Psalms 42:11

11. Why art thou cast down, O my soul The refrain is repeated from Psalms 42:5, where see note. Whether we take נפשׁ , ( soul,) here as distinct from רוח , ( spirit,) according to the later Greek trichotomy, or consider the former as synonymous with the latter, in either case, and from the very design of the apostrophe, we have here the highest proof of a nature in man superior to the organic or psychical, rising by faith in God victorious over all infirmities and disasters of the latter, as its nature and existence are distinct from and independent of it. It is the spiritual and immortal nature asserting its superiority over the instinctive and perishable.

Health of my countenance Hebrew, Deliverance, or salvation, of my face. The word rendered “health,” here, is the same as is rendered “help” in Psalms 42:5, where also we have “his” (God’s) countenance, instead of “my” countenance, as here. That is, in Psalms 42:5 God turns his face towards David as a token and pledge of his delivering grace, and this revives and gladdens the countenance of the suppliant. The language is strongly oriental.