Psalms 63:1-6

1 A Psalm of David, in his being in the wilderness of Judah. O God, Thou [art] my God, earnestly do I seek Thee, Thirsted for Thee hath my soul, Longed for Thee hath my flesh, In a land dry and weary, without waters.

2 So in the sanctuary I have seen Thee, To behold Thy strength and Thine honour.

3 Because better [is] Thy kindness than life, My lips do praise Thee.

4 So I bless Thee in my life, in Thy name I lift up my hands.

5 As [with] milk and fatness is my soul satisfied, And [with] singing lips doth my mouth praise.

6 If I have remembered Thee on my couch, In the watches -- I meditate on Thee.

Psalms 63:1-6 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 63

\\<>\\. This psalm was composed by David, either when he was persecuted by Saul, and obliged to hide himself in desert places, as in the forest of Hareth, the wildernesses of Ziph, Maon, and Engedi, \1Sa 22:5 23:14,24,25 24:1\; all which were in the tribe of Judah, Jos 15:55,62; or when his son Absalom rebelled against him, which obliged him to flee from Jerusalem, and go the way of the wilderness, where Ziba and Barzillai sent him food, lest his young men that were with him should faint there, \2Sa 15:23 16:2 17:29\. The Septuagint version, and those that follow that, call it the wilderness of Idumea, or Edom, as the Arabic version; and so the Chaldee paraphrase, ``in the wilderness which was on the border of the tribe of Judah;'' as Edom was, Jos 15:21; so the Messiah, David's son, was in a wilderness, where he was tempted by the devil, and where he was hungry and thirsty in a literal sense, as David was here in a spiritual sense, as the psalm shows, Mt 4:1,2; and the church of God, whom David sometimes represents, is said to be in a wilderness, where she is fed for a time, and times, and half a time, even during the whole reign of the antichristian beast, Re 12:14; and, indeed, all the saints are, at one time or another, in a desert condition, and while they are here are in the wilderness of the people, Ho 2:14, Eze 20:35.