18; Psa 77:4, by a word which elsewhere signifies to rave. [Perowne: The word is used elsewhere of the raging and roaring of the sea. His soul is tossed and agitated like an angry sea.J. F.] The expression, for I shall yet praise Him, probably refers to such grateful praise as lives in ones memory (Stier). God will do again, as He has formerly done (Hupfeld). According to the common text the first strophe ends with the words the help of His countenance, and the following one, omits the and, beginning with the vocative, O my God. Most modern expositors, like the Sept., Vulgate, Syriac, have so arranged the conclusion that it is expressed in the remaining final words. The defence (by Hengst., Hofm.) of the textus receptus is weak. As a matter of course slight variations occur in this refrain as elsewhere, e.g., Ps. 49:13, 21; 56:5, 11, and in this very Psalm they are found in several other single strophes; the phrase also gives a good sense, and frequently occurs, e.g.,Psa 44:4; Isa 64:9. The only objection is their position. For being dependent upon the verb praise, and placed parallel to the preceding Him, i.e., God, if the connecting and be omitted, there arises a hard construction which requires a mental repetition of the verb, or the opposition is changed into a cold substitution. But to assert that the vocative address in the strophe O my God is absolutely indispensable (Hengst.), or that the poet should commence his strophe as he closes it, because at the end of the first one he must appeal to God as his God (Hofm.) is as gratuitous as it is untenable. By changing the text in the way proposed, we get not only a uniformity in the turn of the verse, but a suitable sense in an unobjectionable form, and a proper rhythmical cadence at the close.The countenance is neither a simple nor a poetical designation of a person, but a characteristic manifestation of him in his moral and intellectual relations. It is often used not only in reference to God, Exo 33:14, but also to man, Isa 3:15. The plural helps expresses not merely manifold manifestations of help, but also the essential idea, the very substance of help itself. Now while one may point to Elohim as the substance and idea of that help, which he should seek for and acknowledge, yet in a prayer he would hardly stop to explain Elohim in this way, nor would he put on the same level, and as the objects of his praise, the manifestations of Divine help and the person of God Himself. [Alexander: Salvation, frequent or complete deliverance. His face, his propitious countenance or aspect, with allusion to the benediction in Num 6:25-26.J. F.]

Psa 42:6. My soul is cast down within me. In this beginning of the second strophe, we have a renewed account of the Psalmists state of mind, which shows that in spite of the self-admonition and hope already expressed, his dejection and unrest were not yet overcome; the stream of his comfortable thoughts and feelings, the result of his hope in God, did not always flow onward without obstruction, but had its ebb as well as its flood-tide. But as before Psa 42:5 the mourner recalled to mind with a mixture of sadness and joy his former festive journeys to the temple, so now again, though an exile in a heathen land, and banished from the sanctuary, he maintains communion with God. Calvins explanation of in the sense of therefore, because, in which he is followed by many commentators, is ungrammatical, and makes the remembrance of God the cause of the sadness of the poet, while seemingly forsaken of the Lord. The text, on the contrary, makes that mental depression which arises out of his own helplessness and his conscious need of aid the cause of his remembrance of the living God. Comp. Jon 2:8. The beginning and end of the line me and thee are antithetic.

From the land of Jordan.The locality is indicated as Transjordanic (unclean, Jos 22:19; because heathen) by the phrase and of the Hermonites. Hermon was as characteristic a feature of the Transjordanic region as Tabor was of the Cisjordanic, Psa 89:13, i.e., the land of Canaan in the strict sense of the words, or the land of Lebanon, Jos 22:11. The plural Her monim is not used in allusion to the two summits of Hermon,2 because there is no reason why we should limit the locality to the northern side of the mountain, and the sources of the Jordan, but it is employed here in a sense analogous to that of , Lev 17:7 (rendered in E. V devils) and Baalim, 1Ki 18:18, either as having a representative meaning, (Hengst.), or as a plural of amplification (Diedrich), since Hermon with its mighty cone far exceeds in height all the other peaks of the South-Eastern portion of Anti-Lebanon. The precise residence of the Psalmist is indicated by the words , (lit., hill of littleness) not the Zoar mentioned, Gen 19:20 (Ven.) but some mountain whose name is now unknown. The phrase cannot be taken as in apposition with Hermon, not only because the words are in the singular, but because they could be applied to the lofty Hermon only in an ironical sense (Rosenm., Hengst., Hofm.), or as contrasting it contemptuously (mountain of contempt, Hupfeld) with Zion, and there is no evidence that the poet had any such idea in his mind. Yet many have thought that Zion, which while physically humble, in its moral relations far surpassed all other mountains, is meant. So Olshausen and Hitzig explain the phrase, but each of them in a very different way. For while the use of the preposition , and its connection with , very well agree with the assumption that an Israelite exiled from Palestine and the little mountain Zion (Olsh.), should have remembered Jehovah, yet the description of Palestine as the land of Jordan and the Hermonites is inadmissible. The translation while I remember thee, O thou little hill (Hitzig) requires an arbitrary change in the text, by striking out the preposition before , and giving to the word rendered therefore the sense of because. The choice of this phrase as a name of Zion, according to this interpretation, must be for the purpose of presenting strongly the contrast between Zion and Hermon, which according to its Arabic etymology means a lofty mountain. All the geographical and historical relations of these two places are utterly perverted, if we suppose that Hermonim (the lofty mountain) is applied in a hyperbolic sense to the hills on which Jerusalem stands, by some one who had been banished or had fled to (Bttcher) the low, ridgy region beyond Jordan, and who there expresses his longing desire for the house of God and his native hills, in the words therefore I think of thee, from the land of Jordan, and of the high mountain from the hill of littleness.

Psa 42:7. Deep calleth unto deep. in all other places denotes not a single billow, but the confused noise of deep waters in motion. The force of the phrase here, lies in this, that the fact of one deep being heard by another is dependent on, or is connected with, (according to the sense assigned to ) the great waterfalls which God makes. The image, therefore, is not that of waves rushing after each other in rapid succession, but that of a man in an abyss of water whose roaring joined with the voice of unseen and unmeasured cataracts impresses him with a sense of great and imminent danger. The rush and roar at once excite and stupify him. There is no proof in 2Sa 5:8, that by waterfalls is meant heavy showers of rain, such as might remind one of the deluge (Vatab, Grot., Geier, Hengst.) That verse is very obscure and variously explained, but the Hebrew word (there rendered gutter) which is found only in these two passages, probably means a waterfall or cataract (Ewald, Kiel). [Alexander: The sense of waterfalls or cataracts, although supported by ancient versions has no foundation in etymology or usage. Barnes: There are two forms in which waterspouts occur in the East. One of them is described by Dr. Thomson, The Land and Book, I. 498.The Arabs call it sale, we, a waterspout or bursting of a cloud. In the neighborhood of Hermon I have witnessed it repeatedly, and was caught in one last year, which in five minutes flooded the whole mountain side, and carried off whatever the tumultuous torrents encountered, as they leaped madly down in noisy cascades.J. F.] We need not, however, suppose that the waterfalls are those of the main source of the Jordan near Paneas (Bngas) on the south side of Hermon (Robinson, Bib. Researches, III, 309), nor the cataracts of the Lake Muzerib, which are from 60 to 80 feet high (Wetstein in appendix to Delitzsch on Job, 524) and are said to be the only ones in Syria. For the design of the Psalmist is to give us not a geographic but a symbolical description of his situation, and of his feelings at the time.

Psa 42:8. Yet the Lord will command.Most expositors since Kimchi, think that in these words, the Psalmist, as in Psa 42:5, recalls his earlier gracious experiences, and contrasts them with his present destitution, the painful sense of which is expressed in his complaint, Psa 42:10. But such a contrast of Then and Now, in this connection, as Calvin, Isaaki, and others admit, would have required, at least in Psa 42:9, the perfect. To take the imperfect of Psa 42:9 as the present in Psa 42:10, is wholly arbitrary, and there is no need for it here, inasmuch as there is no evidence of any antithesis. Again, neither the connection nor the grammatical expression warrants the exposition of Delitzsch, that, a confidently expected and not distant day of Divine grace would be followed by a night of thanksgiving, a night rendered so joyful with Psalms and hymns of praise, that the exulting Psalmist would be unable to sleep. Day and night are not to be taken here as symbols of times of prosperity and of adversity, but as a poetical paraphrase for that which is continuous, constant (Hengst., Hupf.) The assignment of the gifts of Gods grace and the prayers and songs which they call forth, to different times, has little ground to stand on. The whole sentence is an expression of the Psalmists present state of mind, which, as Hupfeld justly says, was a mixed one. This view is preferable because schiroh denotes a song of which God is the author, (Heng., Hupf., Job 35:19) rather than one of which God is the object (Hitzig, Del.); and tefillah in apposition with schir need not be taken in the limited sense of a petition (Hengst.), nor in the larger sense of a prayer and thanksgiving, since in the verses that follow we have not the prayer itself, (Vaihinger), but a specimen of it (Hengst.)a specimen proving that in the midst of his troubles, and though God seemed to have forsaken him, the pious singer had received grace as a messenger from God, and prayer as a gift of God, so that he knew how to cleave to God as the God of his life, and to rest upon Him with a firm faith, as upon a rock, while amid the tossing and roaring waves. The Syriac text and that of some other MSS. to the living God, is probably only a modification of Psa 42:3. In some copies, Psa 5:11perhaps as an explanatory correctionbegins with Beth (Beth essential) instead of Caph. It is not said here that reproach should be added to oppression, but that the one should in some way be an effect of the other. Oppression does not necessarily (Hengstenb.) mean murder (Symm., Aquil.); it is to be taken in its original sense, as in the Arabic, and in Psa 62:4; Psa 69:21; Isa 48:13; Eze 21:27. [Alexander: The strong expression in the first clause, Psa 42:11, is intended to denote excruciating pain.J. F.]

Psa 43:2. Why hast thou forsaken me.The original here used is much stronger in meaning than that in Psa 42:10, expressing much more than forsaking or casting off. Its primary meaning is to stink, to become rancid, and it here conveys the idea of turning away as from something loathsome. In the German language there is no word exactly corresponding to it, for verstossen and verschmhen convey a different idea, and do not suit the phrase God of my strength, which is parallel to the earlier used phrase God of my rock.The deceitful man, or man of deceit, must not be taken as an ideal person, but as an individualized foe, probably with reference to some one specially prominent enemy. Viewed in connection with the previous verses, the locality indicates that this opposer was a heathen. This heathenish character, however, would be inferred neither from the word , nor from the adjective , ungodly, for the first word denotes a mass of people, Isa 1:4, and the adjective does not of necessity deny their piety towards God, but only their gracious, kind, and merciful conduct towards men.The light is that of Divine grace, which illumines and cheers the night of misery, Psa 36:10; and it is sent with the Truth as a pledge that the promises of the faithful God shall be performed, Psa 57:4, and that the Lords people shall be at last brought to His own dwelling-place, Exo 15:13. [Perowne: Light and Truthinstead of the more usual Loving-kindness and Truththese shall be to him, so he hopes, as angels of God, who shall lead him by the hand till they bring him to the holy mountain. Possibly there may be an allusion to the Urim and Thummim.J. F.]

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1. The Living God alone can be the object of desire of the human heart. This yearning after the Living God comprehends the deepest aspirations of the pious soul. During our life on earth, this desire finds its satisfaction by means of the acts of divine worship. If deprived of these means of grace by any external force, this spiritual longing only becomes the more intense, and, in a way not to be mistaken, it will manifest its liveliness, fervor, depth, and power. Communion in the public worship of God is not necessarily communion with God Himself, but it is both an expression and sign of it, and a means and help to it. It is the channel of the brook, through which the water smoothly flows, without the supply of which, the soul becomes like a land of drought, Psa 62:2; and, like the beasts of the field under such circumstances, it perishes of thirst, Joe 1:20.

2. Whenever the pious man finds himself in a condition, in which he is hindered from going to the house of God, which keeps him away from the congregation of the Lord, and from using the appointed means of grace, he feels and recognizes not only the power of the enemies, or of the outward misfortunes that have occasioned this loss, but also the chastening hand of God. His sorrows are intensified partly by the unjustifiable scorn of his enemies, on account of his having been deserted by God, richly as he may have merited such dealing at Gods hands, and partly by the sad yet sweet remembrance of the spiritual enjoyments of other days in the house of the Lord and the fellowship of His people.

3. The bread of tears, Psa 80:6, though very distasteful, is yet wholesome food, since it awakens and maintains hunger and thirst for the Living God, and the means of communion with Him. But though the pious man, under such circumstances, is, as it were, divided into two parts, is driven now in this direction, now in that by mixed and even antagonistic feelings, yet he finally struggles through and above all the impulses of the flesh, subdues the unrest and impatience of his soul, and learns to lean upon and trust in God alone. The remedy for weakness is hope in God; and the ground of hope is the assured faith of the Psalmist, that God, who is still his God, will in due time redeem him, and give him cause for singing joyful songs of deliverance. (Heng.)

4. Temptations caused by times of trouble, and the growing insolence and number of enemies are specially grievous, when old doubts and anxious questions force themselves afresh upon the soul, when the feeling that God has forsaken us gains in strength, until it even reaches the point of apprehending that we may be cast off. But so long as the tempted man is able both to weep and to pray, so long as he can interweave his questionings and complaints with expressions of faith in Gods grace and truth, there is good ground for confidence in his final deliverance and salvation. Even in the midst of troubles, the believer lays hold of Gods grace, as a Light, sent by Him as a testimony of His mercy, to confirm His faithfulness and truth, and to be a guide to those who seek Him.

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

The souls longing for its home.a. How it is awakened. b. Whither it is directed. c. By what it is quieted.The bread of tears is bitter, but is often wholesome.Happy the man who feels himself to be a stranger only in the world, but not in the house of God.God never leaves those who sigh for Him without comfort, nor those who seek Him without guidance.He alone who has first conversed earnestly with God, can speak comfortably to his own soul.So great is the blessing connected with the service of God, that the mere memory of it can keep a tempted soul from despair.The ordinances of divine worship are the open channels, the ordained methods, the appointed ways through which God in his mercy sends to us needy ones the water of life, the light of truth, the power of grace.Suffering is painful; scorn is still more so; but most of all is guilt.While each day has its prayer, and each night its song, the sources of divine help and comfort are open to the soul.In a time of sorrow, he who begins with prayer, and continues to exhort his soul to be patient and trust in God, may confidently hope that he will end with a hymn of praise.We may enjoy communion with God even when exiled from the house of God; but there is an essential difference between voluntary and compulsory exile.The good man may fall into trouble, but he is not disheartened; he may come out of one tribulation only to go into another, but he is never destroyed.The true longing of the soul is for communion with God Himself; but whoever desires to feel it, must not despise the means of grace in the ways of divine worship.There is such a thing as yearning for the house, the word, the face of God.Faith has a struggle with temptation in times of trouble, and with the weakness of the flesh.

