to occupy (by driving out previous tenants · verb, hiphil perfect, 2nd person masculine singular
heathen
גּוֹיִ֣םgo.Yim
H1471
a foreign nation · noun, common masculine plural absolute
hand
יָדְךָ֡ya.de.Kha
H3027
a hand (the open one (indicating power · noun, common both genders singular construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
plantedst
וַתִּטָּעֵ֑םva.ti.ta.'Em
H5193
properly · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 2nd person masculine singular + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
afflict
תָּרַ֥עta.Ra'
H7489
properly · verb, hiphil imperfect, 2nd person masculine singular
people
לְ֝אֻמִּ֗יםle.'u.Mim
H3816
a community · noun, common masculine plural absolute
out
וַֽתְּשַׁלְּחֵֽםVa.te.sha.le.Chem
H7971
to send away · conjunction + verb, piel sequential imperfect, 2nd person masculine singular + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Exodus 15:17 Thou shalt bring them in, and plant them in the mountain of thine inheritance, in the place, O LORD, which thou hast made for thee to dwell…
Psalms 78:55 He cast out the heathen also before them, and divided them an inheritance by line, and made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tents.
Joshua 11:23 So Joshua took the whole land, according to all that the LORD said unto Moses; and Joshua gave it for an inheritance unto Israel according t…
Joshua 21:43 And the LORD gave unto Israel all the land which he sware to give unto their fathers; and they possessed it, and dwelt therein.
2 Samuel 7:10 Moreover I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and will plant them, that they may dwell in a place of their own, and move no more; ne…
Exodus 34:11 Observe thou that which I command thee this day: behold, I drive out before thee the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Pe…
Psalms 80:8-11 Thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt: thou hast cast out the heathen, and planted it.
Psalms 135:10-12 Who smote great nations, and slew mighty kings;
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Psalms 44:1-8
Some observe that most of the psalms that are entitled Maschil - psalms of instruction, are sorrowful psalms; for afflictions give instructions, and sorrow of spirit opens the ear to them. Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest and teachest.
In these verses the church, though now trampled upon, calls to remembrance the days of her triumph, of her triumph in God and over her enemies. This is very largely mentioned here, 1. As an aggravation of the present distress. The yoke of servitude cannot but lie very heavily on the necks of those that used to wear the crown of victory; and the tokens of God's displeasure must needs be most grievous to those that have been long accustomed to the tokens…
plantedst them--that is, "our fathers," who are also, from the parallel construction of the last clause, to be regarded as the object of "cast them out," which means--literally, "send" them out, or, "extend them." Heathen and people denote the nations who were driven out to make room for the Israelites.
John Gill on Psalms 44:2
How thou didst drive out the Heathen with thy hand,.... Of power; that is, the Canaanites, as the Targum; the seven nations which inhabited the land of Canaan before the children of Israel came into it, Deuteronomy 7:1;
and plantedst them: not the Canaanites elsewhere; but, as the same Targum explains it the house of Israel in their land; which, like a vine, was removed from one place, and planted in another; and the settlement of the children of Israel in the land of Canaan is frequently expressed by this metaphor, Exodus 15:17, Jeremiah 2:21;
how thou didst afflict the people; the Egyptians, according to Arama; rather the Canaanitish nations by wars and desolating judgments;
and cast th…
Psalm 44:1-3
1. O God! we have heard with our ears, our fathers have declared to us, the work which thou hast done in their days, even in the days of old. 2. Thou hast expelled the heathen [or nations [130] ] with thy hand, and planted them [131] thou hast wasted the peoples [132] and multiplied them, [or made them [133] to spread.] 3. For they got not possession of the land by their own sword, and their own arm did not save them, but thy right hand, and thy arm, and the light of thy countenance, because thou hadst a favor for them.
1. O God! we have heard with our ears. The people of God here recount the goodness which he had formerly manifested towards their fathers, that, by showing the…
The Church Fathers
You, O Lord, he is saying, drove out from here the Canaanites along with the other nations, settling our ancestors in their place: it was not by trusting in strength or depending on armor that they emerged stronger that such people, but led by your grace they felled some and took others into slavery, since you accorded them a special relationship with you—the meaning of "you took delight in them."
"Your hand destroyed the nations; and You planted them: Thou weakened the peoples, and cast them out" [Psalm 44:2]. That is to say: "You drove out 'the peoples' from their own land, that You might bring 'them' in, and plant them; and might by Your mercy establish their kingdom." These are the things that we heard from our fathers. But perhaps it was because they were brave, were men of battle, were invincible, were well-disciplined, and warlike, that they could do these things. Far from it. This is not what our fathers told us; this is not what is contained in Scripture. But what does it say, but what follows?
So which triumphs is he recalling? Which successes? Some in Egypt, some in the desert, some in the land of promise, but especially those in the promised land.… They had no need of weapons; instead, they captured cities by a mere shout, and crossing the Jordan they overran the first city that stood in their way, Jericho, as though by dancing rather than fighting. I mean, they went out fitted with weapons not as if for battles but for a festival and dance, bearing arms for appearance's sake rather than security; wearing sacred robes and having the Levites preceding the army, they encircled the wall. It was a marvelous and extraordinary sight to see, so many thousands of soldiers marching in step and order, in silence and utter regularity, as though no one was about, with that daunting harmony of trumpets keeping everything in time.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Psalms — The psalms are the production of various authors. “Only a portion of the Book of Psalms claims David as its author. Other inspired poets in successive generations added now one now another…
Heathen · General references — General references
Heathen, The · God: Punishes — God: Punishes
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
(Heb.: 44:2-4) The poet opens with a tradition coming down from the time of Moses and of Joshua which they have heard with their own ears, in order to demonstrate the vast distance between the character of the former times and the present, just as Asaph, also, in Psa 78:3, appeals not to the written but to the spoken word. That which has been heard follows in the oratio directa. Psa 44:3 explains what kind of "work" is intended: it is the granting of victory over the peoples of Canaan, the work of God for which Moses prays in Psa 90:16. Concerning ידך, vid., on Psa 3:5; Psa 17:14. The position of the words here, as in Psa 69:11; 83:19, leads one to suppose that ידך is treated as a permutativ…
God drove out the pagan nations during the conquests recorded in Joshua.
Spurgeon's Treasury of David on Psalms 44:2
How thou didst drive out the heathen with thy hand, and plantedst them; how thou didst afflict the people, and cast them out.
How thou didst drive out the heathen with thy hand. The destruction of the Canaanites from the promised land is the work here brought to remembrance. A people numerous, warlike, gigantic and courageous, firmly established and strongly fortified, were driven out by a far feebler nation, because the Lord was against them in the fight. It is clear from Scripture that God sent a plague (so that the land ate up the inhabitants thereof), and also a visitation of hornets against the Canaanites, and by other means dispirited them, so that the easy victories of Joshua were bu…
