Psalms 44 - ESV - Bible Reading / Study Notes

Psalm 44

Come to Our Help

To the choirmaster. A Maskil¹ of the Sons of Korah.

44:1   O God, we have heard with our ears,
    our fathers have told us,
  what deeds you performed in their days,
    in the days of old:
2   you with your own hand drove out the nations,
    but them you planted;
  you afflicted the peoples,
    but them you set free;
3   for not by their own sword did they win the land,
    nor did their own arm save them,
  but your right hand and your arm,
    and the light of your face,
    for you delighted in them.
4   You are my King, O God;
    ordain salvation for Jacob!
5   Through you we push down our foes;
    through your name we tread down those who rise up against us.
6   For not in my bow do I trust,
    nor can my sword save me.
7   But you have saved us from our foes
    and have put to shame those who hate us.
8   In God we have boasted continually,
    and we will give thanks to your name forever. Selah
9   But you have rejected us and disgraced us
    and have not gone out with our armies.
10   You have made us turn back from the foe,
    and those who hate us have gotten spoil.
11   You have made us like sheep for slaughter
    and have scattered us among the nations.
12   You have sold your people for a trifle,
    demanding no high price for them.
13   You have made us the taunt of our neighbors,
    the derision and scorn of those around us.
14   You have made us a byword among the nations,
    a laughingstock² among the peoples.
15   All day long my disgrace is before me,
    and shame has covered my face
16   at the sound of the taunter and reviler,
    at the sight of the enemy and the avenger.
17   All this has come upon us,
    though we have not forgotten you,
    and we have not been false to your covenant.
18   Our heart has not turned back,
    nor have our steps departed from your way;
19   yet you have broken us in the place of jackals
    and covered us with the shadow of death.
20   If we had forgotten the name of our God
    or spread out our hands to a foreign god,
21   would not God discover this?
    For he knows the secrets of the heart.
22   Yet for your sake we are killed all the day long;
    we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.
23   Awake! Why are you sleeping, O Lord?
    Rouse yourself! Do not reject us forever!
24   Why do you hide your face?
    Why do you forget our affliction and oppression?
25   For our soul is bowed down to the dust;
    our belly clings to the ground.
26   Rise up; come to our help!
    Redeem us for the sake of your steadfast love!

Footnotes

[1] 44:1 Probably a musical or liturgical term
[2] 44:14 Hebrew a shaking of the head

Commentary

A prayer for deliverance in times of trouble.

v1-3: Testimony of past victories; by the power of God (v7). All is of God (Deut 7.1; 8.18; Josh 24.12). What "we have heard" was true, for God drove out the nations, and planted the people of Israel in the land.

There is a danger that, following previous victories, we begin to trust in ourselves; in Gal 3.3, Paul teaches that, having begun in the Spirit, we must continue in the Spirit.

v4-8: Confidence of present and future victories. The Lord God has commanded victory and will continue to do so. Since God commands victory, victory is assured. We do well to acknowledge that victory is not through our own efforts, but through God Himself. We therefore boast (glory) in God alone.

v9-16: The problem of current trials. We do not think of our Christian experience as a series of rebukes and rewards from God depending on our obedience or disobedience. Rather, life is a journey, through sunny villages of blessing, thrilling experiences of God's power, winds of adversity demanding steely determination, as well as deep sorrows. The psalmist attributes all events to the hand of God; and this is right, as he continues to look to God for deliverance.

v17-19: The trials (of v9-16) were not the result of specific sins. The response to the trials must still be in faithfulness and obedience; trusting that all our circumstances are ordained by God, and that He is in control.

v20-22: The people had remained loyal to God. They had resisted the temptation to seek a foreign god. Any disloyalty could not have been hidden.

Yet, even in their faithfulness, they faced death for God's sake. (v22 is quoted in Rom 8.36; there too the context is of the faithful facing persecution for Christ's sake.)

v23-26: The final plea to God for help, Awake! Arise! (Ps 121.4) There is no dependence on personal righteousness, but solely on God's mercy.