Luther: Where Gods word is, there is Gods house; and His countenance is His presence, where He manifests Himself, and through His word reveals His grace.

Calvin: David presents himself to us here as if he had been divided into two parts. So far as he by faith rests on the promises of God, he is armed with a spirit of invincible courage, rises superior to fleshly feelings, and, at the same time, chides himself for his weakness. Without the grace of God, we can never overcome those evil thoughts, which are constantly rising within us.

Starke: Earthly things can never satisfy the soul, since they are transient and liable to change. The soul of man is immortal, and therefore needs an immortal source of consolation,one that has in itself eternal life.We now see the face of God in His word and sacraments, but as the soul is created for eternity, it is ever longing to behold the Lord face to face. The highest enjoyment is to feel that God is our God; and never is the soul so sorely troubled as when, instead of being certain of this, it imagines the contrary.Sometimes the more lonesome a man is, the more trustingly he can tell God of his needs, and the Heavenly Father, who sees in secret, will hear and answer his complaint.Even in our greatest temptations, nothing is better than prayer and confidence in God.When God sends a cross, it is always in such a way that we should thank Him for it, as a costly and wholesome medicine.In our greatest tribulations, if we have faith, we shall also have hope and patience.When Gods waves break upon us, it is not to destroy but to do us good; they are under His control, and by a word He can assuage and still them.Let us not be tender saints, but let us learn how to bear the cross.When things go well with thee, gather up a treasure of divine promises, they will be useful to thee in times of trouble.If thou neglectest to do so, how wilt thou sustain thyself?A believer is not so much troubled by a personal injury as by dishonor done to the name of God,he will willingly suffer any thing, even death itself, if only God is thereby praised. How easy is it for God to change complaint into joy, and the song of sadness into the hymn of praise.We can have no better guide than God and His word; but under whose conduct art thou? O soul!What greater blessedness can one have than to be able to call God his delight and joy?The calmness which God imparts is the true Christians greatest treasure.From Gods gracious countenance comes the fulness of the believers help and comfort, and for it he is ever and most heartily thankful.Our hearts are full of darkness;if we would have them full of light, the bright morning star must shine into them.Osiander: If justice is denied us here on earth, we must commit our cause to God.To know God as our gracious God is a real and perpetual joy.Selnekker: When there is no cross one becomes more easily secure, as well as lazy and negligent in prayer, and then the displeasure of God is near at hand.He who trusts in God endures; he who does not falls and perishes.Franke: We must carefully note the necessity of a genuine penitential struggle, and observe how it has fared with other children of God in this respect.The moment one becomes a follower of Christ, he is liable to have a cross laid upon him.Arndt: He whose strength is in God will not be utterly cast down, nor will he always go sorrowfully.Frisch: It is a peculiar trait of Gods children that they rejoice in the exercises of His true worship, and nothing pains them more than the being prevented in joining in them.The remembrance of God is the best medicine for our sadness.Listen to the voice of thy God, so that thy heart may by faith share in the joy and consolation which He gives in His word; but do thou also open thy mouth in praise of God, and laud Him with thy tongue, which He has given thee in order that thou mayest proclaim his glory in time and in eternity.Oetinger: The Christian overtaken by sorrow and oppressed by enemies prays to God to undertake his cause, and to open the way for his return to the assembly of the saints; he will guard against sorrow, but if it comes upon him in a new form, he will turn afresh to God and get strength from Him.Roos How shall we get out of sorrow and unrest? By waiting, in confidence, for God. What we have not, we must hope for; what is not now, we must expect, relying upon Gods goodness, faithfulness, omnipotence, and the truth of those promises, which are yea and amen in Christ Jesus.Whenever David approached the altar of God, he went to God his delight and joy.God Himself did not call the Temple precisely a house of sacrifice, but the house of prayer for all nations, Isa 56:7; Luk 19:46Rieger: As faith grows in power we learn to apply to God the most tender names; as we get nearer and nearer beneath His wings we find a retreat and refuge in His house, at His altar, in Himself.As the light of His face illumines our darkness, it also diffuses the light of peace and joy over our countenance.Renschel: We should take comfort from certain passages of Scripture when we find that the holiest people have been led into the same school.Burk: Exspecta Deum; erit quum confitebor ei; erit Deus meus. (Wait for God; He will be when I confess to Him, my God).Gnther: When do men think least of their God? When they are in misery? or in the days of prosperity?Tholuck: When the heart is sad, even the fairest scenes of nature assume a sombre garment. He whose past life has been eventful stands upon an eminence from whence he can cast joyful looks into the future.Umbreit: There is a melaneholy joy in the remembrance of a devout and blessed life at home.Most brilliantly does the light of Gods help shine in the faithfulness with which He always attends the pious.Schaubach: (15th Sunday after Trinity). No man can serve two masters. But the distinctive feature of our time is not unqualified devotion to the kingdom of God, but rather indecision and lukewarmness.The sharpest sting of pain in all personal trials, is the scornful question, Where is now thy God?Diedrich: If I can only see God beside me, one look to Him consoles me for a whole world of suffering.Even to the timid God makes eternal salvation certain when they look to Him with tearful eyes.Taube: The soul of a child of God, that in the depth of want and temptation thirsts for and cries to God, through victorious faith comes before God and finds its rest in God.Soul-thirst, soul-need, soul-struggles.Against men of deceit and injustice, you can do nothing but complain to God and leave the case with Him.Deichert: If God be for us, who can be against us?Schaubach: (Judica Sunday) God has judged and conducted the cause of His Son against the unholy people.

[Henry: 1. Those that come to the tabernacles, should come to the altar; those who come to ordinances, should qualify themselves to come, and then come to special ordinances, to those that are most affecting and most binding. 2 Those that come to the altar of God, must see to it that therein they come unto God, and draw near to Him with the heart. 3. Those that come unto God, must come to Him as their exceeding joy, not only as their future bliss, but their present joy. When we come to God as our exceeding joy, our comforts in Him must be the matter of our praises in Him as God and our God.Robertson: The Living God. What we want is not infinitude, but a boundless One; not to feel that love is the law of this universe, but to feel One whose name is Love.It is a dark moment when the sense of that personality is lost; more terrible than the doubt of immortality.No thought is more hideous than that of an eternity without Him.Distinguish between the feelings of faith that God is present, and the hope of faith that He will be.What God is in Himself, not what we may chance to feel Him in this or that moment to be, that is our hope.Barnes: He who has an eternity of blessedness before him,who is to commence a career of glory which is never to terminate and never to change should not be cast downshould not be overwhelmed with sorrow.J. F.]

Footnotes:

[1]The Fifth Sunday in Lent.[J. F.]

[2][The gigantic Jebelesh Sheikh, or Hermon, lay before us. We had a view of two of its conspicuous summits on account of which it is probably spoken of in Scripture as the hill of the Hermonites. Lands of the Bible, by Dr. J. Wilson, II 161.J. F.]

Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange

CONTENTS

This Psalm is so much like the former, that it appears more like a continuation of it, than a new one. Here are the devout cries of a soul to be led by the Spirit to God, and for faith to rest upon God.

Psa 43:1

We shall, through grace, take a most effectual method to enter into the spirit of this short but sweet Psalm, if we keep an eye upon Christ while we go through it. If a child of God may he supposed here to rest his cause with God against the ungodly, how much more interesting is it to consider Jesus as addressing his Father, on the unmerciful and cruel usage of his own people; who, when he came to them as his own, loaded him with scorn and derision, until at length they nailed him to the cross?

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

Light and Truth (Suitable for Missions)

Psa 43:3

We all need a guide. No one would question this. Very often we choose a wrong guide, and one that leads us astray. Light and truth are two great factors in our everyday life. Without either or both of them, we should drag on a most miserable existence. Light is the world’s first and greatest necessity, hence it was first created before the inhabitants of the earth. We cannot do without light which brings life. It promotes healthy growth, it produces happiness.

As there is need for light in the natural world, so there is need of light in the spiritual world. ‘The whole world,’ said St. John, ‘lieth in wickedness,’ and consequently it needs light and truth. The Word of God was given to supply this great need of man, for it is light and truth. ‘Thy Word,’ says the Psalmist, ‘is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.’

And our Lord Jesus Christ, in that remarkable prayer of His on behalf of His loved ones, says ‘Sanctify them through Thy truth: Thy Word is truth’. These two passages show clearly that God’s Word is light and truth, so that we may well regard our text as a command to those who have received the Word to pass it on to others.

I. Responsibility. When our Lord stood on the Mount He said to His disciples, ‘Ye are the light of the world’. That is a responsibility. It means that every one who has received the light of the Gospel from Him Who is the light of the World, is responsible for taking an active part in the work of disseminating that light, and spreading it to others. We are morally bound to spread far and wide the Word of light and truth which we have received. It is a great risk to any nation or any individual to neglect this.

II. England’s Responsibility. Of all peoples who have received the light and truth of God’s Word, we have received the fullest measure, and have been granted the greatest facilities and possibilities of transmitting it to others. God has placed in our hands perfect freedom as to the use of His Word, as to the free discussion and defence of truth, as to devising ways and means by which that truth may be disseminated and communicated. We are a nation highly favoured beyond others with breadth of empire. We have connexion with and free access to the uttermost parts of the earth. We have wealth at our disposal to send out the light and truth.

III. Individual Responsibility. Have you ever realized your responsibility as a steward? Yours is a strict and solemn account, which you must stand one day and give at the bar of Jesus, Who is no respecter of persons, when every opportunity of good given to us will be called in question as to how we have disposed of it. God expects from you that you should shine out in the darkness of the world, which as yet knows Him not, by sending out the light and truth by your liberality and generosity, or even by going out yourselves to the foreign field. Remember there is no happiness like the happiness of giving, more especially when we give something we value. God has given His most precious possession, His only dear Son. Jesus Christ gave us His own life, for we are redeemed by His most precious blood. We need to give the utmost we are able in order to carry the tidings of His love to others. Go forward and tell this good news.

Aspirations

Psa 43:3

This 43rd Psalm, and the Psalm that goes before it, were composed by David under circumstances of great trouble. Taken together, they give us an insight into the very heart of the Psalmist. David there appears as the man whose affections were set upon God, and in all the changes and chances and dangers of a chequered life looked upward.

I. We need to have this teaching, and this example in this life of weary toil, we need to have our spirits lifted up, not to be always earthward bound.

II. Observe how entirely Christian the prayer is. We ask for God’s light, and for His truth and what is this but to ask for Christ to dwell in our hearts?

III. We live in times when aspirations are sadly damped and discouraged. If a man look upward he is told that he is neglecting closer duties, that his work lies at his feet. Hold fast the blessed hope of a life to come promised and open to all who have faith in Jesus Christ.

IV. God is present in all places, at all times but is present according to His true promise, wheresoever two or three are gathered together in His name.

R. D. B. Rawnsley, Village Sermons (3rd Series), p. 158.

Psa 43:3

After the ministers and elders of the Free Church of Scotland, at the Disruption, had reached Tanfield Hall in their first step of emancipation, 18 May, 1843, Dr. Chalmers took the chair as Moderator, and rose to give out the opening Psalm. Dr. Buchanan, the historian of the Ten Years’ Conflict, says: ‘A heavy thunder-cloud had for some time darkened the heavens, and, as the eye ranged at that particular moment over the dense mass of human beings who covered the immense area of the low-roofed hall, individual forms had almost ceased to be distinguishable through the sombre shade. The Psalm which Dr. Chalmers had chosen was the 43rd. He began at that touching and beautiful line

O send Thy light forth and Thy truth, and as the words sounded through the hall, the sun, escaping from behind his cloudy covering, and darting his brilliant beams through the windows which pierced the roof, turned on the instant the preceding darkness into day. It was one of those incidents which only superstition could misunderstand, but which, at the same time, is entitled to its own place among the traits of the picturesque which belonged to the scenes we are describing.’

John Ker.

References. XLIII. 3. J. M. Neale, Sermons on Passages of the Psalms, pp. 162, 170. XLIII. 3, 4. Ibid. pp. 108, 120. XLIII. 4. H. Scott Holland, Logic and Life, p. 99. E. Paxton Hood, Dark Sayings on a Harp, p. 101. J. P. Gledstone, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxvi. p. 364.

The Psalmists Remonstrance with His Soul

Psa 43:5

Three times does the Psalmist take himself to task and question himself as to the reasonableness of the emotions that are surging in his soul, and checks these by higher considerations.

I. Moods and emotions should be examined and governed by a higher self. It is necessary to keep a very tight hand upon all our feelings, whether they be the natural desires of the sensuous part of our nature, or whether they be the sentiments of sadness and doubt, or anxiety or perplexity which are the natural results of outward circumstances of trial; or whether, on the contrary they be the bright and buoyant ones which come, like angels, along with prosperous hours.

II. There are two ways of looking at causes of dejection and disquiet. ‘My soul’ has been talking two whole Psalms to explain why it is cast down. After all these have been said again and again the Psalmist says to himself, ‘Come now, let us hear it all once more, Why art thou cast down?’ There is a court of appeal in each man which tests and tries his reasons for his moods; and these which look very sufficient to the flesh, turn out to be very insufficient when investigated and tested by the higher spirit or self. We should ‘appeal from Philip drunk to Philip sober’.

III. No reasons for being cast down are so strong as those for elation and calm hope. Try to realize what God is to yourselves ‘My God,’ and ‘the health of my countenance’. That will stimulate sluggish feeling; that will calm disturbed emotion.

IV. The effort to lay hold on the truth which calms is to be repeated in spite of failures. A moment of tranquillity interrupts the agitation of the Psalmist’s soul, but is soon followed by the recurrence of ‘the horrible storm’ that ‘begins afresh’. But the guiding self keeps the hand firm on the tiller, notwithstanding the wash of the water and the rolling of the ship, and the dominant will conquers at last

A. Maclaren, Christ’s Musts, p. 210.

Reference. XLIII. 5. H. P. Liddon, Old Testament Outlines, p. 111.

Psa 43

This Psalm was chanted in the church at Milan, a.d. 387, when Augustine was baptized by Ambrose.

John Ker.

Fuente: Expositor’s Dictionary of Text by Robertson

PSALMS

XI

AN INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOK OF PSALMS

According to my usual custom, when taking up the study of a book of the Bible I give at the beginning a list of books as helps to the study of that book. The following books I heartily commend on the Psalms:

1. Sampey’s Syllabus for Old Testament Study . This is especially good on the grouping and outlining of some selected psalms. There are also some valuable suggestions on other features of the book.

2. Kirkpatrick’g commentary, in “Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges,” is an excellent aid in the study of the Psalter.

3. Perowne’s Book of Psalms is a good, scholarly treatise on the Psalms. A special feature of this commentary is the author’s “New Translation” and his notes are very helpful.

4. Spurgeon’s Treasury of David. This is just what the title implies. It is a voluminous, devotional interpretation of the Psalms and helpful to those who have the time for such extensive study of the Psalter.

