Psalm 44:5

Through thee will we push down our enemies: through thy name will we tread them under that rise up against us.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(5) Push down.—The image of the original is lost here, the LXX. have retained it. It is that of a buffalo or other horned animal driving back and goring its enemies. Deuteronomy 33:17 applies it as a special description of the tribe of Joseph. The figure is continued in the next clause; the infuriated animal tramples its victim under foot.

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

Through thee - By thy help. "Will we push down our enemies." The word here rendered "push down" means literally to strike or push with the horns, spoken of horned animals, Exodus 21:28, Exodus 21:31-32. Then it is applied to a conqueror prostrating nations before him: Deuteronomy 33:17; 1 Kings 22:11.

Through thy name - That is, acting under thine authority and by thy help. If he gave the commandment Psalm 44:4, it would be certain that they would be able to overcome their adversaries.

Will we tread them under - Will we conquer or subdue them. The language is taken from the custom of treading on a prostrate foe. See Psalm 7:5, note; Psalm 18:40, note; compare Job 40:12, note; Isaiah 10:6, note; Isaiah 63:3, note; Daniel 7:23, note.

That rise up against us - Our enemies that have mustered their strength for war. The language would properly denote those who had rebelled against a government; but it seems here to be used in a more general sense, as referring to those who had waged war against them. See Psalm 18:39,

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

5. The figure drawn from the habits of the ox.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Push down, Heb. smite with the horn, i.e. subdue and destroy. The phrase is taken from Deu 33:17, and is borrowed from horned beasts. Compare 1 Kings 22:11.

Through thy name, i.e. by the help of thy power.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Through thee will we push down our enemies,.... The Chaldee paraphrase renders it, "through the Word": the essential Word of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the church's King and God, and has wrought out complete deliverance and salvation for his people; and he is the horn of salvation, by which, though weak in themselves, they push down their enemies, which are many and mighty, and they are more than conquerors over them: the metaphor is taken from creatures pushing with their horns those that oppose them, and in defence of themselves; and there seems to be an allusion to Deuteronomy 33:17;

through thy name will we tread them under that rise up against us; in the name of the Lord the saints set up their banners, and in his name they come forth and fight with their spiritual enemies, that rise up against them, as sin, Satan, and wicked men; and in the name, and through the power of the Lord, they tread them down as mire in the streets; and before long Satan will be wholly bruised under them; and the antichristian party shall be trodden down by them, and be as ashes under the soles of their feet; see Romans 16:20.

Geneva Study Bible

{h} Through thee will we push down our enemies: through thy name will we tread them under that rise up against us.

(h) Because they and their forefathers made both one Church, they apply that to themselves which before they attributed to their fathers.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

5. push down) Perhaps a reminiscence of Deuteronomy 33:17; but metaphors from horned animals are common. Cp. 1 Kings 22:11.

our enemies) R.V. our adversaries, and similarly in Psalm 44:7; Psalm 44:10, the Heb. word being different from that in Psalm 44:16.

through thy name] Relying upon all that Thou hast revealed Thyself to be as the God of Israel:—an emphatic alternative for through Thee. The Name of God is the compendious expression for His revealed character and attributes. See Oehler’s O.T. Theology, § 56. Cp. Psalm 5:11; Psalm 20:1; Acts 3:16.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 5. - Through thee will we push down our enemies. Do as we ask - command our deliverance - and then we shall assuredly "push down," i.e. overthrow and prostrate, our enemies. Thy help will be found as effectual in the future as in the past. Through thy Name will we tread them under that rise up against us. Having pushed our foes to the ground (comp. Deuteronomy 33:17), we shall then be able to "tread them under." The imagery is drawn from the practice of buffaloes and wild bulls. Psalm 44:5

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

(Heb.: 44:5-9) Out of the retrospective glance at the past, so rich in mercy springs up (Psalm 44:5) the confident prayer concerning the present, based upon the fact of the theocratic relationship which began in the time of the deliverance wrought under Moses (Deuteronomy 33:5). In the substantival clause אתּה הוּא מלכּי, הוּא is neither logical copula nor predicate (as in Psalm 102:28; Deuteronomy 32:39, there equivalent to אתּה הוּא אשׁר, cf. 1 Chronicles 21:17), but an expressive resumption of the subject, as in Isaiah 43:25; Jeremiah 49:12; Nehemiah 9:6., Ezra 5:11, and in the frequently recurring expression יהוה הוא האלהים; it is therefore to be rendered: Thou-He who (such an one) is my King. May He therefore, by virtue of His duty as king which He has voluntarily taken upon Himself, and of the kingly authority and power indwelling in Him, command the salvation of Jacob, full and entire (Psalm 18:51; Psalm 53:7). צוּה as in Psalm 42:9. Jacob is used for Israel just as Elohim is used instead of Jahve. If Elohim, Jacob's King, now turns graciously to His people, they will again be victorious and invincible, as Psalm 44:6 affirms. נגּח with reference to קרן as a figure and emblem of strength, as in Psalm 89:25 and frequently; קמינוּ equivalent to קמים עלינוּ. But only in the strength of God (בּך as in Psalm 18:30); for not in my bow do I trust, etc., Psalm 44:7. This teaching Israel has gathered from the history of the former times; there is no bidding defiance with the bow and sword and all the carnal weapons of attack, but Thou, etc., Psalm 44:8. This "Thou" in הושׁעתּנוּ is the emphatic word; the preterites describe facts of experience belonging to history. It is not Israel's own might that gives them the supremacy, but God's gracious might in Israel's weakness. Elohim is, therefore, Israel's glory or pride: "In Elohim do we praise," i.e., we glory or make our boast in Him; cf. הלּל על, Psalm 10:3. The music here joins in after the manner of a hymn. The Psalm here soars aloft to the more joyous height of praise, from which it now falls abruptly into bitter complaint.