EXPOSITION
THIS psalm, committed (like so many others) to the precentor, or. chief musician, for its musical setting, is entitled "Maschil of the sous of Korah"—i.e. an "instruction," or didactic psalm, composed by the Korahite Levites—a Levitical family of singers (1 Chronicles 26:1, 1 Chronicles 26:2; 2 Chronicles 20:19). To the same family are assigned Psalm 45-49; in the present book, and Psalms 84:1-12; Psalms 85:1-13; Psalms 87:1-7; Psalms 88:1-18, in Book III. The composition, though assigned by some to the commencement of the Babylonian Captivity, belongs more probably to the time of David, and the words seem put by the author into the mouth of David himself. The date of the composition is probably the year of David's flight from Jerusalem on the revolt of Absalom (2 Samuel 15:16), when he spent some months in the Trans-Jordanic territory, chiefly at Mahanaim (2 Samuel 17:24; 2 Samuel 19:32). The psalm is chiefly an outpouring of sorrow and complaint; but still is an "instruction," inasmuch as it teaches the lesson that in the deepest gulf of sorrow (Psalms 88:7) the soul may still turn to God, and rest itself in hope on him (Psalms 88:5, Psalms 88:8, Psalms 88:12).
There is an intimate union between this psalm and the next, which is a sort of additional stanza, terminating in the same refrain (comp. Psalms 43:5 with Psalms 42:5 and Psalms 42:11).