Works Volume 4, Book 2 · Psalm 43
The Forty Third PSALM.
THe Forty Third Pſalm is exactly of the ſame mournful ſubject, and probably on the ſame occaſion, with the former, but perhaps lightly varied from thence on ſome other occaſion, ſuch as the Babyloniſh captivity, (as the mention of the ungodly nation inclines it v. 1.) and adjoyned to Pſalm 42. becauſe of its affinity to it. 'Tis a complaint of ill uſage from enemies, yet endeth with full relyance on God, and place of hope from thence, as the former did.
1. Judge me, O God, and plead my cauſe againſt the ungodly nation: O deliver me from the deceitful and ‖unmerciful foreignunjuſt man.
Paraphrase. 1. O God, what ever our ſins againſt thee have been, we have certainly not injured theſe which are maliciouſly bent againſt us. Be thou pleaſed therefore to vindicate our innocency in this, to clear us from the calumnies of theſe, and to reſcue us out of their treacheries, and bloody deſigns.
2. For thou art the God of my ſtrength: why doſt thou caſt me off? why go I mourning becauſe of the oppreſſion of the enemy?
Paraphrase. 2. To thee alone can we appeal, who art our only defender: O be thou pleaſed to reſtore us to thy favour; not to forſake us utterly, not to leave us to that ſad diſconſolate condition, to which the oppreſſions of our mortal enemies have brought us.
3. O ſend out thy light and thy truth: let them lead me; let them bring me unto thy holy hill, and to thy tabernacles.
Paraphrase. 3. O let thy mercy ſhew forth it ſelf, and thy fidelity in performing thy promiſe to us: let theſe be our guide and ſafeguard in our way, as thy pillar of cloud and fire to the Iſraelites, in their paſſage from Aegypt to Canaan; and at length reſtore us ſucceſſefully to that reſt and peace, that we may ſecurely reſort to thy publick ſervice, in the place which thou haſt appointed for it, where the Ark is.
†the gladneſs of my joy, or, of my youth, or, who makes my ſorrow joy.4. Then ſhall I go unto the altar of God my exceeding joy: yea upon the harp will I praiſe thee, O God my God.
Paraphrase. 4. And that will be an happy time indeed, to go in the ſociety of the ſaints to offer ſacrifice to God; that God that revives out of the greateſt ſadneſs, is the only author of all the felicity of my life: when that time comes, we ſhall be moſt happy, and celebrate thy mercies and goodneſs to us in the moſt ſolemn manner of exultation, and never give over acknowledging thy goodneſs and fatherly bounty toward us.
5. Why art thou caſt down, O my ſoul? and why art thou diſquieted within me? Hope in God, for I ſhall yet praiſe him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God.
Paraphrase. 5. Mean while there is a competent ſtay to our drooping ſouls▪ an argument that we ſhould not be too much dejected or diſturbed, that we have ſtill place of hope and truſt in God, that we ſhall yet live to receive deliverance from him, and injoy happy opportunities of acknowledging his mercies in the publick aſſembly, who is, even now that he thus permits us to be diſtreſt, the only comfort and ſupport of our lives, and our merciful loving father, even now that we are under his ſharpeſt chaſtiſment.
Annotations on Pſalm XLIII.
foreignV. 4. Exceeding joy] The chief difficulty of this Pſalm is, how the foreign is to be rendred. As for foreign that in Hebrew denotes commotion, and generally any kind of commotion, (as Abu Walid tells us, ſee note on Pſal. 2. k.) whether of joy or ſorrow. It is certain it moſt frequently ſignifies exultation and joy: and ſo it muſt be thought to do as oft as it is joyned with foreign rejoycing, by any conjunctive particle, as Pſal. 45.15. with gladneſs and rejoycing ſhall they be brought; and ſo 'tis there rendred by the LXXII. foreign; who yet in this place have rendred foreign much otherwiſe, foreign, God that makes merry my youth: and therein the Syriack, Latine, Arabick, and Aethiopick follow them, and only the Chaldee otherwiſe, foreign from whom is the joy of my exultation. Of this rendring of the LXXII. the account is ordinary, that they took foreign in a notion wherein 'tis uſed in Arabick for age or generation. So in their rendring of Pſal. 79.13. we will ſhew forth thy praiſe from generation to generation, foreign. So Gen. 3.9. Noah was upright in his foreign generation. So Pſalm 112.2. foreign the generation of the juſt ſhall be bleſſed. And Mat. 1. Theſe are foreign the generations. And then 'tis conceived that in this notion of generation, as that ſignifies the whole age and courſe of a mans life, the LXXII. taking the word, thought fit to render it foreign, my youth, viz. the former p… of my age. But the word foreign in Arabick ſignifies alſo a fat well-grown youth; and the Arabick being but a dialect of the Hebrew, and the word foreign evidently thus ſignifying in the Arabick, 'tis moſt probable that thus it did ſignifie originally in the Hebrew, and the LXXII. their thus underſtanding it, and rendring it foreign, youth, is a fair evidence for it. And if indeed it thus did ſignifie in the Hebrew, then there is all reaſon to underſtand it ſo here, and to render it foreign the joy of my youth, foreigni. e. of my whole courſe of life, from my youth till now, and to make that the title of God, that he hath always been ſuch to David, i. e. the only author of joy and rejoycing (foreign) that ever David had. And thus the rendring is more literal, than either to read it, the God of my joy and gladneſs, (for there is neither any reaſon to make the former word to be in the genitive caſe, nor is there any ו conjunction between them and the Chaldee, that alone differs from the LXXII. yet read it in this other form, from whom is the joy of —) or God, my exceeding joy. If this notion of foreign be not accepted, it may then be, as our Engliſh margine hath it, God the gladneſs of my joy, i. e. he that is the great author of all the joy I have. But if it may here be taken in the notion of the other contrary paſſion, or commotion, that of ſorrow, then foreign will be he that maketh glad my ſorrow, or turneth my commotions into joy.
V. 4. foreignThe harps] Of foreign it may here be obſerved, that being among the Graecians uſed in ſadneſs only, (and ſo defined by Heſychius, foreign, a muſical inſtrument, a mournful harp, and from thence foreign, to mourn and wail, and foreign, wailing and mournful) 'tis yet among the Hebrews generally a cheerful, joyful muſick, ſo Gen. 31.17. and 2 Chron. 10.28. Job 21.12. and 30.13. and frequently in theſe Pſalms, ſee Pſal. 33.2.71.22.81.3.92.4.137.2.149.3. Iſai. 5.12.24.8. Ezek. 26.13. and 1 Mac. 3.5.