How long, Yahweh? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?
Parallel Translations
-
How long, Yahweh? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?
-
How long wilt thou forget me, O LORD? for ever? how long wilt thou hide thy face from me?
-
(13-1) For the Leader. A Psalm of David. (13-2) How long, O LORD, wilt Thou forget me for ever? How long wilt Thou hide Thy face from me?
Cross-references (15)
Passages linked to Psalms 13:1 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Job 13:24 Why do you hide your face, and consider me your enemy?
- Lamentations 5:20 Why do you forget us forever, and forsake us for so long a time?
- Psalms 89:46 How long, Yahweh? Will you hide yourself forever? Will your wrath burn like fire?
- Psalms 94:3-4 Yahweh, how long will the wicked, how long will the wicked triumph? They pour out arrogant words. All the evildoers boast.
- Psalms 22:1-2 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from helping me, and from the words of my groaning? My God, I cry in the daytime, but you don’t answer; in the night season, and am not silent.
- Psalms 80:4 Yahweh God of Armies, how long will you be angry against the prayer of your people?
- Psalms 44:24 Why do you hide your face, and forget our affliction and our oppression?
- Psalms 6:3 My soul is also in great anguish. But you, Yahweh—how long?
- Psalms 35:17 Lord, how long will you look on? Rescue my soul from their destruction, my precious life from the lions.
- Psalms 74:1 God, why have you rejected us forever? Why does your anger smolder against the sheep of your pasture?
- Psalms 10:12 Arise, Yahweh! God, lift up your hand! Don’t forget the helpless.
- Psalms 85:5 Will you be angry with us forever? Will you draw out your anger to all generations?
- Psalms 90:14 Satisfy us in the morning with your loving kindness, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
- Isaiah 59:2 But your iniquities have separated you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.
- Deuteronomy 31:17 Then my anger shall be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide my face from them, and they shall be devoured, and many evils and troubles shall come on them; so that they will say in that day, ‘Haven’t these evils come on us because our God is not among us?’
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (25 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
Private notes
Saved on this device only — never synced or sent anywhere.
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 1. How long, O Jehovah. It is very true…
1. How long, O Jehovah. It is very true that David was so greatly hated by the generality of people, on account of the calumnies and false reports which had been circulated against him, that almost all men judged that God was not less hostile to him than Saul It was the opinion of Theodoret that this psalm was composed by David, not during his persecution by Saul, but when Absalom conspired against him; and the reason which he assigns for this opinion is, “that the trouble which Saul gave him was before his great sin, and so he was full of confidence; but that of Absalom was after it, which made him cry out in this doleful manner.” — Bishop Patrick’s Paraphrase on the Book of Psalms.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain He declareth that his afflictions lasted a long time,…
He declareth that his afflictions lasted a long time, and that his faith fainted not.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Psa 13:1 « To the chief Musician, A Psalm…
Psa 13:1 « To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. » How long wilt thou forget me, O LORD? for ever? how long wilt thou hide thy face from me?
Ver. 1. How long wilt thou forget me, O Lord? for ever?] It appeareth that when David penned this psalm (which some think was about the end of Saul’s persecution, when he was forced to flee into the land of the Philistines, 1Sa 27:1) he was under a dreadful desertion, and that for a long while together; hence his many "How longs," and "for ever?" Christ, saith Greenham, was forsaken for a few hours, David for a few months, and Job for a few years. Luther confesseth of himself that after his conversion he lay three days in desperation; and the like is reported of Mr Robert Bolton, who felt himself for the time in the suburbs of hell, as it were. So did Heman, Psa 88:5; so did David here and elsewhere. The final absence of God is hell itself. "Depart from me, ye cursed," is worse than "into everlasting fire." To be punished from the presence of the Lord is the hell of hells, 2Th 1:9. God seemeth to forget his dearest children sometimes for a season, to the end that they may remember themselves, and become every way better; as the lion leaves her whelps till they have almost killed themselves with roaring, that they may become the more courageous. But, to speak properly, God cannot forget his people, Isa 44:16; Isa 49:14-16. Non deserit Deus, etiamsi deserere videatur; non deserit etiamsi deserat, saith Austin, If he leave us for a time, yet he forsaketh us not at all. If he hide his face (as in the next words), which is a further trial, and a greater misery (for it importeth indignation, contempt, and hatred), yet it is but for a moment, though it should be during life; and he, therefore, taketh liberty to do it, saith one, because he hath an eternity of time to reveal his kindness in; time enough for kisses and embraces: meanwhile, as when the sun is eclipsed, though the earth wants the light thereof, yet not the influence thereof; so God’s supporting grace is ever with his deserted.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain How long wilt thou forget, i.e. neglect or disregard,…
How long wilt thou forget, i.e. neglect or disregard, me? for ever I
how long wilt thou withdraw thy favour and assistance?
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain David, in affliction, is here pouring out his soul…
David, in affliction, is here pouring out his soul before God; his address is short, but the method is very observable, and of use for direction and encouragement.
I. His troubles extort complaints (Psa 13:1, Psa 13:2); and the afflicted have liberty to pour out their complaint before the Lord, Ps. 102 title. It is some ease to a troubled spirit to give vent to its griefs, especially to give vent to them at the throne of grace, where we are sure to find one who is afflicted in the afflictions of his people and is troubled with the feeling of their infirmities; thither we have boldness of access by faith, and there we have parrēsia - freedom of speech. Observe here,
Read full note →
1. What David complains of. (1.) God's unkindness; so he construed it, and it was his infirmity. He thought God had forgotten him, had forgotten his promises to him, his covenant with him, his former lovingkindness which he had shown him and which he took to be an earnest of further mercy, had forgotten that there was such a man in the world, who needed and expected relief and succour from him. Thus Zion said, My God has forgotten me (Isa 49:14), Israel said, My way is hidden from the Lord, Isa 40:27. Not that any good man can doubt the omniscience, goodness, and faithfulness of God; but it is a peevish expression of prevailing fear, which yet, when it arises from a high esteem and earnest desire of God's favour, though it be indecent and culpable, shall be passed by and pardoned, for the second thought will retract it and repent of it. God hid his face from him, so that he wanted that inward comfort in God which he used to have, and herein was a type of Christ upon the cross, crying out, My God, why hast thou forsaken me? God sometimes hides his face from his own children, and leaves them in the dark concerning their interest in him; and this they lay to heart more than any outward trouble whatsoever. (2.) His own uneasiness. [1.] He was racked with care, which filled his head: I take counsel in my soul; "I am at a loss, and am inops consilii - without a friend to advise with that I can put any confidence in, and therefore am myself continually projecting what to do to help myself; but none of my projects are likely to take effect, so that I am at my wits' end, and in a continual agitation." Anxious cares are heavy burdens with which good people often load themselves more than they need. [2.] He was overwhelmed with sorrow, which filled his heart: I have sorrow in my heart daily. He had a constant disposition to sorrow and it preyed upon his spirits, not only in the night, when he was silent and solitary, but by day too, when lighter griefs are diverted and dissipated by conversation and business; nay, every day brought with it fresh occasions of grief; the clouds returned after the rain. The bread of sorrow is sometimes the saint's daily bread. Our Master himself was a man of sorrows. (3.) His enemies' insolence, which added to his grief. Saul his great enemy, and others under him, were exalted over him, triumphed in his distress, pleased themselves with his grief, and promised themselves a complete victory over him. This he complained of as reflecting dishonour upon God, and his power and promise.
2. How he expostulates with God hereupon: "How long shall it be thus?" And, "Shall it be thus for ever?" Long afflictions try our patience and often tire it. It is a common temptation, when trouble lasts long, to think it will last always; despondency then turns into despair, and those that have long been without joy begin, at last, to be without hope. "Lord, tell me how long thou wilt hide thy face, and assure me that it shall not be for ever, but that thou wilt return at length in mercy to me, and then I shall the more easily bear my present troubles."
II. His complaints stir up his prayers, Psa 13:3, Psa 13:4. We should never allow ourselves to make any complaints but what are fit to be offered up to God and what drive us to our knees. Observe here,
1. What his petitions are: Consider my case, hear my complaints, and enlighten my eyes, that is, (1.) "Strengthen my faith;" for faith is the eye of the soul, with which it sees above, and sees through, the things of sense. "Lord, enable me to look beyond my present troubles and to foresee a happy issue of them." (2.) "Guide my way; enable me to look about me, that I may avoid the snares which are laid for me." (3.) "Refresh my soul with the joy of thy salvation." That which revives the drooping spirits is said to enlighten the eyes, Sa1 14:27; Ezr 9:8. "Lord, scatter the cloud of melancholy which darkens my eyes, and let my countenance be made pleasant."
2. What his pleas are. He mentions his relation to God and interest in him (O Lord my God!) and insists upon the greatness of the peril, which called for speedy relief and succour. If his eyes were not enlightened quickly, (1.) He concludes that he must perish: "I shall sleep the sleep of death; I cannot live under the weight of all this care and grief." Nothing is more killing to a soul then the want of God's favour, nothing more reviving than the return of it. (2.) That then his enemies would triumph: "Lest my enemy say, So would I have it; lest Saul, lest Satan, be gratified in my fall." It would gratify the pride of his enemy: He will say, "I have prevailed, I have gotten the day, and been too hard for him and his God." It would gratify the malice of his enemies: They will rejoice when I am moved. And will it be for God's honour to suffer them thus to trample upon all that is sacred both in heaven and earth?
III. His prayers are soon turned into praises (Psa 13:5, Psa 13:6): But my heart shall rejoice and I will sing to the Lord. What a surprising change is here in a few lines! In the beginning of the psalm we have him drooping, trembling, and ready to sink into melancholy and despair; but, in the close of it, rejoicing in God, and elevated and enlarged in his praises. See the power of faith, the power of prayer, and how good it is to draw near to God. If we bring our cares and griefs to the throne of grace, and leave them there, we may go away like Hannah, and our countenance will be no more sad, Sa1 1:18. And here observe the method of his comfort. 1. God's mercy is the support of his faith. "My case is bad enough, and I am ready to think it deplorable, till I consider the infinite goodness of God; but, finding I have that to trust to, I am comforted, though I have no merit of my own. In former distresses I have trusted in the mercy of God, and I never found that it failed me; his mercy has in due time relieved me and my confidence in it has in the mean time supported me. Even in the depth of this distress, when God hid his face from me, when without were fightings and within were fears, yet I trusted in the mercy of God and that was as an anchor in a storm, by the help of which, though I was tossed, I was not overset." And still I do trust in thy mercy; so some read it. "I refer myself to that, with an assurance that it will do well for me at last." This he pleads with God, knowing what pleasure he takes in those that hope in his mercy, Psa 147:11. 2. His faith in God's mercy filled his heart with joy in his salvation; for joy and peace come by believing, Rom 15:13. Believing, you rejoice, Pe1 1:8. Having put his trust in the mercy of God, he is fully assured of salvation, and that his heart, which was now daily grieving, should rejoice in that salvation. Though weeping endure long, joy will return. 3. His joy in God's salvation would fill his mouth with songs of praise (Psa 13:6): "I will sing unto the Lord, sing in remembrance of what he has done formerly; though I should never recover the peace I have had, I will die blessing God that ever I had it. He has dealt bountifully with me formerly, and he shall have the glory of that, however he is pleased to deal with me now. I will sing in hope of what he will do for me at last, being confident that all will end well, will end everlastingly well." But he speaks of it as a thing past (He has dealt bountifully with me), because by faith he had received the earnest of the salvation and he was as confident of it as if it had been done already.
