This psalm begins the Second Book which ends with Psalm 72. In this section of the Psalms, the Jewish remnant Romans 9:27; Isaiah 10:20-22; Jeremiah 23:3) of the latter day is seen historically as driven out of Jerusalem according to the word set forth in Matthew 24:15-30.
Psalm 45 brings in thee appearing of the Lord Jesus as their long awaited Messiah, and in Psalms 48-50 the glory is re-established in Zion, the city of David. The later psalms express the heart searchings, and the praise of the godly during this time.
For a right understanding of the Psalms it must be remembered that they are written, first of all for the Jews, for Israel, in the day when the believers of the present dispensation (who comprise the Church of God, the body of Christ, the heavenly people, a subject occupying the New Testament Epistles of the apostle Paul) shall have been called away to heavenly glory at the coming of the Lord, and when the Holy Spirit will, through the Word of God, begin a new work among the people of Israel.
Psalm 42, the first of this second section of the psalms, shows, in the unerring forecast of the Holy Spirit, the deep feelings of the Jews recovered to God, when separated from their ungodly brethren and the associated Gentiles: What longing after God is here!
The Christian, rightly instructed out of God's Word, hopes for the coming of the Lord to take all His heavenly people away to the place He has prepared for them (John 14:1-3).
But the Jewish hope is for His appearing to-Set up His earthly kingdom, a subsequent event. Jerusalem is the place from which His world-wide dominion will extend.
The living God (verse 2) suggests the contrast of the lifeless, vain idols of the apostate Jews, with Him with whom we have to do. Jewish thoughts of Him were and will be connected with the temple at Jerusalem; from it these believers of the last days are shut off; they remember (verse 4) their happiness when they could go there together. Adversaries are taunting them with, "Where is thy God?" (verses 3 and 10). This reminds us of the language of Judah in Matthew 27:43, 44, 47, 4f, (note Psalms 22, verses 1-8, for the same character of suffering, only far more intense).
Verse 6 seems to suggest where the remnant will be during the great tribulation (see Matthew 24:16 and Revelation 12:6). If so, "the land of the Jordan" would refer to the north; Hermon is the loftiest mountain (9,200 feet) in Palestine, situated west and south of Damascus in the far north; Mizar is not now known.
God will be the desire of these suffering saints, as this psalm shows, He occupies their hearts as "the living God" (verse 2), "the God of my life" (verse 8); "God my rock" (verse 9), and "my God" (verses 6 and 11); He will be praised for the health (literally "salvation") of His countenance (verse 5), and He is "the health of my countenance" in the last words of this psalm. These expressions bring Him before the heart in the circumstances of trial here seen.
Surely the Holy Spirit would have us who know God through Jesus Christ our Lord, at least equally occupied with Him for His grace and love.