gods in the ordinary sense · noun, common masculine plural construct
strength
מָֽעוּזִּי֮ma.'u.Zi
H4581
a fortified place · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix
off
זְנַ֫חְתָּ֥נִיze.Nach.Ta.ni
H2186
reject · verb, qal perfect, 2nd person masculine singular + pronominal suffix
go
אֶתְהַלֵּ֗ךְ'et.ha.Lekh
H1980
to walk (in a great variety of applications · verb, hithpael imperfect, 1st person common singular
mourning
קֹדֵ֥רko.Der
H6937
to be ashy · verb, qal active participle, masculine singular absolute
oppression
בְּלַ֣חַץbe.La.chatz
H3906
distress · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct
enemy
אוֹיֵֽב'o.Yev
H341
hating · verb, qal active participle, masculine singular absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Psalms 28:7 The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will…
Psalms 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?
Ephesians 6:10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.
Psalms 94:14 For the LORD will not cast off his people, neither will he forsake his inheritance.
Isaiah 40:31 But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and…
Psalms 44:9 But thou hast cast off, and put us to shame; and goest not forth with our armies.
Exodus 15:2 The LORD is my strength and song, and he is become my salvation: he is my God, and I will prepare him an habitation; my father’s God, and I…
1 Chronicles 28:9 And thou, Solomon my son, know thou the God of thy father, and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind: for the LORD searchet…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Psalms 43:1–end
David here makes application to God, by faith and prayer, as his judge, his strength, his guide, his joy, his hope, with suitable affections and expressions.
I. As his Judge, his righteous Judge, who he knew would judge him, and who (being conscious of his own integrity) he knew would judge for him (Psa 43:1): Judge me, O God! and plead my cause. There were those that impeached him; against them he is defendant, and from their courts, where he stood unjustly convicted and condemned, he appeals to the court of heaven, the supreme judicature, praying to have their judgment given against him reversed and his innocency cleared. There were those that had injured him; against them he is plaintiff,…
God of my strength--by covenant relation my stronghold (Psa 18:1).
cast me off--in scorn.
because--or, "in," that is, in such circumstances of oppression.
John Gill on Psalms 43:2
For thou art the God of my strength,.... Who being the strong and mighty God was able to deliver and save him, as well as to plead his cause; and was the author and giver of strength, natural and spiritual, to him; and was the strength of his heart, life and salvation; and is a good reason why he committed his cause unto him;
why doest thou cast me off? this is the language of unbelief: it being what was not in reality, only in appearance: the psalmist was ready to conclude he was cast off and rejected of God, because he was afflicted and left in a desolate condition by him, and he did not immediately arise to his help and deliverance, and had withdrawn the light of his countenance from him…
Psalm 43:1-5
1. Judge me, O God! and plead my cause: deliver me from the cruel [or unmerciful] nation, free me from the deceitful and wicked man. 2. For thou art the God of my strength; why art thou estranged from me? why go I sad because of the oppression of the enemy? 3. Send forth thy light and thy truth, let them direct me, let them conduct me to thy holy hill, and to thy tabernacles. 4. And I will go to the altar of God, to God my exceeding joy, [literally the joy of my rejoicing:] and I will praise thee upon the harp, O God! my God. 5. O my soul! why art thou cast down? and why art thou disquieted within me? for I will yet praise him who is the help of my countenance, and my God.
1 J…
The Church Fathers
And since patience is needful in order to endure, until the harvest, a certain distinction without separation, if we may so speak (for they are together with us, and therefore not yet separated; the tares however being still tares, and the grain still grain, and therefore they are already distinct); since then a kind of strength is needful, which must be implored of Him who bids us to be strong, and without whose making us strong, we should not be what He bids us to be; of Him who said, "He that endures unto the end shall be saved," [Matthew 24:31] lest the soul's powers should be impaired in consequence of her ascribing any strength to herself, he subjoins immediately, "For Thou, O God, art my strength: why have You cast me off, and why go I mourning, while the enemy harasses me?" [Psalm 43:2]. I go mourning: the enemy is harassing me with daily temptations: inspiring either some unlawful love, or some ungrounded cause of fear; and the soul that fights against both of them, though not taken prisoner by them, yet being in danger from them, is contracted with sorrow, and says unto God, "Why?" Let her then ask of Him, and hear "Why?" For she is in the Psalm enquiring the cause of her dejection; saying, "Why have You cast me off? And why go I mourning?" Let her hear from Isaiah; let the lesson which has just been read, suggest itself to her. "The spirit shall go forth from me, and every breath have I made. For iniquity have I a little afflicted him; I hid my face from him, and he departed from me sorrowful in the ways of his heart." [Isaiah 57:16-17] Why then did you ask, "Why have You cast me off, and why go I mourning?" You have heard, it was "for iniquity." "Iniquity" is the cause of your mourning; let "Righteousness" be the cause of your rejoicing! You would sin; and yet you would fain not suffer; so that it was too little for you to be yourself unrighteous, without also wishing Him to be unrighteous, in that you would fain not be punished by Him. Consider a speech of a better kind in another Psalm. "It is good for me that You have humbled me, that I might learn Your righteousnesses." By being lifted up, I had learned my own iniquities; let me by being "humbled," learn "Your righteousnesses." "Why go I mourning, while the enemy harasses me?" You complain of the enemy. It is true he does harass you; but it was you who "gave place" [Ephesians 4:27] to him.…
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Korahite — (1 Chronicles 9:19,31) Kor’-hite, or Kor’athite, that portion of the Kohathites who were descended from Korah. They were an important branch of the singers, (2 Chronicles 20:19) hence we find eleven…
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
tossed me aside: Other psalms similarly ask whether God has rejected his people (44:9, 23; 60:1, 10; 74:1; 77:7; 88:14; 89:38; 108:11).
Spurgeon's Treasury of David on Psalms 43:2
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?
For. Here is argument, which is the very sinew of prayer. If we reasoned more with the Lord we should have more victories in supplication. Thou art the God of my strength. All my strength belongs to thee—I will not, therefore, use it on my own behalf against my personal foes. All my strength comes from thee, I therefore seek help from thee, who art able to bestow it. All my strength is in thee, I leave therefore this task of combating my foes entirely in thy hands. Faith which leaves such things alone is wise faith. Note the assurance of David, thou art, not I hope and t…
