Title - To the Chief Musician, Maschil, for the sons of Korah - Dedicated to the Master of Music, this Psalm is worthy of his office; he who can sing best can have nothing better to sing. It is called Maschil or an instructive ode; and' full as it is of deep experimental expressions, it is eminently calculated to instruct those pilgrims whose road to heaven is of the same trying kind as David's was. It is always edifying to listen to the experience of a thoroughly gracious and much afflicted saint.

That choice band of singers, the sons of Korah, are bidden to make this delightful Psalm one of their peculiars. They had been spared when their father and all his company, and all the children of his associates were swallowed up alive in their sin. (Numbers 27:11). They were the spared ones of sovereign grace. Preserved, we know not why, by the distinguishing favour of God, it may be surmised that after their remarkable election to mercy, they became so filled with gratitude that they addicted themselves to sacred music in order that their spared lives might be consecrated to the glory of God. At any rate, we who have been rescued as they were from going down into the pit, out of the mere' good pleasure of Jehovah, can heartily join in this Psalm, and indeed all the songs which show forth the praises of our God and the puntings of our hearts after him. Although David is not mentioned as the author, this Psalm must be the offspring of his pen; it is so Davidic, it smells of the son of Jesse, it bears the marks of his style and experience in every letter. We could sooner doubt the author-ship of the second part of Pilgrim's Progress than question David's title to be the composer of this Psalm.

Subject - It is the cry of a man far removed from the outward ordinances and worship of God, sighing for the long-loved house of his God; and at the same time it is the voice of a spiritual believer, under depressions, longing for the renewal of the divine presence, struggling with doubts and fears, but yet holding his ground by faith in the living God. Most of the Lord's family have sailed on the sea which is here so graphically described. It is probable that David's flight from Absolom may have been the occasion for composing this Maschil.

Division - The structure of the song directs us to consider it in two parts which end with the same refrain; Psalm 42:1and then Psalm 42:6.

Hints to Preachers

Psalm 42:1 - The longing heart and the panting hart compared.

Psalm 42:1, Psalm 42:2 - Those who have enjoyed the presence of God in the public ordinances of religion will greatly desire, if deprived of them, to be favoured with them again.... Prevention from attending the public ordinances of God's house may be made the means of great benefit to the soul.

I. By renewing our relish for the provisions of the Lord's house, which so soon and so often palls.

II. By making us to prize the means of grace more highly. There is, through human degeneracy, a proneness to value things less, however excellent in themselves, because of their being common, or plentiful, or of easy attainment.

III. By driving us more directly from God.

- H. March.

Psalm 42:1-3 - The home-sickness of the soul. What awakens it in the soul? To what is it directed, or does it point or tend? Wherewith can it be satisfied? By the bitter, but ofttimes wholesome food of tears - J. P. Lange.

Psalm 42:2

I. What thirsts? "my soul."

II. For what? "for God."

III. In what way? "when shall I come." Or, the cause, incentives, excellences, and privileges of spiritual thirst.

Psalm 42:2 (last clause) - The true view of public worship.

Psalm 42:2 (last clause) - Appearance before God here and hereafter - Isaac Watts, D.D., Two Sermons.

Psalm 42:3 - The believer's Lent, and its salt meats.

I. What causes the sorrow?

II. What will remove it?

III. What benefit will come of it?

Psalm 42:3, Psalm 42:10 - The carriage of David's enemies.

I. The nature of it, and that was "reproach."

II. The expression of it, "They say unto me."

III. The constancy of it: "daily," or, all the day long.

IV. The specification of it, in a scornful and opprobrious question: "Where is (now) thy God?"

- Thomas Horton.

Psalm 42:4

I. It is common for the mind, in seasons of sorrow, to seek relief from the present in recollections of the past.

II. In recollections of past enjoyments, those that relate to social worship will be peculiarly dear to the servant of God.

III. Man is a social being, hence he derives help from united worship.

- H. March.

Psalm 42:4 - "I pour out my soul in me." The uselessness of mistrustful introspection.

Psalm 42:4 - "I had gone with the multitude," etc. Company, if it be that which is good, is a very blessed and comfortable accommodation in sundry respects.

I. It is an exercise of men's faculties, and the powers and abilities of the mind.

II. It is a fence against danger, and a preservative against sadness and various temptations.

III. An opportunity of doing more good.

- Thomas Horton.

Psalm 42:4 - "I had gone," etc. Sunny memories, their lessons of gratitude and hope.

Psalm 42:4 (last clause) - Not Chaucer's tales of the Canterbury pilgrims, but David's tales of the Jerusalem pilgrims.