In singing this psalm and praying it over, if we have not the same complaints to make that David had, we must thank God that we have not, dread and deprecate his withdrawings, sympathize with those that are troubled in mind, and encourage ourselves in our most holy faith and joy.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain How long wilt thou forget me, O Lord? for…
How long wilt thou forget me, O Lord? for ever?.... When God does not immediately deliver his people from their enemies, or help them out of an affliction; when he does not discover his love, communicate his grace, apply the blessings and promises of his covenant as usual; and when he does not visit them in his usual manner, and so frequently as he has formerly done, they are ready to conclude he has forgotten them; and sometimes this continues long, and then they fear they are forgotten for ever; and this they cannot bear, and therefore expostulate with God in a querulous manner, as the psalmist does here; but this is to be understood not in reality, but in their own apprehension, and in the opinion of their enemies; God never does nor can forget his people; oblivion does not fall upon him with respect to common persons and things; and much less with respect to his own dear children, for whom a special book of remembrance is written; See Gill on Psa 9:18;
how long wilt thou hide thy face from me? his love, and the manifestation of it, from his person; his gracious presence, the light of his smiling countenance, which sometimes God hides or withdraws from his people by way of resentment of their unbecoming carriage to him; and which is very distressing to them, for they are apt to imagine it is in wrath and hot displeasure, when he still loves them, and will with everlasting kindness have mercy on them; see Isa 8:17. The Targum renders it, "the glory of thy face".
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain David complains to God, ver. 1, 2. Prays for…
David complains to God, ver. 1, 2. Prays for help, ver. 3, 4. Rejoices in hope, ver. 5, 6. To the chief musician, A psalm of David.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain This Psalm contains the sentiments of an afflicted soul…
PSALM XIII
This Psalm contains the sentiments of an afflicted soul that
Read full note →
earnestly desires succour from the Lord. The psalmist complains
of delay, 1-3;
prays for light and comfort, because he finds himself on the
brink of death, 3;
dreads the revilings of his enemies, 4;
anticipates a favourable answer, and promises thanksgiving,
5, 6.
NOTES ON PSALM XIII
There is nothing particular in the inscription. The Psalm is supposed to have been written during the captivity, and to contain the prayers and supplications of the distressed Israelites, worn out with their long and oppressive bondage.
Verse 1. How long wilt thou forget me] The words עד אנה ad anah, to what length, to what time, translated here how long? are four times repeated in the two first verses, and point out at once great dejection and extreme earnestness of soul.
Hide thy face from me?] How long shall I be destitute of a clear sense of thy approbation?
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Psa 13:1-2. How long wilt thou forget — That…
Psa 13:1-2. How long wilt thou forget — That is, neglect or disregard; me, O Lord? for ever? — Shall it be during my whole life? How long wilt thou hide thy face? — Withdraw thy favour and assistance? How long shall I take counsel, &c. — How long shall I be in such perplexities and anxieties of mind, not knowing what course to take, nor how to get out of my troubles?
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain How long wilt thou forget me, O Lord? -…
How long wilt thou forget me, O Lord? - literally, “until when.” The psalmist breaks out into this cry “in the midst” of his troubles. He had apparently borne them as long as he could. It seemed as if they would never come to an end. We may presume that he had been patient and uncomplaining; that he had borne his trials long with the hope and belief that they would soon terminate; that he had waited patiently for deliverance, uttering no words of complaint; but now he begins to despair. He feels that his troubles will never end. He sees no prospect of deliverance; no signs or tokens that God would interpose; and he breaks out, therefore, in this language of tender complaint, as if he was utterly forsaken, and would be forever. The mind, even of a good man, is not unfrequently in this condition. He is borne down with troubles. He has no disposition to murmur or complain. He bears all patiently and long. He hopes for relief. He looks for it. But relief does not come; and it seems now that his troubles never will terminate. The darkness deepens; his mind is overwhelmed; he goes to God, and asks - not with complaining or murmuring, but with feelings bordering on despair - whether these troubles never will cease; whether he may never hope for deliverance.
Forever? - He had been forgotten so long, and there appeared to be so little prospect of deliverance, that it seemed as if God never would return and visit him with mercy. The expression denotes a state of mind on the verge of despair.
Read full note →
How long - Referring to a second aspect or phase of his troubles. The first was, that he seemed to be “forgotten.” The second referred to here is, that God seemed to hide his face from him, and he asked how long this was to continue.
Wilt thou hide thy face from me - Favour - friendship - is shown by turning the face benignantly toward one; by smiling upon him; in Scriptural language, by “lifting up the light of the countenance” upon one. See the note at Psa 4:6. Aversion, hatred, displeasure, are shown by turning away the countenance. God seemed to the psalmist thus to show marks of displeasure toward him, and he earnestly asks how long this was to continue.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain Psalms 13
Psalms 13
To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David
Read full note →
1 How long wilt thou forget me, O Lord? forever?
How long wilt thou hide thy face from me?
2 How long shall I take counsel in my soul?
Having sorrow in my heart daily?
How long shall mine enemy be exalted over me?
3 Consider and hear me, O Lord my God:
Lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death;
4 Lest mine enemy say, I have prevailed against him;
And those that trouble me rejoice when I am moved.
5 But I have trusted in thy mercy;
My heart shall rejoice in thy salvation.
6 I will sing unto the Lord, because he hath dealt bountifully with me.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
Its character. The Psalm begins with a strophe of five lines, a lamentation from a sighing breast, in which hope is in severe conflict with despair; then follows a strophe of four lines of urgent prayer; from which breaks forth in a strophe of three lines, faith in the Divine grace, with expressions of joyous personal participation therein. It is all expressed in language so true to life, and with the freshness of experience, that it is entirely inadmissible to regard as its subject the people of Israel oppressed by foreign nations (Rabbin., Rosenm., De Wette) or the suffering Christ. David can only apply as a type, so far as his experience is applied to the God-fearing sufferer and Christian martyr. [Perowne: “The rapid transition of feeling from a depth of misery bordering on despair, to hope, and even joy, is very remarkable.” Hitzig refers this Psalm to the time of Saul’s persecution of David. Delitzsch likewise inclines to this opinion.—C. A. B.]
Str. I. Psa_13:1. How long—forever.—The meeting together of the question, and the lamentation, in apparent conflict, in the words which begin and close the clause, is found likewise, Psa_74:10; Psa_79:5; Psa_89:46. Thus it cannot be merely an accidental want of exactness in the expression, nor can it be set aside by interpreting “forever” by “entirely” (Aquil., Rosenm.), which the language does not permit, but it is to be explained from the conflict in the Psalmist’s own feelings (Calv., Hengst., Hupf., Delitzsch), which Luther (although he incorrectly translates “entirely,” “fully”) very properly describes as “an anguish of spirit which feels that it has to do with a God alienated, hostile, implacable, inexorable, whose wrath is eternal, where hope itself despairs, and yet despair hopes; and all that lives is the ‘groaning that cannot be uttered,’ wherewith the Holy Spirit maketh intercession for us brooding over the waters shrouded in darkness.” [The punctuation of the A. V., “How long wilt thou forget me? forever?” is incorrect. Perowne: “It is natural for a perturbed and doubting heart thus to express itself in a confused and almost contradictory manner.”—“Well must David have understood what this was, when, hunted by Saul, he knew not where to betake himself; at one time seeking refuge among the Moabites, at another in the wilderness of Ziph; now an outlaw hiding himself in the cave of Adullam, and anon a captain in the service of the king of the Philistines; and amid all his projects, haunted by the mournful conviction ‘I shall now one day perish by the hand of Saul.’ ”—C. A. B.]
Psa_13:2. Daily.—[Barnes: “Everyday; constantly. That is, there was no intermission to his troubles. The sorrow in his heart seems to have been not merely that which was caused by trouble from without, but also that which sprang from the painful necessity of attempting to form plans for his own relief—plans which seemed to be in vain.”7—C. A. B.]
Str. II. Psa_13:3. Make mine eyes clear.—[A. V., “lighten mine eyes”] does not mean: illuminate mine eyes = my face; namely: with the light of Thy countenance (Geier, and most interpreters), but states the consequences and the work of the Divine glance of grace, namely: the strengthening of the vitality, whose mirror is the clear and cheerful eye, 1Sa_14:27; 1Sa_14:29. Their dimness shows the exhaustion of vitality, Psa_6:7; Lam_5:17. It is true Psa_19:8 speaks of enlightening the eyes by the Spirit and the word of God (Chald., Cocc., et al.), but this is not referred to here, where it has to do with enlightening with the light of life, as Job_33:30; Psa_38:10; Pro_29:13. [Delitzsch: “The enlightening light to which הֵאִיר refers, is the love-light of the Divine countenance, Psa_31:16. Light, love, and life, are related ideas in the Scriptures. He upon whom God looks in love, remains alive, he who is permeated with new vitality, obtains not to sleep the sleep of death.”—C. A. B.] The kind of sleep is indicated by the accusative. [A. V.: the sleep of death.] The ancient translations on the other hand have erroneously taken it as if death is not figuratively represented as sleep, but as a condition, to which, or into which, sleep might lead.8
[Psa_13:4. When I am moved.—Barnes: “Moved from my steadfastness or firmness; when I am overcome. Hitherto he had been able to hold out against them, now he began to despair, and to fear that they would accomplish their object by overcoming and subduing him. His ground of apprehension and of appeal was, that by his being vanquished the cause in which he was engaged would suffer, and that the enemies of religion would triumph.”—C. A. B.]
[Str. III. Psa_13:5-6. Tholuck: “Whilst the thunder and lightning are still raging around him, David sings his song of praise, as Luther also says, ‘While Satan rages and roars about him, he meanwhile sings quietly his little Psalm.’ ” The Septuagint has an additional clause, followed by the Vulgate and the English prayer book: “Yea, I will praise the name of the Lord Most High.” It is not found in any Hebrew MSS.—C. A. B.]
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. It is true that God does not forget anyone, yet it may be that to the human spirit it appears as if he were forgotten by God, and that the Holy One had veiled His countenance from him. Then he feels at once that he is forsaken by God, and that he is weak with reference to his enemies. Whatever resolves he may make, he will not escape from his troubles. He fears the disfavor of God, and at the same time is anxious for his own life, and on account of his enemies shouts of victory.
2. Even a pious man may fall into such a state of anxiety of soul, especially if he is mindful of his sins whilst enduring these earthly troubles; if he experiences the nearness of Divine punishment in the dangers which threaten him; if he feels in his trials the hand of the righteous God chastising him; and if he recognizes his transgressions against Divine commands in the hindrances to his communion with God.
3. Yet; as long as the heart of man still retains faith in the Divine grace, despair does not gain the supremacy over his troubled soul. Fear may struggle for a long time with hope, as to whether this grace may still be referred to his own person, and glorify itself by it; but if such a man still earnestly prays, and can earnestly call upon the Divine grace, he will likewise learn again to firmly trust in that grace which alone affords help in dangers of body and necessities of soul; and fear is changed into assurance of salvation, just as lamentation into the praise of God. Mala enim, quæ nos hic premunt, ad Christum ire compellunt (Gregory).
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
Man may be in great need on earth, so that he no longer knows how to advise or help himself; but so long as he can pray, he is not lost.—Trouble of heart transcends bodily need; but the greatest trouble arises from anguish of soul on account of the wrath of God.—It is well for those who, although in the greatest anxiety, are driven by the feeling that they are abandoned by God, to seek the grace of God! Under the experience of the Divine grace the lamentations of a man are changed into thanksgiving.—According as God’s countenance is veiled against us or shines upon us, our life and our experience are darkened or brightened.
Starke:—God has provided and appointed to every Christian his cross, so also how long it is to last, and he cannot forget us or our crosses. God only is the light in all our troubles, yes, even in death. We are much blinder and more foolish in our own adversities than in those of others.—Sleep and death follow one another, and are brothers.—He who does not receive the enlightening grace of God, cannot awake from the sleep of sin, but must go to sleep in death itself.—The end of all the Christian’s troubles is joy. It is ungodly and inhuman to rejoice over the misfortunes of our neighbors; what a degree of wickedness, then, is it not, to rejoice over the undeserved disasters of righteous souls. He who rightly knows the grace of the Lord, His readiness to help, and His constant benefits, will hope, rejoice, and praise the Lord even under the cross.—Calvin: Until God actually stretches forth His hand to help us, the flesh cries, His eyes are closed.
