Psalms 44:11

Psa 44:11 Thou hast given us like sheep [appointed] for meat; and hast scattered us among the heathen.

Ver. 11. Thou hast given us like sheep appointed for meat] Aliqui occisi, dispersi alii, et venundati gratias, Some of us are slain, others scattered here and there, and sold for nought (Aben-Ezra).

And hast scattered us, &c.] Oh the many miseries of such a banishment! The poet Tyrtaeus thus expresses it:

Est miserum, patria amissa laribusque vagare:

Mendiea et timida voce rogare cibos.

Cum natisque errare suis, et coniuge moesta,

Et cum matre pia, cumque parente sene.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Psa 44:11-14. Thou hast given us like sheep, &c. — Some of us they killed in the pursuit, without any mercy, like sheep appointed for the shambles. And hast scattered us among the heathen — Those of us who were not slain have been carried into captivity, and dispersed in several places. Thou sellest thy people for naught — Sufferest them to be sold for slaves at very inconsiderable prices. The expression implies the low esteem in which they were with God. And dost not increase thy wealth by their price — “We are thus sadly handled, without the comfort of bringing in any honour to thee by our calamities; since thy church among us is defaced, and no other people taken instead of us, by whom thy name may be glorified.” — Hammond. Or, as Poole interprets the words, “Thou hast not advanced thy honour and service thereby; for thy enemies do not serve thee more than thy people, nor yet so much.” Thou makest us a scorn and derision, &c. — They contemn our persons, and sport themselves with our miseries. Thou makest us a by-word — Or a proverb, as משׁל, mashal, signifies. Thou hast brought upon us the curse pronounced by thy servant Moses, Deu 28:37. For we are become a by-word among the heathen, who, when they would express the wretchedness of any person, say, He is viler or more miserable than a Jew. A shaking of the head — When they say nothing, they signify their contempt and derision of us, by the scornful motion of their heads.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

12. (Psa 44:11). Thou wilt give us as sheep (for) food, and among the nations hast scattered us. The consecution of the tenses is the same as in the preceding verse. Sheep for food, or flocks of food, i. e. intended and accustomed to be eaten. Give may either mean place, render, constitute, or give up, abandon. The last clause has by some been understood to refer to the Babylonish exile, and regarded as a proof of later date. But in every war with the surrounding countries, there were partial deportations and dispersions. See Joe 3:2, Amo 1:6; Amo 1:9, and compare 1Ki 8:46.

Joseph Addison Alexander, The Psalms Translated and Explained (1850) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

44:11 scattered us among the nations: This probably refers to the Exile (see 51:18-19; 89:38-51; 106:40-47; 137).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Knowing God to be author of this calamity, they murmur not, but seek remedy at his hands, who wounded them.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

The Babylonian captivity not necessarily meant. There were others (compare Kg1 8:46).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 11. And hast scattered us among the heathen.] This most evidently alludes to the captivity. From the successful wars of the kings of Assyria and Chaldea against the kings of Israel and Judah, and the dispersion of the tribes under Tiglath-pileser, Shalmaneser, and Nebuchadnezzar, Jews have been found in every province of the east; there they settled, and there their successors may be found to the present day.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

To the same purpose is that other comparison, (verse 11) in which they say that they were given as sheep for food By this the prophet intimates, that being already vanquished previous to the battle, they fell down, as it were, upon the earth before their enemies, ready to be devoured by them, and not fit for any thing else than to gratify their insatiable cruelty. It ought to be observed, that when the faithful represent God as the author of their calamities, it is not in the way of murmuring against him, but that they may with greater confidence seek relief, as it were, from the same hand which smote and wounded them. It is certainly impossible that those who impute their miseries to fortune can sincerely have recourse to God, or look for help and salvation from him. If, therefore, we would expect a remedy from God for our miseries, we must believe that they befall us not by fortune or mere chance, but that they are inflicted upon us properly by his hand. Having stated that they were thus abandoned to the will of their enemies, they add, at the same time, that they were scattered among the heathen: a dispersion which was a hundred times more grievous to them than death. The whole glory and felicity of that people consisted in this, that, being united under one God and one King, they formed one body; and that such being the case, it was a sign that the curse of God lay heavy upon them to be mingled among the heathen, and scattered hither and thither like broken members.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(11) Like sheep.—The image of the sheep appointed for the slaughter; and unable to resist, recalls Isa_53:6-7, but does not necessarily connect the Psalm with the exile period, since it was a figure likely to suggest itself in every time of helpless peril.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