5. Hengstenburg on the Psalms. This is a fine, scholarly work by one of the greatest of the conservative German scholars.

6. Maclaren on the Psalms, in “The Expositor’s Bible,” is the work of the world’s safest, sanest, and best of all works that have ever been written on the Psalms.

7. Thirtle on the Titles of the Psalms. This is the best on the subject and well worth a careful study.

At this point some definitions are in order. The Hebrew word for psalm means praise. The word in English comes from psalmos , a song of lyrical character, or a song to be sung and accompanied with a lyre. The Psalter is a collection of sacred and inspired songs, composed at different times and by different authors.

The range of time in composition was more than 1,000 years, or from the time of Moses to the time of Ezra. The collection in its present form was arranged probably by Ezra in the fifth century, B.C.

The Jewish classification of Old Testament books was The Law, the Prophets, and the Holy Writings. The Psalms was given the first place in the last group.

They had several names, or titles, of the Psalms. In Hebrew they are called “The Book of Prayers,” or “The Book of Praises.” The Hebrew word thus used means praises. The title of the first two books is found in Psa 72:20 : “The prayers of David the son of Jesse are ended.” The title of the whole collection of Psalms in the Septuagint is Biblos Psalman which means the “Book of Psalms.” The title in the Alexandrian Codex is Psalterion which is the name of a stringed instrument, and means “The Psalter.”

The derivation of our English words, “psalms,” “psalter,” and “psaltery,” respectively, is as follows:

1. “Psalms” comes from the Greek word, psalmoi, which is also from psallein , which means to play upon a stringed instrument. Therefore the Psalms are songs played upon stringed instruments, and the word here is used to apply to the whole collection.

2. “Psalter” is of the same origin and means the Book of Psalms and refers also to the whole collection.

3. “Psaltery” is from the word psalterion, which means “a harp,” an instrument, supposed to be in the shape of a triangle or like the delta of the Greek alphabet. See Psa 33:2 ; Psa 71:22 ; Psa 81:2 ; Psa 144:9 .

In our collection there are 150 psalms. In the Septuagint there is one extra. It is regarded as being outside the sacred collection and not inspired. The subject of this extra psalm is “David’s victory over Goliath.” The following is a copy of it: I was small among my brethren, And youngest in my father’s house, I used to feed my father’s sheep. My hands made a harp, My fingers fashioned a Psaltery. And who will declare unto my Lord? He is Lord, he it is who heareth. He it was who sent his angel And took me from my father’s sheep, And anointed me with the oil of his anointing. My brethren were goodly and tall, But the Lord took no pleasure in them. I went forth to meet the Philistine. And he cursed me by his idols But I drew the sword from beside him; I beheaded him and removed reproach from the children of Israel.

It will be noted that this psalm does not have the earmarks of an inspired production. There is not found in it the modesty so characteristic of David, but there is here an evident spirit of boasting and self-praise which is foreign to the Spirit of inspiration.

There is a difference in the numbering of the psalms in our version which follows the Hebrew, and the numbering in the Septuagint. Omitting the extra one in the Septuagint, there is no difference as to the total number. Both have 150 and the same subject matter, but they are not divided alike.

The following scheme shows the division according to our version and also the Septuagint: Psalms 1-8 in the Hebrew equal 1-8 in the Septuagint; 9-10 in the Hebrew combine into 9 in the Septuagint; 11-113 in the Hebrew equal 10-112 in the Septuagint; 114-115 in the Hebrew combine into 113 in the Septuagint; 116 in the Hebrew divides into 114-115 in the Septuagint; 117-146 in the Hebrew equal 116-145 in the Septuagint; 147 in the Hebrew divides into 146-147 in the Septuagint; 148-150 in the Hebrew equal 148-150 in the Septuagint.

The arrangement in the Vulgate is the same as the Septuagint. Also some of the older English versions have this arangement. Another difficulty in numbering perplexes an inexperienced student in turning from one version to another, viz: In the Hebrew often the title is verse I, and sometimes the title embraces verses 1-2.

The book divisions of the Psalter are five books, as follows:

Book I, Psalms 1-41 (41 chapters)

Book II, Psalms 42-72 (31 chapters)

Book III, Psalms 73-89 (17 chapters)

Book IV, Psalms 90-106 (17 chapters)

Book V, Psalms 107-150 (44 chapters)

They are marked by an introduction and a doxology. Psalm I forms an introduction to the whole book; Psa 150 is the doxology for the whole book. The introduction and doxology of each book are the first and last psalms of each division, respectively.

There were smaller collections before the final one, as follows:

Books I and II were by David; Book III, by Hezekiah, and Books IV and V, by Ezra.

Certain principles determined the arrangement of the several psalms in the present collection:

1. David is honored with first place, Book I and II, including Psalms 1-72.

2. They are grouped according to the use of the name of God:

(1) Psalms 1-41 are Jehovah psalms;

(2) Psalms 42-83 are Elohim-psalms;

(3) Psalms 84-150 are Jehovah psalms.

3. Book IV is introduced by the psalm of Moses, which is the first psalm written.

4. Some are arranged as companion psalms, for instance, sometimes two, sometimes three, and sometimes more. Examples: Psa 2 and 3; 22, 23, and 24; 113-118.

5. They were arranged for liturgical purposes, which furnished the psalms for special occasions, such as feasts, etc. We may be sure this arrangement was not accidental. An intelligent study of each case is convincing that it was determined upon rational grounds.

All the psalms have titles but thirty-three, as follows:

In Book I, Psa 1 ; Psa 2 ; Psa 10 ; Psa 33 , (4 are without titles).

In Book II, Psa 43 ; Psa 71 , (2 are without titles).

In Book IV, Psa 91 ; Psa 93 ; Psa 94 ; Psa 95 ; Psa 96 ; Psa 97 ; Psa 104 ; Psa 105 ; Psa 106 , (9 are without titles).

In Book V, Psa 107 ; III; 112; 113; 114; 115; 116; 117; 118; 119; 135; 136; 137; 146; 147; 148; 149; 150, (18 are without titles).

The Talmud calls these psalms that have no title, “Orphan Psalms.” The later Jews supply these titles by taking the nearest preceding author. The lack of titles in Psa 1 ; Psa 2 ; and 10 may be accounted for as follows: Psa 1 is a general introduction to the whole collection and Psa 2 was, perhaps, a part of Psa 1 . Psalms 9-10 were formerly combined into one, therefore Psa 10 has the same title as Psa 9 .

QUESTIONS

1. What books are commended on the Psalms?

2. What is a psalm?

3. What is the Psalter?

4. What is the range of time in composition?

5. When and by whom was the collection in its present form arranged?

6. What the Jewish classification of Old Testament books, and what the position of the Psalter in this classification?

7. What is the Hebrew title of the Psalms?

8. Find the title of the first two books from the books themselves.

9. What is the title of the whole collection of psalms in the Septuagint?

10. What is the title in the Alexandrian Codex?

11. What is the derivation of our English word, “Psalms”, “Psalter”, and “Psaltery,” respectively?

12. How many psalms in our collection?

13. How many psalms in the Septuagint?

14. What about the extra one in the Septuagint?

15. What is the subject of this extra psalm?

16. How does it compare with the Canonical Psalms?

17. What is the difference in the numbering of the psalms in our version which follows the Hebrew, and the numbering in the Septuagint?

18. What is the arrangement in the Vulgate?

19. What other difficulty in numbering which perplexes an inexperienced student in turning from one version to another?

20. What are the book divisions of the Psalter and how are these divisions marked?

21. Were there smaller collections before the final one? If so, what were they?

22. What principles determined the arrangement of the several psalms in the present collection?

23. In what conclusion may we rest concerning this arrangement?

24. How many of the psalms have no titles?

25. What does the Talmud call these psalms that have no titles?

26. How do later Jews supply these titles?

27. How do you account for the lack of titles in Psa 1 ; Psa 2 ; Psa 10 ?

XII

AN INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOK OF PSALMS (CONTINUED)

The following is a list of the items of information gathered from the titles of the psalms:

1. The author: “A Psalm of David” (Psa 37 ).

2. The occasion: “When he fled from Absalom, his son” (Psa 3 ).

3. The nature, or character, of the poem:

(1) Maschil, meaning “instruction,” a didactic poem (Psa 42 ).

(2) Michtam, meaning “gold,” “A Golden Psalm”; this means excellence or mystery (Psa 16 ; 56-60).

4. The occasion of its use: “A Psalm of David for the dedication of the house” (Psa 30 ).

5. Its purpose: “A Psalm of David to bring remembrance” (Psa 38 ; Psa 70 ).

6. Direction for its use: “A Psalm of David for the chief musician” (Psa 4 ).

7. The kind of musical instrument:

(1) Neginoth, meaning to strike a chord, as on stringed instruments (Psa 4 ; Psa 61 ).

(2) Nehiloth, meaning to perforate, as a pipe or flute (Psa 5 ).

(3) Shoshannim, Lilies, which refers probably to cymbals (Psa 45 ; Psa 69 ).

8. A special choir:

(1) Sheminith, the “eighth,” or octave below, as a male choir (Psa 6 ; Psa 12 ).

(2) Alamoth, female choir (Psa 46 ).

(3) Muth-labben, music with virgin voice, to be sung by a choir of boys in the treble (Psa 9 ).

9. The keynote, or tune:

(1) Aijeleth-sharar, “Hind of the morning,” a song to the melody of which this is sung (Psa 22 ).

(2) Al-tashheth, “Destroy thou not,” the beginning of a song the tune of which is sung (Psa 57 ; Psa 58 ; Psa 59 ; Psa 75 ).

(3) Gittith, set to the tune of Gath, perhaps a tune which David brought from Gath (Psa 8 ; Psa 81 ; Psa 84 ).

(4) Jonath-elim-rehokim, “The dove of the distant terebinths,” the commencement of an ode to the air of which this song was to be sung (Psa 56 ).

(5) Leannoth, the name of a tune (Psa 88 ).

(6) Mahalath, an instrument (Psa 53 ); Leonnoth-Mahaloth, to chant to a tune called Mahaloth.

(7) Shiggaion, a song or a hymn.

(8) Shushan-Eduth, “Lily of testimony,” a tune (Psa 60 ). Note some examples: (1) “America,” “Shiloh,” “Auld Lang Syne.” These are the names of songs such as we are familiar with; (2) “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” and “There Is a Fountain Filled with Blood,” are examples of sacred hymns.

10. The liturgical use, those noted for the feasts, e.g., the Hallels and Hallelujah Psalms (Psalms 146-150).

11. The destination, as “Song of Ascents” (Psalms 120-134)

12. The direction for the music, such as Selah, which means “Singers, pause”; Higgaion-Selah, to strike a symphony with selah, which means an instrumental interlude (Psa 9:16 ).

The longest and fullest title to any of the psalms is the title to Psa 60 . The items of information from this title are as follows: (1) the author; (2) the chief musician; (3) the historical occasion; (4) the use, or design; (5) the style of poetry; (6) the instrument or style of music.

The parts of these superscriptions which most concern us now are those indicating author, occasion, and date. As to the historic value or trustworthiness of these titles most modern scholars deny that they are a part of the Hebrew text, but the oldest Hebrew text of which we know anything had all of them. This is the text from which the Septuagint was translated. It is much more probable that the author affixed them than later writers. There is no internal evidence in any of the psalms that disproves the correctness of them, but much to confirm. The critics disagree among themselves altogether as to these titles. Hence their testimony cannot consistently be received. Nor can it ever be received until they have at least agreed upon a common ground of opposition.

David is the author of more than half the entire collection, the arrangement of which is as follows:

1. Seventy-three are ascribed to him in the superscriptions.

2. Some of these are but continuations of the preceding ones of a pair, trio, or larger group.

3. Some of the Korahite Psalms are manifestly Davidic.

4. Some not ascribed to him in the titles are attributed to him expressly by New Testament writers.

5. It is not possible to account for some parts of the Psalter without David. The history of his early life as found in Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, and 1and 2 Chronicles, not only shows his remarkable genius for patriotic and sacred songs and music, but also shows his cultivation of that gift in the schools of the prophets. Some of these psalms of the history appear in the Psalter itself. It is plain to all who read these that they are founded on experience, and the experience of no other Hebrew fits the case. These experiences are found in Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, and 1 and 2 Chronicles.

As to the attempt of the destructive critics to rob David of his glory in relation to the Psalter by assigning the Maccabean era as the date of composition, I have this to say:

1. This theory has no historical support whatever, and therefore is not to be accepted at all.

2. It has no support in tradition, which weakens the contention of the critics greatly.

3. It has no support from finding any one with the necessary experience for their basis.

4. They can give no reasonable account as to how the titles ever got there.

5. It is psychologically impossible for anyone to have written these 150 psalms in the Maccabean times.

6. Their position is expressly contrary to the testimony of Christ and the apostles. Some of the psalms which they ascribe to the Maccabean Age are attributed to David by Christ himself, who said that David wrote them in the Spirit.

The obvious aim of this criticism and the necessary result if it be Just, is a positive denial of the inspiration of both Testaments.

Other authors are named in the titles, as follows: (1) Asaph, to whom twelve psalms have been assigned: (2) Mosee, Psa 90 ; (3) Solomon, Psa 72 ; Psa 127 ; (4) Heman, Psa 80 ; (5) Ethem, Psa 89 ; (6) A number of the psalms are ascribed to the sons of Korah.

Not all the psalms ascribed to Asaph were composed by one person. History indicates that Asaph’s family presided over the song service for several generations. Some of them were composed by his descendants by the game name. The five general outlines of the whole collection are as follows:

I. By books

1. Psalms 1-41 (41)

2. Psalms 42-72 (31)

3. Psalms 73-89 (17)

4. Psalms 90-106 (17)

5. Psalms 107-150 (44)

II. According to date and authorship

1. The psalm of Moses (Psa 90 )

2. Psalms of David:

(1) The shepherd boy (Psa 8 ; Psa 19 ; Psa 29 ; Psa 23 ).

(2) David when persecuted by Saul (Psa 59 ; Psa 56 ; Psa 34 ; Psa 52 ; Psa 54 ; Psa 57 ; Psa 142 ).

(3) David the King (Psa 101 ; Psa 18 ; Psa 24 ; Psa 2 ; Psa 110 ; Psa 20 ; Psa 20 ; Psa 21 ; Psa 60 ; Psa 51 ; Psa 32 ; Psa 41 ; Psa 55 ; Psa 3:4 ; Psa 64 ; Psa 62 ; Psa 61 ; Psa 27 ).

