Psalm 44:24

Wherefore hidest thou thy face, and forgettest our affliction and our oppression?

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Benson Commentary

Psalm 44:24-25. Wherefore hidest thou thy face? — Dost not regard our miseries, nor afford us any pity or help? and forgettest our affliction — Actest as if thou didst forget, or overlook it, when we have not forgotten thee? Does this become thy faithfulness and goodness? For our soul is bowed down to the dust — Under prevailing grief and fear. We lie prostrate at our enemies’ feet. Our belly cleaveth unto the earth — We are not only thrown down to the earth, but we lie there. We cannot lift up ourselves, neither revive our own drooping spirits, nor recover ourselves out of our low and sad condition. And we lie exposed to be trodden on by every insulting foe.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

44:17-26 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. 25,26. Not their own merit and righteousness, but the poor sinner's pleas. None that belong to Christ shall be cast off, but every one of them shall be saved, and that for ever. The mercy of God, purchased, promised, and constantly flowing forth, and offered to believers, does away every doubt arising from our sins; while we pray in faith, Redeem us for thy mercies' sake.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Wherefore hidest thou thy face? - See the notes at Psalm 13:1. Why dost thou turn away from us, and refuse to aid us, and leave us to these unpitied sufferings?

And forgettest our affliction and our oppression - Our trials, and the wrongs that are committed against us. These are earnest appeals. They are the pleadings of the oppressed and the wronged. The language is such as man would use in addressing his fellow-men; and, when applied to God, it must be understood as such language. As used in the Psalms, it denotes earnestness, but not irreverence; it is solemn petition, not dictation; it is affectionate pleading, not complaint. It indicates depth of suffering and distress, and is the strongest language which could be employed to denote entire helplessness and dependence. At the same time, it is language which implies that the cause for which they suffered was the cause of God, and that they might properly call on him to interfere in behalf of his own friends.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

23-26. This style of addressing God, as indifferent, is frequent (Ps 3:7; 9:19; 13:1, &c.). However low their condition, God is appealed to, on the ground, and for the honor, of His mercy.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Hidest thou thy face, i.e. dost not regard our miseries, nor affordest us any pity or help.

Forgettest our affliction and our oppression, when we have not forgotten thee. This seems not well to become thy faithfulness and goodness.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Wherefore hidest thou thy face?.... See Psalm 10:1;

and forgettest our affliction and our oppression. Not that the Lord does really forget either the persons of his people, which he cannot, since they are engraven on the palms of his hands, and a book of remembrance is written for them: nor the afflictions of his people; he knows their souls in adversity; he chooses them in the furnace of affliction; he makes all afflictions work together for good, and delivers out of them. But because deliverance is not immediately wrought, and they sometimes continue long under their afflictions and oppressions, they seem to be forgotten by him, as during the ten persecutions and the long reign of antichrist.

Geneva Study Bible

Wherefore hidest thou thy face, and forgettest our affliction and our oppression?

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

24. hidest thou thy face] In anger or indifference, instead of shewing the light of Thy countenance in gracious help to Thy people (Psalm 44:3; Psalm 80:3).

our affliction and our oppression] Cp. Deuteronomy 26:7; Exodus 3:7; Exodus 3:9; 2 Kings 13:4; 2 Kings 14:26. The latter word occurs elsewhere in the Psalter only in Psalm 42:9, Psalm 43:2.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 24. - Wherefore hidest thou thy face (comp. Psalm 13:1; Psalm 27:9; Psalm 69:17, etc.). And forgettest our affliction and our oppression? (see Psalm 13:1; Psalm 74:19). Psalm 44:24

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

(Heb.: 44:23-27) The church is not conscious of any apostasy, for on the contrary it is suffering for the sake of its fidelity. Such is the meaning intended by כּי, Psalm 44:23 (cf. Psalm 37:20). The emphasis lies on עליך, which is used exactly as in Psalm 69:8. Paul, in Romans 8:36, transfers this utterance to the sufferings of the New Testament church borne in witnessing for the truth, or I should rather say he considers it as a divine utterance corresponding as it were prophetically to the sufferings of the New Testament church, and by anticipation, coined concerning it and for its use, inasmuch as he cites it with the words καθὼς γέγραπται. The suppliant cries עוּרה and הקיצה are Davidic, and found in his earlier Ps; Psalm 7:7; Psalm 35:23; Psalm 59:5., cf. Psalm 78:65. God is said to sleep when He does not interpose in whatever is taking place in the outward world here below; for the very nature of sleep is a turning in into one's own self from all relationship to the outer world, and a resting of the powers which act outwardly. The writer of our Psalm is fond of couplets of synonyms like ענינוּ ולחצנוּ in Psalm 44:25; cf. Psalm 44:4, ימינך וּזרועך. Psalm 119:25 is an echo of Psalm 44:26. The suppliant cry קוּמה (in this instance in connection with the עזרתה which follows, it is to be accented on the ultima) is Davidic, Psalm 3:8; Psalm 7:7; but originally it is Mosaic. Concerning the ah of עזרתה, here as also in Psalm 63:8 of like meaning with לעזרתי, Psalm 22:20, and frequently, vid., on Psalm 3:3.