BackgroundA fugitive's prayer from a literal hiding place. The cave is most likely the cave of Adullam from 1 Samuel 22:1 or the cave at En-gedi from 1 Samuel 24, both episodes from David's flight from Saul. The maskil designation marks it as a teaching psalm meant to be learned and used by others.
Psalm 142: From the Cave
A Maskil of David, when he was in the cave. A Prayer.
By Bea Zalel
Psalm 142
A Maskil of David, when he was in the cave. A Prayer.
- I cry aloud to the LORD; I lift my voice to the LORD for mercy.
- I pour out my complaint before Him; I reveal my trouble to Him.
- Although my spirit grows faint within me, You know my way. Along the path I travel they have hidden a snare for me.
- Look to my right and see; no one attends to me. There is no refuge for me; no one cares for my soul.
- I cry to You, O LORD: "You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living."
- Listen to my cry, for I am brought quite low. Rescue me from my pursuers, for they are too strong for me.
- Free my soul from prison, that I may praise Your name. The righteous will gather around me because of Your goodness to me.
Theme
Psalm 142 carries one of the most concrete superscriptions in the Psalter. David is in a cave. The two candidate caves are Adullam and En-gedi, both in the Judean wilderness, both known to archaeology, both used by fugitives well before and well after David's lifetime. The cave at Adullam is where the four hundred distressed and indebted men gathered around David in 1 Samuel 22. The cave at En-gedi is where Saul came in to relieve himself and David cut the corner of his robe rather than kill him in 1 Samuel 24. Either way, the speaker is in a literal hole in the ground hiding from a king with a national army.
The opening verses describe a man pouring out his complaint. The Hebrew verb is "shaphak," which means to pour out a liquid. David pours his complaint and shows his trouble. He is alone. He says it twice. The Hebrew phrase is rendered "no one cares for my soul" in modern translation and "no man cared for my soul" in older English. The Hebrew "darash" carries the sense of seeking out, inquiring after, looking for. No one is looking for him. The cave is dark, the spirit faints and the path he walks is laid with hidden traps. This is not the lament of a man in a comfortable house imagining hardship. This is a written record of what prayer sounds like when the building you are in is a rock.
The middle of the psalm contains the line that has carried generations of believers through their own caves. "You know my way." The Hebrew is "attah yadata netivati." You, you yourself, have known my path. The same God who cannot be escaped in Psalm 139 is the God who knows the path through the cave in Psalm 142. The closing verses ask for release from prison, which the cave has effectively become and for the company of the righteous. This is the Adullam ending. By the time the cave story closes in 1 Samuel, the four hundred have come and David is no longer alone. The psalm ends in faith that the company will gather.
Discussion questions
- The cave in the superscription is most likely Adullam (1 Samuel 22) or En-gedi (1 Samuel 24). What changes about the psalm if you read it as the Adullam moment versus the En-gedi moment?
- The verb "shaphak" (pour out) is used elsewhere for pouring out blood, water and wine offerings. Why is that the verb David chooses for complaint? How does it relate to 1 Samuel 1:15?
- The phrase "no one cares for my soul" uses "darash" (seek, inquire after). What is the difference between caring as feeling and "darash" as active inquiry? Which is being denied?
- Hebrews 13:3 asks readers to remember those in prison "as though in prison with them." How might Psalm 142 train the moral imagination required by that command?
- The maskil designation marks this as a teaching psalm. What does it teach, exactly and how is that different from a personal lament that was simply preserved?
- Verse 4 says "refuge has failed me" and v5 says "you are my refuge." Why does the Hebrew use the same word for both? What is the rhetorical effect?
- The closing "the righteous will surround me" (v7) is the Adullam picture. How does this psalm's vision of community contrast with its opening isolation?
- Compare Psalm 142 with Psalm 57, which carries a similar cave superscription. What does each emphasize that the other does not?
- Bea Zalel notes that this is prayer from a literal hole in the ground. What does that physical concreteness add to the psalm's authority for someone in a metaphorical cave?
- If you wrote your own maskil from your current hiding place (whatever it is), what would the superscription say and which line of Psalm 142 would you most need to remember?
Read this psalm in another translation
The inline text above is the Berean Standard Bible (BSB). Open in a new tab to compare with a modern licensed translation: