Matthew Henry on Psalms 42:1-5
Holy love to God as the chief good and our felicity is the power of godliness, the very life and soul of religion, without which all external professions and performances are but a shell and carcase: now here we have some of the expressions of that love. Here is,
I. Holy love thirsting, love upon the wing, soaring upwards in holy desires towards the Lord and towards the remembrance of his name (Psa 42:1, Psa 42:2): "My soul panteth, thirsteth, for God, for nothing more than God, but still for more and more of him." Now observe,
1. When it was that David thus expressed his vehement desire towards God. It was, (1.) When he was debarred from his outward opportunities of waiting on God, when he…
Read the whole note in the consoleJamieson-Fausset-Brown on Psalms 42:3
Where is thy God?--implying that He had forsaken him (compare Sa2 16:7; Psa 3:2; Psa 22:8).
John Gill on Psalms 42:3
My tears have been my meat day and night,.... That is, he could not eat for sorrow, like Hannah,
1 Samuel 1:7,8; or while he was eating tears fell in plenty, and they were as common, day and night, as his food, and mixed with it (f); see Psalm 80:5;
while they continually say unto me, his enemies the Philistines,
where is thy God? theirs were to be seen and pointed at, as the host of heaven, the sun, moon, and stars, and idols of gold, silver, brass, wood, and stone; wherefore they ask, where was his? but David's God was invisible; he is in the heavens, and does what he pleases, Psalm 115:2; or the sense is, that if there was such a God he believed in and professed, and he was his servant…
Read the whole note in the consoleJohn Calvin on Psalms 42:1-3
Psalm 42:1-3
1. As the hart crieth [112] for the fountains of water, so my soul crieth after thee, O Jehovah! 2. My soul hath thirsted for God, even for the living God: when shall I come to appear before the face of God? 3. My tears have been my bread day and night, while they say daily to me, Where is thy God?
1. As the hart crieth for the fountains of water, etc The meaning of these two verses simply is, that David preferred to all the enjoyments, riches, pleasures, and honors of this world, the opportunity of access to the sanctuary, that in this way he might cherish and strengthen his faith and piety by the exercises prescribed in the Law. When he says that he cried for the living God,…
