Psalms 44:19

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 punishment. A haunt of jackalsis a proverbial expression for a scene of ruin and desolation, a waste, howling wilderness, tenanted only by wild beasts (Isaiah 13:22; Isaiah 34:13; Jeremiah 9:11; Jeremiah 10:22). Some commentators (on the hypothesis of the Maccabaean date) see a reference to the butchery of the Jews who had fled into the wilderness to escape from the persecution of Antiochus (1Ma 2:27-38). But more probably the phrase is a condensed expression, meaning -crushed us and reduced our country to a desert." There is some doubt however about the reading. The Sept. has, -humbled us in a place of affliction."

the shadow of death The word tsalmâvethis rendered thus in the Ancient Versions, and the present vocalisation assumes that this is the meaning. But compounds are rare in Hebrew except in proper names, and there are good grounds for supposing that the word is derived from a different root and should be read tsalmûth, and rendered deep gloom. It is however not improbable that the pronunciation of the word was altered at an early date in accordance with a popular etymology.