The Bible Commentaries and Others: Psalms 142 v 4

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Posted by Psalms on Saturday, 23 January 2016

Psalms 142:4

I looked on my right hand, and beheld, but there was no man that would know me: refuge failed me; no man cared for my soul.

142:4. I looked upon my right hand, and beheld, but there was no man that would know me. He did not miss a friend for want of looking for him, nor for want of looking in a likely place. Surely some helper would be found in the place of honor; someone would stand at his right hand to undertake his defense. He looked steadily, and saw all that could be seen, for he beheld; but his anxious gaze was not met by an answering smile. Strange to say, all were strange to David. He had known many, but none would know him. When a person is in ill odor it is wonderful how weak the memories of his former friends become; they quite forget, they refuse to know. This is a dire calamity. It is better to be opposed by foes than to be forsaken by friends. When friends look for us they affect to have known us from our birth, but when we look for friends it is wonderful how little we can make them remember. The fact is that in times of desertion it is not true that no man did know us, but no man would know us. Their ignorance is willful.

Refuge failed me. Where in happier days I found a ready harbor I now discovered none at all. My refuge gave me a refusal.

No man cared for my soul. Whether I lived or died was no concern of anybody’s. I was cast out as an outcast. No soul cared for my soul. I dwelt in no-man’s-land, where none cared to have me, and none cared about me. This is an ill plight—no place to lay our head, and no head willing to find us a place. How pleased were his enemies to see the friend of God without a friend! How sad was he to be utterly deserted in his utmost need! Can we not picture David in the cave, complaining that even the cave was not a refuge for him, for Saul had come even there? Hopeless was his looking out; we shall soon see him looking up.

Excerpt from:

The Treasury of David by Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834-1892)