Psalm 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. 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 for ever. Selah.
The Psalmist here, possibly David, reminds the Israelites in song
how they got where they were in his day.
Deuteronomy 7:1 ¶ When the
LORD thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it,
and hath cast out many nations before thee, the Hittites, and the Girgashites,
and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and
the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than thou;
God planted the Israelites in the land taken from these nations.
Exodus 15:17 Thou shalt
bring them in, and plant them in the mountain of thine inheritance, in the
place, O LORD, which thou hast made for thee to dwell in, in the Sanctuary, O
Lord, which thy hands have established.
Psalm 80:8 ¶ Thou hast
brought a vine out of Egypt: thou hast cast out the heathen, and planted it.
Isaiah 5:1 ¶ Now will I
sing to my wellbeloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard. My
wellbeloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill:… 7 For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the
house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for
judgment, but behold oppression; for righteousness, but behold a cry.
Jeremiah 2:21 Yet I had
planted thee a noble vine, wholly a right seed: how then art thou turned into
the degenerate plant of a strange vine unto me?
They didn’t get the Promised Land by their own power, their own
ability.
Deuteronomy 8:16 Who fed
thee in the wilderness with manna, which thy fathers knew not, that he might
humble thee, and that he might prove thee, to do thee good at thy latter end;
17 And thou say in thine
heart, My power and the might of mine hand hath gotten me this wealth.
Deuteronomy 9:3 Understand
therefore this day, that the LORD thy God is he which goeth over before thee;
as a consuming fire he shall destroy them, and he shall bring them down before
thy face: so shalt thou drive them out, and destroy them quickly, as the LORD
hath said unto thee.
4 Speak not thou in thine
heart, after that the LORD thy God hath cast them out from before thee, saying,
For my righteousness the LORD hath brought me in to possess this land: but for
the wickedness of these nations the LORD doth drive them out from before thee. 5 Not for thy righteousness, 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.
6 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.
He pleads with God, his King, to deliver Jacob, whose name was
changed to Israel.
Genesis 32:28 And he said,
Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou
power with God and with men, and hast prevailed.
Psalm 89:18 For the LORD is
our defence; and the Holy One of Israel is our king.
Isaiah 33:22 For the LORD
is our judge, the LORD is our lawgiver, the LORD is our king; he will save us.
The Psalmist acknowledges that because of God they can push down
their enemies and crush them.
Psalm 18:39 For thou hast
girded me with strength unto the battle: thou hast subdued under me those that
rose up against me. 40 Thou hast also
given me the necks of mine enemies; that I might destroy them that hate me. 41 They cried, but there was none to save them:
even unto the LORD, but he answered them not. 42 Then did I beat them small as the dust before
the wind: I did cast them out as the dirt in the streets.
The bow and sword did not save them.
Psalm 20:7 Some trust in
chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the LORD our
God.
Psalm 33:16 There is no
king saved by the multitude of an host: a mighty man is not delivered by much
strength. 17 An horse is a vain thing
for safety: neither shall he deliver any by his great strength.
Hosea 1:7 But I will have
mercy upon the house of Judah, and will save them by the LORD their God, and
will not save them by bow, nor by sword, nor by battle, by horses, nor by
horsemen.
But it was God Himself who put Israel’s enemies to shame.
Psalm 40:14 Let them be
ashamed and confounded together that seek after my soul to destroy it; let them
be driven backward and put to shame that wish me evil.
They should constantly praise God and give glory to His name. God
is their deliverer, their benefactor, and the reason they exist.
Psalm 44:9 ¶ 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 a 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.
This Psalm goes from hope and triumph in the Lord, expectation of
blessings, to defeat and a feeling of having been abandoned by God or worse,
appointed to destruction. This, too, we can find in some of our own troubles at
times when things seem like they are coming to a bad end for us and we wonder
where God’s deliverance is. Just think of what Israel would eventually face.
Psalm 43:2 For thou art the
God of my strength: why dost thou cast me off? why go I mourning because of the
oppression of the enemy?
This was threatened in the Law given to Moses.
Leviticus 26:17 And I will
set my face against you, and ye shall be slain before your enemies: they that
hate you shall reign over you; and ye shall flee when none pursueth you.
This passage also seems to prophesy the judgment on Israel that
results in the fall of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah as well as the
subjugation of Israel by the Romans in Christ’s time and the dispersal of the
Jews from Palestine that happened on several occasions from the carrying away
by the Assyrians, the Babylonians, and the Romans. The phrase and hast
scattered us among the heathen suggests a time for the Israelites that is
prophesied that is far beyond David’s day.
Deuteronomy 4:27 And the
LORD shall scatter you among the nations, and ye shall be left few in number
among the heathen, whither the LORD shall lead you.
But, on an immediate level it can be a lamentation of struggles
against Israel’s and God’s enemies that David would have to continue the fight
against or as the traditional introduction to Psalm 60 says;
Psalm 60:1 ¶ «To the chief
Musician upon Shushaneduth, Michtam of David, to teach; when he strove with
Aramnaharaim and with Aramzobah, when Joab returned, and smote of Edom in the
valley of salt twelve thousand.» O God, thou hast cast us off, thou hast
scattered us, thou hast been displeased; O turn thyself to us again.
