“Judge me, O God, and plead my cause against an ungodly nation: O deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man.”
The psalmist opens with an appeal to God to vindicate him against ungodly nations and deliver him from deceitful and unjust men. The verb 'vindicate' suggests the restoration of the psalmist's righteous status in the face of false accusation. The reference to 'deceitful and unjust men' establishes the specific threat the psalmist faces. This opening positions the psalm as a prayer of one facing judicial proceedings where false accusations are being leveled.
Church Fathers on Psalms 43:1
1. This Psalm is a short one; it satisfies the mental cravings of the hearers, without imposing too severe a trial on the hunger of those fasting. Let our soul feed upon it; our soul, which he who sings in this Psalm, speaks of as “cast down;” cast down, I suppose, either in consequence of some fist, or rather in consequence of some hunger he was in. For fasting is a voluntary act; being an-hungered is an involuntary thing. That which is an-hungered, is the Church, is the…
Nicene & Post-Nicene / Ante-Nicene Fathers translations · public domain
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