1We have heard with our ears, God; our fathers have told us what work you did in their days, in the days of old.
2You drove out the nations with your hand, but you planted them. You afflicted the peoples, but you spread them abroad.
3For they didn’t get the land in possession by their own sword, neither did their own arm save them; but your right hand, your arm, and the light of your face, because you were favorable to them.
1 We have heard with our ears, God; our fathers have told us what work you did in their days, in the days of old.
2 You drove out the nations with your hand, but you planted them. You afflicted the peoples, but you spread them abroad.
3 For they didn’t get the land in possession by their own sword, neither did their own arm save them; but your right hand, your arm, and the light of your face, because you were favorable to them.
KJVKing James Version
1 We have heard with our ears, O God, our fathers have told us, what work thou didst in their days, in the times of old.
2 How thou didst drive out the heathen with thy hand, and plantedst them; how thou didst afflict the people, and cast them out.
3 For they got not the land in possession by their own sword, neither did their own arm save them: but thy right hand, and thine arm, and the light of thy countenance, because thou hadst a favour unto them.
Show all 3 translations
JPSJPS Tanakh (1917)
1 (44-1) For the Leader; a Psalm of the sons of Korah. Maschil. (44-2) O God, we have heard with our ears, our fathers have told us; a work Thou didst in their days, in the days of old.
2 (44-3) Thou with Thy hand didst drive out the nations, and didst plant them in; Thou didst break the peoples, and didst spread them abroad.
3 (44-4) For not by their own sword did they get the land in possession, neither did their own arm save them; but Thy right hand, and Thine arm, and the light of Thy countenance, because Thou wast favourable unto them.
Deuteronomy 7:7-8(v3)Yahweh didn’t set his love on you nor choose you, because you were more in number than any people; for you were the fewest of all peoples;…
Deuteronomy 8:17-18(v3)and lest you say in your heart, “My power and the might of my hand has gotten me this wealth.” But you shall remember Yahweh your God, for…
Joshua 24:12(vv2–3)I sent the hornet before you, which drove them out from before you, even the two kings of the Amorites; not with your sword, nor with your…
Psalms 78:3-6(v1)Which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us. We will not hide them from their children, telling to the generation to come…
Exodus 13:14-15(v1)It shall be, when your son asks you in time to come, saying, ‘What is this?’ that you shall tell him, ‘By strength of hand Yahweh brought…
Show all 56 cross-references
Exodus 15:17(v2)You will bring them in, and plant them in the mountain of your inheritance, the place, Yahweh, which you have made for yourself to dwell…
Zechariah 4:6(v3)Then he answered and spoke to me, saying, “This is Yahweh’s word to Zerubbabel, saying, ‘Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit,’…
2 Corinthians 4:7(v3)But we have this treasure in clay vessels, that the exceeding greatness of the power may be of God, and not from ourselves.
Exodus 15:16(v3)Terror and dread falls on them. By the greatness of your arm they are as still as a stone, until your people pass over, Yahweh, until the…
Deuteronomy 4:37-38(v3)Because he loved your fathers, therefore he chose their offspring after them, and brought you out with his presence, with his great power,…
Psalms 20:6(v3)Now I know that Yahweh saves his anointed. He will answer him from his holy heaven, with the saving strength of his right hand.
Psalms 78:55(v2)He also drove out the nations before them, allotted them for an inheritance by line, and made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tents.
Deuteronomy 6:20(v1)When your son asks you in time to come, saying, “What do the testimonies, the statutes, and the ordinances, which Yahweh our God has…
Deuteronomy 10:15(v3)Only Yahweh had a delight in your fathers to love them, and he chose their offspring after them, even you above all peoples, as it is today.
Judges 6:13(v1)Gideon said to him, “Oh, my lord, if Yahweh is with us, why then has all this happened to us? Where are all his wondrous works which our…
Psalms 77:15(v3)You have redeemed your people with your arm, the sons of Jacob and Joseph.
Joel 1:3(v1)Tell your children about it, and have your children tell their children, and their children, another generation.
Joshua 11:23(v2)So Joshua took the whole land, according to all that Yahweh spoke to Moses; and Joshua gave it for an inheritance to Israel according to…
Joshua 21:43(v2)So Yahweh gave to Israel all the land which he swore to give to their fathers. They possessed it, and lived in it.
1 Samuel 12:22(v3)For Yahweh will not forsake his people for his great name’s sake, because it has pleased Yahweh to make you a people for himself.
2 Samuel 7:10(v2)I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and will plant them, that they may dwell in their own place, and be moved no more. The…
Psalms 42:1(v1)As the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants after you, God.
Psalms 42:5(v3)Why are you in despair, my soul? Why are you disturbed within me? Hope in God! For I shall still praise him for the saving help of his…
Psalms 42:11(v3)Why are you in despair, my soul? Why are you disturbed within me? Hope in God! For I shall still praise him, the saving help of my…
Psalms 77:5(v1)I have considered the days of old, the years of ancient times.
Exodus 34:11(v2)Observe that which I command you today. Behold, I will drive out before you the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the…
Numbers 14:8(v3)If Yahweh delights in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it to us: a land which flows with milk and honey.
Numbers 21:14-16(v1)Therefore it is said in the book of the Wars of Yahweh, “Vaheb in Suphah, the valleys of the Arnon, the slope of the valleys that incline…
Psalms 4:6(v3)Many say, “Who will show us any good?” Yahweh, let the light of your face shine on us.
Psalms 17:7(v3)Show your marvelous loving kindness, you who save those who take refuge by your right hand from their enemies.
Psalms 22:31(v1)They shall come and shall declare his righteousness to a people that shall be born, for he has done it.
Psalms 74:11(v3)Why do you draw back your hand, even your right hand? Take it from your chest and consume them!
Psalms 80:8-11(v2)You brought a vine out of Egypt. You drove out the nations, and planted it. You cleared the ground for it. It took deep root, and filled…
Psalms 105:1-2(v1)Give thanks to Yahweh! Call on his name! Make his doings known among the peoples. Sing to him, sing praises to him! Tell of all his…
Psalms 135:10-12(v2)He struck many nations, and killed mighty kings, Sihon king of the Amorites, Og king of Bashan, and all the kingdoms of Canaan, and gave…
Isaiah 38:19(v1)The living, the living, he shall praise you, as I do today. The father shall make known your truth to the children.
Isaiah 63:12(v3)Who caused his glorious arm to be at Moses’ right hand? Who divided the waters before them, to make himself an everlasting name?
Romans 9:10-15(v3)Not only so, but Rebekah also conceived by one, by our father Isaac. For being not yet born, neither having done anything good or bad, that…
Exodus 12:24-27(v1)You shall observe this thing for an ordinance to you and to your sons forever. It shall happen when you have come to the land which Yahweh…
Exodus 15:19(v2)For the horses of Pharaoh went in with his chariots and with his horsemen into the sea, and Yahweh brought back the waters of the sea on…
Exodus 23:28(v2)I will send the hornet before you, which will drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite, from before you.
Numbers 13:32(v2)They brought up an evil report of the land which they had spied out to the children of Israel, saying, “The land, through which we have…
Numbers 21:27-30(v1)Therefore those who speak in proverbs say, “Come to Heshbon. Let the city of Sihon be built and established; for a fire has gone out of…
Deuteronomy 7:1(v2)When Yahweh your God brings you into the land where you go to possess it, and casts out many nations before you—the Hittite, the…
Joshua 3:10(v2)Joshua said, “By this you shall know that the living God is among you, and that he will without fail drive the Canaanite, the Hittite, the…
Joshua 10:11(v2)As they fled from before Israel, while they were at the descent of Beth Horon, Yahweh hurled down great stones from the sky on them to…
Joshua 10:42(v2)Joshua took all these kings and their land at one time because Yahweh, the God of Israel, fought for Israel.
1 Samuel 5:6-7(v2)But Yahweh’s hand was heavy on the people of Ashdod, and he destroyed them and struck them with tumors, even Ashdod and its borders. When…
Nehemiah 9:22-27(v2)Moreover you gave them kingdoms and peoples, which you allotted according to their portions. So they possessed the land of Sihon, even the…
Job 8:8-9(v1)“Please inquire of past generations. Find out about the learning of their fathers. (For we are but of yesterday, and know nothing, because…
Job 15:17-19(v1)“I will show you, listen to me; that which I have seen I will declare (which wise men have told by their fathers, and have not hidden it;…
Psalms 71:18(v1)Yes, even when I am old and gray-haired, God, don’t forsake me, until I have declared your strength to the next generation, your might to…
Psalms 80:16(v3)It’s burned with fire. It’s cut down. They perish at your rebuke.
Psalms 105:44(v2)He gave them the lands of the nations. They took the labor of the peoples in possession,
Psalms 136:17-22(v2)to him who struck great kings; for his loving kindness endures forever; and killed mighty kings; for his loving kindness endures forever:…
Malachi 1:2-3(v3)“I have loved you,” says Yahweh. Yet you say, “How have you loved us?” “Wasn’t Esau Jacob’s brother?” says Yahweh, “Yet I loved Jacob; but…
56 distinct cross-references across this passage (57 total citations).
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (27 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
John Calvin1540 · Public DomainOn vv1–31. O God! we have heard with our ears.…
1. O God! we have heard with our ears. The people of God here recount the goodness which he had formerly manifested towards their fathers, that, by showing the great dissimilarity of their own condition, they may induce God to alleviate their miseries. They begin by declaring that they speak not of things unknown or doubtful, but that they related events, the truth of which was authenticated by unexceptionable witnesses. The expression, We have heard with our ears, is not to be considered as a redundant form of speech, but one of great weight. It is designed to point out that the grace of God towards their fathers was so renowned, that no doubt could be entertained respecting it. They add, that their knowledge of these things was handed down from age to age by those who witnessed them. It is not meant that their fathers, who had been brought up out of Egypt, had, a thousand and five hundred years after, declared to their posterity the benefits God had conferred upon them. The import of the language is, that not only the first deliverance, but that also the various other works which God had wrought from time to time in behalf of his people, had come down, as it were, from hand to hand, in an uninterrupted series, even to the latest age. As, therefore, those who, after the lapse of many ages, became witnesses and heralds of the grace which God had exercised towards this people, spake upon the report of the first generation, the faithful are warranted in saying, as they here do, that their fathers have declared to them that which they certainly knew, because the knowledge of it had not been lost by reason of its antiquity, but was continually preserved by the remembrance of it from the fathers to the children. The sum of the whole is, that God had manifested his goodness towards the children of Abraham, not only for ten or twenty years, but that ever since he had received them into his favor, he had never ceased to bestow upon them continued tokens of his grace.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators1599 · Public DomainOn vv1–3This psalm seemeth to have been made by some…
This psalm seemeth to have been made by some excellent Prophet for the use of the people, when the Church was in extreme misery, either at their return from Babylon, or under Antiochus, or in such like affliction.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp1656 · Public DomainOn vv1–3Psa 44:1 « To the chief Musician for the…
Psa 44:1 « To the chief Musician for the sons of Korah, Maschil. » We have heard with our ears, O God, our fathers have told us, [what] work thou didst in their days, in the times of old.
Maschil] i.e. Making wise, or giving instruction; for which purpose this psalm was composed by David (as it is most probable), or some other excellent prophet, for the use of the Church, which is haeres crucis, the heir of the cross, as Luther speaketh; and is here instructed how to carry herself under it, and to get benefit by it.
Read full note →
Ver. 1. We have heard with our ears] i.e. We have both heard and heeded it, with utmost attention and affection. It is not a redundancy, but an emphasis that is here used.
Our fathers have told us] According to that they were commanded, Deu 6:1-10 and elsewhere, to whet good things upon their young children, and to propagate the memory of God’s noble acts to all posterity, Exo 12:26; Exo 13:14 Jos 4:6-7 Psa 78:4; Psa 78:6. Hear this, saith Basil, and blush, ye fathers, that neglect to teach your children. They made their mouths as it were books, wherein the noble acts of the Lord might be read to his praise, and to the drawing of their children’s hearts unto him.
What work thou didst] All which they faithfully related and carefully recorded, for the use of after ages. Psa 102:18, "This shall be written for the generation to come: and the people that shall be created shall praise the Lord."
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole1685 · Public DomainOn vv1–3What work thou didst in their days: they allege…
What work thou didst in their days: they allege their former experience, as encouragements to their faith, and motives to God to continue to be gracious to them.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry1710 · Public DomainOn v1Some observe that most of the psalms that are…
Some observe that most of the psalms that are entitled Maschil - psalms of instruction, are sorrowful psalms; for afflictions give instructions, and sorrow of spirit opens the ear to them. Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest and teachest.
In these verses the church, though now trampled upon, calls to remembrance the days of her triumph, of her triumph in God and over her enemies. This is very largely mentioned here, 1. As an aggravation of the present distress. The yoke of servitude cannot but lie very heavily on the necks of those that used to wear the crown of victory; and the tokens of God's displeasure must needs be most grievous to those that have been long accustomed to the tokens of his favour. 2. As an encouragement to hope that God would yet turn again their captivity and return in mercy to them; accordingly he mixes prayers and comfortable expectations with his record of former mercies. Observe,
Read full note →
I. Their commemoration of the great things God had formerly done for them.
1. In general (Psa 44:1): Our fathers have told us what work thou didst in their days. Observe, (1.) The many operations of providence are here spoken of as one work - "They have told us the work which thou didst;" for there is a wonderful harmony and uniformity in all that God does, and the many wheels make but one wheel (Eze 10:13), many works make but one work. (2.) It is a debt which every age owes to posterity to keep an account of God's works of wonder, and to transmit the knowledge of them to the next generation. Those that went before us told us what God did in their days, we are bound to tell those that come after us what he has done in our days, and let them do the like justice to those that shall succeed them; thus shall one generation praise his works to another (Psa 145:4), the fathers to the children shall make known his truth, Isa 38:19. (3.) We must not only make mention of the work God has done in our own days, but must also acquaint ourselves and our children with what he did in the times of old, long before our own days; and of this we have in the scripture a sure word of history, as sure as the word of prophecy. (4.) Children must diligently attend to what their parents tell them of the wonderful works of God, and keep it in remembrance, as that which will be of great use to them. (5.) Former experiences of God's power and goodness are strong supports to faith and powerful pleas in prayer under present calamities. See how Gideon insists upon it (Jdg 6:13): Where are all his miracles which our fathers told us of?
2. In particular, their fathers had told them,
(1.) How wonderfully God planted Israel in Canaan at first, Psa 44:2, Psa 44:3. He drove out the natives, to make room for Israel, afflicted them, and cast them out, gave them as dust to Israel's sword and as driven stubble to their bow. The many complete victories which Israel obtained over the Canaanites, under the command of Joshua, were not to be attributed to themselves, nor could they challenge the glory of them. [1.] They were not owing to their own merit, but to God's favour and free grace: It was through the light of thy countenance, because thou hadst a favour to them. Not for thy righteousness, or the uprightness of thy heart, doth God drive them out from before thee (Deu 9:5, Deu 9:6), but because God would perform the oath which he swore unto their fathers, Deu 7:8. The less praise this allows us the more comfort it administers to us, that we may see all our successes and enlargements coming to us from the favour of God and the light of his countenance. [2.] They were not owing to their own might, but to God's power engaged for them, without which all their own efforts and endeavours would have been fruitless. It was not by their own sword that they got the land in possession, though they had great numbers of mighty men; nor did their own arm save them from being driven back by the Canaanites and put to shame; but it was God's right hand and his arm. He fought for Israel, else they would have fought in vain; it was through him that they did valiantly and victoriously. It was God that planted Israel in that good land, as the careful husbandman plants a tree, from which he promises himself fruit. See Psa 80:8. This is applicable to the planting of the Christian church in the world, by the preaching of the gospel. Paganism was wonderfully driven out, as the Canaanites, not all at once, but by little and little, not by any human policy or power (for God chose to do it by the weak and foolish things of the world), but by the wisdom and power of God - Christ by his Spirit went forth conquering and to conquer; and the remembrance of that is a great support and comfort to those that groan under the yoke of antichristian tyranny, for to the state of the church under the power of the New Testament Babylon, some think (and particularly the learned Amyraldus), the complaints in the latter part of this psalm may very fitly be accommodated. He that by his power and goodness planted a church for himself in the world will certainly support it by the same power and goodness; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
(2.) How frequently he had given them success against their enemies that attempted to disturb them in the possession of that good land (Psa 44:7): Thou hast, many a time, saved us from our enemies, and hast put to flight, and so put to shame, those that hated us, witness the successes of the judges against the nations that oppressed Israel. Many a time have the persecutors of the Christian church, and those that hate it, been put to shame by the power of truth, Act 6:10.
II. The good use they make of this record, and had formerly made of it, in consideration of the great things God had done for their fathers of old.
1. They had taken God for their sovereign Lord, had sworn allegiance to him, and put themselves under his protection (Psa 44:4): Thou art my King, O God! He speaks in the name of the church, as (Psa 74:12), Thou art my King of old. God, as a king, has made laws for his church, provided for the peace and good order of it, judged for it, pleaded its cause, fought its battles, and protected it; it is his kingdom in the world, and ought to be subject to him, and to pay him tribute. Or the psalmist speaks for himself here: "Lord, Thou art my King; whither shall I go with my petitions, but to thee? The favour I ask is not for myself, but for thy church." Note, It is every one's duty to improve his personal interest at the throne of grace for the public welfare and prosperity of the people of God; as Moses, "If I have found grace in thy sight, guide thy people," Exo 33:13.
2. They had always applied to him by prayer for deliverance when at any time they were in distress: Command deliverances for Jacob. Observe, (1.) The enlargedness of their desire. They pray for deliverances, not one, but many, as many as they had need of, how many soever they were, a series of deliverances, a deliverance from every danger. (2.) The strength of their faith in the power of God. They do not say, Work deliverances, but Command them, which denotes his doing it easily and instantly - Speak and it is done (such was the faith of the centurion, Mat 8:8, Speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed); it denotes also his doing it effectually: "Command it, as one having authority, whose command will be obeyed." Where the word of a king is there is power, much more the word of the King of kings.
3. They had trusted and triumphed in him. As they owned it was not their own sword and bow that had saved them (Psa 44:3), so neither did they trust to their own sword or bow to save them for the future (Psa 44:6): "I will not trust in my bow, nor in any of my military preparations, as if those would stand me in stead without God. No; through thee will we push down our enemies (Psa 44:5); we will attempt it in thy strength, relying only upon that, and not upon the number or valour of our forces; and, having thee on our side, we will not doubt of success in the attempt. Through thy name (by virtue of thy wisdom directing us, thy power strengthening us and working for us, and thy promise securing success to us) we shall, we will, tread those under that rise up against us."
4. They had made him their joy and praise (Psa 44:8): "In God we have boasted; in him we do and will boast, every day, and all the day long." When their enemies boasted of their strength and successes, as Sennacherib and Rabshakeh hectored Hezekiah, they owned they had nothing to boast of, in answer thereunto, but their relation to God and their interest in him; and, if he were for them, they could set all the world at defiance. Let him that glories glory in the Lord, and let that for ever exclude all other boasting. Let those that trust in God make their boast in him, for they know whom they have trusted; let them boast in him all the day long, for it is a subject that can never be exhausted. But let them withal praise his name for ever; if they have the comfort of his name, let them give unto him the glory due to it.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill1763 · Public DomainOn vv1–3We have heard with our ears, O God,.... The…
We have heard with our ears, O God,.... The church being in distress calls to mind the past favours of God to his people, in order to encourage her faith and hope; and this expression, delivered in such a form, shows the clearness, evidence, and certainty of what was heard; and which was heard not only as a tradition from father to son; but being recorded in the writings of Moses and the prophets, and these things read both in private and in public, were heard with the ear;
our fathers have told us what works thou didst in their days, in the times of old: such as the signs and wonders in Egypt, the slaying of the firstborn there, and the bringing of the people of Israel from thence with a mighty hand and outstretched arm; which fathers were used to tell in the ears of their sons, and sons' sons; and of which there were memorials continued in future ages, which led children to ask their parents the meaning of them; when they informed them of the wondrous works of Providence done in former times, and by which means they were handed down from age to age: see Exo 10:2.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley1765 · Public DomainOn v1The church commemorates past mercies, ver. 1-8. Complains of…
The church commemorates past mercies, ver. 1-8. Complains of present troubles, ver. 9-16. Professes her integrity, ver. 17-22. Prays for succor, ver. 23-26. To the chief musician for the sons of Korah, Maschil.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke1810 · Public DomainOn vv1–3The psalmist recounts the mercies of God; shows to…
PSALM XLIV
The psalmist recounts the mercies of God; shows to his people
Read full note →
how God in ancient times gave them the victory over all their
enemies, 1-8;
points out their present miserable state, 9-16;
asserts that thy have not apostatized, and appeals to God for
the truth of his assertion, 17-22;
and calls upon the Lord for deliverance from their enemies,
23-26.
NOTES ON PSALM XLIV
The title here is the same as that in Ps 42:1; which see. The Syriac says it was "A Psalm of the sons of Korah, which the people and Moses sung at Horeb." Such titles are fancies to which no credit should be attached. Like the preceding, it appears to belong to the time of the captivity.
Verse 1. We have heard with our ears] The psalmist begins with recounting the marvellous interpositions of God in behalf of the Jewish people, that he might the better strengthen his confidence, and form a ground on which to build his expectation of additional help.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson1811 · Public DomainOn vv1–2Psa 44:1. We have heard with our ears, &c.…
Psa 44:1. We have heard with our ears, &c. — “We have been certainly informed, O Lord, by our fathers, and we believe what they have told us, not only concerning the wonderful works thou didst in their times, but in the ages long before them; as our ancestors, who lived in those days, have recorded.” It is a debt which every age owes to posterity, to keep an account of God’s works of wonder, and transmit the knowledge of them to the next generation. As those that went before us told us what God did in their days, we are bound to tell those that come after us what he has done in ours, and let them do the like justice to those that succeed them: thus shall one generation praise his works to another, Psa 145:4. The fathers to the children shall make known the truth, Isa 38:19. And children should diligently attend to what their parents tell them of the wonderful works of God, as that which will be of great use to them; and we may all find, if we make a right use of them, that former experiences of God’s power and goodness are strong supports to faith, and powerful pleas in prayer, when we are in any trouble or distress.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes1834 · Public DomainOn vv1–3We have heard with our ears - That is,…
We have heard with our ears - That is, it has been handed down by tradition.
Our fathers have told us - Our ancestors. They have delivered it down from generation to generation. The word rendered “told” means properly to grave, or to insculp on a stone; and thence, to write. Then it comes to mean to number, to count, to recount, to tell, to declare. The word would be applicable to any method of making the thing known, either by hieroglyphic figures in sculpture, by writing, or by oral tradition, though it seems probable that the latter mode is particularly referred to here. Compare Exo 10:2; Exo 12:26-27.
Read full note →
What work thou didst in their days - The great work which thou didst accomplish for them; or, how thou didst interpose in their behalf. The reference is to what God accomplished for them in delivering them from Egyptian bondage, and bringing them into the land of Canaan.
In the times of old - In ancient times; in the beginning of our history. The idea here is, that we may properly appeal to the past - to what God has done in former ages - as an argument for his interposition in similar circumstances now, for,
(a) His former interposition showed his power to save;
(b) it was such an illustration of his character that we may appeal to that as a reason for asking him to interpose again.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures1864 · Public DomainOn v1Psalms 44
Psalms 44
To the chief Musician for the sons of Korah, Maschil
Read full note →
1 We have heard with our ears,
O God, our fathers have told us,
What work thou didst in their days,
In the times of old.
2 How thou didst drive out the heathen with thy hand, and, plantedst them,
How thou didst afflict the people, and cast them out.
3 For they got not the land in possession by their own sword,
Neither did their own arm save them:
But thy right hand, and thine arm, and the light of thy countenance,
Because thou hadst a favour unto them.
4 Thou art my King, O God:
Command deliverances for Jacob.
5 Through thee will we push down our enemies:
Through thy name will we tread them under that rise up against us.
6 For I will not trust in my bow,
Neither shall my sword save me.
7 But thou hast saved us from our enemies,
And hast put them to shame that hated us.
8 In God we boast all the day long,
And praise thy name forever. Selah.
9 But thou hast cast off, and put us to shame;
And goest not forth with our armies.
10 Thou makest us to turn back from the enemy:
And they which hate us spoil for themselves.
11 Thou hast given us like sheep appointed for meat;
And hast scattered us among the heathen.
12 Thou sellest thy people for nought,
And dost not increase thy wealth by their price.
13 Thou makest us a reproach to our neighbours,
A scorn and derision to them that are round about us.
14 Thou makest us a byword among the heathen,
A shaking of the head among the people.
15 My confusion is continually before me,
And the shame of my face hath covered me,
16 For the voice of him that reproacheth and blasphemeth;
By reason of the enemy and avenger.
17 All this is come upon us; yet have we not forgotten thee,
Neither have we dealt falsely in thy covenant.
18 Our heart is not turned back,
Neither have our steps declined from thy way;
19 Though thou hast sore broken us in the place of dragons,
And covered us with the shadow of death.
20 If we have forgotten the name of our God,
Or stretched out our hands to a strange god;
21 Shall not God search this out?
For he knoweth the secrets of the heart.
22 Yea, for thy sake are we killed all the day long;
We are counted as sheep for the slaughter.
23 Awake, why sleepest thou, O Lord?
Arise, cast us not off forever.
24 Wherefore hidest thou thy face,
And forgettest our affliction and our oppression?
25 For our soul is bowed down to the dust:
Our belly cleaveth unto the earth.
26 Arise for our help,
And redeem us for thy mercies’ sake.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
Contents and Composition.—The title is the same as that of Psalms 42. The hosts of Israel have been worsted in battle by hostile neighbors. The whole nation has been thereby not only involved in great misery and oppression, but is in danger of losing its nationality by being carried away and dispersed among other people. Under this great calamity there comes into the consciousness of the nation a very sharp contrast, which also finds expression in the song. God had helped their fathers in the conquest of the land. The story had come down to the present generation, Psa_44:2-4, and had awakened and maintained in it, the faith that the same God as the King of his people, would and must give the victory over its oppressors, for his own praise in the future as well as in view of former glories, Psa_44:5-8. These records of the past, and the hopes of faith founded on them, stand in strong contrast with the overwhelming defeat which God’s chosen race had experienced. It seemed as if God had forsaken their armies, and deeming them of no account had given up His people to the assaults and the scorn of their enemies, leading them to fear that they might perish in shame and contempt, Psa_44:10. This contrast is strengthened by the fact that the people can appeal to the omniscient God, Psa_44:21-22, as a witness to their earnest and sincere faithfulness to the covenant, Psa_44:18-20. The way is thus opened for the explanation of this contrast. The present oppression of God’s people grows out of their historico-religious character, Psa_44:23. During all past ages, they have experienced just such treatment at the hands of a world estranged from God; and hence Paul (Rom_8:36) finds in the sufferings of the church of Jesus Christ an exact historical verification of this Romans 5:23. The destruction of God’s people may at times seem imminent, but that danger will disappear when by earnest prayer they seek the effectual interference of God, relying not upon their own merits, but in the simple consciousness of their need of His help and grace,—that grace which is the source of their covenant relation as their God and His people, Psa_44:24-26. This exposition renders it unnecessary for us to refute those who find here a superficial sense of sin and consciousness of guilt, at the same time it explains how this Psalm has been thought (Calvin) to have a prophetic reference to the times of the Maccabees. The explanation which supposes an historical reference to those times (Ven., Rosen., Olsh., Hitzig), is opposed by the history of the canon, and is objectionable on other grounds. The Psalm speaks of the whole nation and not merely of the pious part of it. Then, too, it appears from 1Ma_1:11, 2Ma_4:7, that, in the time of Antiochus Epiphanes, there was a large and organized body of apostates opposed to the party of the Chasedim (the Pious); and, again, while the Maccabees were victorious in all their battles, with the single exception mentioned in 1Ma_5:55, when their defeat was perhaps a punishment upon them for engaging in an imprudent enterprise, no armies were at that period sent out by the Jews. The solemn assertion of the people’s covenant faithfulness is quite inexplicable, if we refer the Psalm to the time of the Babylonian captivity (Cler. Köster), or to the last days of the Persian dynasty (Ewald), or to the Removal under Jehoiachin (Tholuck), or to the events which preceded the destruction of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans (Baur). To the assertion of Hupfeld, that the language and form of the Psalm show that it belongs to a late age, we may reply that conclusions founded on such grounds are very uncertain, and that the remark does not in the least apply to the expressions of prayer here used. (Compare Psa_3:8; Psa_7:7; Psa_35:23; Psa_59:5); which are very similar to those found in Psalms 42, 43, 80, 85, 89 while the whole Psalm closely resembles Psalms 60. The older view maintained by Heng. Del. is preferable. This refers the Psalm to the same period as that of Psalms 60—the period of the Syro-Ammonite war, in which the Edomites took part (2Sa_8:13). The latter carried on a commercial intercourse with the captured Israelites (Amo_1:6), but were afterwards terribly punished for it by Joab, 1Ki_11:15.
Psa_44:1. We have heard with our ears.—This expression does not exclude the existence of written documents; it only brings out more strongly the contrast between those events of the past, in which they had a personal interest, but of which they had simply heard, and those which they had themselves witnessed. Every Israelite was bound to repeat the story of the Lord’s marvellous works, Exo_10:2; Exo_12:26; Exo_13:8; Exo_13:14; Deu_6:20; Jdg_6:13; compare Psa_22:31; Psa_78:3.—The phrase “done a deed” is not a collective one, but refers specially to God’s work, as appears from verse 3, and in Psa_90:16. The emphasis of God’s “hand,” as the second subject besides “Thou,” (Isa_45:12) refers the work to God not only in a general way, but makes it appear as the immediate product of His activity, and of His personally ordering the events of history, Psa_74:11; Psa_89:14; Isa_51:9.—The grant of fixed abodes, figuratively set forth as a planting (Exo_15:17; 2Sa_7:10; Psa_80:9) is carefully contrasted with the uprooting (Amo_9:15; Jer_1:10; Jer_24:6); the enlargement of the people is represented as a sending forth of roots and branches, Psa_80:12; Jer_17:8; Ezech. Psa_17:6.—In German we cannot translate כִי by the same word, in each of the three places in which it occurs in verse 3.—[Barnes: “Afflict the people; i. e., the people of the land of Canaan; the nations that dwelt there. The word means to bring evil or calamity upon any one.”—Perowne: “Give them the victory.“ Such seems here, and generally in this Psalm, to be the force of the word usually rendered “save,” “help;” not very unlike is the use of σωτηρία sometimes in the New Testament.”—J. F.]
Psa_44:4. Thou art He (or even Thou Thyself art), my King. The word הוּא is not here as in Psa_102:28, the predicate=thou art the same (Luther), but strengthens the subject, as in Isa_43:25; Jer_49:12; Neh_9:6; Ezr_5:11. It is not accurately rendered by the German “selbst,” but contains an explicit reference to what has just been said. The transition to the present, coupled with confession and prayer, and likewise the change of person and tense, Psa_44:6-9, show that these verses do not refer to the past (Rosen.), but express the present confidence of faith, which lives in the midst and in spite of all oppression. The imperfect tense is used to set forth this confidence, while the displays of divine help on which it is founded are expressed by the perfect tense, Psa_44:8. This change of the perfect and imperfect distinguishes that which has been hitherto done day by day, from that which has been promised for all future time (J. H. Mich). [Alexander: “The form of expression in the first clause is highly idiomatic, and somewhat obscure; it may mean ‘thou who hast done all this art still my King;’ or, ‘thou art He who is my King.’—The personal name of the patriarch (Jacob) is poetically substituted for his official title, as the father of the chosen people.” Perowne: “My King apparently with a personal application to himself, the Poet individually claiming his own place in the covenant between God and His people. The singular fluctuates with the plural in the Psalms, see verses 6, 15.”—J. F.]