Psalm 42:4 - "With the voice," etc. Congregational singing defended, extolled, discriminated, and urged.

Psalm 42:5 - Sorrow put to the question, or the Consolatory Catechism.

Psalm 42:5 - The sweetness, safety, and rightness of hope in God. Good grip for the anchor.

Psalm 42:5 - The music of the future, "I shall yet praise him."

Psalm 42:5 - "The help of his countenance," or the sustaining power of God's presence.

Psalm 42:5 - "Why art thou cast down?"

I. The mind, even of a holy man may be unduly cast down and disquieted.

II. In cases of undue dejection and disquietude the proper remedy is to expostulate with the soul, and to direct it to the only true source of relief.

III. Expostulation with the soul in times of distress, is then productive of its proper end, when it leads to an immediate application to God.

- H. March.

Psalm 42:5 - An emphasis of enquiry or examination; David calls himself to account for his present passion and trouble of mind. An emphasis of reproof or objurgation; David chides and rebukes himself for his present distemper. "Why art thou thus?" - Thomas Horton.

Psalm 42:5 with 11, or help and health.

Psalm 42:6 - "Remember thee." The consolation derivable from thoughts of God.

Psalm 42:6 - "Therefore will I remember thee." There are two ways of understanding this; each of them instructive and profitable....

I. It may be considered as an expression of determined remembrance of God should he ever be found in such places and conditions. Believers can suppose the worst, and yet hope for the best.

II. The language may be considered as an expression of encouragement derived from reflection. He had been in these situations and circumstances, and had experienced in them displays of divine providence and grace.

- W. Jay.

Psalm 42:6 - Ebenezers many, varied, remembered, helpful.

Psalm 42:7 - "Deep calleth unto deep." See "Spurgeon's Sermons," No. 865.

Psalm 42:7 - "Deep calleth unto deep." One evil inviting another.

I. The variety of evils - one evil to another.

II. The conjunction of evils - one evil with another.

III. The connexion of evils, or dependence and mutual reference - one evil upon another.

- T. Horton.

Psalm 42:7 - The threefold depth which the saints and servants of God are subject to here in this life.

I. The depth of temptation.

II. The depth of desertion.

III. The depth of affliction and human calamities.

- T. Horton.

Psalm 42:7, Psalm 42:8 - In seasons of affliction the servants of God will be distinguished from others by their ready perception and acknowledgment of the hand of God in their trials - H. March.

Psalm 42:8 - Daily mercy and nightly song; the mercies of sunshine and shade.

Psalm 42:8 (last clause) - The blessed alternation between praise and prayer.

Psalm 42:8 - "God of my life." Author, sustainer, comforter, object, crown, consummation.

Psalm 42:8 - "The God of my life." There is a threefold life whereof we partake, and God is the God of each unto us. First, the life of nature; secondly, the life of grace; thirdly, the life of glory - T. Horton.

Psalm 42:9 - "God my rock." Appellations of God, suited to circumstances - H. March.

Psalm 42:9 - "My rock." See Keach in his metaphors.

Psalm 42:9 -

I. Why thou?

II. Why I?

III. Why he?

It is a why to all three, To God, "Why hast thou forgotten me?" To David himself, "Why do I go mourning?" To David's adversary, whoever he was, "Why does the enemy oppress me?" - T. Horton.

Psalm 42:10 - The most grievous of taunts.

Psalm 42:11 - "My God."

I. It's a word of interest - "My God," as in covenant with him.

II. A word of compliance - "My God," as submitting to him.

III. A word of affection - "My God," as taking delight and rejoicing in him.

- T. Horton.

Psalm 42:11 - A catechism, a consolation, a commendation.

Psalm 42:11 -

I. David's experience of God. "He is the health, or help of my countenance."

II. His relation to God, and interest in him - "And my God."

- T. Horton.

Explanatory Notes and Quaint Sayings

Title

"Sons of Korah." Who were the sons of Korah? These opinions have more or less prevailed. One is that they sprang from some one of that name in the days of David. Mudge and others think that the sons of Korah were a society of musicians, founded or presided over by Korah. Others think that the sons of Korah were the surviving descendants of that miserable man who, together with two hundred and fifty of his adherents, who were princes, perished when "the earth opened her mouth and swallowed them up, together with Korah." In Numbers 26:11, we read: "Notwithstanding the children of Korah died not." They had taken the warning given, and had departed from the tents of these wicked men. Numbers 16:24, Numbers 16:26. It must be admitted that the name Korah and the patronymie Korahite are found in the Scriptures in a way that creates considerable doubt respecting the particular man from whom the Korahites are named. See 1 Chronicles 1:35; 1 Chronicles 2:43; 1 Chronicles 6:22, 1 Chronicles 6:54; 1 Chronicles 9:19; 1 Chronicles 26:1; 2 Chronicles 20:19. Yet the more common belief is that they descended from him who perished for his gain-saying. This view is taken by Ainsworth with entire confidence, by Gill, and others. Korah, who perished, was a Levite. Whatever may have been their origin, it is clear the sons of Korah were a Levitical family of singers. Nothing, then, could be more appropriate than the dedication of a sacred song to these very people. - William S. Plumer

