1 I cry with my voice to Yahweh. With my voice, I ask Yahweh for mercy. 2 I pour out my complaint before him. I tell him my troubles. 3 When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, you knew my path. In the way in which I walk, they have hidden a snare for me. 4 Look on my right, and see; for there is no one who is concerned for me. Refuge has fled from me. No one cares for my soul. 5 I cried to you, Yahweh. I said, "You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living." 6 Listen to my cry, for I am in desperate need. deliver me from my persecutors, For they are stronger than me. 7 Bring my soul out of prison, that I may give thanks to your name. The righteous will surround me, for you will be good to me. A Psalm by David.
This also is a psalm of David. It is entitled, like not a few others of the Psalm, "Maschil;" margin, "giving instruction:" a didactic hymn. See the word explained in the Introduction to Psalm 32:1-11. It is said, in the title, to be "A prayer when he was in the cave;" that is, either a prayer which he composed while there, or which he composed afterward, putting into a poetic form the substance of the prayer which he breathed forth there, or expressive of the feelings which he had when there. The reference may be either to the cave of Adullam 1-Samuel 22:1, or to that in Engedi 1-Samuel 24:3. In both cases the circumstances were substantially the same, for David had fled to the cave to escape from Saul. The prayer is such as would be appropriate to a condition of danger such as was that in which David then was. It is a cry of distress when there was no refuge - no hope - but in God; when there seemed to be no way of escape from his enemies; and when, forsaken by his friends, and pursued by an enemy who sought his life, he seemed now to be in the power of his foe. It may also be "used" to express the feelings of one now in danger - as of a sinner under condemnation, seeing no way of escape, exposed to ruin, and shut up entirely to the mercy of God. Such a one feels, as David did on this occasion, that there can be no escape but through the interposition of God.
The psalmist, in great distress and difficulty, calls upon God, Psalm 142:1-7.
The title says, "An Instruction of David," or a Psalm of David giving instruction; "A Prayer when he was in the cave."
David was twice in great peril in caves.
1. At the cave of Adullam, when he fled from Achish, king of Gath, 1 Samuel 22.
2. When he was in the cave of En-gedi, where he had taken refuge from the pursuit of Saul; and the latter, without knowing that David was in it, had gone into it on some necessary occasion, 1 Samuel 24.
If the inscription can be depended on, the cave of En-gedi is the most likely of the two, for the scene laid here. But were there doubts concerning the legitimacy of the title, I should refer the Psalm to the state of the captives in Babylon, to which a great part of the Psalm refer. Bishop Horsley calls it "A Prayer of the Messiah taken and deserted." It may be so: but where is the evidence, except in the conjectural system of Origen.
INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 142
Maschil of David; A Prayer when he was in the cave. Of the word "maschil", See Gill on Psalm 32:1, title. This psalm is called a prayer, as some others are, the ninetieth and hundred second psalms: and was composed by David when either in the cave of Adullam, 1-Samuel 22:1; or rather in the cave at Engedi, where he cut off Saul's skirt, 1-Samuel 24:3; as Jarchi and Kimchi think. The psalm represents the troubles of David, and of the Messiah his antitype, and is applicable to the church of God, or to any particular soul when in distress.
David's comfort in prayer.
Cry Sent Forth from the Prison to the Best of Friends
This the last of the eight Davidic Psalm, which are derived by their inscriptions from the time of the persecution by Saul (vid., on Ps 34), is inscribed: A Meditation by David, when he was in the cave, a Prayer. Of these eight Psalm, Psalm 52:1-9 and Psalm 54:1-7 also bear the name of Maskı̂l (vid., on Psalm 32:1-11); and in this instance תּפּלּה (which occurs besides as an inscription only in Psalm 90:1; Psalm 102:1; Psalm 3:1) is further added, which looks like an explanation of the word maskı̂l (not in use out of the range of Psalm-poetry). The article of במערה, as in Psalm 57:1, points to the cave of Adullam (1 Sam. 22) or the cave of Engedi (1 Sam. 24), which latter, starting from a narrow concealed entrance, forms such a labyrinthine maze of passages and vaults that the torches and lines of explorers have not to the present time been able to reach the extremities of it.
The Psalm does not contain any sure signs of a post-Davidic age; still it appears throughout to be an imitation of older models, and pre-eminently by means of Psalm 142:2. (cf. Psalm 77:2.) and Psalm 142:4 (cf. Psalm 77:4) it comes into a relation of dependence to Ps 77, which is also noticeable in Psalm 143:1-12 (cf. Psalm 142:5 with Psalm 77:12.). The referring back of the two Psalm to David comes under one and the same judgment.
*More commentary available by clicking individual verses.