Psalm 44

They shall come, and shall declare his righteousness unto a people that shall be born, that he hath done this.
— Psalm 22:31

Observe thou that which I command thee this day: behold, I drive out before thee the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite.
— Exodus 34:11

Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the LORD our God.
— Psalm 20:7

There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life: as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee: I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.
— Joshua 1:5

That no flesh should glory in his presence. But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.
— 1 Corinthians 1:29-31

An Exposition of Psalm 44:1-8, by Samuel Eyles Pierce.

Psalm 44:1-8: 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. How thou didst drive out the heathen with thy hand and plantest them. How thou didst afflict the people and cast them out. For they got not the land in possession by their own sword, neither did they their own arm save them, but thy right hand and thine arm. and thy light of thy countenance, because thou hast a favor unto them. Thou art my king, O God. Command deliverances for Jacob. Through thee will we push down our enemies. Through thy name will we tread them under that rise up against us. For I will not trust in my bow, neither shall my sword save me. But thou hast saved us from our enemies. and has put them to shame that hated us. In God, we boast all the day long and praise thy name forever. Selah.

Psalm the 44th. The title of this psalm is to the chief musician for the sons of Korah, Maskeel. Some of the posterity of Korah were singers in the temple worship. Korah rebelled against the Lord. He, together with Dathan and Abram, strove against Moses and Aaron, an account of which you have in Numbers 16:1. They strove against the Lord. It was Jehovah himself who appointed and settled them in their offices. Notwithstanding the children of Korah died not. Numbers 16:21. This word Korah is by some interpreted as signifying miserable man or miserable men. All the sons of Adam are, even such as are in Christ, can get no more above sorrow and be beyond the least misery, but as they are actually engaged in living on Christ. This psalm contains instruction. This, the word, maschiel, signifies. Christ is the object and subject of all the worship contained in this psalm. It is a solemn recital made by the church, of the grace and goodness of the Lord Jesus Christ to her. It consists in an acknowledgement and memorial for his former favors. It expressed some present dispensations the church was then under, which were afflictive and distressing. A solemn confession is made of the integrity of the church concerning the true worship of God. She most fervently prayeth for succor and deliverance.

The Apostle Paul seems to allude to this psalm in the eighth chapter of his epistle to the Romans when he says, verse 35, who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword? In the next verse, he positively quotes the 22nd verse of this psalm. As it is written, for thy sake we are killed all the day long. We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. and adds, nay, in all these things, we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. Commentators are not agreed concerning the time to which this psalm belongs. It is referred to such things as belong to what befell the people in the times of Rehoboam, second Chronicles 12, by some. Others conceive it concerns what befell the people in the days of Jehoram, who slew all his brethren with the sword and diverse of the princes. He introduced the worship of Baal into the kingdom of Judah, and made high places in the mountains of Judah, and caused the inhabitants of Jerusalem to commit fornication, and compelled Judah thereunto. See 2 Chronicles 21:4, 6, and 11. Some refer to it the times of Ahaz, who was a monster of impiety, set up the gods of Syria. to scourge him for which the Lord sent Pekah, the son of Ramaliah, king of Israel against him, who slew in Judah in one day, 120,000 valiant men. See 2 Chronicles 28:6. Others refer to what happened in Hezekiah’s time when the Assyrians besieged Jerusalem and the Lord delivered it by sending an angel who smote in the camp of the Assyrians 104 score and 5,000. And when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses. See 2 Kings 18:19.

And it is generally concluded all the Jewish church suffered during the Chaldean captivity in the Syro-Grecian oppressions and others. It must have been a very suffering situation, especially in the mind to the real saints in the church of the most high God when Solomon, who built the temple of the Lord, fell so low as to consent temples should be built on Mount Olivet for idols, which was the case toward the close of his reign. So after his death, when there was a division in the kingdom and 10 tribes fell off from their lawful sovereign, and a kingdom fell into idolatry, it was very distressing to the true church of Christ that Rehoboam, the son and immediate successor of Solomon, fell partially into idolatry and the bulk of the people with him. He emerged out of it, yet it brought the wrath of the Lord upon the kingdom. It was, it may be conceived, abundantly more distressing to real saints in Judea when Jehoram, the son and successor, of the good Jehoshaphat introduced the worship of Baal and sorely persecuted the saints in Jerusalem and Judah, who would not become idolaters. So it must have been, and it may be more extreme as to the bodily sufferings when Ahazrein, who set up the Syrian gods as objects of worship, I conceive this will serve as a key to this psalm, to which I would add the Holy Ghost who knew all the sufferings and persecutions of the church of Christ under the Old Testament dispensation might cause it to be so pinned as to suit the times which went over the heads of his saints all throughout that period. According to the account Paul gives us in his book of martyrs in Hebrews 11, some of them had trials of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover, of bonds and imprisonment. They were stoned. They were sawn asunder. They were tempted. They were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented, of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and in mountains and in dens and caves of the earth, verses 36, 37 and 38. This may serve as sufficient to give the outline of the subject matter of the scripture before us and help to the true understanding of the same in very many expressions of it.

