Psalm 44:7

But thou hast saved us from our enemies, and hast put them to shame that hated us.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

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

But thou hast saved us from our enemies - That is, Thou hast done it in times past. Thou hast interposed in behalf of our nation in periods of danger and trial, and hast delivered us. This is stated as a reason for what is said by the psalmist in Psalm 44:6 - that he would not trust in his sword and in iris bow - and for the earnest appeal which he now makes to God. He and his people did not rely on their own strength and prowess, but on that God who had often interposed to save the nation.

And hast put them to shame that hated us - In former times. That is, he had caused them to be discomfited. He had turned them back. He had covered them with confusion. On the meaning of the words "shame" and "ashamed," see Job 6:20, note; Psalm 34:5, note.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

7. put … to shame—(compare Ps 6:10), disgraced.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

No text from Poole on this verse.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

But thou hast saved us from our enemies,.... Spiritual ones, and not we ourselves; and therefore will not trust in ourselves, nor in anything of ours, but in the Lord, and give him the glory of salvation;

and hast put them to shame that hated us; the men of the world, the seed of the serpent, and the serpent himself, when his works were destroyed, and his principalities and powers spoiled by Christ upon the cross; hence the following boasting of the Lord, and glorying in him.

Geneva Study Bible

But thou hast saved us from our enemies, and hast put them to shame that hated us.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

7. But] Or, For. Past experience justifies the confidence of Psalm 44:6.

them … that hated us] R.V., them … that hate us. Cp. Psalm 44:10.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 7. - But thou hast saved us from our enemies; or, dost save us. It is the voice of confident hope that speaks, not that of gratitude. And hast put them to shame that hated us; rather, and puttest them to shame that hate us. The writer is sure that God will do in the future as he has done in the past, and will raise Israel up again from the low estate into which they have been brought by disaster. Psalm 44:7

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.