Psalms 142

They shall hear. If the Psalm is to be referred to Absalom’s rebellion, or any similar occasion, the sense will be, “When the leaders in the insurrection meet with the fate they deserve, then the subjects of the king will return to their allegiance.” And the expression, “they shall hear my words that they are sweet,” would be a thoroughly Oriental mode of describing the satisfaction with which they would welcome the gracious amnesty pronounced by their offended sovereign. P.—The verb is in the perfect tense, but surely it is the well-known predictive future. As often elsewhere, future events are seen with prophetic certainty as accomplished facts. This suggests a contrast in the mind of the poet between a hereafter, when, judgment having fallen upon the wicked rulers, the mass of the people shall return to their right mind, and receive meekly his gracious admonitions, and the present, in which they mock at his counsel, and will none of his reproof. De Witt.

7. Assuming that matters should come to the very worst, it is a glance of hope into the future; even should his bones and the bones of his followers be scattered at the mouth of

Sheol, their soul below, their bones above—it would, nevertheless, be only as when one in ploughing cleaves the earth; i.e., they lie, not in order that they may continue lying, but in order that they may rise up anew, like seed sprouting up out of the upturned earth. D.

8. For. The conjunction does not refer to what immediately precedes, but either to what is said in vs. 4, 5, or perhaps rather to the whole of the former part of the Psalm, so far as it consists of petition, “Listen to my prayer, keep me from temptation, for unto Thee are mine eyes.” P.—In Thee do I put my trust, I have been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go. My own wisdom and that of all about me seemed insufficient for that day. A. Lincoln.

10. No law can be more just than that the architects of destruction should perish by their own contrivances. All that are bound over to God’s justice are held in the cords of their own iniquity. But let me at the same time obtain a discharge. The entangling and ensnaring of the wicked sometimes prove the escape and enlargement of the righteous. H.

1. I crv with my voice unto the Lord; With my voice unto the Lord do I make supplication. 2 I pour out my complaint before him; I shew before him my trouble. 3 When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, thou knewest my path. In the way wherein I walk have they hidden a snare for me. 4 Look on my right hand, and see; for there is no man that knoweth me: Refuge hath failed me; no man careth for my soul.

5. I cried unto thee, O Lord; I said, Thou art my refuge, My portion in the land of the living. 6 Attend unto my cry; for I am brought very low: Deliver me from my persecutors; for they are stronger than I. 7 Bring my soul out of prison, that I may give thanks unto thy name: The righteous shall compass me about; For thou shalt deal bountifully with me.

THIS is the last of the eight Psalms which, according to their inscriptions, are to be referred to David’s persecution by Saul. Like the fifty-seventh Psalm, it is supposed to describe his thoughts and feelings when he was

“in the cave,” though whether in the cave of Adullam or in that of Engedi is not clear. The general strain of the Psalm is that of the earlier books. It expresses in language like that of David the cleaving of the heart to God.

the deep sense of loneliness, the cry for deliverance, the confidence that that deliverance will call forth the sympathy and the joy of many others. P.

TITLE. When he was in the cave. Every part of this Psalm shows the propriety of its inscription or title. He expressly mentions his being in a place where he was entirely shut up, where he saw no possible method of escaping, as having no friends that dared to own him and appear for his deliverance, and when every one seemed to desert him and to have abandoned all care of his safety and life. He seems almost to have despaired of himself, and declares that his spirit is quite overwhelmed with the greatness of his distress. At length, recollecting his principles and the promises that God had made him, he earnestly supplicates the protection of God and assures himself that he should yet praise God for his deliverance, and that good men should share his joy and encompass the altar of God with thanksgiving for the mercy that He had shown him. Chandler.

2. I pour out before Him my care; my trouble before Him I tell. The word translated care means properly reflection, meditation, musing, especially such as is anxious and sad. A.—The word “complaint” does not express the idea. The meaning is not that he complained of God or of man; but that his mind meditated on his condition. Barnes.

3. This is what consoles him, that Jehovah is intimately acquainted with his way and with the dangers that threaten him at every step, and therefore also understands how to appreciate the justification and the meaning of his cry. D.—Because there seems to be no light but only darkness, that may not be any positive proof that God is not with the soul. The soul may not be able to perceive it by reason, as Bunyan expresses it, of the impediment that attends the place; and yet God may be guiding and blessing the soul, even in such thick darkness. When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, said David in such a case, then Thou knewest my path. Cheever.

4. Look to the right and see; and there is no one knowing me; refuge has failed me; there is no one caring for my soul. The first two verbs must be translated as imperatives. The right hand is mentioned as the post of a protector. We might say, Look to the right and see, and (you will find that) there is no one. Knowing, recognizing, willing to acknowledge, much less to defend. There is none to me, i.e., I have none. Far from having a protector at my right hand, I have not even one who will acknowledge that he knows me. Caring, literally, seeking, asking, or inquiring after it, in order to assist or save it. A.

Observe the beautiful opposition between “Thou knewest” (v. 3) and “no man would know me.” “Refuge failed me,” literally, “perished” from me. But Thou art my refuge. Fausset.

5. What a grand confession of faith was this? David spoke to God, and of God; “Thou art my refuge.” Not Thou hast provided me a refuge, but Thou, Thyself, art my refuge. He fled to God alone; he hid himself beneath the wings of the Eternal. He not only believed this, but said it and practised it. Nor was this all; for David, when banished from his portion in the promised land and cut off from the portion of goods which he by right inherited, found his portion in God; yea, God was his portion. S.

6,7. All fellowship of faith and love is imperfect; and there are situations in life in which man feels himself altogether isolated and turns all the more earnestly to God, who alone can satisfy the soul’s need of love, who loves with a love that is absolutely unselfish and unchangeable and pure, to whom the soul can without reserve confide whatever burdens it, and who not only honestly desires its highest good, but is also able to bring it about in spite of all obstacles. Surrounded by bloodthirsty enemies, misunderstood, or at least not understood at bottom by his friends, David feels himself cut loose from every creature. Then, despairing of everything that is visible, he cries to the invisible One. He is his refuge and his portion, i.e., the portion that satisfies him. To be allowed to call Him his God, this it is that satisfies him and outweighs everything else. For Jehovah is the living One, and he who has Him as his own cannot die; he cannot perish. D.