Psalms 44 - Introduction

A.M. 2981. B.C. 1023.

This is the third of those Psalms called MASCHIL, and the second of those directed to the sons of Korah; but it does not seem to have been composed by David, as the two foregoing were. For, in his days, the Israelites were not oppressed by foreign enemies, as the psalmist here complains, in the name of the whole church, they were to such a degree that some of them were made slaves, others killed, and all of them become a reproach. “Yet I do not think,” says Bishop Patrick, “it was composed in the captivity of Babylon, but before that time, though long after David's days; while their kingdom was as yet standing, and they had some forces remaining, though God did not bless them with success,” 9. He goes on to give it as his opinion, that it was composed in the days of Hezekiah; who was a pious reformer of the Jewish Church, and yet, notwithstanding, was invaded by the king of Assyria, which calamity, he thinks, is alluded to in this Psalm. That good king himself, or some other divinely- inspired person, might be the penman of it. But whoever was its author, the church, or people of God, must be considered as speaking in it. They recount the mercies of God vouchsafed to his servants of old time, Psalms 44:1. Declare their confidence, that they should experience the same favour and help in their present distress, Psalms 44:4. Complain of present troubles, Psalms 44:9. Profess their integrity, and adherence to the worship of God, notwithstanding their seeming desertion, and manifold sufferings, Psalms 44:17. They pray for succour, Psalms 44:23.