Selnekker: At first we should complain to God of our need and solicitude; then we should pray to Him for help and deliverance, and all this for His own glory and name sake; and finally we should thank Him for His gracious advice, help, and assistance.—Franke: The chief thing, incumbent upon the children of God, is to possess their souls in patience.—Frisch: See what thy faith can do, and what power it has to chase away the spirit of sorrow, and bring pleasure and joy to the heart.—Roos: How do we come from darkness to bright light, from the depths into the heights, from straits into a wide room? By prayer and by a struggling faith, which God meets at the right time with His grace to help.—Tholuck: There is a much harder trial in the length of sufferings than in their strength.—Taube: As a child of God, man first feels what he is when left to himself.—Diedrich: Not to perceive God is the most bitter death, and still to behold God, is life, even in the midst of death.
[Matth. Henry: In singing this Psalm and praying over it, if we have not the same complaints to make that David had, we must thank God that we have not, dread and deprecate His withdrawing, pity and sympathize with those that are troubled in mind, and encourage ourselves in our most holy faith and joy.—Barnes: Afflicted, depressed, and sad, we go to God. Everything seems dark. We have no peace—no clear and cheerful views—no joy. As we wait upon God, new views of His character. His mercy, His love, break upon the mind. The clouds open. Light beams upon us. Our souls take hold of the promises of God, and we, who went to His throne sad and desponding, rise from our devotions filled with praise and joy, submissive to the trials which made us so sad, and rejoicing in the belief that all things will work together for our good.—Spurgeon: If the reader has never yet found occasion to use the language of this brief ode, he will do so ere long, if he be a man after the Lord’s own heart.—We are all prone to play most on the worst string. We set up monumental stones over the graves of our joys, but who thinks of erecting monuments of praise for mercies received? We write four books of Lamentations and only one of Canticles, and are far more at home in wailing out a Miserere than in chanting a Te Deum.—C. A. B.]
Footnotes:
[7][Hupfeld translates: “All day long.” Delitzsch translates, “during the day,” and contrasts with the night employed in making his plans, which during the day prove of no avail, and thus he continues in trouble day after day.—C. A. B.]
[8][Perowne: “Such is the fearfulness of the spiritual conflict, that it seems as if death only could be the end. He knew this who said, ‘My soul is exceeding sorrowful even unto death.’ ”—Barnes: “Death is often compared to sleep.—It is only, however, in connection with Christianity, that the idea has been fully carried out by the doctrine of the resurrection; for as we lie down at night with the hope of awaking to the pursuits and enjoyments of a new day, so the Christian lies down in death, with the hope of awaking in the morning of the resurrection to the pursuits and enjoyments of a new and eternal day.”—C. A. B.]
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 1. How long—Literally, Until when? A most natural outgushing…
1. How long—Literally, Until when? A most natural outgushing of the heart under long continued sorrow and unrelieved oppression. Psa_94:3; Zec_1:12; Rev_6:10. Its occurrence four times in Psa_13:1-2, indicates the violence of the persecution, and the languishing strength of the sufferer.
Forget me… for ever—The “forgetting,” and “hiding the face,” was in appearance only, not in reality. The language is not that of doubt or complaint, but of simple suffering coming from the human aspect of affairs, and speaking of things phenomenally, as we would say. The whole Bible is full of examples where, with the sincerest piety and faith, the sufferer gives forth the voice of nature.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 1. How long, O Lord, wilt thou forget me…
1. How long, O Lord, wilt thou forget me for ever? (R.V.) Feeling, not logic, shapes the sentence, combining two questions into a self-contradictory expression. He is tempted to deny faith’s confession (Psa_9:18), and assent to the sneer of the godless (Psa_10:11). He is ready to ask, ‘Wilt thou forget me for ever?’ but he thrusts the thought away with ‘How long?’ which implies a termination. In the words of Luther, ‘hope despairs and yet despair hopes.’ Cp. Psa_79:5, Psa_89:46.
wilt thou hide thy face] In anger or indifference. Cp. Psa_10:1; Psa_10:11; and contrast Psa_4:6, Psa_11:7.
Read full note →
1, 2. A reproachful expostulation in the hour of despair.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (1) How long? . . . for ever?—Comp. Psa_74:10;…
(1) How long? . . . for ever?—Comp. Psa_74:10; Psa_79:5; Psa_89:46. The double question in the Authorised Version is unnecessary, though, as M. Renan (Les Langues Sémitiques, 2 § 4) explains, it shows how ill writing the poet has begun on one plan, and finished on another. (Comp. Psa_9:3.) Translate, “How long wilt thou continue to forget me?”
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain THE writer again, according to the title, David is…
THE writer again, according to the title, David is reduced almost to utter despair. He has undergone lengthened persecution the Divine countenance has been turned away from him (ver. 1); it seems to him that God has altogether forgotten him; he is in extreme perplexity and distress (ver. 2), and raises the cry so often raised by sufferers (Job_19:2 Psa_6:3 Psa_35:7 Psa_79:5 Psa_94:3, 4 Hab_1:2 Rev_6:10) long?" This cry he repeats four times (vers. 1, 2). He does not, however, quite despair. In ver. 3 he passes from protest to prayer; and in vers. 5, 6 he proceeds from prayer to praise, having (apparently) through his prayer received an internal assurance of God"s help. The tone suits the time when he was "hunted in the mountains" by Saul. (1Sa_26:20)
How long wilt thou forget me, O Lord? for ever? God cannot forget, but man often feels as if he were forgotten of him. (comp. Psa_42:9 Psa_44:24 Lam_5:20) David seems to have feared that God had forgotten him "for ever." How long wilt then hide thy face from me! (comp. Psa_30:7 Isa_1:15 Eze_39:29) The "light of God"s countenance" shining on us is the greatest blessing that we know. (see Psa_4:6 Psa_31:18 Psa_44:4 Psa_67:1 Psa_80:3, Psa_80:7, etc.) When it is withdrawn, and he "hides his face," we naturally sink into despair.
Read full note →
Vers. 1, 6. Despair turned to thankfulness.
"How long," etc.? "I will sing," etc. The last verse of this tender and beautiful little psalm contains the reply to the first. Despondency is turned into thankfulness; the prayer of anguish into the song of praise. Its music, beginning with a plaintive, pathetic minor, passes through a solemn strain of pleading prayer into the triumphant major of full-voiced faith and joy. This is the music to which many a Christian life is set. It is not a strictly prophetic psalm; but we may well suppose that it is one of those in which the "Man of sorrows" read his own experience.
I DAVID"S PATHETIC APPEAL. "How long," etc.? Two questions run into one. It had endured so long, he felt as if it must go on for ever. The flame of hope flickered in the socket. Total darkness seemed at hand. Did David really think God had forgotten him? No; but he felt as if it were so. "Not that faith in God"s promises was dead in his soul, or that he no longer relied on his grace; but that, when troubles long press upon us, and no token of Divine help appears, this thought cannot fail to thrust itself into our mind, "God has forgotten me (Calvin). Causes of his despondency.
1. The long continuance of his trouble.
2. Prayer seeming to remain unanswered.
3. His foes" exaltation.
4. Fear lest he should die before deliverance came. (see 1Sa_27:1)
II DAVID"S JOYFUL THANKSGIVING. "I will sing," etc. Light suddenly breaks out of darkness. What is the secret of this surprising change? Have his troubles ceased? Not at all. But that which made their worst bitterness is gone his doubt of God"s goodness and truth. In the very act of prayer, his mind is led out of himself, and faith rekindled. "The grace of God, which is hid from carnal apprehension, is grasped by faith" (Calvin). Despair said, "Faith is an illusion. I have trusted and am forsaken." Faith answers, "God is faithful. I have trusted; therefore I cannot be forsaken.
HOMILIES BY C. CLEMANCE Vers. 1-6. Sorrow and trust; sighing and song.
This is one of those numerous psalms which come under the first division specified in our introductory homily. It belongs to those which give us an insight into the religious experiences of an Old Testament saint probably David but it matters not whose they were. For they are a precise reflection of the alternations of spiritual mood through which many a sorrowful believer since then has passed; yea, through the like of which many of our readers may be passing now. We can never be too thankful for such psalms as these, showing us, as they do, not so much the objectivities of Divine revelation, as the subjectivities of inward experience. Not that we are bound, in our experience, to find that which corresponds to every phase. By no means. Experienced nurses say that no two babes ever cried exactly alike; and certainly no two children of God ever went through precisely the same experience. Still, the course pursued by the early believers is a fine lesson-book for modern ones. We shall find our study of this psalm suggestive of much in the experience of believers and in the dealings of God with them.
I HERE ARE REMARKABLE ALTERNATIONS OF MOOD AND EMOTION. There are seven notes in music; there are seven colours in light. If there are seven stages in religious emotion, surely this psalm notes them all. We have a believer:
1. Thinking himself shut off from God. "How long wilt thou forget me... hide thy face from me?" It does not follow that God had hidden his face; and assuredly he had not forgotten the troubled one. Had it been so, the afflicted one had not survived to offer this prayer. Note: It is not in the midst of sore anguish that we can rightly gauge the mind of God towards us. We may be the objects of tenderest compassion even when our sun seems to be eclipsed.
2. Fearing his adversaries. (See ver. 4) He was evidently surrounded by those who lay in wait for him. He could have faced them boldly had it not been for the hiding of God"s face. But that made him tremble, and no wonder.
3. Sorrowfully musing. (Ver. 2) What a tumult of agitation was he now passing through! And what a bewildered and bewildering host of troublous thoughts and queries seize the mind at such times as these!
4. Sinking under the pressure. (Ver. 3) The phrase indicates that the psalmist was at the very verge of despair. "Courage almost gone." So that his spirit is failing or his bodily frame is giving way. The writer may mean either or both.
5. Trusting. (Ver. 5) "The darkest hour is just before the dawn." The woe reaches its deepest and bitterest; and then trust prevents absolute despair. The renewed heart clings to God, even in the dark. And he to whom our spirit thus clings will appear for us at the right time, and in his own wonder-working way.
6. Trust leads to prayer. The whole psalm is a prayer. One of the greatest blessings in life is to have a friend who will never misunderstand us; and by whom all our unintelligible and contradictory words will be pitied, and not blamed; who will bury our follies in his own love. But there is only One in whom all this exists to perfection even our God. He never misinterprets the language of broken hearts and bewildered souls never! We may always tell him exactly what we feel, as we feel it; or, if words will not come, then "our groaning" is not hid from him. He will answer us, not according to our imperfection, but will do exceeding abundantly for us "above all that we can ask or think." The fourth verse may not and does not give us the highest style of pleading. But it indicates the burden on the heart. And whatsoever is a burden on a child"s heart is to the Father an object of loving concern, and maybe rolled over on to God. (Psa_55:22 Psa_142:1-7)
7. Deliverance comes in answer to prayer. And thus it ever will be. So that he who moans at the beginning of prayer may sing at the end of it. "I will sing unto the Lord, because he hath dealt bountifully with me." Thus does this psalm run through the various shades or stages of emotion. Having gone down to the depths of the valley of anguish, the writer comes at length to stand on the heights of the mount of praise!
II SUCH A REHEARSAL OF EXPERIENCE THROWS MUCH LIGHT ON THE SECRET DEALINGS OF GOD WITH HIS PEOPLE. "The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him," says the psalmist elsewhere. (Psa_25:14) And this thirteenth psalm lets us into it. It teaches us:
1. That the child of God is the object of the Father"s tenderest pity and love, even at the moment of tumultuous anguish and deep darkness of soul. The sun shines just as brightly on us, even when a film over the eyes obscures our sight of it. Saints are never nearer or dearer to the heart of God than when they are in trouble.
2. God graciously sanctifies the anguish, and makes it the means of quickening to intenser devotion. It is not when all is calm that prayer is at its best. Ah, no! It is when we are stunned, startled, half-paralyzed by some dreadful and unexpected trial, that we pray the most earnestly. It is quite possible that at such times words may fail; but God reads deep meaning in the tear, and hears heavenly eloquence in the sighs of those that seek him.
