19 But Thou hast smitten us in a place of dragons, And dost cover us over with death-shade.
Let darkness and death-shade redeem it, Let a cloud tabernacle upon it, Let them terrify it as the most bitter of days.
Thou causest me to hear joy and gladness, Thou makest joyful bones Thou hast bruised.
Speak, and thou hast said: Thus said the Lord Jehovah: Lo, I `am' against thee, Pharaoh king of Egypt! The great dragon that is crouching in the midst of his floods, Who hath said, My flood `is' my own, And I -- I have made it `for' myself.
And the fifth messenger did pour out his vial upon the throne of the beast, and his kingdom did become darkened, and they were gnawing their tongues from the pain,
And I saw another beast coming up out of the land, and it had two horns, like a lamb, and it was speaking as a dragon, and all the authority of the first beast doth it do before it, and it maketh the land and those dwelling in it that they shall bow before the first beast, whose deadly stroke was healed, and it doth great signs, that fire also it may make to come down from the heaven to the earth before men,
and the beast that I saw was like to a leopard, and its feet as of a bear, and its mouth as the mouth of a lion, and the dragon did give to it his power, and his throne, and great authority.
and the great dragon was cast forth -- the old serpent, who is called `Devil,' and `the Adversary,' who is leading astray the whole world -- he was cast forth to the earth, and his messengers were cast forth with him.
Before I go, and return not, Unto a land of darkness and death-shade, A land of obscurity as thick darkness, Death-shade -- and no order, And the shining `is' as thick darkness.'
And thou hast said unto them this word: Tears come down mine eyes night and day, And they do not cease, For, `with' a great breach, Broken hath been the virgin daughter of my people, A very grievous stroke.
And gone up her palaces have thorns, Nettle and bramble `are' in her fortresses, And it hath been a habitation of dragons, A court for daughters of an ostrich. And met have Ziim with Aiim, And the goat for its companion calleth, Only there rested hath the night-owl, And hath found for herself a place of rest.
In that day lay a charge doth Jehovah, With his sword -- the sharp, and the great, and the strong, On leviathan -- a fleeing serpent, And on leviathan -- a crooked serpent, And He hath slain the dragon that `is' in the sea.
To the Overseer. -- `Concerning the Lily of Testimony,' a secret treasure of David, to teach, in his striving with Aram-Naharaim, and with Aram-Zobah, and Joab turneth back and smiteth Edom in the valley of Salt -- twelve thousand. O God, Thou hadst cast us off, Thou hadst broken us -- hadst been angry! -- Thou dost turn back to us. Thou hast caused the land to tremble, Thou hast broken it, Heal its breaches, for it hath moved. Thou hast shewn Thy people a hard thing, Thou hast caused us to drink wine of trembling.
I have been feeble and smitten -- unto excess, I have roared from disquietude of heart.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Psalms 44
Commentary on Psalms 44 Matthew Henry Commentary
Psalm 44
We are not told either who was the penmen of this psalm or when and upon what occasion it was penned, upon a melancholy occasion, we are sure, not so much to the penman himself (then we could have found occasions enough for it in the history of David and his afflictions), but to the church of God in general; and therefore, if we suppose it penned by David, yet we must attribute it purely to the Spirit of prophecy, and must conclude that the Spirit (whatever he himself had) had in view the captivity of Babylon, or the sufferings of the Jewish church under Antiochus, or rather the afflicted state of the Christian church in its early days (to which v. 22 is applied by the apostle, Rom. 8:36), and indeed in all its days on earth, for it is its determined lot that it must enter into the kingdom of heaven through many tribulations. And, if we have any gospel-psalms pointing at the privileges and comforts of Christians, why should we not have one pointing at their trials and exercises? It is a psalm calculated for a day of fasting and humiliation upon occasion of some public calamity, either pressing or threatening. In it the church is taught,
In singing this psalm we ought to give God the praise of what he has formerly done for his people, to represent our own grievances, or sympathize with those parts of the church that are in distress, to engage ourselves, whatever happens, to cleave to God and duty, and then cheerfully to wait the event.
To the chief musician for the sons of Korah, Maschil.
Psa 44:1-8
Some observe that most of the psalms that are entitled Maschil-psalms of instruction, are sorrowful psalms; for afflictions give instructions, and sorrow of spirit opens the ear to them. Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest and teachest.
In these verses the church, though now trampled upon, calls to remembrance the days of her triumph, of her triumph in God and over her enemies. This is very largely mentioned here,
Psa 44:9-16
The people of God here complain to him of the low and afflicted condition that they were now in, under the prevailing power of their enemies and oppressors, which was the more grievous to them because they were now trampled upon, who had always been used, in their struggles with their neighbours, to win the day and get the upper hand, and because those were now their oppressors whom they had many a time triumphed over and made tributaries, and especially because they had boasted in their God with great assurance that he would still protect and prosper them, which made the distress they were in, and the disgrace they were under, the more shameful. Let us see what the complaint is.
Psa 44:17-26
The people of God, being greatly afflicted and oppressed, here apply to him; whither else should they go?