3. The Asaph Psalms (Psa 50 ; Psa 73 ; Psa 83 ).

4. The Korahite Psalms (Psa 42 ; Psa 43 ; Psa 84 ).

5. The psalms of Solomon (Psa 72 ; Psa 127 ).

6. The psalms of the era of Hezekiah and Isaiah (Psa 46 ; Psa 47 ; Psa 48 )

7. The psalms of the Exile (Psa 74 ; Psa 79 ; Psa 137 ; Psa 102 )

8. The psalms of the Restoration (Psa 85 ; Psa 126 ; Psa 118 ; 146-150)

III. By groups

1. The Jehovistic and Elohistic Psalms:

(1) Psalms 1-41 are Jehovistic;

(2) Psalms 42-83 are Elohistic Psalms;

(3) Psalms 84-150 are Jehovistic.

2. The Penitential Psalms (Psa 6 ; Psa 32 ; Psa 38 ; Psa 51 ; Psa 102 ; Psa 130 ; Psa 143 )

3. The Pilgrim Psalms (Psalms 120-134)

4. The Alphabetical Psalms (Psa 9 ; Psa 10 ; Psa 25 ; Psa 34 ; Psa 37 ; 111:112; Psa 119 ; Psa 145 )

5. The Hallelujah Psalms (Psalms 11-113; 115-117; 146-150; to which may be added Psa 135 ) Psalms 113-118 are called “the Egyptian Hallel”

IV. Doctrines of the Psalms

1. The throne of grace and how to approach it by sacrifice, prayer, and praise.

2. The covenant, the basis of worship.

3. The paradoxical assertions of both innocence & guilt.

4. The pardon of sin and justification.

5. The Messiah.

6. The future life, pro and con.

7. The imprecations.

8. Other doctrines.

V. The New Testament use of the Psalms

1. Direct references and quotations in the New Testament.

2. The allusions to the psalms in the New Testament. Certain experiences of David’s life made very deep impressions on his heart, such as: (1) his peaceful early life; (2) his persecution by Saul; (3) his being crowned king of the people; (4) the bringing up of the ark; (5) his first great sin; (6) Absalom’s rebellion; (7) his second great sin; (8) the great promise made to him in 2Sa 7 ; (9) the feelings of his old age.

We may classify the Davidic Psalms according to these experiences following the order of time, thus:

1. His peaceful early life (Psa 8 ; Psa 19 ; Psa 29 ; Psa 23 )

2. His persecution by Saul (Psa 59 ; Psa 56 ; Psa 34 ; Psa 7 ; Psa 52 ; Psa 120 ; Psa 140 ; Psa 54 ; Psa 57 ; Psa 142 ; Psa 17 ; Psa 18 )

3. Making David King (Psa 27 ; Psa 133 ; Psa 101 )

4. Bringing up the ark (Psa 68 ; Psa 24 ; Psa 132 ; Psa 15 ; Psa 78 ; Psa 96 )

5. His first great sin (Psa 51 ; Psa 32 )

6. Absalom’s rebellion (Psa 41 ; Psa 6 ; Psa 55 ; Psa 109 ; Psa 38 ; Psa 39 ; Psa 3 ; Psa 4 ; Psa 63 ; Psa 42 ; Psa 43 ; Psa 5 ; Psa 62 ; Psa 61 ; Psa 27 )

7. His second great sin (Psa 69 ; Psa 71 ; Psa 102 ; Psa 103 )

8. The great promise made to him in 2Sa 7 (Psa 2 )

9. Feelings of old age (Psa 37 )

The great doctrines of the psalms may be noted as follows: (1) the being and attributes of God; (3) sin, both original and individual; (3) both covenants; (4) the doctrine of justification; (5) concerning the Messiah.

There is a striking analogy between the Pentateuch and the Psalms. The Pentateuch contains five books of law; the Psalms contain five books of heart responses to the law.

It is interesting to note the historic controversies concerning the singing of psalms. These were controversies about singing uninspired songs, in the Middle Ages. The church would not allow anything to be used but psalms.

The history in Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, and 1 and 2 Chronicles, and in Ezra and Nehemiah is very valuable toward a proper interpretation of the psalms. These books furnish the historical setting for a great many of the psalms which is very indispensable to their proper interpretation.

Professor James Robertson, in the Poetry and Religion of the Psalms constructs a broad and strong argument in favor of the Davidic Psalms, as follows:

1. The age of David furnished promising soil for the growth of poetry.

2. David’s qualifications for composing the psalms make it highly probable that David is the author of the psalms ascribed to him.

3. The arguments against the possibility of ascribing to David any of the hymns in the Hebrew Psalter rests upon assumptions that are thoroughly antibiblical.

The New Testament makes large use of the psalms and we learn much as to their importance in teaching. There are seventy direct quotations in the New Testament from this book, from which we learn that the Scriptures were used extensively in accord with 2Ti 3:16-17 . There are also eleven references to the psalms in the New Testament from which we learn that the New Testament writers were thoroughly imbued with the spirit and teaching of the psalms. Then there are eight allusions ‘to this book in the New Testament from which we gather that the Psalms was one of the divisions of the Old Testament and that they were used in the early church.

QUESTIONS

1. Give a list of the items of information gathered from the titles of the psalms.

2. What is the longest title to any of the psalms and what the items of this title?

3. What parts of these superscriptions most concern us now?

4. What is the historic value, or trustworthiness of these titles?

5. State the argument showing David’s relation to the psalms.

6. What have you to say of the attempt of the destructive critics to rob David of his glory in relation to the Psalter by assigning the Maccabean era as the date of composition?

7. What the obvious aim of this criticism and the necessary result, if it be just?

8. What other authors are named in the titles?

9. Were all the psalms ascribed to Asaph composed by one person?

10. Give the five general outlines of the whole collection, as follows: I. The outline by books II. The outline according to date and authorship III. The outline by groups IV. The outline of doctrines V. The outline by New Testament quotations or allusions.

11. What experiences of David’s life made very deep impressions on his heart?

12. Classify the Davidic Psalms according to these experiences following the order of time.

13. What the great doctrines of the psalms?

14. What analogy between the Pentateuch and the Psalms?

15. What historic controversies concerning the singing of psalms?

16. Of what value is the history in Samuel, 1 Kings and 2 Chronicles, and in Ezra and Nehemiah toward a proper interpretation of the psalms?

17. Give Professor James Robertson’s argument in favor of the Davidic authorship of the psalms.

18. What can you say of the New Testament use of the psalms and what do we learn as to their importance in teaching?

19. What can you say of the New Testament references to the psalms, and from the New Testament references what the impression on the New Testament writers?

20. What can you say of the allusions to the psalms in the New Testament?

XVII

THE MESSIAH IN THE PSALMS

A fine text for this chapter is as follows: “All things must be fulfilled which were written in the Psalms concerning me,” Luk 24:44 . I know of no better way to close my brief treatise on the Psalms than to discuss the subject of the Messiah as revealed in this book.

Attention has been called to the threefold division of the Old Testament cited by our Lord, namely, the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms (Luk 24:44 ), in all of which were the prophecies relating to himself that “must be fulfilled.” It has been shown just what Old Testament books belong to each of these several divisions. The division called the Psalms included many books, styled Holy Writings, and because the Psalms proper was the first book of the division it gave the name to the whole division.

The object of this discussion is to sketch the psalmist’s outline of the Messiah, or rather, to show how nearly a complete picture of our Lord is foredrawn in this one book. Let us understand however with Paul, that all prophecy is but in part (1Co 13:9 ), and that when we fill in on one canvas all the prophecies concerning the Messiah of all the Old Testament divisions, we are far from having a perfect portrait of our Lord. The present purpose is limited to three things:

1. What the book of the Psalms teaches concerning the Messiah.

2. That the New Testament shall authoritatively specify and expound this teaching.

3. That the many messianic predictions scattered over the book and the specifications thereof over the New Testament may be grouped into an orderly analysis, so that by the adjustment of the scattered parts we may have before us a picture of our Lord as foreseen by the psalmists.

In allowing the New Testament to authoritatively specify and expound the predictive features of the book, I am not unmindful of what the so-called “higher critics” urge against the New Testament quotations from the Old Testament and the use made of them. In this discussion, however, these objections are not considered, for sufficient reasons. There is not space for it. Even at the risk of being misjudged I must just now summarily pass all these objections, dismissing them with a single statement upon which the reader may place his own estimate of value. That statement is that in the days of my own infidelity, before this old method of criticism had its new name, I was quite familiar with the most and certainly the strongest of the objections now classified as higher criticism, and have since patiently re-examined them in their widely conflicting restatements under their modern name, and find my faith in the New Testament method of dealing with the Old Testament in no way shattered, but in every way confirmed. God is his own interpreter. The Old Testament as we now have it was in the hands of our Lord. I understand his apostle to declare, substantially, that “every one of these sacred scriptures is God-inspired and is profitable for teaching us what is right to believe and to do, for convincing us what is wrong in faith or practice, for rectifying the wrong when done, that we may be ready at every point, furnished completely, to do every good work, at the right time, in the right manner, and from the proper motive” (2Ti 3:16-17 ).

This New Testament declares that David was a prophet (Act 2:30 ), that he spake by the Holy Spirit (Act 1:16 ), that when the book speaks the Holy Spirit speaks (Heb 3:7 ), and that all its predictive utterances, as sacred Scripture, “must be fulfilled” (Joh 13:18 ; Act 1:16 ). It is not claimed that David wrote all the psalms, but that all are inspired, and that as he was the chief author, the book goes by his name.

It would be a fine thing to make out two lists, as follows:

1. All of the 150 psalms in order from which the New Testament quotes with messianic application.

2. The New Testament quotations, book by book, i.e., Matthew so many, and then the other books in their order.

We would find in neither of these any order as to time, that is, Psa 1 which forecasts an incident in the coming Messiah’s life does not forecast the first incident of his life. And even the New Testament citations are not in exact order as to time and incident of his life. To get the messianic picture before us, therefore, we must put the scattered parts together in their due relation and order, and so construct our own analysis. That is the prime object of this discussion. It is not claimed that the analysis now presented is perfect. It is too much the result of hasty, offhand work by an exceedingly busy man. It will serve, however, as a temporary working model, which any one may subsequently improve. We come at once to the psalmist’s outline of the Messiah.

1. The necessity for a Saviour. This foreseen necessity is a background of the psalmists’ portrait of the Messiah. The necessity consists in (1) man’s sinfulness; (2) his sin; (3) his inability of wisdom and power to recover himself; (4) the insufficiency of legal, typical sacrifices in securing atonement.

The predicate of Paul’s great argument on justification by faith is the universal depravity and guilt of man. He is everywhere corrupt in nature; everywhere an actual transgressor; everywhere under condemnation. But the scriptural proofs of this depravity and sin the apostle draws mainly from the book of the Psalms. In one paragraph of the letter to the Romans (Rom 3:4-18 ), he cites and groups six passages from six divisions of the Psalms (Psa 5:9 ; Psa 10:7 ; Psa 14:1-3 ; Psa 36:1 ; Psa 51:4-6 ; Psa 140:3 ). These passages abundantly prove man’s sinfulness, or natural depravity, and his universal practice of sin.

The predicate also of the same apostle’s great argument for revelation and salvation by a Redeemer is man’s inability of wisdom and power to re-establish communion with God. In one of his letters to the Corinthians he thus commences his argument: “For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? -For after that in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preach-ing to save them that believe.” He closes this discussion with the broad proposition: “The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God,” and proves it by a citation from Psa 94:11 : “The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain.”

In like manner our Lord himself pours scorn on human wisdom and strength by twice citing Psa 8 : “At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in thy sight” (Mat 11:25-26 ). “And when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children that were crying in the temple and saying, Hosanna to the Son of David; they were sore displeased, and said unto him, Hearest thou what these say? And Jesus saith unto them, Yea; have ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise?” (Mat 21:15-16 ).

But the necessity for a Saviour as foreseen by the psalmist did not stop at man’s depravity, sin, and helplessness. The Jews were trusting in the sacrifices of their law offered on the smoking altar. The inherent weakness of these offerings, their lack of intrinsic merit, their ultimate abolition, their complete fulfilment and supercession by a glorious antitype were foreseen and foreshown in this wonderful prophetic book: I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices; And thy burnt offerings are continually before me. I will take no bullock out of thy house, Nor he-goat out of thy folds. For every beast of the forest is mine, And the cattle upon a thousand hills. I know all of the birds of the mountains; And the wild beasts of the field are mine. If I were hungry, I would not tell thee; For the world is mine, and the fulness thereof. Will I eat the flesh of bulls, Or drink the blood of goats? Psa 50:8-13 .

Yet again it speaks in that more striking passage cited in the letter to the Hebrews: “For the law having a shadow of good things to come, not the very image of the things, can never with the same sacrifices year by year, which they offer continually, make the comers thereunto perfect. For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshipers, once purged should have no more consciousness of sins. But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance made of sins year by year. For it is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins. Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldst not, But a body didst thou prepare for me; In whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hadst no pleasure: Then said I, Lo, I am come (In the roll of the book it is written of me) To do thy will, O God. Saying above, Sacrifice and offering and whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou wouldst not, neither hadst pleasure therein, (the which are offered according to the law), then hath he said, Lo, I am come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second” (Heb 10:1-9 ).

This keen foresight of the temporary character and intrinsic worthlessness of animal sacrifices anticipated similar utterances by the later prophets (Isa 1:10-17 ; Jer 6:20 ; Jer 7:21-23 ; Hos 6:6 ; Amo 5:21 ; Mic 6:6-8 ). Indeed, I may as well state in passing that when the apostle declares, “It is impossible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins,” he lays down a broad principle, just as applicable to baptism and the Lord’s Supper. With reverence I state the principle: Not even God himself by mere appointment can vest in any ordinance, itself lacking intrinsic merit, the power to take away sin. There can be, therefore, in the nature of the case, no sacramental salvation. This would destroy the justice of God in order to exalt his mercy. Clearly the psalmist foresaw that “truth and mercy must meet together” before “righteousness and peace could kiss each other” (Psa 85:10 ). Thus we find as the dark background of the psalmists’ luminous portrait of the Messiah, the necessity for a Saviour.

2. The nature, extent, and blessedness of the salvation to be wrought by the coming Messiah. In no other prophetic book are the nature, fullness, and blessedness of salvation so clearly seen and so vividly portrayed. Besides others not now enumerated, certainly the psalmists clearly forecast four great elements of salvation:

(1) An atoning sacrifice of intrinsic merit offered once for all (Psa 40:6-8 ; Heb 10:4-10 ).

(2) Regeneration itself consisting of cleansing, renewal, and justification. We hear his impassioned statement of the necessity of regeneration: “Behold, I was shapen in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts,” followed by his earnest prayer: “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me,” and his equally fervent petition: “Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. Purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean; wash me and I shall be whiter than snow” (Psa 51 ). And we hear him again as Paul describes the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputes righteousness without works, saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, And whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not reckon sin Psa 32:1 ; Rom 4:6-8 .

