Yet. Omit this. the LORD. Hebrew. Jehovah. App-4 . His lovingkindness . . . His song. Figure of speech Ellipsis (Complex), App-6 , by which each is to be repeated in the other = "His lovingkindness [and His song] in the daytime; and in the night His song [and His lovingkindness] shall be with me". GOD of my life. Some codices, with Syriac, read "the living GOD" ( App-4 . IV). read more
Psalms 42:8. Yet the Lord will command, &c.— In the day-time the Lord commanded his favour; I say; and in the night his song is in my mouth; a prayer to my living God. He applies to God day and night. In the day-time he prays God to command his favour to attend him; and in the night he has always a song directed to him. I cannot withhold from my reader in this place, the ingenious Mr. Merrick's paraphrase of this and the two foregoing verses: Thy mercies, Lord, before my eyes Shall yet in... read more
8. Still he relies on as constant a flow of divine mercy which will elicit his praise and encourage his prayer to God. read more
II. BOOK 2: CHS. 42-72In Book 1, all the psalms except 1, 2, 10, and 33 claimed David as their writer. It is likely that he wrote these four as well, even though they do not bear his name (cf. Acts 4:25). In Book 2, the titles identify David as the writer of 18 psalms (Psalms 51-65, 68-70). He may also have written those bearing the notation, "of the sons of Korah" (Psalms 42, 44-49). The sons of Korah (cf. Numbers 26:10-11) were distinguished musicians (1 Chronicles 6:31-48). Korah was a... read more
2. The psalmist’s lamentation because of his enemies 42:6-11In this stanza the writer focused on his enemies rather than on God. However, he came back to the same expression of confidence with which he ended the first stanza. read more
Nevertheless he believed God would remain loyal to him. In the daytime the Lord would pour out His love to the psalmist, and in the night he would respond by praising God."God’s continual love is a comfort for the soul continually beset by questions and mourning (cf. Psalms 42:3)." [Note: VanGemeren, p. 334.] read more
This Ps. and the following one are closely connected, and it is practically certain that they were originally one. Psalms 43 has no separate title, and its closing refrain occurs twice in Psalms 42 (Psalms 42:5, Psalms 42:11). Both Pss. belong to a time when the Temple worship was in full activity, and the writer is a Levite who is detained in the N. of Palestine (Psalms 42:6), and beset by enemies, apparently heathen (Psalms 42:9; Psalms 43:1-2), who taunt him about his God (Psalms 42:3,... read more
Book 2The second and third Books of the Psalter (Psalms 42-72, 73-89) are but the two parts of a whole, the largest section of which (Psalms 42-83) is called the Elohistic Psalter, because the name Elohim (God) is used almost exclusively instead of the name Jehovah (the Lord), which is predominant in the rest of the Psalms. It is evident from the contents of these two books that the Elohistic compiler gathered them from at least three earlier collections, for Psalms 42-49 are Psalms of the... read more
(8) Yet the Lord.—Better, By day Jehovah shall command (or, literally, Jehovah command) his grace.And in the night his song—i.e., a song to Him; but the emendation shîrah, “song,” for shîrôh, “his song,” commends itself. The parallelism of this verse seems to confirm the conclusion drawn from the sentence at end of Book II., that the title “prayer,” and “song” were used indiscriminately for any of the hymns in religious use. read more
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Bridgeway Bible Commentary - Psalms 42:1-11
Psalms 42-43 Longing for God’s templeIn many ancient manuscripts Psalms 42:0 and 43 form one psalm. Together they express the sorrow of a devout worshipper, possibly a temple singer, who lived in the far north of Israel (see 42:6) and could no longer go to worship at the temple in Jerusalem. This may have been because the kingdom was now divided, and the northern king would not allow his people to travel into the southern territory, where Jerusalem was situated. The king rejected the religion... read more