Psalms 42:3

3 My tears have been my food day and night, while they continually say unto me, Where is thy God?

Psalms 42:3 Meaning and Commentary

Psalms 42:3

My tears have been my meat day and night
That is, he could not eat for sorrow, like Hannah, 1Sa 1:7,8;
or while he was eating tears fell in plenty, and they were as common, day and night, as his food, and mixed with it F6; see ( Psalms 80:5 ) ;

while they continually say unto me,
his enemies the Philistines,

where [is] thy God?
theirs were to be seen and pointed at, as the host of heaven, the sun, moon, and stars, and idols of gold, silver, brass, wood, and stone; wherefore they ask, where was his? but David's God was invisible; he is in the heavens, and does what he pleases, ( Psalms 115:2 Psalms 115:3 ) ; or the sense is, that if there was such a God he believed in and professed, and he was his servant, surely he would never have suffered him to fall into so much distress and calamity, but would have appeared for his relief and deliverance; and therefore tauntingly, and by way of reproach, ask where he was.


FOOTNOTES:

F6 "--lachrymaeque alimenta fuere", Ovid. Metamorph. l. 10. Fab. 1. v. 75.

Psalms 42:3 In-Context

1 As the hart pants after the water brooks, so does my soul pant after thee, O God.
2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God; when shall I come and appear before God?
3 My tears have been my food day and night, while they continually say unto me, Where is thy God?
4 I will remember these things; I will pour out my soul in me. When I shall be included in the number; I will go with them to the house of God with voice of joy and praise, dancing in the multitude.
5 Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted against me? Wait thou for God, for I shall yet praise him for the wellbeing of his presence.
The Jubilee Bible (from the Scriptures of the Reformation), edited by Russell M. Stendal, Copyright © 2000, 2001, 2010