Psa_44:12. For nought (“without riches”). This expression may also mean “gratuitously.” (Hupfeld). But there is nothing to indicate a contrast between the dealings of men in their worldly concerns, for the sake of gain or some external advantage, and the designs of Divine Providence, which have higher pedagogical reasons, and the Redemption which is effected without money and without price. (Isa_43:13; Isa_52:3; Jer_15:4). Strictly speaking, the figure here used has the sense of “for nought,” and conveys the idea of unworthiness and insignificance. Besides, the whole passage must be taken figuratively, and can have no reference, historically, to the supposed fact that the multitude of captives was so great as to lower the price of slaves. Hupfeld defends the more ancient (Chald., Theod., Kim.) translation of the following line, “thou didst not increase (viz., thy wealth) by their purchase money.” Pro_22:16, is not a parallel example, because the definitive words “for thee” are wanting; and the sense of “to gain by usury,” derived from the Aramaic, goes far beyond the meaning of the phrase “thou hast gained nothing.” Most modern expositors, therefore, take the verb “to increase” in an absolute sense, and the preposition ב as specifying its extent. [Alexander: “They seemed to be gratuitously given up, i. e., without necessity or profit.”—Perowne: “For nought, i. e., for that which is the very opposite of riches, a mere nothing.”—J. F.]
Psa_44:19. The place of (dragons) jackals denotes a desert region in general (Isa_34:13; Jer_9:10; Jer_10:22; Jer_49:33; Jer_51:37). It does not refer specially to the district of Jamnia, on the border of Philistia and Dan, where Samson found three hundred foxes (Jdg_15:4), and where the unfortunate battle mentioned in 1Ma_5:56, was fought, a locality in which Hasselquist, Seetzen, and other travellers tell us that these animals are found in great numbers (Hitzig). The older translation “dragons” originated in the supposition that תּנִּים is a contraction for תָּנִּינִים, through a misapprehension of Eze_29:3. The original meaning of the word is “howling.” This cry of the animal of the desert, more minutely described in Lam_4:3; Is. 12:22; 35:7; 43:20, is compared to the sounds of wailings uttered by human beings, Job_30:29; Mic_1:8.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. The living announcement of the help and deliverance which God has vouchsafed to our fathers in past ages is a means of confirming our faith in His constant providential care under present tribulations. It quickens the hope that He will speedily interfere on our behalf, and stimulates prayer for His instant aid under the pressing necessities of the present, and in the prospect of threatening dangers. Comp. Hab_3:2, and 2Ch_20:7.
2. In the narratives of events of past ages it is necessary both for the proper study of history, and the edification of contemporaries that attention be specially fixed on those events which most plainly exhibit a personal Providence. In tracing these events the thoughts should be turned away from all human activity, wisdom, and might; from all temporal and earthly instrumentalities; they should be fixed on the Divine power as their only and eternal cause. The free grace of God, and the good pleasure of His love, should be viewed as the final and decisive ground of these divine acts.
3. A people which, by faith, renews the confession of God as its King, gains thereby a firm foundation for its historical position in the world; it becomes confident that the same God, to whom, as it gratefully remembers, it owes its origin as a people, will preserve it and deliver it from dangers which may threaten its desolation and destruction. All that is needful to beget this hope is the consideration of the royal sovereignty of Almighty God.
4. The religious means of obtaining such a display of divine sovereignty, in any given case, is Prayer, which appeals not to human worthiness, but to the needs which men so plainly and frequently experience. Hence, Prayer addresses not the justice but the grace of God,—that grace which has been already manifested in establishing the covenant relation, though it may plead this relation, and beg for its preservation.
5. In this appeal there is no affirmation of innocence; no assertion that the moral and religious condition of the people is in accordance with all the demands of the covenant law, for this would be both foolish and untrue. It simply declares the attachment of the people to their covenant God, and that they have preserved the historico-religious position which He has graciously granted to them. While many individuals may have proved faithless, the people, as such, have maintained their allegiance to God as their God. On this ground alone, they ask and expect from their heavenly King deliverance from the worst possible afflictions.
6. In such a case, there is a difference to be made between merited and unmerited sufferings, and while the latter are not to be viewed as judgments, nor as strokes of fate, they should be patiently endured for God’s sake. There is thus a progress in religious knowledge and historico-religious experience, even though it is fully comprehended, that for God’s people, as well as the servant of Jehovah, these sufferings are necessary in carrying out God’s plan of salvation, and that they are as essentially connected with their theocratic destination or mission as they are inseparable from their divine election and call.
7. The endurance of such afflictions implies, on the part of the sufferer, no such feelings as would lead him to complain of God, or to glorify himself. His appeal to God will never take the form of an accusation, but of a prayer, and a vow of thanksgiving for that gracious help of the Almighty which is indispensable. Hence, if in his lamentation the question is asked “why sleepest Thou, O Lord?” and his prayer sounds like a cry to awake, he can use the language of John Hyrcanus (Sota 48, according to Del.) who, in the time of the Maccabees, quieted the anxieties of the Levites, who came daily to him with this same question, by saying, “Does the Godhead sleep?”—Have not the Scriptures declared: “Behold, he who keeps Israel slumbereth not?” It was only in a time when Israel was in trouble, and the people of the world in the enjoyment of rest and prosperity, that the words were used, “Awake, why sleepest Thou, O Lord?” In these, and similar figurative expressions, the prominent idea is, that these sufferings are not to be regarded as evils, positively inflicted by God, but rather as permitted by Him.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
The best histories are those which rehearse the doings of God. The benefits resulting from the study of them are: 1. It helps us to understand God’s providential government on earth. 2. It awakens gratitude for His favors. 3. It stimulates confidence in God’s gracious help. God is our King! (1) Whence do we know this? (2) In what does He help us? (3) How do we testify this?—As long as we are in covenant with God, the most powerful foes cannot destroy us. What follows from this in regard to our conduct and duty?—God is not only the mightiest, but the surest, yea the only reliable ally.—As we are indebted to God for all good things so we must ask Him for all needful things.—Nothing without faith, but every thing through grace.—If we know the name of God, we will properly use it for His honor, for our salvation, and for the good of others.—He who belongs to God’s people, must be prepared to suffer for His sake, and be careful that he brings no dishonor upon His name.—He who really suffers for God’s sake will find that such suffering never separates him from God.—The tribulations of the times always bind the people of God more closely to His name, hand and grace, as the light of His countenance.
Starke: It is the business of parents to implant in the hearts of their children the knowledge and honor of God.—Children and young people should lay to heart what they have heard concerning the works of God, from their parents, in order to confirm their faith and to improve their lives.—The change of government in a land should not be regarded as a mere accident, but as an event with which the will and the hand of God are concerned.—Although God employs instruments when He helps us, we should not ascribe to them the aid we get, nor give to them the honor and glory which are due to God alone.—No enemy can gain any honor from a conflict with the children of God; all his malice brings upon himself only shame and injury, but glory and praise to the Lord.—It will soon be manifest on what the heart of any man trusts, for whatever it be he will constantly think and speak of it.—Reason left to itself regards the righteous judgments and the paternal chastisements of God as very strange.—God has often allowed Christians to be brought like lambs to the slaughter, in order that by their death they may praise Him, and become martyrs for Christ.—Let temporal things take whatever turn God pleases, if only the eternal inheritance is sure.—To a suffering believer, the greatest stumbling-block is God’s patience and forbearance towards the very worst of men.—The persecution of the Church for her “good confession” is a sharp trial of her faith, constancy, and patience.—Contempt of the true worship of God will sooner or later end in the adoration of an idol, either in a gross or a refined way.—Sufferings however intense involve no merit: we must look only to the goodness and grace of God.—Bugenhagen: The pious man does what God has commanded, and waits for what God’s will has determined respecting him.—Selnekker: The believer undertakes nothing that is contrary to God’s word. He will never tempt God, but uses such means as God has appointed. His trust is in God alone, who can and will help him.—Osiander: Warlike preparation is not always the cause of victory.—Frisch: He who would exercise true faith, and by such faith would conquer, must possess these three qualities, 1. He must lay aside all trust in earthly power. 2. His heart’s entire trust must be in God. 3. His heart must give all the glory to God.—Franke: Christ’s kingdom must ever manifest itself as a kingdom of the Cross, because it is through suffering that we enter into glory.—Berlin Bible: The events that happened in the primitive Church will be repeated in the Church of the latter day, under the great Anti-Christ.—Rieger: Oh! how mysterious is God! Never imagine that you can lead Him as you wish, even by faith. In ways that to us seem circuitous and contrary, He accomplishes His purposes. What He Himself hath built up, He can break down; what He Himself hath planted, He can root out again. Yet His kingdom loses nothing thereby. What the Church of God may seem to lose by oppression, is more than made up by the victory of the righteous, by the approved piety of those who hold fast their integrity, and their salutary experience gained by suffering. Paul’s song of victory (Rom_8:38) “for I am persuaded” could be uttered only after the composition of such Psalms as the XLIVth, in which the cross and the sufferings of the believer are delineated.—Vaihinger. A look full of faith towards the works of God in ages past!—Tholuck: Israel celebrates in song only the works of God. But the hymns of other nations relate to the great deeds of their ancestors.—Guenther: God’s army has a war-song to strengthen its hope, to describe its wants, and to cry mightily for help.—Diedrich: In every new tribulation God gives us to experience and acknowledge, that if we are grounded upon His word, we can only stand by His power.—Taube: There are instructions how the church of God should act, when she has to bear the cross. Israel’s strength and salvation is also Israel’s Psalm. The flesh timid and faint-hearted, sees in times of affliction, a sleeping God, yet the Keeper of Israel never slumbers,—a repudiating God, and yet God does not repudiate eternally,—a concealed God, and yet He is always mindful of us,—a forgetful God and yet a mother would sooner forget her child than God His people. But He tarries that we may cry!
[Henry: The many operations of providence are here spoken of as one work, for there is a wonderful harmony and uniformity in all that God does, and the many wheels make but one wheel, many works make but one work.—He that by His power and goodness planted a church for Himself in the world, will certainly support it by the same power and goodness, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.—When the heart turns back, the steps will soon decline.—We may the better bear our troubles, how pressing soever, if in them we still hold fast our integrity. While our troubles do not drive us from our duty to God, we should not suffer them to drive us from our comfort in God, for He will not leave us, if we do not leave Him.—Bp. Patrick: Certainly we have deserved “all” these calamities, though this comfort is still remaining, that we are not so wicked as to be moved by all this to desert Thee, and violate that covenant by which we are engaged to worship Thee alone.
Scott: The formalist commonly escapes persecution by turning with the stream, and purchasing security with sinful compliances, or open apostacy; but the true Church of God cannot be prevailed on by menaces, sufferings, or promises to forget God or deal falsely in His covenant.—The Church of God is one incorporated body, from the beginning to the end of the world; and the benefits conferred on it in every age, will be acknowledged with gratitude by believers through all generations, and even to eternity.—We have reason to be thankful, considering our frailty, for exemption from the more violent species of persecution; but let us be careful that prosperity and ease do not render us careless and lukewarm.—J. F.].
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown1871 · Public DomainOn v2plantedst them--that is, "our fathers," who are also, from…
plantedst them--that is, "our fathers," who are also, from the parallel construction of the last clause, to be regarded as the object of "cast them out," which means--literally, "send" them out, or, "extend them." Heathen and people denote the nations who were driven out to make room for the Israelites.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon1874 · Public DomainOn vv1–31. Our fathers have told us—This is not a…
1. Our fathers have told us—This is not a reference to oral tradition, but an allusion to Exo_10:2; Exo_12:26; Exo_13:8; Exo_13:14; Deu_6:20-23; where God commands the fathers to teach the meaning of the written law, and the history of their settlement in Canaan, to their children. They had been taught in childhood, by the command of God, that the Hebrew title to the land was of divine authority. This is here appealed to as the basis of the plea and prayer against dispossession, which the heathen now threatened.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges1878 · Public DomainOn vv1–31. our fathers have told us] In obedience to…
1. our fathers have told us] In obedience to the often repeated injunction to hand on the memory of God’s marvellous works on behalf of His people. See Exo_10:2; Exo_12:26 f.; Exo_13:8; Exo_13:14; Deu_6:20; Jos_4:6; Jos_4:21. Cp. Jdg_6:13; Psa_78:3. Observe the importance attached to oral tradition as a means of perpetuating the memory of the past. Much of the early history of Israel was doubtless preserved by oral tradition for a long period before it was committed to writing.
in the times of old] Better, even the days of old. Cp. Isa_37:26 (A.V., of ancient times).
Read full note →
1–3. A retrospect. Not their own valour but God’s help and favour gave Israel possession of the land of Canaan.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers1878 · Public DomainOn vv1–3(1) We have heard.—The glorious traditions of ancient deliverances…
(1) We have heard.—The glorious traditions of ancient deliverances wrought by Jehovah for His people were a sacred heritage of every Hebrew. (See Exo_10:2; Exo_12:26, seq.; Deu_6:20, etc.) This, and all the historical psalms, show how closely interwoven for the Jew were patriotism and religion.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary1880 · Public DomainOn vv1–3THE date and occasion of this psalm are greatly…
THE date and occasion of this psalm are greatly disputed. Most critics, from Calvin to Hitzig, refer it to the times of the Maccabees. Others suggest the fourth or fifth century B.C. One (Tholuck) dates it in the reign of Jehoiachin. Hengstenberg and Canon Cook argue for the reign of David. The time of Jehoram (2Ch_21:16, 2Ch_21:17) and that of the defeat of Josiah (2Ch_35:20-24) have also been proposed as possible. The Davidic date receives a certain amount of support from Psalm 60, which is in the same tone, and resembles the present psalm in several expressions. (comp. Psa_60:1 with Psa_44:9 Psa_60:10 with Psa_44:9, 10 60:11 with Psa_44:26; etc.) It also harmonizes with the place of the psalm in the Psalter, and with its ascription to the "sons of Korah," who were certainly among David"s musicians.
The occasion of the psalm is some serious reverse which the Israelites had sustained in a war with foreign enemies, but who were the enemies, and when exactly the reverse was sustained, are uncertain. No doubt there were many temporary reverses in the course of David"s wars, after one of which the psalm may have been written.
Read full note →
The psalm divides itself into four parts. In part 1 (vers. 1-8) the writer recounts God"s mercies in the past, and from them confidently concludes that effectual help will be granted in the present emergency. In part 2 (vers. 9-16) he describes the emergency itself. In part 3 (vers. 17-22) he urges the fact that it had not been brought about by any infidelity or rebellion on the part of his countrymen. And in part 4 (vers. 23-26) he makes his prayer for deliverance.
The style is throughout simple, pure, and noble, possessing all the characteristics of the best period of Hebrew poetry.
We have heard with our ears, O God, our fathers have told us, what work thou didst in their days, in the times of old. The Law required all Israelites to teach their children the past history of the nation, and especially the mercies which had been vouchsafed to it. (see Exo_10:2 Exo_12:26, 27 13:8, 10, etc.)
The blessing of memory: a commemoration sermon.
"We have heard," etc. Memory is the thread which binds life together. A failing memory is one of the saddest infirmities of old age. Yet there is often this compensation that the long-distant past is well remembered. The old man forgets what weather it was yesterday, but the sunny birthdays and snowy Christmas Days of childhood live in his memory. The old house, the old frees and voices, the old joys and sorrows, the lessons that sank into his heart in childhood are with him still. Suppose the reverse possible that one had a clear memory of even the least occurrences of the last few weeks or mouths, but no memory of things long ago; no associations clinging, binding him to old scenes, old friends; not so much as an old prejudice; what a shallow, mechanical, uninteresting life his would be! There are common memories as well as individual; household words, family traditions, public and national history, sacred heritages of former generations. One of the most precious possessions of mankind is the knowledge and remembrance of the past.
I THE DUTY AND BENEFIT OF REMEMBERING THE PAST is taught in the most impressive way in the Bible. Its whole structure is historical. Alone among books, it professes to trace an unbroken line of family history from the first human being to the beginning of the Christian era; ending in him who is "the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever." Its deepest and greatest lessons are bound up with the lives, the examples, the prayers, the spiritual experience of men who loved and feared God thousands of years ago. What could make up for the loss, if we could forget the faith of Abraham, the Laws of Moses, the Psalms of David? But the lives of these and other spiritual heroes are but links in the history of a great spiritual community the Church of God. Christians, St. Paul tells us, are children of Abraham. The gospel itself is history. Our Saviour consecrated this principle when he said, "Do this in remembrance of me.
II FORGETFULNESS OF THE PAST MEANS IGNORANCE OF GOD"S DEALINGS. His most wonderful works and glorious manifestations. The great law of God"s creation, providence, and grace is that the present grows out of the past, and is the root and seed of the future. The watchword of modern philosophy, evolution," has been used as a sort of conjuring word to get rid of God; to show how the universe may dispense with a Creator. But Scripture is full of evolution in the truest and highest sense, viz. the unfolding of God"s purpose, the development of Divine thought and love. "Evolution" means "unfolding" or "out-folding." Nothing can be unfolded that has not been folded up. The plan, order, beauty, unity, life, happiness, of this wonderful universe could not be folded up in atoms of fiery gas, which after millions of years come out still as unchanged atoms of gas. They could be folded up nowhere but in a mind able to see the end from the beginning, and in the beginning to prepare for every following step and stage. What is true of God"s works in creation is true of his providential government of men and of nations; and equally true of his grace. (Eph_1:4 Eph_3:9)
III FORGETFULNESS OF THE PAST IS GREAT INGRATITUDE. True, we suffer for the faults and follies of our ancestors; but they conquered for us a rich inheritance. Who can reckon what we owe to the men who invented letters, figures, the plough, the loom, the anvil, the ship? Where should we be to-day without the mariner"s compass, the printing-press, the steam-engine? So in spiritual things. What do we owe to the evangelists for the four Gospels; to St. Paul and the other apostles for their Epistles; to the translators of the Scriptures; to reformers, preachers, sacred poets, writers? Ungrateful forgetfulness and consequent undervaluing of the past is one of the dangers and faults of our age. We are in little peril of the Chinese superstition worshipping our ancestors. Men"s eyes turn feverishly to the future. What is old is set down as antiquated, obsolete, worn-out. In the wonderful movement, amazing discoveries, manifold progress of our day, we are apt to forget that our ancestors sowed, or at least ploughed, where we reap; and made the roads along which we travel, and the ladders by which we climb. If language, institutions, art, science, industry, had to make a fresh start with each generation, life would never rise above barbarism.
CONCLUSION. There is a sense in which it is well to forget the past its failures, so far as they would discourage; its achievements, so far as they would content us. (Php_3:13, 14) We are not to dwell among the tombs; not to resemble a man carrying a looking-glass before him, which reflects only what is behind, and hides his path; but we are to converse with the past, that we may learn thankfulness, (Psa_103:2) humility, (Job_15:7) courage, (Jam_5:17) wisdom, (1Co_10:11) faith and hope. (Psa_77:10, 11 48:14)
HOMILIES BY W. FORSYTH Vers. 1-26. "In the days of old.
From this psalm we may learn three great lessons
I WE ARE TAUGHT TO SEE GOD"S HAND IN HISTORY. There is no such thing as chance. "The chapter of accidents," as some one has well said, "is the Bible of the fool." There are differences in the nations and the ages; but God is in all. We acknowledge how God was with the Jews; but we are not so ready to admit that he had to do just as really and truly with other peoples. The difference, in the case of the Jews is that as to them the veil has been lifted, that light has been thrown upon their history. The story of their nation was written as by the hand of God himself, and was committed as a sacred heritage to be transmitted pure and entire from generation to generation. (Deu_6:7-20; cf. Moses, Exo_18:8; David, Psa_58:8; Hezekiah, Isa_38:19) But, as St. Paul has taught us, "All these things happened to them for ensamples; and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come". (1Co_10:11) God governs the nations on the same principles as he governed the Jews. "There are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all". (1Co_12:6)
II HOW GOD IS CARRYING OUT HIS OWN GREAT END THROUGH ALL THE AGES OF HISTORY. The wise man said, "One generation passeth away, and another cometh; but the earth abideth for ever". (Ecc_1:4) But if the earth abideth it is because God abideth. He has his plans as to men, and throughout the ages he is working them out. There is the manifestation of himself. More and more the knowledge of God has increased. The Jews knew more than the patriarchs. The Christians know more than the Jews. Besides, God is, in a sense, educating the world. We stand related to the past and the future. We have learned much from the past. God employs one age to benefit another. How great are our obligations, through books and otherwise, to the great men of the past to Gentiles and Jews! We are the heirs of all the ages. And if we have benefited by those who came before us, so we are bound to benefit those who come after us. Privilege is the measure of responsibility. "Unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required". (Luk_12:48) We see but a little, and, as oar knowledge is limited, our judgment must be imperfect. Yet we see and know enough to be satisfied that God is working in and by all events, and that he works ever towards a perfect end. "Happy the man who sees a God employ"d In all the good and ill that checker life, Resolving all events, with their effects And manifold results, into the will And arbitration wise of the Supreme! (Cowper)
III THAT GOD HAS CARED FOR HIS PEOPLE THROUGH ALL THE AGES OF HISTORY. This is the burden of this psalm. This is the great truth that gives life to the faith professed (vers. 1-8); that awakens the complaint of desertion in time of grievous trial (vers. 9-16); that sustains the hope of help and ultimate deliverance (vers. 17-26). As in the past, so still, there will be changes not only mercies, but judgments. There will be trials of our faith; there will be the sharp discipline of chastisement; there will be, in some form or other, the "persecution" which tests our loyalty, and strengthens and purifies our love. But, come what will, God changes not; and God is our God. Our trust in men may fail, our hopes of earthly leaders may be disappointed and put to shame; but God is faithful who has promised, and he will never forsake those who trust in him. After Culloden, a soldier of Prince Chades"s army was found lying dead on the field, with his Gaelic psalm-book open in his hand, and a bloody finger-mark at the ninth verse of this psalm, "But thou hast cast off, and put us to shame, and doest not forth with our armies." But Christ, the great Captain of our salvation, will not suffer the least of his soldiers thus to die, with blighted hopes and broken heart. W.F.
HOMILIES BY C. SHORT Vers. 1-26. A prayer for help against foreign enemies.
The train of thought is this: "Thou hast helped us, thou must help us; but thou hast not helped us; yet have we not by any guilt on our part cut ourselves off from thy help; do thou therefore help us." The problem of suffering , as argued in this psalm, is similar to the problem in the Book of Job. That God should not help them
I WAS INCONSISTENT WITS GOD"S PAST TREATMENT OF THEM. (Vers. 1-3) Their fathers had told them what work God had done in their days in the days of old. What a history of Divine work have we in the past of the Christian Church!
II INCONSISTENT WITH THEIR FAITH IN HIM. (Vers. 4-8) God was their Almighty King, through whom they were able to achieve all conquests.
III IT WOULD BRING NO PROFIT OR HONOUR TO GOD. (Ver. 12) To leave them to their enemies. How could God act thus, so as to seem to dishonour himself and to bring no profit to his people?
IV IT COULD NOT BE A PUNISHMENT FOR UNFAITHFULNESS. (Vers. 17-22) They had not forgotten God; their heart was not turned back, neither had their steps declined from his way. They could not explain.
V DID NOT SEEM CONSISTENT WITH GOD"S REGARD TO HIS OWN HONOUR. (Vers. 15, 16, 24) He seemed to be taking the side of the blasphemer, and forgetting their fidelity. And this was the mystery of their experience.
VI YET IT DID NOT UPROOT THEIR FAITH IN DIVINE HELP AT LAST. For they continue to supplicate the redeeming interposition of God (vers. 23-26). Faith always conquers its difficulties thus, by trusting where it cannot see or explain. S.
The blessing of memory: a commemoration sermon.
"We have heard," etc. Memory is the thread which binds life together. A failing memory is one of the saddest infirmities of old age. Yet there is often this compensation that the long-distant past is well remembered. The old man forgets what weather it was yesterday, but the sunny birthdays and snowy Christmas Days of childhood live in his memory. The old house, the old frees and voices, the old joys and sorrows, the lessons that sank into his heart in childhood are with him still. Suppose the reverse possible that one had a clear memory of even the least occurrences of the last few weeks or mouths, but no memory of things long ago; no associations clinging, binding him to old scenes, old friends; not so much as an old prejudice; what a shallow, mechanical, uninteresting life his would be! There are common memories as well as individual; household words, family traditions, public and national history, sacred heritages of former generations. One of the most precious possessions of mankind is the knowledge and remembrance of the past.
I THE DUTY AND BENEFIT OF REMEMBERING THE PAST is taught in the most impressive way in the Bible. Its whole structure is historical. Alone among books, it professes to trace an unbroken line of family history from the first human being to the beginning of the Christian era; ending in him who is "the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever." Its deepest and greatest lessons are bound up with the lives, the examples, the prayers, the spiritual experience of men who loved and feared God thousands of years ago. What could make up for the loss, if we could forget the faith of Abraham, the Laws of Moses, the Psalms of David? But the lives of these and other spiritual heroes are but links in the history of a great spiritual community the Church of God. Christians, St. Paul tells us, are children of Abraham. The gospel itself is history. Our Saviour consecrated this principle when he said, "Do this in remembrance of me.
II FORGETFULNESS OF THE PAST MEANS IGNORANCE OF GOD"S DEALINGS. His most wonderful works and glorious manifestations. The great law of God"s creation, providence, and grace is that the present grows out of the past, and is the root and seed of the future. The watchword of modern philosophy, evolution," has been used as a sort of conjuring word to get rid of God; to show how the universe may dispense with a Creator. But Scripture is full of evolution in the truest and highest sense, viz. the unfolding of God"s purpose, the development of Divine thought and love. "Evolution" means "unfolding" or "out-folding." Nothing can be unfolded that has not been folded up. The plan, order, beauty, unity, life, happiness, of this wonderful universe could not be folded up in atoms of fiery gas, which after millions of years come out still as unchanged atoms of gas. They could be folded up nowhere but in a mind able to see the end from the beginning, and in the beginning to prepare for every following step and stage. What is true of God"s works in creation is true of his providential government of men and of nations; and equally true of his grace. (Eph_1:4 Eph_3:9)
III FORGETFULNESS OF THE PAST IS GREAT INGRATITUDE. True, we suffer for the faults and follies of our ancestors; but they conquered for us a rich inheritance. Who can reckon what we owe to the men who invented letters, figures, the plough, the loom, the anvil, the ship? Where should we be to-day without the mariner"s compass, the printing-press, the steam-engine? So in spiritual things. What do we owe to the evangelists for the four Gospels; to St. Paul and the other apostles for their Epistles; to the translators of the Scriptures; to reformers, preachers, sacred poets, writers? Ungrateful forgetfulness and consequent undervaluing of the past is one of the dangers and faults of our age. We are in little peril of the Chinese superstition worshipping our ancestors. Men"s eyes turn feverishly to the future. What is old is set down as antiquated, obsolete, worn-out. In the wonderful movement, amazing discoveries, manifold progress of our day, we are apt to forget that our ancestors sowed, or at least ploughed, where we reap; and made the roads along which we travel, and the ladders by which we climb. If language, institutions, art, science, industry, had to make a fresh start with each generation, life would never rise above barbarism.
CONCLUSION. There is a sense in which it is well to forget the past its failures, so far as they would discourage; its achievements, so far as they would content us. (Php_3:13, 14) We are not to dwell among the tombs; not to resemble a man carrying a looking-glass before him, which reflects only what is behind, and hides his path; but we are to converse with the past, that we may learn thankfulness, (Psa_103:2) humility, (Job_15:7) courage, (Jam_5:17) wisdom, (1Co_10:11) faith and hope. (Psa_77:10, 11 48:14)
HOMILIES BY W. FORSYTH Vers. 1-26. "In the days of old.
From this psalm we may learn three great lessons
I WE ARE TAUGHT TO SEE GOD"S HAND IN HISTORY. There is no such thing as chance. "The chapter of accidents," as some one has well said, "is the Bible of the fool." There are differences in the nations and the ages; but God is in all. We acknowledge how God was with the Jews; but we are not so ready to admit that he had to do just as really and truly with other peoples. The difference, in the case of the Jews is that as to them the veil has been lifted, that light has been thrown upon their history. The story of their nation was written as by the hand of God himself, and was committed as a sacred heritage to be transmitted pure and entire from generation to generation. (Deu_6:7-20; cf. Moses, Exo_18:8; David, Psa_58:8; Hezekiah, Isa_38:19) But, as St. Paul has taught us, "All these things happened to them for ensamples; and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come". (1Co_10:11) God governs the nations on the same principles as he governed the Jews. "There are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all". (1Co_12:6)
II HOW GOD IS CARRYING OUT HIS OWN GREAT END THROUGH ALL THE AGES OF HISTORY. The wise man said, "One generation passeth away, and another cometh; but the earth abideth for ever". (Ecc_1:4) But if the earth abideth it is because God abideth. He has his plans as to men, and throughout the ages he is working them out. There is the manifestation of himself. More and more the knowledge of God has increased. The Jews knew more than the patriarchs. The Christians know more than the Jews. Besides, God is, in a sense, educating the world. We stand related to the past and the future. We have learned much from the past. God employs one age to benefit another. How great are our obligations, through books and otherwise, to the great men of the past to Gentiles and Jews! We are the heirs of all the ages. And if we have benefited by those who came before us, so we are bound to benefit those who come after us. Privilege is the measure of responsibility. "Unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required". (Luk_12:48) We see but a little, and, as oar knowledge is limited, our judgment must be imperfect. Yet we see and know enough to be satisfied that God is working in and by all events, and that he works ever towards a perfect end. "Happy the man who sees a God employ"d In all the good and ill that checker life, Resolving all events, with their effects And manifold results, into the will And arbitration wise of the Supreme! (Cowper)
III THAT GOD HAS CARED FOR HIS PEOPLE THROUGH ALL THE AGES OF HISTORY. This is the burden of this psalm. This is the great truth that gives life to the faith professed (vers. 1-8); that awakens the complaint of desertion in time of grievous trial (vers. 9-16); that sustains the hope of help and ultimate deliverance (vers. 17-26). As in the past, so still, there will be changes not only mercies, but judgments. There will be trials of our faith; there will be the sharp discipline of chastisement; there will be, in some form or other, the "persecution" which tests our loyalty, and strengthens and purifies our love. But, come what will, God changes not; and God is our God. Our trust in men may fail, our hopes of earthly leaders may be disappointed and put to shame; but God is faithful who has promised, and he will never forsake those who trust in him. After Culloden, a soldier of Prince Chades"s army was found lying dead on the field, with his Gaelic psalm-book open in his hand, and a bloody finger-mark at the ninth verse of this psalm, "But thou hast cast off, and put us to shame, and doest not forth with our armies." But Christ, the great Captain of our salvation, will not suffer the least of his soldiers thus to die, with blighted hopes and broken heart. W.F.
HOMILIES BY C. SHORT Vers. 1-26. A prayer for help against foreign enemies.
The train of thought is this: "Thou hast helped us, thou must help us; but thou hast not helped us; yet have we not by any guilt on our part cut ourselves off from thy help; do thou therefore help us." The problem of suffering , as argued in this psalm, is similar to the problem in the Book of Job. That God should not help them
I WAS INCONSISTENT WITS GOD"S PAST TREATMENT OF THEM. (Vers. 1-3) Their fathers had told them what work God had done in their days in the days of old. What a history of Divine work have we in the past of the Christian Church!
II INCONSISTENT WITH THEIR FAITH IN HIM. (Vers. 4-8) God was their Almighty King, through whom they were able to achieve all conquests.
III IT WOULD BRING NO PROFIT OR HONOUR TO GOD. (Ver. 12) To leave them to their enemies. How could God act thus, so as to seem to dishonour himself and to bring no profit to his people?
IV IT COULD NOT BE A PUNISHMENT FOR UNFAITHFULNESS. (Vers. 17-22) They had not forgotten God; their heart was not turned back, neither had their steps declined from his way. They could not explain.
V DID NOT SEEM CONSISTENT WITH GOD"S REGARD TO HIS OWN HONOUR. (Vers. 15, 16, 24) He seemed to be taking the side of the blasphemer, and forgetting their fidelity. And this was the mystery of their experience.
VI YET IT DID NOT UPROOT THEIR FAITH IN DIVINE HELP AT LAST. For they continue to supplicate the redeeming interposition of God (vers. 23-26). Faith always conquers its difficulties thus, by trusting where it cannot see or explain. S.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Charles H. Spurgeon1885 · Public DomainOn vv1–3Title. To the Chief Musician for the sons of…
Title. To the Chief Musician for the sons of Korah, Maschil. The title is similar to the forty-second, and although this is no proof that it is by the same author it makes it highly probable. No other writer should be sought for to father any of the Psalms when David will suffice, and therefore we are loathe to ascribe this sacred song to any but the great psalmist, yet as we hardly know any period of his life which it would fairly describe, we feel compelled to look elsewhere. Some Israelitish patriot fallen on evil times, sings in mingled faith and sorrow, his country's ancient glory and her present griefs, her traditions of former favour and her experience of pressing ills. By Christians it can best be understood if put into the mouth of the church when persecution is peculiarly severe. The last verses remind us of Milton's famous lines on the massacre of the Protestants among the mountains of Piedmont.
