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Psalms 42:2

Psalms 42:2

The Pulpit Commentary · Joseph S. Exell and contributors · Public Domain

My soul thirsteth for God (comp. ; ; ). The devout soul is always athirst for God. David felt his severance from the tabernacle and its services as a sort of severance from God himself, whom he was accustomed to approach through the services of the sanctuary (see 2 Samuel 15:25, 2 Samuel 15:26).

For the living God. This title of God occurs only in one other psalm (); but it was a title familiar to David (1 Samuel 17:27). It is first used in ; and, later, in ; 2 Kings 19:4, 2 Kings 19:16; , ; ; ; ; .

It expresses that essential attribute of God that he is "the eternal Life" (1 ), the Source and Origin of all life, whether angelic, human, or animal. When shall I come and appear before God?

Appearance in the tabernacle must here be specially meant, but with this David connects his return to God's favour and to the light of his countenance (2 Samuel 15:25).

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Psalms 42 — OverviewPsalms 42 · Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole BibleIf the book of Psalms be, as some have styled it, a mirror or looking-glass of pious and devout affections, this psalm in particular deserves, as much as any one psalm, to be so entitled, and is as proper as…Psalms 42 — OverviewPsalms 42 · Treasury of Scripture KnowledgePsalms 42:1, David’s zeal to serve God in the temple; Psalms 42:5, He encourages his soul to trust in God.Psalms 42 — OverviewPsalms 42 · John Gill's Exposition of the Entire BibleTo the chief Musician, Maschil, for the sons of Korah. Of the word "Maschil", See Gill on "Ps 32:1", title. Korah was he who was at the head of a conspiracy against Moses and Aaron, for which sin the earth opened its…Psalms 42:1-5Psalms 42:1-5 · Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole BibleHoly 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…Psalms 42:1-11Psalms 42:1-11 · The Pulpit CommentaryEXPOSITION 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…Psalms 42:1-11Psalms 42:1-11 · The Pulpit CommentaryA thirst for God. This is one of the most touching, pathetic, and beautiful of the Psalms. It is not possible to decide either its author or the time of its composition. Its tones are very much like the plaintive…
commentaryRecommended resourceExplore this resource connected to the verse you are reading.sermonThe Thirst for GodWhen the psalmist wrote this he was a fugitive in hiding somewhere across Jordan.George H. MorrisoncommentaryRecommended resourceExplore this resource connected to the verse you are reading.commentaryRecommended resourceExplore this resource connected to the verse you are reading.sermonHope Thou in GodThe psalmist here is not talking to an audience. He is talking to himself. "Why art thou cast down, O my soul? Hope thou in God."George H. Morrison