Псалом 43

The psalm was written by the sons of Korah and represents reflection (Hebrew “maskil”, Russian “teaching”) about the events they experienced. These same events are sad. The Jewish people were abandoned by God (Ps. 43:10), which is why they were defeated by their enemies and given over to be plundered by them and scattered among the nations (Ps. 43:11–12). This suffering and defeat is all the more difficult for the Jews because they “did not forget... Him and did not turn away from His path” (Ps. 43:18–19), i.e., they remained faithful to the true God. This was the situation of the Jews during David’s war with the Syrians in the north, when the southern borders of his state were attacked by the Edomites, who plundered the southern borders of the kingdom of Judah, killed many of the Jews and captured a large number of them for sale as slaves to neighboring nations, which the Edomites were doing... This reason for writing is indicated by the similarity of the content of this psalm with Psalm 9 (Ps. 9:22) and, especially with Ps.59, where the exact reason for writing and the reason for Joab’s attack on the Edomites is indicated. God! The past history of our people is full of glorious victories over the pagan inhabitants of Palestine. We owe these victories not to our military art, but to Your patronage and protection (6–9). Now God has left us: we are defeated by enemies, we are taken into captivity, they laugh at us, while we remain faithful to You and do not deviate from Your commandments (10-23). Arise, O Lord, for our defense and deliver us according to Your mercy (24-27). Ps.43:4. For they did not acquire the land with their sword, nor did their arm save them, but Your right hand and Your arm and the light of Your countenance, for You favored them. The acquisition and conquest of Palestine by the Jews owed “the light in the face of God” to the favor and protection that He showed them. The historical books of the Jewish people are full of numerous facts of this kind. Ps.43:6. With You we will gore our enemies with the horns; in Your name we will trample underfoot those who rise up against us: “With You we will gore our enemies with the horns.” The strength of the animal is in its horns, with which it fights the enemy and defends itself from attack. Such horns for the Jews, such an instrument of his indestructibility, is God, with whose name the Jew was indestructible. Ps.43:10. But now You have rejected and disgraced us, and You do not go out with our armies; “Now you have rejected... you do not go out with our armies.” God is the supreme commander of the forces of the Jewish people. An outward sign of such leadership was the custom of wearing the Icon of the Covenant with the troops. The writer explains the plunder of the southern borders of the state by enemies by the fact that the Lord ceased to lead the Jews. Ps.43:12. You gave us like sheep to be eaten and scattered us among the nations; "He scattered us among the nations." The Edomites, like their Jewish neighbors the Phoenicians and Philistines, sold captive Jews into slavery to the Greeks and Egyptians (Amos 1:6, 9; Joel 3:2–8). This is the sale of Jewish captives that the writer means here. Ps.43:13. You sold Your people without profit and did not raise their price; “You sold Your people without profit, and You did not raise their price.” The sale of Jews into slavery and captivity is compared to an unprofitable trade exchange: “without profit” or with a loss. When plundering the borders of Judea, the Edomites paid very little; the Jews could not have offered them any significant resistance, since the best forces fit for war were at that time in the north in the armies of David, and therefore the casualties from the enemies could have been very insignificant. – “Didn’t raise prices” – continuation of the comparison. There were no buyers for Jews who could, by supplying demand for them, raise their price. This means that the number of prisoners captured by the Edomites was very large, so they sold them for next to nothing. Ps.43:14. He gave us over to be reproached by our neighbors, to be ridiculed and mocked by those living around us; Ps.43:15. You have made us a byword among the nations, a head among foreigners. Ps.43:16. Every day my shame is before me, and shame covers my face Ps.43:17. from the voice of the slanderer and the slanderer, from the gaze of the enemy and the avenger: As slaves, Jews could not expect and did not receive humane treatment; They were mocked and mocked by those who sold them and who bought them. Ps.43:20. when You crushed us in the land of dragons and covered us with the shadow of death. "In the land of dragons" or jackals. These animals love to feed on corpses. Such corpses were Jews who fell into slavery, and their captors were jackals. An image of the powerless and helpless position of Jews in slavery. Ps.43:22. then wouldn’t God have required this? For He knows the secrets of the heart. The Lord “knows the secrets of the heart” - He knows that the Jews were His true admirers and did not deviate in the wake of false gods. Ps.43:24. Arise, that you are sleeping, Lord! wake up, don't give up forever. “Arise, that you are sleeping, Lord!” The wakefulness of God over the Jews means active help on His part, and the deprivation of this help is depicted as a state opposite to wakefulness, likened to sleep. Ps.43:26. for our soul is humbled to the dust, our womb clings to the earth. “Our soul is humbled to dust, our womb clings to the earth” - we are bent to the ground, suppressed by grief and the disaster we have experienced. You might be interested in: