Psalm 44:2

2 [How] thou didst drive out the heathen with thy hand, and didst plant them; [how] thou didst afflict the people, 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 To the chief Musician for the sons of Korah, Maschil. We have heard with our ears, O God, our fathers have told us, [what] work thou didst in their days, in the times of old.

2 [How] thou didst drive out the heathen with thy hand, and didst plant them; [how] thou didst afflict the people, and cast them out.

3 For they obtained not the land in possession by their own sword, neither did their own arm save them: but thy right hand, and thy arm, and the light of thy countenance, because thou hadst a favor to them.

4 Thou art my King, O God: command deliverances for Jacob.

5 Through thee will we push down our enemies: through thy name we will tread them under that rise up against us.