11. Some of God’s people are butchered like sheep (cp. Psa_44:22); others are sold as slaves. It is evidently not a deportation of the nation that is meant, but the sale of prisoners of war for slaves. Cp. Joe_3:2; Joe_3:6; Amo_1:6; Amo_1:9. To the Israelite with his love of freedom and attachment to his own land such a fate seemed little better than death.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Thou hast given us like sheep appointed for meat,.... To be butchered, and then eaten as sheep are; and therefore are called "the flock of slaughter", Zac 11:4; as the church was, not only under the ten persecutions of Rome Pagan, but through the butcheries and massacres of Rome Papal; who have worried many of Christ's sheep, have eaten their flesh and drank their blood, and have become drunken with it; it has been their meat and drink to persecute the saints of the most High;

and hast scattered us among the Heathen: the Pagan world, as the first Christians were, who were scattered up and down in the Gentile world everywhere; see Pe1 1:1; or the Papacy, who are sometimes called Gentiles, Rev 11:2; because much of the Gentile idolatry is introduced into the Popish religion; and among these many of the true members of Christ and of his church have been carried captive and scattered; and such will be found there a little before the destruction of Babylon, and will be called out from thence; see Rev 13:10.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Thou hast given us like sheep appointed for meat - Margin, as in Hebrew, “as sheep of meat.” That is, as sheep are killed for food, so thou hast allowed us to be put to death.

And hast scattered us among the heathen - Among the surrounding nations. See the notes at Psa 44:2. That is, they had been discomfited in war; many had fled into surrounding countries; many had been carried away captive. All this undoubtedly occurred at the time at which I have supposed that the psalm was written - the time immediately preceding the Babylonian captivity.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Those of us who were not slain are carried into captivity, and dispersed in several places.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Ver. 11. Thou hast given us like sheep appointed for meat. As sheep are slaughtered for food, so were the people slain in flocks, with ease, and frequency. Not with dignity of sacrifice, but with the cruelty of the shambles, were they put to death. God appeared to give them up like sheep allotted to the butcher, to abandon them as the hireling abandons the flock to wolves. The complaint is bitterly eloquent. And hast scattered us among the heathen. Many were carried into captivity, far off from the public worship of the temple of God, to pine as exiles among idolaters. All this is ascribed to the Lord, as being allowed by him, and even appointed by his decree. It is well to trace the hand of God in our sorrows, for it is surely there.

Ver. 11. Like sheep appointed for meat. This very strongly and strikingly intimates the extent of the persecution and slaughter to which they were exposed; there being no creature in the world of which such vast numbers are constantly slaughtered as of sheep for the subsistence of man. The constancy of such slaughter is also mentioned in Ps 44:22 as illustrating the continual oppression to which the Hebrews were subject. Kitto's Pictorial Bible.

Ver. 11. Like sheep appointed for meat, and not reserved for breeding or for wool. Arthur Jackson.

None.

Psalms 44:12*

Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Thou hast given us like sheep appointed for meat. "As sheep for the shambles" (Kay) a free translation, which well expresses the meaning. And hast scattered us among the heathen. Either "caused us to disperse ourselves among our heathen neighbours," or "to be sold for slaves among them by our captors." No general dispersion of the nation is intended.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Scattered - Those who were not slain are carried into captivity, and dispersed in several places.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

You make us retreat Heb. תשיבנו. This is a present tense.

plunder for themselves They plunder our property, each man for himself.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.