Verse one, to the chief musician for the sons of Korah, Maskeel. We have heard with our ears, O God, our fathers have told us, what works thou didst in their days in the times of old. The whole church here speak all with one heart and one voice, unite to express and declare what they had heard with their outward ears of God, of the works of God, of the arm of God, of the goodness of God, of what he had done in times of old, of what he wrought long before they came into being and existence. They had heard it, their fathers, who are now no more in a time state related. They received the account with pleasure. Their minds were greatly delighted with the remembrance of it. They expressed it before the Lord to celebrate his name for it. This is their introduction to their present act of worship. They proceed with it and speak out of those past acts of God, which their fathers were so deeply interested in. This is the subject of the next verses.

Verse two, How thou didst drive out the heathen with thy hand and plantest them? How thou didst afflict the people and cast them out? The Lord not only brought out his church from Egypt, but he took them under his own immediate care and protection. He went before them in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of cloud by night. He dried up the waters of the Red Sea for them. He led them through the deserts of Arabia. He fed them with manna. He gave them water out of a rock of flint. He brought them to the borders of the inheritance, which he promised them. He dried up the river Jordan before them. He led them into Canaan. He drave out the Canaanites from before them. They who were the old inhabitants of the land were most sorely afflicted. Numbers of them were slain in battle. Others fell because the Lord cast great hailstones out of heaven upon them. It is recorded by Joshua, more died with hailstones than they whom the children of Israel slew with the sword. Chapter 10 verse 11, the prophet Habakkuk says of God, and his judgment on the Canaanite nation and people. Thou didst march through the land in indignation. Thou didst thresh the heathen in anger. Thou wentest forth for the salvation of thy people, even for salvation with thine anointed. Thou woundest the head of the house of the wicked by discovering the foundation unto the meek, unto the neck. Selah. It was chapter three, verses 12 and 13. Moses foretold all this in his song, sung when he came up out of the sea, recorded in Exodus 15. Thou on thy mercies hast led forth the people which thou hast redeemed. Thou hast guided them in thy strength unto the holy habitation. Then the Dukes of Edom shall be amazed. The mighty men of Moab, trembling, shall take hold of them. All the inhabitants of Canaan shall melt away. Fear and dread shall fall upon them. By the greatness of thine arm they shall be as still as a stone, till thy people pass over. O Lord, till thy people pass over which thou hast purchased. Thou shalt bring them in and plant them in the mountain of thine inheritance, in the place, O Lord, which thou had made for thee to dwell in the sanctuary, O Lord, which thy hands have established. These are verses 13 through 17. Moses speaks as if it had been accomplished, because what the Lord wills and promises is as sure as if it were, saying and doing being one with him. The church In the psalm before us confesses the accomplishment of it and praises God for it and adds,

Verse three, for they got not the land in possession by their own sword, neither did their own arms save them, but thy right hand and thine arm and the light of thy countenance, because thou hast a favor unto them. This was a true acknowledgement. The land of Canaan was God’s gift to the Israelites. He put them in possession of it. The Lord God saith unto them, I sent the hornet before you, which drave out from before you the two kings of the Amorites, but not with thy sword, nor with thy bow. Joshua 24:12. So the church here gives the whole glory of their possession of the promised land to God himself. It was not their sword nor their bow obtained it for them. Yet the sword and bow were both made use of, but it was the Lord himself who fought for them. The Lord Jesus Christ came down and was seen by Joshua in human form. He declared himself to be the captain of the host of the Lord. He gave Joshua direction. He was with him. He obtained the victory. It was his right hand and arm was their defense. It was the light of his countenance, which inspired them with courage and joy. He had a favor unto them. They were his peculiar people. All this is here acknowledged by the church in the words before us.

