Psalms 42:9

Psa 42:9 I will say unto God my rock, Why hast thou forgotten me? why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?

Ver. 9. I will say unto God my rock, Why hast thou forgotten me?] Tene veto mei immemorem esse? Thus I will in a familiar manner expostulate with him, and lay my case open unto him, as to a friend. The flesh suggesteth that he is forgotten, but faith holdeth its own, fastening on the Rock of ages.

Why go I mourning] Heb. Black, as one that is in mourning weeds; or, that had lain among the pots.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Psa_42:9

I will say unto God my Rock, Why hast Thou forgotten me?

why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?

Davids expostulation with God

I. The preface or introduction. I will say unto God, etc.

1. The terms upon which David addresses himself to God. My Rock. This was an expression suitable to the condition which David was now in, and the metaphor which he had it set forth by, to wit, of being in the deep; he had said, the waves and billows went over him, and now, therefore, does he repair to the Rock. The Lord is pleased still in Scripture to represent Himself to us as most agreeable to our present necessities. If we be sick, He is our health; if we be dead, He is our life; if we be pursued, He is our castle; if we be assaulted, He is our shield; if we be ready to sink under dangers and calamities, He is then our Rock (Psa_18:2; Psa_89:26; Psa_94:22). It is a small booty to us, for God to be a rock, except He be ours, and therefore David adds this to the other. Not only the rock which I have right to, but also the rock which I have proof and trial of in former proceedings. I have made Him my rock by faith, He has made Himself my rock by love. Thus the servants of God, as they go confidently where they have interest, so they go more confidently still there where they have experience (Psa_57:2).

2. His preparation of himself to this address. I will say.

(1) A word of premeditation and advice. David being now to come before God, and to address himself unto Him, does not come to Him hand over head, he cares not how; but he thinks first with himself what he will utter and speak before Him when he shall come into His presence.

(2) A word of resolution. David had tried other ways, he had spoken to his own soul already, and that would not do the deed; and now he resolves to go to God Himself, and to fasten his complaints upon Him, or at least to spread them before Him, and to desire His relief of Him in them. And this is what all Christians should resolve on; it is the best course which can be taken.

II. The expostulation itself. Why hast Thou, etc.

1. Look upon this complaint as it refers to God. Why hast Thou forgotten me? This may be understood either as such which there was causes and ground for indeed, or else as such which was so only according to Davids apprehension.

(1) God does sometimes so carry Himself towards His servants as if He had forgotten them, while He suffers them to continue and abide under sundry evils which they fall into. God forgets them that so they may remember themselves. The servants of God in prosperity, and in the enjoyment of all things to their minds, are apt very often to wander and go astray, and to go out of the way; now desertion it brings them in again and reduces them, and recovers them to themselves (Luk_15:17; 1Ki_8:47; Psa_119:67). As God forgets His people that so they may remember themselves, so also sometimes that they may remember Him (Isa_17:10). That they may remember others (Amo_6:6).

(2) As we may look upon this forgetting as so indeed, so we may look upon it as being so only in Davids apprehension, and so signifying thus much unto us, that Gods servants are apt to think God forgets them, even then when He is yet mindful of them. From want of due understanding and consideration of the manner of Gods dealings. From impatience and too much haste.

2. As it refers to himself.

(1) He expostulates about the occasion. Why go I mourning? The occasions hereof to Gods people are sundry and various: as

(a) their own sins, and the corruptions which do cleave unto them.

(b) The sins of others. Gods children go mourning for these also.

(c) For their own and others afflictions.

(2) He expostulates as to the affection. Why go I mourning? that is, Why do I mourn in this excess, as I now perceive myself to do? This is that which the servants of God are oftentimes troubled withal, even the inordinacy and distemper of their affections, when they go beyond their due measure and bounds; not only as it is painful, but as it is sinful.

(3) This expostulation hath reference to the adversaries and opposites of David, Because of the oppression of the enemy. (Thomas Herren, D. D.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

10. (Psa 42:9). I will say to God, my rock, why hast thou forgotten me? Why go I mourning in the oppression of the enemy? This expostulation may be regarded as a part or a sample of the prayer which God enabled him to offer, even in the midst of his afflictions. The divine name here used is the one significant of strength. My rock, my refuge, my protector, and the foundation of my hope. See above, on Psa 18:3 (2). Why go I? more exactly, why shall or must I go? Mourning, literally squalid, dirty. See above, on Psa 34:14; Psa 38:7 (6). In the oppression, may either mean during its continuance, or in consequence of it, or rather both ideas are included.

Joseph Addison Alexander, The Psalms Translated and Explained (1850) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

42:9-10 The psalmist brings his many doubts, discouragements, and questions directly to God.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

in view of which [Psa 42:8], he dictates to himself a prayer based on his distress, aggravated as it was by the cruel taunts and infidel suggestions of his foes.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 9. I will say unto God my rock] God, my Fortress and Support.

