Psa 44:4-8 | TDavid | STEP | EXPOSITION Verse 4 . Thou art my King, O God. Knowing right well thy power and grace my heart is glad to own thee for her sovereign prince. Who among the mighty are so illustrious as thou art? To whom, then, should I yield my homage or turn for aid? God of my fathers in the olden time, thou art my soul's monarch and liege Lord. Command deliverances for Jacob. To whom should a people look but to their king? he it is who, by virtue of his office, fights their battles for them. In the case of our King, how easy it is for him to scatter all our foes! O Lord, the King of kings, with what ease canst thou rescue thy people; a word of thine can do it, give but the command and thy persecuted people shall be free. Jacob's long life was crowded with trials and deliverances, and his descendants are here called by his name, as if to typify the similarity of their experience to that of their great forefather. He who would win the blessings of Israel must share the sorrows of Jacob. This verse contains a personal declaration and an intercessory prayer; those can pray best who make most sure of their personal interest in God, and those who have the fullest assurance that the Lord is their God should be the foremost to plead for the rest of the tried family of the faithful. EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS Verse 4 . My King; apparently with a personal application to himself , the poet individually claiming his own place in the covenant between God and his people. J. J. Stewart Perowne. Verse 4 . Thou art my king , O God; command deliverances for Jacob. If there were no creature, no instrument in the world to help, yet would you not be at a loss in time of need, for he that is on the throne could do it alone. He can do all that ever you need, without any means or instruments. His bare word is sufficient, all sufficient, for it, whatever it be, how great, how difficult, how impossible soever it seems. Such a power there is even in the word of the great King. There needs no more to deliver you, to deliver his people anywhere, how deep soever plunged, but only the command of him that sits on the throne. If the gospel, the interests of Christ, in these parts of the world, and the dear concerns of our souls, and the souls of posterity, were all as dry bones, in a more forlorn and hopeless condition than they are, he could make all live with a word. He that is our King, that sits upon the throne, can command life into that which seems as far from living as a dry bone. While he keeps the throne, it is a senseless heart that fails through distrust of his power, even when all visible power and help fail. David Clarkson. HINTS FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS Verse 4 . Divine royalty acknowledged. Royal interposition entreated. Divine covenant hinted at, Jacob; or, the loyal subject seeking royal aid for the royal seed. Verse 4 . Personal allegiance and pleading intercession. Verse 4 . My King. This intends -- My Ruler. My Honour. My Leader. My Defender. Verse 4 . The deliverances of Jacob, illustrated by his eventful life.

Psalms 44:4-8

EXPOSITION

Verse 4. Thou art my King, O God. Knowing right well thy power and grace my heart is glad to own thee for her sovereign prince. Who among the mighty are so illustrious as thou art? To whom, then, should I yield my homage or turn for aid? God of my fathers in the olden time, thou art my soul's monarch and liege Lord. Command deliverances for Jacob. To whom should a people look but to their king? he it is who, by virtue of his office, fights their battles for them. In the case of our King, how easy it is for him to scatter all our foes! O Lord, the King of kings, with what ease canst thou rescue thy people; a word of thine can do it, give but the command and thy persecuted people shall be free. Jacob's long life was crowded with trials and deliverances, and his descendants are here called by his name, as if to typify the similarity of their experience to that of their great forefather. He who would win the blessings of Israel must share the sorrows of Jacob. This verse contains a personal declaration and an intercessory prayer; those can pray best who make most sure of their personal interest in God, and those who have the fullest assurance that the Lord is their God should be the foremost to plead for the rest of the tried family of the faithful.

EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS

Verse 4. My King; apparently with a personal application to himself, the poet individually claiming his own place in the covenant between God and his people. J. J. Stewart Perowne.

Verse 4. Thou art my king, O God; command deliverances for Jacob. If there were no creature, no instrument in the world to help, yet would you not be at a loss in time of need, for he that is on the throne could do it alone. He can do all that ever you need, without any means or instruments. His bare word is sufficient, all sufficient, for it, whatever it be, how great, how difficult, how impossible soever it seems. Such a power there is even in the word of the great King. There needs no more to deliver you, to deliver his people anywhere, how deep soever plunged, but only the command of him that sits on the throne. If the gospel, the interests of Christ, in these parts of the world, and the dear concerns of our souls, and the souls of posterity, were all as dry bones, in a more forlorn and hopeless condition than they are, he could make all live with a word. He that is our King, that sits upon the throne, can command life into that which seems as far from living as a dry bone. While he keeps the throne, it is a senseless heart that fails through distrust of his power, even when all visible power and help fail. David Clarkson.

HINTS FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS

Verse 4.

Verse 4. Personal allegiance and pleading intercession.

Verse 4. My King. This intends --

Verse 4. The deliverances of Jacob, illustrated by his eventful life.

EXPOSITION

Verse 5. Through thee will we push down our enemies. The fight was very close, bows were of no avail, and swords failed to be of service, it came to daggers drawing, and hand to hand wrestling, pushing and tugging. Jacob's God was renewing in the seed of Jacob their father's wrestling. And how fared it with faith then? Could she stand foot to foot with her foe and hold her own? Yea, verily, she came forth victorious from the encounter, for she is great at a close push, and overthrows all her adversaries, the Lord being her helper.

