How pathetic a supplication! Jehovah will surely not be as a stranger in the land—the strangers, or" sojourners," like the μέτοικοι, enjoyed no civic rights, and consequently had no interest in the highest concerns of the state, and as a wayfaring man that turneth aside—or perhaps, pitcketh his tent; for the traveler in Palestine doubtless carried his tent with him then as now—to tarry for a night.
With the latter figure compare the beautiful comparison of the hope of the ungodly to "the remembrance of a guest that tarrieth but a day" (Wis. 5:14).