Psalms 143 - Introduction

Jehovah's servant recognises that his sufferings are the merited punishment of sin, and pleads for a merciful hearing. The recollection of the manifestations of Jehovah's lovingkindness in ancient times makes him long for some fresh exhibition of His goodness (Psalms 143:1-6).

He prays for a speedy answer, for direction, for deliverance, for instruction, and for the destruction of the enemies who are seeking to destroy him (Psalms 143:7-12).

The Psalm consists of two equal divisions, separated by Selah, and in each of them the verses are arranged in pairs.

Much in the Psalm favours the view that the Servant of Jehovah who speaks is Israel, languishing in the prison of exile, or all but crushed out of existence by relentless enemies in one of the gloomy periods of its history after the Exile.

On the other hand much in the Psalm appears to be the prayer of an individual, and the title implies that at an early date it was assumed to be the utterance of an individual. If we are right in regarding the other Psalms of this group as personal rather than national, it will be natural to take the same view of this Psalm. The LXX adds to the title -when his son [v.l. Absalom his son] was pursuing him." But it is not specially appropriate to that occasion, and in this Psalm, even more than in the others of the group, the dependence on earlier Psalms is unmistakable. The second half in particular is almost entirely a mosaic of phrases taken from other Psalms.

As one of the seven "Penitential Psalms" (see note on Psalms 102) it is appointed for use on Ash Wednesday.