The song before us is fitted for the voices of the saved by grace, the sons of Korah, and is to them and to all others full of teaching, hence the title Maschil.
Read full note →
Division. From Ps 44:1-3, the Lord's mighty works for Israel are rehearsed, and in remembrance of them faith in the Lord is expressed Ps 44:4-8. Then the notes of complaint are heard Ps 44:9-16, the fidelity of the people to their God is aroused, Ps 44:17-22, and the Lord is entreated to interpose, Ps 44:23-26.
Ver. 1. We have heard with our ears, O God. Thy mighty acts have been the subjects of common conversation; not alone in books have we read thy famous deeds, but in the ordinary talk of the people we have heard of them. Among the godly Israelites the biography of their nation was preserved by oral tradition, with great diligence and accuracy. This mode of preserving and transmitting history has its disadvantages, but it certainly produces a more vivid impression on the mind than any other; to hear with the ears affects us more sensitively than to read with the eyes; we ought to note this, and seize every possible opportunity of telling abroad the gospel of our Lord Jesus viva voce, since this is the most telling mode of communication. The expression, "heard with our ears, "may denote the pleasure with which they listened, the intensity of their interest, the personality of their hearing, and the lively remembrance they had of the romantic and soul stirring narrative. Too many have ears but hear not; happy are they who, having ears, have learned to hear. Our fathers have told us. They could not have had better informants. Schoolmasters are well enough, but godly fathers are, both by the order of nature and grace, the best instructors of their sons, nor can they delegate the sacred duty. It is to be feared that many children of professors could plead very little before God of what their fathers have told them. When fathers are tongue tied religiously with their offspring, need they wonder if their children's hearts remain sin tied? Just as in all free nations men delight to gather around the hearth, and tell the deeds of valour of their sires "in the brave days of old, "so the people of God under the old dispensation made their families cheerful around the table, be rehearsing the wondrous doings of the Lord their God. Religious conversation need not be dull, and indeed it could not be if, as in this case, it dealt more with facts and less with opinions. What work thou didst in their days, in the times of old. They began with what their own eyes had witnessed, and then passed on to what were the traditions of their youth. Note that the main point of the history transmitted from father to son was the work of God; this is the core of history, and therefore no man can write history aright who is a stranger to the Lord's work. It is delightful to see the footprints of the Lord on the sea of changing events, to behold him riding on the whirlwind of war, pestilence, and famine, and above all to see his unchanging care for his chosen people. Those who are taught to see God in history have learned a good lesson from their fathers, and no son of believing parents should be left in ignorance of so holy an art. A nation tutored as Israel was in a history so marvellous as their own, always had an available argument in pleading with God for aid in trouble, since he who never changes gives in every deed of grace a pledge of mercy yet to come. The traditions of our past experience are powerful pleas for present help.
Whole Psalm. On a survey of this Psalm, it would seem not to admit of a doubt that the speakers are of the race of Israel; and yet expositors for the most part have found much difficulty in so understanding it, in thisthe natural senseso as even to be compelled to abandon it, owing to the impossibility of fixing on any period in the history of that people which would furnish an occasion for it, and verify its language. Thus, it cannot be referred to the times of the Babylonish captivity; for to this it is objected, and with reason; first, that Ps 44:11 4:14 represent the speakers as "scattered among the nations, "and "a byword among the peoples, "whereas their exile was then confined to one country; and, secondly, that in Ps 44:17-21 there is an assertion of faithful adherence to the worship of the true God, which he is called to witness as acquitting the sufferers of having brought the evil on themselves, while that captivity was a punishment of the nation for their apostasy, and especially for the grievous sin of idolatry. And the same objections lie to interpreting it with reference to the times of Antiochus Epiphanes and the Maccabees; beside that, the history of the canon of Scripture is decisive against assigning so late a date to any of the Psalms. Still less can the times of David be looked to for the occasion, since, though religion was then pure, there was, on the other hand, no dispersion of the nation nor any calamity such as to warrant the lamentation, "Thou hast cast us off, and put us to shame. ...Thou hast given us like sheep appointed for meat, "etc. Whence it appeared that there was no alternative but to consider the Psalm as exclusively the language of the Christian church, and, in her primitive days, as the period at once of her greatest purity and suffering. William de Burgh.
Whole Psalm. S. Ambrose observes, that in former Psalms we have seen a prophecy of Christ's passion, resurrection, and ascension and of the coming of the Holy Ghost, and that here we are taught that we ourselves must be ready to struggle and suffer, in order that these things may profit us. Human will must work together with divine grace. Christopher Wordsworth.
Ver. 1. We have heard with our ears, i.e., we have both heard and heeded it with utmost attention and affection. It is not a pleonasmus, but an emphasis that is here used. John Trapp.
Ver. 1. Our fathers have told us. Hear this, saith Basil, ye fathers that neglect to teach your children such things as may work his fear and love in them, and faith to rely upon and seek to him in all times of danger. They made their mouths, as it were, books, wherein the mighty deeds of the Lord might be read to his praise, and to the drawing of their children's hearts unto him. John Mayer.
Ver. 1. What work thou didst. Why only work in the singular, when such innumerable deliverances had been wrought by him, from the passage of the Red Sea to the destruction of the hundred and eighty-five thousand in the camp of the Assyrians? Because all these were but types of that one great work, that one stretching forth of the Lord's hand, when Satan was vanquished, death destroyed, and the kingdom of heaven opened to all believers. Ambrose.
Ver. 1. What work thou didst. While the songs of other nations sing of the heroism of their ancestors, the songs of Israel celebrate the works of God. Augustus F. Tholuck.
Ver. 1. Three necessary requirements for learning well: 1. Intention and attention in him who hears, we have heard with our ears. 2. Authority in him that teaches, our fathers have told us. 3. Love between the teacher and the taught, "our fathers." Hugo (Cardinal), quoted in Neale's Commentary.
Ver 1-2,4-8. Children are their parent's heirs; it were unnatural for a father before he dies to bury up his treasure in the earth, where his children should not find or enjoy it; now the mercies of God are not the least part of his treasure, nor the least of his children's inheritance, being both helps to their faith, matter for their praise, and spurs to their obedience. Our fathers have told us, what work thou didst in their days, how thou didst drive out the heathen, etc. Ps 44:1-2; from this they ground their confidence; Ps 44:4: Thou art my King, O God: command deliverances for Jacob; and excite their thankfulness, Ps 44:8 In God we boast all the day long, and praise thy name for ever. Indeed, as children are their parent's heirs, so they become in justice liable to pay their parents' debts; now the great debt which the saint at death stands charged with, is that which he owes to God for his mercies, and, therefore it is but reason he should tie his posterity to the patent thereof. Thus mayest thou be praising God in heaven and earth at the same time. William Gurnall.
Ver. 1. The encouraging traditions of church history. The days of yore.
Ver. 1. The parent's duty, and the children's privilege.
Ver. 1. Family conversation, the most profitable subject for it.
Ver. 1. The true glory of the good old times.
Psalms 44:2*
Ver. 1-2,4,8. See Psalms on "Ps 44:1" for further information.
Ver. 1-2,4,8. See Psalms on "Ps 44:1" for further information.
Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
The Biblical Illustrator1887 · Public DomainOn vv1, 3We have heard with our ears, O God; our…
Psa_44:1-26
We have heard with our ears, O God; our fathers have told us what work Thou didst.
Read full note →
Aspects of national piety
There is such a thing as national piety. I mean the aggregation of genuine godly thought, sympathy and aspiration, whether found in the breast of paupers or princes. Here we have it represented--
I. As acknowledging Gods providential kindness to the nation in the past (Verses 1-8).
1. The certain assurance of it. We have heard it as an historical fact--heard it from our own fathers, who would not deceive us, and who told it to us in love. Gods merciful interpositions on behalf of the Hebrew people are recorded, not only in the annals of the chosen people, but in the progress of the human race, not only in documents and monuments, but through an institution as divine as nature, as old as the race, viz. parental teaching.
2. The striking manifestations of it. How Thou didst drive out the heathen, etc. It is not our armies and navies that have saved us and made us what we are, but God.
3. The practical influence of it.
(1) Loyalty towards God.
(2) Confidence in God.
II. As deploring Gods present apparent displeasure toward the nation (Psa_44:9-16). He saw his country--
1. Defeated. But Thou hast cast off, etc. We struggle, but succeed not; there is no victory for us; we are foiled in all our efforts.
2. Victimized. They which hate us, etc. We are made use of by our enemies.
3. Enslaved. Thou sellest Thy people for nought, etc.
4. Confounded. My confusion is continually before me, etc. I am ashamed and bewildered. We have lost our dignity and self-command.
5. Scorned. Thou makest us a reproach to our neighbours, etc.
III. As avowing fidelity to God notwithstanding the calamities of the country.
I. A consciousness of fidelity to Heaven. All this is come upon us; yet have we not forgotten Thee, etc.
2. Persecution on account of their fidelity. For Thy sake are we killed, etc.
(1) Genuine piety may co-exist with great suffering. Abraham, David, Job, Paul.
(2) Genuine piety may be stimulated by great suffering.
(3) Genuine piety enables one to bear great suffering.
IV. As invoking Gods interposition in order to restore past privileges.
1. A humanification of Deity. Awake, why sleepest Thou, O Lord? No creature can have a complete conception of the Absolute.
2. Utter prostration of being. Our soul is bowed down to the dust, etc. What stronger expression could there be of depression and degradation than this? In a moral sense all men are thus debased and crushed by sin.
3. Entire dependence on sovereign mercy. Arise for our help, etc. We cannot redeem ourselves, nor can we plead our own merits or excellences as a reason for Thy interposition. (Homilist.)
Gods doings of old
I. Dwelling on the history of the past throws light on the doings of the present.
1. We learn the principle of development. Men are taught that all our present privileges in knowledge, science, civilization and religion came from very small sources. We know that God performed wonders of old, but we also know that those wonders have been continuously progressive.
2. We learn the principle of equalization. If God has done great things for us, He did great things for those of old. They may not have had the full revelation of religion, but they had to exercise faith in the same way as we do.
3. We learn the lesson of common depravity. The people of old did not notice Gods works at the time they were wrought. And so we all allow mercies to come to us unheeded and unpraised, and not till they are taken away do we appreciate their worth.
II. Dwelling on the history of the past throws light upon the faithfulness of God. He is a God who changes not and who never deserts His people.
III. Dwelling on the history of the past throws light upon our expectations for the future. What God has been He will always be. (Homilist.)
Early Israel, the Lords host
The spirit evinced in these words is very different from that which is regarded by some as the special excellency of modern times. It is supposed to be the height of wisdom now to laugh at what our father said, and to show what utter fools they were in comparison with their supremely wise and enlightened sons. Instead of our fathers being the men, and wisdom dying with them, we are the men, and wisdom was non-existent until we appeared. Now, I venture to say that our fathers never did or said anything more silly than the modern extravagance I have now described. We blame the Jews for thinking that Gods love stopped with them, and then we coolly declare that Gods wisdom began with us. Of the two, the Jew had the greater excuse for his onesidedness. Our text clearly introduces us to the time of Joshua, when Israel invaded the land of the Canaanites avowedly by a Divine commission, and destroyed its inhabitants in the name of the Lord.
I. Now they really had a divine commission to do this, or they had not. The very plausible objection is based upon a comparison of tribal histories in primitive times. There is no need to deny the presence of important analogies between the history of Israel and that of other tribes, for the special mission of Israel did not make it cease to be human in its history. But its subsequent history is sufficient to show that it occupied a position of pre-eminence from the beginning as the chosen of God. However rudely it may have conceived its mission, to deny its special mission at the commencement of that history is to make its subsequent development unintelligible, and to declare that its life was false at its very foundation. Next, it is objected that Israel could not have received such a mandate from God, seeing that it was immoral to engage in such aggressive wars. But such an objection as this is pure assumption, and fails to take account of different moral conditions and necessities. It is further urged that the cruelties sometimes practised by Israel upon the conquered are morally indefensible. This may be perfectly true, but it is not relevant as an objection. The abuse of a commission does not prove the denial of its reality.
II. The continuity of their mission is seen further in the power in which they trusted. Israel very significantly distinguished at the very first between the might of its army and the might of its God. This was very important, for it contained the germ of all further development. This distinction between God and physical force makes God definitely ethical. It was this God that gave Israel a mission. No doubt there were many crudenesses in it. It was but as the grey dawn, and was separated by many a stage from the perfect day. But whatever the form of the mission, it was such as was necessary for the time, and was distinctly ethical in spirit. The God they served and in whom they trusted is the eternal God, that liveth and abideth for ever.
III. In perfect harmony with these characteristics was their belief in their divine election. Because Thou hadst a favour unto them. It is important to note that this election, though insisted upon with great emphasis, was ethically conceived. Everything in the religious thought of Israel was necessarily related to its essential conception of God as an ethical Being. Hence the true faith of Israel affords no prototype of later conceptions of arbitrary and non-ethical election and rejection. The true prototype of these is found in corruptions and perversions of Israels true faith. We must point out further that Israels election, as truly conceived, simply imposed upon Israel a special task and mission, and issued no decree of exclusion upon the rest of the world. Putting it generally and tersely we may say that Gods elections do not involve exclusions. The man of Gods choice, who is called to make known in his life the thought and life of God is so far exclusive that he makes war against sin in such a form as is suitable to the age in which he lives, but the final object of his mission is to lead others to share his life and spirit, and to enter into his heritage. This the prophets clearly perceived to be the true purpose of Israels election (Isa_60:3). (John Thomas, M. A.)
Lessons from the past
This verse, slightly altered in form though not in sense, occupies a prominent place in the Church Litany. It is not a prayer at all: it does not form one of that long series of supplications of which the Litany consists. The origin of the Litany is very interesting. It is a most perfect and beautiful sample of a large class of devotions which in earlier ages abounded in the Church, and which seem to have taken their rise in those dark and anxious days which accompanied and followed upon the break-up of the Roman Empire. There, battle, murder and sudden death; plague, pestilence and famine, and all the calamities attendant on what seemed to be the entire collapse of social order, were common things. Hence, when the misery of the people seemed likely to bring in its train the withdrawal of such small blessings as they had, and even, in some cases, the fierce ungodliness of despair; then it was that, in their agony, holy souls turned towards God and sought to enkindle the souls around them by the sharp, prominate ejaculations, such as men might spontaneously utter amid the ruins of a falling world. Our Litany was drafted at the time of the Reformation from earlier compositions of this kind, and it maintains its supplicatory character throughout with a simple and emphatic exception. Between the two solemn adjurations to God to arise and help, there comes in the verse of the psalm, O God, we have heard with our ears, and our fathers, etc. It is an appeal, if we may reverently say so, to the historic consistency of God. It is an act of acknowledgment and praise, and we find the reason for its occurrence in the Litany in the drift and history of the psalm from which it is taken. This psalm was written, probably, at a time and under circumstances not unlike those which some centuries later created the Litanies of the Christian Church. It probably belongs to those dark times which immediately preceded the great and final catastrophe of the Babylonish Captivity. We live over those times, as nowhere else in Holy Scripture, in the pages of Jeremiah. Everything was pointing to some coming disaster: there was failure abroad, there was misery at home. At such times the hearts of thoughtful and religious men turned back upon the past of Israel and upon all that God had done for Israel. Was He not the same God? Was not Israel the same people? Would He be, could He be, inconsistent with Himself? Surely it was enough to remind Him of His mercies in the past to be certain that the future would in some way not be unprovided for. O God, we have heard with our ears, etc. Now, since human history is a record of the way and will of God, we may explain why it is that so large a portion of the Bible is made up of history. It has a distinctly religious use as showing how God works and what He is. There are two main reasons which practically make history so precious at all times, and especially in times of public or private anxiety, and the first is, that it takes us out of the present, takes us out of ourselves. We are taken out of the clouded and fluctuating present, and how can we better learn than from experience, if the judgment be undisturbed? It is also a record of the unalterable character of human nature, and it places us face to face with the infinite and eternal God. I am Jehovah, and change not. Now, to apply this, there are three departments of human life in which this recurrence to the past is of great religious value.
I. The family. Every family has its traditions as well as its hopes. We see it in the families of the wealthy and powerful, amid nobles and princes. To be the descendant from great and illustrious families is to inherit a past of which every educated man feels the magnificence and the power. And it is not less true of the humble and undistinguished lives which belong to most of us. When a boy is told that some generations ago one of his ancestors did something noble and generous; when he is told that, but for the misconduct of such and such a member of the family, he and his would be in a very different position now; and when he is bidden imitate that which was noble, and shun that which was bad in them who went before him, he is brought in this way under the play of very powerful motives, and which cannot but have much influence over him. They are part of the predestined discipline, depend upon it, to which God subjects him, and a very valuable part too.
II. There is our country. And here we have to remember that God shapes the destiny of every nation as surely as He did that of Judah and Israel. It should be part of every young Englishmans education to trace Gods hand in the annals of his country until he can with sincerity and fervour exclaim, O God, we have heard with our ears, etc. And then there is--
III. The great and sacred home of souls--the church of Jesus Christ. And all this has to do with personal religion, for it is the religious use of history which enables us better to do our duty in home, in nation and in the Church, and it makes history itself full of interest and encouragement. (Canon Liddon.)
The story of Gods mighty acts
No stories stick by us so long as those that we hear in our childhood, notwithstanding that so many of them are idle, vain and fabulous. But amongst the early Christians and the old believers in the far-off times, nursery tales were far different from what they are now. Abraham would, no doubt, talk to young children about the flood, and the Israelites who had been in bondage in Egypt would tell their children about that, and how the Lord delivered them. In primitive Christianity it was the custom of parents to tell their children the story of Jesus, and so it was among our Puritanic ancestors. The old Dutch tiles were the lesson-books in Bible history of many beside Doddridge. The writer of this psalm seems to have had told him by his father the story of the wondrous things God had done in the days of old. Let us now recall such things, and speak--
I. Of the wonderful stories we have heard of the lords ancient doings. God has, at times, done very mighty acts at which men have been exceedingly amazed. See the history of Israel in Egypt, in the wilderness, in Canaan; of Sennacherib and many more. And in the New Testament, of Pentecost and of all the triumphs of the Gospel told of there. And since those days in the history of the Church, of Chrysostom, Luther, Calvin and others not a few. And nearer to our own times, of Wesley, Whitfield and the Methodists. Now, in all these works of old there were these features--
1. They were sudden. The old stagers in our churches think that things must grow gently, by degrees. But all Gods works have been sudden. At Pentecost. At the Reformation. In Whitfields day. And so in all revivals.
2. Gods instruments have been insignificant. See little David when he slew Goliath; a woman slew Sisera. And also were Luther, Whitfield and the rest.
3. And all these works were attended with much prayer.
II. The disadvantages under which these old stories frequently labour. People say, Oh, times are different now. But has God changed? Cannot He do vow what He did of old?
III. The proper inferences that are to be drawn from the old stories of Gods mighty deeds.
1. There should be gratitude and praise.
2. Prayer. For how many are still unsaved. Preaching will not alone save them. God has done much in answer to prayer.
3. Entire dependence upon God. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The days of old
A frivolous and shallow person once inquired of an old Carthusian monk how he had contrived to get through his life. He replied in the words of another psalm, I have considered the days of old, the years of ancient times. That man had found one great secret of hope, and cheerfulness, and moral strength. It is unquestionably an immense gain to be able to get beyond our own little life and the little circle which is round it, and to allow our thoughts and sympathies to work in the wider and freer region of the worlds past and present and future. Is it not profoundly melancholy in this world whose history is of such solemn, and indeed painful, interest, to listen to the thing called conversation by vast numbers? Education has done so little for vast numbers that if they do not converse about their neighbours, they cannot converse at all. They are simply without topics. It is pre-eminently the result of mental training that we have the power to get away from our own concerns and surroundings, to feel ourselves one with all mankind, to know that they and we are moving forward to the fulfilment of a glorious hope. Here, however, it is that the influence of religion enters in. Reading and writing and arithmetic, essential as they are, have no tendency to enlarge the mind or to widen the mental horizon. But put the Bible into the hands of a child, and at once that child becomes aware of the fact that its little world is but a corner of the great wide world, that its little existence is but a segment of the life of the race. And at once an idea is set before it under an immense variety of aspects which inevitably expands its mind, and by doing this achieves one of the greatest aims of education. The child learns that it is in a very large world, a member of the great human family; it is taught to look back to a past in which God has been wise and good, to look forward to a future in which that wisdom and goodness will be more perfectly justified and unfolded. This habit of considering the days of old and the years of ancient times will have two happy results; it will teach humility, and it will calm down anxiety. While we thank God for the light He has vouchsafed in these last days, while we will not lend an ear to the suggestion that knowledge, progress, science, civilization are bad things, we must also disallow the monstrous notion that there was no wisdom in the world until this century. There were giants in the earth in those days. And as we thus learn modesty, so may we, by considering the days of old and the veers of ancient times be delivered from unreasoning panic and unbelieving timidity. The faith is attacked; And was it never attacked before? Surely the intellectual shock which men experienced at the Reformation was far more violent than any which is felt now. A hundred years ago there was a more widespread and pestilent scepticism than any we have to lament; yet religion grappled with it, did not simply stand on the defensive, but attacked, and attacked successfully. It seems to me that the robust trust of these old psalms cries shame upon us, who live in a brighter and happier day. For the individual as for the community the ultimate trust must be in the character of God, in His faithfulness most of all. (J. A. Jacob, M. A.)
The eternal providence of God
I. Providence is not of yesterday. Men love what is ancient. Now, this antiquity of Providence is not a myth. The Psalms are historical. They were written some thousands of years ago, and yet the writers speak of former times of old.
II. The man is very bold who disputes this providence. He must be either a very great or a very little man; there can be nothing common about him. But he ought to be sworn before he gives evidence. We have a right to know who he is. We cannot have any chatter upon this great question.
III. Providence is a revelation: there is a Gospel of Providence. It is a Gospel to be assured that the foundation of your haven is strong; that all things are under the hand of God.
IV. And there is a providence of facts. The men of old abused these, and from a long succession of such observations they drew their conclusions. History seems to make it more difficult to deny than to admit Providence.
V. Whatever objection any may have against the doctrine, its effect on life is good. We ask, what kind of man does this belief in Providence produce; what fruit does it bear? The creed which says God is, God rules, God will judge--what manner of man will this creed make? It will give courage. See Moses before Pharaoh. And what blessed peace it imparts. But surely this is a great presumption in favour of its truth. And thus should all theology be tested. What are its effects; how does the theology come out in the life?
VI. The miraculous element is no difficulty. For what miracle can exceed the miracle of your own spiritual development? The story of the Red Sea has been true of ourselves, such seas have been before us, and they have opened for us, and we have gone through them as on dry land. And the story of the manna; do we not know all about that? We must read the Bible as having to do with our own life.
VII. Providence leads up to redemption. He who takes care of this present life must care for our eternal life. Does God care for oxen; then how much more for man? But if for mans temporal welfare, so that He has provided everything for it, can He have made no provision for the needs of the soul? Impossible I Now, such is our faith to-day. We have come to it not by inheritance but by personal reception of it. We are one of a great band of witnesses that the Lord reigneth, that all that occurs, whatever it be, is by His ordering and under His control. (J. Parker, D. D.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Expositor's Bible1887 · Public DomainOn v1Psalms 44
Psalms 44
CALVIN says that the authorship of this psalm is uncertain, but that it is abundantly clear that it was composed by anyone rather than David, and that its plaintive contents suit best the time when the savage tyranny of Antiochus raged. No period corresponds to the situation which makes the background of the psalm so completely as the Maccabean, for only then could it be truly said that national calamities fell because of the nations rigid monotheism. Other epochs have been thought of, so as to avoid the necessity of recognising Maccabean psalms, but none of them can be said to meet the conditions described in the psalm. The choice lies between accepting the Maccabean date and giving up the attempt to fix one at all.
Read full note →
Objections to that late date based upon the history of the completion of the canon take for granted more accurate and complete knowledge of a very obscure subject than is possessed, and do not seem strong enough to negative the indications arising from the very unique fact, asserted in the psalm, that the nation was persecuted for its faith and engaged in a religious war. The psalm falls into four parts: a wistful look backwards to days already "old," when God fought for them (Psa_44:1-8); a sad contrast in present oppression (Psa_44:9-16); a profession of unfaltering national adherence to the covenant notwithstanding all these ills (Psa_44:17-22); and a fervent cry to a God who seems asleep to awake and rescue His martyred people (Psa_44:23-26).
The first part (Psa_44:1-8) recalls the fact that shone so brightly in all the past, the continual exercise of Divine power giving victory to their weakness, and builds thereon a prayer that the same law of His providence might be fulfilled now. The bitter side of the retrospect forces itself in, to consciousness in the next part, but here Memory is the handmaid of Faith. The whole process of the Exodus and conquest of Canaan is gathered up as one great "work" of Gods hand. The former inhabitants of the land were uprooted like old trees, to give room for planting the "vine out of Egypt." Two stages in the settlement are distinguished in Psa_44:2 : first came the "planting" and next the growth; for the phrase "didst spread them forth" carries on the metaphor of the tree, and expresses the extension of its roots and branches. The ascription of victory to God is made more emphatic by the negatives in Psa_44:3, which take away all credit of it from the peoples own weapons or strength. The consciousness of our own impotence must accompany adequate recognition of Gods agency in our deliverances. The conceit of our own power blinds our vision of His working hand. But what moved His power? No merit of mans, but the infinite free grace of Gods heart. "The light of Thy face" is the symbol of Gods loving regard, and the deepest truth as to His acts of favour is that they are the outcome of His own merciful nature. He is His own motive. "Thou hadst delight in them" is the ultimate word, leading us into sacred abysses of self-existent and self-originated Deity. The spirit, then, of Israels history is contained in these three thoughts: the positive assertion of Gods power as the reason for their victories; the confirmatory negative, putting aside their own prowess; and the tracing of all Gods work for them solely to His unmerited grace.
On this grand generalisation of the meaning of past centuries a prayer is built for their repetition in the prosaic present. The psalmist did not think that God was nearer in some majestic past than now. His unchangeableness had for consequence, as he thought, continuous manifestation of Himself in the same character and relation to His people. Today is as full of God as any yesterday. Therefore Psa_44:4 begins with an emphatic recognition of the constancy of the Divine nature in that strong expression "Thou Thyself," and with an individualising transition for a moment to the singular in "my King," in order to give most forcible utterance to the thought that He was the same to each man of that generation as He had been to the fathers. On that unchanging relation rests the prayer, "Command salvations for (lit. of) Jacob, as if a multitude of several acts of deliverance stood before God, as servants waiting to be sent on His errands. Just as God (Elohim) takes the place of Jehovah in this second book of the Psalter, so in it Jacob frequently stands for Israel. The prayer is no sooner spoken than the confidence in its fulfilment lifts the suppliants heart buoyantly above present defeat, which will in the next turn of thought insist on being felt. Such is the magic of every act of true appeal to God. However dark the horizon, there is light if a man looks straight up. Thus this psalmist breaks into anticipatory paeans of victory. The vivid image of Psa_44:5 is taken from the manner of fighting common to wild horned animals, buffaloes and the like, who first prostrate their foe by their fierce charge and then trample him. The individualising "my" reappears in Psa_44:6, where the negation that had been true of the ancestors is made his own by the descendant. Each man must, as his own act, appropriate the universal relation of God to men and make God his God and must also disown for himself reliance on himself. So he will enter into participation in Gods victories.
Remembrance of the victorious past and confidence in a like victorious future blend in the closing burst of praise and vow for its continuance which vow takes for granted the future continued manifestation of deliverances as occasions for uninterrupted thanksgivings. Well might some long-drawn, triumphant notes from the instruments prolong the impression of the jubilant words.
The song drops in the second part (Psa_44:9-16) from these clear heights with lyric suddenness. The grim facts of defeat and consequent exposure to mocking laughter from enemies force themselves into sight, and seem utterly to contradict the preceding verses. But the first part speaks with the voice of faith and the second with that of sense, and these two may sound in very close sequence or even simultaneously. In Psa_44:9 the two verbs are united by the absence of "us" with the first; and the difference of tense in the Hebrew brings out the dependence of the second on the first, as effect and cause. Gods rejection is the reason for the nations disgrace by defeat. In the subsequent verses the thoughts of rejection and disgrace are expanded, the former in Psa_44:9 b to Psa_44:12, and the latter in Psa_44:13-16. The poet paints with few strokes the whole disastrous rout. We see the fated band going out to battle, with no Pillar of Cloud or Ark of the Covenant at their head. They have but their own weapons and sinews to depend on-not, as of old, a Divine Captain. No description of a fight under such conditions is needed, for it can have only one issue; and so the next clause shows panic-struck flight. Whoever goes into battle without God comes out of it without victory. Next follows plundering, as was the savage wont of these times, and there is no force to oppose the spoilers. The routed fugitives are defenceless and unresisting as sheep, and their fate is to be devoured, or possibly the expression "sheep for food" may be substantially equivalent to "sheep for the slaughter" (Psa_44:22), and may refer to the usual butchery of a defeated army. Some of them are slain and others carried off as slaves. The precise rendering of Psa_44:12 b is doubtful. Calvin, and among the moderns, Hitzig, Ewald, Delitzsch, Cheyne, take it to mean Thou didst not set their prices high. Others, such as Hupfeld, Baethgen, etc., adhere to the rendering, "Thou didst not increase [Thy wealth] by their price." The general sense is clear, and as bold as clear. It is almost sarcasm, directed against the Divine dealings: little has He gained by letting His flock be devoured and scattered. Hupfeld attaches to the bitter saying a deep meaning: namely, that the "sale" did not take place "for the sake of profit or other external worldly ends, as is the case with men, but from higher disciplinary grounds of the Divine government-namely, simply as punishment for their sins for their improvement." Rather it may indicate the dishonour accruing to the God, according to the ideas of the old world, when His votaries were defeated; or it may be the bitter reflection, "We can be of little worth in our Shepherds eyes when He parts with us so easily." If there is any hint of tarnish adhering to the name of God by His peoples defeat, the passage to the second main idea of this part is the easier.
Defeat brings dishonour. The nearer nations, such as Edomites, Ammonites, and other ancestral foes, are ready with their gibes. The more distant peoples make a proverb out of the tragedy, and nod their heads in triumph and scorn. The cowering creature, in the middle of this ring of mockers, is covered with shame as he hears the babel of heartless jests at his expense, and steals a glance at the fierce faces round him.
It is difficult to find historical facts corresponding with this picture. Even if the feature of selling into captivity is treated as metaphor, the rest of the picture needs some pressure to be made to fit the conditions of the Maccabean struggle, to which alone the subsequent avowals of faithfulness to God as the cause of calamity answer. For there were no such periods of disgraceful defeat and utter devastation when once that heroic revolt had begun. The third part of the psalm is in full accord with the religious consciousness of that Indian summer of national glories; but it must be acknowledged that the state of things described in this second part does not fit quite smoothly into the hypothesis of a Maccabean date.
The third part (Psa_44:17-22) brings closely together professions of righteousness, which sound strangely in Christian ears, and complaints of suffering, and closes with the assertion that these two are cause and effect. The sufferers are a nation of martyrs, and know themselves to be so. This tone is remarkable when the nation is the speaker; for though we find individuals asserting innocence and complaining of undeserved afflictions in many psalms, a declaration of national conformity with the Law is in sharp contradiction both to history and to the uniform tone of prophets. This psalmist asserts not only national freedom from idolatry, but adherence in heart and act to the Covenant. No period before the exile was clear of the taint of idol worship and yet darkened by calamity. We have no record of any events before the persecutions that roused the Maccabean struggle which answer to the martyr cry of Psa_44:22 : "For Thy sake we are killed all the day." It may, indeed, be questioned what is the relation in time of the two facts spoken of in Psa_44:17-19. Which comes first, the calamity or the steadfastness? Does the psalmist mean, "We are afflicted, and yet we are in affliction true to God," or "We were true to God, and yet are afflicted"?
Probably the latter, as in the remainder of this part. "The place of jackals" is apparently the field of defeat referred to in the second part, where obscene creatures would gather to feast on the plundered corpses. The Christian consciousness cannot appropriate the psalmists asseverations of innocence, and the difference between them, and it should not be slurred over. But, on the other hand, his words should not be exaggerated into charges of injustice against God. nor claims of absolute sinlessness. He does feel that present national distresses have not the same origin as past ones had had. There has been no such falling away as to account for them. But he does not arraign Gods government. He knows why the miseries have come, and that he and his fellows are martyrs. He does not fling that fact down as an accusation of Providence, but as the foundation of a prayer and as a plea for Gods help. The words may sound daring; still they are not blasphemy, but supplication.
