A short companion piece to Psalm 42, sharing its exact refrain and, in the Hebrew manuscripts, likely once part of the same poem — the same exiled voice, still arguing with the same despair, now asking specifically for light and truth to do what his own feet currently cannot.
A study in Psalm 43 · Arthur Baldwin · StandUp4Jesus.Org · 8 min read
Judge Me, O God
“Judge me, O God, and plead my cause against an ungodly nation: O deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man. For thou art the God of my strength: why dost thou cast me off?”
Psalm 43:1-2
The psalmist asks God to be both judge and advocate in the same breath — deciding the case and personally arguing his side of it, against opposition described in national terms rather than a single private enemy.
O Send Out Thy Light And Thy Truth
“O send out thy light and thy truth: let them lead me; let them bring me unto thy holy hill, and to thy tabernacles.”
Psalm 43:3
Light and truth are personified here, sent out ahead like guides — the psalmist cannot make the journey back to worship himself, so he asks for something to lead the way that he can actually follow.
“Then will I go unto the altar of God, unto God my exceeding joy: yea, upon the harp will I praise thee, O God my God.”
Psalm 43:4
“God my exceeding joy” is a striking title given the poem’s current circumstances — not a description of how the psalmist currently feels, but of what he expects to feel again once light and truth actually finish their work.
Why Art Thou Cast Down, O My Soul?
“Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God.”
Psalm 43:5
The identical refrain that closed Psalm 42 twice closes this short psalm once more — three times total across two poems, the same self-directed question and the same deliberate answer, repetition doing the work that a single resolution could not.