(3) Introduction into the heavenly rest (Psa 95:7-11 ; Heb 3:7-19 ; Heb 4:1-11 ). Here is the antitypical Joshua leading spiritual Israel across the Jordan of death into the heavenly Canaan, the eternal rest that remaineth for the people of God. Here we find creation’s original sabbath eclipsed by redemption’s greater sabbath when the Redeemer “entered his rest, ceasing from his own works as God did from his.”

(4) The recovery of all the universal dominion lost by the first Adam and the securement of all possible dominion which the first Adam never attained (Psa 8:5-6 ; Eph 1:20-22 ; Heb 2:7-9 ; 1Co 15:24-28 ).

What vast extent then and what blessedness in the salvation foreseen by the psalmists, and to be wrought by the Messiah. Atoning sacrifice of intrinsic merit; regeneration by the Holy Spirit; heavenly rest as an eternal inheritance; and universal dominion shared with Christ!

3. The wondrous person of the Messiah in his dual nature, divine and human.

(1) His divinity,

(a) as God: “Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever” (Psa 45:6 and Heb 1:8 ) ;

(b) as creator of the heavens and earth, immutable and eternal: Of old didst thou lay the foundation of the earth; And the heavens are the work of thy hands. They shall perish, but thou shalt endure; Yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; As a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed. But thou art the same, And thy years shall have no end Psa 102:25-27 quoted with slight changes in Heb 1:10-12 .

(c) As owner of the earth: The earth is the Lord’s and the fulness thereof; The world, and they that dwell therein, Psa 24:1 quoted in 1Co 10:26 .

(d) As the Son of God: “Thou art my Son; This day have I begotten thee” Psa 2:7 ; Heb 1:5 .

(e) As David’s Lord: The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, Until I make thine enemies thy footstool, Psa 110:1 ; Mat 22:41-46 .

(f) As the object of angelic worship: “And let all the angels of God worship him” Psa 97:7 ; Heb 1:6 .

(g) As the Bread of life: And he rained down manna upon them to eat, And gave them food from heaven Psa 78:24 ; interpreted in Joh 6:31-58 . These are but samples which ascribe deity to the Messiah of the psalmists.

(2) His humanity, (a) As the Son of man, or Son of Adam: Psa 8:4-6 , cited in 1Co 15:24-28 ; Eph 1:20-22 ; Heb 2:7-9 . Compare Luke’s genealogy, Luk 3:23-38 . This is the ideal man, or Second Adam, who regains Paradise Lost, who recovers race dominion, in whose image all his spiritual lineage is begotten. 1Co 15:45-49 . (b) As the Son of David: Psa 18:50 ; Psa 89:4 ; Psa 89:29 ; Psa 89:36 ; Psa 132:11 , cited in Luk 1:32 ; Act 13:22-23 ; Rom 1:3 ; 2Ti 2:8 . Perhaps a better statement of the psalmists’ vision of the wonderful person of the Messiah would be: He saw the uncreated Son, the second person of the trinity, in counsel and compact with the Father, arranging in eternity for the salvation of men: Psa 40:6-8 ; Heb 10:5-7 . Then he saw this Holy One stoop to be the Son of man: Psa 8:4-6 ; Heb 2:7-9 . Then he was the son of David, and then he saw him rise again to be the Son of God: Psa 2:7 ; Rom 1:3-4 .

4. His offices.

(1) As the one atoning sacrifice (Psa 40:6-8 ; Heb 10:5-7 ).

(2) As the great Prophet, or Preacher (Psa 40:9-10 ; Psa 22:22 ; Heb 2:12 ). Even the method of his teaching by parable was foreseen (Psa 78:2 ; Mat 13:35 ). Equally also the grace, wisdom, and power of his teaching. When the psalmist declares that “Grace is poured into thy lips” (Psa 45:2 ), we need not be startled when we read that all the doctors in the Temple who heard him when only a boy “were astonished at his understanding and answers” (Luk 2:47 ); nor that his home people at Nazareth “all bear him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth” (Luk 4:22 ); nor that those of his own country were astonished, and said, “Whence hath this man this wisdom?” (Mat 13:54 ); nor that the Jews in the Temple marveled, saying, “How knoweth this man letters, having never learned?” (Joh 7:15 ) ; nor that the stern officers of the law found their justification in failure to arrest him in the declaration, “Never man spake like this man” (Joh 7:46 ).

(3) As the king (Psa 2:6 ; Psa 24:7-10 ; Psa 45:1-17 ; Psa 110:1 ; Mat 22:42-46 ; Act 2:33-36 ; 1Co 15:25 ; Eph 1:20 ; Heb 1:13 ).

(4) As the priest (Psa 110:4 ; Heb 5:5-10 ; Heb 7:1-21 ; Heb 10:12-14 ).

(5) As the final judge. The very sentence of expulsion pronounced upon the finally impenitent by the great judge (Mat 25:41 ) is borrowed from the psalmist’s prophetic words (Psa 6:8 ).

5. Incidents of life. The psalmists not only foresaw the necessity for a Saviour; the nature, extent, and blessedness of the salvation; the wonderful human-divine person of the Saviour; the offices to be filled by him in the work of salvation, but also many thrilling details of his work in life, death, resurrection, and exaltation. It is not assumed to cite all these details, but some of the most important are enumerated in order, thus:

(1) The visit, adoration, and gifts of the Magi recorded in Mat 2 are but partial fulfilment of Psa 72:9-10 .

(2) The scripture employed by Satan in the temptation of our Lord (Luk 4:10-11 ) was cited from Psa 91:11-12 and its pertinency not denied.

(3) In accounting for his intense earnestness and the apparently extreme measures adopted by our Lord in his first purification of the Temple (Joh 2:17 ), he cites the messianic zeal predicted in Psa 69:9 .

(4) Alienation from his own family was one of the saddest trials of our Lord’s earthly life. They are slow to understand his mission and to enter into sympathy with him. His self-abnegation and exhaustive toil were regarded by them as evidences of mental aberration, and it seems at one time they were ready to resort to forcible restraint of his freedom) virtually what in our time would be called arrest under a writ of lunacy. While at the last his half-brothers became distinguished preachers of his gospel, for a long while they do not believe on him. And the evidence forces us to the conclusion that his own mother shared with her other sons, in kind though not in degree, the misunderstanding of the supremacy of his mission over family relations. The New Testament record speaks for itself:

Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? behold, thy father and I sought thee sorrowing. And he said unto them. How is it that ye sought me? Knew ye not that I must be in my Father’s house? And they understood not the saying which he spake unto them Luk 2:48-51 (R.V.).

And when the wine failed, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, They have no wine. And Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? Mine hour is not yet come. Joh 2:3-5 (R.V.).

And there come his mother and his brethren; and standing without; they sent unto him, calling him. And a multitude was sitting about him; and they say unto him. Behold, thy mother and thy brethren without seek for thee. And he answereth them, and saith, Who is my mother and my brethren? And looking round on them that sat round about him, he saith, Behold, my mother and my brethren) For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother Mar 3:31-35 (R.V.).

Now the feast of the Jews, the feast of tabernacles, was at hand. His brethren therefore said unto him, Depart hence, and go into Judea, that thy disciples also may behold thy works which thou doest. For no man doeth anything in secret, and himself seeketh to be known openly. If thou doest these things, manifest thyself to the world. For even his brethren did not believe on him. Jesus therefore saith unto them, My time is not yet come; but your time is always ready. The world cannot hate you; but me it hateth, because I testify of it, that its works are evil. Go ye up unto the feast: I go not up yet unto this feast; because my time is not fulfilled. Joh 7:2-9 (R.V.).

These citations from the Revised Version tell their own story. But all that sad story is foreshown in the prophetic psalms. For example: I am become a stranger unto my brethren, And an alien unto my mother’s children. Psa 69:8 .

(5) The triumphal entry into Jerusalem was welcomed by a joyous people shouting a benediction from Psa 118:26 : “Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord” (Mat 21:9 ); and the Lord’s lamentation over Jerusalem predicts continued desolation and banishment from his sight until the Jews are ready to repeat that benediction (Mat 23:39 ).

(6) The children’s hosanna in the Temple after its second purgation is declared by our Lord to be a fulfilment of that perfect praise forecast in Psa 8:2 .

(7) The final rejection of our Lord by his own people was also clear in the psalmist’s vision (Psa 118:22 ; Mat 21:42-44 ).

(8) Gethsemane’s baptism of suffering, with its strong crying and tears and prayers was as clear to the psalmist’s prophetic vision as to the evangelist and apostle after it became history (Psa 69:1-4 ; Psa 69:13-20 ; and Mat 26:36-44 ; Heb 5:7 ).

(9) In life-size also before the psalmist was the betrayer of Christ and his doom (Psa 41:9 ; Psa 69:25 ; Psa 109:6-8 ; Joh 13:18 ; Act 1:20 ).

(10) The rage of the people, Jew and Gentile, and the conspiracy of Pilate and Herod are clearly outlined (Psa 2:1-3 ; Act 4:25-27 ).

(11) All the farce of his trial the false accusation, his own marvelous silence; and the inhuman maltreatment to which he was subjected, is foreshown in the prophecy as dramatically as in the history (Mat 26:57-68 ; Mat 27:26-31 ; Psa 27:12 ; Psa 35:15-16 ; Psa 38:3 ; Psa 69:19 ).

The circumstances of his death, many and clear, are distinctly foreseen. He died in the prime of life (Psa 89:45 ; Psa 102:23-24 ). He died by crucifixion (Psa 22:14-17 ; Luk 23 ; 33; Joh 19:23-37 ; Joh 20:27 ). But yet not a bone of his body was broken (Psa 34:20 ; Joh 19:36 ).

The persecution, hatred without a cause, the mockery and insults, are all vividly and dramatically foretold (Psa 22:6-13 ; Psa 35:7 ; Psa 35:12 ; Psa 35:15 ; Psa 35:21 ; Psa 109:25 ).

The parting of his garments and the gambling for his vesture (Psa 22:18 ; Mat 27:35 ).

His intense thirst and the gall and vinegar offered for his drink (Psa 69:21 ; Mat 27:34 ).

In the psalms, too, we hear his prayers for his enemies so remarkably fulfilled in fact (Psa 109:4 ; Luk 23:34 ).

His spiritual death was also before the eye of the psalmist, and the very words which expressed it the psalmist heard. Separation from the Father is spiritual death. The sinner’s substitute must die the sinner’s death, death physical, i.e., separation of soul from body; death spiritual, i.e., separation of the soul from God. The latter is the real death and must precede the former. This death the substitute died when he cried out: “My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me.” (Psa 22:1 ; Mat 27:46 ).

Emerging from the darkness of that death, which was the hour of the prince of darkness, the psalmist heard him commend his spirit to the Father (Psa_31:35; Luk 23:46 ) showing that while he died the spiritual death, his soul was not permanently abandoned unto hell (Psa 16:8-10 ; Act 2:25 ) so that while he “tasted death” for every man it was not permanent death (Heb 2:9 ).

With equal clearness the psalmist foresaw his resurrection, his triumph over death and hell, his glorious ascension into heaven, and his exaltation at the right hand of God as King of kings and Lord of lords, as a high Driest forever, as invested with universal sovereignty (Psa 16:8-11 ; Psa 24:7-10 ; Psa 68:18 ; Psa 2:6 ; Psa 111:1-4 ; Psa 8:4-6 ; Act 2:25-36 ; Eph 1:19-23 ; Eph 4:8-10 ).

We see, therefore, brethren, when the scattered parts are put together and adjusted, how nearly complete a portrait of our Lord is put upon the prophetic canvas by this inspired limner, the sweet singer of Israel.

QUESTIONS

1. What is a good text for this chapter?

2. What is the threefold division of the Old Testament as cited by our Lord?

3. What is the last division called and why?

4. What is the object of the discussion in this chapter?

5. To what three things is the purpose limited?

6. What especially qualifies the author to meet the objections of the higher critics to allowing the New Testament usage of the Old Testament to determine its meaning and application?

7. What is the author’s conviction relative to the Scriptures?

8. What is the New Testament testimony on the question of inspiration?

9. What is the author’s suggested plan of approach to the study of the Messiah in the Psalms?

10. What the background of the Psalmist’s portrait of the Messiah and of what does it consist?

11. Give the substance of Paul’s discussion of man’s sinfulness.

12. What is the teaching of Jesus on this point?

13. What is the teaching relative to sacrifices?

14. What the nature, extent, and blessedness of the salvation to be wrought by the coming Messiah and what the four great elements of it as forecast by the psalmist?

15. What is the teaching of the psalms relative to the wondrous person of the Messiah? Discuss.

16. What are the offices of the Messiah according to psalms? Discuss each.

17. Cite the more important events of the Messiah’s life according to the vision of the psalmist.

18. What the circumstances of the Messiah’s death and resurrection as foreseen by the psalmist?

Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible

XV

PSALM AFTER DAVID PRIOR TO THE BABYLONIAN EXILE

The superscriptions ascribed to Asaph twelve palms (Psa 50 ; 73-83) Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun presided over the Levitical singers in the time of David. Their sons also directed the various bands of musicians (1Ch 25 ). It seems that the family of Asaph for many generations continued to preside over the service of song (Cf. Ezr 3:10 ).

The theme of Psa 50 is “Obedience is better than sacrifice,” or the language of Samuel to Saul when he had committed the awful sin in respect to the Amalekites. This teaching is paralleled in many Old Testament scriptures, for instance, Psa 51:16-17 . For thou delightest not in sacrifice; else would I give it: Thou hast no pleasure in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: A broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.

The problem of Psa 73 is the problem of why the wicked prosper (Psa 73:1-14 ), and its solution is found in the attitude of God toward the wicked (Psa 73:15-28 ). [For a fine exposition of the other psalms of this section see Kirkpatrick or Maclaren on the Psalms.]

The psalms attributed to the sons of Korah are Psa 42 ; Psa 44 ; Psa 45 ; Psa 47 ; Psa 48 ; Psa 49 ; Psa 84 ; Psa 85 ; Psa 87 . The evidence that Psalms 42-43 were one poem is internal. There are three stanzas, each closing with a refrain. The similarity of structure and thought indicates that they were formerly one psalm. A parallel to these two psalms we find in the escape of Christian from the Castle of Giant Despair in Pilgrim’s Progress .

Only two psalms were ascribed to Solomon, viz: Psa 72 and 127. However, the author believes that there is good reason to attribute Psa 72 to David. If he wrote it, then only one was written by Solomon.

The theme of Psa 72 is the reign of the righteous king, and the outline according to DeWitt, which shows the kingdom as desired and foretold, is as follows: (1) righteous (Psa 72:1-4 ) ; (2) perpetual (Psa 72:5-7 ); (3) universal (Psa 72:8-11 ); (4) benign (Psa 72:12-14 ); (5) prosperous (Psa 72:15-17 ).

