Be Worshipful by Warren W. Wiersbe

Author:Warren W. Wiersbe
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Worshipful, Psalms 1-89, glorifying, commentary
Publisher: David C. Cook
Published: 2011-08-10T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Two

Book II

(Psalms 42—72)

Psalms 42 and 43

The repeated refrain (42:5, 11; 43:5) and the general theme of these two psalms would indicate that the two psalms were no doubt originally one, but nobody seems to know why they were separated. Korah was a grandson of Kohath and was killed for rebelling against the Lord (Num. 16). However, his sons escaped judgment (Num. 16:11) and became worship leaders in the sanctuary (1 Chron. 9:19ff.; 26:1–19). They are also named in the titles to 44—49; 84; and 87—88. Some associate these psalms with Absalom’s rebellion, but the geography in verse 6 seems to put the setting too far north for that, since David camped over the Jordan at Mahanaim. The author was evidently a Levite exiled among Gentiles (43:1) who oppressed him and questioned his faith (42:3, 10; 43:2). He was a worship leader who had led groups of pilgrims to Jerusalem for the assigned festivals (84:7; Ex. 23:14–17; 34:18–26; Deut. 16:1–17). It was time for such a journey, but he wasn’t able to go, and this grieved his heart because he felt that the Lord had forgotten him (42:9; 43:2). In the psalm, he uses El or Elohim twenty times and Jehovah only once (42:8). The psalms are intensely personal, containing over fifty personal pronouns; and the writer fluctuated between faith and despair as he wrestled with the Lord. He questions the Lord eleven times as he wonders why God doesn’t do something for him. We see him passing through three stages before he comes to victory and peace.

1. Longing for God (42:1–5). During a drought, the writer saw a female deer (hind) panting and struggling to reach water to quench her thirst (Joel 1:20), and this reminded him that he thirsted for the Lord and wanted to go on pilgrimage to Jerusalem. The living God was the God of his life (v. 8; see 84:2), and he could not live without Him. Note that the essentials for physical life are mentioned here: air (panting, v. 1), water (v. 2), and food (v. 3), but without worship (v. 4), life to him was meaningless. Hunger and thirst are familiar images of the quest for fellowship with God and the satisfaction it brings (36:8–9; 63:1; Matt. 5:6; John 4:10–14; 7:37–39; Rev. 21:6; 22:17). Day and night (vv. 3, 8) he felt the pain caused by separation from God’s sanctuary and by the constant ridicule of the people around him. He “fed” on his grief (not a wise thing to do) as his tears became his bread. His weeping was as regular as his eating had been.

“Where is thy God?” (vv. 3, 10) was a standard question the Gentile idolaters asked the Jews (79:10; 115:2; Joel 2:17; Mic. 7:10; see Matt. 27:43). However, the question indicates that the writer must have been a devout believer who wasn’t ashamed of his faith; otherwise, his tormentors wouldn’t have questioned him. He remembered better days when he used to lead processions of pilgrims to Jerusalem to celebrate the feasts.

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