Psalms 44:23

_AWAKE, WHY SLEEPEST THOU, O LORD? ARISE, CAST US NOT OFF FOR EVER._ Fifth strophe. Psalms 44:23.-Prayer that God would arise for His people's help. AWAKE, WHY SLEEPEST THOU, O LORD? The answer is given, Psalms 121:4. Compare also Matthew 8:25. The "for ever" here is emphatic. In Psalms 44:9 the Church had said, "thou hast cast off;" here she cries, though our shortcomings have brought on us temporary casting away, let it not be "for ever." The Church's prayer herein rests on God's promise in 1 Samuel 12:22. Compare...

23_Arise, O Lord! why sleepest thou? _Here the saints desire that God, having pity upon them, would at length send them help and deliverance. Although God allows the saints to plead with him in this babbling manner, when in their prayers they desire him to rise up or awake; yet it is necessary that they should be fully persuaded that he keeps watch for their safety and defense. We must guard against the notion of Epicurus, who framed to himself a god who, having his abode in heaven, (154) delighted only in idleness and pleasure. But as the insensibility of our nature is so great, that we do not at once comprehend the care which God has of us, the godly here request that he would be pleased to give some evidence that he was neither forgetful of them nor slow to help them. We must, indeed, firmly believe that God ceases not to regard us, although he appears not to do so; yet as such an ass...

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 44:23. _AWAKE, WHY SLEEPEST THOU, O LORD?_] That is, Why dost thou appear as one asleep, who is regardless of the safety of his friends. This is a _freedom of speech_ which can only be allowed to inspired men; and in their mouths it is always to be _figuratively_ understood....

AWAKE, WHY SLEEPEST THOU? - This is a solemn and earnest appeal to God to interpose in their behalf, as if he were “asleep,” or were regardless of their sufferings. Compare Psalms 3:7, note; Psalms 7:6, note; Psalms 35:23, note. ARISE, CAST US NOT OFF FOR EVER - Do not forsake us always. Compare Psalms 44:9. He had seemed to have cast them off; to have forgotten them; to have forsaken them utterly, and the psalmist, in the name of the people, calls on him not entirely to abandon them....

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

AWAKE, WHY SLEEPEST THOU, O LORD?.... Not that sleep properly falls upon God: the Keeper of Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps; his eyes are always upon his people; he never withdraws them from them, and he watches over them night and day: but sometimes he seems and is thought to be asleep; as when wicked men flourish and triumph over the righteous, and go on in sin with impunity; when their judgment seems to linger, and their damnation to slumber, though it does not; and when the saints are under sore afflictions, and the Lord seems to disregard them, and does not appear for their deliverance; and when things are as when the disciples were in a storm, and Christ was asleep, to whom they said, "carest thou not that we perish?" and the Lord may be said to awake, and it is what is here prayed for, when he stirs up himself and takes vengeance on his enemies, as he will before long on antich...

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...

_Awake … arise_ Bestir thyself … awake. Cp. Psalms 7:6, and many similar invocations. But nowhere else do we find so bold an expostulation as _why sleepest thou_? The nearest parallel is in Psalms 78:65. The Psalmists do not shrink from using human language in reference to God, though they well knew that the Watchman of Israel was one who neither slumbered nor slept (Psalms 121:3-4). It is recorded in the Talmud that in the time of the high-priest John Hyrcanus (b.c. 135 107) certain Levites, called -Awakeners," daily ascended the pulpit in the Temple and cried, "Awake, why sleepest thou, O Lord"? He put a stop to the practice, saying, "Does Deity sleep? Has not the Scripture said, -Behold he that keepeth Israel