3. The anguish will be removed in God"s own time. When the trial sent us has secured its needed end in the quickening of devotion, the strengthening of faith, and the improvement of the whole life, then will the pressure be taken off. Nor ought we to desire it otherwise. It is far more important to have our afflictions sanctified than to have them removed.
4. By the very trials through which we have passed we shall have learnt to be comforters of others. If the psalmist had known that the written experience of his sorrows and his songs would have gone down to hundreds of generations, to comfort sorrowing souls in all time, he would have been thankful for his trouble, sharp as it was. Note:
(1) It is only those who have gone through trouble that can effectually be comforters of others. (2Co_1:6; cf. Heb_2:18)
(2) It is not to be supposed that merely because we have sorrow at one moment we shall have joy in the future. Only God"s mourners can expect God"s comforts. Mat_5:4 is for those named in Mat_5:3. The vast difference pointed out in Isa_50:10, 11 should be reverently and anxiously pondered.
(3) It is only the renewed soul that can possibly thus trust, pray, and plead, when in the midst of anguish. The supreme concern of each is to accept peace with God through the Lord Jesus Christ; to have sin forgiven, and the soul renewed. He who has first cast his burden of sin and guilt on an atoning Saviour, and who is being renewed by the Holy Ghost, may come every day and cast any care, and all his care, upon his Father, God.
(4) It is infinitely better to be in the depth of the valley of sorrow, as a good man, and to let our God lead us up to the height of joy, than, as a godless man, to be at the height of merriment and laughter for awhile, only to sink to the depths of despair. C.
HOMILIES BY W. FORSYTH Vers. 1-6. From despondency to peace.
The soul may pass quickly from one emotion to another from fear to hope, from the gloom of despondency to the brightness of peace. Such a change finds expression in this psalm.
I THE CRY. (Vers. 1, 2) Under the pressure of affliction, hard thoughts of God arise. But if there be complaint of God, it is to be observed that the complaint is carried to God. Instead of sullen murmuring, there is meek confession. Instead of bitter resentment, there is affectionate remonstrance. There is not only the "taking counsel with his own soul," which left him in deeper "sorrow," but there is the going out of himself, to cast his cares upon God, whereby he finds relief.
II THE APPEAL. (Vers. 3, 4) Led by the Spirit, the child of God quickly turns his cry of pain into a prayer for spiritual help. The shadows were deepening; night, with its sleep of death, seemed near; but God was able to bring deliverance. Hence the urgent and passionate appeal. So when we are in peril let us cry to God. Our extremity is his opportunity. Our time of need is his time of mercy.
III THE TESTIMONY. (Vers. 5, 6) Help seems to have come to the psalmist as to Daniel; while he was yet "speaking in prayer". (Dan_9:20, Dan_9:21) So it often is. God is more ready to hear than we are to ask. "He waiteth to be gracious.
1. The peace given is real. There may still be storm without, but there is calm within.
2. The confidence is comforting. Imagination no longer works by fear, but by hope, and brightens all the future. The soul that seemed about to enter the dark valley of the shadow of death, with the terrible fear that God was departed, now rejoices in the sunshine of God"s presence. W.F. (Mic_7:9 Zec_14:7)
God"s averted face.
The hiding of God"s face is a sore trial to his people. If they did not love him, they could bear it; but as they love him so much, it is a great affliction. It may be said of such trials, that they are still harder to bear under the gospel. For the very fact that God once dwelt with men going in and out among them as one of themselves, loving them, and doing them good makes the mystery of his silence now the deeper, and our distress the greater. "Thou didst hide thy face, and I was troubled". (Psa_30:7; cf. Job_13:24)
1. This conduct on the part of our Lord seems alien to his nature. We expect a friend to show himself friendly. We blame a physician if he comes not at once when urgently summoned. We would call a father or mother unfeeling and unnatural who shut their ears to the cries of their own child.
2. Then this silence of our Lord seems contrary to his action when he was in the world. He was then easy of access, and ready to help. True, he at first refused the Syro-phoenician; but he gave her all she asked in the end. True, he delayed coming to Bethany; but he did come, in his own time, and turned the house of mourning into a home of joy.
3. Then, again, we have our Lord"s teaching and promises. We remember what is said, that we should "not hide ourselves from our own flesh"; (Isa_58:7) how we are taught to show kindness to our enemies, and even to have pity on the very brutes; (Deu_22:1-4 Mat_12:12) and "how much is a man better than a sheep!" We think also of the parables of Lazarus, and of the man who fell among thieves, and our hearts are in perplexity. "I weep... because the comforter that should relieve my soul is far from me". (Lam_1:16) Besides, we remember our Lord"s promises. It cannot be that he does not know; or that he lacks the power; or that his love is waxed cold. Why, then, does he let us lie at his gate; or leave us half-dead by the wayside; or fail to come to us when we are "comfortless"? These and such-like thoughts rise and trouble us. Our hearts are like a tree, with its many branches, tossed and torn by the storm. But in the multitude of our thoughts within us, there are comforts still left to us. First, Christ is not changed. Next, he knows all that has come to us, and has pity. Then, he has his own gracious purposes in our afflictions. They are necessary for our good. (Isa_59:2 Hos_5:15) Then we should not count such trials as strange, as we are under a spiritual dispensation. Christ is really with us still, in his Word and Spirit and the ministry of his people. He even comes at times to us, when we know him not. (Mat_25:38) Then we should remember that he has, for a season, put a restraint upon himself. We may say, like Martha, "If thou hadst been here, my brother had not died." And this is true. But our Lord could not be here with us, as in the days of Iris flesh, and at the same time carry out his plans of discipline and training under the Spirit. Last of all, let us remember that these trials are temporary. They may end here. They will certainly end hereafter. (Isa_54:7 Eze_39:23-29) Our Lord knew himself the pain of desertion; and he longs to have us with him, where there shall he no more hidings of his face, or crying, or tears. Let us, therefore, take the counsel of Elihu, "Although thou sayest thou shalt not see him, yet judgment is before him; therefore trust thou in him" (Job_35:14; cf. Isa_8:17). W.F.
HOMILIES BY C. SHORT Vers. 1-6. The agony of desertion.
Probably a psalm of David, composed at the time of Saul"s persecution. It expresses the agony of a mind that thinks itself deserted of God, in danger of death, and threatened by a formidable enemy. It is a long and weary struggle; and, wrestling with his despair, he breaks into a pitiful prayer, which is succeeded by the exercise of a returning faith.
I DESPAIR. (Vers. 1, 2)
1. He thinks he is for ever forsaken of God. The emphasis lies on the "for ever." How much this implies of delight in the former friendship of God! Compare Christ"s cry on the cross.
2. Fruitless efforts of the mind to escape from its position. "Taking counsel," etc. These issue only in continued sorrow of heart. One plan after another is revolved and rejected; one solution after another of his difficulties is thought of, and then dismissed; and he is left in despair. He is helpless and hopeless.
3. Personal danger from some enemy. (Ver. 2) Probably Saul. Internal and external causes combined to make him profoundly miserable.
II BUT EVEN IN HIS DESPAIR HE PRAYS.
1. Look upon me (equivalent to "consider"). And do not continue to hide thy face.
2. Hear and succour (equivalent to "answer me"). And do not forget me for ever. This is hope out of despair the single ray of light that shot into his deep darkness. There is something left for each of us.
3. Give a renewed power of life (equivalent to "lighten mine eyes"). Anxiety and sorrow had induced physical depression, and he apprehended that he would sink into the sleep of death. "Lighten mine eyes" here means, "Send back the tide of life, that my eyes may again be lit with life, and the deathlike drowsiness dispelled.
III PRAYER LEADS HIM BACK INTO TRUST.
1. He remembers the object of his former trust. "In thy loving-kindness have I trusted." Not in his personal merits, nor only in the justice of his cause. Faith grasps the unseen as the pound of its trust.
2. He recollects the reasons of that trust. "Thy salvation," which I have experienced in former times. God"s bountiful dealing with him. That had been the rule of the Divine conduct towards him. Faith draws hope out of experience. S.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Charles H. Spurgeon 1885 · Public Domain The Psalm cannot be referred to any especial event…
The Psalm cannot be referred to any especial event or period in David's history. All attempts to find it a birthplace are but guesses. It was, doubtless, more than once the language of that much tried man of God, and is intended to express the feelings of the people of God in those ever returning trials which beset them. If the reader has never yet found occasion to use the language of this brief ode, he will do so ere long, if he be a man after the Lord's own heart. We have been wont to call this the "How Long Psalm." We had almost said the Howling Psalm, from the incessant repetition of the cry "how long?"
This Psalm is very readily to be divided into three parts: the question of anxiety, Ps 13:1-2; the cry of prayer, Ps 13:3-4; the song of faith, Ps 13:5-6.
Read full note →
Ver. 1. How long? This question is repeated no less than four times. It betokens very intense desire for deliverance, and great anguish of heart. And what if there be some impatience mingled therewith; is not this the more true a portrait of our own experience? It is not easy to prevent desire from degenerating into impatience. O for grace that, while we wait on God, we may be kept from indulging a murmuring spirit! "How long?" Does not the oft repeated cry become a very HOWLING? And what if grief should find no other means of utterance? Even then, God is not far from the voice of our roaring; for he does not regard the music of our prayers, but his own Spirit's work in them in exciting desire and inflaming the affections.
"How long?" Ah! how long do our days appear when our soul is cast down within us!
"How wearily the moments seem to glide Over sadness! How the time
Delights to linger in its flight!"
Time flies with full fledged wing in our summer days, but in our winters he flutters painfully. A week within prison walls is longer than a month at liberty. Long sorrow seems to argue abounding corruption; for the gold which is long in the fire must have had much dross to be consumed, hence the question "how long?" may suggest deep searching of heart.
How long wilt thou forget me? Ah, David! how like a fool thou talkest! Can God forget? Can Omniscience fail in memory? Above all, can Jehovah's heart forget his own beloved child? Ah! brethren, let us drive away the thought, and hear the voice of our covenant God by the mouth of the prophet, "But Zion said, The Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me. Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee. Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me."
For ever? Oh, dark thought! It was surely bad enough to suspect a temporary forgetfulness, but shall we ask the ungracious question, and imagine that the Lord will for ever cast away his people? No, his anger may endure for a night, but his love shall abide eternally.
How long wilt thou hide thy face from me? This is a far more rational question, for God may hide his face, and yet he may remember still. A hidden face is no sign of a forgetful heart. It is in love that his face is turned away; yet to a real child of God, this hiding of his Father's face is terrible and he will never be at ease until, once more he hath his Father's smile.
Ver. 1. How long wilt thou forget me, O Lord? etc. The departures of God from true believers are never final; they may be tedious, but they are temporary. As the evil spirit is said to depart from Christ for a season (Lu 4:13; though he quitted that temptation, he did not quit his design, so as to tempt no more), so the good Spirit withdraws from those that are Christ's, for a season only, it is with a purpose of coming again. When he hath most evidently forsaken, it is as unquestionable that sooner or later he will return; and the happiness of his return will richly recompense for the sadness of his desertion; Isa 54:7, "For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee; "here is not only a gathering after a forsaking, but "great mercies" to make amends for "a small moment." He who hath engaged to be our God for ever, cannot depart for ever. Timothy Cruso, 1696.
Ver. 1. How long wilt thou forget me, O Lord? Whatever be the pressing need of Christ's followers in troubles, and their constant cleaving to duty for all that; and whatever be Christ's purpose of love toward them, yet he seeth it fit ofttimes not to come to them at first, but will let the trial go on till it come to a height, and be a trial indeed, and put them seriously to it; for before he came he lets them row "about five and twenty or thirty furlongs" (the last of which make near four miles, eight furlongs going to a mile); and (Mr 6:48) he came not till the fourth watch of the night, which is the morning watch. We are indeed very sparing of ourselves in trouble, and do soon begin to think that we are low and tried enough, and therefore would be delivered; but our wise Lord seeth that we need more. George Hutcheson, 1657.
