Psalms 44:20

_IF WE HAVE FORGOTTEN THE NAME OF OUR GOD, OR STRETCHED OUT OUR HANDS TO A STRANGE GOD;_ If we have forgotten the name of our God ... shall not God search this out? They confirm the truth of their assertion (Psalms 44:17), that they have not forgotten God, by declaring themselves conscious that God will search out every such apostasy falsely abjured....

17-26 In afflictions, we must not seek relief by any sinful compliance; but should continually meditate on the truth, purity, and knowledge of our heart-searching God. Hearts sins and secret sins are known to God, and must be reckoned for. He knows the secret of the heart, therefore judges of the words and actions. While our troubles do not drive us from our duty to God, we should not suffer them to drive us from our comfort in God. Let us take care that prosperity and ease do not render us careless and lukewarm. The church of God cannot be prevailed on by persecution to forget God; the believer's heart does not turn back from God. The Spirit of prophecy had reference to those who suffered unto death, for the testimony of Christ. Observe the pleas used, ver. Psalms 44:25; Psalms 44:26. Not their own merit and rig...

Verse Psalms 44:20. _IF WE HAVE FORGOTTEN THE NAME OF OUR GOD_] _That name_, יהוה Jehovah, by which the true God was particularly distinguished, and which implied the exclusion of all other objects of adoration. _OR STRETCHED OUT OUR HANDS_] Made supplication; offered prayer or adoration to any _strange god _- a god that we had not known, nor had been acknowledged by our fathers. It has already been remarked, that from the time of the Babylonish captivity the Jews never relapsed into idolatry. It was customary among the ancients, while praying, to _stretch_ _out their hands_ towards the _heavens_, or the _image_ they were worshipping, as if they expected to _receive_ the favour they were asking....

IF WE HAVE FORGOTTEN THE NAME OF OUR GOD - That is, if we have apostatized from him. OR STRETCHED OUT OUR HANDS TO A STRANGE GOD - Or have been guilty of idolatry. The act of stretching out the hands, or spreading forth the hands, was significant of worship or prayer: 1Ki 8:22; 2 Chronicles 6:12; see the notes at Isaiah 1:15. The idea here is, that this was not the cause or reason of their calamities; that if this had occurred, it would have been a sufficient reason for what had taken place; but that no such cause actually existed, and therefore the reason must be found in something else. It was the fact of such calamities having come upon the nation when no such cause existed, that perplex

EXPOSITION THE date and occasion of this psalm are greatly disputed. Most critics, from Calvin to Hitzig, refer it to the times of the Maccabees. Others suggest the fourth or fifth century B.C. One (Tholuck) dates it in the reign of Jehoiachin. Hengstenberg and Canon Cook argue for the reign of David. The time of Jehoram (2 Chronicles 21:16, 2 Chronicles 21:17) and that of the defeat of Josiah (2 Chronicles 35:20-14) have also been proposed as possible. The Davidic date receives a certain amount of support from Psalms 60:1; which is in the same ton

IF WE HAVE FORGOTTEN THE NAME OF OUR GOD,.... As antichrist, and the antichristian party did in those times, Daniel 11:36; OR STRETCHED OUT OUR HANDS TO A STRANGE GOD; as not to any of the Heathen deities under the Pagan persecutions, so not to any images of gold, silver, brass, and wood, under the Papal tyranny; not to the Virgin Mary, nor to angels and saints departed; nor to the breaden God in the mass, never heard of before; see Daniel 11:38....

Psalms 44 The Increased Cry for Deliverance _ 1. My King, O God! Command deliverances (Psalms 44:1)_ 2. Trouble upon trouble and confusion (Psalms 44:9) 3. Awake! Arise for our help! (Psalms 44:22) The third Maschil Psalm. They remember the days of old, what God did for His covenant people in the past, how He gave them the land with an outstretched arm and delivered them from their enemies. They own Him as King and call on Him to command deliverances for Jacob. Then they utter their complaint and describe the great troubles and calamities they are facing; they are spoiled, like sheep appointed for meat, scat

XLIV. A NATIONAL PRAYER IN UNMERITED DISTRESS. The Ps. evidently depicts the situation of Israel under Antiochus Epiphanes [but see OTJC 2, pp. 207f., 437- 440. A. S. P.] So much was plain long ago to the Antiochene Fathers and at a later date to Calvin. Antiochus promulgated a decree enforcing unity of worship in his dominions and especially in Palestine. He also polluted the Temple at Jerusalem by heathen sacrifice. He encountered fierce opposition from the Asidæ ans (= Hasidim), led by the Maccabees, and died in 164 B.C. without effecting his purpose (p. 607). This Ps. was written when the cause of the faithful Jews was under a temporary cloud. The following are the chief points which enable us to place it with confidence in Maccabean times. (_a_) The Jews have an army of their own, and therefore enjoy some measure of independent government, but at the same time many of their brethren...

NAME. See note on Psalms 20:1. GOD. Hebrew El. Quoted in App-4....

The calamity is unmerited. No unfaithfulness to God's covenant has called for punishment. Nay it is for His sake that His people are suffering....