Psalms 43

Psalms 42:72

Gordon Churchyard

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Words marked with a *star are described in the word list at the end.

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The Psalms of David (Book 2).

Remember the Good Times

Psalms 42 and 43

Jesus said, "My *soul is so sad that I am nearly dying", (Mark 14:34) and "My *soul is in trouble". (John 12:27)

Psalms 43

v1 (My) God, say that I am right.
Tell it to the people that do not love (me).
*Rescue me from the man that tells *lies and does bad things.

v2 (This is) because you are my *refuge, God.
Why are you always so *unkind to me?
Why must I continue to be so sad?
You let my enemy do what he likes to me!

v3 Send out your light and your *truth.
Let them be my guide.
They will bring me to your *holy mountain
and to the house where you live.

v4 Then I will come to the *altar of God,
the God that makes me happy.
I will *praise you with a *harp, God, my God.

v5 My *soul, why are you so sad?
Why are you so *restless inside me?
Hope in God, because I will *praise him again!
When God is with me, he will do great things for me.

What Psalms 43 means

We have seen that these two psalms are probably about a hostage. Maybe one of the kings that we have already talked about took him hostage. Maybe it was someone else. He probably went through a desert where he saw a *hart. The *hart was *thirsty. It made the *psalmist think that he was *thirsty for God. This was because he could not go to the *temple in Jerusalem. He was sad because he thought that God was still in Jerusalem. (Psalms 42:1-5)

Then he found that God was still with him when he reached the Hermons. All the things round him... the *waterfalls and the *waves on the water... were things of God. That meant that God was still with him. This made the *psalmist happier. (Happier means "more happy".) He began to think that his *prayer would get an answer. This is the *prayer in Psalms 42:5 and 11.

We do not know where the hostage went now. It may be Israel, it may be Assyria or it may be Babylon. It may be somewhere else. We do not know if he went home to Jerusalem or if he died a hostage. What we do know is that in Psalms 43 the *psalmist decided that it did not matter. God was with him everywhere that he went! He still thought that God was *unkind to him (the Hebrew word means that God had a very bad smell!) But he believed that God would answer his *prayer. Even if he was a hostage, God would do wonderful things for him.

Verse 1: The *psalmist is asking God to be his *judge. A judge is someone that decides who is right and who is wrong. The *psalmist believes that he is right and he asks God to tell everyone. God will do this by making him free so that he is not a hostage any more. "The people that do not love me" are his enemies, maybe from Israel, Assyria, Babylon or somewhere else. "The man that tells *lies and does bad things" is one of the *psalmist’s enemies. Maybe he was their leader.

Verse 2: But things are still bad for the *psalmist. He believes that God is his *refuge, but God is not doing anything. The *psalmist is still a hostage!

Verse 3: He prays for God to send light and *truth. He believes that they will take him back to Jerusalem. That is where the *holy mountain and the house of God are. The *holy mountain is Mount Zion where the *temple was. It was *holy because the Jews believed that God lived there. Solomon built the *temple about 950 *BC. The King of Babylon (Nebuchadnezzar) destroyed it in 587 *BC. There were other *temples, but we believe that the *psalmist meant this one in Jerusalem. God’s light and *truth would make people see (light) that the *psalmist was right (*truth). He should not be a hostage.

Verse 4: A *harp is something you make music with. We call it a *musical instrument. Psalms 150 tells us about other *musical instruments that the Jews played.

Verse 5: This verse comes three times in the psalm (Psalms 42:5 and 11; and here.) Each time we think that the *psalmist became more certain that God would answer him. (Certain means "sure".) We do not know if God did answer in the way the *psalmist wanted. Maybe he did go back to Jerusalem. Maybe he learned that God was with him where he was hostage. This was all that mattered!

The *Sons Of Korah

Several psalms in Book 2 of the Psalms have "the sons of Korah" at the top. Book 2 of the Psalms goes from Psalms 42 to Psalms 72. Some of these psalms probably come from a book that the sons of Korah used.

Korah was the grandson of Kohath. Kohath was the son of Levi. Levi was one of the sons of Jacob. All the Jews that were God’s servants in the *temple came from the family of Levi. They were all Levites.

