Yet for Your sake we are killed all day long; We are counted as sheep for slaughter. Psalm 44:22
The Prayer of a Puzzled People
God is the sole source of Israel’s victories over her enemies. Yet the nation experiences defeat. Defeat would have been understandable if Israel denied God, but at this time God’s people have been faithful to Him and kept His Law. All God’s puzzled people can do as they cry out “Why?” is to urge the Lord to act for them soon.
Psalm 44 is a lament of the community, a collective sigh of the people of Israel for God to help them in a time of great national stress. The psalm also presents an occasion for a rehearsal of God’s great deeds in the Exodus, the major saving action of the Lord in the OT period. This psalm is attributed to the sons of Korah the descendants of the rebellious priest mentioned in Num. 16.
44:1-3 heard with our ears: God’s marvelous intervention in history to deliver the Israelites from Egypt was the cornerstone of OT faith. Each generation of Israelites was obligated to tell the next generation about what God had done for them. The story that they told was not merely a national history, but also a description of the loving character of God. Your right hand became a slogan of redemption in Israel. You favored them: The selection of Israel as the people of God came by His grace alone.
1 To the Chief Musician. A Contemplation of the sons of Korah. We have heard with our ears, O God, Our fathers have told us, The deeds You did in their days, In days of old: 2 You drove out the nations with Your hand, But them You planted; You afflicted the peoples, and cast them out. 3 For they did not gain possession of the land by their own sword, Nor did their own arm save them; But it was Your right hand, Your arm, and the light of Your countenance, Because You favored them.
44:4, 5 my King: in this community lament, it is striking that here the speaker is singular. It may be that these words are spoken by Israel’s king to the king of glory. As the king of the nation, it was appropriate for him to lead the people in asking for God’s renewed favor. Through Your name: The king affirms that victory will be won only by God’s spirit.
4 You are my King, O God; Command victories for Jacob. 5 Through You we will push down our enemies; Through Your name we will trample those who rise up against us.
44:17-20 we have not forgotten: The people protest that they have not rejected God. The implication is that their troubles would be deserved if they had rejected him. Stretched out our hands refers to a posture of prayer. They protest that they have not prayed to the idols of the nations, but have been faithful to the only living God.
17 All this has come upon us; But we have not forgotten You, Nor have we dealt falsely with Your covenant. 18 Our heart has not turned back, Nor have our steps departed from Your way; 19 But You have severely broken us in the place of dragon, And covered us with the shadow of death. 20 If we had forgotten the name of our God, Or stretched out our hands to a foreign god,
44:22 as sheep: These words predict another beloved Son of the Most High who would also feel cast off by the Lord (Is. 53:7; see also Rom. 8:36).
22 Yet for Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
7 He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, And as a sheep before its shearers is silent, So He opened not His mouth. Isaiah 53:7
36 As it is written: “For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.” Romans 8:36
44:23-26 Israel’s God does not sleep. The cry to awake is an appeal for God to act on behalf of His people. The cry is based on the people’s faith that the Lord will forgive. Redeem us: In v. 12, the people suggested that God had sold them; here they ask Him to redeem them – to buy them back for Himself.
23 Awake! Why do You sleep, O Lord? Arise! Do not cast us off forever. 24 Why do You hide Your face, And forget our affliction and our oppression? 25 For our soul is bowed down to the dust; Our body clings to the ground. 26 Arise for our help, And redeem us for Your mercies’ sake.
** A personal psalm. Awake Lord. Why are you sleeping? Why have you abandoned us? These words sound insolent. But perhaps God does not mind. At least, He is being addressed and not being treated like a wallpaper.
Former Deliverances and Present Troubles
44 1 To the Chief Musician. A Contemplation of the sons of Korah. We have heard with our ears, O God, Our fathers have told us, The deeds You did in their days, In days of old: 2 You drove out the nations with Your hand, But them You planted; You afflicted the peoples, and cast them out. 3 For they did not gain possession of the land by their own sword, Nor did their own arm save them; But it was Your right hand, Your arm, and the light of Your countenance, Because You favored them. 4 You are my King, O God; Command victories for Jacob. 5 Through You we will push down our enemies; Through Your name we will trample those who rise up against us. 6 For I will not trust in my bow, Nor shall my sword save me. 7 But You have saved us from our enemies, And have put to shame those who hated us. 8 In God we boast all day long, And praise Your name forever. Selah
9 But You have cast us off and put us to shame, And You do not go out with our armies. 10 You make us turn back from the enemy, And those who hate us have taken spoil for themselves. 11 You have given us up like sheep intended for food, And have scattered us among the nations. 12 You sell Your people for next to nothing, And are not enriched by selling them. 13 You make us a reproach to our neighbors, A scorn and a derision to those all around us. 14 You make us a byword among the nations, A shaking of the head among the peoples. 15 My dishonor is continually before me, And the shame of my face has covered me, 16 Because of the voice of him who reproaches and reviles, Because of the enemy and the avenger.
17 All this has come upon us; But we have not forgotten You, Nor have we dealt falsely with Your covenant. 18 Our heart has not turned back, Nor have our steps departed from Your way; 19 But You have severely broken us in the place of jackals, And covered us with the shadow of death. 20 If we had forgotten the name of our God, Or stretched out our hands to a foreign god, 21 Would not God search this out? For He knows the secrets of the heart. 22 Yet for Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. 23 Awake! Why do You sleep, O Lord? Arise! Do not cast us off forever. 24 Why do You hide Your face, And forget our affliction and our oppression? 25 For our soul is bowed down to the dust; Our body clings to the ground. 26 Arise for our help, And redeem us for Your mercies’ sake.