Ver. 1. How long, etc. Enquire into the causes of God's anger. He is never angry but when there is very great reason, when we force him to be so. What is that accursed thing in our hearts, or in our lives, for which God hides his face, and frowns upon us? What particular disobedience to his commands is it for which he has taken up the rod? Job 10:2; "I will say unto God, Do not condemn me; shew me wherefore thou contendest with me; "as if he should say, Lord, my troubles and my sorrows are very well known... We must not cease to be solicitous to know what are the particular sins that have made him to tear us up by the roots, to throw us down as with a whirlwind; what is it that has made him so long angry with us, and so long to delay his help, that if any evil be undiscovered in our souls, we may lament it with a seasonable grief, and get a pardon for it. It is not the common course of God's providence to cover his servants with so thick a darkness as this is, which our troubled souls labour under in the day, or rather in the night of his displeasure; and, therefore, we may with humility desire to know why he proceeds with us in a way that is so singular; for it is some way delightful to the understanding to pierce into the reasons and causes of things. Timothy Rogers.
Ver. 1. How long wilt thou forget me, etc. For God to forget David, not to mind him, or look after him, is much! If his eye be never so little once off us, the spiritual adversary is ready presently to seize on us, as the kite on the chick if the hen look not carefully after it... As a father will sometimes cross his son to try the child's disposition, to see how he will take it, whether he will mutter and grumble at it, and grow humorous and wayward, neglect his duty to his father because his father seemeth to neglect him, or make offer to run away and withdraw himself from his father's obedience because he seemeth to carry himself harshly and roughly toward him, and to provoke him thereunto; so doth God likewise ofttimes cross his children and seemeth to neglect them, so to try their disposition, what metal they are made of, how they stand affected towards him: whether they will neglect God because God seemeth to neglect them, forbear to serve him because he seemeth to forget them, cease to depend upon him because he seemeth not to look after them, to provide for them, or to protect them. Like Joram's profane pursuivant, "This evil, "saith he, "is of the Lord; what should I wait for the Lord any longer?" Or whether they will constantly cleave to him, though he seem not to regard them, nor to have any care of them; and say with Isaiah, "Yet will I wait upon God, though he have hid his face from us, and I will look for him though he look not on us; "for, "They are blessed that wait on him; and he will not fail in due time to show mercy unto all them that do so constantly wait on him." Isa 8:17 30:18. As Samuel dealt with Saul; he kept away till the last hour, to see what Saul would do when Samuel seemed not to keep touch with him. So doth God with his saints, and with those that be in league with him; he withdraweth himself oft, and keeps aloof off for a long time together to try what they will do, and what courses they will take when God seemeth to break with them and to leave them in the suds, as we say; amidst many difficulties much perplexed, as it was with David at this time. Thomas Gataker, 1637.
Ver. 1.
1. For desertions. I think them like lying fallow of lean and weak land for some years, while it gathers sap for a better crop. It is possible to gather gold, where it may be had, with moonlight. Oh, if I could but creep one foot, or half a foot, nearer in to Jesus, in such dismal night as that when he is away, I should think it a happy absence!
2. If I knew that the Beloved were only gone away for trial, and further humiliation, and not smoked out of the house with new provocations, I would forgive desertions and hold my peace at his absence. But Christ's bought absence (that I bought with my sin), is two running boils at once, one upon each side; and what side then can I lie on?
3. I know that, as night and shadows are good for flowers, and moonlight and dews are better than a continual sun, so is Christ's absence of special use, and that it hath some nourishing virtue in it, and giveth sap to humility, and putteth an edge on hunger, and furnishes a fair field to faith to put forth itself, and to exercise its fingers in gripping it seeth not what. Samuel Rutherford, 1600-1661.
Ver. 1-2. That which the French proverb hath of sickness is true of all evils, that they come on horseback and go away on foot; we have often seen that a sudden fall, or one meal's surfeit, has stuck by many to their graves; whereas pleasures come like oxen, slow and heavily, and go away like post horses, upon the spur. Sorrows, because they are lingering guests, I will entertain but moderately, knowing that the more they are made of the longer they will continue: and for pleasures, because they stay not, and do but call to drink at my door, I will use them as passengers with slight respect. He is his own best friend that makes the least of both of them. Joseph Hall.
Ver. 1-2. HOW LONG wilt thou forget me? HOW LONG wilt thou hide thy face from me? HOW LONG shall I take counsel in my soul? The intenseness of the affliction renders it trying to our fortitude; but it is by the continuance of it that patience is put to the test. It is not under the sharpest, but the longest trials, that we are most in danger of fainting. In the first case, the soul collects all its strength, and feels in earnest to call in help from above; but, in the last, the mind relaxes, and sinks into despondency. When Job was accosted with evil tidings in quick succession, he bore it with becoming fortitude; but when he could see no end to his troubles, he sunk under them. Andrew Fuller.
Ver. 1-4. Everything is strangely changed; all its comeliness, and beauty, and glory, vanishes when the life is gone: life is the pleasant thing; it is sweet and comfortable; but death with its pale attendants, raises a horror and aversion to it everywhere. The saints of God dread the removal of his favour, and the hiding of his face; and when it is hid, a faintness, and a cold amazement and fear seizes upon every part, and they feel strange bitterness, and anguish, and tribulation, which makes their joints to tremble, and is to them as the very pangs of death. Timothy Rogers.
Ver. 1,5-6. Prayer helps towards the increase and growth of grace, by drawing the habits of grace into exercise. Now, as exercise brings benefit to the body, so does prayer to the soul. Exercise doth help to digest or breathe forth those humours that clog the spirits. One that stirs little we see grow pursy, and is soon choked up with phlegm, which exercise clearly clears the body of. Prayer is the saint's exercise field, where his graces are breathed; it is as the wind to the air, it brightens the soul; as bellows to the fire, which clears the coal of those ashes that smother them. The Christian, while in this world, lives in an unwholesome climate; one while, the delights of it deaden and dull his love to Christ; another while, the trouble he meets in it damps his faith on the promise. How now should the Christian get out of these distempers, had he not a throne of grace to resort to, where, if once his soul be in a melting frame, he (like one laid in a kindly sweat), soon breathes out the malignity of his disease, and comes into his right temper again? How often do we find the holy prophet, when he first kneels down to pray, full of fears and doubts, who, before he end the duty part, grows into a sweet familiarity with God, and repose in his own spirit! (Ps 13:1), he begins his prayer as if he thought God would never give him a kind look more: "How long wilt thou forget me, O Lord? for ever?" But by that time he had exercised himself a little in duty, his distemper wears off, the mists scatter, and his faith breaks out as the sun in its strength, Ps 13:5-6: "I have trusted in thy mercy; my heart shall rejoice in thy salvation. I will sing unto the Lord." Thus his faith lays the cloth, expecting a feast ere long to be set on: he that now questioned whether he should ever hear good news from heaven, is so strong in faith as to make himself merry with the hopes of that mercy which he is assured will come at last. Abraham began with fifty, but his faith got ground on God every step, till he brought down the price of their lives to ten. William Gurnall.
Ver. 1,6. Whatever discouragements thou meetest with in thine attendance on God in ordinances, be like the English jet, fired by water, and not like our ordinary fires, quenched by it; let them add to, not diminish, thy resolution and courage; let not one repulse beat thee off; be violent, give a second storm to the kingdom of heaven. Parents sometimes hide themselves to make their children continue seeking. He that would not at first open his mouth, nor vouchsafe the woman of Canaan a word, doth, upon her continued and fervent petition, at last open his hand and give her whatsoever she asks: "O woman, be it unto thee as thou wilt." Continued importunity is undeniable oratory. And truly, if after all thy pains thou findest Jesus Christ, will it not make amends for thy long patience? Men that venture often at a lottery, though they take blanks twenty times, if afterwards they get a golden bason and ewer, it will make them abundant satisfaction. Suppose thou shouldest continue knocking twenty, nay, forty years, yet if at last, though but one hour before thou diest thy heart be opened to Christ, and he be received into thy soul, and when thou diest heaven be opened to thee, and thy soul received into it, will it not infinitely requite thee for all thy labour? Oh, think of it, and resolve never to be dumb while God is deaf, never to leave off prayer till God return a gracious answer. And for thy comfort, know that he who began his Psalm with "How long wilt thou forget me, O Lord? for ever? how long wilt thou hide thy face from me?" comes to conclude it with, "I will sing unto the Lord, because he hath dealt bountifully with me." George Swinnock.
Ver. 1. The apparent length of sorrow, only apparent. Contrast with days of joy, with eternal misery and eternal joy. Impatience, and other evil passions, cause the seeming length. Means of shortening, by refusing to forestall, or to repine afterwards.
Ver. 1. (second clause). Hiding of the divine face. Why at all? Why from me? Why so long?
Psalms 13:2*
Ver. 1-2. See Psalms on "Ps 13:1" for further information.
Ver. 1-2. HOW LONG wilt thou forget me? HOW LONG wilt thou hide thy face from me? HOW LONG shall I take counsel in my soul? See Psalms on "Ps 13:1" for further information.
Ver. 1-4. See Psalms on "Ps 13:1" for further information.
Ver. 1-4. See Psalms on "Ps 13:1" for further information.
Ver. 1-4. See Psalms on "Ps 13:1" for further information.
Ver. 1,5,6. See Psalms on "Ps 13:1" for further information.
Ver. 1,5,6. See Psalms on "Ps 13:1" for further information.
Ver. 1,6. See Psalms on "Ps 13:1" for further information.
Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain How long wilt Thou forget me, O Lord?
Psa_13:1-6
How long wilt Thou forget me, O Lord?
Read full note →
Distress and confidence
This little Psalm begins in agitation and ends in calm. However true it is that sorrow is but for a moment, it seems to last for an eternity. Sad hours are leaden footed and joyful ones winged. That How long, reiterated, betrays how weary it was to the Psalmist. Very significant is the progress of thought in the four-fold questioning plaint, which turns flint to God, then to himself, then to the enemy. The root of his sorrow is that God seems to have forgotten him; therefore his soul is full of plans for relief, and the enemy seems to be lifted up above him. Left alone, without Gods help, what can a man do but think and plan and scheme to weariness all night, and carry a heavy heart, as he sees by daylight how futile his plans are? The agitation of the first strophe is somewhat stilled in the second, in which the stream of prayer runs clear without such foam as the impatient questions of the first part. The storm has all rolled away in the third strophe, in which faith has triumphed over doubt and anticipates the fulfilment of its prayer. The sad minor of How long? if coming from faithful lips, passes into a jubilant key which heralds the full gladness of the yet future songs of deliverance. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
Sorrow lingers
That which the French proverb hath of sickness is true of all evils, that they come on horseback and go away on foot; we have often seen that a sudden fall, or one meals surfeit, has stuck by many to their graves; whereas pleasures come like oxen, slow and heavily, and go away like post horses, upon the spur. Sorrows, because they are lingering guests, I will entertain but moderately, knowing that the more they are made of the longer they will continue; and for pleasures, because they stay not, and do but call to drink at my door, I will use them as passengers with slight respect. He is his own best friend that makes the least of both of them. (Joseph Hall.)
The relative changes of the immutable God
He is unchangeable. Job says, He is in one mind. James, With Him there is no variableness. And He Himself says, I am the Lord, I change not. In reality He is thus, but relatively He seems to change.
I. God as looked at through the soul in trouble. He seemed to be--
1. Forgetful. How long wilt Thou forget me?
2. As unkind. How long wilt Thou hide Thy face from me? To turn away the face was the sign of aversion and displeasure.
3. As utterly neglectful. How long? Four times he repeats this. As if God was utterly regardless of him. So it seemed to him.
II. God as looked at through the soul in devotion. In the midst of his troubles he prays, Consider and hear me, O Lord, my God: lighten mine eyes, etc. As he prays the cloud withdraws, and he cries, My heart shall rejoice in Thy salvation. Prayer changes the night of the soul into morning, its discords into music, its dark and chilly November into a sunny and life-giving May.
