Ps. 42.8 (day, night and the effect of exile)

“By day / God commands / his lovingkindness – and by night / his song / is with me – a prayer / to the Living God.” What happens during the ‘day’ in this psalm? The psalmist is taunted with “Where is  your God?” (vs 3, 10) and God “commands his lovingkindness” (vs. 8); “light” is sent to lead the psalmist to God’s temple (vs. 43.3).  Nighttime is associated with: when he feeds on his tears (vs. 3), the psalmist prays to the Living God (vs. 8), psalmist “walks in darkness because of an enemy’s oppression” (vs. 9, 43.2). I believe what we see here is an aspect of the dialogue the psalmist is engaging in with himself. The ‘taunt’ of verses 3 and 10 are clearly not statements he endures stoically; they are what cause him to feed on tears at night (vs. 3). Furthermore, he understands himself to be, presently, ‘walking in darkness’ and senses himself unjustly exiled from God’s presence. This type of juxtaposition occurs repeatedly throughout the psalm and, as we have alluded to, within the psalmist’s own dialogue with himself. What seems to be happening is something we have seen before: on the one hand, there is this almost traditional saying of God’s lovingkindness, and, on the other, the psalmist knows himself removed from God’s presence. It is the same oscillation, and interpenetration, that we saw when reflecting on the “plea” and the “taunt”. The presence of two conflicting realities creates, within the psalmist, a division whereby he speaks to himself in two different voices, best represented in the line, “Why are you cast down my soul? Wait for God, I will praise him again.” This division is embodied in several forms: the ‘living water’ of vs. 1 and the waters of chaos in vs. 7; here—night as time of ‘tears’ and prayer and day as time of taunting and lovingkindness. It is also clear from the very next verse where the psalmist refers to God as ‘my Rock’ but then launches into a question as to why God has forgotten him. The exile of the psalmist extends into his own psyche. All of this is not to say that the psalmist is somehow being disingenuous in this verse. Rather, it is precisely due to his inability to abandon these realities of God and to be silent that creates such a yawning division in him. We must remember—it is precisely by nourishing his memory of entering into God’s presence which created the tremendous thirst of verse 1.  This verse, therefore, operates in much the same way as his memory. Interestingly, his reference to God as the “Living God” refers back to his thirst in verse 1 for “the God of life”.