You have made us retreat from the foe, and those who hate us have plundered us.
The psalmist rehearses God's faithfulness to the fathers, then lodges a sharp complaint: He no longer goes forth with us as He once did. The structure is plain: mercies remembered, present affliction lamented, covenant loyalty maintained despite suffering, and a final prayer that God not forget the dishonor done to His worship.
AI summary
Commenting on Psalm 44:1-26
The Lord Himself has made us turn back, and that abandonment is what unmans us, flight comes when He is not at the head. Then the haters plunder at will: doubt and fear rob us of our comforts, terrible forebodings steal our hopes. No calamity equals being forsaken by God, even for a moment.
AI summary
They boasted once that God would protect them, so now their defeat cuts doubly deep. God seems to have cast them off entirely, yet mark the error: when the faithful are cast down, they mistake it for being cast away. God has not forsaken His people, though they are tempted to think it.
AI summary
Commenting on Psalm 44:9-16