The fourth part is importunate prayer. Its frank anthropomorphisms of a sleeping God, forgetting His people, surely need little defence. Sleep withdraws from knowledge of and action on the external world, and hence is attributed to God, when He allows evils to run unchecked. He is said to "awake," or, with another figure, to "arise," as if starting from His throned calm, when by some great act of judgment He smites flourishing evil into nothingness. Injustice is surely done to these cries of the Ecclesia pressa when they are supposed to be in opposition to the other psalmists word: "He that keepeth Israel slumbers not, nor sleeps." Some commentators call these closing petitions commonplace; and so they are. Extreme need and agony of supplication have other things to think of than originality, and so long as sorrows are so commonplace and like each other, the cries of the sorrowful will be very much alike. God is pleased with well-worn prayers, which have fitted many lips, and is not so fastidious as some critics.
William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary1892 · Public DomainOn v1Superscription.—“To the Chief Musician for the sons of Korah,…
INTRODUCTION
Superscription.—“To the Chief Musician for the sons of Korah, Maschil.” See introduction to Psalms 42.
Read full note →
We have no means of determining who was the author of the psalm. Nor are we able to ascertain with certainty upon what occasion it was composed. The various speculations and conjectures on the subject are not amongst the most satisfactory things with which we are acquainted. Looking at the psalm from the homiletic standpoint, we have: a well-founded assurance (Psa_44:1-8); a painful experience (Psa_44:9-16); and an earnest appeal and prayer (Psa_44:17-26).
A WELL-FOUNDED ASSURANCE
(Psa_44:1-8.)
In the consideration of the Psalmist’s confidence in God, founded upon His former doings on behalf of His chosen people, many points will arise which, without any forced interpretation, will illustrate His work for and in the soul of the Christian believer, and which are fitted to encourage our confidence in Him. We have here—
I. A commemoration of God’s former and glorious doings.
1. The nature of these doings. “Thou didst drive out the heathen with Thy hand, and plantedst them; Thou didst afflict the people, and cast them out.” The Psalmist here sets forth
(1) The expulsion of the Canaanites and the establishment of the Israelites in their land. By the Divine power the original inhabitants of Canaan were driven from that country, and the chosen people planted therein. The figure of planting a nation or a people is frequent in both literature and conversation. We meet with it in Exo_15:17 and Psa_80:8. The figure-suggests the ideas of life, growth, and fruitfulness. It is with a view to these that we plant trees.
(2) The affliction of the Canaanites, and the growth of the Israelites. “Thou didst afflict the people, and cast them out.” Upon the heathens the Lord brought calamities, while He blessed His own people with increase in the land. The words “cast them out,” or “spread them abroad,” refer not to the Canaanites, but to the Israelites. God had extended them like the branches of a tree. We meet with the same idea in Psa_80:11. “It sent out its boughs to the sea, and its branches to the river.” Barnes says that “the parallelism here clearly demands” this interpretation. This view is adopted by Alexander, Hengstenberg, Luther, De Wette, Tholuck, et al. Now, whether we view this work in relation to the nation expelled or to the nation planted and increased, it is a great work; and illustrates His work in us. It is He that casts out our spiritual foes, our inbred sins; that plants us in the kingdom of His grace; and that enables us to grow in grace. The beginning and the progress of spiritual life are with Him:
2. The Author of these doings. “Work Thou didst,” &c.
(1) Negatively. “They got not the land in possession by their own sword, neither did their own arm save them.” It was by neither their might nor their courage that they dispossessed the Canaanites and took their land.
(2) Positively. “But Thy right hand, and Thine arm, and the light of Thy countenance.” He favoured them and fought for them, or they would have fought in vain. How true is this in spiritual life! The foes of our soul-life laugh to scorn our unaided efforts to conquer them. God alone has the power to quicken us into spiritual life, enable us to grow, and vanquish our foes.
3. The reason of these doings. “Because Thou hadst a favour unto them.” The Israelites did not merit the glorious doings of God on their behalf. We discover little merit in them, but much demerit. They owed all to God’s free and sovereign favour. “Not for thy righteousness,” said Moses, “or for the uprightness of thine heart, dost thou go to possess their land; but for the wickedness of these nations the Lord thy God doth drive them out from before thee, and that He may perform the word which the Lord sware unto thy fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Understand, therefore, that the Lord thy God giveth thee not this good land to possess it for thy righteousness; for thou art a stiffnecked people.” God’s work in us, for our salvation, is entirely due to His own free, unmerited, sovereign favour. “By grace are ye saved.”
4. The obligation of every generation to transmit to posterity an account of the doings of God in their day. “We have heard with our ears, O God, our fathers have told us,” &c. Generation after generation had been thrilled with the narration of God’s glorious deeds of former times. “Those that went before us told us what God did in their days, we are bound to tell those that come after us what He has done in our days, and let them do the like justice to those that shall succeed them; thus shall one generation praise His works to another, the fathers to the children shall make known His truth.”
5. The obligation of every generation to profit by the experiences of those who have gone before. We are the “heirs of all the ages,” and ought to be wiser, braver, holier than those who have gone before us. History is charged with
(1) Admonition as to the evil of sin, &c.
(2) Encouragement to trust in God, to serve humanity for Him, &c. Are we heeding its teachings?
II. A declaration of confidence in God. (Psa_44:4-8). This confidence is set forth, and is worthy of imitation in several respects.
1. In the ground on which their faith rested. It rests on what He had done for their fathers and for them in former times. Out of what He has done, their faith in what He will do grows. There is implied here belief in His unchangeableness and faithfulness. He had fulfilled His promises to their fathers; will He not fulfil them to them also? He had done glorious things for their fathers; will He not do glorious things for them also? Is He not The Immutable? God’s past doings in and for us should encourage us to put strong confidence in Him. We are “confident of this very thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.”
2. In the relationship which He sustained to them. “Thou art my King, O God.” “They had taken God for their sovereign Lord, had sworn allegiance to Him, and put themselves under His protection.” He who as the King of their fathers did put forth His power and glory on their behalf, is appealed to by the Psalmist and people as their King in expectation of protection and victory for them. As Hengstenberg puts it, “As certainly as God is the King of Israel—this His past deeds plainly testify—so certainly must these deeds again revive, must He also at the present time dispense salvation to His people.” If God is our King, we may look for protection from Him.
3. In the petition which they present to Him. “Command deliverances for Jacob.” Notice here
(1) The extent of their desires. “Deliverances.” Not one; but as many as are needed for their complete salvation.
(2) The greatness of their faith. “Command.” Michaelis says: “Because he had named God his King, he makes use of a word which points to kingly authority and irresistible power.” He has but to command it, and their salvation shall be accomplished. He speaks, and it is done. We are reminded of the centurion and our Lord. “Speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed.” Let us honour God by a like faith in His power to save.
4. In the renunciation of other objects of trust. “I will not trust in my bow, neither shall my sword save me.” In Psa_44:3 the Psalmist declares that it was not their power or weapons that had saved them, but God alone, and in this verse he announces their abandonment of all confidence except that which is fixed in God. In the spiritual life our faith must be fixed in Christ alone for all things, for pardon, power, purity, victory, glory. From first to last we have no Saviour but Jesus, and He is all-sufficient.
5. In their assurance of victory. “Through Thee will we push down our enemies; through Thy name will we tread them under that rise up against us.… Thou savest us from our enemies, and dost put to shame them that hate us.” The idea of the 5th verse is that of a conqueror with his foes completely vanquished, and prostrated and powerless before him. And the 7th verse should be translated and interpreted not in reference to their past but present foes; not to what God had done for them, but what He would do for them. They were confident of complete victory through Him. In the Christian life and conflict we may confidently anticipate victory through our Lord. “The God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly.” “We are more than conquerors through Him that loved us.”
6. In their praise of God. “In God we boast all the day long, and praise Thy name for ever.” “Boast” is not a good rendering. Praise would express the meaning. Or as Hengstenberg translates: “God we extol continually, and Thy name we praise for ever.” They extolled Him as their God, their King, in whom they confidently trusted for salvation. They resolve to praise Him,
(1) Continually. “All the day long.”
(2) Perpetually. “For ever.”
CONCLUSION. Surely this well-founded assurance in God, rising out of the recollection and celebration of His glorious doings for His people in former days, and exercised in the midst of such dark and distressing circumstances, is a thing to be emulated by us. Let every Christian believer seek to tread the path of life, perform its duties, bear its trials, and fight its battles, singing,—
“This God is the God we adore,
Our faithful, unchangeable Friend;
Whose love is as great as His power,
And knows neither measure nor end.
’Tis Jesus, the First and the Last,
Whose Spirit shall guide us safe home;
We’ll praise Him for all that is past,
And trust Him for all that’s to come.”
—Hart.
A PAINFUL EXPERIENCE
(Psa_44:9-16.)
We here come at once upon a complete change of sentiment. In this and the preceding section of the psalm we have a double contrast. Here is a contrast between the exultant confidence in God expressed by the poet as the mouthpiece of the people in the former section and the sorrowful complaint of their miseries in this section. Here also is a contrast between what God had done for them and for their fathers in time past and what He was doing for them now. Consider,—
I. The miseries of which they complain. Of these there are several
1. Their rejection by God. “But Thou hast cast off, and put us to shame, and goest not forth with our armies.” The word translated “cast off” means rejected, forsaken. We are not to suppose that the Psalmist believed that God had utterly abandoned them. With the previous section of the psalm in our mind such a supposition is impossible. But judging from their outward and visible circumstances they seemed forsaken by God. The usual tokens of His favour and presence with them were altogether wanting. One of these tokens is here mentioned, “Thou goest not forth with our armies.” In former times they went forth to war confident of His presence with them, and returned victorious. Now they go forth not realising His presence, and return defeated and “put to shame.” (We will not attempt to decide what battles and other events in Jewish history are here referred to. Such attempts as have been made in this direction are of little worth.)
2. Their defeat in battle and its consequent evils. “Thou makest us to turn back from the enemy.” They had no courage. They did not fight like brave men. They acted as mere mercenaries of war and cowards. “O Lord, what shall I say, when Israel turneth their backs before their enemies?” Defeat was followed by—
(1) Slaughter. “Thou hast given us like sheep appointed for meat.” Hengstenberg: “Like sheep for slaughter.” Margin: “As sheep of meat.” M. Henry: “They make no more scruple of killing an Israelite than of killing a sheep; nay, like the butcher, they make a trade of it, they take a pleasure in it as a hungry man in his meat.”
(2) Spoiling. “They which hate us spoil us for themselves.” “The enemies had plundered according to their heart’s desire, and without any effective restraint.”
(3) Captivity or Slavery. “Thou hast scattered us among the heathen. Thon sellest Thy people for nought, and dost not increase Thy wealth by their price.” We do not affirm that the people had been literally taken captive into other lands, or sold into slavery. But some of the results of their defeat in battle had been such that they may fitly be so described. On Psa_44:12 Hengstenberg says—“The sense is: Thou hast given Thy people into the power of their enemies without trouble, without causing the victory even to be dearly bought, as one who parts with a good for any price, which he despises and hates, desiring merely to get rid of it; so that there is an abbreviated comparison. Parallel is Jer_15:13, ‘thy substance and thy treasures will I give to the spoil without price.’ ”
3. The reproaches of their enemies. “Thou makest us a reproach to our neighbours,” &c., Psa_44:13-14. According to Psa_44:13, the surrounding nations treated them with contempt, as a people forsaken by God, and powerless to defend themselves against their foes. מָשָׁל, here translated “byword,” properly signifies a similitude. So Hengstenberg translates it here, and explains it thus: “The misery of Israel is so great, that people would figuratively call a miserable man a Jew, just as liars were called Cretans, wretched slaves, Sardians. So far are the people from being now ‘the blessed of the Lord,’ in whom, according to the promise, all the heathen are to be blessed.” The “shaking of the head” means that their enemies shook their heads at them in scorn and derision.
4. Their own shame. “My confusion is continually before me, and the shame of my face hath covered me,” &c., Psa_44:15-16. Notice here—
(1) The reason of this shame. “For the voice of him that reproacheth and blasphemeth; by reason of the enemy and avenger.” The people were slandered, God was blasphemed, and their enemies were about to wreak their vengeance upon them; therefore were they ashamed.
(2) The greatness of this shame. “The shame of my face hath covered me.” “The shaming is ascribed to the countenance, because it always betrays itself, especially there.” So great was the shame of the Psalmist, who speaks in the name of the people, that he represents himself as “covered” with blushes.
(3) The incessancy of this shame. “My confusion is continually before me.” There was no intermission from the sense of disgrace which they felt. Such are the deep miseries of which they complain to God.
II. The author of their miseries. “Thou hast cast me off,” &c. Six times in as many verses they attribute all their suffering and shame to God. He has done it all. Now a statement of this kind needs to be weighed, and its exact meaning ascertained before it is accepted. We know that “He doth not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men.” His great aim is to promote the well-being of His creatures. To this end all His plans and workings tend. That He should forsake His people who trust in Him is inconceivable, impossible. How, then, can He be said to be the Author of their miseries? In this way we understand it: “the meritorious cause” must have been in the people. God never forsakes His people unless they first forsake Him. There must have been some important defection on their part in their relation to God ere He would have allowed these miseries to come upon them. This being the case we can understand how the inflicting of the calamities was of the Lord. Their enemies were but the instruments by which their troubles were effected; and they could have had no power against them unless, at the least, it had been permitted them from above. And that power would not have been permitted them had there not been some defection on the part of the chosen people in their relation to God. This, then, we take to be the meaning of the Psalmist,—Thou hast done it by withdrawing the light of Thy presence and the shield of Thy protection.
III. The instruction which their miseries are fitted to afford. Three lessons, at least, stand out prominently here to which we shall do well to give heed.
1. That God, in perfect consistency with His faithfulness and love to His people, may under certain circumstances withdraw from them the signs of His presence and favour, and for a time apparently abandon them to their enemies. He may do so
(1) As a chastisement for their sins. “It his children forsake My law, and walk not in My judgments, if they break My statutes, and keep not My commandments; then will I visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes.”
(2) For the perfecting and showing forth of their character. The case of Job is an example of this.
2. That when the professed people of God lose the signs of His presence and favour, they are held in contempt by the world. Of this the Psalmist complains. When Samson had proved unfaithful, and forfeited the Divine favour, he became an object of scoffing and ridicule to those who had formerly trembled at the mere mention of his name. “If the salt have lost his savour, it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.” Here is solemn warning for us.
3. That the people of God when bereft of His presence and help, and suffering at the hand of their enemies, do well to carry their complaints to God Himself.
(1) Because the effort to draw near to Him is good and helpful. It relieves the troubled heart, lessens the conscious distance between Him and their soul, &c.
(2) Because He only is able to restore the strength and joy which they have lost. “Come, and let us return unto the Lord; for He hath torn, and He will heal us; He hath smitten, and He will bind us up. After two days will He revive us; in the third day He will raise us up, and we shall live in His sight.”
AN EARNEST APPEAL AND PRAYER
(Psa_44:17-26.)
I. An earnest appeal. Psa_44:17-22.
This appeal of the people to God is based on the ground that they had not apostatised from Him. In it there are several prominent points. They assert that they have—
1. Not broken His covenant. “We have not forgotten Thee, neither have we dealt falsely in Thy covenant.” By this we understand the Psalmist to mean, that there had been in the history of the people no marked forgetfulness of God, nor had there been any conspicuous or prevalent departure from the covenant which He made with their fathers.
2. Not lapsed into idolatry. They assert that they have not “forgotten the name of their God, or stretched out their hands to a strange God.” The stretching out of the hands is significant of worship or prayer. The force of this verse is, that they have not apostatised either by worshipping a strange god, or forgetting the God of their fathers.
3. Not backslidden from God either in heart or in life. “Our heart is not turned back, neither have our steps declined from Thy way.” They had not departed from Him in their heart. They were still loyal to Him in their affections. And in their goings they followed the path which He had prescribed for them.
4. They appeal to the Omniscience of God in proof of this. “Shall not God search this out? for He knoweth the secrets of the heart.” The “this” denotes the apostacy of which they had protested that they were not guilty. The force of the verse is, that if as a nation there had been any considerable departure from God, if in their hearts they had apostatised from Him unto idols, He would have known it, for He knoweth all things, even the secrets of the heart. Thus the verse is a very solemn declaration that they had not forsaken God.
5. As additional proof that their miseries had not come upon them because of their departure from God, the Psalmist says that they were suffering severely and constantly because of their attachment to Him. “For Thy sake are we killed all the day long; we are counted as sheep for the slaughter.” The most conclusive proof that they have not fallen away from God is, “that they are persecuted for the very sake of God.” That which perplexed the Psalmist was, that they should suffer so severely although there had not been any prevalent departure from God. Can we reconcile this protestation of their faithfulness with their miseries? Our statement on “the author of their miseries” in the preceding homily appears irreconcileable with the statements made by the poet in this appeal. Can we explain this? and how? Matthew Henry says: “Though we cannot deny but that we have dealt foolishly, yet we have not dealt falsely in Thy covenant, so as to cast Thee off and take to other gods.” “Tholuck accuses the Psalmist of a superficial view of sin (comp. on the other hand the impressive reference to the heart, Psa_44:18-21), whereby he was led to charge God with breach of fidelity, instead of seeking the blame in the Church. The following remarks, it is hoped, will remove the difficulty:—
(1) When the Church here maintains that she had not broken God’s covenant, this manifestly refers only to fidelity in the main, as to the chief matter, and manifold smaller infidelities and weaknesses are not thereby excluded. These smaller deviations justify the chastisements of God, faithfulness in the main excludes a total rejection.
(2) When the Church regards the suffering that had come upon her as an anomaly, she does so only in so far as this appears to carry the aspect of continuance,—comp. the words: ‘Cast us not off for ever,’ in Psa_44:23. The whole of the last strophe shows, that the temptation will be at an end the moment God has, in point of fact, removed this appearance. But this would not have been the case if the suffering had formed in itself a stone of stumbling for the Church.
(3) It is not to be overlooked, that we have here before us a didactic psalm. What is declared in the form of history, forms at the same time indirectly an impressive admonition.
(4) We must not expect that every psalm shall fully exhibit all particular points of truth, and so render all misapprehension impossible. They rather, on the contrary, require somewhat to be supplied.”—Hengstenberg.
II. An Earnest Prayer (Psa_44:23-26). We have here—
1. Believing expostulations. “Awake, why sleepest Thou, O Lord?” “Why” seems to imply the impossibility of any reason being assigned for His sleep, and the assurance that He will speedily awake. “Faith,” says David Dickson, “doth not allow nor subscribe unto carnal sense, but in presenting the objections thereof unto God, really refuteth them, by avowing that such misregarding of His own cause and servants, as sense and temptation vented, is inconsistent with His nature, covenant, promises, and practices towards His people; for, ‘why sleepest Thou,’ is as much as, it is not possible that Thou sleepest; and ‘why’ here is not a word of quarreling, but a word of denying, that any reason can be given for such a thought, as God sleepeth.” “Wherefore hidest Thou Thy face, and forgettest our affliction and oppression?” Sense says, God is asleep and hath cast off His people for ever. Faith replies, If so, “why” is it so? Sense says, God hath forgotten the affliction of His people. Faith replies with a persistent “Wherefore?”
2. Urgent entreaties. “Awake, arise, cast us not off for ever. Arise for our help, and redeem us for thy mercies’ sake.” This is a prayer that God, who had seemed to take no interest in them, would speedily evince an interest in them and arise and save them. In Psa_44:12 they had complained that God had sold them; in Psa_44:26 they entreat Him to redeem them. “If He sell us, it is not any one else that can redeem us.”
3. Effective pleas.
(1) Their misery. “For our soul is bowed down to the dust; our belly cleaveth unto the earth.” The expression of the former clause denotes great grief and fear, and the figure of the latter clause extreme prostration and affliction and inability to assist themselves.
(2) God’s mercy. “Redeem us for Thy mercies’ sake,” i.e., in maintenance and illustration of His character as a God of mercy. Or, as the word is plural, “mercies,” may it not mean for the sake of the long line of mercies He had bestowed upon them and their fathers? Let not the long series of Thy mercies to Thy people fail, and let them not perish by reason thereof. In any case, it is an appeal to God on the ground of His unmerited grace to save His afflicted people.
CONCLUSION.—There are here some practical points of great importance, which we shall do well to ponder in their relation to our own life.
1. The completeness of the Divine scrutiny of human life. There is no province of our life which escapes His examination. There is no flaw or sin, however cleverly disguised, that will escape detection when He searches us (Psa_44:21).
2. The great support afforded by a clear conscience in the time of affliction. It was no small thing for the people that in this the day of their distress they were able to appeal to God as they did (Psa_44:17-22). In his unparalleled afflictions, Job received immeasurable support and comfort from the possession of “a conscience void of offence toward God and men” (Job_13:15). And Shakespeare represents Wolsey as thus sustained in the depth of his misfortunes, and as saying of himself that he was
“Never so truly happy.…
I know myself now; and I feel within me
A peace above all earthly dignities,
A still and quiet conscience.”
3. A grand inspiration and consolation in the difficulties and disappointments of Christian life and work. “For Thy sake.” What is there that we cannot dare, or do, or suffer for the sake of our Lord, when we love Him supremely?
4. In the whole of this section of the Psalm we have a splendid example of Faith fighting. Here it is attacking doubt, repudiating the conclusions of sense, scrutinising life and conduct, expostulating and pleading with God. Such faith must come out of conflict victorious. Such faith may be ours Let us seek it.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Sermon Bible1900 · Public DomainOn v1This passage presents to us the following truths:—
Psa 44:3
This passage presents to us the following truths:—
Read full note →
I. The co-operation of God secures the success of all right work.
II. The spirit of true godliness will acknowledge God’s co-operation.
III. The recognition of God’s co-operation in the work of others is largely useful to ourselves.
S. Martin, Westminster Chapel Pulpit, 3rd series, No. 13.
Psa 44:21
This subject naturally divides itself into three parts.
I. The sin—forgetting God and holding up the hands to some strange god. These are not two sins, but one and the same sin, contemplated first upon one side and then upon the other.
II. The certainty of the discovery and punishment of the sin. "Shall not God search it out?" God will search out these idols, these strange gods to which we lift up our hands, rendering to them the service, the love, the fealty, the affection, which we justly owe to Him, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
III. The ground of this certainty: because He with whom we have to do is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of man. "He knoweth the very secrets of the heart." The one great lesson for us is to beware of idols.
R. C. Trench, Sermons in Westminster Abbey, p. 261.
The Sermon Bible, ed. William Robertson Nicoll (1888–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
F. W. Grant1903 · Public DomainOn v1Faith building on the testimony of past deliverances, and…
Faith building on the testimony of past deliverances, and sustained, though in contrasted circumstances.
To the chief musician, Maskil of the sons of Korah.
Read full note →
In the forty-fourth psalm, faith goes back to the testimony of days long past, to build itself up on this, amid circumstances which yet are in such utter contrast. And this is what faith supposes, that the circumstances are, at least, not such as one can build upon. Faith is in "things unseen," making that substantial which to mere sight and sense have no reality. Not that it has not foundations, but that these too are beyond natural sight, in the sphere of the spiritual, and thus, to the carnal, dreams.
1. The history of those days so long gone has indeed for Israel to bear the reproach of the meantime experience. Its testimony is of God acting in triumphant power, in behalf of a people now for long scattered and under the heel of the Gentiles, for whom how many vain hopes have kindled, only to be dispersed and put out in worse darkness than before. None more intense can be than that in which the period to which these psalms apply will find those whose exercises are recorded in them. The nation is lapsed into a condition of utter apostasy, for which the hand of God is necessarily upon them, and the remnant remaining true are yet under the shadow of this. From it they emerge at last, with the fruit of needed exercise secured by a discipline which divine love has ordained for them, into the apprehension of favor never to be lost again.
The lesson here is of absolute dependence on God, which to a feeble and oppressed people is the only possible source of encouragement. To leave man out of the question is to leave out an incalculable element, always causing uncertainty and disappointment. To make God all is to make reckoning simple, safe, and the balance sheet an immense surplus, whatever the expenditure. Let things be as they may, His grace is such as to give one amplest title to reckon upon Him. Here boldness of faith is only simplicity of obedience.
If this God is our God, we may claim Him wherever we find Him. All histories of His past ways become light for us. No laws of His in nature are so unchangeable as He Himself is. As He has ordained for us as His creatures a world of fixed realities amid which to walk, this spiritual world in which we find ourselves, living, and walking, and having our being in Him, is still as far beyond it as eternity beyond time, or heaven beyond earth. Here there is no caprice, but immutability itself, inviting absolute confidence. No dispensations -though they may variously reflect Him -change the Eternal. And this is how the very histories of Scripture become for us types and prophecies, and (in another sense than the Preacher meant it) "that which has been is that which shall be."
So the remnant go back here to the beginning of their national history, to that which had come down to them from their fathers, who not with their own swords took possession of the land. God had dispossessed the nations and planted them; He had broken up races, and cast them out. His right hand, His arm, the light of His countenance, had manifested His acceptance of them. All this abode with them for present wisdom. Man’s nothingness was just as certain; God’s sufficiency was just as perfect.
2. And so now they claim and proclaim this God as theirs. "Thou art He," -Thou art the same, -"my King, O God: command deliverances for Jacob." Yes, Jacob, this worm of the dust, can only be delivered by Him who can command deliverances for him. And then, falling upon that arm of strength, there is at once an outburst of confidence: "Through Thee will we push down our oppressors; and by Thy name will we tread down those that rise against us." Here is the application of that past history; and a reckoning like this has in it no element of deception.
3. The remembrance becomes fruitful in the production of character. In self-distrust like theirs, the children of those conquerors of old proclaim their genealogy. "I will not trust in my bow: nor shall my sword save me." Testified by deliverances all along their history, which only His hand could have effected, the divine sufficiency is their only and constant boast, and His name shall be their praise forever. This is that for which He works, that His people may know Him, to their ceaseless joy, this joy in Him being the spring of power in them, and what unites His creatures to Himself forever. The worship of eternity is the seal of its blessing and perfection too. God is in His place, and the creature in his happy place with God.
4. But now we have the testing of faith by those circumstances which seem so thoroughly in contrast with this claim of the divine favor. Here there scarcely needs comment. The facts are plain to all and speak for themselves. The recital naturally goes on gathering gloom as it proceeds. First, though their hosts still go forth, God is no longer with them, as of old. Then there follows necessarily defeat and spoiling. Then they become mere sheep for the slaughter, scattered among the victorious nations. God too acquires no glory by the giving up of His people: those who should have been for His honor have become a reproach; nay, far and wide, an evil proverb and a shaking of the head.
5. These are the circumstances; now they speak of their inward state, exercised by all this, feeling it keenly, covered with shame and confusion of face, able to answer nothing in the presence of those who reproach and blaspheme, of enemies and vengeful men. Yet in spite of all, they cleave to God, neither their heart nor their steps turned aside from Him, though crushed in the place of prowling jackals, covered with the shadow of death. Had they forgotten Him, would they, they ask, be able to conceal it from Him? Their appeal is to One perfect in knowledge.
6. Must there not be, then, a limit to this sorrow? can He forget forever? When their enemies are His enemies, and for His sake they are being slaughtered? Can the hiding of His face continue, and their affliction as if unknown to Him? Now in the utter prostration of their strength, they cry to Him to arise and for His mercies’ sake to redeem them.
The next psalm shows the glorious answer to this prayer.
F. W. Grant, The Numerical Bible (4th ed., 1903) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. R. Dummelow1909 · Public DomainOn v1This is a prayer for deliverance from national trouble…
This is a prayer for deliverance from national trouble which has not been deserved by any apostasy or idolatry. The strong assertions of national faithfulness are akin to the spirit of the Maccabean age, but the conditions indicated in the Ps. may be found also at an earlier date, such as the time of the invasion by Sennacherib in the reign of Hezekiah. God has helped His people in the days of old (Psa_44:1-3), and they are still confident in Him (Psa_44:4-8), yet He has allowed their enemies to bring them low (Psa_44:9-16). But they are still loyal to Him (Psa_44:17-22), and cry earnestly that He would remember them and save them (Psa_44:23-26).
Title.—See on Psalms 42.
Read full note →
2. Heathen] EV 'nations.' People] RV 'peoples,' the inhabitants of Canaan. So in Psa_44:11, Psa_44:14.
8. Selah] see on Psa_3:4.
11, 12. Some are slain, and others sold into captivity.
12. For nought, etc.] God does not gain by such transactions. His name and cause are rather discredited.
13, 14. See the speech of Rabshakeh (2Ki_18:27-35).
19. Place of dragons] RV 'place of jackals,' a desert, to which condition the country had been reduced. Shadow of death] deep darkness and gloom.
23. Why sleepest thou?] an expression of startling boldness, yet the prayer of Psa_44:26 shows that its daring springs not from unbelief but from faith.
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Arno C. Gaebelein1922 · Public DomainOn v1Psalm 44
Psalm 44
The Increased Cry for Deliverance
Read full note →
1. My King, O God! Command deliverances (Psa 44:1-8)
2. Trouble upon trouble and confusion (Psa 44:9-21)
3. Awake! Arise for our help! (Psa 44:22-26)
The third Maschil Psalm. They remember the days of old, what God did for His covenant people in the past, how He gave them the land with an outstretched arm and delivered them from their enemies. They own Him as King and call on Him to command deliverances for Jacob. Then they utter their complaint and describe the great troubles and calamities they are facing; they are spoiled, like sheep appointed for meat, scattered, scorned and derided. Yet they have not forgotten Him. Then follows the cry for the Deliverer and for deliverance. “Arise for our help, and redeem us for Thy mercies’ sake.
Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann1924 · Public DomainOn v1A Prayer in Times of National Distress.
A Prayer in Times of National Distress.
To the chief. musician for the sons of Korah, another hymn composed by a member of this family, Maschil, a didactic poem evidently written at a time when the nation was in great peril, the period of David’s wars having been suggested when he was overthrowing the Ammonites and the Edomites took advantage of his absence to make a raid on Southern Canaan, 2 Samuel 10. The psalm finds its application in the life of all Christians, being particularly suitable for times of oppression by the enemies of the Church, when it seems that the heathen and tyrants will prevail.