Psa 127 was written when Solomon built the Temple. It is the central psalm of the psalms of the Ascents, which refer to the Temple. It seems fitting that this psalm should occupy the central position in the group, because of the occasion which inspired it and its relation to the other psalms of the group. A brief interpretation of it is as follows: The house here means household. It is a brief lyric, setting forth the lessons of faith and trust. This together with Psa 128 is justly called “A Song of Home.” Once in speaking to Baylor Female College I used this psalm, illustrating the function of a school as a parent sending forth her children into the world as mighty arrows. Again I used this psalm in one of my addresses in our own Seminary in which I made the household to refer to the Seminary sending forth the preachers as her children.

The psalms assigned to the era of Hezekiah and Isaiah are Psa 46 ; Psa 47 ; Psa 48 . The historical setting is found in the history of the reign of Hezekiel. Their application to Judah at this time is found in the historical connection, in which we have God’s great deliverances from the foreign powers, especially the deliverance from Sennacherib. We find in poetry a description of the destruction and desolation of Jerusalem in the Lamentations of Jeremiah and in Psa 74 ; Psa 79 .

The radical critics ascribe Psa 74 ; Psa 79 to the Maccabean period, and their argument is based upon the use of the word “synagogues,” in Psa 74:8 . The answer to their contention is found in the marginal rendering which gives “places of assembly” instead of “synagogues.” The word “synagogue” is a Greek word translated from the Hebrew, which has several meanings, and in this place means the “place of assembly” where God met his people.

The silence of the exile period is shown in Psa 137 , in which they respond that they cannot sing a song of Zion in a strange land. Their brightening of hope is seen in Psa 102 . In this we have the brightening of their hope on the eve of their return. In Psa 85:10 we have a great text:

Mercy and truth are met together;

Righteousness and peace have kissed each other.

The truth here is God’s law demanding justice; mercy is God’s grace meeting justice. This was gloriously fulfilled in Christ on the cross. He met the demands of the law and offers mercy and grace to all who accept them on the terms of repentance and faith.

Three characteristics of Psa 119 are, first, it is an alphabetical psalm; second, it is the longest chapter in the Bible, and third, it is an expansion of the latter part of Psa 19 . Psalms 146-150 were used for worship in the second temple. The expressions of innocence in the psalms do not refer to original sin, but to a course of conduct in contrast with wicked lives. The psalmists do not claim absolute, but relative sinlessness.

The imprecations in the psalms are real prayers, and are directed against real men who were enemies of David and the Jewish nation, but they are not expressions of personal resentment. They are vigorous expressions of righteous indignation against incorrigible enemies of God and his people and are to be interpreted in the light of progressive revelation. The New Testament contains many exultant expressions of the overthrow of the wicked. (Cf. 1Co 16:22 ; 2Ti 4:14 ; Gal 5:12 ; Rev 16:5-6 ; Rev 18:20 .) These imprecations do not teach that we, even in the worst circumstances, should bear personal malice, nor take vengeance on the enemies of righteousness, but that we should live so close to God that we may acquiesce in the destruction of the wicked and leave the matter of vengeance in the hands of a just God, to whom vengeance belongs (Rom 12:19-21 ).

The clearest teachings on the future life as found in the psalms, both pro and con, are found in these passages, as follows: Psa 16:10-11 ; Psa 17:15 ; Psa 23:6 ; Psa 49:15 ; Psa 73:23-26 . The passages that are construed to the contrary are found in Psa 6:5 ; Psa 30:9 ; Psa 39:13 ; Psa 88:10-12 ; Psa 115:17 . The student will compare these passages and note carefully their teachings. The first group speaks of the triumph over Sheol (the resurrection) ; about awaking in the likeness of God; about dwelling in the house of the Lord forever; about redemption from the power of Sheol; and God’s guiding counsel and final reception into glory, all of which is very clear and unmistakable teaching as to the future life.

The second group speaks of DO remembrance in death; about no profit to the one when he goes down to the pit; of going hence and being no more; about the dead not being able to praise God and about the grave as being the land of forgetfulness ; and about the dead not praising Jehovah, all of which are spoken from the standpoint of the grave and temporal death.

There is positively no contradiction nor discrepancy in the teaching of these scriptures. One group takes the spirit of man as the viewpoint and teaches the continuity of life, the immortality of the soul; the other group takes the physical being of man as the viewpoint and teaches the dissolution of the body and its absolute unconsciousness in the grave.

QUESTIONS

1. How many and what psalms were ascribed to Asaph?

2. Who presided over the Levitical singers in the time of David?

3. What is the theme of Psa 50 , and where do we find the same teaching in the Old Testament?

4. What is the problem of Psa 73 , and what its solution?

5. What psalms are attributed to the sons of Korah?

6. What is the evidence that Psalms 42-43 were one poem and what the characteristic of these two taken together?

7. What parallel to these two psalms do we find in modern literature?

8. What psalms were ascribed to Solomon?

9. What is the theme of Psa 72 ?

10. What is the outline according to DeWitt, which shows the kingdom as desired and foretold?

11. When was Psa 127 written and what the application as a part of the Pilgrim group?

12. Give a brief interpretation of it and the uses made of it by the author on two different occasions.

13. What psalms are assigned to the era of Hezekiah and Isaiah, and what their historical setting?

14. What is their application to Judah at this time?

15. Where may we find in poetry a description of the destruction and desolation of Jerusalem?

16. To what period do radical critics ascribe Psalms 74-79; what is their argument, and what is your answer?

17. Which psalm shows the silence of the exile period and why?

18. Which one shows their brightening of hope?

19. Explain Psa 85:10 .

20. Give three characteristics of Psa 119 .

21. What use was made of Psalms 146-150?

22. Explain the expression of innocence in the psalms in harmony with their teaching of sin.

23. Explain the imprecations in the psalms and show their harmony with New Testament teachings.

24. Cite the clearest teachings on the future life as found in the psalms, both pro and con.

Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible

Psa 43:1 Judge me, O God, and plead my cause against an ungodly nation: O deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man.

Ver. 1. Judge me, O God ] This psalm is, as it were, an epitome or an appendix to the former, and little differing in words or matter.

Plead my cause ] See Psa 35:1 .

Against an ungodly nation ] Heb. a nation not mild or merciful; so he calleth Absalom’s complices, who sought and would have sucked his blood. Such are a people of God’s wrath and of his curse.

O deliver me, &c. ] From Absalom, or Ahithophel, or the whole faction.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

“To the chief musician: instruction; for the sons of Korah.”

These are clearly companion psalms, and so under one title. The prophetic aspect is the remnant cast out or fled: compare with Mat 24:15 et seqq., Mar 13:14 , etc., Joe 2:17 . The historic occasion is when David and his faithful following abandoned Jerusalem under Absalom’s conspiracy. The closing days of our Lord had in the highest degree this character, though modified by other considerations; for what sorrows had not He, the Holy One of God? Yet the former of the twain is more general and looks at Gentile enemies as much as or more than any; whereas the force of the later psalm is the complaint against the Jews as “an ungodly nation.” Professedly holy (in the sense here of piety from being the object of divine mercy), they had none; they were now goi lo-chasid. How true, yet how bitter, that the driven out godly ones should so speak to God of the chosen people! And so in fact it will be. The one psalm without the other could not adequately express the grief of the remnant at this juncture, when the Antichrist sets up the abomination of desolation in the sanctuary, instigated and protected by the Beast (or Emperor of the Western powers). See Rev 13 . The thirst here is to drink once more of the waters, whence the abominable amalgam of Gentile self-will and Jewish apostasy had driven them out; so they confidently expect from God Who cannot deny Himself, and loves His people.

Fuente: William Kelly Major Works (New Testament)

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Psa 43:1-2

1Vindicate me, O God, and plead my case against an ungodly nation;

O deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man!

2For You are the God of my strength; why have You rejected me?

Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?

Psa 43:1 Because of

1. the refrain in Psa 42:5; Psa 42:11, which reoccurs in Psa 43:5

2. no introduction in the MT in Psalms 43 (the only Psalm in Book 2 with no introduction)

this was probably part of Psalms 42 at one time but was divided for some unknown reason. The Jewish Study Bible’s marginal note (p. 1330) suggests that the fact that Psalms 42 focuses on the past, while Psalms 43 focuses on the future, that may be a hint as to why and where they were divided!

vindicate This verb (BDB 1047, KB 1622, Qal imperative, cf. Psa 7:8; Psa 26:1; Psa 35:24) basically means to judge. The psalmist is using court language (cf. Psa 17:1-3). YHWH is the righteous and fair judge of all human activity (i.e., Psa 9:4).

plead my case This is also a court metaphor (BDB 936, KB 1224, Qal imperative). YHWH is the only fair and impartial judge! This same powerful court imagery is in Rom 8:31-39!

an ungodly nation If it is true that Psalms 42, 43 were originally one Psalm and that Psa 42:6 means the author was in exile, then the ungodly nation would probably refer to Syria.

It is surprising that the next line uses the descriptive phrase, the deceitful and unjust man! One would have expected the plural and a description that focused on idolatry or aggression.

Psa 43:2 Life is hard, unfair, and problems come unexpectedly. All of us wonder why.

1. have I offended God

2. have I violated God’s law

3. is this a judgment for sin or a random occurrence of evil events and people in a fallen world?

The psalmist asks Why (Psa 43:2), so do all humans!

Remember this is OT Wisdom Literature, which is a genre well known in the ANE. It addresses questions all humans ask. For Israel, the questions are related to YHWH and His revelations through Moses. The OT does not answer all the questions in the same way as the NT. There is a change.

1. progressive revelation

2. new covenant

3. the mystery of evil

the God of my strength This is a recurrent refrain (BDB 731, i.e., a place of safety or protection, often translated refuge, cf. Psa 27:1; Psa 28:7-8; Psa 31:2; Psa 31:4; Psa 37:39; Psa 52:7; Isa 17:10; Isa 25:4; Isa 27:5; Jer 16:19). Faithful followers can always know that YHWH is their hope, protection, and place of safety amidst the problems and conflicts of this fallen world. However, this peace must be embraced. It is a faith act and a worldview that is unrelated to the swirling circumstances of this present reality!

Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy? This is very similar to Psa 42:9.

Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley

Judge = Vindicate.

God. Hebrew. Elohim. App-4.

ungodly = graceless. Figure of speech Tapeinosis. App-6.

man. Hebrew. ‘ish.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

Psa 43:1-5

Psa 43:1-5 seems to be similar to Psa 42:1-11 . There are some who believe that it actually belonged to Psa 42:1-11 , and in some of the manuscripts they were even put together as one psalm.

Judge me, O God, and plead my cause against an ungodly nation: O deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man. For thou art the God of my strength: why dost thou cast me off? why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy? O send out thy light and thy truth: let them lead me; let them bring me unto thy holy hill, and to thy tabernacles ( Psa 43:1-3 ).

How many times we have cried out to God, “Oh God, send out Your light and Your truth. Let them lead me. God, I want to do the right thing. God, I want to follow Your will in this matter. God, I don’t know which way to turn. I don’t know what way to go. God, send out Your light. Let Your truth lead me.”

Then will I go unto the altar of God, unto God my exceeding joy: yea, upon the harp will I praise thee, O God my God ( Psa 43:4 ).

And then the phrase that we had in the last psalm.

Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God ( Psa 43:5 ). “

Fuente: Through the Bible Commentary

Psa 43:1-2. Judge me, O God, and plead my cause against an ungodly nation: O deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man. For thou art the God of my strength:

In the previous Psalm, David had called the Lord the God of his life. Now he calls him the God of his strength. We generally sing ourselves up. We may begin in a very low key, as David did, but if we can praise God in the dark, we shall soon praise God in the light.

Psa 43:2-4. Why dost thou cast me off? why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy? O send out thy light and thy truth: let them lead me; let them bring me unto thy holy hill, and to thy tabernacles. Then will I go unto the altar of God, unto God my exceeding joy:

My exceeding joy,–exceeding all the other joys I have,–exceeding still the joys of the happiest men I have ever known.

Psa 43:4. Yea, upon the harp will I praise thee, O God my God.

It was not enough for David to say, O God; he cries, O God my God. You cannot praise another mans God. Possession is not only nine points of the law, but it is all the points of the gospel.

Psa 43:5. Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance and my God.

May the Lord comfort his mourning people by such words as these!

Fuente: Spurgeon’s Verse Expositions of the Bible

Psa 43:1-2

Psalms 43

Psa 43:1-2

“Judge me, O God, and plead my cause against an ungodly nation:

Oh deliver men from the deceitful and unjust man.

For thou art the God of my strength; why hast thou cast me off?.

Why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?”

“Against an ungodly nation” (Psa 43:1). The ungodly nation was either Assyria which captivated Northern Israel, or Babylon which made captives of Judaea, certainly not the Israel of God. As Leupold pointed out, “The word for nation here is `[~goy],’ which was commonly used for hostile Gentiles.

“The deceitful and unjust man” (Psa 43:1). This is a reference to the king of Babylon or Assyria. Leupold applied this to Absalom; but we cannot imagine any group of Israelite singers accepting these words as applicable to David’s beloved son Absalom. Oh yes, Absalom was as wicked as any man could possibly be; but David loved him in spite of this, even giving orders to the military to “deal tenderly” with him. Besides, this deceitful and unjust man was “an oppressor” of the psalmist (Psa 42:9 and Psa 43:2); and Absalom, despite his intentions was never in a position to “oppress” David.

E.M. Zerr:

Psa 43:1. The word for nation also means race or people and is so used in this place. The reference is to them as individuals and not as an organized group, for David was a member of the Jewish nation himself and would not wish to be separated from it. But many of his fellow citizens were his personal enemies and worked against him secretly. He prayed for God to deal with them as they deserved.

Psa 43:2. God of my strength denotes that David could feel strong only in God. Paul taught the same truth in 2Co 12:10; Eph 6:10. The verse contains another effort to bestir himself and shake off his feeling of despair.

Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary

This psalm is either a part of the previous one or is closely connected with it. It breathes the same note of confidence, ending with the same words practically as the two parts of the former. It reaches a higher plane in that it refers only to sorrow and mourning in order to protest against them in the light of the certainty of God’s deliverance. From prayer for that deliverance, which he has twice in the previous psalm declared to be certain, he passes to affirmation of how, following the leading of God’s light and truth, he will go up to worship. Notice the procession to praise as he describes it. To the hill, to the Tabernacles, to the altar, and then the act of praise. Not yet has the answer come. The darkness and the mystery are still about him, but the shining way is seen; and again the soul is forbidden to despair and hope is encouraged in God.

Fuente: An Exposition on the Whole Bible

The Help of My Countenance

Psa 43:1-5

The exiled king still pours out his soul to God. Already David has addressed Him as God of my life; here God appeals to David as God of my strength, Psa 43:2, and God, the gladness of my joy, Psa 43:4, r.v., margin. Speak well of thy God, even though His back seems turned on thee!

