Psalm 44:2

2 Thine hand utterly destroyed the heathen, and thou didst plant them: thou didst afflict the nations, and cast them out.

Psalm 44:2 Meaning and Commentary

Psalms 44:2

[How] thou didst drive out the Heathen with thy hand
Of power; that is, the Canaanites, as the Targum; the seven nations which inhabited the land of Canaan before the children of Israel came into it, ( Deuteronomy 7:1 ) ;

and plantedst them:
not the Canaanites elsewhere; but, as the same Targum explains it the house of Israel in their land; which, like a vine, was removed from one place, and planted in another; and the settlement of the children of Israel in the land of Canaan is frequently expressed by this metaphor, ( Exodus 15:17 ) ( Psalms 80:8 ) ( Isaiah 5:1 Isaiah 5:7 ) ( Jeremiah 2:21 ) ;

[how] thou didst afflict the people;
the Egyptians, according to Arama; rather the Canaanitish nations by wars and desolating judgments;

and cast them out;
that is, the same nations out of their land; though some render this clause, "and didst send them out"; the captive Israelites, as Arama; or "didst propagate them" ^F17; meaning the people of Israel; who being like a vine planted in the and, sent out its boughs and branches, and became very flourishing and fruitful; see ( Psalms 80:9-11 ) ; and so the Syriac version renders it, "and thou confirmedst them"; but the former sense seems best, agreeably to which is the Targum, "thou hast broken the nations, and hast consumed them"; and that all this was the Lord's work appears by what follows.

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FOOTNOTES:

F17 (Mxlvtw) "has autem germinare fecisti", Tigurine version; "propagasti ipsos", Piscator; so Ainsworth; but rejected by Gussetius, Ebr. Comment. p. 859.

Psalm 44:2 In-Context

1 O God, we have heard with our ears, our fathers have told us, the work which thou wroughtest in their days, in the days of old.

2 Thine hand utterly destroyed the heathen, and thou didst plant them: thou didst afflict the nations, and cast them out.

3 For they inherited not the land by their own sword, and their own arm did not deliver them; but thy right hand, and thine arm, and the light of thy countenance, because thou wert well pleased in them.

4 Thou art indeed my King and my God, who commandest deliverances for Jacob.

5 In thee will we push down our enemies, and in thy name will we bring to nought them that rise up against us.

6 For I will not trust in my bow, and my sword shall not save me.

7 For thou hast saved us from them that afflicted us, and hast put to shame them that hated us.

8 In God will we make our boast all the day, and to thy name will we give thanks for ever. Pause.

9 But now thou hast cast off, and put us to shame; and thou wilt not go forth with our hosts.

10 Thou hast turned us back before our enemies; and they that hated us spoiled for themselves.

11 Thou madest us as sheep for meat; and thou scatteredst us among the nations.

12 Thou hast sold thy people without price, and there was no profit by their exchange.

13 Thou hast made us a reproach to our neighbours, a scorn and derision them that are round about us.

14 Thou hast made us a proverb among the Gentiles, a shaking of the head among the nations.

15 All the day my shame is before me, and the confusion of my face has covered me,

16 because of the voice of the slanderer and reviler; because of the enemy and avenger.

17 All these things are come upon us: but we have not forgotten thee, neither have we dealt unrighteously in thy covenant.

18 And our heart has not gone back; but thou hast turned aside our paths from thy way.

19 For thou hast laid us low in a place of affliction, and the shadow of death has covered us.

20 If we have forgotten the name of our God, and if we have spread out our hands to a strange god; shall not God search these things out?

21 for he knows the secrets of the heart.

22 For, for thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are counted as sheep for slaughter.

23 Awake, wherefore sleepest thou, O Lord? arise, and do not cast us off for ever.

24 Wherefore turnest thou thy face away, and forgettest our poverty and our affliction?

25 For our soul has been brought down to the dust; our belly has cleaved to the earth.

26 Arise, O Lord, help us, and redeem us for thy name’s sake.