Psalm 44:2

How thou didst drive out the heathen with thy hand, and plantedst them; how thou didst afflict the people, and cast them out.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(2) Thou . . . with thy hand.—Literally, Thou, Thy hand, which may be, as in the Authorised Version, taken as accusative of instrument, or as a repeated subject.

And cast them out.—This entirely misses the meaning and destroys the parallelism. The Hebrew word is that used for a treo spreading its branches out; comp. Jeremiah 17:8; Ezekiel 17:6; Ezekiel 31:5, and especially Psalm 80:11, a passage which is simply an amplification of the figure in this verse, viz., of a vine or other exotic, planted in a soil cleared for its reception, and there caused to grow and flourish. The pronoun them in each clause plainly refers to Israel.

Thou, with thine hand, didst dispossess the heathen,

And planted them (Israel) in.

Thou didst afflict the peoples.

But didst make them to spread.

Benson Commentary

Psalm 44:2-3. How thou didst drive out the heathen, &c. — The seven nations of the Canaanites out of Canaan, and settled in their stead thy people Israel, whom thou didst transplant thither from Egypt. Didst afflict the people — The heathen; and cast them out. They got not the land, &c., by their own sword — That is, by their arms or valour. But thy right hand, &c., and the light of thy countenance — Thy favour, as the next words explain it; thy gracious and glorious presence, which went along with them. The many complete victories which Israel obtained over the Canaanites, under the command of Joshua, were not to be attributed to themselves; nor could they claim the glory of them. They were neither owing to their own merit nor their own light, but to God’s favour and power engaged for them; without which all their own efforts and endeavours would have been fruitless.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

44:1-8 Former experiences of God's power and goodness are strong supports to faith, and powerful pleas in prayer under present calamities. The many victories Israel obtained, were not by their own strength or merit, but by God's favour and free grace. The less praise this allows us, the more comfort it affords, that we may see all as coming from the favour of God. He fought for Israel, else they had fought in vain. This is applicable to the planting of the Christian church in the world, which was not by any human policy or power. Christ, by his Spirit, went forth conquering and to conquer; and he that planted a church for himself in the world, will support it by the same power and goodness. They trusted and triumphed in and through him. Let him that glories, glory in the Lord. But if they have the comfort of his name, let them give unto him the glory due unto it.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

How thou didst drive out the heathen with thy hand - The word rendered "heathen" means simply nations without necessarily conveying the idea of paganism, as that word is now understood. It means the nations, to wit, of the land of Canaan, or the Canaanites; and as these nations were in fact idolaters, or strangers to the true religion, the word came in time to have that idea attached to it. It is in that sense that we use the term now, though the word nations would accurately express the meaning of the original. The word rendered "drive out" - ירשׁ yârash - means properly to take, seize, or take possession of; and then, in the form here used (Hiphil), it means to cause to possess; to give possession of; and then, to take possession of, to drive out of a possession, to dispossess, to disinherit. The meaning here is, he dispossessed them of their country; he disinherited them. This, the psalmist says, God had done "by his hand;" that is, it was by his own power.

And plantedst them - That is, planted his people - the children of Israel. He put them in the place of those whom he had disinherited or dispossessed. The word is properly applicable to a tree, but it is also used with reference to a nation, and means that he assigned them a fixed and permanent residence. Thus we say in English, "to plant a colony." Compare Amos 9:15; Jeremiah 24:6; Jeremiah 32:41; Psalm 80:8; 2 Samuel 7:10.

How thou didst afflict the people - That is, the people of the land of Canaan; the nations that dwelt there. The word means to bring evil or calamity upon anyone.

And cast them out - The word used here may be taken in the sense of sending out or expelling, as in Genesis 3:23; 1 Kings 9:7 - and then it would be applicable to the Canaanites, as meaning that God had expelled or driven them out - as it is understood by our translators; or it may be used to denote the sending out of shoots or branches by a tree or vine, as in Psalm 80:11; Jeremiah 17:8; Ezekiel 17:6-7 - and then it would refer here to the Israelites, and would mean that God caused them to increase; multiplied them; spread them over the land, as a vine spreads, Psalm 80:8-11. The parallelism here clearly demands the latter interpretation. So it is understood by Luther, DeWette, Tholuck, and Prof. Alexander.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

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.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

The heathen; the Canaanites.

Plantedst them, to wit, our fathers, easily understood both from the matter, and from Psalm 44:1, where they are expressed; the pronoun being referred unto the remoter antecedent, as it is Genesis 10:12 19:13 Psalm 18:5, and oft elsewhere.