Through thy name will we tread them under that rise up against us. The Lord's name served instead of weapons, and enabled those who used it to leap on their foes and crush them with jubilant valour. In union and communion with God, saints work wonders; if God be for us, who can be against us? Mark well that all the conquests of these believers are said to be "through thee," "through thy name:" never let us forget this, lest going a warfare at our own charges, we fail most ignominiously. Let us not, however, fall into the equally dangerous sin of distrust, for the Lord can make the weakest of us equal to any emergency. Though today we are timid and defenceless as sheep, he can by his power make us strong as the firstling of his bullock, and cause us to push as with the horns of unicorns, until those who rose up against us shall be so crushed and battered as never to rise again. Those who of themselves can scarcely keep their feet, but like little babes totter and fall, are by divine assistance made to overthrow their foes, and set their feet upon their necks. Read Christian's fight with Apollyon, and see how "The man so bravely played the man

He made the fiend to fly."

EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS

Verse 5. Through thee will we push down our enemies:, literally, "We will toss them in the air with our horn;" a metaphor taken from an ox or bull tossing the dogs into the air which attack him. Adam Clarke.

HINTS FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS

Verse 5. Our enemies, in what ways we push them down, by what strength, and in what spirit.

Verse 5. Our enemies, their activity, the closeness of their approach, the certainty of their overthrow, the secret of our strength.

EXPOSITION

Verse 6. For I will not trust in my bow, neither shall my sword save me. Thy people Israel, under thy guidance, shouldered out the heathen, and gained their land, not by skill of weapons or prowess of arms, but by thy power alone; therefore will we renounce for ever all reliance upon outward confidences, of which other men make such boast, and we will cast ourselves upon the omnipotence of our God. Bows having been newly introduced by king Saul, were regarded as very formidable weapons in the early history of Israel, but they are here laid aside together with the all conquering sword, in order that there may be room for faith in the living God. This verse, in the first person singular, may serve as the confession of faith of every believer renouncing his own righteousness and strength, and looking alone to the Lord Jesus. O for grace to stand to this self renunciation, for alas! our proud nature is all too apt to fix its trust on the puffed up and supposititious power of the creature. Arm of flesh, how dare I trust thee? How dare I bring upon myself the curse of those who rely upon man?

EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS

Verse 6. I will not trust in my bow, neither shall my sword save me. By bow and sword, he meaneth all manner of weapons and warlike instruments whatsoever; and by "saving," he meaneth delivering from dangers, speaking under the person of one (because all the faithful are but one body), in the name of all the rest. Thomas Wilcocks.

Verse 6. I will not trust in my bow, etc. I will not trust in my own sword or bow, but in the sword of the Divine Warrior, and in the bow of the Divine Archer, whose arrows are sharp in the heart of his enemies as described in the next Psalms 45:3-5, which is connected by that imagery with this Psalm, as well as by its inner meaning. Christopher Wordsworth.

Verse 6. The less confidence we have in ourselves or in anything beside God, the more evidence have we of the sincerity of our faith in God. David Dickson.

Verse 6-7. The two verses correspond exactly to Psalms 44:3. As there, in reference to the past, the salvation was ascribed wholly to God, so here in reference to the future. E. W. Hengstenberg.

HINTS FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS

Verse 6. Relinquishment of outward trusts. My bow may miss its aim, may be broken, may be snatched away. My sword may snap, or grow blunt, or slip from my hold. We may not trust in our abilities, our experience, our shrewdness, our wealth, etc.

Verse 6. Self renunciation -- the duty of saint and sinner.

EXPOSITION

Verse 7. But thou hast saved us from our enemies. In ages past all our rescues have been due to thee, O God. Never hast thou failed us. Out of every danger thou has brought us. And hast put them to shame that hated us. With the back of thy saving hand thou hast given them a cuff which has made them hide their faces; thou hast defeated them in such a manner as to make them ashamed of themselves to be overthrown by such puny adversaries as they thought the Israelites to be. The double action of God in blessing his people and confounding his enemies is evermore to be observed; Pharaoh is drowned, while Israel passes through the sea; Amalek is smitten, while the tribes rejoice; the heathen are chased from their abodes, while the sons of Jacob rest beneath their vine and fig tree.

EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS

Verse 6-7. The two verses correspond exactly to Psalms 44:3. As there, in reference to the past, the salvation was ascribed wholly to God, so here is reference to the future. E. W. Hengstenberg.

HINTS FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS

Verse 7. Accomplished salvation. How never achieved, But. By whom wrought, thou. When performed, hast. For whom, us. To what extent, from our enemies.

Verse 7. Salvation completed, hell confounded, Christ exalted.

EXPOSITION

Verse 8. In God we boast all the day long. We have abundant reason for doing so while we recount his mighty acts. What blessed boasting is this! it is the only sort of boasting that is bearable. All other manna bred worms and stank except that which was laid up before the Lord, and all other boasting is loathsome save this glorying in the Lord, which is laudable and pleasing. And praise thy name for ever. Praise should be perpetual. If there were no new acts of love, yet ought the Lord to be praised for what he has done for his people. High let the song be lifted up as we bring to remembrance the eternal love which chose us, predestinated us to be sons, redeemed us with a price, and then enriched us with all the fulness of God. Selah. A pause comes in fitly here, when we are about to descend from the highest to the lowest key. No longer are we to hear Miriam's timbrel, but rather Rachel's weeping.

EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYING

HINTS FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS

Verse 8. Praise, its continuance -- how to make it continual, how to manifest it perpetually, influence of its continuance, and reasons to compel us to abide in it.