22 But for thy sake are we killed all the day long; we are reckoned as sheep for slaughter.
And the king said to the couriers that stood about him, Turn and put the priests of Jehovah to death; because their hand also is with David, and because they knew when he fled, and did not inform me. But the servants of the king were not willing to put forth their hand to fall on the priests of Jehovah. And the king said to Doeg, Turn thou, and fall on the priests. And Doeg the Edomite turned, and fell on the priests, and put to death that day eighty-five persons who wore the linen ephod. And Nob, the city of the priests, he smote with the edge of the sword, both men and women, infants and sucklings, and oxen, and asses, and sheep, with the edge of the sword.
The dead bodies of thy servants have they given to be meat unto the fowl of the heavens, the flesh of thy saints unto the beasts of the earth: Their blood have they shed like water round about Jerusalem, and there was none to bury [them].
Blessed they who are persecuted on account of righteousness, for *theirs* is the kingdom of the heavens. Blessed are ye when they may reproach and persecute you, and say every wicked thing against you, lying, for my sake. Rejoice and exult, for your reward is great in the heavens; for thus have they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
They shall put you out of the synagogues; but the hour is coming that every one who kills you will think to render service to God; and these things they will do because they have not known the Father nor me.
Why do *we* also endanger ourselves every hour? Daily I die, by your boasting which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord.
And I will give [power] to my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred [and] sixty days, clothed in sackcloth. These are the two olive trees and the two lamps which stand before the Lord of the earth; and if any one wills to injure them, fire goes out of their mouth, and devours their enemies. And if any one wills to injure them, thus must he be killed. These have power to shut the heaven that no rain may fall during the days of their prophecy; and they have power over the waters to turn them into blood, and to smite the earth as often as they will with every plague. And when they shall have completed their testimony, the beast who comes up out of the abyss shall make war with them, and shall conquer them, and shall kill them: and their body [shall be] on the street of the great city, which is called spiritually Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified. And [men] of the peoples and tribes and tongues and nations see their body three days and a half, and they do not suffer their bodies to be put into a sepulchre.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Psalms 44
Commentary on Psalms 44 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
PSALM 44
Ps 44:1-26. In a time of great national distress, probably in David's reign, the Psalmist recounts God's gracious dealings in former times, and the confidence they had learned to repose in Him. After a vivid picture of their calamities, he humbly expostulates against God's apparent forgetfulness, reminding Him of their faithfulness and mourning their heavy sorrows.
1-3. This period is that of the settlement of Canaan (Jos 24:12; Jud 6:3).
have told—or, "related" (compare Ex 10:2).
2. plantedst them—that is, "our fathers," who are also, from the parallel construction of the last clause, to be regarded as the object of "cast them out," which means—literally, "send" them out, or, "extend them." Heathen and people denote the nations who were driven out to make room for the Israelites.
4. Thou art my King—literally, "he who is my King," sustaining the same covenant relation as to the "fathers."
5. The figure drawn from the habits of the ox.
6-8. God is not only our sole help, but only worthy of praise.
7. put … to shame—(compare Ps 6:10), disgraced.
8. thy name—as in Ps 5:11.
9. But—contrasting, cast off as abhorrent (Ps 43:2).
goest not forth—literally, "will not go" (2Sa 5:23). In several consecutive verses the leading verb is future, and the following one past (in Hebrew), thus denoting the causes and effects. Thus (Ps 44:10-12), when defeated, spoiling follows; when delivered as sheep, dispersion follows, &c.
11. The Babylonian captivity not necessarily meant. There were others (compare 1Ki 8:46).
13, 14. (Compare De 28:37; Ps 79:4).
15. shame of … face—blushes in disgrace.
16. Its cause, the taunts and presence of malignant enemies (Ps 8:2).
17-19. They had not apostatized totally—were still God's people.
18. declined—turned aside from God's law.
19. sore broken—crushed.
place of dragons—desolate, barren, rocky wilderness (Ps 63:10; Isa 13:22),
shadow of death—(Compare Ps 23:4).
20, 21. A solemn appeal to God to witness their constancy.
stretched out … hands—gesture of worship (Ex 9:29; Ps 88:9).
22. Their protracted sufferings as God's people attests the constancy. Paul (Ro 8:36) uses this to describe Christian steadfastness in persecution.
23-26. This style of addressing God, as indifferent, is frequent (Ps 3:7; 9:19; 13:1, &c.). However low their condition, God is appealed to, on the ground, and for the honor, of His mercy.