Paraphrase Upon the Books of the Psalms, Book 5 · Psalm 142
The Hundred Fourty Second Psalm.
Maschil of David, A prayer when he was in the Cave. The hundred fourty second is a prayer of David for deliverance in his helpless state, when having escaped the treachery of the Keilites, he was now in the Cave of Engedi, 1 Sam. xxiv. 1. It was set to the tune called Maschil (see note on Psal. xxxii. a.)
1. I‖will cry foreign cried unto the Lord with my voice; with my voice unto the Lord†will (so the Jewish Arab) did I make my supplication.
2. I*will poure poured out my complaint before him: I‖will shew shewed before him my trouble.
Paraphrase. In the distress wherein now I am, this state of absolute destitution, there is none to whom I should resort but to thee, O Lord, who art able and willing to relieve those that in their greatest streights apply themselves to thee. To thee therefore I most humbly and devoutly address my petitions, beseeching thee favourably to behold and rescue me.
3. When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, thena. thou knewest my path: in the way wherein I walked have they privily laid a snare for me.
I am in great perplexity, not knowing which way to turn my self: I am even at the last gaspe of earthly hopes, my treacherous enemies being very sollicitous to insnare and betray me. Thou seest, O Lord, the sadness of my streights, and withall knowest the sincerity of my heart: To thee therefore doe I make my supplication, v. 1. that thou wilt now take my part, own, and defend me.
4. †look (so the Jewish Arab)I looked on my right hand,*behold, and there is none that will— and beheld, but there was no man that would know me: refuge‖is lost from— failed me, no manb. †vindicatethcared for my soule.
I have no humane strength to defend or patronize me, all worldly friends and auxiliaries have utterly forsaken me; my life is left as an orphan, destitute and helpless, to him that will be so bloody as to take it away from me.
5. I cried unto thee, O Lord; I said, thou art my refuge, and my portion in the land of the living.
To thee therefore I poure out my prayers, O God of all power and grace, on thee do I wholly depend for my succour and preservation, as on the only sanctuary of my life, as on the onelyonly inheritance that is lest me in this world.
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 soule out of prison,c. that‖or, they I may praise thy name:†through me shall the righteous come about, when thou the righteous shall compass me about, for thou shalt deal bountifully with me.
I am now very fitly qualified for thy sovereign hand of relief to interpose: my persecuting enemies are much too hard for me; I am now shut up in a close Cave, as in a prison. O do thou in this my time of distress send me thy relief, and it will be a means of bringing in much honour to thy name, many proselytes to thy service, when by thy dealing with me they are so fully convinced of thy power and protection over all that rely on thee.
Annotations on Psalm CXLII.
V. 3. Thou knewest] What foreign signifies here will be judged by Deut. ii. 7. He hath known thy walking through this great wilderness, foreigni. e. hath preserved thee in all thy journeying; and so it agrees with what went before, for the Lord hath blessed thee in all thy works. So Psal xxxi. 7. Thou hast known my soule in adversity, i. e. taken notice of me, patronized me. And so here, thou knewest my path, i. e. hast taken notice of me, to defend and secure me.
V. 4. Cared for my soule] The Hebrew hath foreign foreignseeking for my soule. The word foreign, to seek, is sometimes used for vindicating, avenging, taking part, or defending any. So Gen. xlii. 22. Reuben saith of Joseph, behold his blood foreign is required, i. e. avenged and punisht upon us; and Gen. ix. 5. foreign I will require the life of man, i. e. avenge it on him that kills any man; and in Ezekiel oft, his blood will I require— Thus when God is said to require simply, without any addition, the meaning is, to avenge and punish. And proportionably here, requiring or seeking foreign for my soule, most probably signifies vindicating or punishing another for the evill designed by him unto my soule. For this is the part of a Goel, an avenger of blood (such was the next of kin to him that was slain) to require justice for his soule, or blood, or life; and so foreign to require, by which the Lxxii. here render it, frequently signifies. And to this the Syriack directs the interpretation, foreign and there is no avenger for my soule; vindex animae meae, vindicator of my soule, saith their Latine Translator: and so the word signifies, from foreign to avenge, which the Chaldee also useth in this place, foreign there is none to vindicate or avenge my soule. That this is the meaning of the phrase, beside the authority of those interpreters, seems farther evident by the beginning of the verse, foreign foreignlook (or looking) on the right hand, and see (or seeing) (so the words in the Imperative or Infinitive are literally to be rendred, and not, as the interpreters more paraphrastically read, foreign, I looked) foreign and there is not for me that knowes me, i. e. acknowledges me, none that takes my part. The Advocate was wont to stand at the right hand of his Client (see Psal. cix. 31. Note i.) And to this the phrase seems to referr, look, or looking, on my right hand, where the Patron or Advocate useth to stand, and there is no man that acknowledges or takes my part. So againe foreign foreignrefuge is lost or gone from me, to the same sense, there is none to whom I can fly to take my part; and then in the conclusion, none that requireth or avengeth for my soule, none that defends or vindicates it.
V. 7. That I may praise] The Hebrew foreign foreignad laudandum, to praising, may indifferently be rendred, either in the first person, that I, or in the third plural, that they may praise, i. e. the just in the next words. And to that latter sense the following words seem to incline it, foreign foreignin me shall the righteous come about: in me, foreign for my cause, saith the Chaldee, shall they come about, foreign the just shall make thee a crown of praise, say they, not, come about me (or, as the Lxxii. foreign, they watch for me, in the notion wherein they render foreign by foreign expect, wait for, Job xxxvi. 11.) but foreign foreignas that signifies for me, or for my cause, on occasion of me, come about, incompass God, believe in him, praise his name, when (so foreign foreignis to be rendred) they see how graciously God hath dealt with me. The Jewish Arab reads, And the righteous shall take me for a crown (to them.) The word foreign signifies so to encompasse or come about, as when a multitude of people assemble on any occasion: so Prov. xiv. 18. the simple inherit folly, but the prudent foreign shall encompass knowledge, i. e. seek it, and follow it with all diligence: and so to encompass God, is to frequent his sanctuary, devoutly and diligently to make addresses to him. The word also in Arabick dialect signifies to be multiplied, and so it will commodiously be rendred, on occasion of me the righteous shall be multiplied, when they see thy mercifull returnes, or dealings toward me.