Photo by ALOK CHAUDHARY on Unsplash
Vindicate me, O God,
And plead my cause against an ungodly nation;
Oh, deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man!
2 For You are the God of my strength;
Why do You cast me off?
Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?
3 Oh, send out Your light and Your truth!
Let them lead me;
Let them bring me to Your holy hill
And to Your tabernacle.
4 Then I will go to the altar of God,
To God my exceeding joy;
And on the harp I will praise You,
O God, my God.
5 Why are you cast down, O my soul?
And why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God;
For I shall yet praise Him,
The help of my countenance and my God.
By Mike Chaffin
Much has been written about Psalm 42 and 43. Psalm 42 and 43 share a similar theme and much the same chorus. Many people think these are one Psalm that was split into two. The Chorus on verse 5 is the same as verse 11 in psalm 42,
Why are you cast down, O my soul?
And why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God;
For I shall yet praise Him,
The help of my countenance and my God.
If they are correct, then the original song was three verses. However, there is no historical evidence to support this case. There are only a few old Hebrew manuscripts that combine these psalms with the main Hebrew sources keeping them as separate psalms.
Another option this author proposes is Psalm 43 came first as a prayer song of David. The Sons of Korah later wrote Psalm 42, adding two more verses to the song. As worship leaders in the House of God, they were in charge of the music and saw an opportunity to expand the simple one verse song into a one of longer duration.
Another idea is someone sampled one of the Psalms to write the other. In the music industry there is a practice called sampling. The A.I. definition of sampling; In the music industry, sampling is the process of taking a portion of a pre-existing audio recording—such as a drum beat, vocal line, or melody—and reusing it as a foundational element in a new song. This could be the first recorded case of sampling found in musical history.
Today’s musicians have sampled many of the Psalms as well as other books of the Bible. One of the more memorable classic rock songs from sampling the Bible is the song, Turn, Turn, Turn, taken from Ecclesiastes 3:1-8. Peter Seeger put it to lyrics in 1959, and The Byrds made it the #1 hit in 1965, roughly 3000 years after King Solomon penned it.
To everything there is a season,
A time for every purpose under heaven:
2 A time to be born,
And a time to die;
A time to plant,
And a time to pluck what is planted;
3 A time to kill,
And a time to heal;
A time to break down,
And a time to build up;
4 A time to weep,
And a time to laugh;
A time to mourn,
And a time to dance;
5 A time to cast away stones,
And a time to gather stones;
A time to embrace,
And a time to refrain from embracing;
6 A time to gain,
And a time to lose;
A time to keep,
And a time to throw away;
7 A time to tear,
And a time to sew;
A time to keep silence,
And a time to speak;
8 A time to love,
And a time to hate;
A time of war,
And a time of peace.
In our prayer time and when we are sitting quietly before the Lord mediating on His word and His ways one primary way we can worship Him is to quote the scripture, a form of sampling as it enhances our prayer life and helps focus our thoughts on His power, mercy and love for us.
Listen to the YouTube version of this classic Biblical hit song HERE.
Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good; Blessed is the man who trusts in Him! Psalm 34:8
