For I will not put confidence in my bow, neither shall my sword save me.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
For thou hast saved us from our adversaries, and hast put them to shame that hate us.
Psalm 44 begins with the memory of victories God won for Israel long ago. Verse 7 turns that memory into a confession: every rescue was His work, not theirs — yet later in the psalm the same people are defeated.
This line belongs to the psalm's confident opening. One writer sets out where that confidence rested.
Psalm 44 gives a full and vivid picture of the state of the nation, as it stands in the conscience of the remnant. Faith rested on the memorial of all the old mighty deliverances God had worked, and how He had put them in possession of the land by His power, not theirs (vv. 1-8). Verses 9-16 describe their present state: cast off and scattered.
The verse says "saved us." One writer notes who is speaking, and when.
In Psalm 44 we hear the voice of godly Jews, who will be a true remnant of Israel in the coming day of trouble. All through the psalm it is "we" and "us," with the exception of verse 6. This stands out, because nearly every psalm before it speaks in the singular; the plural is rare.
Verse 6 rules out bow and sword; verse 7 names who actually saved them. Both come from people who have lost their land.
The enemy is again in possession of the land, and God's people are cast out. So the believing remnant claim God as their King, and look to Him to deliver them once again by His power. Their trust will not be in their bow or sword, but in the God who in times past had saved them from their enemies. In God will be their boast, and they will praise His Name for ever.
Israel's lack of military strength was no accident. God designed it, so the people could never claim a rescue as their own.
Outward weakness was the characteristic Jehovah designed for Israel's national life. He meant the people to know that "they did not win the land by their own sword, nor did their own arm ever save them; but Your right hand and Your arm, and the light of Your face, because You favoured them." And the song should always have been heard among them: "You are my King, O God; command deliverances for Jacob… But You have saved us from our foes and have put to shame those who hate us."
The second half of the verse turns to those who hate God's people. Their hatred ends in shame, and one writer says the same holds for us.
Israel will not trust in his own weapons, for they would prove useless in the end (v. 6). By depending only on the living God they have been saved from their enemies (v. 7). Those enemies are fully put to shame with all their opposition and hatred. It will always be so when we depend simply on the God of Jacob, and we, as well as they, have reason to boast in God all day long, and praise His name for ever (v. 8).
Remembering rescue is not nostalgia here. It shapes the people who remember, and it ends in worship that never runs out.
The remembrance becomes fruitful in producing character. With the same self-distrust as their fathers, the children of those old conquerors declare their descent: "I will not trust in my bow, nor shall my sword save me." Deliverances all through their history proved God's sufficiency, and only His hand could have accomplished them. It is their one constant boast, and His name shall be their praise for ever. This is what He works for — that His people may know Him, to their unending joy.
In verse 5 the same people expect to push down their enemies through God. One writer finds a mistake in the way they put it.
The idea is that we achieve victory by using the power of God. That is not God's thought for them, and we think we may say it is never His thought for anyone. His power is not placed at our disposal for us to use as best we can. Rather, we are to be at His disposal, for Him to use us. If God placed His power at our disposal, it would leave us in the primary place, with the responsibility of planning the campaign. No — He has the primary place, and the plan of campaign must be His.
- Not their arm. God's right hand won the land, not Israel's sword; verse 7 says the same of every rescue since.
- Weakness designed. God kept Israel weak on purpose, so bow and sword could never take the credit.
- Enemies shamed. Depending on God does more than rescue His people; it leaves the hatred against them in shame.
- Character formed. Remembering who saved them keeps the people distrusting themselves and boasting in God alone.
- Boast forever. It all ends in worship: God saves, His people praise Him and come to know Him — which is what He was working for all along.