Psalm 44: The Song of the Slaughtered

“O God, we have heard with our ears, our fathers have told us, what deeds you performed in their days, in the days of old…” (Psalm 44:1)

The Psalms are at times prayers for the confused. When we are suffering and we don’t know why, when we are in despair and we can’t see what God is doing, the Psalms give us an opportunity to air our confusion, bring our grievances to the Lord, and trust in him to work all things together for good.

The Woven Psalms is a reflective, unhurried, and practical podcast about praying every psalm in the Bible. This podcast is a ministry of Rock Hill Community Church in Duluth, MN. You can learn more about our work at www.wovenpsalms.com.

Mike Solis is our writer and host. Ethan Gibbs is our editor, producer, and composer of the theme music. Beau Walsh designed our logo. This episode features the song “Psalm 44” by Poor Bishop Hooper, and we want to thank them for allowing us to use the music from their EveryPsalm project. You can learn more about their music at www.poorbishophooper.com.

Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. The ESV text may not be quoted in any publication made available to the public by a Creative Commons license. The ESV may not be translated in whole or in part into any other language. The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, is adapted from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A.

Transcript

The Psalms are at times prayers for the confused. When we are suffering and we don’t know why, when we are in despair and we can’t see what God is doing, the Psalms give us an opportunity to air our confusion, bring our grievances to the Lord, and trust in him to work all things together for good.

Psalm 44

To the choirmaster. A Maskil of the Sons of Korah.

[1] O God, we have heard with our ears,
    our fathers have told us,
what deeds you performed in their days,
    in the days of old:
[2] you with your own hand drove out the nations,
    but them you planted;
you afflicted the peoples,
    but them you set free;
[3] for not by their own sword did they win the land,
    nor did their own arm save them,
but your right hand and your arm,
    and the light of your face,
    for you delighted in them.
   
[4] You are my King, O God;
    ordain salvation for Jacob!
[5] Through you we push down our foes;
    through your name we tread down those who rise up against us.
[6] For not in my bow do I trust,
    nor can my sword save me.
[7] But you have saved us from our foes
    and have put to shame those who hate us.
[8] In God we have boasted continually,
    and we will give thanks to your name forever. Selah
       
[9] But you have rejected us and disgraced us
    and have not gone out with our armies.
[10] You have made us turn back from the foe,
    and those who hate us have gotten spoil.
[11] You have made us like sheep for slaughter
    and have scattered us among the nations.
[12] You have sold your people for a trifle,
    demanding no high price for them.
[13] You have made us the taunt of our neighbors,
    the derision and scorn of those around us.
[14] You have made us a byword among the nations,
    a laughingstock among the peoples.
[15] All day long my disgrace is before me,
    and shame has covered my face
[16] at the sound of the taunter and reviler,
    at the sight of the enemy and the avenger.
   
[17] All this has come upon us,
    though we have not forgotten you,
    and we have not been false to your covenant.
[18] Our heart has not turned back,
    nor have our steps departed from your way;
[19] yet you have broken us in the place of jackals
    and covered us with the shadow of death.
[20] If we had forgotten the name of our God
    or spread out our hands to a foreign god,
[21] would not God discover this?
    For he knows the secrets of the heart.
[22] Yet for your sake we are killed all the day long;
    we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.
   
[23] Awake! Why are you sleeping, O Lord?
    Rouse yourself! Do not reject us forever!
[24] Why do you hide your face?
    Why do you forget our affliction and oppression?
[25] For our soul is bowed down to the dust;
    our belly clings to the ground.
[26] Rise up; come to our help!
    Redeem us for the sake of your steadfast love!

Psalm 44 is another one of the twelve psalms attributed to the sons of Korah, but while the last two psalms were individual laments, this one is a corporate or communal lament. A group of worshippers in Israel are gathering to plead with God for mercy, and the voice of the psalm alternates between those community voices and a single voice, like a solo that captures the heart of what everyone is feeling. So what is the lament of the people? We don’t learn it at first, because the people look to the past and tell the story of God’s faithfulness to their ancestors. Verse 1: “O God, we have heard with our ears, our fathers have told us, what deeds you performed in their days, in the days of old…” The psalm goes on to describe how God led his people to the Promised Land, how he was their strength in battle, and how he achieved the victories. This isn’t nostalgia for a great age of heroes; any salvation in the past came from God’s hand. Repeatedly it’s emphasized that human beings accomplished nothing by their own swords or strength. Deliverance comes from God alone, and we simply trust in him. Israel is depicted as a tree or a vine being planted, which echoes language in Exodus and Isaiah. It’s like God cleared the land of evil and, like a careful gardener, placed his people exactly where he wanted them. In verse 3, the people recount how they were saved by “the light of your face, for you delighted in them.” It’s a clear allusion to the famous blessing of Aaron in Numbers 6. The people remember how God took care of them with joy and affection. These stories have been passed down for generations: slavery in Egypt, redemption and freedom won, miracles performed, meeting God in the wilderness at Sinai, receiving the good laws of God, traveling to the Promised Land and seeing these promises come to fruition. In verse 8, the people celebrate: “In God we have boasted continually, and we will give thanks to your name forever.” With a triumphant tone, the psalmists invite us to pause (selah), because the mood is about to shift. That salvation happened in the past… but circumstances in the present are entirely different.