Title

"Sons of Korah." The "Korah" whose "sons" are here spoken of, is the Levite who headed the insurrection against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. Numbers 16. We find his descendants existing as a powerful Levitical family in the time of David, at least, if they are to be identified, as is probable, with the Korahites mentioned in 1 Chronicles 12:6, who, like our own warlike bishops of former times, seem to have known how to doff the priestly vestment for the soldier's armour, and whose hand could wield the sword as well as strike the harp. The Korahites were a part of the band who acknowledged David as their chief, at Ziklag; warriors "whose faces," it is said, "were like the faces of lions, and who were (for speed) like gazelles upon the mountains." According to 1 Chronicles 9:17-19, the Korahites were in David's time, keepers of the threshold-of the tabernacle; and still earlier, in the time of Moses, watchmen at the entrance of the camp of the Levites. In 1 Chronicles 26:1-19, we find two branches of this family associated with that of Merari, as guardians of the doors of the Temple. There is probably an allusion to this their office, in Psalm 84:10. But the Korahites were also celebrated musicians and singers; see 1 Chronicles 6:16-33, where Heman, one of the three famous musicians of the time, is said to be a Korahite (comp. 1 Chronicles 25). The musical reputation of the family continued in the time of Jehoshaphat (2 Chronicles 20:19), where we have the peculiar doubly plural form בּגי הקּרהים, "Sons of the Korahites." - J. J. Stewart. Perowne.

Title

"Sons of Korah." Medival writers remark how here, as so often, it was the will of God to raise up saints where they could have been least looked for. Who should imagine that from the posterity of him who said, "Ye take too much upon you, ye sons of Aaron," should have risen those whose sweet Psalms would be the heritage of the church of God to the end of time? - J. M. Neale.

Psalm 42:1

"The hart panteth after the water brooks." And here we have started up, and sent leaping over the plain another of Solomon's favourites. What elegant creatures those gazelles are, and how gracefully they bound!... The sacred writers frequently mention gazelles under the various names of harts, roes, and hinds.... I have seen large flocks of these panting harts gather round the water-brooks in the great deserts of Central Syria, so subdued by thirst that you could approach quite near them before they fled. - W. M. Thomson.

Psalm 42:1

Little do the drunkards think that take so much pleasure in frequenting the houses of Bacchus that the godly take a great deal more, and have a great deal more joy in frequenting the houses of God. But 'tis a thing that God promised long ago by the prophet: "Them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer: their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine altar; for mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people." Isaiah 56:7. And methinks, I hear the willing people of God's power, merrily calling one to another in the words of Micah 4:2, "come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem." How is a godly man ravished with "the beauty of holiness," when he is at such meetings! How was holy David taken with being in the house of God at Jerusalem! insomuch, that if he were kept from it but a little while, his soul panted for it, and longed after it, and fainted for lack of it, as a thirsty hart would do for lack of water! "As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God?" The poor disconsolate? captives preferred it to the best place in their memory. "If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning" (Psalm 137:5); nay, they preferred it to their chiefest joy: If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy," Psalm 137:6. There was no place in the world that David regarded or cared to be in in comparison of it. "A day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness" (Psalm 84:10), insomuch, that he could find it in his heart, nay, and would choose, if he might have his desire, to spend all his days in that house. Psalm 27:4. - Zachary Bogan.