III. Conclusion.
1. The power of circumstances to disturb the soul. While no man need be their creature, it is impossible for him not to feel their influence.
2. The rapid changes which occur in the mood of the soul. The Psalm begins in gloom and ends in sunshine.
3. The influence of prayer to elevate the soul. Prayer is the power that changes the whole horizon of our spiritual nature. (D. Thomas, D. D.)
What total desertion by God would mean
When the king removes, the court and all the carriages follow after; and when they are gone, the hangings are taken down, nothing is left behind but bare walls, dust, and rubbish. So if God removes from a man or a nation where He kept His court, His graces will not stay long behind; and if they be gone, farewell peace, farewell comfort; down go the hangings of all prosperity, nothing is left behind but confusion and disorder. (J. Staughton.)
Soul eclipses
I. The nature of such eclipses. It is quite true that God never ceases to love His children, but still the people of God are sensible of eclipses of the soul such as the Psalmist describes in this Psalm. God has not really deserted His children, but it seems as if He had. In providential matters they fail to recognise His hand; His consolations cease in their spirits, and they are full of darkness and bitterness.
II. The causes of these eclipses. Why does God thus appear to desert His people at all? The end of Gods discipline is to make His people feel their absolute dependence upon Himself. These eclipses teach us--
1. That God is the source of happiness;
2. The source of wisdom;
3. The source of strength; and
4. The source of life. Why does God hide His face so long? Simply because we are so slow to learn the great truths which He designs to teach.
III. The duty of the saints in these hours of darkness. Not discontent, and not despair.
1. Wait in faith.
2. Wait in prayer.
3. Wait in hope. When the trial is over your soul shall be deeper, brighter, and more fruitful. (W. L. Watkinson.)
A sigh and a song
The salute of this Psalm is a sigh, the adieu is a song. We sight the Psalmist prostrate before the mercy throne, wrapped in grim shadows of gloom, bowed in soul by the weight of a great sorrow, and howling How long? We leave him sitting in the stillness of a new confidence, enwreathed with sunbeams of gladness, pealing forth from harp and lip an exultant Te Deum!
I. Earliest inquiry (Psa_13:1-2). A fourfold inquiry. Can God forget? He hides His face, not willingly, but of necessity, that we may seek His face. And the longer, that we may seek it the more earnestly.
II. Devout and fervent entreaty (Psa_13:3-4). Trouble gives point, pathos, and power to prayer. Genuine entreaty comes from a soul that has--
1. A clear recognition of its personal relationship to God.
2. It is definite in request. It knows what it wants, and asks for it. Entreaty has aim, directness, special need; hence is definite in request--e.g., Jacob, Jabez, etc. Here it seeks the Divine attention. The Divine illumination.
3. Genuine entreaty has powerful reasons for what it requests. Lest I sleep, etc. This is from the self-side. Lest mine enemy say, etc. This is from the God-side. Prevailing against him would be injurious to the truth.
III. Entreaty rising into triumphant assurance and praise. Here we have trustfulness--
1. Well located;
2. Triumphant;
3. Exultant. (J. O. Keen, D. D.)
Gods forgettings
It is quite unnecessary to point thus: How long wilt Thou forget me?--For ever? as if there were two distinct questions. It is natural to a perturbed and doubting heart thus to express itself in a confused and almost contradictory manner. In its despair it thinks, God hath forgotten me; and yet out of the very midst of its despair there rises up the conviction, No, not forever; and then its hopelessness is changed to expostulation, How long wilt Thou forget me? We may, if we choose it, paraphrase, How long wilt Thou make as if Thou wouldest forget me forever? Gods anger, the hiding of His countenance, as Delitzsch observes, cannot but seem eternal to the soul which is conscious of it. Nevertheless, Faith still cleaves to the Love which hides itself under the disguise of severity, and exclaims, Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him. When we have long been crushed by sufferings, and no sign appears that God will succour us, the thought will force itself upon us, God hath forgotten me. For by nature we do not acknowledge that God cares for us in our afflictions; but by faith we lay hold of His invisible providence. So David, so far as he could judge from the actual state in which he was, seemed to himself forsaken of God. But at the same time, because the Light of Faith was his guide, he, with the eyes of his mind, looked through and beyond all else to the grace of God, far as it might seem hidden from his sight.--Calvin. Does he not portray in fitting words that most bitter anguish of spirit, which feels that it has to do with a God alienated, hostile, implacable, inexorable, whose wrath is, like Himself, eternal? This is a state in which hope despairs, and yet despair hopes at the same time. This no one understands who has not tasted it.--Luther. (J. J. Stewart Perowne, B. D.)
The continuance of trial
In laying forth his grief he beginneth at his apparent desertion; then speaketh of the perplexity of mind arising herefrom; and, last of all, he mentioneth the continuance of his outward trouble from his enemies. Whence learn--
1. Trouble outward and inward of body and spirit, fightings without and terrors within, vexations from heaven and earth, from God deserting and men pursuing, may fall upon a child of God at one time, and continue for a long time enough, as here. How long wilt Thou forget me; how long shall mine enemy be exalted over me?
2. When trouble is continued, and appearance of delivery is not, and God withholdeth inward and outward help, sense calleth this the Lords forgetting and hiding of His face. How long wilt Thou forget me, and hide Thy face?
3. The Lords children, in their resolution for faith and patience, do set to themselves a shorter period usually than the Lord doth for making them have their perfect work; therefore, when their hope is deferred, it makes their heart sick, and to cry out, How long?
4. When comfort trysteth not with our time, fear of eternal off-casting may readily slide in; and this fear a soul acquainted with God, or that loveth Him in any measure, cannot endure. Wilt Thou forget me forever? saith he.
5. Whatsoever sense do speak, or suggested temptations do speak, faith will relate the business to the Lord, and expect a better speech from Him. For in this condition the Prophet goeth to God, saying, How long, O Lord?
6. A soul finding desertion multiplieth consultations, falleth in perplexity, changeth conclusions, as a sick man doth his bed; falleth in grief, and cannot endure to live by its own finding, but runneth upon God for direction, as here we see it. How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart daily?
7. The enemies taking advantage (by the continuance of trouble upon the godly), against his cause and religion and against God, doth augment both the grief and temptation of the godly. How long shall mine enemies be exalted over me? (David Dickson.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Expositor's Bible 1887 · Public Domain Psalms 13
Psalms 13
THIS little psalm begins in agitation, and ends in calm. The waves run high at first, but swiftly sink to rest, and at last lie peacefully glinting in sunshine. It falls into three strophes, of which the first (Psa_13:1-2) is the complaint of endurance strained almost to giving way; the second (Psa_13:3-4) is prayer which feeds fainting faith; and the third (Psa_13:5-6, which are one in the Hebrew) is the voice of confidence, which in the midst, of trouble, makes future deliverance and praise a present experience.
Read full note →
However true it is that sorrow is "but for a moment," it seems to last for an eternity. Sad hours are leaden-footed, and joyful ones winged. If sorrows passed to our consciousness as quickly as joys, or joys lingered as long as sorrows, life would be less weary. That reiterated "How long?" betrays how weary it was to the psalmist. Very significant is the progress of thought in the fourfold questioning plaint, which turns first to God, then to himself, then to the enemy. The root of his sorrow is that God seems to have forgotten him; therefore his soul is full of plans for relief, and the enemy seems to be lifted above him. The "sorrow of the world" begins with the visible evil, and stops with the inward pain; the sorrow which betakes itself first to God, and thinks last of the foe, has trust embedded in its depths, and may unblamed use words which sound like impatience. If the psalmist had not held fast by his confidence, he would not have appealed to God. So the "illogical" combination in his first cry of "How long?" and "forever" is not to be smoothed away, but represents vividly, because unconsciously, the conflict in his soul from the mingling of the assurance that Gods seeming forgetfulness must have an end and the dread that it might have none. Luther, who had trodden the dark places, understood the meaning of the cry, and puts it beautifully when he says that here "hope itself despairs, and despair yet hopes, and only that unspeakable groaning is audible with which the Holy Spirit, who moves over the waters covered with darkness, intercedes for us." The psalmist is tempted to forget the confidence expressed in Psa_9:18 and to sink to the denial animating the wicked in Psa_10:11. The heart wrung by troubles finds little consolation in the mere intellectual belief in a Divine omniscience. An idle remembrance which does not lead to actual help is a poor stay for such a time. No doubt the psalmist knew that forgetfulness was impossible to God; but a God who, though He remembered, did nothing for, His servant, was not enough for him, nor is He for any of us. Heart and flesh cry out for active remembrance; and however clear the creed, the tendency of long-continued misery will be to tempt to the feeling that the sufferer is forgotten. It takes much grate to cling fast to the belief that He thinks of the poor suppliant whose cry for deliverance is unanswered. The natural inference is one or other of the psalmists two here: God has forgotten or has hidden His face in indifference or displeasure. The Evangelists profound "therefore" is the corrective of the psalmists temptation: "Jesus loved" the three sad ones at Bethany; "when therefore He heard that he was sick, He abode still two days in the place where He was."
Left alone, without Gods help, what can a man do but think and think, plan and scheme to weariness all night and carry a heavy heart as he sees by daylight how futile his plans are? Probably "by night" should be supplied in Psa_13:2 a; -and the picture of the gnawing cares and busy thoughts which banish sleep and of the fresh burst of sorrow on each new morning appeals only too well to all sad souls. A brother laments across the centuries, and his long-silent wail is as the voice of our own griefs. The immediate visible occasion of trouble appears only in the last of the fourfold cries. Gods apparent forgetfulness and the psalmists own subjective agitations are more prominent than the "enemy" who "lifts himself above him." His arrogant airs and oppression would soon vanish if God would arise. The insight which places him last in order is taught by faith. The soul stands between God and the external world, with all its possible calamities; and if the relation with God is right, and help is flowing unbrokenly from Him, the relation to the world will quickly come right, and the soul be lifted high above the foe, however lofty he be or think himself.
The agitation of the first strophe is somewhat stilled in the second, in which the stream of prayer runs clear without such foam, as the impatient questions of the first part. It falls into four clauses, which have an approximate correspondence to those of strophe 1. "Look hither, answer me, Jehovah, my God." The first petition corresponds to the hiding of Gods face, and perhaps the second, by the law of inverted parallelism, may correspond to the forgetting, but in any case the noticeable thing is the swift decisiveness of spring with which the psalmists faith reaches firm ground here. Mark the implied belief that Gods look is not an otiose gaze, but brings immediate act answering the prayer; mark the absence of copula between the verbs giving force to the prayer and swiftness to the sequence of Divine acts; mark the outgoing of the psalmists faith in the addition to the name "Jehovah" (as in Psa_13:1). "of the personal my God," with all the sweet and reverent appeal hived in the address. The third petition, "Lighten mine eyes," is not for illumination of vision, but for renewed strength. Dying eyes are glazed: a sick mans are heavy and dull. Returning health brightens them. So here the figure of sickness threatening to become death stands for trouble or possibly the "enemy" is a real foe seeking the life. as will be the most natural interpretation if the Davidic origin is maintained. To "sleep death" is a forcible compressed expression, which is only attenuated by being completed. The prayer rests upon the profound conviction that Jehovah is the fountain of life, and that only by His continual pouring of fresh vitality into a man can any eyes be kept from death. The brightest must be replenished from His hand, or they fail and become dim; the dimmest can be brightened by His gift of vigorous health. As in the first strophe the psalmist passed from God to self, and thence to enemies, so he does in the second. His prayer addresses God: its pleas, regard, first, himself, and, second, his foe. How is the preventing of the enemys triumph in his being, stronger than the psalmist and of his malicious joy over the latters misfortune an argument with God to help? It is the plea, so familiar in the Psalter and to devout hearts, that Gods honour is identified with His servants deliverance, a true thought, and one that may reverently be entertained by the humblest lover of God, but which needs to be carefully guarded. We must make very sure that Gods cause is ours before we can be sure that ours is His: we must be very completely living for His honour before we dare assume that His honour is involved in our continuing to live. As Calvin says, "Cum eo nobis communis erit haec precatio, si sub Dei imperio et auspiciis militamus."