The middle section of Psalm 44 is a gut-wrenching turn: “But you have rejected us and disgraced us and have not gone out with our armies. You have made us turn back from the foe, and those who hate us have gotten spoil. You have made us like sheep for slaughter and have scattered us among the nations.” The distress deepens in every line: God has turned from his people, and therefore they have had to turn (or run away) from their foes. A rout leads to being plundered leads to slaughter leads to scattering and slavery leads to disgrace and mockery leads to deep, pervasive inner shame. Defeat in battle is one thing, but disgrace is something else entirely. It’s the kind of experience that challenges everything you knew about God in the past, a crisis of faith. For some reason, it looks like God has rejected his people. It’s like the worshipers are collectively trying to figure out what has happened to them. There isn’t much detail here, but it's unlikely that the psalm is describing the exile to Babylon for reasons I’ll point out in a moment. Some sort of disaster has come upon Israel at the hands of their enemies, but even those enemies are working at the command of God. He is the subject of almost every action here, so it’s like God is working for the enemy. The language in these verses echo the punishments described in the Torah (especially Leviticus and Deuteronomy) for unfaithfulness to God, but after describing all these calamities, there’s a massive surprise declaration in verse 17: “All this has come upon us, though we have not forgotten you, and we have not been false to your covenant.” Wait, so all these things didn’t happen because the people had abandoned God? Then why? Why would God turn away from faithful followers? Why would bad things happen to good people? It’s with this wondering and wrestling that we move into the last part and see the people process through these questions together.

Let me read verse 17 again: “All this has come upon us, though we have not forgotten you, and we have not been false to your covenant.” We have not turned away from you, God. We haven’t been perfect, but our hearts are yours… “yet you have broken us in the place of jackals and covered us with the shadow of death.” That last phrase is similar to the one found in Psalm 23, “the valley of the shadow of death,” the deep darkness of despair, oppression, devastation, and grief. The rest of the verse alludes to laments in Deuteronomy and Isaiah, so even in the midst of their confusion, the psalmists are using the language of God to give voice to their pain. They escalate their lament by using the form of an oath in verse 20: “If we had forgotten the name of our God or spread out our hands to a foreign god, would not God discover this? For he knows the secrets of the heart.” This is why it’s unlikely that this psalm describes the exile, because in that case Israel was clearly rejecting God and his covenant commands (and there are other psalms that correspond to those events). But here, the people plead innocence. The disaster they’ve experienced in no way corresponds with their faithfulness to God. One scholar commented that whereas Psalms 42-43 dealt with geographical isolation away from God’s sanctuary, Psalm 44 is an expression of theological isolation. Why hasn’t God kept his covenant promises? Here we see how that confusion heightens the pain, and it’s at this point that the people make the key statement to understanding this psalm. Verse 22: “Yet for your sake we are killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” For your sake. For God’s sake, we are suffering. What if that suffering was not a punishment but a test, a chance to prove again their loyalty to God? What if God isn’t rejecting his people but working for them in his own timing? With that thought, all of a sudden the people let out a flurry of prayers: “Awake! Why are you sleeping, O Lord? Rouse yourself! Do not reject us forever! Why do you hide your face? Why do you forget our affliction and oppression? For our soul is bowed down to the dust; our belly clings to the ground. Rise up; come to our help! Redeem us for the sake of your steadfast love!” In Israel’s history, some high priests commanded the Levites not to use verse 23 in worship because God never sleeps, so it’s improper to ask him to wake up. With respect, that’s missing the point. It’s a plea for God to move, to act, to do what he has promised to do. This is why the last word is hesed, steadfast love, loyal love. There’s no resolution to the nation’s lament, but there is consolation in remembering that God’s love in the past proves he will continue to love in the future.

