This Psalm is the appeal of the nation to God in a time of unmerited disaster and humiliation. i. It begins by recalling the mighty deeds of God for His people in the days of old. It was God Himself who drove out the nations from Canaan, and planted Israel in their place. By His might and not by th... [ Continue Reading ]
_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 Exodus 10:2; Exodus 12:26 f.; Exodus 13:8; Exodus 13:14; Deuteronomy 6:20; Joshua 4:6; Joshua 4:21. Cp. Judges 6:13;... [ Continue Reading ]
A retrospect. Not their own valour but God's help and favour gave Israel possession of the land of Canaan.... [ Continue Reading ]
With thine own hand didst thou dispossess nations, and plant them in, Didst afflict peoples, and cause them to spread abroad. _Thou with thy hand_are the first words of the verse in the Heb., emphasising by their position the prominent thought of this stanza, that Israel owed its possession of Cana... [ Continue Reading ]
The thought of the preceding verse is still further emphasised. For not by their own sword gat they possession of the land, Neither did their own arm give them victory: But thy right hand, &c. Cp. Psalms 60:5; Joshua 4:24. _the light of thy countenance_ Cp. Psalms 4:6; Psalms 31:16; Psalms 80:3;... [ Continue Reading ]
_my King_ Cp. Psalms 47:6; Psalms 74:12; 1 Samuel 12:12. The Psalmist speaks in the name of the nation. Cp. Psalms 44:6. _command_ Cp. Psalms 42:8. It is the duty of a king to defend his people (1 Samuel 10:19); and the authority of the divine King is supreme. He has but to speak the word and it mu... [ Continue Reading ]
The recollection of the past gives confidence for the present and the future. God's strength must still avail for the deliverance of His people, and in Him alone do they trust.... [ Continue Reading ]
_push down_) Perhaps a reminiscence of Deuteronomy 33:17; but metaphors from horned animals are common. Cp. 1 Kings 22:11. _our enemies_) R.V. our adversaries, and similarly in Psalms 44:7_; Psalms 44:10_, the Heb. word being different from that in Psalms 44:16. _through thy name_ Relying upon all... [ Continue Reading ]
Cp. Psalms 20:7; Psalms 33:16; Psalms 60:11 f; 1 Samuel 17:47; Hosea 1:7; and the noble speech of Judas Maccabaeus (Malachi 3:17; Malachi 3:17 ff.); "The victory of battle standeth not in the multitude of an host, but strength cometh from heaven.... [ Continue Reading ]
_But_ Or, For. Past experience justifies the confidence of Psalms 44:6. _them … that hated us_ R.V., them … that hate us. Cp. Psalms 44:10.... [ Continue Reading ]
Of God have we made our boast all day long, And unto thy name will we give thanks for ever. God has been the object of their praises in the past, and to Him they are resolved to give thanks (Psalms 42:5) continually. A musical interlude marks the conclusion of the first main division of the Psalm... [ Continue Reading ]
_But now_ The conjunction is peculiar, and implies surprise. And then, after all these proofs of Thy good will, and in spite of our loyalty to Thee, hast thou cast us off and dishonoured us, and goest not forth with our hosts; leading them to victory as in the days of old, as the God of the armies o... [ Continue Reading ]
But the present circumstances of the nation contradict these expressions of faith based upon past experience. Israel is abandoned to be the scorn and prey of its foes. Comp. the transition in Psalms 89:38.... [ Continue Reading ]
_the enemy_ R.V., the adversary. _spoil for themselves_ Or, plunder at their will.... [ Continue Reading ]
Some of God's people are butchered like sheep (cp. Psalms 44:22); others are sold as slaves. It is evidently not a deportation of the nation that is meant, but the sale of prisoners of war for slaves. Cp. Joel 3:2; Joel 3:6; Amos 1:6; Amos 1:9. To the Israelite with his love of freedom and attachmen... [ Continue Reading ]
_Thou sellest thy people_ Handing them over to their enemies (Deuteronomy 32:30; Judges 2:14; Isaiah 50:1); and that _for nought_, as though they were worthless in Thy estimation (Jeremiah 15:13): _and hast made no gain by their price_; a bold -anthropopathy," or ascription to God of human motives a... [ Continue Reading ]