The storm has all rolled away in the third strophe, in which faith has triumphed over doubt: and anticipates the fulfilment of its prayer. It begins with an emphatic opposition of the psalmists personality to the foe: "But as for me"-however they may rage-"I have trusted in Thy mercy." Because he has thus trusted, therefore he is sure that that mercy will work for him salvation or deliverance from his present peril. Anything is possible rather than that the appeal of faith to Gods heart of love should not be answered. Whoever can say, I have trusted, has the right to say, I shall rejoice. It was but a moment ago that this man had asked, How long shall I have sorrow in my heart? and now the sad heart is flooded with sudden gladness. Such is the magic of faith, which can see an unrisen light in the thickest darkness, and hear the birds singing amongst the branches even while the trees are bare and the air silent. How significant the contrast of the two rejoicings set side by side: the adversaries when the good man is "moved": the good mans when Gods salvation establishes him in his place! The closing strain reaches forward to deliverance not yet accomplished, and, by the prerogative of trust, calls things that are not as though they were. "He has dealt bountifully with me"; so says the psalmist who had begun with "How long?" No external change has taken place; but his complaint and prayer have helped him to tighten his grasp of God, and have transported him into the certain future of deliverance and praise. He who can thus say, "I will sing," when the hoped for mercy has wrought salvation, is not far off singing even while it tarries. The sure anticipation of triumph is triumph. The sad minor of "How long?" if coming from faithful lips, passes into a jubilant key, which heralds the full gladness of the yet future songs of deliverance.
William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain “In this psalm we see a servant of God,…
INTRODUCTION
“In this psalm we see a servant of God, long and sorely tried by the persecutions of unrelenting enemies, and, as it seems to himself, forgotten and forsaken of God, pouring out the agony of his soul in prayer. It is a long and weary struggle, it is a daily and hourly martyrdom; and wrestling with his despair, he can but cry (like the souls under the altar, Rev_6:10), ‘How long!’ And then calmer words of prayer rise to his lips (Psa_13:3-4); and at last Faith asserts her perfect victory (Psa_13:5). The rapid transition of feeling, from a depth of misery bordering on despair, to hope, and even joy, is very remarkable.”—Perowne.
Read full note →
SOUL ECLIPSES
(Psa_13:1-6.)
We assert:
I. The nature of such eclipses.
Psa_13:1-2. Rylands, commenting on this psalm, regards it as exclusively applicable to the Redeemer. “In addition to the sufferings which human nature is exposed to, Messiah, during His sojourn on earth, experienced a peculiar calamity in the hiding of God’s face from Him.” Then he goes on to say, “God never hides His face from the redeemed;” and speaks of “The ill effect of the doctrine that God hides His face from His people.” Now, it is quite true that God never ceases to love His children, but still the people of God are sensible of eclipses of the soul, such as the Psalmist describes in this psalm. God has not really deserted His children, but it often seems as if He had. “It is true that God does not forget any one, yet it may be that, to the human spirit, it appears as if he were forgotten by God, and that the Holy One had veiled His countenance from him. Then he feels at once that he is forsaken by God, and that he is weak with reference to his enemies.”—Moll. And whilst the Psalmist deplores the withdrawal of the Divine face, he yet recognises, in the same moment, that it is only a seeming withdrawal. Phillips renders the passage, “How long wilt thou be apparently forgetful of my troubles, and withhold from me Thy assistance?” And Delitzsch explains: “The dejected heart thinks, God has forgotten me for ever; but the Spirit, which thrusts away this thought, changes it into a question which sets upon it the mark of a mere appearance, not a reality: How long shall it seem as though Thou forgettest me for ever? Faith holds fast the love that is behind, the wrath; it sees in the display of anger only a self-masking of the loving countenance of the God of love, and longs for the time when this loving countenance shall be again unveiled to it.” Thus, although God never really forsakes or neglects His people, it often seems as if He had done so. In providential matters, they fail to recognise His hand; His consolations cease in their spirit; and they are full of darkness and bitterness. And yet, as at midnight we know that the sun still lives, and will soon again shine on the earth; so in the saint’s deepest darkness, his faith penetrates through the gloom, and awaits the shining of God’s face.
Observe:
II. The cause of these eclipses.
1. Why does God thus appear to desert His people at all? Why does He veil His hand and His face? The end of God’s discipline with all His people is to make them feel their absolute dependence upon Himself. The aim of an earthly parent is to render the child independent, to teach it to live upon its own resources, to go by itself, to be sufficient in itself. God’s aim is the opposite of this, to teach us that we are nothing, and can do nothing in ourselves, and that our sufficiency is of Himself. These eclipses teach us:
(1.) That God is the source of happiness (Psa_13:1). How deep the sorrow of the Psalmist’s soul! When God hides His face, we feel that the fountain of life is stopped. No matter what may be left, “sorrow is in our heart daily.” There is a flower which fades immediately a screen is interposed between it and the sun; and let God’s face be hidden from us, and the soul sickens as a drooping flower.
(2.) That God is the source of wisdom. “How long shall I take counsel in my soul?” “David represents himself as meditating plan after plan.”—Speaker’s Com. “He appears to be devising many plans in vain, like an unsuccessful general in an army.”—Wordsworth. “This strikingly describes the helpless embarrassment of the sufferer.”—Perowne. When God hides His face, we know not what to do, how to act. We soon feel that He is the great Counsellor, and that we are painfully perplexed without His light.
(3.) That God is the source of strength. “How long shall mine enemy be exalted over me?” (Psa_13:2). David felt weak, and altogether at the mercy of his enemies. When the Spaniards had beaten the Mexicans in a great battle, the latter called in the assistance of their priests. The priests, after some consultation, said that the Spaniards were children of the sun; that they derived their strength from that luminary, and when his beams were withdrawn, their powers would also fail. They recommended a night attack, therefore, as one which afforded the best chance of success. As these Spaniards were supposed to draw their strength from the orb of day, so really does the saint draw his conquering strength from God; and when he is deprived of the light of God’s face his “enemies prevail against him.”
(4.) God is the source of life (Psa_13:3). “Sleep an eternal sleep.”—Speaker’s Com. Without God we feel that we perish. “In Him we live, and move, and have our being.” Great lessons are taught us in life’s dark hours. During eclipses, astronomers learn secrets of the heavens which they cannot penetrate in days of sunshine; and it is necessary sometimes that God should hide His face, so that we may see more clearly, and feel more deeply, these great truths and principles. “I know that, as night and shadows are good for flowers, and moonlight and dews are better than a continual sun, so is Christ’s absence of special use, and that it hath some nourishing virtue in it, and giveth sap to humility, and putteth an edge on hunger, and furnisheth a fair field to faith to put forth itself, and to exercise its fingers in gripping it seeth not what.”—Rutherford, quoted by Spurgeon.
2. Why does God hide His face so long? “How long,” four times repeated. Is not the true answer, because we are so slow to learn the great truths which He designs to teach? We think that we have learned truths when they are not half-learned, and so God has to protract the eclipse. Tholuck well says: “That the length of trouble is harder to bear than the strength of it;” but it is only when long protracted that it leaves behind it the greater treasures.
III. The duty of the saints in these hours of darkness. Not discontent; not despair.
1. Wait in faith. “O Lord my God” (Psa_13:3). And there is faith throughout. He is in perplexity and trouble, but not in despair. In the dark he holds to God.
2. Wait in prayer. Mark how the Psalmist pleads (Psa_13:3). “It is well for those who, although in the greatest anxiety, are driven by the feeling that they are abandoned by God to seek the grace of God.”—Moll. “Resolve never to be dumb while God is deaf.”
3. Wait in hope (Psa_13:5-6). Coleridge said of himself, that he was an inveterate hoper. So should it be with all the people of God. Hope in God’s mercy, and tune your harp for a song.
Believer, despair not; for if God seems to have forsaken you, He is still strengthening you. “As when the sun is eclipsed, though the earth wants the light thereof, yet not the influence thereof; so God’s supporting grace is ever with His deserted.”—Trapp. And when the trial is over, your soul shall be deeper, brighter, more fruitful.
“You have been wretched; yet
The silver shower, whose reckless burden weighs
Too heavily upon the lily’s head,
oft leaves a saving moisture at its root.”
—WORDSWORTH.
THE CHEQUERED LIFE
(Psa_13:1-6.)
What changes we witness in the Psalmist’s life and experience! This psalm reflects as a mirror the changing conditions of his soul and history. In this little psalm David is seen as a fugitive and a conqueror, as despairing and triumphing, as weeping and singing. And it is largely thus with all the people of God.
Mark:
I. The vicissitudes of the outer life.
What contrasts of fortune you have in the life of David! A shepherd, a king; a king, a fugitive; and strange alternations of fortune throughout. Few lives present such marked contrasts as that of the Hebrew king, yet most lives know analogous variations. Our lives play up and down the scale between health and sickness, plenty and poverty, popularity and neglect, activity and solitude, fortune and disappointment.
II. The vicissitudes of the inner life.
In this psalm the writer passes from despair to exultation, from doubt to assurance, from lamentation to praise; and so might as easily pass back again, as indeed we see him do in other psalms. How constant the changes of the mood of the soul! We are ever changing from bright to dark, from low to high, from sweet to bitter, or the reverse. How extreme these changes of thought and feeling! We are conquerors, captives; kings, worms; strong as Samson, reeds shaken with the wind; singing at heaven’s gate, weeping on ruin’s brink. How rapid these changes! The Christian soul is a microcosm, in which you may see in an hour hope, fear, joy, sorrow. In Iceland, we are told, contradictory elements and phenomena are strangely blended. Snow is often blackened with ashes, ashes are white washed with snow; water flows under the lava, and there freezes and forms subterraneous glaciers. As in this strange land fire and frost are thus fantastically mingled, so in the Christian soul do day and night, summer and winter, snow and harvest, strangely mix in perpetual flux.
III. The aim of this discipline.
To purify and perfect us. “Emptied from vessel to vessel,” with each transition some of the dregs are to be removed, so that at length the wine of our life may run clear. The sharp and sudden contrasts are necessary to perfect us in the deep places of our nature. The Arabs say of the palm-tree that it must have “its feet in the water and its head in the fire.” And so the soul needs strong contrasts of experience to ripen it in the things of God. The continual variation of experience is necessary to touch and perfect us on every side of our manifold nature. As with a thousand changes of sky, and wind, and atmosphere God ripens the fruit of the orchard, so with countless variations of thought and emotion does God ripen the Christian heart in His love and likeness.
JEALOUS FOR GOD
(Psa_13:3-4.)
The doctrine is taught here that God’s honour is bound up with the deliverance of His people. David deprecated failure in himself because God’s honour and cause would suffer through it (Psa_13:4). “Moved from my steadfastness or firmness, when I am overcome. Hitherto he had been able to hold out against them, now be began to despair, and to fear that they would accomplish their object by overcoming and subduing him. His ground of apprehension and of appeal was, that by his being vanquished the cause in which he was engaged would suffer, and that the enemies of religion would triumph.”—Barnes.
We learn here, then:
That God’s honour is bound up with the conduct of His people.
This should teach:
1. The necessity of circumspection in the saints. If we are moved, God’s cause is injured and His name profaned. “And certainly it should be a powerful motive to restrain us from transgression, when we consider that as the conversion of a sinner brings glory to God, and causes joy among the angels of heaven, so the fall of a believer disgraces the Gospel of Jesus, opens the mouths of the adversaries, and would produce joy, if such a thing could be, in hell itself.”—Horne. “Oh, what desolation is made by the fall of a righteous soul! Itself covered with darkness and desolation, infidels filled with scoffing, the Church clad in mourning, the Spirit of God grieved, and Jesus crucified afresh, and put to an open shame! O God! save the pious reader from such wreck and ruin!”—Clarke.
2. The strong ground of a believer’s confidence. God will not permit us to be moved if we are faithful, for this would dishonour Himself and His kingdom. What a plea in prayer!
