You have made us like sheep for slaughter and have scattered us among the nations.
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
Thou hast given us like sheep appointed for meat. As sheep are slaughtered for food, so were the people slain in flocks, with ease, and frequency. Not with dignity of sacrifice, but with the cruelty of the shambles, were they put to death. God appeared to give them up like sheep allotted to the butcher, to abandon them as the hireling abandons the flock to wolves.
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