1 <A Psalm. Of David. When he was in the waste land of Judah.> O God, you are my God; early will I make my search for you: my soul is dry for need of you, my flesh is wasted with desire for you, as a dry and burning land where no water is;
My hands are stretched out to you: my soul is turned to you, like a land in need of water. (Selah.)
The passion of my soul's desire is for the house of the Lord; my heart and my flesh are crying out for the living God.
At that time, says the Lord, I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they will be my people.
I will make rivers on the dry mountain-tops, and fountains in the valleys: I will make the waste land a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water.
But I had faith in you, O Lord; I said, You are my God.
The Lord is my strength and my strong helper, he has become my salvation: he is my God and I will give him praise; my father's God and I will give him glory.
And I will make the third part go through the fire, cleaning them as silver is made clean, and testing them as gold is tested: and they will make their prayer to me and I will give them an answer: I will say, It is my people; and they will say, The Lord is my God.
I will go back to my place till they are made waste; in their trouble they will go after me early and will make search for me.
And the burning sand will become a pool, and the dry earth springs of waters: the fields where the sheep take their food will become wet land, and water-plants will take the place of grass.
And a man will be as a safe place from the wind, and a cover from the storm; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shade of a great rock in a waste land.
By night on my bed I was looking for him who is the love of my soul: I was looking for him, but I did not see him. I will get up now and go about the town, in the streets and in the wide ways I will go after him who is the love of my soul: I went after him, but I did not see him. The watchmen who go about the town came by me; to them I said, Have you seen him who is my heart's desire?
Those who have given me their love are loved by me, and those who make search for me with care will get me.
When your fear comes on you like a storm, and your trouble like a rushing wind; when pain and sorrow come on you. Then I will give no answer to their cries; searching for me early, they will not see me:
<CAPH> My soul is wasted with desire for your salvation: but I have hope in your word.
My days are wasted like smoke, and my bones are burned up as in a fire. My heart is broken; it has become dry and dead like grass, so that I give no thought to food. Because of the voice of my sorrow, my flesh is wasted to the bone.
When he sent death on them, then they made search for him; turning to him and looking for him with care;
Why are you crushed down, O my soul? and why are you troubled in me? put your hope in God; for I will again give him praise who is my help and my God.
If you will make search for God with care, and put your request before the Ruler of all;
And the Ziphites came to Saul at Gibeah, and said, Is not David waiting secretly near us in the hill of Hachilah, before the waste land? Then Saul went down to the waste land of Ziph, taking with him three thousand of the best men of Israel, to make search for David in the waste land of Ziph. And Saul put up his tents on the hill of Hachilah, which is in front of the waste land on the road. But David was in the waste land, and he saw that Saul was coming after him.
But the unclean spirit, when he is gone out of a man, goes through dry places looking for rest, and getting it not.
And the people were in great need of water; and they made an outcry against Moses, and said, Why have you taken us out of Egypt to send death on us and our children and our cattle through need of water?
They will never be in need of food or drink: and they will never again be troubled by the burning heat of the sun: For the Lamb who is on the high seat will be their keeper and their guide to fountains of living water: and God will make glad their eyes for ever.
Jesus said to her, Do not put your hand on me, for I have not gone up to the Father: but go to my brothers and say to them, I go up to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.
On the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus got up and said in a loud voice, If any man is in need of drink let him come to me and I will give it to him.
So take care to get knowledge of all the secret places where he is taking cover, and be certain to come back to me, and I will go with you: and without doubt, if he is anywhere in the land, I will get him, among all the families of Judah. And they went back and came to Ziph before Saul: but David and his men were in the waste land of Maon, in the dry land south of the waste land. And Saul and his men went in search of him. And David had word of it, so he came down to the rock in the waste land of Maon. And Saul, hearing of this, went after David into the waste land of Maon.
And David kept in the waste land, in safe places, waiting in the hill-country in the waste land of Ziph. And Saul was searching for him every day, but God did not give him up into his hands. And David was full of fear, in the knowledge that Saul had come out to take his life; and David was in the waste land of Ziph, in Horesh. And Saul's son Jonathan went to David in Horesh, and made his hands strong in God;
I say to you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if you see my loved one, what will you say to him? That I am overcome with love.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Psalms 63
Commentary on Psalms 63 Matthew Henry Commentary
Psalm 63
This psalm has in it as much of warmth and lively devotion as any of David's psalms in so little a compass. As the sweetest of Paul's epistles were those that bore date out of a prison, so some of the sweetest of David's psalms were those that were penned, as this was, in a wilderness. That which grieved him most in his banishment was the want of public ordinances; these he here longs to be restored to the enjoyment of; and the present want did but whet his appetite. Yet it is not the ordinances, but the God of the ordinances, that his heart is upon. And here we have,
A devout and pious soul has little need of direction how to sing this psalm, so naturally does it speak its own genuine language; and an unsanctified soul, that is unacquainted and unaffected with divine things, is scarcely capable of singing it with understanding.
A psalm of David, when he was in the wilderness of Judah.
Psa 63:1-2
The title tells us when the psalm was penned, when David was in the wilderness of Judah; that is, in the forest of Hareth (1 Sa. 22:5) or in the wilderness of Ziph, 1 Sa. 23:15.
David, in these verses, stirs up himself to take hold on God,
Psa 63:3-6
How soon are David's complaints and prayers turned into praises and thanksgivings! After two verses that express his desire in seeking God, here are some that express his joy and satisfaction in having found him. Faithful prayers may quickly be turned into joyful praises, if it be not our own fault. Let the hearts of those rejoice that seek the Lord (Ps. 105:3), and let them praise him for working those desires in them, and giving them assurance that he will satisfy them. David was now in a wilderness, and yet had his heart much enlarged in blessing God. Even in affliction we need not want matter for praise, if we have but a heart to it. Observe,
Psa 63:7-11
David, having expressed his desires towards God and his praises of him, here expresses his confidence in him and his joyful expectations from him (v. 7): In the shadow of thy wings I will rejoice, alluding either to the wings of the cherubim stretched out over the ark of the covenant, between which God is said to dwell ("I will rejoice in thy oracles, and in covenant and communion with thee'), or to the wings of a fowl, under which the helpless young ones have shelter, as the eagle's young ones (Ex. 19:4, Deu. 32:11), which speaks the divine power, and the young ones of the common hen (Mt. 23:37), which speaks more of divine tenderness. It is a phrase often used in the psalms (Ps. 17:8; 36:7; 57:1; 61:4; 91:4), and no where else in this sense, except Ruth 2:12, where Ruth, when she became a proselyte, is said to trust under the wings of the God of Israel. It is our duty to rejoice in the shadow of God's wings, which denotes our recourse to him by faith and prayer, as naturally as the chickens, when they are cold or frightened, run by instinct under the wings of the hen. It intimates also our reliance upon him as able and ready to help us and our refreshment and satisfaction in his care and protection. Having committed ourselves to God, we must be easy and pleased, and quiet from the fear of evil. Now let us see further,