6 In me doth my soul bow itself, Therefore I remember Thee from the land of Jordan, And of the Hermons, from the hill Mizar.
From the end of the land unto Thee I call, In the feebleness of my heart, Into a rock higher than I Thou dost lead me.
And David riseth, and all the people who `are' with him, and they pass over the Jordan, till the light of the morning, till one hath not been lacking who hath not passed over the Jordan.
`And we take, at that time, the land out of the hand of the two kings of the Amorite, which is beyond the Jordan, from the brook Arnon unto mount Hermon; (Sidonians call Hermon, Sirion; and the Amorites call it Senir,)
and they possess his land, and the land of Og king of Bashan, two kings of the Amorite who `are' beyond the Jordan, `towards' the sun-rising; from Aroer, which `is' by the edge of the brook Arnon, even unto mount Sion, which `is' Hermon --
And it cometh to pass at the coming in of David to Mahanaim, that Shobi, son of Nahash, from Rabbah of the Bene-Ammon, and Machir son of Ammiel, from Lo-Debar, and Barzillai the Gileadite, from Rogelim,
To the Overseer, on `The Hind of the Morning.' -- A Psalm of David. My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me? Far from my salvation, The words of my roaring?
I remember my music in the night, With my heart I meditate, and my spirit doth search diligently: To the ages doth the Lord cast off? Doth He add to be pleased no more? Hath His kindness ceased for ever? The saying failed to all generations? Hath God forgotten `His' favours? Hath He shut up in anger His mercies? Selah. And I say: `My weakness is, The changes of the right hand of the Most High.' I mention the doings of Jah, For I remember of old Thy wonders,
A Song, a Psalm, by sons of Korah, to the Overseer, `Concerning the Sickness of Afflictions.' -- An instruction, by Heman the Ezrahite. O Jehovah, God of my salvation, Daily I have cried, nightly before Thee, My prayer cometh in before Thee, Incline Thine ear to my loud cry, For my soul hath been full of evils, And my life hath come to Sheol.
As dew of Hermon -- That cometh down on hills of Zion, For there Jehovah commanded the blessing -- Life unto the age!
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Psalms 42
Commentary on Psalms 42 Matthew Henry Commentary
Psalm 42
If the book of Psalms be, as some have styled it, a mirror or looking-glass of pious and devout affections, this psalm in particular deserves, as much as any one psalm, to be so entitled, and is as proper as any to kindle and excite such in us: gracious desires are here strong and fervent; gracious hopes and fears, joys and sorrows, are here struggling, but the pleasing passion comes off a conqueror. Or we may take it for a conflict between sense and faith, sense objecting and faith answering.
The title does not tell us who was the penman of this psalm, but most probably it was David, and we may conjecture that it was penned by him at a time when, either by Saul's persecution or Absalom's rebellion, he was driven from the sanctuary and cut off from the privilege of waiting upon God in public ordinances. The strain of it is much the same with 63, and therefore we may presume it was penned by the same hand and upon the same or a similar occasion. In singing it, if we be either in outward affliction or in inward distress, we may accommodate to ourselves the melancholy expressions we find here; if not, we must, in singing them, sympathize with those whose case they speak too plainly, and thank God it is not our own case; but those passages in it which express and excite holy desires towards God, and dependence on him, we must earnestly endeavour to bring our minds up to.
To the chief musician, Maschil, for the sons of Korah.
Psa 42:1-5
Holy love to God as the chief good and our felicity is the power of godliness, the very life and soul of religion, without which all external professions and performances are but a shell and carcase: now here we have some of the expressions of that love. Here is,
Psa 42:6-11
Complaints and comforts here, as before, take their turn, like day and night in the course of nature.