Why hast thou forgotten meat] This and the following verse is badly pointed in our Bibles: "Why go I mourning as with a sword in my bones because of the oppression of the enemy? Mine enemies reproach me daily, while they say unto me, Where is thy God?" See on Ps 42:3. Their reproaches are to my soul as cutting and severe as a sword thrust into my body, and separating between my bones; because these reproaches are intended to fall on thee, my God, as if thou hadst not power to save us from the hands of our oppressors.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

9. I will say to God my rock If we read the preceding verse in the past tense, the meaning of this verse will be, Since God has, in this way, heretofore shown himself so kind towards me, I will pray to him now with so much the greater confidence: for the experience which I have had of his goodness will inspire me with courage. But if the preceding verse is rendered in the future tense, David, in this verse, combines the prayer which it contains with the reflections which faith led him to make. And, surely, whoever, from a persuasion of the paternal love of God, anticipates for himself the same favor which David has just described, will also be induced from his example to pray for it with greater confidence. The meaning, then, will be this: Since I expect that God will be favorable to me, inasmuch as by day he manifests his favor towards me, and continues to do this, so that even by night I have occasion to praise him, I will bewail the more frankly my miseries before him, saying, O Lord! my rock, why hast thou forgotten me? In making such a complaint, the faithful are not to be understood as meaning that God has utterly rejected them: for if they did not believe that they were under his care and protection, it were in vain for them to call upon him. But they speak in this manner according to the sense of the flesh. This forgetfulness, then, relates both to outward appearance, and to the disquietude by which the faithful are troubled according to the flesh, although, in the meantime, they rest assured by faith that God regards them, and will not be deaf to their request.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(9) Apparently we have now the very words of the prayer just mentioned.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

9. I will say] Or, Let me say, the tense (voluntative, as in Psa_42:4) emphatically expressing his resolution.

my rock] The word, lit. my cliff or crag (sela), is used of God as a refuge only in Psa_18:2 (= 2Sa_22:2); Psa_31:3 (=Psa_71:3). On the more common word for rock (tsûr) see note on Psa_18:2 (A.V. my strength).

The original edition of the A.V. (1611) has unto God, My rock, why; treating my rock as a vocative, with LXX and Jerome. Editions of 1612 and 1630 have God, my rock, why: and the usual punctuation God my rock, Why appears to have been introduced in editions of 1629, 1638. See Scrivener, Authorised Ed. of the English Bible, p. 165.

Why &c.] Not a demand for explanation, but the expostulation of perplexity. Cp. Psa_13:1; Psa_22:1; Psa_77:9; Psa_88:14.

mourning] Cp. Psa_35:14, Psa_38:6; Job_30:28.

because of the oppression of the enemy] Or, as R.V. marg. (cp. P.B.V.), while the enemy oppresseth. The substantive occurs in the Psalter only here and in Psa_43:2; Psa_44:24; the verb only in Psa_56:1; Psa_106:42. Both are used elsewhere, especially of the oppression of Israel by foreign invaders (Jdg_2:18; 1Sa_10:18; 2Ki_13:4; Amo_6:14; &c.).

9–11. Having thus recalled God’s mercy in the past he expostulates with Him for having abandoned him, and exposed him to the sneers of his enemies.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

I will say unto God my rock,.... A name frequently given to the eternal God, Father, Son, and Spirit, Deu 32:4; See Gill on Psa 18:2;

why hast thou forgotten me? See Gill on Psa 13:1;

why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy? meaning perhaps Saul; though it may be applied to any spiritual enemy, sin, Satan, and the world; who are very oppressive and afflicting, and occasion continual mourning to the children of God.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

I will say unto God my rock - I will appeal to God as my defense, my helper, my Saviour. On the word rock, as applied to God, see the notes at Psa 18:2.

Why hast thou forgotten me? - See the notes at Psa 22:1. He had seemed to forget and forsake him, for He did not come to interpose and save him. This is a part of the prayer which he says Psa 42:8 that he would use.

Why go I mourning? - On the meaning of the word used here - קדר qodēr - see Psa 35:14, note; Psa 38:6, note. The idea is that of being bowed down, made sad, deeply afflicted, as one forsaken.

Because of the oppression of the enemy - In the oppression of the enemy; that is, during its continuance, or on account of it. The word here rendered “oppression” means distress, affliction, straits, Job 36:15; 1Ki 22:27; Isa 30:20. The “enemy” here referred to may have been Absalom, who had driven him from his throne and kingdom.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

I will say unto God; I will expostulate the case with him.

My rock; who hath formerly been a sure refuge to me.

Why hast thou forgotten me? why dost thou now seem quite to forget and neglect me? Why go I mourning? why dost thou leave me in this mournful state, and not succour me speedily?