Read full note →
v. 1. We have heard with our ears, O God, in the form of instruction in vogue among the children of Israel, where every housefather informed his children regarding the great works of God, Exo 10:2; Exo 12:26; Deu 6:20; our fathers have told us what work Thou didst in their days, in the early history of Israel, in the times of old;
v. 2. how Thou didst drive out the heathen with Thy hand, for it was not their own weapons and strength which gave them the victory, as the many specific instances recorded clearly show, but the almighty power of Jehovah, and plantedst them, giving to the fathers of Israel a permanent home in Canaan; how Thou didst afflict the people, the heathen inhabitants, and cast them out.
v. 3. For they, the Israelites, got not the land in possession by their own sword, neither did their own arm save them; but Thy right hand and Thine arm and the light of Thy countenance, turned upon Israel in mercy, because Thou hadst a favor unto them, being disposed toward them in love. This is the first point which the inspired singer wishes to make, the fact of God’s help in times past. This fact, moreover, inspires true confidence in Jehovah, the second point emphasized in the psalmist’s prayer.
v. 4. Thou art my King, O God, emphatically, "Even Thou Thyself art my King"; command deliverances for Jacob, for the small flock of the faithful, of the believers of all times;
v. 5. Through Thee will we push down our enemies, as an angry ox charges and overthrows everyone coming into his way; through Thy name will we tread them under that rise up against us.
v. 6. For I will not trust in my bow, neither shall my sword save me, all confidence in one’s own strength and ability is foolish.
v. 7. But Thou hast saved us from our enemies and hast put them to shame that hated us, their opposition to Israel brought them nothing but disgrace, because God was the sole Help of His people.
v. 8. In God we boast all the day long, making His almighty power the basis of their confident praise, and praise Thy name, His entire essence as revealed to men, forever. Selah. There follows a description of the desperate straits in which Israel found itself at that time, typical of the troubles which beset the Church of God, and a bitter complaint of neglect.
v. 9. But Thou hast cast us off, that is, in spite of the trust which they reposed in Him it seemed that God was bent on their destruction, and put us to shame, a mockery before their enemies; and goest not forth with our armies, the various sections of Israel’s army engaged in war.
v. 10. Thou makest us to turn back from the enemy, in defeat and flight; and they which hate us spoil for themselves, gaining rich booty in the deserted camp of Israel.
v. 11. Thou hast given us like sheep appointed for meat, to be used for food without offering resistance, and hast scattered us among the heathen, many members of Israel having been led away as slaves in the recent raids.
v. 12. Thou sellest Thy people for naught, for a song, as though they were worthless, insignificant, as if He no longer cared for them, and dost not increase Thy wealth by their price, He did not go high in the price which He demanded in selling them into slavery.
v. 13. Thou makest us a reproach to our neighbors, so that the surrounding nations would regard them with derision, a scorn and a derision to them that are round about us.
v. 14. Thou makest us a byword among the heathen, their fate being bandied about in little verses of mockery, a shaking of the head among the people, in a gesture of sneering contempt.
v. 15. My confusion is continually before me, the poet is always conscious of the disgrace resting upon him, and the shame of my face hath covered me, having taken hold of his entire being;
v. 16. for the voice of him that reproacheth and blasphemeth, the taunting mockery of whose words cut so deeply; by reason of the enemy and avenger, whose face was full of malignant hatred. The counterpart of all this is found in the treatment accorded the true believers by the children of the world, and the cry of the faithful rises to the Lord at all times in similar strains. Yet they do not continue in vain lamentations, but turn to the Lord in confident prayer.
v. 17. All this is come upon us, apparently in punishment; yet have we not forgotten Thee, neither have we dealt falsely in Thy covenant, to deserve such a fate as a punishment.
v. 18. Our heart is not turned back, away from the will of God, neither have our steps declined from Thy way, to follow the path of error and denial of God,
v. 19. though Thou hast sore broken us in the place of dragons, where jackals lived, out in the wastes of the desert, where this misfortune had come upon Israel, and covered us with the shadow of death. It is an emphatic declaration that Israel had not become apostate, continued also in the next sentence.
v. 20. If we have forgotten the name of our God or stretched out our hands to a strange god, in open idolatry,
v. 21. shall not God search this out? For He knoweth the secrets of the heart, and nothing can be hidden before His omniscience. Then there would be reason for His being angry, then He would rightly reject His children. But this is not the case.
v. 22. Yea, for Thy sake are we killed all the day long; we are counted as sheep for the slaughter. That is the experience of the believers of all times on account of their adherence to God’s Word, to the confession of His holy name. Cf Rom 8:36. Therefore the believers are filled with the courage of faith, with the confidence which appeals to God with the certainty of being heard.
v. 23. Awake! Why sleepest Thou, O Lord? this being the conclusion reached because of His failure to bring speedy deliverance to His children. Arise, cast us not off forever!
v. 24. Wherefore hidest Thou Thy face, as though He had forgotten all His mercy, and forgettest our affliction and our oppression, as though indifferent to all their suffering?
v. 25. For our soul is bowed down to the dust; our belly cleaveth unto the earth, their condition being one of the greatest oppression and humility.
v. 26. Arise for our help and redeem us for Thy mercies’ sake, the appeal, not to the justice, but to the mercy of God for the sake of the Redeemer, being the one argument which is bound to make an impression upon the Lord. Such is the daring quality of faith, which wins victories for every Christian and for the entire Christian Church.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0On vv1, 3General Information:
General Information:
Parallelism is common in Hebrew poetry. (See: Poetry and Parallelism)
Read full note →
For the chief musician
"This is for the director of music to use in worship."
A psalm of the sons of Korah
"This is a psalm that the sons of Korah wrote."
A maschil
This may refer to a style of music. See how you translated this in Psalms 32:1.
We have heard with our ears, God
The word "ears" adds emphasis to the statement that they have heard and understood the things that the writer is about to describe. The writer addresses this statement to God. AT: "God, we have heard clearly" (See: Idiom)
in their days, in the days of old
Both of these phrases use the word "days" to refer to the time period when the ancestors of the people of Israel were alive. (See: Parallelism)
You drove out the nations
"You forced the people from other nations to leave"
with your hand
Here the word "hand" refers to God's power. AT: "by your power" (See: Metonymy)
you planted our people
The writer speaks of God's causing the Israelites to live in the land as if he were planting them in the soil like he would a tree. AT: "you caused our people to live there" (See: Metaphor)
Tyndale Open Study Notes2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0On vv1–3Ps 44 This national lament after defeat in battle…
Ps 44 This national lament after defeat in battle continues the tone of the previous two psalms, including reflecting on an unspecified moment in Israel’s history and calling on God for salvation. The people recite God’s past acts of rescue (44:1-3), acknowledge God’s power to save (44:4-8), describe their humiliation in exile (44:9-16), claim their innocence and lament the injustice of their current situation (44:17-22), and cry for vindication (44:23-26).
44:1 we have heard . . . of all you did: The story of redemption encompasses the story of God’s favor and power in his past acts of rescue (see 78:1-4; see also Pss 105–106).
GEBible — Godless Engineer's Bible App
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv1–3 1. O God! we have heard with our ears.…
1. O God! we have heard with our ears. The people of God here recount the goodness which he had formerly manifested towards their fathers, that, by showing the great dissimilarity of their own condition, they may induce God to alleviate their miseries. They begin by declaring that they speak not of things unknown or doubtful, but that they related events, the truth of which was authenticated by unexceptionable witnesses. The expression, We have heard with our ears, is not to be considered as a redundant form of speech, but one of great weight. It is designed to point out that the grace of God towards their fathers was so renowned, that no doubt could be entertained respecting it. They add, that their knowledge of these things was handed down from age to age by those who witnessed them. It is not meant that their fathers, who had been brought up out of Egypt, had, a thousand and five hundred years after, declared to their posterity the benefits God had conferred upon them. The import of the language is, that not only the first deliverance, but that also the various other works which God had wrought from time to time in behalf of his people, had come down, as it were, from hand to hand, in an uninterrupted series, even to the latest age. As, therefore, those who, after the lapse of many ages, became witnesses and heralds of the grace which God had exercised towards this people, spake upon the report of the first generation, the faithful are warranted in saying, as they here do, that their fathers have declared to them that which they certainly knew, because the knowledge of it had not been lost by reason of its antiquity, but was continually preserved by the remembrance of it from the fathers to the children. The sum of the whole is, that God had manifested his goodness towards the children of Abraham, not only for ten or twenty years, but that ever since he had received them into his favor, he had never ceased to bestow upon them continued tokens of his grace.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv1–3 This psalm seemeth to have been made by some…
This psalm seemeth to have been made by some excellent Prophet for the use of the people, when the Church was in extreme misery, either at their return from Babylon, or under Antiochus, or in such like affliction.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv1–3 Psa 44:1 « To the chief Musician for the…
Psa 44:1 « To the chief Musician for the sons of Korah, Maschil. » We have heard with our ears, O God, our fathers have told us, [what] work thou didst in their days, in the times of old.
Maschil] i.e. Making wise, or giving instruction; for which purpose this psalm was composed by David (as it is most probable), or some other excellent prophet, for the use of the Church, which is haeres crucis, the heir of the cross, as Luther speaketh; and is here instructed how to carry herself under it, and to get benefit by it.
Read full note →
Ver. 1. We have heard with our ears] i.e. We have both heard and heeded it, with utmost attention and affection. It is not a redundancy, but an emphasis that is here used.
Our fathers have told us] According to that they were commanded, Deu 6:1-10 and elsewhere, to whet good things upon their young children, and to propagate the memory of God’s noble acts to all posterity, Exo 12:26; Exo 13:14 Jos 4:6-7 Psa 78:4; Psa 78:6. Hear this, saith Basil, and blush, ye fathers, that neglect to teach your children. They made their mouths as it were books, wherein the noble acts of the Lord might be read to his praise, and to the drawing of their children’s hearts unto him.
What work thou didst] All which they faithfully related and carefully recorded, for the use of after ages. Psa 102:18, "This shall be written for the generation to come: and the people that shall be created shall praise the Lord."
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv1–3 What work thou didst in their days: they allege…
What work thou didst in their days: they allege their former experience, as encouragements to their faith, and motives to God to continue to be gracious to them.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On v1 Some observe that most of the psalms that are…
Some observe that most of the psalms that are entitled Maschil - psalms of instruction, are sorrowful psalms; for afflictions give instructions, and sorrow of spirit opens the ear to them. Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest and teachest.
In these verses the church, though now trampled upon, calls to remembrance the days of her triumph, of her triumph in God and over her enemies. This is very largely mentioned here, 1. As an aggravation of the present distress. The yoke of servitude cannot but lie very heavily on the necks of those that used to wear the crown of victory; and the tokens of God's displeasure must needs be most grievous to those that have been long accustomed to the tokens of his favour. 2. As an encouragement to hope that God would yet turn again their captivity and return in mercy to them; accordingly he mixes prayers and comfortable expectations with his record of former mercies. Observe,
Read full note →
I. Their commemoration of the great things God had formerly done for them.
1. In general (Psa 44:1): Our fathers have told us what work thou didst in their days. Observe, (1.) The many operations of providence are here spoken of as one work - "They have told us the work which thou didst;" for there is a wonderful harmony and uniformity in all that God does, and the many wheels make but one wheel (Eze 10:13), many works make but one work. (2.) It is a debt which every age owes to posterity to keep an account of God's works of wonder, and to transmit the knowledge of them to the next generation. Those that went before us told us what God did in their days, we are bound to tell those that come after us what he has done in our days, and let them do the like justice to those that shall succeed them; thus shall one generation praise his works to another (Psa 145:4), the fathers to the children shall make known his truth, Isa 38:19. (3.) We must not only make mention of the work God has done in our own days, but must also acquaint ourselves and our children with what he did in the times of old, long before our own days; and of this we have in the scripture a sure word of history, as sure as the word of prophecy. (4.) Children must diligently attend to what their parents tell them of the wonderful works of God, and keep it in remembrance, as that which will be of great use to them. (5.) Former experiences of God's power and goodness are strong supports to faith and powerful pleas in prayer under present calamities. See how Gideon insists upon it (Jdg 6:13): Where are all his miracles which our fathers told us of?
2. In particular, their fathers had told them,
(1.) How wonderfully God planted Israel in Canaan at first, Psa 44:2, Psa 44:3. He drove out the natives, to make room for Israel, afflicted them, and cast them out, gave them as dust to Israel's sword and as driven stubble to their bow. The many complete victories which Israel obtained over the Canaanites, under the command of Joshua, were not to be attributed to themselves, nor could they challenge the glory of them. [1.] They were not owing to their own merit, but to God's favour and free grace: It was through the light of thy countenance, because thou hadst a favour to them. Not for thy righteousness, or the uprightness of thy heart, doth God drive them out from before thee (Deu 9:5, Deu 9:6), but because God would perform the oath which he swore unto their fathers, Deu 7:8. The less praise this allows us the more comfort it administers to us, that we may see all our successes and enlargements coming to us from the favour of God and the light of his countenance. [2.] They were not owing to their own might, but to God's power engaged for them, without which all their own efforts and endeavours would have been fruitless. It was not by their own sword that they got the land in possession, though they had great numbers of mighty men; nor did their own arm save them from being driven back by the Canaanites and put to shame; but it was God's right hand and his arm. He fought for Israel, else they would have fought in vain; it was through him that they did valiantly and victoriously. It was God that planted Israel in that good land, as the careful husbandman plants a tree, from which he promises himself fruit. See Psa 80:8. This is applicable to the planting of the Christian church in the world, by the preaching of the gospel. Paganism was wonderfully driven out, as the Canaanites, not all at once, but by little and little, not by any human policy or power (for God chose to do it by the weak and foolish things of the world), but by the wisdom and power of God - Christ by his Spirit went forth conquering and to conquer; and the remembrance of that is a great support and comfort to those that groan under the yoke of antichristian tyranny, for to the state of the church under the power of the New Testament Babylon, some think (and particularly the learned Amyraldus), the complaints in the latter part of this psalm may very fitly be accommodated. He that by his power and goodness planted a church for himself in the world will certainly support it by the same power and goodness; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
(2.) How frequently he had given them success against their enemies that attempted to disturb them in the possession of that good land (Psa 44:7): Thou hast, many a time, saved us from our enemies, and hast put to flight, and so put to shame, those that hated us, witness the successes of the judges against the nations that oppressed Israel. Many a time have the persecutors of the Christian church, and those that hate it, been put to shame by the power of truth, Act 6:10.
II. The good use they make of this record, and had formerly made of it, in consideration of the great things God had done for their fathers of old.
1. They had taken God for their sovereign Lord, had sworn allegiance to him, and put themselves under his protection (Psa 44:4): Thou art my King, O God! He speaks in the name of the church, as (Psa 74:12), Thou art my King of old. God, as a king, has made laws for his church, provided for the peace and good order of it, judged for it, pleaded its cause, fought its battles, and protected it; it is his kingdom in the world, and ought to be subject to him, and to pay him tribute. Or the psalmist speaks for himself here: "Lord, Thou art my King; whither shall I go with my petitions, but to thee? The favour I ask is not for myself, but for thy church." Note, It is every one's duty to improve his personal interest at the throne of grace for the public welfare and prosperity of the people of God; as Moses, "If I have found grace in thy sight, guide thy people," Exo 33:13.
2. They had always applied to him by prayer for deliverance when at any time they were in distress: Command deliverances for Jacob. Observe, (1.) The enlargedness of their desire. They pray for deliverances, not one, but many, as many as they had need of, how many soever they were, a series of deliverances, a deliverance from every danger. (2.) The strength of their faith in the power of God. They do not say, Work deliverances, but Command them, which denotes his doing it easily and instantly - Speak and it is done (such was the faith of the centurion, Mat 8:8, Speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed); it denotes also his doing it effectually: "Command it, as one having authority, whose command will be obeyed." Where the word of a king is there is power, much more the word of the King of kings.
3. They had trusted and triumphed in him. As they owned it was not their own sword and bow that had saved them (Psa 44:3), so neither did they trust to their own sword or bow to save them for the future (Psa 44:6): "I will not trust in my bow, nor in any of my military preparations, as if those would stand me in stead without God. No; through thee will we push down our enemies (Psa 44:5); we will attempt it in thy strength, relying only upon that, and not upon the number or valour of our forces; and, having thee on our side, we will not doubt of success in the attempt. Through thy name (by virtue of thy wisdom directing us, thy power strengthening us and working for us, and thy promise securing success to us) we shall, we will, tread those under that rise up against us."
4. They had made him their joy and praise (Psa 44:8): "In God we have boasted; in him we do and will boast, every day, and all the day long." When their enemies boasted of their strength and successes, as Sennacherib and Rabshakeh hectored Hezekiah, they owned they had nothing to boast of, in answer thereunto, but their relation to God and their interest in him; and, if he were for them, they could set all the world at defiance. Let him that glories glory in the Lord, and let that for ever exclude all other boasting. Let those that trust in God make their boast in him, for they know whom they have trusted; let them boast in him all the day long, for it is a subject that can never be exhausted. But let them withal praise his name for ever; if they have the comfort of his name, let them give unto him the glory due to it.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv1–3 We have heard with our ears, O God,.... The…
We have heard with our ears, O God,.... The church being in distress calls to mind the past favours of God to his people, in order to encourage her faith and hope; and this expression, delivered in such a form, shows the clearness, evidence, and certainty of what was heard; and which was heard not only as a tradition from father to son; but being recorded in the writings of Moses and the prophets, and these things read both in private and in public, were heard with the ear;
our fathers have told us what works thou didst in their days, in the times of old: such as the signs and wonders in Egypt, the slaying of the firstborn there, and the bringing of the people of Israel from thence with a mighty hand and outstretched arm; which fathers were used to tell in the ears of their sons, and sons' sons; and of which there were memorials continued in future ages, which led children to ask their parents the meaning of them; when they informed them of the wondrous works of Providence done in former times, and by which means they were handed down from age to age: see Exo 10:2.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On v1 The church commemorates past mercies, ver. 1-8. Complains of…
The church commemorates past mercies, ver. 1-8. Complains of present troubles, ver. 9-16. Professes her integrity, ver. 17-22. Prays for succor, ver. 23-26. To the chief musician for the sons of Korah, Maschil.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv1–3 The psalmist recounts the mercies of God; shows to…
PSALM XLIV
The psalmist recounts the mercies of God; shows to his people
Read full note →
how God in ancient times gave them the victory over all their
enemies, 1-8;
points out their present miserable state, 9-16;
asserts that thy have not apostatized, and appeals to God for
the truth of his assertion, 17-22;
and calls upon the Lord for deliverance from their enemies,
23-26.
NOTES ON PSALM XLIV
The title here is the same as that in Ps 42:1; which see. The Syriac says it was "A Psalm of the sons of Korah, which the people and Moses sung at Horeb." Such titles are fancies to which no credit should be attached. Like the preceding, it appears to belong to the time of the captivity.
Verse 1. We have heard with our ears] The psalmist begins with recounting the marvellous interpositions of God in behalf of the Jewish people, that he might the better strengthen his confidence, and form a ground on which to build his expectation of additional help.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv1–2 Psa 44:1. We have heard with our ears, &c.…
Psa 44:1. We have heard with our ears, &c. — “We have been certainly informed, O Lord, by our fathers, and we believe what they have told us, not only concerning the wonderful works thou didst in their times, but in the ages long before them; as our ancestors, who lived in those days, have recorded.” It is a debt which every age owes to posterity, to keep an account of God’s works of wonder, and transmit the knowledge of them to the next generation. As those that went before us told us what God did in their days, we are bound to tell those that come after us what he has done in ours, and let them do the like justice to those that succeed them: thus shall one generation praise his works to another, Psa 145:4. The fathers to the children shall make known the truth, Isa 38:19. And children should diligently attend to what their parents tell them of the wonderful works of God, as that which will be of great use to them; and we may all find, if we make a right use of them, that former experiences of God’s power and goodness are strong supports to faith, and powerful pleas in prayer, when we are in any trouble or distress.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv1–3 We have heard with our ears - That is,…
We have heard with our ears - That is, it has been handed down by tradition.
Our fathers have told us - Our ancestors. They have delivered it down from generation to generation. The word rendered “told” means properly to grave, or to insculp on a stone; and thence, to write. Then it comes to mean to number, to count, to recount, to tell, to declare. The word would be applicable to any method of making the thing known, either by hieroglyphic figures in sculpture, by writing, or by oral tradition, though it seems probable that the latter mode is particularly referred to here. Compare Exo 10:2; Exo 12:26-27.
Read full note →
What work thou didst in their days - The great work which thou didst accomplish for them; or, how thou didst interpose in their behalf. The reference is to what God accomplished for them in delivering them from Egyptian bondage, and bringing them into the land of Canaan.
In the times of old - In ancient times; in the beginning of our history. The idea here is, that we may properly appeal to the past - to what God has done in former ages - as an argument for his interposition in similar circumstances now, for,
(a) His former interposition showed his power to save;
(b) it was such an illustration of his character that we may appeal to that as a reason for asking him to interpose again.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain On v1 Psalms 44
Psalms 44
To the chief Musician for the sons of Korah, Maschil
Read full note →
1 We have heard with our ears,
O God, our fathers have told us,
What work thou didst in their days,
In the times of old.
2 How thou didst drive out the heathen with thy hand, and, plantedst them,
How thou didst afflict the people, and cast them out.
3 For they got not the land in possession by their own sword,
Neither did their own arm save them:
But thy right hand, and thine arm, and the light of thy countenance,
Because thou hadst a favour unto them.
4 Thou art my King, O God:
Command deliverances for Jacob.
5 Through thee will we push down our enemies:
Through thy name will we tread them under that rise up against us.
6 For I will not trust in my bow,
Neither shall my sword save me.
7 But thou hast saved us from our enemies,
And hast put them to shame that hated us.
8 In God we boast all the day long,
And praise thy name forever. Selah.
9 But thou hast cast off, and put us to shame;
And goest not forth with our armies.
10 Thou makest us to turn back from the enemy:
And they which hate us spoil for themselves.
11 Thou hast given us like sheep appointed for meat;
And hast scattered us among the heathen.
12 Thou sellest thy people for nought,
And dost not increase thy wealth by their price.
13 Thou makest us a reproach to our neighbours,
A scorn and derision to them that are round about us.
14 Thou makest us a byword among the heathen,
A shaking of the head among the people.
15 My confusion is continually before me,
And the shame of my face hath covered me,
16 For the voice of him that reproacheth and blasphemeth;
By reason of the enemy and avenger.
17 All this is come upon us; yet have we not forgotten thee,
Neither have we dealt falsely in thy covenant.
18 Our heart is not turned back,
Neither have our steps declined from thy way;
19 Though thou hast sore broken us in the place of dragons,
And covered us with the shadow of death.
20 If we have forgotten the name of our God,
Or stretched out our hands to a strange god;
21 Shall not God search this out?
For he knoweth the secrets of the heart.
22 Yea, for thy sake are we killed all the day long;
We are counted as sheep for the slaughter.
23 Awake, why sleepest thou, O Lord?
Arise, cast us not off forever.
24 Wherefore hidest thou thy face,
And forgettest our affliction and our oppression?
25 For our soul is bowed down to the dust:
Our belly cleaveth unto the earth.
26 Arise for our help,
And redeem us for thy mercies’ sake.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
Contents and Composition.—The title is the same as that of Psalms 42. The hosts of Israel have been worsted in battle by hostile neighbors. The whole nation has been thereby not only involved in great misery and oppression, but is in danger of losing its nationality by being carried away and dispersed among other people. Under this great calamity there comes into the consciousness of the nation a very sharp contrast, which also finds expression in the song. God had helped their fathers in the conquest of the land. The story had come down to the present generation, Psa_44:2-4, and had awakened and maintained in it, the faith that the same God as the King of his people, would and must give the victory over its oppressors, for his own praise in the future as well as in view of former glories, Psa_44:5-8. These records of the past, and the hopes of faith founded on them, stand in strong contrast with the overwhelming defeat which God’s chosen race had experienced. It seemed as if God had forsaken their armies, and deeming them of no account had given up His people to the assaults and the scorn of their enemies, leading them to fear that they might perish in shame and contempt, Psa_44:10. This contrast is strengthened by the fact that the people can appeal to the omniscient God, Psa_44:21-22, as a witness to their earnest and sincere faithfulness to the covenant, Psa_44:18-20. The way is thus opened for the explanation of this contrast. The present oppression of God’s people grows out of their historico-religious character, Psa_44:23. During all past ages, they have experienced just such treatment at the hands of a world estranged from God; and hence Paul (Rom_8:36) finds in the sufferings of the church of Jesus Christ an exact historical verification of this Romans 5:23. The destruction of God’s people may at times seem imminent, but that danger will disappear when by earnest prayer they seek the effectual interference of God, relying not upon their own merits, but in the simple consciousness of their need of His help and grace,—that grace which is the source of their covenant relation as their God and His people, Psa_44:24-26. This exposition renders it unnecessary for us to refute those who find here a superficial sense of sin and consciousness of guilt, at the same time it explains how this Psalm has been thought (Calvin) to have a prophetic reference to the times of the Maccabees. The explanation which supposes an historical reference to those times (Ven., Rosen., Olsh., Hitzig), is opposed by the history of the canon, and is objectionable on other grounds. The Psalm speaks of the whole nation and not merely of the pious part of it. Then, too, it appears from 1Ma_1:11, 2Ma_4:7, that, in the time of Antiochus Epiphanes, there was a large and organized body of apostates opposed to the party of the Chasedim (the Pious); and, again, while the Maccabees were victorious in all their battles, with the single exception mentioned in 1Ma_5:55, when their defeat was perhaps a punishment upon them for engaging in an imprudent enterprise, no armies were at that period sent out by the Jews. The solemn assertion of the people’s covenant faithfulness is quite inexplicable, if we refer the Psalm to the time of the Babylonian captivity (Cler. Köster), or to the last days of the Persian dynasty (Ewald), or to the Removal under Jehoiachin (Tholuck), or to the events which preceded the destruction of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans (Baur). To the assertion of Hupfeld, that the language and form of the Psalm show that it belongs to a late age, we may reply that conclusions founded on such grounds are very uncertain, and that the remark does not in the least apply to the expressions of prayer here used. (Compare Psa_3:8; Psa_7:7; Psa_35:23; Psa_59:5); which are very similar to those found in Psalms 42, 43, 80, 85, 89 while the whole Psalm closely resembles Psalms 60. The older view maintained by Heng. Del. is preferable. This refers the Psalm to the same period as that of Psalms 60—the period of the Syro-Ammonite war, in which the Edomites took part (2Sa_8:13). The latter carried on a commercial intercourse with the captured Israelites (Amo_1:6), but were afterwards terribly punished for it by Joab, 1Ki_11:15.
Psa_44:1. We have heard with our ears.—This expression does not exclude the existence of written documents; it only brings out more strongly the contrast between those events of the past, in which they had a personal interest, but of which they had simply heard, and those which they had themselves witnessed. Every Israelite was bound to repeat the story of the Lord’s marvellous works, Exo_10:2; Exo_12:26; Exo_13:8; Exo_13:14; Deu_6:20; Jdg_6:13; compare Psa_22:31; Psa_78:3.—The phrase “done a deed” is not a collective one, but refers specially to God’s work, as appears from verse 3, and in Psa_90:16. The emphasis of God’s “hand,” as the second subject besides “Thou,” (Isa_45:12) refers the work to God not only in a general way, but makes it appear as the immediate product of His activity, and of His personally ordering the events of history, Psa_74:11; Psa_89:14; Isa_51:9.—The grant of fixed abodes, figuratively set forth as a planting (Exo_15:17; 2Sa_7:10; Psa_80:9) is carefully contrasted with the uprooting (Amo_9:15; Jer_1:10; Jer_24:6); the enlargement of the people is represented as a sending forth of roots and branches, Psa_80:12; Jer_17:8; Ezech. Psa_17:6.—In German we cannot translate כִי by the same word, in each of the three places in which it occurs in verse 3.—[Barnes: “Afflict the people; i. e., the people of the land of Canaan; the nations that dwelt there. The word means to bring evil or calamity upon any one.”—Perowne: “Give them the victory.“ Such seems here, and generally in this Psalm, to be the force of the word usually rendered “save,” “help;” not very unlike is the use of σωτηρία sometimes in the New Testament.”—J. F.]
Psa_44:4. Thou art He (or even Thou Thyself art), my King. The word הוּא is not here as in Psa_102:28, the predicate=thou art the same (Luther), but strengthens the subject, as in Isa_43:25; Jer_49:12; Neh_9:6; Ezr_5:11. It is not accurately rendered by the German “selbst,” but contains an explicit reference to what has just been said. The transition to the present, coupled with confession and prayer, and likewise the change of person and tense, Psa_44:6-9, show that these verses do not refer to the past (Rosen.), but express the present confidence of faith, which lives in the midst and in spite of all oppression. The imperfect tense is used to set forth this confidence, while the displays of divine help on which it is founded are expressed by the perfect tense, Psa_44:8. This change of the perfect and imperfect distinguishes that which has been hitherto done day by day, from that which has been promised for all future time (J. H. Mich). [Alexander: “The form of expression in the first clause is highly idiomatic, and somewhat obscure; it may mean ‘thou who hast done all this art still my King;’ or, ‘thou art He who is my King.’—The personal name of the patriarch (Jacob) is poetically substituted for his official title, as the father of the chosen people.” Perowne: “My King apparently with a personal application to himself, the Poet individually claiming his own place in the covenant between God and His people. The singular fluctuates with the plural in the Psalms, see verses 6, 15.”—J. F.]
Psa_44:12. For nought (“without riches”). This expression may also mean “gratuitously.” (Hupfeld). But there is nothing to indicate a contrast between the dealings of men in their worldly concerns, for the sake of gain or some external advantage, and the designs of Divine Providence, which have higher pedagogical reasons, and the Redemption which is effected without money and without price. (Isa_43:13; Isa_52:3; Jer_15:4). Strictly speaking, the figure here used has the sense of “for nought,” and conveys the idea of unworthiness and insignificance. Besides, the whole passage must be taken figuratively, and can have no reference, historically, to the supposed fact that the multitude of captives was so great as to lower the price of slaves. Hupfeld defends the more ancient (Chald., Theod., Kim.) translation of the following line, “thou didst not increase (viz., thy wealth) by their purchase money.” Pro_22:16, is not a parallel example, because the definitive words “for thee” are wanting; and the sense of “to gain by usury,” derived from the Aramaic, goes far beyond the meaning of the phrase “thou hast gained nothing.” Most modern expositors, therefore, take the verb “to increase” in an absolute sense, and the preposition ב as specifying its extent. [Alexander: “They seemed to be gratuitously given up, i. e., without necessity or profit.”—Perowne: “For nought, i. e., for that which is the very opposite of riches, a mere nothing.”—J. F.]
Psa_44:19. The place of (dragons) jackals denotes a desert region in general (Isa_34:13; Jer_9:10; Jer_10:22; Jer_49:33; Jer_51:37). It does not refer specially to the district of Jamnia, on the border of Philistia and Dan, where Samson found three hundred foxes (Jdg_15:4), and where the unfortunate battle mentioned in 1Ma_5:56, was fought, a locality in which Hasselquist, Seetzen, and other travellers tell us that these animals are found in great numbers (Hitzig). The older translation “dragons” originated in the supposition that תּנִּים is a contraction for תָּנִּינִים, through a misapprehension of Eze_29:3. The original meaning of the word is “howling.” This cry of the animal of the desert, more minutely described in Lam_4:3; Is. 12:22; 35:7; 43:20, is compared to the sounds of wailings uttered by human beings, Job_30:29; Mic_1:8.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. The living announcement of the help and deliverance which God has vouchsafed to our fathers in past ages is a means of confirming our faith in His constant providential care under present tribulations. It quickens the hope that He will speedily interfere on our behalf, and stimulates prayer for His instant aid under the pressing necessities of the present, and in the prospect of threatening dangers. Comp. Hab_3:2, and 2Ch_20:7.
2. In the narratives of events of past ages it is necessary both for the proper study of history, and the edification of contemporaries that attention be specially fixed on those events which most plainly exhibit a personal Providence. In tracing these events the thoughts should be turned away from all human activity, wisdom, and might; from all temporal and earthly instrumentalities; they should be fixed on the Divine power as their only and eternal cause. The free grace of God, and the good pleasure of His love, should be viewed as the final and decisive ground of these divine acts.
3. A people which, by faith, renews the confession of God as its King, gains thereby a firm foundation for its historical position in the world; it becomes confident that the same God, to whom, as it gratefully remembers, it owes its origin as a people, will preserve it and deliver it from dangers which may threaten its desolation and destruction. All that is needful to beget this hope is the consideration of the royal sovereignty of Almighty God.
4. The religious means of obtaining such a display of divine sovereignty, in any given case, is Prayer, which appeals not to human worthiness, but to the needs which men so plainly and frequently experience. Hence, Prayer addresses not the justice but the grace of God,—that grace which has been already manifested in establishing the covenant relation, though it may plead this relation, and beg for its preservation.
5. In this appeal there is no affirmation of innocence; no assertion that the moral and religious condition of the people is in accordance with all the demands of the covenant law, for this would be both foolish and untrue. It simply declares the attachment of the people to their covenant God, and that they have preserved the historico-religious position which He has graciously granted to them. While many individuals may have proved faithless, the people, as such, have maintained their allegiance to God as their God. On this ground alone, they ask and expect from their heavenly King deliverance from the worst possible afflictions.
6. In such a case, there is a difference to be made between merited and unmerited sufferings, and while the latter are not to be viewed as judgments, nor as strokes of fate, they should be patiently endured for God’s sake. There is thus a progress in religious knowledge and historico-religious experience, even though it is fully comprehended, that for God’s people, as well as the servant of Jehovah, these sufferings are necessary in carrying out God’s plan of salvation, and that they are as essentially connected with their theocratic destination or mission as they are inseparable from their divine election and call.