Verse four, thou art my king, O God, command deliverances for Jacob. The church confesses what God is to her as she before confessed what he had done for her. He is her king. She was under his sovereign guidance and control. His service she found was perfect freedom. He was her defense against all her enemies. Under Him she knew was her protection. She offers up her request to Him for deliverance from all the present and future enemies. As long as Christ’s church remains on earth, she will be in a militant state. Therefore, she will continually need her Lord to go before her and fight her battles and work deliverances for her. She therefore expresses her views of the office in which her Lord stood engaged unto her. He was her king. She professes this. Thou art my king, O God. Command deliverances for Jacob. Let it be known by thy saints throughout every succeeding generation that thou will command deliverances for them equal to their every need and enemy.

Verse five. Through thee we will push down our enemies. Through thy name we will tread them under that rise up against us. What had been spoken in the former verses served to strengthen the faith of the church and encourage it to expect from the Lord God entire success and full and final victory in Christ Jesus in his own time and way over all her enemies, persecutors and oppressors. When we look at Christ’s victories, conquests, and triumphs over all the enemies of our souls and bodies, we are enabled to be of good courage. It is by faith in the same we conquer. Our Lord Jesus Christ is our true Joshua. He hath conquered for us. He will conquer in us. He bids us set our feet on all our enemies. He calls on us to follow him. from conquering and to conquer. We may, as the church here doth say, through thee, O Jesus, will we push down our enemies. Through thy name will we tread them under that rise up against us. As there are a variety of subjects in this psalm, so the tense is often changed. It began with the plural. This was continued to the close of the third verse. Then in the fourth verse, it was the singular. In the next, plural. May we not see from hence the whole church in a collective state since and each member in a particular case is alike equally concerned and have their share and cause to rehearse and celebrate the Lord’s praise for the great deliverances, gifts and graces, for the acts of his royal favor against or towards them. Surely we may. It is but one church of which Christ is the head. It is but one family and household of faith. It is but one brotherhood of which Christ is the elder brother, so that in the sacred scriptures, one sometimes speaks for all, as at other times all, if I may so say, speak for one.

Verse six, for I will not trust in my bow, neither shall my sword save me. True faith in Christ leads to an entire renunciation of all contained in self. A believer in Christ will have no other savior than Jesus, the mediator of the New Testament. He will have no salvation but what hath been obtained by the blood of the everlasting covenant. Neither will he trust in any inherent grace or the exercise of it for any deliverance from any of his sins, corruptions, and enemies. No, he renounces all hope in God but Christ. It is his person and his finished work is the one foundation of all his hope. Even in God himself, he renounces all hope, but in the arm of Jesus for victory over himself and every one of his enemies. He trusts in the power of Christ to dethrone every rebel lust within him.

Verse seven, but thou has saved us from our enemies. Thou has put them to shame that hated us. Thus the church gives all the glory of every salvation the Lord hath wrought to him. He has saved his people in every age, in every period past. They had been, they were, they ever will be his peculiar delight and care. He had confounded their enemies. He had put them to shame. This the church makes her acknowledgements of. The Lord had done this for her. She therefore says,

Verse eight, in God, we boast all the day long and praise thy name forever. Selah. In the three, in the incomprehensible Jehovah, as the God of Israel, as the God of his people, as the God of salvation, as the God of all grace, there is reason for us to boast. We may do so all the day long. We do so when we recite his loving kindness, when we mention his great acts towards us, when we speak one to another of what he has done on behalf of his church. We may find it in matter for perpetual wonder and praise. We may set our amen to this. Some say the word Selah is the same as amen. The former parts of this psalm consisted of two parts. The first three verses were a recording of what the Lord had done for his church, which had been reported by the fathers, in which is most beautifully recited as it had been delivered unto them. The second part, which contains the next five verses, are prayer to the King of Israel, the God of their mercies, that he would command deliverances for them, for the church in that present period of time. when this psalm was used in worship. Then in the very language of faith, the saints express what they shall do as being strong in the Lord and in the power of his might, on which follows the renunciation of all confidence in the flesh and acknowledgement that the Lord had been their salvation from enemies, that the consequent effects of this on their minds is that they will boast in God and praise his name forever. Next follows a different subject. An account is given of the case and circumstances the saints were now in. This begins at the following verse and is carried out on the very close of the 16th.

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