Korah himself died because he did not obey God. The story is in a book of the Bible called Numbers (Numbers 16:1-35). Some of his family did not die. Moses gave them special jobs to do. At first, this was before Solomon built the *temple, but they also did these jobs after Solomon built the *temple. One of their jobs was to make music in the *temple. The best singers and players on *musical instruments did this. The Jews called them "the sons of Korah". They used the psalms that David wrote and they used others as well. We do not know if they wrote them or if they got them from other people. When we read "the sons of Korah" at the top of a psalm, it means that it came from their book of psalms.

Psalms 42 has "the sons of Korah" at the top. Psalms 43 does not have anything at the top. We think that they are really one psalm. We think that a hostage wrote it. He may have been a Levite, maybe a "son of Korah". If he was not, he gave the psalm to someone who put it into the book of "the sons of Korah".

So, "sons of Korah" is probably the name of a music group. They made music in the *temple at Jerusalem until Nebuchadnezzar took the Jews to Babylon. He destroyed the *temple at the same time. When the Jews came back from Babylon 70 years later, they built the *temple again. But now the "sons of Korah" did not make music in the *temple. We do not know why!

Something to do

1. Study a map of Israel if you can. Can you find where the hostage saw the *thirsty *hart and the Hermons?

2. Learn to say Psalms 42:5 without looking at the words. Next time you have trouble, say these words. Tell God that you are *unhappy, but that you will hope in him. Then wait for him to do something good for you. While you wait, remember the good times! (Psalms 42:4), and that God is with you (Psalms 42:8).

3. Read about the last week in the life of Jesus. Do you think that Jesus knew Psalms 42? Read Matthew 26:38 and John 12:27 for help.

Christian Pictures

The Jews did not paint pictures of God. They thought that this broke one of God’s rules. At first, Christians did not paint Jesus in pictures for the same reason. Instead, when they wanted Jesus in a picture, they painted a *hart (or a male deer). They did this because they believed that Jesus repeated parts of Psalms 42 before he died. The parts are at the top of Psalms 42. As the *psalmist was "*like a *hart", so Jesus was "*like a *hart". So they painted a *hart, not Jesus. Later artists painted Jesus. As we have no pictures of the real Jesus, artists now paint what they thought he looked *like.

God’s rules are in The 10 Commandments. One of these says "You must not make for yourself anything that looks *like me". (Exodus 20:4) "Looks *like me" in Hebrew is "image". It could be a picture or an idol.

This publication is written in EasyEnglish Level A (1200 words)

July 2001

soul/spirit ~ the part of us that lives on after our bodies die.
rescue ~ take someone away from their enemies.
lies ~ words that are not true.
refuge ~ a place where you are safe.
unkind ~ not kind.
truth ~ words that are true.
holy ~ very very good; only God is really holy (because he always obeys his rules); Jerusalem was holy because people worshipped God there.
worship ~ say that someone is very wonderful.
altar ~ a special table in God’s house.
praise ~ (noun, or being something) words that say that someone or something is very good.
praise ~ (verb, or doing something) say that someone or something is very good.
harp ~ an instrument (thing) that makes music.
restless ~ not able to sleep or to be happy.
hart ~ a male deer, like a small cow.
like ~ another word for ‘as’.
thirsty ~ wanting a drink (thirsty land is dry land).
psalmist ~ the person that wrote a psalm.
temple ~ a special building where people worship God.
worship ~ say that someone is very wonderful.
waterfall ~ water falling from a high to a low place.
waves ~ water moves in waves when it goes from one place to another.
prayer ~ words that you say when you *pray.
judge ~ (noun, or being something) someone that decides.
judge ~ (verb, or doing something) decide if someone did right or wrong.
BC ~ years Before Christ came to the earth.'musical instruments ~ something that you make music with.'sons of Korah ~ the people that sang in the Temple (look in Psalm 43).
temple ~ a special building where people worship God.
worship ~ say that someone is very wonderful.
unhappy ~ not happy.
like ~ another word for ‘as’.'