Thy light and thy truth, Psa 43:3, may refer to the Urim and Thummim. Or we may think of them as two white-vestured angels sent from Gods presence-chamber to guide the exiles steps back to his home. Send them forth, commissioned to find me in this lone land and bring me to thine altar. There seem to be four steps in the approach. Unto thy holy hill-this was Mount Zion. To thy tabernacles, the earthly Presence-chamber. Unto the altar of God. Here is a step in advance. Our altar is the Cross where Jesus died, Heb 13:10. But Gods altar is not enough; we need Him. So we still press on unto God my exceeding joy. Then the hue of health appears on our faces! See Psa 43:5.

Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary

Psa 43:3

The forty-second and forty-third Psalms give us an insight into the very heart of the Psalmist. David there appears as the man whose affections were set upon God, and who in all the changes, and chances, and dangers of a chequered life looked upward, aspired for closer communion with God; and it is for this that he is our teacher and our example.

I. We need to have this teaching and this example in this life of weary toil. We need to have our spirits lifted up, not to be always earthward bound, but raised, elevated, borne up to the contemplation of higher things, higher and also more lasting. That is one great corrective of worldliness, one great protection for our soul, amid the temptations, pursuits, business, and pleasures of this present world-to look upward.

II. Observe how entirely Christian the prayer is, for what is it we here ask of God? We ask for His light and for His truth. What is this but to ask for Christ to dwell in our hearts? When we pray for God’s light and God’s truth to lead us, we pray that Jesus Christ may dwell in us, and work in us, and rule in us, to the sanctifying and saving of our soul.

III. The dwelling of God, where is it? In the highest heaven. Even those words are inadequate to convey a just idea of His habitation. “Behold, the heaven of heavens cannot contain Him.” God is present in all places, at all times, but is present according to His true promise wheresoever two or three are gathered together in His name.

R. D. B. Rawnsley, Village Sermons, 3rd series, p. 158.

Reference: Psa 43:3, Psa 43:4.-J. M. Neale, Sermons on Passages of the Psalms, pp. 108, 120.

Psa 43:4

I. The text pronounces one good word-joy. “The joy of the Lord is strength.” The cheerful spirit is the healthful and the dutiful spirit. I do not mean the spirit of animal jollity, nor the merriment of indifference, but that subdued, cheerful spirit which fronts its duties.

II. He pronounces with greater emphasis the word “God.” For God alone is exceeding joy. Sensuality cloys, but never satisfies; ambition is disturbed and dissatisfied; refined intelligence and taste leave something unknown, and cloud joy by debate and doubt. “All things are full of labour.” God alone is surpassing joy. (1) Joy undisturbed by any fear of coming to an end, for that is the spectre at the feast-the end. (2) If calamity and reproach blast our good name with men, and we are exposed to shame and ignominy, God is exceeding joy; He is not imposed upon by misrepresentation; we have His approbation.

III. The text leads to an important discrimination between thinking about God and enjoying Him. Some have God only in idea, in fancy, in opinion; some have God only in the perception of law; but the living God is essential life, and being essential life, is essential joy.

IV. Here breaks in the appropriating power for which the Psalms are so remarkable. There is a spreading out of the hands to the Infinite-“O God.” There is a closing of the hands upon the heart-“my God.” There is no joy unless God is appropriated.

V. Exceeding joy. Yet once more. This is the quality of it. This can be said of no other joy; all other beauties have their boundaries; all other glories have their glooms. Watch then your best joys, that they do not leave you, treasure your joys, and strive for the “meetness of the inheritance of the saints in light;” part with all that you have for that pearl and that field.

E. Paxton Hood, Dark Sayings on a Harp, p. 101.

References: Psa 43:4.-J. P. Gledstone, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxvi., p. 364; H. Scott Holland, Logic and Life, p. 99. Psa 43:5.-H. P. Liddon, Old Testament Outlines, p. 111. Psa 43:1-3.-R. D. B. Rawnsley, Sermons in Country Churches, 2nd series, p. 69. Psa 44:1.-Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. v., No. 263; R. W. Dale, Evangelical Revival, p. 2; H. P. Liddon, Christian World Pulpit, vol. vi., p. 113, and Old Testament Outlines, p. 113; J. W. Burgon, Ninety-one Short Sermons, No. 90; Parker, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxiii., p. 216, and Fountain, June 16th, 1881. Psa 45:1, Psa 45:2.-Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. xi., p. 331.

Fuente: The Sermon Bible

Psalm 43

The Cry Against the Ungodly Nation and Antichrist

1. The cry to God (Psa 43:1-2)

2. Send out Thy light and truth (Psa 43:3-5)

Here their enemies are mentioned, the ungodly nation, serving the beast (Rev 13:11-18). The deceitful and unjust man, is that coming man of sin, the son of perdition, who then has taken his seat in the temple of God in Jerusalem (2Th 2:1-17). They realize their help must come from the Lord to lead them to the holy hill and the sanctuary. They call for the coming of Him who is the Light and the Truth.

Fuente: Gaebelein’s Annotated Bible (Commentary)

am 2983, bc 1021 – Title This Psalm is evidently a continuation of the preceding, and had the same author; and they are written as one in forty-six manuscripts The sameness of subject, similarity of composition, and return of the same burden in both, are sufficient evidence of this opinion.

Judge: Psa 7:8, Psa 26:1, Psa 35:24, Psa 75:7, 1Co 4:4, 1Pe 2:23

plead: Psa 35:1, 1Sa 24:15, Pro 22:23, Pro 23:11, Mic 7:9

ungodly: or, unmerciful

the deceitful: Heb. a man of deceit and iniquity, Psa 71:4, 2Sa 15:31, 2Sa 16:20-23, 2Sa 17:1-4

Reciprocal: Gen 16:5 – the Lord Gen 30:6 – God Gen 32:11 – Deliver 1Sa 24:12 – Lord judge 2Sa 15:12 – the people 2Sa 15:30 – and wept as he went up 2Sa 18:8 – General 2Ch 20:12 – wilt Job 23:4 – order Psa 5:6 – the bloody Psa 17:1 – Hear Psa 22:1 – my God Psa 31:1 – deliver Psa 44:24 – Wherefore Psa 54:1 – judge Psa 71:2 – in thy Psa 119:43 – for I have Psa 119:154 – Plead Psa 140:1 – Deliver Jer 11:20 – revealed Jer 50:34 – plead Lam 3:59 – judge

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Deliverance sought from Antichrist and his adherents.

The forty-third psalm goes back to Jerusalem and the state of things there. In the former one; the “enemy” seems naturally to be rather the outside foe, the Gentile. In the present, it is the ungodly nation and the man of deceit and iniquity; with whom they are identifying themselves; -that is; Antichrist. He is “the liar,” as the apostle John says, who denying altogether the Father and the Son, -that is, the Christian revelation, -denies also, as to the Jewish, not that there is a Christ (a Messiah), but “that Jesus is the Christ” (1Jn 2:22). Thus the psalmist now prays, “Send out Thy light and truth” and “they shall lead me; they shall bring me to Thy holy hill and to Thy tabernacles.” Gloriously will these be indeed displayed when the true Christ shall be revealed from heaven, and with the breath of His lips destroy the wicked one. Deliverance will then have come for the godly ones among the people, as in a moment; Israel’s holy places be restored, and their worship be resumed, never again to know interruption.

As to the rest of the psalm, it is largely a repetition of the previous one; and in these outline-notes we need hardly dwell upon it.

Fuente: Grant’s Numerical Bible Notes and Commentary

Psa 43:1-2. Judge me, O God, &c. O God, the supreme Judge of the whole world, I appeal to thee, in this contest between me and a seditious people, who, void of piety and humanity, (so the phrase , lo chasid, here rendered ungodly, means,) are risen up in rebellion against me, beseeching thee to vindicate my innocence, and defend me from their violence. Bishop Patrick. He calls the company of his enemies a nation, because of their great numbers: for they were the far greater part, and almost the whole body of the nation. Deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man Who hath covered his wicked designs with fair and false pretexts, pretending devotion when he went to make an insurrection, 2Sa 15:7; 2Sa 15:10. Deliver me from the crafty counsel which Ahithophel gives him; and from the open force whereby he seeks injuriously to take away my life, Ibid. Psa 17:1-2. For thou art the God of my strength, &c. I have none to flee unto for safety and protection but thee alone; who hast ever hitherto been my mighty deliverer, and art now my only support.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

REFLECTIONS.PSALM 42. 43.

These two psalms were originally one, and it is difficult to account for their being divided. They both close with the same reviving chorus. David composed them beyond the Jordan, and in the vicinity of mount Hermon, when he fled from Absalom; and to that cruel and unnatural revolt we are indebted, under God, for some of his most pathetic pieces. The first object which pierced his soul in exile, was banishment from the house and altar of the Lord. He was perfectly acquainted with the omnipresence of the Maker of heaven and earth; yet no place was so dear to the pious Jew as the mercyseat. Therefore as the hart, the hunted hart, pants to cool his body in pools of water, so his soul panted for the river, whose streams make glad the city of God. How then will those christians appear, who discover so great an indifference to the means of grace?

The second cause of Davids grief was, that the infidel and rebellious crowd should now display their wanton wit in deriding the confidence he had ever reposed in the peculiar promises of God. Hearing of his flight, and presuming he was now for ever lost, they exclaimed, Where is now thy God. This was the more afflictive, as he had gone with those men to the house of God, and headed their devotion in all public days of joy and thanksgiving. Hence we should learn to trust in God alone, and not repose too much confidence in men, not even in the best of men.

We have next the power of faith, which can support the soul in the most afflictive situations. Davids army was small, the rebels were numerous and wicked beyond a name. His flight was attended with a thousand humiliations, and the revolt of his favourite son was connected with crimes peculiarly mortifying to the sire. So circumstanced, day and night he enjoyed his tears, instead of meat. All around him was impervious gloom; yet even then faith broke into his mind with rays of confidence and hope; and assuming the soul of a prophet and a king, he said, Why art thou cast down, oh my soul? Why art thou disquieted within me? Hope thou in God, for I shall yet praise him.

Providence presently realized his confidence; the rebels were defeated, many of the fugitives were driven over the precipice, in the wood of Ephraim; the kingdom was purified of a vast throng of incorrigible men, and the Lord brought back the king to his altar and his holy hill. Oh how good is the Lord to those who trust in his word: how bright are the beams of the sun after a dark and cloudy day. He who has God for his portion should never yield to despair.

Whether we are overwhelmed with spiritual despondency and gloom, whether involved in family afflictions, or overtaken with national calamities, let us fix our eye and heart steadfastly on the promises of God, and wait the issues of his holy will.

Fuente: Sutcliffe’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Psa 43:1-5. Hopeful prayer for restoration to the Temple. It is impossible to say who are meant by the ungodly nation, the nation that is not hasid (see Psalms 43*) or pious. Following this clue we might understand by the nation that is not pious, the mass of careless or apostate Jews, since nobody would expect zealous piety from heathen. But it is doubtful if goi. the word translated nation, could mean here a party in a nation. Besides, hasid may be used in a more general sense, viz. merciful.

Psa 43:3. The light is that of Gods countenance, His favour: His truth is His faithfulness. They are here personified.The plural form tabernacles refers to the Temple with its various rooms and courts.

Psa 43:4. the gladness of my joy (mg.) is almost as strange in Heb. as in English. We may perhaps read I will go to the altar of God, the God of my joy, I will exult and upon the harp, etc.

Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible

PSALM 43

The godly man looking to God to be delivered from his enemies, and brought back to the sanctuary, in God’s holy hill, for the praise of God.

(vv. 1-2) The great theme of the last psalm is the longing of the soul for the living God. In this psalm the earnest desire of the godly man is to be delivered from his different foes – an ungodly nation, the Jews; the deceitful and unjust man – the Antichrist; and the oppression of the enemy – the Gentiles.

Feeling his utter weakness, he realizes that God is the God of his strength. Nevertheless his outward circumstances, as driven out of the land, make it appear that he is cast off by God.

(vv. 3-4) He seeks that he may not be deceived by the surrounding gloom, or judge according to appearances; but that he may be led by the light and truth of God. Judging according to circumstances and sight, he would be led far from God. Guided by God’s light and truth he would be led to God’s holy hill, and God’s tabernacles.

This then is the desire of his heart, that delivered from every enemy, and led by light and truth, he may at last be found at God’s altar as a worshipper in God’s tabernacle.

(v. 5) Encouraged by this prospect he again rebukes his despondency, and the anxieties which disquiet his soul. He encourages himself to hope in God, whom he will yet praise. Then will his face shine in the full enjoyment of the favour of God.

Fuente: Smith’s Writings on 24 Books of the Bible

43:1 Judge {a} me, O God, and plead my cause against an ungodly {b} nation: O deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man.

(a) He desires God to undertake his cause against the enemies but chiefly that he would restore him to the tabernacle.

(b) That is, the cruel company of my enemies.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

Psalms 43

In this prayer the psalmist asked God to lead him back to Jerusalem so he could worship God there and find refreshment and relief. As mentioned in my introductory comments concerning Psalms 42, this psalm may at one time have been the last part of that one. This psalm is the only one in Book 2 (Psalms 42-72) that does not have a heading.

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

1. Prayer for vindication 43:1-3

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

The psalmist wrote as though most of the people in his nation had turned against him. He also referred to one opponent in particular. If David wrote this psalm, he may have done so when he fled from Absalom.

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

1

Psa 42:1-11, Psa 43:1-5

THE second book of the Psalter is characterised by the use of the Divine name “Elohim” instead of “Jehovah.” It begins with a cluster of seven psalms (reckoning Psa 42:1-11; Psa 43:1-5, as one) of which the superscription is most probably regarded as ascribing their authorship to “the sons of Korach.” These were Levites, and (according to 1Ch 9:19 seq.) the office of keepers of the door of the sanctuary had been hereditary in their family from the time of Moses. Some of them were among the faithful adherents of David at Ziklag, {1Ch 12:6} and in the new model of worship inaugurated by him the Korachites were doorkeepers and musicians. They retained the former office in the second Temple. {Neh 11:19} The ascription of authorship to a group is remarkable, and has led to the suggestion that the superscription does not specify the authors, but the persons for whose use the psalms in question were composed. The Hebrew would bear either meaning; but if the latter is adopted, all these psalms are anonymous. The same construction is found in Book 1 in Psa 25:1-22; Psa 26:1-12; Psa 27:1-14; Psa 28:1-9; Psa 35:1-28; Psa 37:1-40 where it is obviously the designation of authorship, and it is naturally taken to have the same force in these Korachite psalms. It has been ingeniously conjectured by Delitzsch that the Korachite psalms originally formed a separate collection entitled “Songs of the Sons of Korach,” and that this title afterwards passed over into the superscriptions when they were incorporated in the Psalter. It may have been so, but the supposition is unnecessary. It was not exactly literary fame which psalmists hungered for. The actual author, as one of a band of kinsmen who worked and sang together, would, not unnaturally, be content to sink his individuality and let his song go forth as that of the band. Clearly the superscriptions rested upon some tradition or knowledge, else defective information would not have been acknowledged as it is in this one; but some name would have been coined to fill the gap.