Cast them out: so them must be the people, or heathens. But because the comparing of this branch of the verse with the former, plantedst them, to which this answers, and with the following they, makes it more than probable that this them belongs to the fathers, this is to be otherwise rendered; either,

1. Thus, send them out, to wit, free or manumitted out of Egypt, of which this same verb is used, Exodus 5:1 12:33. And then the foregoing people are the Egyptians, not the Canaanites; which yet seems not to agree with the foregoing and following passages both which speak of the Canaanites only; nor with the order of the words in this verse, it being improper to mention their coming out of Egypt, after their being planted in Canaan. Or rather,

2. Thus, make them send or shoot forth, to wit, branches, as it is more fully expressed, Psalm 80:11 Ezekiel 17:6, where this verb is used. And this most naturally and properly follows upon and after their planting mentioned in the former clause.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

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, 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" (q); 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 Psalm 80:9; 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.

(q) "has autem germinare fecisti", Tigurine version; "propagasti ipsos", Piscator; so Ainsworth; but rejected by Gussetius, Ebr. Comment. p. 859.

Geneva Study Bible

How thou didst drive out the {b} heathen with thy hand, and plantedst {c} them; how thou didst afflict the {d} people, and (e) cast them out.

(b) That is, the Canaanites.

(c) That is, our fathers.

(d) Of Canaan.

(e) That is, our fathers.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

2. With thine own hand didst thou dispossess nations, and plant them in,

Didst afflict peoples, and cause them to spread abroad.

Thou with thy hand are the first words of the verse in the Heb., emphasising by their position the prominent thought of this stanza, that Israel owed its possession of Canaan not to its own courage but to Jehovah’s help. The metaphor of planting is frequently applied to the establishment of Israel in Canaan (cp. Exodus 15:17; 2 Samuel 7:10), and it is continued in the next line, where the rendering cause them to spread abroad is commended by the usage of the word and by the parallelism. Israel is compared to a tree which struck root and spread its branches far and wide. Cp. Psalm 80:8 ff, Psalm 80:11. Note the artistic parallelism, the first clause in each line referring to the nations, the second to Israel.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 2. - How thou didst drive out the heathen with thy hand; i.e. "by thy power." The conquest of Canaan is the historical fact referred to. And plantedst them (comp. Exodus 15:17, "Thou wilt bring them in, and plant them in the mountain of thine inheritance;" and see also Psalm 80:8, "Thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt; thou hast cast out the heathen, and planted it"). How thou didst afflict the people; rather, the peoples, i.e. the Canaanitish nations. And cast them out. So the LXX, the Vulgate, and even the Revised Version. But most moderns, understanding "them" of Israel, render, but didst spread them out (comp. Psalm 80:11). Psalm 44:2

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

(Heb.: 44:2-4) The poet opens with a tradition coming down from the time of Moses and of Joshua which they have heard with their own ears, in order to demonstrate the vast distance between the character of the former times and the present, just as Asaph, also, in Psalm 78:3, appeals not to the written but to the spoken word. That which has been heard follows in the oratio directa. Psalm 44:3 explains what kind of "work" is intended: it is the granting of victory over the peoples of Canaan, the work of God for which Moses prays in Psalm 90:16. Concerning ידך, vid., on Psalm 3:5; Psalm 17:14. The position of the words here, as in Psalm 69:11; Psalm 83:19, leads one to suppose that ידך is treated as a permutative of אתּה, and consequently in the same case with it. The figure of "planting" (after Exodus 15:17) is carried forward in ותּשׁלּחם; for this word means to send forth far away, to make wide-branching, a figure which is wrought up in Psalm 80. It was not Israel's own work, but (כּי, no indeed, for [Germ. nein, denn] equals imo) God's work: "Thy right hand and Thine arm and the light of Thy countenance," they it was which brought Israel salvation, i.e., victory. The combination of synonyms ימינך וּזרועך is just as in Psalm 74:11, Sir. 33:7, χείρα καὶ βραχίονα δεξιόν, and is explained by both the names of the members of the body as applied to God being only figures: the right hand being a figure for energetic interposition, and the arm for an effectual power that carries through the thing designed (cf. e.g., Psalm 77:16; Psalm 53:1), just as the light of His countenance is a figure for His loving-kindness which lights up all darkness. The final cause was His purpose of love: for (inasmuch as) Thou wast favourable to them (רצה as in Psalm 85:2). The very same thought, viz., that Israel owes the possession of Canaan to nothing but Jahve's free grace, runs all through Deuteronomy 9.