“Ah! suffer not my foe to boast
His victory o’er a child of Thine,
Nor let the proud Philistines’ host
In Satan’s hellish triumph join.
“Will they not charge my fall on Thee!
Will they not dare my God to blame?
My God, forbid the blasphemy!
Be jealous for Thy glorious name!”
—WESLEY.
3. A warning to persecutors. Persecuting saints, they aim a blow at God. “As unskilful hunters shooting at wild beasts do sometimes kill a man, so persecutors, shooting at saints, his Christ, reproach Him.”—Trapp.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
F. W. Grant 1903 · Public Domain Brought up from the gates of death.
Brought up from the gates of death.
To the chief musician, a psalm of David.
Read full note →
The third psalm of the series is a resurrection psalm, as agrees well with its position. In it the soul goes down into the depths, but only to find renewal of strength, and fuller blessing. For is it not so in the case of any difficulty met with God, and mastered, as, thus met, it will be mastered? And thus, as it would seem, upon every dealing of God with us, and in every stage of His new-creative work, the stamp of resurrection will be found. We must face nature’s ruin, bury the dead, acquiesce in the setting aside of creature strength entirely, that all power may be ascribed where it belongs -to God.
How interesting, in this respect, to find in each of the six days’ work wherein, in Gen 1:1-31, we have seen the type of just this new creative work, this same stamp exhibited! On the Sabbath of rest it can be at last omitted. Thus "the evening and the morning" constitute each "day." The day begins with light indeed, but with evening-light, destined, as it would seem, only to make haste to die out and disappear, but to have ere long its resurrection "morning." Here, one would say, the sole purpose of the psalm is to affix this stamp: God thus snapping the ties of nature in all that sin has blighted, ending all creature -so all self -dependence, that all our trust may fasten on Himself. Then, when we make Him all, we find Him all; the natural truth, that "in Him we live and move and have our being," becomes a spiritual truth, spiritually discerned and enjoyed. As here, the soul beginning with a groan ends with a song. We have passed through a tunnel of earth to the unveiled glory of heaven.
1. The six verses fall into three couplets, so that the six is really a 3 x 2. It is at once a discipline and a lesson in mastery that we have in them. The cry here is of one desolate indeed, although, as has been noticed, conscience is not accusing as in the sixth psalm. The psalmist cries a strange cry, bred at once of intimacy and estrangement, that Jehovah -the Unchanging -has forgotten! Then will His forgetfulness now not change? Will it be perpetual? Who, indeed, can read such a riddle as this? Clouds have hid the sun, but who would then identify the sun and the cloud? The cloud passes, but the sun abides.
Simple, all this, -to see and say as to another! With the chill and the shadow upon us, is it always so easy? "Behold, thou hast instructed many, and thou hast strengthened the weak hands; thy words have upholders him that was falling, and thou hast strengthened the feeble knees: but now it is come upon thee, and thou faintest; it toucheth thee, and thou art troubled." (Job 4:3-5.) So it is indeed with more than Job: at the critical moment, when demand is made upon us to show strength, there is naught but weakness; the arguments that we ourselves have used with others stand where they did, but they avail not; they have not been refuted, but they do not comfort us. Ah,we need more than argument: the living strength of the God of strength alone suffices in the day of personal need; and a terrible thing it is, perhaps, then to realize how much of the energy that has carried us on has not been that!
Argument? What use in argument, when a soul says, God has forgotten! He used to speak to me, He used to bless me, I used to find Him when I sought; but now! And here is one who has known the favor of Jehovah, and whose prayer has entered into His ears, telling Him he is not the same; asking, Will He remember me no more?
So comes the weary "taking counsel," the strife of thought, of little use indeed, if God be the changeable being we have made Him. All the counsel in our hearts cannot lift care indeed, if God be no more God; "if," as Luther’s wife asked him, "God were dead." But He is not, or we would not be at His feet, even to groan out these faithless fears.
2. And at His feet the soul grows bolder: "Consider, -answer me, Jehovah, my God: lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep -death." Aye, the despair of all else shows that faith is about to revive; despair of all else absolutely makes God the one grand resource. We grasp with one hand some unbreakable holdfast, and with the other some poor weed or fragile thread that could not support one for a moment; and then, when this has snapped, we cry, "Oh, the holdfast has given way," when all that is needed is to put both hands upon it! This is now the lesson; and immediately the soul gets the right argument, not with itself but with God: "Lighten mine eyes," it says: "Lord, Thou knowest, Thou art the light of them: yea, the light of life itself; if Thou art not with me, it is only death."
This is the argument; this is the thicket that caught for us the horns of the ram of sacrifice. (Gen 22:13.) Our feebleness laid hold of the unique power of Christ -power that only was in Him -to bring Him in for us. He had the power, and there was none else, and He knew it: "He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor: therefore His arm brought salvation to Him." (Isa 59:16.) What an argument to infinite Love to tell Him, if truthfully we can, "Lord, Thou art my one necessity: the light of these poor eyes, the light in which alone we see light; the Life without whom there is only, only death!" This is a prayer taught by the Holy Ghost Himself, -by Him who "maketh intercession for the saints according to God." (Rom 8:27, Gk.) We put both arms round Him when we say so; and it is a prayer so possible for us all, a child’s prayer, -an infant’s, -never to be refused by the tender pity of God.
He is the Light and He is the Life: simple truths indeed, yet how needful to remember. The wise of this world, with all the subtlety of human intellect, can never succeed in anything but in deceiving themselves and all that trust in them. Christ alone is wisdom, what can be ever rightly counted such, -true wisdom, because in it alone are found "righteousness and sanctification and redemption." (1Co 1:30, Gk.)* Men are lost, and must come to God not as philosophers but as sinners. All cannot be the first; the last of these all are.
{*Almost all versions have obscured the meaning here: the words should read, "who is made unto us wisdom from God: righteousness as well as sanctification and redemption." The Revised Version has in the margin "both righteousness and sanctification and redemption," -a right meaning, in bad English.}
Yet I do not say how deep the psalmist goes here. There may be more in his words than realized by himself. Death physical had not lost its shadow yet for the saint; for He had not come who has "abolished" it. The pressure of the enemy is felt all through these experiences, though by it also God is working blessing as in all things: "He maketh all things work together for good to those that love Him." Here the psalmist pleads that the enemy may not triumph, nor his adversaries be able to exult in his being moved.
3. The third couplet gives the resurrection from the depths. First, faith finds the solid ground under its feet. It has not an elaborate argument, but a very simple one: "I have trusted in His mercy, therefore deliverance shall come!" Perhaps a little more than that: "I have trusted in His mercy: so then I will be glad at once, for deliverance is sure!" It is good to be able to honor Him thus before it comes, and not to be taken by surprise by it. Sorrowful, even in the deliverance itself, never to have given Him credit for it beforehand!
Then the last verse celebrates (I think) the actual deliverance which surely follows. And now in proportion to the distress is the liveliness of the joy. The sigh becomes a song. There are no details all the way through, that we may have before us just the fact which the psalm emphasizes, that God is the God of resurrection, and that so, weaned from all self-trust, He Himself becomes the one sufficiency, -the all-sufficiency of the believing soul.
F. W. Grant, The Numerical Bible (4th ed., 1903) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. R. Dummelow 1909 · Public Domain The prominence which the Ps. gives to one enemy…
The prominence which the Ps. gives to one enemy (Psa_13:2) among the writer's numerous adversaries (Psa_13:4), suggests the circumstances of David's persecution by Saul (1 Samuel 21-27). The Psalmist begins in agitation and despondency, and ends in tranquillity and faith.
1. PBV 'How long wilt thou forget me, O Lord, for ever?' A single question instead of the double one of AV. 'Forget for ever' means 'continue to forget.' The seemingly self-contradictory form of the question reflects the conflict of the writer's feelings, 'Hope despairs and yet despair hopes' (Luther). Note the four repetitions of 'how long' in Psa_13:1, Psa_13:2.
Read full note →
2. Take counsel in my soul] be compelled to make vain plans for my own deliverance.
3. Lighten mine eyes] give me new life and hope. 'Dying eyes are glazed: a sick man's are heavy and dull. Returning health brightens them': see 1Sa_14:27, 1Sa_14:29.
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Arno C. Gaebelein 1922 · Public Domain Psalm 13
Psalm 13
1. How long? Answer me, Jehovah (Psa 13:1-4)
Read full note →
2. The victory of faith (Psa 13:5-6)
Psa 13:1-4. Four times “How long?” The trial of faith becomes more severe. Sorrow is in the heart and an enemy is outside. Has then Jehovah forgotten? The hearts begin to despair; an answer is demanded, it must come “lest I sleep the sleep of death.”
Psa 13:5-6. But here comes the change. Faith triumphs and is victorious. “I have trusted in Thy mercy; my heart shall rejoice in Thy salvation. I will sing unto Jehovah, for He hath dealt bountifully with me.”
Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain A Prayer for Relief in the Midst of Trouble.
A Prayer for Relief in the Midst of Trouble.
David may well apply as a type, so far as his experience during the persecution by Saul is concerned, to the believing sufferer and Christian martyr of every age. To the chief musician, to be used in the Temple services, a psalm of David.
Read full note →
v. 1. How long wilt Thou forget me, O Lord? Forever? It seemed to David, in the anguish of his spirit during the long period when he was hunted almost like a wild beast, that the Lord had entirely forsaken him. How long wilt Thou hide Thy face from me? as though He abandoned him to the fate which was staring him in the face.
v. 2. How long shall I take counsel in my soul, being filled with worry and distress over the apparent neglect of Jehovah, having sorrow in my heart daily? There was no intermission in his troubles; all the counsels which his heart thought of brought no relief. How long shall mine enemy be exalted over me? having the upper hand, continuing his tactics of oppression.
v. 3. Consider and hear me, O Lord, my God, paying attention to his plight, giving him an answer upon his appeal; lighten mine eyes, making them clear, giving them new vitality and cheerfulness in view of the coming deliverance, lest I sleep the sleep of death, falling asleep, never to awake again,
v. 4. lest mine enemy say, I have prevailed against him, and therefore also against the Lord in whom David trusted; and those that trouble me rejoice when I am moved, having lost the firmness of his faith, deceived in his trust, overcome by their wicked schemes. During his prayer the faith of David has grown and has been invested with new strength, causing his humble cry to be changed into a song of praise.
v. 5. But I have trusted in Thy mercy, with the firm confidence in his final salvation; my heart shall rejoice in Thy salvation, by which he would be delivered both physically and spiritually.
v. 6. I will sing unto the Lord because He hath dealt bountifully with me, rewarding him richly in compensation for his season of trouble. That is David’s firm confidence. Thus the heart of every believer, in the midst of the storms of life, experiences the wonderful peace of God which passes all understanding, which causes him to trust in his heavenly Father’s mercy, no matter what may befall him.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 General Information:
General Information:
Parallelism is common in Hebrew poetry. (See: Poetry and Parallelism)
Read full note →
For the chief musician
"This is for the director of music to use in worship."
A psalm of David
Possible meanings are 1) David wrote the psalm or 2) the psalm is about David or 3) the psalm is in the style of David's psalms.
How long, Yahweh, will you keep forgetting about me?
This question is asked to get the reader's attention and to add emphasis. It can be translated as a statement. AT: "Yahweh, it seems that you have forgotten about me!" (See: Rhetorical Question)
How long ... face from me?
The words "your face" represent God's whole being. This rhetorical question is asked to add emphasis. It can be translated as a statement. AT: "It seems like you are hiding from me!" (See: Synecdoche and Rhetorical Question)
How long will my enemy triumph over me?
This rhetorical question is asked to add emphasis. It can be translated as a statement. AT: "Surely my enemies will not always defeat me!" (See: Rhetorical Question)
translationWords
psalm
David
Yahweh
face
heart
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 Ps 13 The psalmist’s piercing cry for help becomes…
Ps 13 The psalmist’s piercing cry for help becomes a confident song of hope.
13:1-2 How long? The fourfold repetition expresses agitation and deep anguish (79:5).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.