7. The endurance of such afflictions implies, on the part of the sufferer, no such feelings as would lead him to complain of God, or to glorify himself. His appeal to God will never take the form of an accusation, but of a prayer, and a vow of thanksgiving for that gracious help of the Almighty which is indispensable. Hence, if in his lamentation the question is asked “why sleepest Thou, O Lord?” and his prayer sounds like a cry to awake, he can use the language of John Hyrcanus (Sota 48, according to Del.) who, in the time of the Maccabees, quieted the anxieties of the Levites, who came daily to him with this same question, by saying, “Does the Godhead sleep?”—Have not the Scriptures declared: “Behold, he who keeps Israel slumbereth not?” It was only in a time when Israel was in trouble, and the people of the world in the enjoyment of rest and prosperity, that the words were used, “Awake, why sleepest Thou, O Lord?” In these, and similar figurative expressions, the prominent idea is, that these sufferings are not to be regarded as evils, positively inflicted by God, but rather as permitted by Him.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
The best histories are those which rehearse the doings of God. The benefits resulting from the study of them are: 1. It helps us to understand God’s providential government on earth. 2. It awakens gratitude for His favors. 3. It stimulates confidence in God’s gracious help. God is our King! (1) Whence do we know this? (2) In what does He help us? (3) How do we testify this?—As long as we are in covenant with God, the most powerful foes cannot destroy us. What follows from this in regard to our conduct and duty?—God is not only the mightiest, but the surest, yea the only reliable ally.—As we are indebted to God for all good things so we must ask Him for all needful things.—Nothing without faith, but every thing through grace.—If we know the name of God, we will properly use it for His honor, for our salvation, and for the good of others.—He who belongs to God’s people, must be prepared to suffer for His sake, and be careful that he brings no dishonor upon His name.—He who really suffers for God’s sake will find that such suffering never separates him from God.—The tribulations of the times always bind the people of God more closely to His name, hand and grace, as the light of His countenance.
Starke: It is the business of parents to implant in the hearts of their children the knowledge and honor of God.—Children and young people should lay to heart what they have heard concerning the works of God, from their parents, in order to confirm their faith and to improve their lives.—The change of government in a land should not be regarded as a mere accident, but as an event with which the will and the hand of God are concerned.—Although God employs instruments when He helps us, we should not ascribe to them the aid we get, nor give to them the honor and glory which are due to God alone.—No enemy can gain any honor from a conflict with the children of God; all his malice brings upon himself only shame and injury, but glory and praise to the Lord.—It will soon be manifest on what the heart of any man trusts, for whatever it be he will constantly think and speak of it.—Reason left to itself regards the righteous judgments and the paternal chastisements of God as very strange.—God has often allowed Christians to be brought like lambs to the slaughter, in order that by their death they may praise Him, and become martyrs for Christ.—Let temporal things take whatever turn God pleases, if only the eternal inheritance is sure.—To a suffering believer, the greatest stumbling-block is God’s patience and forbearance towards the very worst of men.—The persecution of the Church for her “good confession” is a sharp trial of her faith, constancy, and patience.—Contempt of the true worship of God will sooner or later end in the adoration of an idol, either in a gross or a refined way.—Sufferings however intense involve no merit: we must look only to the goodness and grace of God.—Bugenhagen: The pious man does what God has commanded, and waits for what God’s will has determined respecting him.—Selnekker: The believer undertakes nothing that is contrary to God’s word. He will never tempt God, but uses such means as God has appointed. His trust is in God alone, who can and will help him.—Osiander: Warlike preparation is not always the cause of victory.—Frisch: He who would exercise true faith, and by such faith would conquer, must possess these three qualities, 1. He must lay aside all trust in earthly power. 2. His heart’s entire trust must be in God. 3. His heart must give all the glory to God.—Franke: Christ’s kingdom must ever manifest itself as a kingdom of the Cross, because it is through suffering that we enter into glory.—Berlin Bible: The events that happened in the primitive Church will be repeated in the Church of the latter day, under the great Anti-Christ.—Rieger: Oh! how mysterious is God! Never imagine that you can lead Him as you wish, even by faith. In ways that to us seem circuitous and contrary, He accomplishes His purposes. What He Himself hath built up, He can break down; what He Himself hath planted, He can root out again. Yet His kingdom loses nothing thereby. What the Church of God may seem to lose by oppression, is more than made up by the victory of the righteous, by the approved piety of those who hold fast their integrity, and their salutary experience gained by suffering. Paul’s song of victory (Rom_8:38) “for I am persuaded” could be uttered only after the composition of such Psalms as the XLIVth, in which the cross and the sufferings of the believer are delineated.—Vaihinger. A look full of faith towards the works of God in ages past!—Tholuck: Israel celebrates in song only the works of God. But the hymns of other nations relate to the great deeds of their ancestors.—Guenther: God’s army has a war-song to strengthen its hope, to describe its wants, and to cry mightily for help.—Diedrich: In every new tribulation God gives us to experience and acknowledge, that if we are grounded upon His word, we can only stand by His power.—Taube: There are instructions how the church of God should act, when she has to bear the cross. Israel’s strength and salvation is also Israel’s Psalm. The flesh timid and faint-hearted, sees in times of affliction, a sleeping God, yet the Keeper of Israel never slumbers,—a repudiating God, and yet God does not repudiate eternally,—a concealed God, and yet He is always mindful of us,—a forgetful God and yet a mother would sooner forget her child than God His people. But He tarries that we may cry!
[Henry: The many operations of providence are here spoken of as one work, for there is a wonderful harmony and uniformity in all that God does, and the many wheels make but one wheel, many works make but one work.—He that by His power and goodness planted a church for Himself in the world, will certainly support it by the same power and goodness, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.—When the heart turns back, the steps will soon decline.—We may the better bear our troubles, how pressing soever, if in them we still hold fast our integrity. While our troubles do not drive us from our duty to God, we should not suffer them to drive us from our comfort in God, for He will not leave us, if we do not leave Him.—Bp. Patrick: Certainly we have deserved “all” these calamities, though this comfort is still remaining, that we are not so wicked as to be moved by all this to desert Thee, and violate that covenant by which we are engaged to worship Thee alone.
Scott: The formalist commonly escapes persecution by turning with the stream, and purchasing security with sinful compliances, or open apostacy; but the true Church of God cannot be prevailed on by menaces, sufferings, or promises to forget God or deal falsely in His covenant.—The Church of God is one incorporated body, from the beginning to the end of the world; and the benefits conferred on it in every age, will be acknowledged with gratitude by believers through all generations, and even to eternity.—We have reason to be thankful, considering our frailty, for exemption from the more violent species of persecution; but let us be careful that prosperity and ease do not render us careless and lukewarm.—J. F.].
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On v2 plantedst them--that is, "our fathers," who are also, from…
plantedst them--that is, "our fathers," who are also, from the parallel construction of the last clause, to be regarded as the object of "cast them out," which means--literally, "send" them out, or, "extend them." Heathen and people denote the nations who were driven out to make room for the Israelites.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv1–3 1. Our fathers have told us—This is not a…
1. Our fathers have told us—This is not a reference to oral tradition, but an allusion to Exo_10:2; Exo_12:26; Exo_13:8; Exo_13:14; Deu_6:20-23; where God commands the fathers to teach the meaning of the written law, and the history of their settlement in Canaan, to their children. They had been taught in childhood, by the command of God, that the Hebrew title to the land was of divine authority. This is here appealed to as the basis of the plea and prayer against dispossession, which the heathen now threatened.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv1–3 1. our fathers have told us] In obedience to…
1. our fathers have told us] In obedience to the often repeated injunction to hand on the memory of God’s marvellous works on behalf of His people. See Exo_10:2; Exo_12:26 f.; Exo_13:8; Exo_13:14; Deu_6:20; Jos_4:6; Jos_4:21. Cp. Jdg_6:13; Psa_78:3. Observe the importance attached to oral tradition as a means of perpetuating the memory of the past. Much of the early history of Israel was doubtless preserved by oral tradition for a long period before it was committed to writing.
in the times of old] Better, even the days of old. Cp. Isa_37:26 (A.V., of ancient times).
Read full note →
1–3. A retrospect. Not their own valour but God’s help and favour gave Israel possession of the land of Canaan.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv1–3 (1) We have heard.—The glorious traditions of ancient deliverances…
(1) We have heard.—The glorious traditions of ancient deliverances wrought by Jehovah for His people were a sacred heritage of every Hebrew. (See Exo_10:2; Exo_12:26, seq.; Deu_6:20, etc.) This, and all the historical psalms, show how closely interwoven for the Jew were patriotism and religion.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv1–3 THE date and occasion of this psalm are greatly…
THE date and occasion of this psalm are greatly disputed. Most critics, from Calvin to Hitzig, refer it to the times of the Maccabees. Others suggest the fourth or fifth century B.C. One (Tholuck) dates it in the reign of Jehoiachin. Hengstenberg and Canon Cook argue for the reign of David. The time of Jehoram (2Ch_21:16, 2Ch_21:17) and that of the defeat of Josiah (2Ch_35:20-24) have also been proposed as possible. The Davidic date receives a certain amount of support from Psalm 60, which is in the same tone, and resembles the present psalm in several expressions. (comp. Psa_60:1 with Psa_44:9 Psa_60:10 with Psa_44:9, 10 60:11 with Psa_44:26; etc.) It also harmonizes with the place of the psalm in the Psalter, and with its ascription to the "sons of Korah," who were certainly among David"s musicians.
The occasion of the psalm is some serious reverse which the Israelites had sustained in a war with foreign enemies, but who were the enemies, and when exactly the reverse was sustained, are uncertain. No doubt there were many temporary reverses in the course of David"s wars, after one of which the psalm may have been written.
Read full note →
The psalm divides itself into four parts. In part 1 (vers. 1-8) the writer recounts God"s mercies in the past, and from them confidently concludes that effectual help will be granted in the present emergency. In part 2 (vers. 9-16) he describes the emergency itself. In part 3 (vers. 17-22) he urges the fact that it had not been brought about by any infidelity or rebellion on the part of his countrymen. And in part 4 (vers. 23-26) he makes his prayer for deliverance.
The style is throughout simple, pure, and noble, possessing all the characteristics of the best period of Hebrew poetry.
We have heard with our ears, O God, our fathers have told us, what work thou didst in their days, in the times of old. The Law required all Israelites to teach their children the past history of the nation, and especially the mercies which had been vouchsafed to it. (see Exo_10:2 Exo_12:26, 27 13:8, 10, etc.)
The blessing of memory: a commemoration sermon.
"We have heard," etc. Memory is the thread which binds life together. A failing memory is one of the saddest infirmities of old age. Yet there is often this compensation that the long-distant past is well remembered. The old man forgets what weather it was yesterday, but the sunny birthdays and snowy Christmas Days of childhood live in his memory. The old house, the old frees and voices, the old joys and sorrows, the lessons that sank into his heart in childhood are with him still. Suppose the reverse possible that one had a clear memory of even the least occurrences of the last few weeks or mouths, but no memory of things long ago; no associations clinging, binding him to old scenes, old friends; not so much as an old prejudice; what a shallow, mechanical, uninteresting life his would be! There are common memories as well as individual; household words, family traditions, public and national history, sacred heritages of former generations. One of the most precious possessions of mankind is the knowledge and remembrance of the past.
I THE DUTY AND BENEFIT OF REMEMBERING THE PAST is taught in the most impressive way in the Bible. Its whole structure is historical. Alone among books, it professes to trace an unbroken line of family history from the first human being to the beginning of the Christian era; ending in him who is "the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever." Its deepest and greatest lessons are bound up with the lives, the examples, the prayers, the spiritual experience of men who loved and feared God thousands of years ago. What could make up for the loss, if we could forget the faith of Abraham, the Laws of Moses, the Psalms of David? But the lives of these and other spiritual heroes are but links in the history of a great spiritual community the Church of God. Christians, St. Paul tells us, are children of Abraham. The gospel itself is history. Our Saviour consecrated this principle when he said, "Do this in remembrance of me.
II FORGETFULNESS OF THE PAST MEANS IGNORANCE OF GOD"S DEALINGS. His most wonderful works and glorious manifestations. The great law of God"s creation, providence, and grace is that the present grows out of the past, and is the root and seed of the future. The watchword of modern philosophy, evolution," has been used as a sort of conjuring word to get rid of God; to show how the universe may dispense with a Creator. But Scripture is full of evolution in the truest and highest sense, viz. the unfolding of God"s purpose, the development of Divine thought and love. "Evolution" means "unfolding" or "out-folding." Nothing can be unfolded that has not been folded up. The plan, order, beauty, unity, life, happiness, of this wonderful universe could not be folded up in atoms of fiery gas, which after millions of years come out still as unchanged atoms of gas. They could be folded up nowhere but in a mind able to see the end from the beginning, and in the beginning to prepare for every following step and stage. What is true of God"s works in creation is true of his providential government of men and of nations; and equally true of his grace. (Eph_1:4 Eph_3:9)
III FORGETFULNESS OF THE PAST IS GREAT INGRATITUDE. True, we suffer for the faults and follies of our ancestors; but they conquered for us a rich inheritance. Who can reckon what we owe to the men who invented letters, figures, the plough, the loom, the anvil, the ship? Where should we be to-day without the mariner"s compass, the printing-press, the steam-engine? So in spiritual things. What do we owe to the evangelists for the four Gospels; to St. Paul and the other apostles for their Epistles; to the translators of the Scriptures; to reformers, preachers, sacred poets, writers? Ungrateful forgetfulness and consequent undervaluing of the past is one of the dangers and faults of our age. We are in little peril of the Chinese superstition worshipping our ancestors. Men"s eyes turn feverishly to the future. What is old is set down as antiquated, obsolete, worn-out. In the wonderful movement, amazing discoveries, manifold progress of our day, we are apt to forget that our ancestors sowed, or at least ploughed, where we reap; and made the roads along which we travel, and the ladders by which we climb. If language, institutions, art, science, industry, had to make a fresh start with each generation, life would never rise above barbarism.
CONCLUSION. There is a sense in which it is well to forget the past its failures, so far as they would discourage; its achievements, so far as they would content us. (Php_3:13, 14) We are not to dwell among the tombs; not to resemble a man carrying a looking-glass before him, which reflects only what is behind, and hides his path; but we are to converse with the past, that we may learn thankfulness, (Psa_103:2) humility, (Job_15:7) courage, (Jam_5:17) wisdom, (1Co_10:11) faith and hope. (Psa_77:10, 11 48:14)
HOMILIES BY W. FORSYTH Vers. 1-26. "In the days of old.
From this psalm we may learn three great lessons
I WE ARE TAUGHT TO SEE GOD"S HAND IN HISTORY. There is no such thing as chance. "The chapter of accidents," as some one has well said, "is the Bible of the fool." There are differences in the nations and the ages; but God is in all. We acknowledge how God was with the Jews; but we are not so ready to admit that he had to do just as really and truly with other peoples. The difference, in the case of the Jews is that as to them the veil has been lifted, that light has been thrown upon their history. The story of their nation was written as by the hand of God himself, and was committed as a sacred heritage to be transmitted pure and entire from generation to generation. (Deu_6:7-20; cf. Moses, Exo_18:8; David, Psa_58:8; Hezekiah, Isa_38:19) But, as St. Paul has taught us, "All these things happened to them for ensamples; and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come". (1Co_10:11) God governs the nations on the same principles as he governed the Jews. "There are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all". (1Co_12:6)
II HOW GOD IS CARRYING OUT HIS OWN GREAT END THROUGH ALL THE AGES OF HISTORY. The wise man said, "One generation passeth away, and another cometh; but the earth abideth for ever". (Ecc_1:4) But if the earth abideth it is because God abideth. He has his plans as to men, and throughout the ages he is working them out. There is the manifestation of himself. More and more the knowledge of God has increased. The Jews knew more than the patriarchs. The Christians know more than the Jews. Besides, God is, in a sense, educating the world. We stand related to the past and the future. We have learned much from the past. God employs one age to benefit another. How great are our obligations, through books and otherwise, to the great men of the past to Gentiles and Jews! We are the heirs of all the ages. And if we have benefited by those who came before us, so we are bound to benefit those who come after us. Privilege is the measure of responsibility. "Unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required". (Luk_12:48) We see but a little, and, as oar knowledge is limited, our judgment must be imperfect. Yet we see and know enough to be satisfied that God is working in and by all events, and that he works ever towards a perfect end. "Happy the man who sees a God employ"d In all the good and ill that checker life, Resolving all events, with their effects And manifold results, into the will And arbitration wise of the Supreme! (Cowper)
III THAT GOD HAS CARED FOR HIS PEOPLE THROUGH ALL THE AGES OF HISTORY. This is the burden of this psalm. This is the great truth that gives life to the faith professed (vers. 1-8); that awakens the complaint of desertion in time of grievous trial (vers. 9-16); that sustains the hope of help and ultimate deliverance (vers. 17-26). As in the past, so still, there will be changes not only mercies, but judgments. There will be trials of our faith; there will be the sharp discipline of chastisement; there will be, in some form or other, the "persecution" which tests our loyalty, and strengthens and purifies our love. But, come what will, God changes not; and God is our God. Our trust in men may fail, our hopes of earthly leaders may be disappointed and put to shame; but God is faithful who has promised, and he will never forsake those who trust in him. After Culloden, a soldier of Prince Chades"s army was found lying dead on the field, with his Gaelic psalm-book open in his hand, and a bloody finger-mark at the ninth verse of this psalm, "But thou hast cast off, and put us to shame, and doest not forth with our armies." But Christ, the great Captain of our salvation, will not suffer the least of his soldiers thus to die, with blighted hopes and broken heart. W.F.
HOMILIES BY C. SHORT Vers. 1-26. A prayer for help against foreign enemies.
The train of thought is this: "Thou hast helped us, thou must help us; but thou hast not helped us; yet have we not by any guilt on our part cut ourselves off from thy help; do thou therefore help us." The problem of suffering , as argued in this psalm, is similar to the problem in the Book of Job. That God should not help them
I WAS INCONSISTENT WITS GOD"S PAST TREATMENT OF THEM. (Vers. 1-3) Their fathers had told them what work God had done in their days in the days of old. What a history of Divine work have we in the past of the Christian Church!
II INCONSISTENT WITH THEIR FAITH IN HIM. (Vers. 4-8) God was their Almighty King, through whom they were able to achieve all conquests.
III IT WOULD BRING NO PROFIT OR HONOUR TO GOD. (Ver. 12) To leave them to their enemies. How could God act thus, so as to seem to dishonour himself and to bring no profit to his people?
IV IT COULD NOT BE A PUNISHMENT FOR UNFAITHFULNESS. (Vers. 17-22) They had not forgotten God; their heart was not turned back, neither had their steps declined from his way. They could not explain.
V DID NOT SEEM CONSISTENT WITH GOD"S REGARD TO HIS OWN HONOUR. (Vers. 15, 16, 24) He seemed to be taking the side of the blasphemer, and forgetting their fidelity. And this was the mystery of their experience.
VI YET IT DID NOT UPROOT THEIR FAITH IN DIVINE HELP AT LAST. For they continue to supplicate the redeeming interposition of God (vers. 23-26). Faith always conquers its difficulties thus, by trusting where it cannot see or explain. S.
The blessing of memory: a commemoration sermon.
"We have heard," etc. Memory is the thread which binds life together. A failing memory is one of the saddest infirmities of old age. Yet there is often this compensation that the long-distant past is well remembered. The old man forgets what weather it was yesterday, but the sunny birthdays and snowy Christmas Days of childhood live in his memory. The old house, the old frees and voices, the old joys and sorrows, the lessons that sank into his heart in childhood are with him still. Suppose the reverse possible that one had a clear memory of even the least occurrences of the last few weeks or mouths, but no memory of things long ago; no associations clinging, binding him to old scenes, old friends; not so much as an old prejudice; what a shallow, mechanical, uninteresting life his would be! There are common memories as well as individual; household words, family traditions, public and national history, sacred heritages of former generations. One of the most precious possessions of mankind is the knowledge and remembrance of the past.
I THE DUTY AND BENEFIT OF REMEMBERING THE PAST is taught in the most impressive way in the Bible. Its whole structure is historical. Alone among books, it professes to trace an unbroken line of family history from the first human being to the beginning of the Christian era; ending in him who is "the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever." Its deepest and greatest lessons are bound up with the lives, the examples, the prayers, the spiritual experience of men who loved and feared God thousands of years ago. What could make up for the loss, if we could forget the faith of Abraham, the Laws of Moses, the Psalms of David? But the lives of these and other spiritual heroes are but links in the history of a great spiritual community the Church of God. Christians, St. Paul tells us, are children of Abraham. The gospel itself is history. Our Saviour consecrated this principle when he said, "Do this in remembrance of me.
II FORGETFULNESS OF THE PAST MEANS IGNORANCE OF GOD"S DEALINGS. His most wonderful works and glorious manifestations. The great law of God"s creation, providence, and grace is that the present grows out of the past, and is the root and seed of the future. The watchword of modern philosophy, evolution," has been used as a sort of conjuring word to get rid of God; to show how the universe may dispense with a Creator. But Scripture is full of evolution in the truest and highest sense, viz. the unfolding of God"s purpose, the development of Divine thought and love. "Evolution" means "unfolding" or "out-folding." Nothing can be unfolded that has not been folded up. The plan, order, beauty, unity, life, happiness, of this wonderful universe could not be folded up in atoms of fiery gas, which after millions of years come out still as unchanged atoms of gas. They could be folded up nowhere but in a mind able to see the end from the beginning, and in the beginning to prepare for every following step and stage. What is true of God"s works in creation is true of his providential government of men and of nations; and equally true of his grace. (Eph_1:4 Eph_3:9)
III FORGETFULNESS OF THE PAST IS GREAT INGRATITUDE. True, we suffer for the faults and follies of our ancestors; but they conquered for us a rich inheritance. Who can reckon what we owe to the men who invented letters, figures, the plough, the loom, the anvil, the ship? Where should we be to-day without the mariner"s compass, the printing-press, the steam-engine? So in spiritual things. What do we owe to the evangelists for the four Gospels; to St. Paul and the other apostles for their Epistles; to the translators of the Scriptures; to reformers, preachers, sacred poets, writers? Ungrateful forgetfulness and consequent undervaluing of the past is one of the dangers and faults of our age. We are in little peril of the Chinese superstition worshipping our ancestors. Men"s eyes turn feverishly to the future. What is old is set down as antiquated, obsolete, worn-out. In the wonderful movement, amazing discoveries, manifold progress of our day, we are apt to forget that our ancestors sowed, or at least ploughed, where we reap; and made the roads along which we travel, and the ladders by which we climb. If language, institutions, art, science, industry, had to make a fresh start with each generation, life would never rise above barbarism.
CONCLUSION. There is a sense in which it is well to forget the past its failures, so far as they would discourage; its achievements, so far as they would content us. (Php_3:13, 14) We are not to dwell among the tombs; not to resemble a man carrying a looking-glass before him, which reflects only what is behind, and hides his path; but we are to converse with the past, that we may learn thankfulness, (Psa_103:2) humility, (Job_15:7) courage, (Jam_5:17) wisdom, (1Co_10:11) faith and hope. (Psa_77:10, 11 48:14)
HOMILIES BY W. FORSYTH Vers. 1-26. "In the days of old.
From this psalm we may learn three great lessons
I WE ARE TAUGHT TO SEE GOD"S HAND IN HISTORY. There is no such thing as chance. "The chapter of accidents," as some one has well said, "is the Bible of the fool." There are differences in the nations and the ages; but God is in all. We acknowledge how God was with the Jews; but we are not so ready to admit that he had to do just as really and truly with other peoples. The difference, in the case of the Jews is that as to them the veil has been lifted, that light has been thrown upon their history. The story of their nation was written as by the hand of God himself, and was committed as a sacred heritage to be transmitted pure and entire from generation to generation. (Deu_6:7-20; cf. Moses, Exo_18:8; David, Psa_58:8; Hezekiah, Isa_38:19) But, as St. Paul has taught us, "All these things happened to them for ensamples; and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come". (1Co_10:11) God governs the nations on the same principles as he governed the Jews. "There are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all". (1Co_12:6)
II HOW GOD IS CARRYING OUT HIS OWN GREAT END THROUGH ALL THE AGES OF HISTORY. The wise man said, "One generation passeth away, and another cometh; but the earth abideth for ever". (Ecc_1:4) But if the earth abideth it is because God abideth. He has his plans as to men, and throughout the ages he is working them out. There is the manifestation of himself. More and more the knowledge of God has increased. The Jews knew more than the patriarchs. The Christians know more than the Jews. Besides, God is, in a sense, educating the world. We stand related to the past and the future. We have learned much from the past. God employs one age to benefit another. How great are our obligations, through books and otherwise, to the great men of the past to Gentiles and Jews! We are the heirs of all the ages. And if we have benefited by those who came before us, so we are bound to benefit those who come after us. Privilege is the measure of responsibility. "Unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required". (Luk_12:48) We see but a little, and, as oar knowledge is limited, our judgment must be imperfect. Yet we see and know enough to be satisfied that God is working in and by all events, and that he works ever towards a perfect end. "Happy the man who sees a God employ"d In all the good and ill that checker life, Resolving all events, with their effects And manifold results, into the will And arbitration wise of the Supreme! (Cowper)
III THAT GOD HAS CARED FOR HIS PEOPLE THROUGH ALL THE AGES OF HISTORY. This is the burden of this psalm. This is the great truth that gives life to the faith professed (vers. 1-8); that awakens the complaint of desertion in time of grievous trial (vers. 9-16); that sustains the hope of help and ultimate deliverance (vers. 17-26). As in the past, so still, there will be changes not only mercies, but judgments. There will be trials of our faith; there will be the sharp discipline of chastisement; there will be, in some form or other, the "persecution" which tests our loyalty, and strengthens and purifies our love. But, come what will, God changes not; and God is our God. Our trust in men may fail, our hopes of earthly leaders may be disappointed and put to shame; but God is faithful who has promised, and he will never forsake those who trust in him. After Culloden, a soldier of Prince Chades"s army was found lying dead on the field, with his Gaelic psalm-book open in his hand, and a bloody finger-mark at the ninth verse of this psalm, "But thou hast cast off, and put us to shame, and doest not forth with our armies." But Christ, the great Captain of our salvation, will not suffer the least of his soldiers thus to die, with blighted hopes and broken heart. W.F.
HOMILIES BY C. SHORT Vers. 1-26. A prayer for help against foreign enemies.
The train of thought is this: "Thou hast helped us, thou must help us; but thou hast not helped us; yet have we not by any guilt on our part cut ourselves off from thy help; do thou therefore help us." The problem of suffering , as argued in this psalm, is similar to the problem in the Book of Job. That God should not help them
I WAS INCONSISTENT WITS GOD"S PAST TREATMENT OF THEM. (Vers. 1-3) Their fathers had told them what work God had done in their days in the days of old. What a history of Divine work have we in the past of the Christian Church!
II INCONSISTENT WITH THEIR FAITH IN HIM. (Vers. 4-8) God was their Almighty King, through whom they were able to achieve all conquests.
III IT WOULD BRING NO PROFIT OR HONOUR TO GOD. (Ver. 12) To leave them to their enemies. How could God act thus, so as to seem to dishonour himself and to bring no profit to his people?
IV IT COULD NOT BE A PUNISHMENT FOR UNFAITHFULNESS. (Vers. 17-22) They had not forgotten God; their heart was not turned back, neither had their steps declined from his way. They could not explain.
V DID NOT SEEM CONSISTENT WITH GOD"S REGARD TO HIS OWN HONOUR. (Vers. 15, 16, 24) He seemed to be taking the side of the blasphemer, and forgetting their fidelity. And this was the mystery of their experience.
VI YET IT DID NOT UPROOT THEIR FAITH IN DIVINE HELP AT LAST. For they continue to supplicate the redeeming interposition of God (vers. 23-26). Faith always conquers its difficulties thus, by trusting where it cannot see or explain. S.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Charles H. Spurgeon 1885 · Public Domain On vv1–3 Title. To the Chief Musician for the sons of…
Title. To the Chief Musician for the sons of Korah, Maschil. The title is similar to the forty-second, and although this is no proof that it is by the same author it makes it highly probable. No other writer should be sought for to father any of the Psalms when David will suffice, and therefore we are loathe to ascribe this sacred song to any but the great psalmist, yet as we hardly know any period of his life which it would fairly describe, we feel compelled to look elsewhere. Some Israelitish patriot fallen on evil times, sings in mingled faith and sorrow, his country's ancient glory and her present griefs, her traditions of former favour and her experience of pressing ills. By Christians it can best be understood if put into the mouth of the church when persecution is peculiarly severe. The last verses remind us of Milton's famous lines on the massacre of the Protestants among the mountains of Piedmont.
The song before us is fitted for the voices of the saved by grace, the sons of Korah, and is to them and to all others full of teaching, hence the title Maschil.
Read full note →
Division. From Ps 44:1-3, the Lord's mighty works for Israel are rehearsed, and in remembrance of them faith in the Lord is expressed Ps 44:4-8. Then the notes of complaint are heard Ps 44:9-16, the fidelity of the people to their God is aroused, Ps 44:17-22, and the Lord is entreated to interpose, Ps 44:23-26.
Ver. 1. We have heard with our ears, O God. Thy mighty acts have been the subjects of common conversation; not alone in books have we read thy famous deeds, but in the ordinary talk of the people we have heard of them. Among the godly Israelites the biography of their nation was preserved by oral tradition, with great diligence and accuracy. This mode of preserving and transmitting history has its disadvantages, but it certainly produces a more vivid impression on the mind than any other; to hear with the ears affects us more sensitively than to read with the eyes; we ought to note this, and seize every possible opportunity of telling abroad the gospel of our Lord Jesus viva voce, since this is the most telling mode of communication. The expression, "heard with our ears, "may denote the pleasure with which they listened, the intensity of their interest, the personality of their hearing, and the lively remembrance they had of the romantic and soul stirring narrative. Too many have ears but hear not; happy are they who, having ears, have learned to hear. Our fathers have told us. They could not have had better informants. Schoolmasters are well enough, but godly fathers are, both by the order of nature and grace, the best instructors of their sons, nor can they delegate the sacred duty. It is to be feared that many children of professors could plead very little before God of what their fathers have told them. When fathers are tongue tied religiously with their offspring, need they wonder if their children's hearts remain sin tied? Just as in all free nations men delight to gather around the hearth, and tell the deeds of valour of their sires "in the brave days of old, "so the people of God under the old dispensation made their families cheerful around the table, be rehearsing the wondrous doings of the Lord their God. Religious conversation need not be dull, and indeed it could not be if, as in this case, it dealt more with facts and less with opinions. What work thou didst in their days, in the times of old. They began with what their own eyes had witnessed, and then passed on to what were the traditions of their youth. Note that the main point of the history transmitted from father to son was the work of God; this is the core of history, and therefore no man can write history aright who is a stranger to the Lord's work. It is delightful to see the footprints of the Lord on the sea of changing events, to behold him riding on the whirlwind of war, pestilence, and famine, and above all to see his unchanging care for his chosen people. Those who are taught to see God in history have learned a good lesson from their fathers, and no son of believing parents should be left in ignorance of so holy an art. A nation tutored as Israel was in a history so marvellous as their own, always had an available argument in pleading with God for aid in trouble, since he who never changes gives in every deed of grace a pledge of mercy yet to come. The traditions of our past experience are powerful pleas for present help.
Whole Psalm. On a survey of this Psalm, it would seem not to admit of a doubt that the speakers are of the race of Israel; and yet expositors for the most part have found much difficulty in so understanding it, in thisthe natural senseso as even to be compelled to abandon it, owing to the impossibility of fixing on any period in the history of that people which would furnish an occasion for it, and verify its language. Thus, it cannot be referred to the times of the Babylonish captivity; for to this it is objected, and with reason; first, that Ps 44:11 4:14 represent the speakers as "scattered among the nations, "and "a byword among the peoples, "whereas their exile was then confined to one country; and, secondly, that in Ps 44:17-21 there is an assertion of faithful adherence to the worship of the true God, which he is called to witness as acquitting the sufferers of having brought the evil on themselves, while that captivity was a punishment of the nation for their apostasy, and especially for the grievous sin of idolatry. And the same objections lie to interpreting it with reference to the times of Antiochus Epiphanes and the Maccabees; beside that, the history of the canon of Scripture is decisive against assigning so late a date to any of the Psalms. Still less can the times of David be looked to for the occasion, since, though religion was then pure, there was, on the other hand, no dispersion of the nation nor any calamity such as to warrant the lamentation, "Thou hast cast us off, and put us to shame. ...Thou hast given us like sheep appointed for meat, "etc. Whence it appeared that there was no alternative but to consider the Psalm as exclusively the language of the Christian church, and, in her primitive days, as the period at once of her greatest purity and suffering. William de Burgh.
Whole Psalm. S. Ambrose observes, that in former Psalms we have seen a prophecy of Christ's passion, resurrection, and ascension and of the coming of the Holy Ghost, and that here we are taught that we ourselves must be ready to struggle and suffer, in order that these things may profit us. Human will must work together with divine grace. Christopher Wordsworth.
Ver. 1. We have heard with our ears, i.e., we have both heard and heeded it with utmost attention and affection. It is not a pleonasmus, but an emphasis that is here used. John Trapp.
