Note 1 — THE FORTY-SECOND PSALM.

The title of the Psalm (משכיל Maschil—instruction,) is the same as that of other twelve. Some have referred the word merely to the music—indicating the tune to which the Psalms were set,—demanding of the sons of Korah, and "the chief musician," (the conductors of temple-song,) some melody specially adapted to the sentiments they contain. Others, with greater probability, take it as indicative of their design;—that while expressive of personal feeling and experience, they were intended for the "instruction" and comfort of the Church in all ages. Hence the term given to them of didactic.

Though his name is not mentioned, there is little doubt that David, and not the sons of Korah, as some have supposed, was the author of this Psalm. The reader is referred to Hengstenberg for a statement of the internal grounds, in the Psalm itself, to favour this conclusion. "To me," says Calvin, "it appears more probable that the sons of Korah are here mentioned because this Psalm was committed as a precious treasure to be preserved by them;—as we know that out of the number of the singers some were chosen and appointed to be keepers of the Psalms. That there is no mention made of David's name, does not in itself involve any difficulty, since we see the same omission in other Psalms, of which there is, notwithstanding, the strongest grounds for concluding that he was author."

According to an arbitrary division by the Jews of their Psalter into five parts, supposed to have been made by Ezra after the return from Babylon, the Forty-second Psalm forms the commencement of the second book. Regarding its structure, we may remark, that it is divided into two portions or strophes, each of these closing with a refrain in verses 5 and 11.