David was engaged in war with many of the kingdoms around him
during his reign with much bloodshed resulting.
For us, though, I still think of the simplest explanation of this
passage that would compare to our own feelings in a time of adversity as we
wait on something that we pray God will do.
Psalm 44:17 ¶ 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 for ever. 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.
The Psalmist has gone from glorifying God and His actions on
Israel’s behalf to lamenting God’s anger at them, to here, in this passage,
pleading that in spite of the pain God has allowed to come into their lives
they have remained faithful to Him. He then pleads with God deliver them for
the sake of His mercies.
For verse 17 think of this;
Daniel 9:13 As it is
written in the law of Moses, all this evil is come upon us: yet made we not our
prayer before the LORD our God, that we might turn from our iniquities, and
understand thy truth.
18 reminds of Job’s declaration;
Job 23:11 My foot hath held
his steps, his way have I kept, and not declined. 12 Neither have I gone back from the commandment
of his lips; I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food.
For verse 19 this stuck out to me;
Psalm 60:1 O God, thou hast cast us off, thou hast scattered us,
thou hast been displeased; O turn thyself to us again.
For some reason the next two verses made me think of Job, chapter
31, declaring his own righteousness.
Job 31:1 ¶ I made a
covenant with mine eyes; why then should I think upon a maid? 2 For what portion of God is there from above?
and what inheritance of the Almighty from on high? 3 Is
not destruction to the wicked? and a strange punishment to the
workers of iniquity? 4 Doth not he see
my ways, and count all my steps? 5 If I
have walked with vanity, or if my foot hath hasted to deceit; 6 Let me be weighed in an even balance, that God
may know mine integrity. 7 If my step
hath turned out of the way, and mine heart walked after mine eyes, and if any
blot hath cleaved to mine hands; 8 Then
let me sow, and let another eat; yea, let my offspring be rooted out.
9 ¶ If mine heart have been deceived by a woman,
or if I have laid wait at my neighbour’s door; 10 Then let my wife grind unto another, and let
others bow down upon her. 11 For this
is an heinous crime; yea, it is an iniquity to be punished by the
judges. 12 For it is a fire that
consumeth to destruction, and would root out all mine increase. 13 If I did despise the cause
of my manservant or of my maidservant, when they contended with
me; 14 What then shall I do when God
riseth up? and when he visiteth, what shall I answer him? 15 Did not he that made me in the womb make him?
and did not one fashion us in the womb?
16 ¶ If I have withheld the poor from their desire,
or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail; 17 Or have eaten my morsel myself alone, and the
fatherless hath not eaten thereof; 18
(For from my youth he was brought up with me, as with a father,
and I have guided her from my mother’s womb;) 19 If I have seen any perish for want of
clothing, or any poor without
covering; 20 If his loins
have not blessed me, and if he were not warmed with the fleece of my sheep; 21 If I have lifted up my hand against the
fatherless, when I saw my help in the gate: 22 Then let mine arm fall from my shoulder blade,
and mine arm be broken from the bone. 23 For destruction from God was a terror to me,
and by reason of his highness I could not endure.
24 ¶ If I have made gold my hope, or have said to
the fine gold, Thou art my confidence; 25 If I rejoiced because my wealth was great, and
because mine hand had gotten much; 26 If
I
beheld the sun when it shined, or the moon walking in brightness; 27
And my heart hath been secretly enticed,
or my mouth hath kissed my hand: 28 This
also were an iniquity to be
punished by the judge: for I should have denied the God that is
above. 29 If I rejoiced at the
destruction of him that hated me, or lifted up myself when evil found him: 30 Neither have I
suffered my mouth to sin by wishing a curse to his soul. 31 If the men of my tabernacle said not, Oh that
we had of his flesh! we cannot be satisfied. 32 The stranger did not lodge in the street: but
I opened my doors to the traveller.
33 ¶ If I covered my transgressions as Adam, by
hiding mine iniquity in my bosom: 34 Did
I fear a great multitude, or did the contempt of families terrify me, that I
kept silence, and
went not out of the door? 35 Oh that one would hear me! behold, my desire is,
that the Almighty would answer me, and that mine adversary had written a book. 36
Surely I would take it upon my shoulder,
and bind it as a crown to me. 37 I would
declare unto him the number of my steps; as a prince would I go near unto him. 38
If my land cry against me, or that the furrows
likewise thereof complain; 39 If I have
eaten the fruits thereof without money, or have caused the owners thereof to
lose their life: 40 Let thistles grow
instead of wheat, and cockle instead of barley. The words of Job are ended.
Paul quotes verse 22 in Romans 8:36.
David used a turn of a phrase like in verse 23 earlier;
Psalm 7:6 Arise, O LORD, in
thine anger, lift up thyself because of the rage of mine enemies: and awake for
me to the judgment that thou hast commanded.
And then verse 24 suggests also an earlier thought;
Psalm 10:1 ¶ Why standest
thou afar off, O LORD? why hidest thou thyself in times of trouble?
Then;
Psalm 66:11 Thou broughtest
us into the net; thou laidst affliction upon our loins.
It is clear to me that there is no lamentation you or I could make,
no feeling of being abandoned by God, no sorrow at His judgment or the terrible
things He might allow happen to us whether we deserved it or not that isn’t reflected
in the words of a Bible writer. It’s all right here in this book.
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