Ver. 1. Our fathers have told us. Hear this, saith Basil, ye fathers that neglect to teach your children such things as may work his fear and love in them, and faith to rely upon and seek to him in all times of danger. They made their mouths, as it were, books, wherein the mighty deeds of the Lord might be read to his praise, and to the drawing of their children's hearts unto him. John Mayer.
Ver. 1. What work thou didst. Why only work in the singular, when such innumerable deliverances had been wrought by him, from the passage of the Red Sea to the destruction of the hundred and eighty-five thousand in the camp of the Assyrians? Because all these were but types of that one great work, that one stretching forth of the Lord's hand, when Satan was vanquished, death destroyed, and the kingdom of heaven opened to all believers. Ambrose.
Ver. 1. What work thou didst. While the songs of other nations sing of the heroism of their ancestors, the songs of Israel celebrate the works of God. Augustus F. Tholuck.
Ver. 1. Three necessary requirements for learning well: 1. Intention and attention in him who hears, we have heard with our ears. 2. Authority in him that teaches, our fathers have told us. 3. Love between the teacher and the taught, "our fathers." Hugo (Cardinal), quoted in Neale's Commentary.
Ver 1-2,4-8. Children are their parent's heirs; it were unnatural for a father before he dies to bury up his treasure in the earth, where his children should not find or enjoy it; now the mercies of God are not the least part of his treasure, nor the least of his children's inheritance, being both helps to their faith, matter for their praise, and spurs to their obedience. Our fathers have told us, what work thou didst in their days, how thou didst drive out the heathen, etc. Ps 44:1-2; from this they ground their confidence; Ps 44:4: Thou art my King, O God: command deliverances for Jacob; and excite their thankfulness, Ps 44:8 In God we boast all the day long, and praise thy name for ever. Indeed, as children are their parent's heirs, so they become in justice liable to pay their parents' debts; now the great debt which the saint at death stands charged with, is that which he owes to God for his mercies, and, therefore it is but reason he should tie his posterity to the patent thereof. Thus mayest thou be praising God in heaven and earth at the same time. William Gurnall.
Ver. 1. The encouraging traditions of church history. The days of yore.
Ver. 1. The parent's duty, and the children's privilege.
Ver. 1. Family conversation, the most profitable subject for it.
Ver. 1. The true glory of the good old times.
Psalms 44:2*
Ver. 1-2,4,8. See Psalms on "Ps 44:1" for further information.
Ver. 1-2,4,8. See Psalms on "Ps 44:1" for further information.
Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv1, 3 We have heard with our ears, O God; our…
Psa_44:1-26
We have heard with our ears, O God; our fathers have told us what work Thou didst.
Read full note →
Aspects of national piety
There is such a thing as national piety. I mean the aggregation of genuine godly thought, sympathy and aspiration, whether found in the breast of paupers or princes. Here we have it represented--
I. As acknowledging Gods providential kindness to the nation in the past (Verses 1-8).
1. The certain assurance of it. We have heard it as an historical fact--heard it from our own fathers, who would not deceive us, and who told it to us in love. Gods merciful interpositions on behalf of the Hebrew people are recorded, not only in the annals of the chosen people, but in the progress of the human race, not only in documents and monuments, but through an institution as divine as nature, as old as the race, viz. parental teaching.
2. The striking manifestations of it. How Thou didst drive out the heathen, etc. It is not our armies and navies that have saved us and made us what we are, but God.
3. The practical influence of it.
(1) Loyalty towards God.
(2) Confidence in God.
II. As deploring Gods present apparent displeasure toward the nation (Psa_44:9-16). He saw his country--
1. Defeated. But Thou hast cast off, etc. We struggle, but succeed not; there is no victory for us; we are foiled in all our efforts.
2. Victimized. They which hate us, etc. We are made use of by our enemies.
3. Enslaved. Thou sellest Thy people for nought, etc.
4. Confounded. My confusion is continually before me, etc. I am ashamed and bewildered. We have lost our dignity and self-command.
5. Scorned. Thou makest us a reproach to our neighbours, etc.
III. As avowing fidelity to God notwithstanding the calamities of the country.
I. A consciousness of fidelity to Heaven. All this is come upon us; yet have we not forgotten Thee, etc.
2. Persecution on account of their fidelity. For Thy sake are we killed, etc.
(1) Genuine piety may co-exist with great suffering. Abraham, David, Job, Paul.
(2) Genuine piety may be stimulated by great suffering.
(3) Genuine piety enables one to bear great suffering.
IV. As invoking Gods interposition in order to restore past privileges.
1. A humanification of Deity. Awake, why sleepest Thou, O Lord? No creature can have a complete conception of the Absolute.
2. Utter prostration of being. Our soul is bowed down to the dust, etc. What stronger expression could there be of depression and degradation than this? In a moral sense all men are thus debased and crushed by sin.
3. Entire dependence on sovereign mercy. Arise for our help, etc. We cannot redeem ourselves, nor can we plead our own merits or excellences as a reason for Thy interposition. (Homilist.)
Gods doings of old
I. Dwelling on the history of the past throws light on the doings of the present.
1. We learn the principle of development. Men are taught that all our present privileges in knowledge, science, civilization and religion came from very small sources. We know that God performed wonders of old, but we also know that those wonders have been continuously progressive.
2. We learn the principle of equalization. If God has done great things for us, He did great things for those of old. They may not have had the full revelation of religion, but they had to exercise faith in the same way as we do.
3. We learn the lesson of common depravity. The people of old did not notice Gods works at the time they were wrought. And so we all allow mercies to come to us unheeded and unpraised, and not till they are taken away do we appreciate their worth.
II. Dwelling on the history of the past throws light upon the faithfulness of God. He is a God who changes not and who never deserts His people.
III. Dwelling on the history of the past throws light upon our expectations for the future. What God has been He will always be. (Homilist.)
Early Israel, the Lords host
The spirit evinced in these words is very different from that which is regarded by some as the special excellency of modern times. It is supposed to be the height of wisdom now to laugh at what our father said, and to show what utter fools they were in comparison with their supremely wise and enlightened sons. Instead of our fathers being the men, and wisdom dying with them, we are the men, and wisdom was non-existent until we appeared. Now, I venture to say that our fathers never did or said anything more silly than the modern extravagance I have now described. We blame the Jews for thinking that Gods love stopped with them, and then we coolly declare that Gods wisdom began with us. Of the two, the Jew had the greater excuse for his onesidedness. Our text clearly introduces us to the time of Joshua, when Israel invaded the land of the Canaanites avowedly by a Divine commission, and destroyed its inhabitants in the name of the Lord.
I. Now they really had a divine commission to do this, or they had not. The very plausible objection is based upon a comparison of tribal histories in primitive times. There is no need to deny the presence of important analogies between the history of Israel and that of other tribes, for the special mission of Israel did not make it cease to be human in its history. But its subsequent history is sufficient to show that it occupied a position of pre-eminence from the beginning as the chosen of God. However rudely it may have conceived its mission, to deny its special mission at the commencement of that history is to make its subsequent development unintelligible, and to declare that its life was false at its very foundation. Next, it is objected that Israel could not have received such a mandate from God, seeing that it was immoral to engage in such aggressive wars. But such an objection as this is pure assumption, and fails to take account of different moral conditions and necessities. It is further urged that the cruelties sometimes practised by Israel upon the conquered are morally indefensible. This may be perfectly true, but it is not relevant as an objection. The abuse of a commission does not prove the denial of its reality.
II. The continuity of their mission is seen further in the power in which they trusted. Israel very significantly distinguished at the very first between the might of its army and the might of its God. This was very important, for it contained the germ of all further development. This distinction between God and physical force makes God definitely ethical. It was this God that gave Israel a mission. No doubt there were many crudenesses in it. It was but as the grey dawn, and was separated by many a stage from the perfect day. But whatever the form of the mission, it was such as was necessary for the time, and was distinctly ethical in spirit. The God they served and in whom they trusted is the eternal God, that liveth and abideth for ever.
III. In perfect harmony with these characteristics was their belief in their divine election. Because Thou hadst a favour unto them. It is important to note that this election, though insisted upon with great emphasis, was ethically conceived. Everything in the religious thought of Israel was necessarily related to its essential conception of God as an ethical Being. Hence the true faith of Israel affords no prototype of later conceptions of arbitrary and non-ethical election and rejection. The true prototype of these is found in corruptions and perversions of Israels true faith. We must point out further that Israels election, as truly conceived, simply imposed upon Israel a special task and mission, and issued no decree of exclusion upon the rest of the world. Putting it generally and tersely we may say that Gods elections do not involve exclusions. The man of Gods choice, who is called to make known in his life the thought and life of God is so far exclusive that he makes war against sin in such a form as is suitable to the age in which he lives, but the final object of his mission is to lead others to share his life and spirit, and to enter into his heritage. This the prophets clearly perceived to be the true purpose of Israels election (Isa_60:3). (John Thomas, M. A.)
Lessons from the past
This verse, slightly altered in form though not in sense, occupies a prominent place in the Church Litany. It is not a prayer at all: it does not form one of that long series of supplications of which the Litany consists. The origin of the Litany is very interesting. It is a most perfect and beautiful sample of a large class of devotions which in earlier ages abounded in the Church, and which seem to have taken their rise in those dark and anxious days which accompanied and followed upon the break-up of the Roman Empire. There, battle, murder and sudden death; plague, pestilence and famine, and all the calamities attendant on what seemed to be the entire collapse of social order, were common things. Hence, when the misery of the people seemed likely to bring in its train the withdrawal of such small blessings as they had, and even, in some cases, the fierce ungodliness of despair; then it was that, in their agony, holy souls turned towards God and sought to enkindle the souls around them by the sharp, prominate ejaculations, such as men might spontaneously utter amid the ruins of a falling world. Our Litany was drafted at the time of the Reformation from earlier compositions of this kind, and it maintains its supplicatory character throughout with a simple and emphatic exception. Between the two solemn adjurations to God to arise and help, there comes in the verse of the psalm, O God, we have heard with our ears, and our fathers, etc. It is an appeal, if we may reverently say so, to the historic consistency of God. It is an act of acknowledgment and praise, and we find the reason for its occurrence in the Litany in the drift and history of the psalm from which it is taken. This psalm was written, probably, at a time and under circumstances not unlike those which some centuries later created the Litanies of the Christian Church. It probably belongs to those dark times which immediately preceded the great and final catastrophe of the Babylonish Captivity. We live over those times, as nowhere else in Holy Scripture, in the pages of Jeremiah. Everything was pointing to some coming disaster: there was failure abroad, there was misery at home. At such times the hearts of thoughtful and religious men turned back upon the past of Israel and upon all that God had done for Israel. Was He not the same God? Was not Israel the same people? Would He be, could He be, inconsistent with Himself? Surely it was enough to remind Him of His mercies in the past to be certain that the future would in some way not be unprovided for. O God, we have heard with our ears, etc. Now, since human history is a record of the way and will of God, we may explain why it is that so large a portion of the Bible is made up of history. It has a distinctly religious use as showing how God works and what He is. There are two main reasons which practically make history so precious at all times, and especially in times of public or private anxiety, and the first is, that it takes us out of the present, takes us out of ourselves. We are taken out of the clouded and fluctuating present, and how can we better learn than from experience, if the judgment be undisturbed? It is also a record of the unalterable character of human nature, and it places us face to face with the infinite and eternal God. I am Jehovah, and change not. Now, to apply this, there are three departments of human life in which this recurrence to the past is of great religious value.
I. The family. Every family has its traditions as well as its hopes. We see it in the families of the wealthy and powerful, amid nobles and princes. To be the descendant from great and illustrious families is to inherit a past of which every educated man feels the magnificence and the power. And it is not less true of the humble and undistinguished lives which belong to most of us. When a boy is told that some generations ago one of his ancestors did something noble and generous; when he is told that, but for the misconduct of such and such a member of the family, he and his would be in a very different position now; and when he is bidden imitate that which was noble, and shun that which was bad in them who went before him, he is brought in this way under the play of very powerful motives, and which cannot but have much influence over him. They are part of the predestined discipline, depend upon it, to which God subjects him, and a very valuable part too.
II. There is our country. And here we have to remember that God shapes the destiny of every nation as surely as He did that of Judah and Israel. It should be part of every young Englishmans education to trace Gods hand in the annals of his country until he can with sincerity and fervour exclaim, O God, we have heard with our ears, etc. And then there is--
III. The great and sacred home of souls--the church of Jesus Christ. And all this has to do with personal religion, for it is the religious use of history which enables us better to do our duty in home, in nation and in the Church, and it makes history itself full of interest and encouragement. (Canon Liddon.)
The story of Gods mighty acts
No stories stick by us so long as those that we hear in our childhood, notwithstanding that so many of them are idle, vain and fabulous. But amongst the early Christians and the old believers in the far-off times, nursery tales were far different from what they are now. Abraham would, no doubt, talk to young children about the flood, and the Israelites who had been in bondage in Egypt would tell their children about that, and how the Lord delivered them. In primitive Christianity it was the custom of parents to tell their children the story of Jesus, and so it was among our Puritanic ancestors. The old Dutch tiles were the lesson-books in Bible history of many beside Doddridge. The writer of this psalm seems to have had told him by his father the story of the wondrous things God had done in the days of old. Let us now recall such things, and speak--
I. Of the wonderful stories we have heard of the lords ancient doings. God has, at times, done very mighty acts at which men have been exceedingly amazed. See the history of Israel in Egypt, in the wilderness, in Canaan; of Sennacherib and many more. And in the New Testament, of Pentecost and of all the triumphs of the Gospel told of there. And since those days in the history of the Church, of Chrysostom, Luther, Calvin and others not a few. And nearer to our own times, of Wesley, Whitfield and the Methodists. Now, in all these works of old there were these features--
1. They were sudden. The old stagers in our churches think that things must grow gently, by degrees. But all Gods works have been sudden. At Pentecost. At the Reformation. In Whitfields day. And so in all revivals.
2. Gods instruments have been insignificant. See little David when he slew Goliath; a woman slew Sisera. And also were Luther, Whitfield and the rest.
3. And all these works were attended with much prayer.
II. The disadvantages under which these old stories frequently labour. People say, Oh, times are different now. But has God changed? Cannot He do vow what He did of old?
III. The proper inferences that are to be drawn from the old stories of Gods mighty deeds.
1. There should be gratitude and praise.
2. Prayer. For how many are still unsaved. Preaching will not alone save them. God has done much in answer to prayer.
3. Entire dependence upon God. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The days of old
A frivolous and shallow person once inquired of an old Carthusian monk how he had contrived to get through his life. He replied in the words of another psalm, I have considered the days of old, the years of ancient times. That man had found one great secret of hope, and cheerfulness, and moral strength. It is unquestionably an immense gain to be able to get beyond our own little life and the little circle which is round it, and to allow our thoughts and sympathies to work in the wider and freer region of the worlds past and present and future. Is it not profoundly melancholy in this world whose history is of such solemn, and indeed painful, interest, to listen to the thing called conversation by vast numbers? Education has done so little for vast numbers that if they do not converse about their neighbours, they cannot converse at all. They are simply without topics. It is pre-eminently the result of mental training that we have the power to get away from our own concerns and surroundings, to feel ourselves one with all mankind, to know that they and we are moving forward to the fulfilment of a glorious hope. Here, however, it is that the influence of religion enters in. Reading and writing and arithmetic, essential as they are, have no tendency to enlarge the mind or to widen the mental horizon. But put the Bible into the hands of a child, and at once that child becomes aware of the fact that its little world is but a corner of the great wide world, that its little existence is but a segment of the life of the race. And at once an idea is set before it under an immense variety of aspects which inevitably expands its mind, and by doing this achieves one of the greatest aims of education. The child learns that it is in a very large world, a member of the great human family; it is taught to look back to a past in which God has been wise and good, to look forward to a future in which that wisdom and goodness will be more perfectly justified and unfolded. This habit of considering the days of old and the years of ancient times will have two happy results; it will teach humility, and it will calm down anxiety. While we thank God for the light He has vouchsafed in these last days, while we will not lend an ear to the suggestion that knowledge, progress, science, civilization are bad things, we must also disallow the monstrous notion that there was no wisdom in the world until this century. There were giants in the earth in those days. And as we thus learn modesty, so may we, by considering the days of old and the veers of ancient times be delivered from unreasoning panic and unbelieving timidity. The faith is attacked; And was it never attacked before? Surely the intellectual shock which men experienced at the Reformation was far more violent than any which is felt now. A hundred years ago there was a more widespread and pestilent scepticism than any we have to lament; yet religion grappled with it, did not simply stand on the defensive, but attacked, and attacked successfully. It seems to me that the robust trust of these old psalms cries shame upon us, who live in a brighter and happier day. For the individual as for the community the ultimate trust must be in the character of God, in His faithfulness most of all. (J. A. Jacob, M. A.)
The eternal providence of God
I. Providence is not of yesterday. Men love what is ancient. Now, this antiquity of Providence is not a myth. The Psalms are historical. They were written some thousands of years ago, and yet the writers speak of former times of old.
II. The man is very bold who disputes this providence. He must be either a very great or a very little man; there can be nothing common about him. But he ought to be sworn before he gives evidence. We have a right to know who he is. We cannot have any chatter upon this great question.
III. Providence is a revelation: there is a Gospel of Providence. It is a Gospel to be assured that the foundation of your haven is strong; that all things are under the hand of God.
IV. And there is a providence of facts. The men of old abused these, and from a long succession of such observations they drew their conclusions. History seems to make it more difficult to deny than to admit Providence.
V. Whatever objection any may have against the doctrine, its effect on life is good. We ask, what kind of man does this belief in Providence produce; what fruit does it bear? The creed which says God is, God rules, God will judge--what manner of man will this creed make? It will give courage. See Moses before Pharaoh. And what blessed peace it imparts. But surely this is a great presumption in favour of its truth. And thus should all theology be tested. What are its effects; how does the theology come out in the life?
VI. The miraculous element is no difficulty. For what miracle can exceed the miracle of your own spiritual development? The story of the Red Sea has been true of ourselves, such seas have been before us, and they have opened for us, and we have gone through them as on dry land. And the story of the manna; do we not know all about that? We must read the Bible as having to do with our own life.
VII. Providence leads up to redemption. He who takes care of this present life must care for our eternal life. Does God care for oxen; then how much more for man? But if for mans temporal welfare, so that He has provided everything for it, can He have made no provision for the needs of the soul? Impossible I Now, such is our faith to-day. We have come to it not by inheritance but by personal reception of it. We are one of a great band of witnesses that the Lord reigneth, that all that occurs, whatever it be, is by His ordering and under His control. (J. Parker, D. D.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Expositor's Bible 1887 · Public Domain On v1 Psalms 44
Psalms 44
CALVIN says that the authorship of this psalm is uncertain, but that it is abundantly clear that it was composed by anyone rather than David, and that its plaintive contents suit best the time when the savage tyranny of Antiochus raged. No period corresponds to the situation which makes the background of the psalm so completely as the Maccabean, for only then could it be truly said that national calamities fell because of the nations rigid monotheism. Other epochs have been thought of, so as to avoid the necessity of recognising Maccabean psalms, but none of them can be said to meet the conditions described in the psalm. The choice lies between accepting the Maccabean date and giving up the attempt to fix one at all.
Read full note →
Objections to that late date based upon the history of the completion of the canon take for granted more accurate and complete knowledge of a very obscure subject than is possessed, and do not seem strong enough to negative the indications arising from the very unique fact, asserted in the psalm, that the nation was persecuted for its faith and engaged in a religious war. The psalm falls into four parts: a wistful look backwards to days already "old," when God fought for them (Psa_44:1-8); a sad contrast in present oppression (Psa_44:9-16); a profession of unfaltering national adherence to the covenant notwithstanding all these ills (Psa_44:17-22); and a fervent cry to a God who seems asleep to awake and rescue His martyred people (Psa_44:23-26).
The first part (Psa_44:1-8) recalls the fact that shone so brightly in all the past, the continual exercise of Divine power giving victory to their weakness, and builds thereon a prayer that the same law of His providence might be fulfilled now. The bitter side of the retrospect forces itself in, to consciousness in the next part, but here Memory is the handmaid of Faith. The whole process of the Exodus and conquest of Canaan is gathered up as one great "work" of Gods hand. The former inhabitants of the land were uprooted like old trees, to give room for planting the "vine out of Egypt." Two stages in the settlement are distinguished in Psa_44:2 : first came the "planting" and next the growth; for the phrase "didst spread them forth" carries on the metaphor of the tree, and expresses the extension of its roots and branches. The ascription of victory to God is made more emphatic by the negatives in Psa_44:3, which take away all credit of it from the peoples own weapons or strength. The consciousness of our own impotence must accompany adequate recognition of Gods agency in our deliverances. The conceit of our own power blinds our vision of His working hand. But what moved His power? No merit of mans, but the infinite free grace of Gods heart. "The light of Thy face" is the symbol of Gods loving regard, and the deepest truth as to His acts of favour is that they are the outcome of His own merciful nature. He is His own motive. "Thou hadst delight in them" is the ultimate word, leading us into sacred abysses of self-existent and self-originated Deity. The spirit, then, of Israels history is contained in these three thoughts: the positive assertion of Gods power as the reason for their victories; the confirmatory negative, putting aside their own prowess; and the tracing of all Gods work for them solely to His unmerited grace.
On this grand generalisation of the meaning of past centuries a prayer is built for their repetition in the prosaic present. The psalmist did not think that God was nearer in some majestic past than now. His unchangeableness had for consequence, as he thought, continuous manifestation of Himself in the same character and relation to His people. Today is as full of God as any yesterday. Therefore Psa_44:4 begins with an emphatic recognition of the constancy of the Divine nature in that strong expression "Thou Thyself," and with an individualising transition for a moment to the singular in "my King," in order to give most forcible utterance to the thought that He was the same to each man of that generation as He had been to the fathers. On that unchanging relation rests the prayer, "Command salvations for (lit. of) Jacob, as if a multitude of several acts of deliverance stood before God, as servants waiting to be sent on His errands. Just as God (Elohim) takes the place of Jehovah in this second book of the Psalter, so in it Jacob frequently stands for Israel. The prayer is no sooner spoken than the confidence in its fulfilment lifts the suppliants heart buoyantly above present defeat, which will in the next turn of thought insist on being felt. Such is the magic of every act of true appeal to God. However dark the horizon, there is light if a man looks straight up. Thus this psalmist breaks into anticipatory paeans of victory. The vivid image of Psa_44:5 is taken from the manner of fighting common to wild horned animals, buffaloes and the like, who first prostrate their foe by their fierce charge and then trample him. The individualising "my" reappears in Psa_44:6, where the negation that had been true of the ancestors is made his own by the descendant. Each man must, as his own act, appropriate the universal relation of God to men and make God his God and must also disown for himself reliance on himself. So he will enter into participation in Gods victories.
Remembrance of the victorious past and confidence in a like victorious future blend in the closing burst of praise and vow for its continuance which vow takes for granted the future continued manifestation of deliverances as occasions for uninterrupted thanksgivings. Well might some long-drawn, triumphant notes from the instruments prolong the impression of the jubilant words.
The song drops in the second part (Psa_44:9-16) from these clear heights with lyric suddenness. The grim facts of defeat and consequent exposure to mocking laughter from enemies force themselves into sight, and seem utterly to contradict the preceding verses. But the first part speaks with the voice of faith and the second with that of sense, and these two may sound in very close sequence or even simultaneously. In Psa_44:9 the two verbs are united by the absence of "us" with the first; and the difference of tense in the Hebrew brings out the dependence of the second on the first, as effect and cause. Gods rejection is the reason for the nations disgrace by defeat. In the subsequent verses the thoughts of rejection and disgrace are expanded, the former in Psa_44:9 b to Psa_44:12, and the latter in Psa_44:13-16. The poet paints with few strokes the whole disastrous rout. We see the fated band going out to battle, with no Pillar of Cloud or Ark of the Covenant at their head. They have but their own weapons and sinews to depend on-not, as of old, a Divine Captain. No description of a fight under such conditions is needed, for it can have only one issue; and so the next clause shows panic-struck flight. Whoever goes into battle without God comes out of it without victory. Next follows plundering, as was the savage wont of these times, and there is no force to oppose the spoilers. The routed fugitives are defenceless and unresisting as sheep, and their fate is to be devoured, or possibly the expression "sheep for food" may be substantially equivalent to "sheep for the slaughter" (Psa_44:22), and may refer to the usual butchery of a defeated army. Some of them are slain and others carried off as slaves. The precise rendering of Psa_44:12 b is doubtful. Calvin, and among the moderns, Hitzig, Ewald, Delitzsch, Cheyne, take it to mean Thou didst not set their prices high. Others, such as Hupfeld, Baethgen, etc., adhere to the rendering, "Thou didst not increase [Thy wealth] by their price." The general sense is clear, and as bold as clear. It is almost sarcasm, directed against the Divine dealings: little has He gained by letting His flock be devoured and scattered. Hupfeld attaches to the bitter saying a deep meaning: namely, that the "sale" did not take place "for the sake of profit or other external worldly ends, as is the case with men, but from higher disciplinary grounds of the Divine government-namely, simply as punishment for their sins for their improvement." Rather it may indicate the dishonour accruing to the God, according to the ideas of the old world, when His votaries were defeated; or it may be the bitter reflection, "We can be of little worth in our Shepherds eyes when He parts with us so easily." If there is any hint of tarnish adhering to the name of God by His peoples defeat, the passage to the second main idea of this part is the easier.
Defeat brings dishonour. The nearer nations, such as Edomites, Ammonites, and other ancestral foes, are ready with their gibes. The more distant peoples make a proverb out of the tragedy, and nod their heads in triumph and scorn. The cowering creature, in the middle of this ring of mockers, is covered with shame as he hears the babel of heartless jests at his expense, and steals a glance at the fierce faces round him.
It is difficult to find historical facts corresponding with this picture. Even if the feature of selling into captivity is treated as metaphor, the rest of the picture needs some pressure to be made to fit the conditions of the Maccabean struggle, to which alone the subsequent avowals of faithfulness to God as the cause of calamity answer. For there were no such periods of disgraceful defeat and utter devastation when once that heroic revolt had begun. The third part of the psalm is in full accord with the religious consciousness of that Indian summer of national glories; but it must be acknowledged that the state of things described in this second part does not fit quite smoothly into the hypothesis of a Maccabean date.
The third part (Psa_44:17-22) brings closely together professions of righteousness, which sound strangely in Christian ears, and complaints of suffering, and closes with the assertion that these two are cause and effect. The sufferers are a nation of martyrs, and know themselves to be so. This tone is remarkable when the nation is the speaker; for though we find individuals asserting innocence and complaining of undeserved afflictions in many psalms, a declaration of national conformity with the Law is in sharp contradiction both to history and to the uniform tone of prophets. This psalmist asserts not only national freedom from idolatry, but adherence in heart and act to the Covenant. No period before the exile was clear of the taint of idol worship and yet darkened by calamity. We have no record of any events before the persecutions that roused the Maccabean struggle which answer to the martyr cry of Psa_44:22 : "For Thy sake we are killed all the day." It may, indeed, be questioned what is the relation in time of the two facts spoken of in Psa_44:17-19. Which comes first, the calamity or the steadfastness? Does the psalmist mean, "We are afflicted, and yet we are in affliction true to God," or "We were true to God, and yet are afflicted"?
Probably the latter, as in the remainder of this part. "The place of jackals" is apparently the field of defeat referred to in the second part, where obscene creatures would gather to feast on the plundered corpses. The Christian consciousness cannot appropriate the psalmists asseverations of innocence, and the difference between them, and it should not be slurred over. But, on the other hand, his words should not be exaggerated into charges of injustice against God. nor claims of absolute sinlessness. He does feel that present national distresses have not the same origin as past ones had had. There has been no such falling away as to account for them. But he does not arraign Gods government. He knows why the miseries have come, and that he and his fellows are martyrs. He does not fling that fact down as an accusation of Providence, but as the foundation of a prayer and as a plea for Gods help. The words may sound daring; still they are not blasphemy, but supplication.
The fourth part is importunate prayer. Its frank anthropomorphisms of a sleeping God, forgetting His people, surely need little defence. Sleep withdraws from knowledge of and action on the external world, and hence is attributed to God, when He allows evils to run unchecked. He is said to "awake," or, with another figure, to "arise," as if starting from His throned calm, when by some great act of judgment He smites flourishing evil into nothingness. Injustice is surely done to these cries of the Ecclesia pressa when they are supposed to be in opposition to the other psalmists word: "He that keepeth Israel slumbers not, nor sleeps." Some commentators call these closing petitions commonplace; and so they are. Extreme need and agony of supplication have other things to think of than originality, and so long as sorrows are so commonplace and like each other, the cries of the sorrowful will be very much alike. God is pleased with well-worn prayers, which have fitted many lips, and is not so fastidious as some critics.
William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v1 Superscription.—“To the Chief Musician for the sons of Korah,…
INTRODUCTION
Superscription.—“To the Chief Musician for the sons of Korah, Maschil.” See introduction to Psalms 42.
Read full note →
We have no means of determining who was the author of the psalm. Nor are we able to ascertain with certainty upon what occasion it was composed. The various speculations and conjectures on the subject are not amongst the most satisfactory things with which we are acquainted. Looking at the psalm from the homiletic standpoint, we have: a well-founded assurance (Psa_44:1-8); a painful experience (Psa_44:9-16); and an earnest appeal and prayer (Psa_44:17-26).
A WELL-FOUNDED ASSURANCE
(Psa_44:1-8.)
In the consideration of the Psalmist’s confidence in God, founded upon His former doings on behalf of His chosen people, many points will arise which, without any forced interpretation, will illustrate His work for and in the soul of the Christian believer, and which are fitted to encourage our confidence in Him. We have here—
I. A commemoration of God’s former and glorious doings.
1. The nature of these doings. “Thou didst drive out the heathen with Thy hand, and plantedst them; Thou didst afflict the people, and cast them out.” The Psalmist here sets forth
(1) The expulsion of the Canaanites and the establishment of the Israelites in their land. By the Divine power the original inhabitants of Canaan were driven from that country, and the chosen people planted therein. The figure of planting a nation or a people is frequent in both literature and conversation. We meet with it in Exo_15:17 and Psa_80:8. The figure-suggests the ideas of life, growth, and fruitfulness. It is with a view to these that we plant trees.
(2) The affliction of the Canaanites, and the growth of the Israelites. “Thou didst afflict the people, and cast them out.” Upon the heathens the Lord brought calamities, while He blessed His own people with increase in the land. The words “cast them out,” or “spread them abroad,” refer not to the Canaanites, but to the Israelites. God had extended them like the branches of a tree. We meet with the same idea in Psa_80:11. “It sent out its boughs to the sea, and its branches to the river.” Barnes says that “the parallelism here clearly demands” this interpretation. This view is adopted by Alexander, Hengstenberg, Luther, De Wette, Tholuck, et al. Now, whether we view this work in relation to the nation expelled or to the nation planted and increased, it is a great work; and illustrates His work in us. It is He that casts out our spiritual foes, our inbred sins; that plants us in the kingdom of His grace; and that enables us to grow in grace. The beginning and the progress of spiritual life are with Him:
2. The Author of these doings. “Work Thou didst,” &c.
(1) Negatively. “They got not the land in possession by their own sword, neither did their own arm save them.” It was by neither their might nor their courage that they dispossessed the Canaanites and took their land.
(2) Positively. “But Thy right hand, and Thine arm, and the light of Thy countenance.” He favoured them and fought for them, or they would have fought in vain. How true is this in spiritual life! The foes of our soul-life laugh to scorn our unaided efforts to conquer them. God alone has the power to quicken us into spiritual life, enable us to grow, and vanquish our foes.
3. The reason of these doings. “Because Thou hadst a favour unto them.” The Israelites did not merit the glorious doings of God on their behalf. We discover little merit in them, but much demerit. They owed all to God’s free and sovereign favour. “Not for thy righteousness,” said Moses, “or for the uprightness of thine heart, dost thou go to possess their land; but for the wickedness of these nations the Lord thy God doth drive them out from before thee, and that He may perform the word which the Lord sware unto thy fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Understand, therefore, that the Lord thy God giveth thee not this good land to possess it for thy righteousness; for thou art a stiffnecked people.” God’s work in us, for our salvation, is entirely due to His own free, unmerited, sovereign favour. “By grace are ye saved.”
4. The obligation of every generation to transmit to posterity an account of the doings of God in their day. “We have heard with our ears, O God, our fathers have told us,” &c. Generation after generation had been thrilled with the narration of God’s glorious deeds of former times. “Those that went before us told us what God did in their days, we are bound to tell those that come after us what He has done in our days, and let them do the like justice to those that shall succeed them; thus shall one generation praise His works to another, the fathers to the children shall make known His truth.”
