Outline of Chapter 142:

       Inscription       Psalm 142 Inscription

       vv.    1–4        David Calls to God from a Place of Trouble

       vv.    5–7        David Knows that God is His Refuge

Charts and Maps:

       v.      7           A Summary of Psalm 142

I ntroduction: Psalm 142 is written while David is in the cave of Adullam (probably), and from which cave, he calls out to God for God’s grace. This is a rather short psalm, with 6 verses of petition followed by one verse of confidence. We would probably place this psalm at the nd of I Sam. 22:1 and we might want to exegete Psalm 142 prior to Psalm 57. You may look at this and these other psalms which David wrote at this time (Psalms 34 56 57 142) and wonder, why did he write so many psalms? The answer is the key to understanding David in I Sam. 21–23. He seems to be in a tizzy in chapter 21, confused, scared, and on the run. However, at the beginning of I Sam. 22, David is a leader, a man that other fugitives and malcontents flock to for guidance. His own family, who once looked down upon him, come to him for help. The key is a change of mental attitude, which will be illustrated in this psalm, particularly in v. 7. In vv. 1–6, David tells why he has every right to be afraid and confused. However, in v. 7, he states why he is confident and trusting. Between I Sam. 21 and 22, David rebounds (names his sins to God, and gets back into fellowship—Psalm 56) and he celebrates this new lease on life by writing a half dozen psalms. So briefly, what we have in this psalm, is a celebration by David in the Lord (v. 7), despite his situation (vv. 1–6).

David writes this psalm from a cave—probably the cave of Adullam. Throughout most of the psalm, David is pouring our his troubles to God and appealing to God. Vv. 1, 2, 5, 6 all speak of him calling out to God. In the first verse, David petitions God for His grace; in the second verse, David tells God his complaints and his troubles; in the fifth verse, David recognizes that God is his true refuge; and, in v. 6, David asks God to deliver him from his persecutors, who are stronger than he is. In v. 3, David speaks of being overwhelmed or feeling as though he is without God the Holy Spirit. In v. 4, he recognizes that he has no person upon whom he can depend. In v. 7a, David calls to God to bring his soul out of prison. Only twice in this psalm does David present the positive side to his ordeal. In v. 5a, he recognizes that God is his true refuge and in the second half of v. 7, David recognizes that he is surrounded by guardian angels and that God will bless him. At the end of this psalm, I will again summarize this psalm at the end of the exegesis.

All in all, David wrote 8 psalms during the time that Saul sought his life (Psalms 34 52 54 56 57 59 63 142). In the book of Psalms, this is the final psalm of that group. However, with respect to time, it is the 3^rd or 4^th psalm that David wrote when on the run from Saul.

Psalm 142 Inscription

Here is how others have translated this verse:

Early translations:

The Septuagint                      [A psalm of] instruction for David, when he was in the cave; a prayer.

Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:

CEV                                       [A special psalm and a prayer by David when he was in the cave.]

NLT                                A psalm of David, regarding his experience in the cave. A prayer.

TEV                                       A Prayer for Help [HEBREW TITLE: A poem by David, when he was in the cave; a prayer]

Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):

JPS (Tanakh)                        A maskil of David, while he was in the cave. A prayer. [This is verse 1 in the JPS].

Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:

The Amplified Bible                A skillful song or a didactic or a reflective poem of David, when he was in the cave. A Prayer.

NASB                                    Maskil of David, when he was in the cave.

A Prayer.

Young's Literal Translation    An Instruction of David, a Prayer when he is in the cave.

What is the gist of this verse? This is a psalm of instruction written by David when he was hiding from Saul in the caves of Judah.

Translation: An instructive psalm by David,... Although many good translations tend to transliterate this as maskil, I think that we can safely refer to this as an instructive psalm, given that there is no question about this words ties to the Hiphil (causal stem) of sâkal, which means to instruct, to make prudent, to teach. We find this used in the titles of Psalms  32, 42, 44, 45, 52–55, 74, 78, 88, 89, and 142. David is specifically mentioned in half of those psalms, with the following exceptions: no one is listed as the author for Psalms 42 44 45; Asaph is named as the writer of Psalms 74 78, Heman for Psalm 88 and Ethan for Psalm 89. After we cover a few more of these instructive psalms of David, then we will look at them as a whole.

You will notice that this psalm, like many of David’s other psalms, is very personal. Everything is in the 1^st person. David is not exhorting anyone else to do anything else. He speaks only of himself in this psalm.

