tent, magnificent in itself and raised to special honour by Him who dwells therein.
Verses 4-5
The poet, in anticipation, revels in the thought of that which he has prayed for, and calls upon his timorous soul to hope confidently for it. The cohortatives in Psa 43:4 are, as in Ps 39:14 and frequently, an apodosis to the petition. The poet knows no joy like that which proceeds from God, and the joy which proceeds from Him he accounts as the very highest; hence he calls God אל שׂמחת גּילי, and therefore he knows no higher aim for his longing than again to be where the fountainhead of this exultant joy is (Hos 9:5), and where it flows forth in streams (Psa 36:9). Removed back thither, he will give thanks to Him with the cithern (Beth instrum.). He calls Him אלהים אלהי, an expression which, in the Elohim-Psalms, is equivalent to יהוה אלהי in the Jahve-Psalms. The hope expressed in Psa 43:4 casts its rays into the prayer in Psa 43:3. In Psa 43:5, the spirit having taken courage in God, holds this picture drawn by hope before the distressed soul, that she may therewith comfort herself. Instead of wthmy, Psa 42:6, the expression here used, as in Ps 42:12, is וּמה־תּהמי. Variations like these are not opposed to a unity of authorship.
Psalm 44
A Litany of Israel, Hard Pressed by the Enemy, and Yet Faithful to Its God
2 ELOHIM, with our own ears have we heard, Our fathers have declared to us :
A work hast Thou wrought in their days, in the days of old.
3 Thou, — Thine own hand did drive out peoples and did
plant them, Did destroy nations and did spread them out.
4 For not by their own sword did they acquire the land, And their own arm did not obtain for them the victory; But Thy right hand, Thine ami, the light of Thy counte- nance, because Thou didst love them.
5 Thou, Thou art my King, Elohim : Command the full salvation of Jacob !