5. The obligation of every generation to profit by the experiences of those who have gone before. We are the “heirs of all the ages,” and ought to be wiser, braver, holier than those who have gone before us. History is charged with
(1) Admonition as to the evil of sin, &c.
(2) Encouragement to trust in God, to serve humanity for Him, &c. Are we heeding its teachings?
II. A declaration of confidence in God. (Psa_44:4-8). This confidence is set forth, and is worthy of imitation in several respects.
1. In the ground on which their faith rested. It rests on what He had done for their fathers and for them in former times. Out of what He has done, their faith in what He will do grows. There is implied here belief in His unchangeableness and faithfulness. He had fulfilled His promises to their fathers; will He not fulfil them to them also? He had done glorious things for their fathers; will He not do glorious things for them also? Is He not The Immutable? God’s past doings in and for us should encourage us to put strong confidence in Him. We are “confident of this very thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.”
2. In the relationship which He sustained to them. “Thou art my King, O God.” “They had taken God for their sovereign Lord, had sworn allegiance to Him, and put themselves under His protection.” He who as the King of their fathers did put forth His power and glory on their behalf, is appealed to by the Psalmist and people as their King in expectation of protection and victory for them. As Hengstenberg puts it, “As certainly as God is the King of Israel—this His past deeds plainly testify—so certainly must these deeds again revive, must He also at the present time dispense salvation to His people.” If God is our King, we may look for protection from Him.
3. In the petition which they present to Him. “Command deliverances for Jacob.” Notice here
(1) The extent of their desires. “Deliverances.” Not one; but as many as are needed for their complete salvation.
(2) The greatness of their faith. “Command.” Michaelis says: “Because he had named God his King, he makes use of a word which points to kingly authority and irresistible power.” He has but to command it, and their salvation shall be accomplished. He speaks, and it is done. We are reminded of the centurion and our Lord. “Speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed.” Let us honour God by a like faith in His power to save.
4. In the renunciation of other objects of trust. “I will not trust in my bow, neither shall my sword save me.” In Psa_44:3 the Psalmist declares that it was not their power or weapons that had saved them, but God alone, and in this verse he announces their abandonment of all confidence except that which is fixed in God. In the spiritual life our faith must be fixed in Christ alone for all things, for pardon, power, purity, victory, glory. From first to last we have no Saviour but Jesus, and He is all-sufficient.
5. In their assurance of victory. “Through Thee will we push down our enemies; through Thy name will we tread them under that rise up against us.… Thou savest us from our enemies, and dost put to shame them that hate us.” The idea of the 5th verse is that of a conqueror with his foes completely vanquished, and prostrated and powerless before him. And the 7th verse should be translated and interpreted not in reference to their past but present foes; not to what God had done for them, but what He would do for them. They were confident of complete victory through Him. In the Christian life and conflict we may confidently anticipate victory through our Lord. “The God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly.” “We are more than conquerors through Him that loved us.”
6. In their praise of God. “In God we boast all the day long, and praise Thy name for ever.” “Boast” is not a good rendering. Praise would express the meaning. Or as Hengstenberg translates: “God we extol continually, and Thy name we praise for ever.” They extolled Him as their God, their King, in whom they confidently trusted for salvation. They resolve to praise Him,
(1) Continually. “All the day long.”
(2) Perpetually. “For ever.”
CONCLUSION. Surely this well-founded assurance in God, rising out of the recollection and celebration of His glorious doings for His people in former days, and exercised in the midst of such dark and distressing circumstances, is a thing to be emulated by us. Let every Christian believer seek to tread the path of life, perform its duties, bear its trials, and fight its battles, singing,—
“This God is the God we adore,
Our faithful, unchangeable Friend;
Whose love is as great as His power,
And knows neither measure nor end.
’Tis Jesus, the First and the Last,
Whose Spirit shall guide us safe home;
We’ll praise Him for all that is past,
And trust Him for all that’s to come.”
—Hart.
A PAINFUL EXPERIENCE
(Psa_44:9-16.)
We here come at once upon a complete change of sentiment. In this and the preceding section of the psalm we have a double contrast. Here is a contrast between the exultant confidence in God expressed by the poet as the mouthpiece of the people in the former section and the sorrowful complaint of their miseries in this section. Here also is a contrast between what God had done for them and for their fathers in time past and what He was doing for them now. Consider,—
I. The miseries of which they complain. Of these there are several
1. Their rejection by God. “But Thou hast cast off, and put us to shame, and goest not forth with our armies.” The word translated “cast off” means rejected, forsaken. We are not to suppose that the Psalmist believed that God had utterly abandoned them. With the previous section of the psalm in our mind such a supposition is impossible. But judging from their outward and visible circumstances they seemed forsaken by God. The usual tokens of His favour and presence with them were altogether wanting. One of these tokens is here mentioned, “Thou goest not forth with our armies.” In former times they went forth to war confident of His presence with them, and returned victorious. Now they go forth not realising His presence, and return defeated and “put to shame.” (We will not attempt to decide what battles and other events in Jewish history are here referred to. Such attempts as have been made in this direction are of little worth.)
2. Their defeat in battle and its consequent evils. “Thou makest us to turn back from the enemy.” They had no courage. They did not fight like brave men. They acted as mere mercenaries of war and cowards. “O Lord, what shall I say, when Israel turneth their backs before their enemies?” Defeat was followed by—
(1) Slaughter. “Thou hast given us like sheep appointed for meat.” Hengstenberg: “Like sheep for slaughter.” Margin: “As sheep of meat.” M. Henry: “They make no more scruple of killing an Israelite than of killing a sheep; nay, like the butcher, they make a trade of it, they take a pleasure in it as a hungry man in his meat.”
(2) Spoiling. “They which hate us spoil us for themselves.” “The enemies had plundered according to their heart’s desire, and without any effective restraint.”
(3) Captivity or Slavery. “Thou hast scattered us among the heathen. Thon sellest Thy people for nought, and dost not increase Thy wealth by their price.” We do not affirm that the people had been literally taken captive into other lands, or sold into slavery. But some of the results of their defeat in battle had been such that they may fitly be so described. On Psa_44:12 Hengstenberg says—“The sense is: Thou hast given Thy people into the power of their enemies without trouble, without causing the victory even to be dearly bought, as one who parts with a good for any price, which he despises and hates, desiring merely to get rid of it; so that there is an abbreviated comparison. Parallel is Jer_15:13, ‘thy substance and thy treasures will I give to the spoil without price.’ ”
3. The reproaches of their enemies. “Thou makest us a reproach to our neighbours,” &c., Psa_44:13-14. According to Psa_44:13, the surrounding nations treated them with contempt, as a people forsaken by God, and powerless to defend themselves against their foes. מָשָׁל, here translated “byword,” properly signifies a similitude. So Hengstenberg translates it here, and explains it thus: “The misery of Israel is so great, that people would figuratively call a miserable man a Jew, just as liars were called Cretans, wretched slaves, Sardians. So far are the people from being now ‘the blessed of the Lord,’ in whom, according to the promise, all the heathen are to be blessed.” The “shaking of the head” means that their enemies shook their heads at them in scorn and derision.
4. Their own shame. “My confusion is continually before me, and the shame of my face hath covered me,” &c., Psa_44:15-16. Notice here—
(1) The reason of this shame. “For the voice of him that reproacheth and blasphemeth; by reason of the enemy and avenger.” The people were slandered, God was blasphemed, and their enemies were about to wreak their vengeance upon them; therefore were they ashamed.
(2) The greatness of this shame. “The shame of my face hath covered me.” “The shaming is ascribed to the countenance, because it always betrays itself, especially there.” So great was the shame of the Psalmist, who speaks in the name of the people, that he represents himself as “covered” with blushes.
(3) The incessancy of this shame. “My confusion is continually before me.” There was no intermission from the sense of disgrace which they felt. Such are the deep miseries of which they complain to God.
II. The author of their miseries. “Thou hast cast me off,” &c. Six times in as many verses they attribute all their suffering and shame to God. He has done it all. Now a statement of this kind needs to be weighed, and its exact meaning ascertained before it is accepted. We know that “He doth not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men.” His great aim is to promote the well-being of His creatures. To this end all His plans and workings tend. That He should forsake His people who trust in Him is inconceivable, impossible. How, then, can He be said to be the Author of their miseries? In this way we understand it: “the meritorious cause” must have been in the people. God never forsakes His people unless they first forsake Him. There must have been some important defection on their part in their relation to God ere He would have allowed these miseries to come upon them. This being the case we can understand how the inflicting of the calamities was of the Lord. Their enemies were but the instruments by which their troubles were effected; and they could have had no power against them unless, at the least, it had been permitted them from above. And that power would not have been permitted them had there not been some defection on the part of the chosen people in their relation to God. This, then, we take to be the meaning of the Psalmist,—Thou hast done it by withdrawing the light of Thy presence and the shield of Thy protection.
III. The instruction which their miseries are fitted to afford. Three lessons, at least, stand out prominently here to which we shall do well to give heed.
1. That God, in perfect consistency with His faithfulness and love to His people, may under certain circumstances withdraw from them the signs of His presence and favour, and for a time apparently abandon them to their enemies. He may do so
(1) As a chastisement for their sins. “It his children forsake My law, and walk not in My judgments, if they break My statutes, and keep not My commandments; then will I visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes.”
(2) For the perfecting and showing forth of their character. The case of Job is an example of this.
2. That when the professed people of God lose the signs of His presence and favour, they are held in contempt by the world. Of this the Psalmist complains. When Samson had proved unfaithful, and forfeited the Divine favour, he became an object of scoffing and ridicule to those who had formerly trembled at the mere mention of his name. “If the salt have lost his savour, it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.” Here is solemn warning for us.
3. That the people of God when bereft of His presence and help, and suffering at the hand of their enemies, do well to carry their complaints to God Himself.
(1) Because the effort to draw near to Him is good and helpful. It relieves the troubled heart, lessens the conscious distance between Him and their soul, &c.
(2) Because He only is able to restore the strength and joy which they have lost. “Come, and let us return unto the Lord; for He hath torn, and He will heal us; He hath smitten, and He will bind us up. After two days will He revive us; in the third day He will raise us up, and we shall live in His sight.”
AN EARNEST APPEAL AND PRAYER
(Psa_44:17-26.)
I. An earnest appeal. Psa_44:17-22.
This appeal of the people to God is based on the ground that they had not apostatised from Him. In it there are several prominent points. They assert that they have—
1. Not broken His covenant. “We have not forgotten Thee, neither have we dealt falsely in Thy covenant.” By this we understand the Psalmist to mean, that there had been in the history of the people no marked forgetfulness of God, nor had there been any conspicuous or prevalent departure from the covenant which He made with their fathers.
2. Not lapsed into idolatry. They assert that they have not “forgotten the name of their God, or stretched out their hands to a strange God.” The stretching out of the hands is significant of worship or prayer. The force of this verse is, that they have not apostatised either by worshipping a strange god, or forgetting the God of their fathers.
3. Not backslidden from God either in heart or in life. “Our heart is not turned back, neither have our steps declined from Thy way.” They had not departed from Him in their heart. They were still loyal to Him in their affections. And in their goings they followed the path which He had prescribed for them.
4. They appeal to the Omniscience of God in proof of this. “Shall not God search this out? for He knoweth the secrets of the heart.” The “this” denotes the apostacy of which they had protested that they were not guilty. The force of the verse is, that if as a nation there had been any considerable departure from God, if in their hearts they had apostatised from Him unto idols, He would have known it, for He knoweth all things, even the secrets of the heart. Thus the verse is a very solemn declaration that they had not forsaken God.
5. As additional proof that their miseries had not come upon them because of their departure from God, the Psalmist says that they were suffering severely and constantly because of their attachment to Him. “For Thy sake are we killed all the day long; we are counted as sheep for the slaughter.” The most conclusive proof that they have not fallen away from God is, “that they are persecuted for the very sake of God.” That which perplexed the Psalmist was, that they should suffer so severely although there had not been any prevalent departure from God. Can we reconcile this protestation of their faithfulness with their miseries? Our statement on “the author of their miseries” in the preceding homily appears irreconcileable with the statements made by the poet in this appeal. Can we explain this? and how? Matthew Henry says: “Though we cannot deny but that we have dealt foolishly, yet we have not dealt falsely in Thy covenant, so as to cast Thee off and take to other gods.” “Tholuck accuses the Psalmist of a superficial view of sin (comp. on the other hand the impressive reference to the heart, Psa_44:18-21), whereby he was led to charge God with breach of fidelity, instead of seeking the blame in the Church. The following remarks, it is hoped, will remove the difficulty:—
(1) When the Church here maintains that she had not broken God’s covenant, this manifestly refers only to fidelity in the main, as to the chief matter, and manifold smaller infidelities and weaknesses are not thereby excluded. These smaller deviations justify the chastisements of God, faithfulness in the main excludes a total rejection.
(2) When the Church regards the suffering that had come upon her as an anomaly, she does so only in so far as this appears to carry the aspect of continuance,—comp. the words: ‘Cast us not off for ever,’ in Psa_44:23. The whole of the last strophe shows, that the temptation will be at an end the moment God has, in point of fact, removed this appearance. But this would not have been the case if the suffering had formed in itself a stone of stumbling for the Church.
(3) It is not to be overlooked, that we have here before us a didactic psalm. What is declared in the form of history, forms at the same time indirectly an impressive admonition.
(4) We must not expect that every psalm shall fully exhibit all particular points of truth, and so render all misapprehension impossible. They rather, on the contrary, require somewhat to be supplied.”—Hengstenberg.
II. An Earnest Prayer (Psa_44:23-26). We have here—
1. Believing expostulations. “Awake, why sleepest Thou, O Lord?” “Why” seems to imply the impossibility of any reason being assigned for His sleep, and the assurance that He will speedily awake. “Faith,” says David Dickson, “doth not allow nor subscribe unto carnal sense, but in presenting the objections thereof unto God, really refuteth them, by avowing that such misregarding of His own cause and servants, as sense and temptation vented, is inconsistent with His nature, covenant, promises, and practices towards His people; for, ‘why sleepest Thou,’ is as much as, it is not possible that Thou sleepest; and ‘why’ here is not a word of quarreling, but a word of denying, that any reason can be given for such a thought, as God sleepeth.” “Wherefore hidest Thou Thy face, and forgettest our affliction and oppression?” Sense says, God is asleep and hath cast off His people for ever. Faith replies, If so, “why” is it so? Sense says, God hath forgotten the affliction of His people. Faith replies with a persistent “Wherefore?”
2. Urgent entreaties. “Awake, arise, cast us not off for ever. Arise for our help, and redeem us for thy mercies’ sake.” This is a prayer that God, who had seemed to take no interest in them, would speedily evince an interest in them and arise and save them. In Psa_44:12 they had complained that God had sold them; in Psa_44:26 they entreat Him to redeem them. “If He sell us, it is not any one else that can redeem us.”
3. Effective pleas.
(1) Their misery. “For our soul is bowed down to the dust; our belly cleaveth unto the earth.” The expression of the former clause denotes great grief and fear, and the figure of the latter clause extreme prostration and affliction and inability to assist themselves.
(2) God’s mercy. “Redeem us for Thy mercies’ sake,” i.e., in maintenance and illustration of His character as a God of mercy. Or, as the word is plural, “mercies,” may it not mean for the sake of the long line of mercies He had bestowed upon them and their fathers? Let not the long series of Thy mercies to Thy people fail, and let them not perish by reason thereof. In any case, it is an appeal to God on the ground of His unmerited grace to save His afflicted people.
CONCLUSION.—There are here some practical points of great importance, which we shall do well to ponder in their relation to our own life.
1. The completeness of the Divine scrutiny of human life. There is no province of our life which escapes His examination. There is no flaw or sin, however cleverly disguised, that will escape detection when He searches us (Psa_44:21).
2. The great support afforded by a clear conscience in the time of affliction. It was no small thing for the people that in this the day of their distress they were able to appeal to God as they did (Psa_44:17-22). In his unparalleled afflictions, Job received immeasurable support and comfort from the possession of “a conscience void of offence toward God and men” (Job_13:15). And Shakespeare represents Wolsey as thus sustained in the depth of his misfortunes, and as saying of himself that he was
“Never so truly happy.…
I know myself now; and I feel within me
A peace above all earthly dignities,
A still and quiet conscience.”
3. A grand inspiration and consolation in the difficulties and disappointments of Christian life and work. “For Thy sake.” What is there that we cannot dare, or do, or suffer for the sake of our Lord, when we love Him supremely?
4. In the whole of this section of the Psalm we have a splendid example of Faith fighting. Here it is attacking doubt, repudiating the conclusions of sense, scrutinising life and conduct, expostulating and pleading with God. Such faith must come out of conflict victorious. Such faith may be ours Let us seek it.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Sermon Bible 1900 · Public Domain On v1 This passage presents to us the following truths:—
Psa 44:3
This passage presents to us the following truths:—
Read full note →
I. The co-operation of God secures the success of all right work.
II. The spirit of true godliness will acknowledge God’s co-operation.
III. The recognition of God’s co-operation in the work of others is largely useful to ourselves.
S. Martin, Westminster Chapel Pulpit, 3rd series, No. 13.
Psa 44:21
This subject naturally divides itself into three parts.
I. The sin—forgetting God and holding up the hands to some strange god. These are not two sins, but one and the same sin, contemplated first upon one side and then upon the other.
II. The certainty of the discovery and punishment of the sin. "Shall not God search it out?" God will search out these idols, these strange gods to which we lift up our hands, rendering to them the service, the love, the fealty, the affection, which we justly owe to Him, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
III. The ground of this certainty: because He with whom we have to do is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of man. "He knoweth the very secrets of the heart." The one great lesson for us is to beware of idols.
R. C. Trench, Sermons in Westminster Abbey, p. 261.
The Sermon Bible, ed. William Robertson Nicoll (1888–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
F. W. Grant 1903 · Public Domain On v1 Faith building on the testimony of past deliverances, and…
Faith building on the testimony of past deliverances, and sustained, though in contrasted circumstances.
To the chief musician, Maskil of the sons of Korah.
Read full note →
In the forty-fourth psalm, faith goes back to the testimony of days long past, to build itself up on this, amid circumstances which yet are in such utter contrast. And this is what faith supposes, that the circumstances are, at least, not such as one can build upon. Faith is in "things unseen," making that substantial which to mere sight and sense have no reality. Not that it has not foundations, but that these too are beyond natural sight, in the sphere of the spiritual, and thus, to the carnal, dreams.
1. The history of those days so long gone has indeed for Israel to bear the reproach of the meantime experience. Its testimony is of God acting in triumphant power, in behalf of a people now for long scattered and under the heel of the Gentiles, for whom how many vain hopes have kindled, only to be dispersed and put out in worse darkness than before. None more intense can be than that in which the period to which these psalms apply will find those whose exercises are recorded in them. The nation is lapsed into a condition of utter apostasy, for which the hand of God is necessarily upon them, and the remnant remaining true are yet under the shadow of this. From it they emerge at last, with the fruit of needed exercise secured by a discipline which divine love has ordained for them, into the apprehension of favor never to be lost again.
The lesson here is of absolute dependence on God, which to a feeble and oppressed people is the only possible source of encouragement. To leave man out of the question is to leave out an incalculable element, always causing uncertainty and disappointment. To make God all is to make reckoning simple, safe, and the balance sheet an immense surplus, whatever the expenditure. Let things be as they may, His grace is such as to give one amplest title to reckon upon Him. Here boldness of faith is only simplicity of obedience.
If this God is our God, we may claim Him wherever we find Him. All histories of His past ways become light for us. No laws of His in nature are so unchangeable as He Himself is. As He has ordained for us as His creatures a world of fixed realities amid which to walk, this spiritual world in which we find ourselves, living, and walking, and having our being in Him, is still as far beyond it as eternity beyond time, or heaven beyond earth. Here there is no caprice, but immutability itself, inviting absolute confidence. No dispensations -though they may variously reflect Him -change the Eternal. And this is how the very histories of Scripture become for us types and prophecies, and (in another sense than the Preacher meant it) "that which has been is that which shall be."
So the remnant go back here to the beginning of their national history, to that which had come down to them from their fathers, who not with their own swords took possession of the land. God had dispossessed the nations and planted them; He had broken up races, and cast them out. His right hand, His arm, the light of His countenance, had manifested His acceptance of them. All this abode with them for present wisdom. Man’s nothingness was just as certain; God’s sufficiency was just as perfect.
2. And so now they claim and proclaim this God as theirs. "Thou art He," -Thou art the same, -"my King, O God: command deliverances for Jacob." Yes, Jacob, this worm of the dust, can only be delivered by Him who can command deliverances for him. And then, falling upon that arm of strength, there is at once an outburst of confidence: "Through Thee will we push down our oppressors; and by Thy name will we tread down those that rise against us." Here is the application of that past history; and a reckoning like this has in it no element of deception.
3. The remembrance becomes fruitful in the production of character. In self-distrust like theirs, the children of those conquerors of old proclaim their genealogy. "I will not trust in my bow: nor shall my sword save me." Testified by deliverances all along their history, which only His hand could have effected, the divine sufficiency is their only and constant boast, and His name shall be their praise forever. This is that for which He works, that His people may know Him, to their ceaseless joy, this joy in Him being the spring of power in them, and what unites His creatures to Himself forever. The worship of eternity is the seal of its blessing and perfection too. God is in His place, and the creature in his happy place with God.
4. But now we have the testing of faith by those circumstances which seem so thoroughly in contrast with this claim of the divine favor. Here there scarcely needs comment. The facts are plain to all and speak for themselves. The recital naturally goes on gathering gloom as it proceeds. First, though their hosts still go forth, God is no longer with them, as of old. Then there follows necessarily defeat and spoiling. Then they become mere sheep for the slaughter, scattered among the victorious nations. God too acquires no glory by the giving up of His people: those who should have been for His honor have become a reproach; nay, far and wide, an evil proverb and a shaking of the head.
5. These are the circumstances; now they speak of their inward state, exercised by all this, feeling it keenly, covered with shame and confusion of face, able to answer nothing in the presence of those who reproach and blaspheme, of enemies and vengeful men. Yet in spite of all, they cleave to God, neither their heart nor their steps turned aside from Him, though crushed in the place of prowling jackals, covered with the shadow of death. Had they forgotten Him, would they, they ask, be able to conceal it from Him? Their appeal is to One perfect in knowledge.
6. Must there not be, then, a limit to this sorrow? can He forget forever? When their enemies are His enemies, and for His sake they are being slaughtered? Can the hiding of His face continue, and their affliction as if unknown to Him? Now in the utter prostration of their strength, they cry to Him to arise and for His mercies’ sake to redeem them.
The next psalm shows the glorious answer to this prayer.
F. W. Grant, The Numerical Bible (4th ed., 1903) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. R. Dummelow 1909 · Public Domain On v1 This is a prayer for deliverance from national trouble…
This is a prayer for deliverance from national trouble which has not been deserved by any apostasy or idolatry. The strong assertions of national faithfulness are akin to the spirit of the Maccabean age, but the conditions indicated in the Ps. may be found also at an earlier date, such as the time of the invasion by Sennacherib in the reign of Hezekiah. God has helped His people in the days of old (Psa_44:1-3), and they are still confident in Him (Psa_44:4-8), yet He has allowed their enemies to bring them low (Psa_44:9-16). But they are still loyal to Him (Psa_44:17-22), and cry earnestly that He would remember them and save them (Psa_44:23-26).
Title.—See on Psalms 42.
Read full note →
2. Heathen] EV 'nations.' People] RV 'peoples,' the inhabitants of Canaan. So in Psa_44:11, Psa_44:14.
8. Selah] see on Psa_3:4.
11, 12. Some are slain, and others sold into captivity.
12. For nought, etc.] God does not gain by such transactions. His name and cause are rather discredited.
13, 14. See the speech of Rabshakeh (2Ki_18:27-35).
19. Place of dragons] RV 'place of jackals,' a desert, to which condition the country had been reduced. Shadow of death] deep darkness and gloom.
23. Why sleepest thou?] an expression of startling boldness, yet the prayer of Psa_44:26 shows that its daring springs not from unbelief but from faith.
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Arno C. Gaebelein 1922 · Public Domain On v1 Psalm 44
Psalm 44
The Increased Cry for Deliverance
Read full note →
1. My King, O God! Command deliverances (Psa 44:1-8)
2. Trouble upon trouble and confusion (Psa 44:9-21)
3. Awake! Arise for our help! (Psa 44:22-26)
The third Maschil Psalm. They remember the days of old, what God did for His covenant people in the past, how He gave them the land with an outstretched arm and delivered them from their enemies. They own Him as King and call on Him to command deliverances for Jacob. Then they utter their complaint and describe the great troubles and calamities they are facing; they are spoiled, like sheep appointed for meat, scattered, scorned and derided. Yet they have not forgotten Him. Then follows the cry for the Deliverer and for deliverance. “Arise for our help, and redeem us for Thy mercies’ sake.
Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v1 A Prayer in Times of National Distress.
A Prayer in Times of National Distress.
To the chief. musician for the sons of Korah, another hymn composed by a member of this family, Maschil, a didactic poem evidently written at a time when the nation was in great peril, the period of David’s wars having been suggested when he was overthrowing the Ammonites and the Edomites took advantage of his absence to make a raid on Southern Canaan, 2 Samuel 10. The psalm finds its application in the life of all Christians, being particularly suitable for times of oppression by the enemies of the Church, when it seems that the heathen and tyrants will prevail.
Read full note →
v. 1. We have heard with our ears, O God, in the form of instruction in vogue among the children of Israel, where every housefather informed his children regarding the great works of God, Exo 10:2; Exo 12:26; Deu 6:20; our fathers have told us what work Thou didst in their days, in the early history of Israel, in the times of old;
v. 2. how Thou didst drive out the heathen with Thy hand, for it was not their own weapons and strength which gave them the victory, as the many specific instances recorded clearly show, but the almighty power of Jehovah, and plantedst them, giving to the fathers of Israel a permanent home in Canaan; how Thou didst afflict the people, the heathen inhabitants, and cast them out.
v. 3. For they, the Israelites, got not the land in possession by their own sword, neither did their own arm save them; but Thy right hand and Thine arm and the light of Thy countenance, turned upon Israel in mercy, because Thou hadst a favor unto them, being disposed toward them in love. This is the first point which the inspired singer wishes to make, the fact of God’s help in times past. This fact, moreover, inspires true confidence in Jehovah, the second point emphasized in the psalmist’s prayer.
v. 4. Thou art my King, O God, emphatically, "Even Thou Thyself art my King"; command deliverances for Jacob, for the small flock of the faithful, of the believers of all times;
v. 5. Through Thee will we push down our enemies, as an angry ox charges and overthrows everyone coming into his way; through Thy name will we tread them under that rise up against us.
v. 6. For I will not trust in my bow, neither shall my sword save me, all confidence in one’s own strength and ability is foolish.
v. 7. But Thou hast saved us from our enemies and hast put them to shame that hated us, their opposition to Israel brought them nothing but disgrace, because God was the sole Help of His people.
v. 8. In God we boast all the day long, making His almighty power the basis of their confident praise, and praise Thy name, His entire essence as revealed to men, forever. Selah. There follows a description of the desperate straits in which Israel found itself at that time, typical of the troubles which beset the Church of God, and a bitter complaint of neglect.
v. 9. But Thou hast cast us off, that is, in spite of the trust which they reposed in Him it seemed that God was bent on their destruction, and put us to shame, a mockery before their enemies; and goest not forth with our armies, the various sections of Israel’s army engaged in war.
v. 10. Thou makest us to turn back from the enemy, in defeat and flight; and they which hate us spoil for themselves, gaining rich booty in the deserted camp of Israel.
v. 11. Thou hast given us like sheep appointed for meat, to be used for food without offering resistance, and hast scattered us among the heathen, many members of Israel having been led away as slaves in the recent raids.
v. 12. Thou sellest Thy people for naught, for a song, as though they were worthless, insignificant, as if He no longer cared for them, and dost not increase Thy wealth by their price, He did not go high in the price which He demanded in selling them into slavery.
v. 13. Thou makest us a reproach to our neighbors, so that the surrounding nations would regard them with derision, a scorn and a derision to them that are round about us.
v. 14. Thou makest us a byword among the heathen, their fate being bandied about in little verses of mockery, a shaking of the head among the people, in a gesture of sneering contempt.
v. 15. My confusion is continually before me, the poet is always conscious of the disgrace resting upon him, and the shame of my face hath covered me, having taken hold of his entire being;
v. 16. for the voice of him that reproacheth and blasphemeth, the taunting mockery of whose words cut so deeply; by reason of the enemy and avenger, whose face was full of malignant hatred. The counterpart of all this is found in the treatment accorded the true believers by the children of the world, and the cry of the faithful rises to the Lord at all times in similar strains. Yet they do not continue in vain lamentations, but turn to the Lord in confident prayer.
v. 17. All this is come upon us, apparently in punishment; yet have we not forgotten Thee, neither have we dealt falsely in Thy covenant, to deserve such a fate as a punishment.
v. 18. Our heart is not turned back, away from the will of God, neither have our steps declined from Thy way, to follow the path of error and denial of God,
v. 19. though Thou hast sore broken us in the place of dragons, where jackals lived, out in the wastes of the desert, where this misfortune had come upon Israel, and covered us with the shadow of death. It is an emphatic declaration that Israel had not become apostate, continued also in the next sentence.
v. 20. If we have forgotten the name of our God or stretched out our hands to a strange god, in open idolatry,
v. 21. shall not God search this out? For He knoweth the secrets of the heart, and nothing can be hidden before His omniscience. Then there would be reason for His being angry, then He would rightly reject His children. But this is not the case.
v. 22. Yea, for Thy sake are we killed all the day long; we are counted as sheep for the slaughter. That is the experience of the believers of all times on account of their adherence to God’s Word, to the confession of His holy name. Cf Rom 8:36. Therefore the believers are filled with the courage of faith, with the confidence which appeals to God with the certainty of being heard.
v. 23. Awake! Why sleepest Thou, O Lord? this being the conclusion reached because of His failure to bring speedy deliverance to His children. Arise, cast us not off forever!
v. 24. Wherefore hidest Thou Thy face, as though He had forgotten all His mercy, and forgettest our affliction and our oppression, as though indifferent to all their suffering?
v. 25. For our soul is bowed down to the dust; our belly cleaveth unto the earth, their condition being one of the greatest oppression and humility.
v. 26. Arise for our help and redeem us for Thy mercies’ sake, the appeal, not to the justice, but to the mercy of God for the sake of the Redeemer, being the one argument which is bound to make an impression upon the Lord. Such is the daring quality of faith, which wins victories for every Christian and for the entire Christian Church.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1, 3 General Information:
General Information:
Parallelism is common in Hebrew poetry. (See: Poetry and Parallelism)
Read full note →
For the chief musician
"This is for the director of music to use in worship."
A psalm of the sons of Korah
"This is a psalm that the sons of Korah wrote."
A maschil
This may refer to a style of music. See how you translated this in Psalms 32:1.
We have heard with our ears, God
The word "ears" adds emphasis to the statement that they have heard and understood the things that the writer is about to describe. The writer addresses this statement to God. AT: "God, we have heard clearly" (See: Idiom)
in their days, in the days of old
Both of these phrases use the word "days" to refer to the time period when the ancestors of the people of Israel were alive. (See: Parallelism)
You drove out the nations
"You forced the people from other nations to leave"
with your hand
Here the word "hand" refers to God's power. AT: "by your power" (See: Metonymy)
you planted our people
The writer speaks of God's causing the Israelites to live in the land as if he were planting them in the soil like he would a tree. AT: "you caused our people to live there" (See: Metaphor)
translationWords
chief
psalm
Korah
God
ancestor
works
cast out
nation
hand
people group
afflicted
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1–3 Ps 44 This national lament after defeat in battle…
Ps 44 This national lament after defeat in battle continues the tone of the previous two psalms, including reflecting on an unspecified moment in Israel’s history and calling on God for salvation. The people recite God’s past acts of rescue (44:1-3), acknowledge God’s power to save (44:4-8), describe their humiliation in exile (44:9-16), claim their innocence and lament the injustice of their current situation (44:17-22), and cry for vindication (44:23-26).
44:1 we have heard . . . of all you did: The story of redemption encompasses the story of God’s favor and power in his past acts of rescue (see 78:1-4; see also Pss 105–106).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.