Translation: ...while he was in the cave. As goes for the previous psalm, we do not know which cave is referred to here. I suspect that this is also the cave of Adullam, and you may wonder why, given that there is not enough information here to so identify it (I had an inherent reason for Psalm 57). Again, like Psalm 57, this refers to David being in the cave. There is no other identifying information. There is an inherent reason for identifying this as the cave of Adullam, as it appears in this psalm as though David is just getting his footing as a leader and as a man on the run. By I Sam. 24, when he is in the cave of En-gedi, he has already led his men on several exploits and in the cave, cuts the hem of Saul’s royal overcoat. In other words, by I Sam. 24, David is a bit more fearless. David remained in this cave for awhile, allowing enough time for 400 malcontents to find him and join him (I Sam. 22:2). He remained there for awhile, and then took his parents to safety. For a short time, this was his base of operations (plus, we do not know how many times he returned here as he moved across the land of Judah). The cave mentioned with Saul appears to be a one-time situation. David was not in the act of fleeing from Saul, per se, but Saul had come to him, albeit unintentionally. Furthermore, there is more urgency expressed in this psalm, which would be more in keeping with I Sam. 21–22, as opposed to David’s sparing of Saul’s life in I Sam. 24. So, this is educated speculation. I suspect that the cave mentioned in Psalms 57 and 142 is the same cave, however.

A contemporary description of this cave may be found in my exegesis of I Sam. 22:1–2.

Translation: A prayer [or, supplication]. This is a prayer where David realizes that he cannot depend upon man; he cannot even depend upon his own craftiness; he will need to depend upon God. Therefore, this psalm is a prayer or a supplication to God for His blessing and protection.

David Calls to God from a Place of Trouble

Here is how others have handled this verse:

Early translations:

The Septuagint                      I cried to the Lord with my voice; with my voice I made supplication to the Lord.

Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:

CEV                                       I pray to you, Lord. I beg for mercy.

NLT                                I cry out to the Lord;

I please for the Lord’s mercy.

TEV                                       I call to the Lord for help;

I plead with him.

Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):

JPS (Tanakh)                        I cry aloud to the Lord;

I appeal to the Lord loudly for mercy. [This is verse 2 in the JPS, and so on throughout].

Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:

Updated Emphasized Bible   <With my voice—to Yahweh> I cry out,

<With my voice—to Yahweh> I make supplication.

NASB                                    I CRY aloud with my voice to the Lord;

I make supplication with my voice to the Lord.

Young's Literal Translation    My voice is unto Jehovah, I cry,

My voice is unto Jehovah, I entreat grace.

What is the gist of this verse? David calls out to Jehovah, asking him to bestow grace upon him.

Translation: I call out to God [with] my voice;... David has exhausted his human resources. He has used his voice to call out to man—Abimelech, priest of Nob, and Achish, king of Gath. However, now David will turn his voice toward God. This does not mean that David is speaking aloud to God, although there is no reason to think that he is not either. Because he is in this large cave, David may call out as loudly as he wishes.

One of the reasons that I place this writing of this psalm in the cave of Adullam, the first cave mentioned, is that this marks the turning point of David’s life. It marks when David stopped obsessing about himself and his troubles, recognized what God was able to do, and recognized that he had a place in life. This realization did not come to him in I Sam. 24, but between I Sam. 21 and 22. Therefore, we should expect to find several psalms from this time period which indicate a spiritual turn around.

By the way, I should mention that you do not go from zero to a hundred overnight. With respect to spirituality, being in fellowship and out of fellowship is either 0 or 100; however, the ability to do something with that fellowship is a matter of spiritual growth. A 1 year old child can be heir to a fortune, and have no understanding or appreciation of this fortune; this is even true of a 16 year-old. However, when a man is around 30, then being the heir to a fortune might begin to have some meaning, as long as he is able to think outside his own experience. To a 1 year-old, money means nothing. To a 16 year-old, he will think only in terms of what can this money do for him right here and how, and what lusts he can satisfy with the money. With some 30 year-olds, there may be a sense of responsibility that comes with the inheritance. He may realize that pissing away a life’s work, the accumulated fortune of a lifetime, is not prudent or appropriate. So David will have to experience some spiritual growth which follows his turn around.

Translation: ...[with] my voice, I petition [Him] for grace. You will note that in the four most recent psalms that we have studied (or will study)—Psalms 34 56 57 142—the concept of grace plays a prominent role in 3 of them. In face, the first word of Psalm 56 and 57 is be gracious [to me]. In this psalm, it is the 4^th word. When you have been out of fellowship for awhile, then the most logical and reasonable approach is to ask God for His grace. If you have been out of fellowship for a week, or a month or a year, the first thing that you should ask God for is gracious treatment. Let me give you an analogy: you work for your father’s business and, for a year, you defraud your father. Now, just walking into his office and saying, “My bad” is not going to cut it. Reparations and then gaining his trust are going to require a great deal of time. Where the analogy breaks down is, God has already forgiven us for all of the sins that we have committed. That’s a done deal. We already have His forgiveness. So, even after a long period of being out of fellowship, we do not have to promise to do better, to resolve to do better, to be contrite, to do acts of penance. That’s stupid. Here’s why it’s stupid: Jesus Christ already paid for those sins that you have committed. Do you think you can improve on His perfect work by, say, not eating desert for a week? By giving God a few measly dollars in the collection plate? By feeling bad and looking downward a lot? Yeah, that’s real stupid. You do not improve upon God’s perfect work. This is an area where some Catholics are so fouled up that it is almost beyond comprehension. Lent, fasting, personal sacrifice in order to impress God. The work of Jesus Christ on the cross impresses God; the nonsense crap that you to somehow pretend that you’re going to rough it for awhile, is meaningless. I’ve even heard one Catholic talk about some personal sacrifices that she would make in order to experience some of our Lord’s pain and suffering. It was not easy for me to keep from saying, “Is it possible for you to be any more stupid? Like there is some way that you could feel even an iota of the pain and suffering that our Lord felt?” What we petition God for after an extended time out of fellowship is for His grace, to ask Him to allow us a little more time on this earth, that we might in some way participate in His plan.

