9 I say to God my rock, `Why hast Thou forgotten me? Why go I mourning in the oppression of an enemy?
Remember, O Jehovah, what hath befallen us, Look attentively, and see our reproach. Our inheritance hath been turned to strangers, Our houses to foreigners. Orphans we have been -- without a father, our mothers `are' as widows. Our water for money we have drunk, Our wood for a price doth come. For our neck we have been pursued, We have laboured -- there hath been no rest for us. `To' Egypt we have given a hand, `To' Asshur, to be satisfied with bread. Our fathers have sinned -- they are not, We their iniquities have borne. Servants have ruled over us, A deliverer there is none from their hand. With our lives we bring in our bread, Because of the sword of the wilderness. Our skin as an oven hath been burning, Because of the raging of the famine. Wives in Zion they have humbled, Virgins -- in cities of Judah. Princes by their hand have been hanged, The faces of elders have not been honoured. Young men to grind they have taken, And youths with wood have stumbled. The aged from the gate have ceased, Young men from their song. Ceased hath the joy of our heart, Turned to mourning hath been our dancing. Fallen hath the crown `from' our head, Wo `is' now to us, for we have sinned.
When good I expected, then cometh evil, And I wait for light, and darkness cometh. My bowels have boiled, and have not ceased, Gone before me have days of affliction. Mourning I have gone without the sun, I have risen, in an assembly I cry. A brother I have been to dragons, And a companion to daughters of the ostrich. My skin hath been black upon me, And my bone hath burned from heat, And my harp doth become mourning, And my organ the sound of weeping.
Stir up -- why dost Thou sleep, O Lord? Awake, cast us not off for ever. Why Thy face hidest Thou? Thou forgettest our afflictions and our oppression,
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Psalms 42
Commentary on Psalms 42 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
PSALM 42
Ps 42:1-11. Maschil—(See on Ps 32:1, title). For, or of (see Introduction) the sons of Korah. The writer, perhaps one of this Levitical family of singers accompanying David in exile, mourns his absence from the sanctuary, a cause of grief aggravated by the taunts of enemies, and is comforted in hopes of relief. This course of thought is repeated with some variety of detail, but closing with the same refrain.
1, 2. Compare (Ps 63:1).
panteth—desires in a state of exhaustion.
2. appear before God—in acts of worship, the terms used in the command for the stated personal appearance of the Jews at the sanctuary.
3. Where is thy God?—implying that He had forsaken him (compare 2Sa 16:7; Ps 3:2; 22:8).
4. The verbs are properly rendered as futures, "I will remember," &c.,—that is, the recollection of this season of distress will give greater zest to the privileges of God's worship, when obtained.
5. Hence he chides his despondent soul, assuring himself of a time of joy.
help of his countenance—or, "face" (compare Nu 6:25; Ps 4:6; 16:11).
6. Dejection again described.
therefore—that is, finding no comfort in myself, I turn to Thee, even in this distant "land of Jordan and the (mountains) Hermon, the country east of Jordan.
hill Mizar—as a name of a small hill contrasted with the mountains round about Jerusalem, perhaps denoted the contempt with which the place of exile was regarded.
7. The roar of successive billows, responding to that of floods of rain, represented the heavy waves of sorrow which overwhelmed him.
8. Still he relies on as constant a flow of divine mercy which will elicit his praise and encourage his prayer to God.
9, 10. in view of which [Ps 42:8], he dictates to himself a prayer based on his distress, aggravated as it was by the cruel taunts and infidel suggestions of his foes.
11. This brings on a renewed self-chiding, and excites hopes of relief.
health—or help.
of my countenance—(compare Ps 42:5) who cheers me, driving away clouds of sorrow from my face.
my God—It is He of whose existence and favor my foes would have me doubt.