Repeated almost verbatim in Psalms 79:4; cp. Psalms 80:6. The neighbouring nations, Philistines, Edomites, Ammonites, Moabites, were always jealous of Israel, and ready to rejoice with a malicious delight at Israel's humiliation.... [ Continue Reading ]
_the heathen … the people_ Render with R.V., the nations … the peoples. They point to our fate as a proverbial instance of a people abandoned by its God, and make us the subject of taunting songs: they shake their heads at us in derision. Cp. Deuteronomy 28:37; 1 Kings 9:7; Jeremiah 24:9; Joel 2:17... [ Continue Reading ]
_My confusion_&c. Render with R.V., All the day long is my dishonour before me, as in Psalms 44:8_; Psalms 44:22; Psalms 44:9_. My disgrace is perpetually staring me in the face. Cp. Psalms 38:17. _the shame of my face_&c. Shame is said to cover or clothe a man (Job 8:22; Psalms 35:26; Psalms 69:7;... [ Continue Reading ]
_For the voice of him that reproacheth and blasphemeth_ The word _reproach_is frequently used of a heathen enemy's scornful defiance or mocking derision of Israel and Israelites, and by consequence of Israel's God, as though He were unable or unwilling to defend His people (Psalms 42:10; Psalms 74:1... [ Continue Reading ]
_All this_&c. Cp. Judges 6:13. _yet have we not_&c. Although we have not forgotten Thee, as our fathers did so often. Cp. Psalms 78:7; Psalms 78:11; Psalms 106:13; Psalms 106:21; Judges 3:7; Hosea 2:13; Hosea 4:6; Hosea 8:14; [ Continue Reading ]
The calamity is unmerited. No unfaithfulness to God's covenant has called for punishment. Nay it is for His sake that His people are suffering.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Though_&c. Comp. the vigorous paraphrase of P.B.V.; _No, not when thou hast smitten us_&c. But it is better to render That thou shouldest have crushed us into a haunt of jackals. The Psalmist's argument is that there has been no national apostasy for which their present disasters would be a just... [ Continue Reading ]
_stretched out_ R.V., spread forth: the gesture of prayer being not, as with us, _folded_hands, but the hands extended with open palms: the Lat. -manibus passis." Cp. Psalms 143:6; 1Ki 8:22; 1 Kings 8:38; 1 Kings 8:54; Isaiah 1:15.... [ Continue Reading ]
It would be vain to attempt to conceal any faithlessness from the Searcher of hearts. Cp. Job's protestations of innocence, ch. Psalms 31:4 ff.; and Psalms 139:1; Psalms 139:23; Jeremiah 17:10.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Yea, for thy sake_ Or, Nay, but for thy sake. Not only have we not been unfaithful to Thee, but we are actually suffering as martyrs for Thy sake. Such a protest was no doubt particularly true in the persecution of Antiochus, but not in that period only. Cp. the complaints of Psalms 69:7; Jeremiah... [ Continue Reading ]
_Awake … arise_ Bestir thyself … awake. Cp. Psalms 7:6, and many similar invocations. But nowhere else do we find so bold an expostulation as _why sleepest thou_? The nearest parallel is in Psalms 78:65. The Psalmists do not shrink from using human language in reference to God, though they well knew... [ Continue Reading ]
An urgent appeal for immediate help.... [ Continue Reading ]
_hidest thou thy face_ In anger or indifference, instead of shewing the light of Thy countenance in gracious help to Thy people (Psalms 44:3; Psalms 80:3). _our affliction and our oppression_ Cp. Deuteronomy 26:7; Exodus 3:7; Exodus 3:9; 2 Kings 13:4; 2 Kings 14:26. The latter word occurs elsewhere... [ Continue Reading ]
We lie utterly prostrate, crushed and helpless. Cp. Psalms 119:25.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Arise_ R.V., Rise up. Cp. Psalms 3:7; Numbers 10:35. _for thy mercy's sake_ R.V., for thy lovingkindness" sake. Jehovah has revealed Himself to be "a God … plenteous in _lovingkindness_and truth, who keeps _lovingkindness_for thousands" (Exodus 34:7-8), and the Psalmist intreats Him to be true to t... [ Continue Reading ]