The two psalms (Psa 42:1-11, Psa 43:1-5) are plainly one. The absence of a title for the second, the identity of tone throughout, the recurrence of several phrases, and especially of the refrain, put this beyond doubt. The separation, however, is old, since it is found in the LXX. It is useless to speculate on its origin.

There is much in the psalms which favours the hypothesis that the author was a Korachite companion of Davids in his flight before Absalom; but the locality, described as that of the singer, does not entirely correspond to that of the kings retreat, and the description of the enemies is not easily capable of application in all points to his foes. The house of God is still standing, the poet has been there recently, and hopes soon to return and render praise. Therefore the psalm must be pre-exilic; and while there is no certainty attainable as to date, it may at least be said that the circumstances of the singer present more points of contact with those of the supposed Korachite follower of Davids fortunes on the uplands across Jordan than with those of any other of the imaginary persons to whom modern criticism has assigned the poem. Whoever wrote it has given immortal form to the longings of the soul after God. He has fixed forever and made melodious a sigh.

The psalm falls into three parts, each closing with the same refrain. Longings and tears, remembrances of festal hours passed in the sanctuary melt the singers soul, while taunting enemies hiss continual sarcasms at him as forsaken by his God. But his truer self silences these lamentations, and cheers the feebler “soul” with clear notes of trust and hope, blown in the refrain, like some trumpet clang rallying dispirited fugitives to the fight. The stimulus serves for a moment; but once more courage fails, and once more, at yet greater length and with yet sadder tones, plaints and longings are wailed forth. Once more, too, the higher self repeats its half-rebuke, half-encouragement. So ends the first of the psalms; but obviously it is no real ending, for the victory over fear is not won, and longing has not become blessed. So once more the wave of emotion rolls over the psalmist, but with a new aspect which makes all the difference. He prays now; he had only remembered and complained and said that he would pray before. Therefore now he triumphs, and though he still is keenly conscious of his enemies, they appear but for a moment, and though he still feels that he is far from the sanctuary, his heart goes out in hopeful visions of the gladness of his return thither, and he already tastes the rapture of the joy that will then flood his heart. Therefore the refrain comes for a third time; and this time the longing, trembling soul continues at the height to which the better self has lifted it, and silently acknowledges that it need not have been cast down. Thus the whole song is a picture of a soul climbing, not without backward slips, from the depths to the heights, or, in another aspect, of the transformation of longing into certainty of fruition, which is itself fruition after a kind.

Perhaps the singer had seen, during his exile on the eastern side of Jordan, some gentle creature, with open mouth and heaving flanks, eagerly seeking in dry wadies for a drop of water to cool her outstretched tongue; and the sight had struck on his heart as an image of himself longing for the presence of God in the sanctuary. A similar bit of local colour is generally recognised in Psa 42:7. Nature reflects the poets moods, and overmastering emotion sees its own analogues everywhere. That lovely metaphor has touched the common heart as few have done, and the solitary singers plaint has fitted all devout lips. Injustice is done it, if it is regarded merely as the longing of a Levite for approach to the sanctuary. No doubt the psalmist connected communion with God and presence in the Temple more closely together than they should do who have heard the great charter, “neither in this mountain, nor in Jerusalem”; but, however the two things were coupled in his mind, they were sufficiently separate to allow of approach by longing and prayer while distant in body, and the true object of yearning was not access to the Temple, but communion with the God of the Temple.

The “soul” is feminine in Hebrew, and is here compared to the female deer, for “pants” is the feminine form of the verb, though its noun is masculine. It is better therefore to translate “hind” than “hart.” The “soul” is the seat of emotions and desires. It “pants” and “thirsts,” is “cast down” and disquieted; it is “poured out”; it can be bidden to “hope.” Thus tremulous, timid, mobile, it is beautifully compared to a hind. The true object of its longings is always God, however little it knows for what it is thirsting. But they are happy in their very yearnings who are conscious of the true direction of these, and can say that it is God for whom they are athirst. All unrest of longing, all fever of thirst, all outgoings of desire, are feelers put out blindly, and are only stilled when they clasp Him. The correspondence between mans needs and their true object is involved in that name “the living God”; for a heart can rest only in one all-sufficient Person, and must have a heart to throb against. Neither abstractions nor dead things can still its cravings. That which does must be living. But no finite being can still them; and after all sweetnesses of human loves and helps of human strengths the souls thirst remains unslaked, and the Person who is enough must be the living God. The difference between the devout and the worldly man is just that the one can only say, “My soul pants and thirsts,” and the other can add “after Thee, O God.” This mans longing was intensified by his unwilling exile from the sanctuary, a special privation to a door keeper of the Temple. His situation and mood closely resemble those in another Korachite psalm (Psa 84:1-12), in which, as here, the soul “faints for the courts of the Lord,” and as here the panting hind, so there the glancing swallows flitting about the eaves are woven into the song. Unnamed foes taunt the psalmist with the question, “Where is thy God?” There is no necessity to conclude that these were heathens, though the taunt is usually put into heathen lips {Psa 79:10; Psa 52:2} but it would be quite as natural from co-religionists, flouting his fervour and personal grasp of God and taking his sorrows as tokens of Gods abandonment of him. That is the worlds way with the calamities of a devout man, whose humble cry, “My God,” it resents as presumption or hypocrisy. But even these bitter sarcasms are less bitter than the remembrance of “happier things,” which is his “sorrows crown of sorrow.” Yet, with the strange but universal love of summoning up remembrance of departed joys, the psalmist finds a certain pleasure in the pain of recalling how he. a Levite, led the festal march to the Temple, and in listening in fancy again to the shrill cries of joy which broke from the tumultuous crowd. The form of the verbs “remember” and “pour out” in Psa 42:4 indicates set purpose. The higher self arrests this flow of self-pity and lamentation. The feminine soul has to give account of her moods to calmer judgment, and to be lifted and steadied by the strong spirit. The preceding verses have given ample reason why she has been dejected, but now she is summoned to repeat them to a judicial ear. The insufficiency of the circumstances described to warrant the vehement emotions expressed is implied in the summons. Feeling has to vindicate its rationality or to suppress itself, and its grounds have often only to be stated to the better self, to be found altogether disproportioned to the storm they have raised. It is a very elementary but necessary lesson for the conduct of life that emotion of all sorts, sad or glad, religious or other, needs rigid scrutiny and firm control, sometimes stimulating and sometimes chilling. The true counterpoise to its excess lies in directing it to God and in making Him the object of hope and patient waiting. Emotion varies, but God is the same. The facts on which faith feeds abide while faith fluctuates. The secret of calm is to dwell in that inner chamber of the secret place of the Most High, which whoso inhabits “heareth not the loud winds when they call,” and is neither dejected nor uplifted, neither disturbed by excessive joys nor torn by anxieties.

Psa 42:5 has the refrain in a form slightly different from that of the other two instances of its occurrence. {Psa 42:11 and Psa 43:5} But probably the text is faulty. The shifting of the initial word of Psa 42:6 to the end of Psa 42:5, and the substitution of My for His, bring the three refrains into line, and avoid the harsh expression “help of His countenance.” Since no reason for the variation is discernible, and the proposed slight change of text improves construction and restores uniformity, it is probably to be adopted. If it is, the second part of the psalm is also conformed to the other two in regard to its not beginning with the Divine name.

The break in the clouds is but momentary, and the grey wrack fills the sky once more. The second part of the psalm takes up the question of the refrain, and first reiterates with bitter emphasis that the soul is bowed down, and then pours out once more the stream of reasons for dejection. But the curb has not been applied quite in vain, for throughout the succeeding verses there is a striking alternation of despondency and hope. Streaks of brightness flash through the gloom. Sorrow is shot with trust. This conflict of opposite emotions is the characteristic of the second part of the psalm, while that of the first part is an all but unrelieved predominance of gloom, and that of the third an all but undisputed victory of sunshine. Naturally this transition strophe is marked by the mingling of both. In the former part, memory was the handmaid of sorrow, and came involuntarily, and increased the singers pain; but in this part he makes an effort of will to remember, and in remembrance finds an antidote to sorrow. To recall past joys adds stings to present grief, but to remember God brings an anodyne for the smart. The psalmist is far from the sanctuary, but distance does not hinder thought. This mans faith was not so dependent on externals that it could not come close to God while distant from His temple. It had been so far strengthened by the encouragement of the refrain that the reflux of sadness at once rouses it to action. “My soul is cast down; therefore let me remember Thee.” With wise resolve he finds in dejection a reason for nestling closer to God. In reference to the description of the psalmists locality, Cheyne beautifully says, “The preposition from is chosen (rather than in) with a subtle purpose. It suggests that the psalmists faith will bridge over the interval between himself and the sanctuary: I can send my thoughts to Thee from the distant frontier” (in loc.). The region intended seems to be “the northeastern corner of Palestine, near the lower slopes of Hermons” (Cheyne. u.s.). The plural “Hermons” is probably used in reference to the group of crests. “Mizar” is probably the name of a hill otherwise unknown, and specifies the singers locality more minutely, though not helpfully to us. Many ingenious attempts have been made to explain the name either as symbolical or as a common noun, and not a proper name, but these need not be dealt with here. The locality thus designated is too far north for the scene of Davids retreat before Absalom, unless we give an unusual southward extension to the names; and this makes a difficulty in the way of accepting the hypothesis of the authors having been in his retinue.

The twofold emotions of Psa 42:6 recur in Psa 42:7-8, where we have first renewed despondency and then reaction into hope. The imagery of floods lifting up their voices, and cataracts sounding as they fall, and breaking waves rolling over the half-drowned psalmist has been supposed to be suggested by the scenery in which he was; but the rushing noise of Jordan in its rocky bed seems scarcely enough to deserve being described as “flood calling to flood,” and “breakers and rollers” is an exaggeration if applied to any commotion possible on such a stream. The imagery is so usual that it needs no assumption of having been occasioned by the poets locality. The psalmist paints his calamities as storming on him in dismal continuity, each “flood” seeming to summon its successor. They rush upon him, multitudinous and close following; they pour down on him as with the thunder of descending cataracts; they overwhelm him like the breakers and rollers of an angry ocean. The bold metaphors are more striking when contrasted with the opposite ones of the first part. The dry and thirsty land there and the rush of waters here mean the same thing, so flexible is nature in a poets hands.

Then follows a gleam of hope, like a rainbow spanning the waterfall. With the alternation of mood already noticed as characteristic, the singer looks forward, even from the midst of overwhelming seas of trouble, to a future day when God will give His angel, Mercy or Lovingkindness, charge concerning him and draw him out of many waters. That day of extrication will surely be followed by a night of music and of thankful prayer (for supplication is not the only element in prayer) to Him who by His deliverance has shown Himself to be the “God of” the rescued mans “life.” The epithet answers to that of the former part, “the living God,” from which it differs by but one additional letter. He who has life in Himself is the Giver and Rescuer of our lives, and to Him they are to be rendered in thankful sacrifice. Once more the contending currents meet in Psa 42:9 and Psa 42:10, in the former of which confidence and hope utter themselves in the resolve to appeal to God and in the name given to Him as “my Rock”; while another surge of despondency breaks, in the question in which the soul interrogates God, as the better self had interrogated her, and contrasts almost reproachfully Gods apparent forgetfulness, manifested by His delay in deliverance with her remembrance of Him. It is not a question asked for enlightenments sake but is an exclamation of impatience, if not of rebuke. Psa 42:10 repeats the enemies taunt, which is there represented as like crushing blows which broke the bones. And then once more above this conflict of emotion soars the clear note of the refrain, summoning to self-command, calmness, and unfaltering hope.

But the victory is not quite won, and therefore Psa 43:1-5, follows. It is sufficiently distinct in tone to explain its separation from the preceding, inasmuch as it is prayer throughout, and the note of joy is dominant, even while an undertone of sadness links it with the previous parts. The unity is vouched by the considerations already noticed, and by the incompleteness of Psa 42:1-11 without such triumphant close and of Psa 43:1-5 without such despondent beginning. The prayer of Psa 43:1-2, blends the two elements, which were at war in the second part; and for the moment the darker is the more prominent. The situation is described as in the preceding parts. The enemy is called a “loveless nation.” The word rendered “loveless” is compounded of the negative prefix and the word which is usually found with the meaning of “one whom God favours,” or visits with lovingkindness. It has been much disputed whether its proper signification is active (one who shows lovingkindness) or passive (one who receives it). But, considering that lovingkindness is in the Psalter mainly a Divine attribute, and that, when a human excellence, it is regarded as derived from and being the echo of experienced Divine mercy, it is best to take the passive meaning as the principal, though sometimes, as unmistakably here, the active is more suitable. These loveless people are not further defined, and may either have been Israelites or aliens. Perhaps there was one “man” of special mischief prominent among them, but it is not safe to treat that expression as anything but a collective. Psa 43:2 looks back to Psa 42:9, the former clause in each verse being practically equivalent, and the second in 43 (Psa 43:2), being a quotation of the second in Psa 42:9, with a variation in the form of the verb to suggest more vividly the picture of weary, slow, dragging gait, fit for a man clad in mourning garb.

But the gloomier mood has shot its last bolt. Grief which finds no fresh words is beginning to dry up. The stage of mechanical repetition of complaints is not far from that of cessation of them. So the higher mood conquers at last, and breaks into a burst of joyous petition, which passes swiftly into realisation of the future joys whose coming shines thus far off. Hope and trust hold the field. The certainty of return to the Temple overbears the pain of absence from it, and the vivid realisation of the gladness of worshipping again at the altar takes the place of the vivid remembrance of former festal approach thither. It is the prerogative of faith to make pictures drawn by memory pale beside those painted by hope. Light and Troth-i.e., Lovingkindness and Faithfulness in fulfilling promises-are like two angels, despatched from the presence-chamber of God, to guide with gentleness the exiles steps. That is to say, because God is mercy and faithfulness, the return of the psalmist to the home of his heart is sure. God being what He is, no longing soul can ever remain unsatisfied. The actual return to the Temple is desired because thereby new praise will be occasioned. Not mere bodily presence there, but that joyful outpouring of triumph and gladness, is the object of the psalmists longing. He began with yearning after the living God. In his sorrow he could still think of Him at intervals as the help of his countenance and call Him “my God.” He ends with naming Him “the gladness of my joy.” Whoever begins as he did will finish where he climbed. The refrain is repeated for a third time, and is followed by no relapse into sadness. The effort of faith should be persistent, even if old bitternesses begin again and “break the low beginnings of content”; for, even if the wild waters burst through the dam once and again, they do not utterly wash it away, and there remains a foundation on which it may be built up anew. Each swing of the gymnast lifts him higher until he is on a level with a firm platform on which he can spring and stand secure. Faith may have a long struggle with fear, but it will have the last word, and that word will be “the help of my countenance and my God.”

Fuente: Expositors Bible Commentary