4 Looking on the right hand -- and seeing, And I have none recognizing; Perished hath refuge from me, There is none inquiring for my soul.
Among all mine adversaries I have been a reproach, And to my neighbours exceedingly, And a fear to mine acquaintances, Those seeing me without -- fled from me.
Reproach hath broken my heart, and I am sick, And I look for a bemoaner, and there is none, And for comforters, and I have found none.
Thou hast put far from me lover and friend, Mine acquaintance `is' the place of darkness!
Do the possessors of Keilah shut me up into his hand? doth Saul come down as Thy servant hath heard? Jehovah, God of Israel, declare, I pray Thee, to Thy servant.' And Jehovah saith, `He doth come down.' And David saith, `Do the possessors of Keilah shut me up, and my men, into the hand of Saul?' And Jehovah saith, `They shut `thee' up.' And David riseth -- and his men -- about six hundred men, and they go out from Keilah, and go up and down where they go up and down; and to Saul it hath been declared that David hath escaped from Keilah, and he ceaseth to go out.
And the Ziphites go up unto Saul to Gibeah, saying, `Is not David hiding himself with us in fortresses, in the forest, in the height of Hachilah, which `is' on the south of the desolate place? And, now, by all the desire of thy soul, O king, to come down, come down, and ours `is' to shut him up into the hand of the king.'
And David saith unto his heart, `Now am I consumed one day by the hand of Saul; there is nothing for me better than that I diligently escape unto the land of the Philistines, and Saul hath been despairing of me -- of seeking me any more in all the border of Israel, and I have escaped out of his hand.'
And the eyes of the wicked are consumed, And refuge hath perished from them, And their hope `is' a breathing out of soul!
My brethren from me He hath put far off, And mine acquaintances surely Have been estranged from me. Ceased have my neighbours And my familiar friends have forgotten me, Sojourners of my house and my maids, For a stranger reckon me: An alien I have been in their eyes. To my servant I have called, And he doth not answer, With my mouth I make supplication to him. My spirit is strange to my wife, And my favours to the sons of my `mother's' womb. Also sucklings have despised me, I rise, and they speak against me. Abominate me do all the men of my counsel, And those I have loved, Have been turned against me.
And perished hath refuge from the shepherds, And escape from the honourable of the flock.
For I increase health to thee, And from thy strokes I do heal thee, An affirmation of Jehovah, For `Outcast' they have called to thee, `Zion it `is', there is none seeking for her.'
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Psalms 142
Commentary on Psalms 142 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
PSALM 142
Ps 142:1-7. Maschil—(See on Ps 32:1, title). When he was in the cave—either of Adullam (1Sa 22:1), or En-gedi (1Sa 24:3). This does not mean that the Psalm was composed in the cave, but that the precarious mode of life, of which his refuge in caves was a striking illustration, occasioned the complaint, which constitutes the first part of the Psalm and furnishes the reason for the prayer with which it concludes, and which, as the prominent characteristic, gives its name.
1. with my voice—audibly, because earnestly.
2. (Compare Ps 62:8).
I poured out my complaint—or, "a sad musing."
3. thou knewest … path—The appeal is indicative of conscious innocence; knowest it to be right, and that my affliction is owing to the snares of enemies, and is not deserved (compare Ps 42:4; 61:2).
4. Utter desolation is meant.
right hand—the place of a protector (Ps 110:5).
cared for—literally, "sought after," to do good.
5. (Compare Ps 31:14; 62:7).
6. (Compare Ps 17:1).
7. (Compare Ps 25:17).
that I may praise—literally, "for praising," or, "that Thy name may be praised," that is, by the righteous, who shall surround me with sympathizing joy (Ps 35:27).