Psalm 44 is an example of how a whole congregation can lament and bring their perplexities before God. There’s some subtle artistry going on with the repetition of words and allusions to other texts. There are also connections to the previous two psalms in shared phrases and themes. But the most clear and famous reference to this psalm can be found at the end of Romans 8. Paul asks, Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, ‘For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.’” Throughout history, the people of God have experienced periods of blessing and periods of persecution, seasons of suffering and seasons of joy. Sometimes these changes correspond to our faithfulness to God, but often they don’t. But whether we suffer from sin or circumstance, Paul declares that we must never conclude that we are separated from the love of Jesus. We may not be able to discern how God will work all things together for good, and we must not let the joy of our salvation ignore the reality of pain in a fallen world. And yet if there is one constant in the universe, it is hesed, the loyal love of God. There’s a story in the Gospel of Mark in which Jesus and his disciples are crossing the sea on a boat, and Jesus, fully God and fully human, takes a nap. A storm breaks out, and the disciples anxiously wake Jesus up and say, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” But despite what is happening around us, nothing is outside of God’s control. With a swift word, Jesus silences the storm. We have heard with our ears what God has done for his people. Salvation comes from him alone. And yet we suffer and bleed and even face death in the injustice of cruel people in a cruel world. And yet there is one who has overcome the shadow of death, who willingly gave up his life as a sheep to be slaughtered, and through his affliction we find life. No defeat we face can overcome the victory of Jesus. Or as Paul puts it in Romans 8, “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

What would it look like for you as an individual or you and a few fellow believers to incorporate this community lament into your prayers? Here are a few suggestions.

When you read about God’s miracles and wonders in the past.

When you tell your children the stories of God’s faithfulness.

When you personally have experienced salvation and deliverance.

When you remember a time when the light of God’s face was clearly shining on you and in you.

When you know the limits of your own strength and with humility rely on God’s power.

When you feel as though God has rejected or forgotten you.

When plans that were looking so positive crash and burn.

When you face physical harm, financial ruin, or social rejection.

When you are taunted, jeered, and mocked.

When you feel so much shame that you don’t want to go out in public anymore.

When you have been faithful to God and yet bad things are still happening to you.

When you’ve done some soul-searching and still can’t find answers.

When your suffering feels like a shadow that won’t lift.

When you plead with God to tell you why all this is happening.

When you choose to believe God’s promises that he will never forsake you.

When you wake up suddenly, which reminds you that God never slumbers nor sleeps in his care of the world.

When you want God to work soon, because you need him urgently.

When you come back and rest in this truth: nothing, nothing at all, can separate you from the steadfast love of Jesus.

Psalm 44

To the choirmaster. A Maskil of the Sons of Korah.

[1] O God, we have heard with our ears,
    our fathers have told us,
what deeds you performed in their days,
    in the days of old:
[2] you with your own hand drove out the nations,
    but them you planted;
you afflicted the peoples,
    but them you set free;
[3] for not by their own sword did they win the land,
    nor did their own arm save them,
but your right hand and your arm,
    and the light of your face,
    for you delighted in them.
    
[4] You are my King, O God;
    ordain salvation for Jacob!
[5] Through you we push down our foes;
    through your name we tread down those who rise up against us.
[6] For not in my bow do I trust,
    nor can my sword save me.
[7] But you have saved us from our foes
    and have put to shame those who hate us.
[8] In God we have boasted continually,
    and we will give thanks to your name forever. Selah
        
[9] But you have rejected us and disgraced us
    and have not gone out with our armies.
[10] You have made us turn back from the foe,
    and those who hate us have gotten spoil.
[11] You have made us like sheep for slaughter
    and have scattered us among the nations.
[12] You have sold your people for a trifle,
    demanding no high price for them.
[13] You have made us the taunt of our neighbors,
    the derision and scorn of those around us.
[14] You have made us a byword among the nations,
    a laughingstock among the peoples.
[15] All day long my disgrace is before me,
    and shame has covered my face
[16] at the sound of the taunter and reviler,
    at the sight of the enemy and the avenger.
    
[17] All this has come upon us,
    though we have not forgotten you,
    and we have not been false to your covenant.
[18] Our heart has not turned back,
    nor have our steps departed from your way;
[19] yet you have broken us in the place of jackals
    and covered us with the shadow of death.
[20] If we had forgotten the name of our God
    or spread out our hands to a foreign god,
[21] would not God discover this?
    For he knows the secrets of the heart.
[22] Yet for your sake we are killed all the day long;
    we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.
    
[23] Awake! Why are you sleeping, O Lord?
    Rouse yourself! Do not reject us forever!
[24] Why do you hide your face?
    Why do you forget our affliction and oppression?
[25] For our soul is bowed down to the dust;
    our belly clings to the ground.
[26] Rise up; come to our help!
    Redeem us for the sake of your steadfast love!

Thank you for listening to the Woven Psalms. This podcast is a ministry of Rock Hill Community Church in Duluth, MN.

I’m Mike Solis. I’m a pastor at Rock Hill and the writer of this podcast. Ethan Gibbs is our producer, editor, and composer of the theme music. Our logo was designed by Beau Walsh. This podcast uses the English Standard Version, published by Crossway.

We want to give a special thanks to Poor Bishop Hooper for allowing us to use the music from their EveryPsalm project.

If you’ve enjoyed the podcast, please share it with others. You can learn more about our work at wovenpsalms.com.