Psalm 42:1

The soul strongly desires acquaintance with. God here in his ordinances. Chrysostom's very rhetorical upon the text, and tells us how that David, like a lover in absence, must express his affections: as they have their dainty sighs, and passionate complaints, their loving exclamations and sundry discoveries of affection; they can meet with never a tree, but in the bark of it they must engrave the name of their darling, Δεινὸς δ̓ ὁ ἔρως ὥσπες ὁ κιττὸς αυτὸν ἐκ πάσης ἀναδῆσαι προφάωεωσ;'twill twine upon every opportunity, as the Moralist speaks. And the true lovers of God, they are always thinking upon him, sighing for him, panting after him, talking of him, and (if 'twere possible) would engrave the name of the Lord Jesus upon the breasts of all the men in the world. Look upon David, now a banished man, and fled from the presence of Saul, and see how he behaves himself: not like Themistocles or Camillus, or some of those brave banished worthies. He does not complain of the ungratefulness of his country, the malice of his adversaries, and his own unhappy success. No, instead of murmuring, he falls a panting, and that only after his God. He is banished from the sanctuary, the palace of God's nearest presence, and chiefest residence; he can't enjoy the beauty of holiness, and all other places seem to him but as the tents of Kedar. He is banished from the temple, and he thinks himself banished from his God, as it is in the following words, "When shall I come and appear before God?" The whole stream of expositors run this way, that it is meant of his strong longing to visit the Temple, and those amiable courts of his God, with which his soul was so much taken. - Nathanael Culverwel's "Panting Soul," 1652.

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.

Psalm 42:1

"As the hart panteth after the waterbrooks, so panteth my soul after thee, 0 God." As after a long drought the poor fainting hind longs for the streams, or rather as the hunted hart instinctively seeks after the river to lave its smoking flanks and to escape the dogs, even so my weary, persecuted soul pants after the Lord my God. Debarred from public worship, David was heartsick. Ease he did not seek, honour he did not covet, but the enjoyment of communion with God was an urgent need of his soul; he viewed it not merely as the sweetest of all luxuries, but as an absolute necessity, like water to a stag. Like the parched traveller in the wilderness, whose skin bottle is empty, and who finds the wells dry, he must drink or die - he must have his God or faint. His soul, his very self, his deepest life, was insatiable for a sense of the divine presence. As the hart brays so his soul prays. Giro him his God and he is as content as the poor deer which at length slakes its thirst and is perfectly happy; but deny him his Lord, and his heart heaves, his bosom palpitates, his whole frame is convulsed, like one who gasps for breath, or pants with long running. Dear reader, dost thou know what this is, by personally having felt the same? It is a sweet bitterness. The next best thing to living in the light of the Lord's love is to be unhappy till we have it, and to pant hourly after it - hourly, did I say? thirst is a perpetual appetite, and not to be forgotten, and even thus continual is the heart's longing after God. When it is as natural for us to long for God as for an animal to thirst, it is well with our souls, however painful our feelings. We may learn from this verse that the eagerness of our desires may be pleaded with God, and the more so, because there are special promises for the importunate and fervent.

Psalm 42:2

"My soul." All my nature, my inmost self. "Thirsteth." Which is more than hungering; hunger you can palliate, but thirst is awful, insatiable, clamorous, deadly. O to have the most intense craving after the highest good! this is no questionable mark of grace. "For God." Not merely for the temple and the ordinances, but for fellowship with God himself. None but spiritual men can sympathise with this thirst. "For the living God." Because he lives, and gives to men the living water; therefore we, with greater eagerness, desire him. A dead God is a mere mockery; we loathe such a monstrous deity; but the ever-living God, the perennial fountain of life and light and love, is our soul's desire. What are gold, honour, pleasure, but dead idols? May we never pant for these. "When shall I come and appear before God?" He who loves the Lord loves also the assemblies wherein his name is adored. Vain are all pretences to religion where the outward means of grace have no attraction. David was never so much at home as in the house of the Lord; he was not content with private worship; he did not forsake the place where saints assemble, as the manner of some is. See how pathetically he questions as to the prospect of his again uniting in the joyous gathering! How he repeats and reiterates his desire! After his God, his Elohim (his God to be worshipped, who had entered into covenant with him), he pined even as the drooping flowers for the dew, or the moaning turtle for her mate. It were well if all our resortings to public worship were viewed as appearances before God, it would then be a sure mark of grace to delight in them. Alas, how many appear before the minister, or their fellow men, and think that enough! "To see the face of God" is the nearer translation of the Hebrew; but the two ideas may be combined - he would see his God and be seen of him; this is worth thirsting after!