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Ver. 9. I will say unto God my rock, Why hast thou forgotten me? Faith is allowed to enquire of her God the causes of his displeasure, and she is even permitted to expostulate with him and put him in mind of his promises, and ask why apparently they are not fulfilled. If the Lord be indeed our refuge, when we find no refuge, it is time to be raising the question, "Why is this?" Yet we must not let go our hold, the Lord must be my rock still; we must keep to him as our alone confidence, and never forego our interest in him. Why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy? He who condescends to be pleaded with by Abraham, his friend, allows us to put to him the question that we may search out the causes of his severity towards us. Surely he can have no pleasure in seeing the faces of his servants stained and squalid with their tears; he can find no content in the harshness with which their foes assail them. He can never take pleasure in the tyranny with which Satan vexes them. Why then does he leave them to be mocked by his enemies and theirs? How can the strong God, who is as firm and abiding as a rock, be also as hard and unmoved as a rock towards those who trust in him? Such enquiries humbly pressed often afford relief to the soul. To know the reason for sorrow is in part to know how to escape it, or at least to endure it. Want of attentive consideration often makes adversity appear to be more mysterious and hopeless than it really is. It is a pitiable thing for any man to have a limb amputated, but when we know that the operation was needful to save life, we are glad to hear that it has been successfully performed; even thus as trial unfolds, the design of the Lord sending it becomes far more easy to bear.

Ver. 9. God my rock. David was a fugitive, with little means of defence, and continually pursued by enemies who were powerful and numerous. The country in which he wandered was mountainous, and he often sought and found shelter on the tops of precipitous rocks, or in their natural hollows or excavated caves. Thus the idea of shelter and defence being associated in his mind with that of a rock, how natural that he should apply the term to God, and when seeking him as his refuge and helper, should address him by that appellation... Why hast thou forgotten me? Not that he supposed he was literally forgotten of God, so as to be given up and abandoned by him; because he had still sufficient trust in his faithfulness to seek him for a refuge, and to hope in his mercy. His expression is to be regarded as the language of feeling, not of judgment. He felt, he seemed, as one forgotten by God. Those visits of love, those manifestations of favour with which he had formerly been indulged, and which then seemed to him to be so many tokens of the divine remembrance, were now withheld, now when, on account of his distress, they appeared so unspeakably more needful and desirable; whence it was that he felt as one forgotten. Henry March.

Ver. 9. God my rock. Appellations of God, suited to circumstances.

Ver. 9. My rock. See Keach in his metaphors.

Ver. 9.

1. Why thou?

2. Why I?

3. Why he? It is a why to all three. To God, Why has 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.

Psalms 42:10*

Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

9. I will say unto God—That is, in order to bring about the deliverance just assured, “I will say,” etc. He will urge his cause to this end.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

I will say unto God my Rock. (comp. Psa_18:1 Psa_31:3) Why hast thou forgotten me? (see the comment on Psa_13:1) God does not forget even when he most seems to forget. (comp. Psa_9:12 Psa_37:28) As the event showed, he had not now forgotten David. (see 2Sa_19:9-40) Why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy? Why am. I allowed to remain so long an exile, sorrowing and oppressed? (comp. Psa_43:2) Even to repentant sinners God"s judgments are apt to seem too severe, too much prolonged, too grievous.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

I will say to God, my rock

The writer speaks of God as if he were a huge rock that would provide protection from enemy attack. (See: Metaphor)

Why do I go mourning

To "go mourning" is to perform customs related to being very sad.

As with a sword in my bones

The writer describes his adversaries' rebukes as his receiving a fatal wound. (See: Simile)

they always say to me

This is an exaggeration; his enemies are not saying this constantly but are saying it often. (See: Hyperbole and Generalization)

Where is your God?

The writer's enemies use this question to mock him and to express that they do not see God helping him. AT: "Your God is not here to help you" (See: Rhetorical Question)

translationWords

mourn

oppress

adversary

sword

rebuke

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

By day, may the Lord command His kindness May the light of the redemption come, and may the Lord command His kindness to us.

and at night In the darkness of the exile and the troubles.

may His resting place be with me Heb. שירה. May His resting place be in our midst. שּׁירה is an expression of camping, as we translate (II Sam. 17:26): “And Israel encamped,” וּשְּׁרָא. I learned this from the Great Masorah, which associates this [word] with (I Kings 5:12): “And his songs (שירו) were a thousand and five,” in the “aleph-beth” of two words with different meanings (homonyms). This taught [me] that this is not an expression of song, but the Midrash Aggadah does interpret it as an expression of song, interpreting in this manner: Israel says to the Holy One, blessed be He: “We remember what You did for us in Egypt. You commanded us one commandment by day on the eve of the Passover, and we observed it, and at night, You redeemed us and we sang Hallel before You. But now we keep many commandments, yet You do not redeem us. Because of this, I will say to God, my Rock, ‘Why have You forgotten me?’ “

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.