Albert Barnes Commentary Psalms 13

How long wilt thou forget me, O Lord? - literally, “until when.” The psalmist breaks out into this cry in the midst of his troubles. He had apparently borne them as long as he could. It seemed as if they would never come to an end.

We may presume that he had been patient and uncomplaining; that he had borne his trials for a long time with the hope and belief that they would soon terminate; that he had waited patiently for deliverance, uttering no words of complaint; but now he begins to despair. He feels that his troubles will never end.

He sees no prospect of deliverance; no signs or indications that God would interpose; and he breaks out, therefore, in this language of tender complaint, as if he were utterly forsaken and would be forever.

The mind, even of a good man, is not infrequently in this condition. He is borne down with troubles. He has no disposition to murmur or complain. He bears all patiently and for a long time.

He hopes for relief; he looks for it. But relief does not come, and it seems now that his troubles will never terminate. The darkness deepens; his mind is overwhelmed. He goes to God and asks—not with complaining or murmuring, but with feelings bordering on despair—whether these troubles will never cease; whether he may never hope for deliverance.

Forever? - He had been forgotten for so long, and there appeared to be so little prospect of deliverance, that it seemed as if God would never return and visit him with mercy. The expression denotes a state of mind on the verge of despair.

How long - This refers to a second aspect or phase of his troubles. The first was that he seemed to be “forgotten.” The second, referred to here, is that God seemed to hide his face from him, and he asked how long this was to continue.

Wilt thou hide thy face from me? - Favor - friendship - is shown by turning the face kindly toward someone; by smiling at him; or, in scriptural language, by “lifting up the light of the countenance” upon someone. See the note at Psalm 4:6.

Aversion, hatred, and displeasure are shown by turning away the countenance. God seemed to the psalmist in this way to show marks of displeasure toward him, and he earnestly asks how long this was to continue.

How long — This refers to the third aspect of the case, or the third phase of the trouble; that is, he was perplexed and embarrassed, having a deep and heavy sorrow in his heart, and he asks how long this was to continue. Shall I take counsel in my soul. This refers to the methods which he sought to devise to escape from trouble. He was perplexed, persecuted, and apparently forsaken; and being thus apparently forsaken, he was compelled to attempt to devise some plan for his own deliverance, without intervention or help from on high. He was forced to rely on himself, and he asks “how long” this was to continue, or when he might hope that God would intervene to aid him with His counsel, and thus to deliver him.

Having sorrow in my heart daily — Every day; constantly. That is, there was no intermission to his troubles. The sorrow in his heart seems to have been not merely that which was caused by troubles from without, but also that which sprang from the painful necessity of attempting to form plans for his own relief—plans which seemed to be in vain.

How long shall mine enemy be exalted over me? — This is the fourth form or phase of his trouble, and he asks how long this was to continue. This clause suggests perhaps the exact form of the trial. It was that which arose from the designs of an enemy who persecuted and oppressed the psalmist, and who had done it so effectually that he seemed to have triumphed over him, or to have him completely in his power. All the other forms of the trial—the fact that he seemed to be forgotten, that God had apparently averted His face, that he was left to form plans of deliverance which seemed to be in vain—were connected with the fact referred to here: that an enemy had persecuted him and had been allowed to gain a triumph over him. Who this enemy was we do not know.

Consider and hear me - literally, “Look, hear me.” God had seemed to avert His face as if He would not even look upon him (Psalms 13:1); and the psalmist now prays that He “would” look upon him—that He would regard his needs—that He would attend to his cry. So we pray to one who turns away from us as if he were not disposed to hear, and as if he cared nothing about us.

Lighten mine eyes - The allusion here is, probably, to his exhaustion, arising from trouble and despair, as if he were about to die. The sight grows dim as death approaches; and he seemed to feel that death was near. He says that unless God should interpose, the darkness would deepen, and he must die. The prayer, therefore, that God would “enlighten his eyes,” was a prayer that He would interpose and save him from that death which he felt was rapidly approaching.

Lest I sleep the sleep of death - literally, “Lest I sleep the death;” that is, “in” death, or, as in the common version, the sleep of death. The idea is that death, whose approach was indicated by the dimness of vision, was fast stealing over him as a sleep, and that unless his clearness of vision were restored, it would soon end in the total darkness—the deep and profound sleep—of death. Death is often compared to sleep. See the note at (1 Corinthians 11:30); the note at (John 11:11), (John 11:13); (1 Thessalonians 4:14); (Daniel 12:2). The resemblance between the two is so obvious as to have been remarked in all ages, and the comparison is found in the writings of all nations.

It is only, however, in connection with Christianity that the idea has been fully carried out by the doctrine of the resurrection, for as we lie down at night with the hope of awaking to the pursuits and enjoyments of a new day, so the Christian lies down in death with the hope of awaking in the morning of the resurrection to the pursuits and enjoyments of a new and eternal day. Everywhere else death is, to the mind, a long and unbroken sleep. Compare Jeremiah 51:39, Jeremiah 51:57.

Lest my enemy say, I have prevailed against him - I have overpowered him; I have conquered him. That is, to triumph over him as having obtained a complete victory.

And those that trouble me - Hebrew, “My adversaries.” The reference here is the same as in the previous part of the verse. It is to the enemies that seemed almost to have triumphed over him already, and under whose power he was ready to sink. Rejoice. Exult; triumph.

When I am moved - Moved from my steadfastness or firmness; when I am overcome. Until now, he had been able to hold out against them; now he began to despair, and to fear that they would accomplish their object by overcoming and subduing him. His ground of apprehension and of appeal was that, by his being vanquished, the cause in which he was engaged would suffer, and that the enemies of religion would triumph.

But I have trusted in your mercy - In your favor; your friendship; your promises. His original confidence had been in God only, and not in himself. That confidence he still maintained; and now, as the result of that, he begins to exult in the confidence that he would be safe. The idea is, “I have trusted in the mercy of God; I still trust, and I will trust forever.”

My heart shall rejoice in your salvation - The word “salvation” here does not refer to salvation in the future world, but to deliverance from his present troubles, or to God’s interposition in putting him into a condition of safety. The idea is, that he had entire confidence that God would interpose, and that there would yet be cause to rejoice in that salvation as actually accomplished. He now calls on his heart to rejoice in the assurance that it would be his. So with us. There will not only be rejoicing in salvation when actually accomplished, but there may, and should be, in the firm conviction that it will be ours.