Psalm 42:3

"My tears have been my meat day and night." Salt meats, but healthful to the soul. When a man comes to tears, constant tears, plenteous tears, tears that fill his cup and trencher, he is in earnest indeed. As the big tears stand in the stag's eyes in her distress, so did the salt drops glitter in the eyes of David. His appetite was gone, his tears not only seasoned his meat, but became his only meat, he had no mind for other diet. Perhaps it was well for him that the heart could open the safety valves; there is a dry grief far more terrible than showery sorrows. His tears since they were shed because God was blasphemed, were "honourable dew," drops of holy water, such as Jehovah putteth into his bottle. "While they continually say unto me, Where is thy God?" Cruel taunts come naturally from coward minds. Surely they might have left the mourner alone; he could weep no more than he did - it was a supererogation of malice to pump more tears from a heart which already overflowed. Note how incessant was their jeer, and how artfully they framed it! It cut the good man to the bone to have the faithfulness of his God impugned. They had better have thrust needles into his eyes than have darted insinuations against his God. Shimei may here be alluded to who after this fashion mocked David as he fled from Absalom. He roundly asserted that David was a bloody man, and that God was punishing him for supplanting Saul and his house; his wish was father to his thought. The wicked know that our worst misfortune would be to lose God's favour, hence their diabolical malice leads them-to declare that such is the case. Glory be to God, they lie in their throats, for our God is in the heavens, ay, and in the furnace too, succouring his people.

Psalm 42:4

"When I remember these things, I pour out my soul in me." When he harped upon his woes his heart melted into water and was poured out upon itself. God hidden, and foes raging, a pair of evils enough to bring down the stoutest heart! Yet why let reflections so gloomy engross us, since the result is of no value: merely to turn the soul on itself, to empty it from itself into itself is useless, how much better to pour out the heart before the Lord! The prisoner's treadwheel might sooner land him in the skies than mere inward questioning raise us nearer to consolation. "For I had gone with the multitude, I went with them to the house of God." Painful reflections were awakened by the memory of past joys; he had mingled in the pious throng, their numbers had helped to give him exhilaration and to awaken holy delight, their company had been a charm to him as with them he ascended the hill of Zion. Gently proceeding with holy ease, in comely procession, with frequent strains of song, he and the people of Jehovah had marched in reverent ranks up to the shrine of sacrifice, the dear abode of peace and holiness. Far away from such goodly company the holy man pictures the sacred scene and dwells upon the details of the pious march. "With the voice of joy and praise, with a multitude that kept holyday." The festive noise is in his ears, and the solemn dance before his eyes. Perhaps he alludes to the removal of the ark and to the glorious gatherings of the tribes on that grand national holy day and holiday. How changed his present place! For Zion, a wilderness.; for the priests in white linen, soldiers in garments of war; for the song, the sneer of blasphemy; for the festivity, lamentation; for joy in the Lord, a mournful dirge over his absence.

"I sigh to think of happier days

continued...

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.

Psalm 42:6

"O my God, my soul is cast down within me." Here the song begins again upon the brass. So sweet an ending deserves that for the sake of a second hopeful close the Psalm should even begin again. Perhaps the Psalmist's dejection continued, the spasm of despondency returned; well, then, he will down with his harp again, and try again its power upon himself, as in his younger days, he saw its influence upon Saul when the evil spirit came upon him. With God the song begins the second time more nearly than at first. The singer was also a little more tranquil. Outward expression of desire was gone; there was no visible panting; the sorrow was now all restrained within doors. Within or upon himself he was cast down; and, verily, it may well be so, while our thoughts look more within than upward. If self were to furnish comfort, we should have but poor provender. There is no solid foundation for comfort in such fickle frames as our heart is subject to. It is well to tell the Lord how we feel, and the more plain the confession the better: David talks like a sick child to its mother, and we should learn to imitate him. "Therefore will I remember thee." 'Tis well to fly to our God. Here is terra firma. Blessed downcasting which drives us to so sure a rock of refuge as thee, O Lord! "From the hill Mizar." He recalls his seasons of choice communion by the river and among the hills, and especially that dearest hour upon the little hill, where love spake her sweetest language and revealed her nearest fellowship. It is great wisdom to store up in memory our choice occasions of converse with heaven; we may want them another day, when the Lord is slow in bringing back his banished ones, and our soul is aching with fear. "His love in times past" has been a precious cordial to many a fainting one; like soft breath it has fanned the smoking flax into a flame, and bound up the bruised reed. Oh, never-to-be-forgotten valley of Achor, thou art a door of hope! Fair days, now gone, ye have left a light behind you which cheers our present gloom. Or does David mean that even where he was he would bethink him of his God; does he declare that, forgetful of time and place, he would count Jordan as sacred as Siloa, Hermon as holy as Zion, and even Mizar, that insignificant rising ground, as glorious as the mountains which are round about Jerusalem! Oh! it is a heavenly heart which can sing -

"To me remains nor place nor time;

My country is in every clime;

I can be calm and free from care

On any shore, since God is there.

"Could I be cast where thou art not,

That were indeed a dreadful lot,

continued...