Psalms 44:19

Though thou hast sore broken us in the place of dragons, and covered us with the shadow of death.

Though thou hast sore broken us in the place of dragons - i:e., jackals, which frequent the wilderness (Isaiah 13:22; Isaiah 34:13; Isaiah 43:20). The jackals represent the persecutors who ravage the people of God, regarded as sheep (Psalms 44:22). The mournful cry of the jackal in the desert is well known. The desert, or "place of dragons," symbolizes Israel's sunken state.

And covered us with the shadow of death - i:e., with the thickest and gloomiest darkness. Hengstenberg translates х kiy (H3588)] instead of "though" that, connected with Psalms 44:18, 'Our heart is not turned back, that thou wast thereby led to break as sorely;' their faithfulness to God being thus represented, not merely as existing in the time of, and notwithstanding their sufferings, but BEFORE them.