Psalm 43 - Psalm From The Sons Of Korah Series

MESSAGE - PSALM 43 PSALM FROM THE SONS OF KORAH

Ron Ferguson ronaldf@aapt.net.au

Good morning to you. We are going to look at Psalm 43 today and that follows from the turmoil of Psalm 42 we have been looking at.

Here is an opening quote from Olsen, the writer of an excellent volume on the Psalms - "Here is a sad psalm for sad people. While there is an abundance of fanfare and much noise in this world, there is also a vast army of sad hearts. Thousands crowded about one of the corners of New York City this past week (this was written about 1932) to watch a young man dangling from the ledge of the 17th floor of a New York hotel. For hours he stood there threatening to jump to his death and finally did, just two minutes before the police and fire departments had put out a net that would have saved him. Sad hearts? The world is filled with sad hearts. That young man left behind him a family whose hearts were subjected to a terrific strain. They pleaded with him for hours to refrain from carrying out his intention. There was a crowd at the foot of the building watching with intense eagerness the actions of a single man. Some were amused and some were entertained. Others, it would appear, stayed for hours to satisfy their morbid appetites of feasting upon other people’s grief. Yet there must have been men and women in that crowd whose hearts were stirred and who were reminded of their own troubles. This world is a vale of sorrows, but there was one who walked its sands who was called “a man of sorrows”. He bore our griefs and carried our sorrows to the cross, and because he was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, he can now succour all those who come to Him with their troubled hearts and minds."

There are only 5 verses here but each one has its own story, and is full of meaning, not only for the son of Korah who wrote it, but for all God’s people since its composition. As with nearly all (many) psalms it begins with a problem and ends in positive territory. David Jeremiah said of the psalms, “They begin with a sigh, and end with praise.” This one does that. It was written by a man whose life was in God, who looked to the Lord and walked with Him. One point here is that the psalm does not have a title as the psalms of Korah do nearly always. We know it belongs to the Korah clan because of the content, and the last verse here, being used twice in Psalm 42. It is obvious that these two psalms were linked, actually one psalm once, but for some reason the original psalm was split, and for that reason I attribute them to the sons of Korah.

Psa 43 v 1 Vindicate me, O God, and plead my case against an ungodly nation. O deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man!

The problem the writer had was with his nation and with an unjust man. He knew his help and deliverance could only belong to God. Now when we come to search out the details of who this nation and man are, we have a difficulty, for it all depends on who wrote the psalm and when; or what was the event. A body of commentators suggests David wrote this psalm (which he did not) and either Absalom or Ahithophel may be meant as the deceitful and unjust man, or "man" may be used abstractedly for David's enemies generally. Alsalom, one of David’s sons, tried to wrest the kingdom from David and ended up losing his life. Do you remember the message on “The Son of Haggith”? David had problems with his sons, and even Solomon went bad through his life, for he filled Jerusalem with idols to appease his 1 000 wives and concubines. One reason I think David did not write this about Absalom, is what is recorded after Absalom’s death, and this is it - 2Sam 18 v 33 and the king was deeply moved and went up to the chamber over the gate and wept and thus he said as he walked, “O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom. Would I had died instead of you, O Absalom, my son, my son.” However, the events may have referred to Absalom’s rebellion, but the psalm was written by a son of Korah, but you must also include Psalm 42 into the equation. The Korahites did accompany David when he fled from Jerusalem. Barnes says – “This verse 1 would apply well to the case and character of Absalom, or perhaps more directly and properly to the character and counsel of Ahithophel, among the leading conspirators in the rebellion of Absalom, to whose counsels much of the rebellion was owing: We do not know for certain the events that inspired this psalm, but the writer could well have taken the Absalom incident.”