Psalms 42 and 43 are usually treated as one psalm because:
- Psalm 43 doesn’t have a superscription;
- the refrain is repeated three times in 42:5, 11, and 43:5;
- the thought develops from remembrance to a specific hope
- the 2 poems form a typical psalm of lament with several elements of the lament form.
Perhaps this psalm was evoked by the grace-filled experience of this Israelite worshiper, alienated from his worshiping community in Jerusalem, taunted by enemies, and gazing at a formidable scene of rugged rock formations with thundering cataracts of cold, clear water cascading down from pristine mountain springs and melting snow. He stands on the ascent of the Golan Heights, at the sources of the Jordan River with Mount Hermon nearby, far away from Jerusalem. He hears the roar of the waterfalls as a deer comes to drink from a pool of the fresh water, and this scene becomes a picture of his very being, simultaneously yearning and tumultuous—panting for God and despairing of God’s seeming absence.
He realized the same truth Augustine expressed many centuries later:
“Thou hast created us for thyself and our hearts cannot be quieted until it may find repose in thee.”
The structure of the poem is built around questions and the three-fold refrain that responds to the questions by encouraging faith/trust and hope. The psalmist questions God and himself and complains about the taunts of enemies. He digs deeply into his own being and acknowledges how troubled he is by his own thoughts, feelings and actions. He owns being troubled by his enemies and deeply troubled by God who seems to be forgetting and rejecting him. The refrain signals the repeated mood change from despair to hope, doubt and trust.
He feels his intense, physical longing for God, a big appetite for God, thirsting for God with his whole being. He allows himself to remember the goodness of the past, to feel his present suffering and disorientation, and finally, he opens himself to hope for restoration, for new orientation.
His faith despairs, and his despair hopes. In all of his self-doubt, he remembers the covenant love of the LORD, YHWH, that now seems to be lost. He owns how his whole being (his bones) feels “done in” by his foes and by God’s silence/inaction. (See Luke 18:1-8 and Matthew 26:38.)
Presented July 21, 2019