McGee comments: In other words, David laid out before God everything that was in his heart and life. That is the eway you and I should pray. This idea that we should “pray around” something, or rationalize in our prayers, or pray “all around Robin Hood’s barn,” is wrong. We ought to get right down to the niity-gritty and tell God everything in our lives. David said, “I declared my trouble before Him.” My friend, you can tell Him about your temptations; you can tell Him about everything.

Many of David’s psalms, at their beginning, call out to God for help: Rescue me, O Jehovah, from evil men; preserve me from violent men (Psalm 140:1). O Jehovah, I call upon You; hasten to me! Listen to my voice when I call to You! (Psalm 141:1). Hear my prayer, O Jehovah, listen to my petitions for grace. Answer me in Your faithfulness and righteousness (Psalm 143:1). And these are just the nearest psalms to Psalm 142.

Here is how others have translated this verse:

Early translations:

The Septuagint                      I will pour out before him my supplication; I will declare before him my affliction.

Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:

CEV                                       I tell you all of my worries and my troubles,...

NJB                                        I pour out my worry in his presence,

in his presence I unfold my troubles.

TEV                                       I bring him all my complaints;

I tell him all my troubles.

Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):

God’s Word™                         I pour out my complaints in his presence

and tell him my troubles.

JPS (Tanakh)                        I pour out my complaint before Him;

I lay my trouble before Him...

Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:

NASB                                    I pour out my complaint before Him;

I declare my trouble before Him.

Young's Literal Translation    I pour forth before Him my meditation,

My distress before Him I declare.

What is the gist of this verse? David goes to God with what is troubling him.

Several exegete missed the boat on this verse. Barnes says that David is not dealing with his complaints here (we will cover that in more detail); and Gill tells us that David is telling God all about his personal sins. Gill is flat out wrong because David has already rebounded in one of the psalms that we have just finished (Psalm 56). Therefore, he does not need to spend anytime in this psalm naming his sins to God. Throughout most of this psalm, David recognizes that only God can save him from the danger that he is in (vv. 4–6); therefore, although rebound would be in order, if he were out of fellowship, there is not indication that David is out of fellowship.

Translation: I pour out my complaint [or, concern] before Him;... David is doing two thing differently. First of all, in v. 1, David goes to God instead of man. Secondly, he let’s God know just how he feels. David did not bare his soul to Abimelech the priest. He wasn’t honest with him about anything. With Achish, David pretended to be insane—there was no honesty there. Now, you may look back on that chapter, which we have already covered, and remark, “David could not be honest with Achish—he is among Israel’s sworn enemies.” Wrong, theology-breath; David did go back to Achish and he was very honest with him. Furthermore, Achish took him in as an ally (I Sam. 27). In this psalm, David is honest with God, and he is honest with God about how he feels.

By the way, David has a right to be mad. He had almost everything, and he was faithful to King Saul. David was not some kiss-ass or brown-noser; but he was loyal to Saul. We never saw any indication that David ever did anything to undermine Saul’s authority. Yet Saul turned on him, forced him out of his home, away from his wife, removed him from his job, and put him on the run. So David has good reason to be angry. And David takes his case before the ultimate judge, Jesus Christ.

Translation: ...I make known my anguish [or, affliction] to Him. David is not necessarily mad as much as he is hurt and afflicted. There are times when you as a believer are going to give your all to something, and not only you will get back nothing in return, but you may even be persecuted or afflicted because of it. Satan and his demon army does not like to see growing believers successful in this world. They don’t like to see everything going your way. They particularly like to influence negative believers to put up road blocks, detours and hazards along your path. This gives Satan a particular thrill—not just to cause you difficulty, but to do it using the volition and resources of another believer. There is nothing Satan likes more than setting believers at odds with one another.

Here is how others have translated this verse; as you will notice, several continued verse 2 into this verse and/or began a new section of the psalm midway through v. 3:

Early translations:

The Septuagint                      When my spirit was fainting within me, then You knew my paths. In the very way wherein I was walking, they hid a snare for me.

Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:

CEV                                              ...and whenever I feel low, you are there to guide me.

A trap has been hidden along my pathway.

NJB                                        However fain my spirit;

you are watching over my path.

On the road I have to travel

they have hidden a trap for me.

NLT                                For I am overwhelmed,

and you alone know the way I should tur