NOTES for Psa 42
1 As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. |
2 My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God? |
3 My tears have been my meat day and night, while they continually say unto me, Where is thy God? |
4 When I remember these things, I pour out my soul in me: for I had gone with the multitude, I went with them to the house of God, with the voice of joy and praise, with a multitude that kept holyday. |
5 Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance. |
6 O my God, my soul is cast down within me: therefore will I remember thee from the land of Jordan, and of the Hermonites, from the hill Mizar. |
7 Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy waterspouts: all thy waves and thy billows are gone over me. |
8 Yet the LORD will command his lovingkindness in the daytime, and in the night his song shall be with me, and my prayer unto the God of my life. |
9 I will say unto God my rock, Why hast thou forgotten me? why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy? |
10 As with a sword in my bones, mine enemies reproach me; while they say daily unto me, Where is thy God? |
11 Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God. |
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The longing for God of a soul separated from Him resembles thirst. But this means that the Lord Himself can be compared to life-giving water. Many years later, when the Son of David reveals Himself as the One who gives living water, this will become one of His testimonies about Himself as God.
Let us note that the tears which nourish the thirsty person are compared not to water but to bread, for one can live without bread a little longer than without water. Yet the Lord will also call Himself the Bread of Life...
Sorrow can be felt behind the lines of the psalm, and it is caused not only by the Beloved’s failure to respond. The psalmist perhaps grieves far more because people interpret the Lord’s silence wrongly. Together with others, the weeping man went with the multitude into the house of God, and now his recent companions in faith have turned away from God and mock the one who has remained faithful. If only they had never known the Lord! But they turned away from Him after having already encountered Him.
Yet the one who keeps the faith does not cease calling out to Him. He knows that hope in the Lord will deliver him from every despondency.
Other notes
For Psa 42:1-5
1 As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. |
2 My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God? |
3 My tears have been my meat day and night, while they continually say unto me, Where is thy God? |
4 When I remember these things, I pour out my soul in me: for I had gone with the multitude, I went with them to the house of God, with the voice of joy and praise, with a multitude that kept holyday. |
5 Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance. |
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