Psalms 44:17

THE ALLEGED INNOCENCE OF ISRAEL

"All this has come upon us; yet have we not forgotten thee;

Neither have we dealt falsely in thy covenant.

Our heart is not turned back;

Neither have our steps declined from thy way,

That thou hast sore broken us in the place of jackals,

And covered us with the shadow of death.

If we have forgotten the name of our God,

Or spread forth our hands to a strange god;

Will not God search this out?

For he knoweth the secrets of the heart.

Yea, for thy sake are we killed all the day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter."

The marginal reading gives us `though' instead of the word `that' at the beginning of Psalms 44:19.

These five verses state the problem of the psalmist. "Israel had not been unfaithful to God, and yet afflictions had come upon her."[8] Furthermore, the problem was greatly aggravated by the evident fact that their faithfulness to God actually appeared to be "the reason why" they suffered. That is the meaning of the thundering words, "For thy sake" in Psalms 44:22. Of course, this is the very verse which Paul quoted in Romans 8:36.

"Neither have we dealt falsely in thy covenant" (Psalms 44:17). All these verses through Psalms 44:22 are a very vigorous profession by the psalmist of absolute innocence on the part of Israel. It is of course true that no such absolute innocence ever pertained to Israel at any time in her whole history. As Yates commented: "This claim, repeated over and over here, that Israel had remained faithful was at no time in Israel's history literally true. The prophet must have had in mind a comparative fidelity based upon generalities."[9]

"Will not God search this out" (Psalms 44:21)? This appeal to God's omniscience surely indicates the sincerity of the prophet's claims of innocence for Israel; and perhaps we should allow this in the relative sense that "Noah was righteous in his generation." Paul's making this prophecy a fair statement of the sufferings of Christians in his own times appears to prove this.

The fact remains that the sufferings of Israel could not all be described as a punishment for their sins. It was true of ancient Israel; and it is true of the New Israel today; and it is the problem which perplexed the psalmist who wrote this psalm. Why was it necessary that God's faithful people, either then or now, should be called upon to suffer "for his sake?"

THE SUFFERINGS OF THE OLD ISRAEL

It is not hard to discern the fact that the sufferings of ancient Israel may be explained as necessary to achieve goals that pertained to the ultimate will of God for his people; and, as far as we are able to see, those goals could not have been achieved without suffering.

(1) The centuries of captivity of Israel in Egypt as enslaved workers for their captors achieved these purposes of God's will for Israel. (a) It prevented their mingling racially with Egypt, because Egyptians despised shepherds, especially enslaved shepherds. (b) It gave time and opportunity for the development of Israel into a mighty nation, at the same time keeping them absolutely separate from Egypt.

(2) Their sufferings during the wilderness period hardened Israel into an effective fighting force. That period of sufferings also allowed a generation of unbelievers and murmurers to be replaced by a rejuvenated Israel who would honor and obey God (in a general sense) during the conquest of Canaan and throughout the generation of those who knew Joshua.

(3) Israel suffered from the shameless behavior of the great majority of their kings, who, with few exceptions were godless examples of debauchery, cruelty, and unbelief; but such sufferings finally led to God's taking away their kings; and there is no record of Israel's subsequent desire for a king, until that tragic moment when the chief representatives of the Chosen People cried, "We have no king but Caesar"!

(4) Israel's suffering under the captivity accomplished what a thousand years of priests, prophets and Levites could not do, that is, wean Israel from their beloved pagan gods. After the Babylonian captivity, Israel totally rejected idolatry; and it was never again practiced by them.

(5) The sufferings of Israel under the Greek period did not begin until after the times of Alexander of Macedon; but it recurred more bitterly than ever under some of Alexander the Great's successors, notably, Antiochus Epiphanes. Some of the mightiest and most significant developments in God's eternal purpose for Israel came during that very time. (a) There was the development of a world-language, the Greek, into which the Old Testament would be translated (the LXX), and in which the New Testament would be written. (b) The custom of building synagogues throughout the world was made necessary by the actions of Antiochus in closing and defiling the Temple; and those synagogues would, in time, become the centers from which Christianity would be preached all over the known world. (c) Antiochus' forbidding the reading of the Torah, led to the reading of "the prophets" every sabbath day, a custom that continued even after the Temple was cleansed and reopened; and this caused the Messianic prophecies of Christ to be read and known throughout the world of that era.

(6) Israel suffered under Rome, not because of their faithfulness to God but because of their unfaithfulness in their rejection of the Messiah; nevertheless even those sufferings glorified God and made vital contributions to the achievement of God's eternal purpose, namely, the redemption of mankind.

Those contributions were: (1) the destruction of the Temple, judged by the Judge of all the earth as a "Den of thieves and robbers." This was an absolute necessity, not only because of the moral depravity of the Temple crowd, but because it was being used as an effective device against the preaching of Christianity. (2) Another benefit was the permanent elimination of all the animal sacrifices of the Jewish system, which after the fall of Jerusalem were never resumed. (3) Perhaps the greatest contribution of all to Christianity and the ultimate realization of God's eternal purpose was the total defeat and permanent termination of Jewish efforts to prevent the preaching of the gospel. That defeat of the Jews in A.D. 70 meant that they would forever stop following New Testament evangelists around all over the world opposing the Truth, as they did against Paul.

THE SUFFERINGS OF THE NEW ISRAEL (WHICH IS THE CHURCH)

Likewise, the sufferings of "the faithful in Christ Jesus," caused not by their unfaithfulness but, on the contrary, by their fidelity, are to be expected; and they yield rich benefits to the sufferers.

If we suffer with him, we shall also reign with him (Romans 8:17).

Through many tribulations we must enter into the kingdom of God (Acts 14:22).

They departed ... rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the Name (Acts 5:41).

We are pressed, perplexed, pursued, smitten down, always bearing about in the body the dying of Jesus - Why? That the life also of Jesus may be manifest in our body (2 Corinthians 4:8-10).

Many other similar passages from the New Testament might be cited; but these are sufficient to show that the true followers of God are called to suffer "with Christ"; and the more they are like Christ the more they will suffer.

In becoming Christians, we have accepted the `Way of the Cross,' and we are pledged to `take up our cross daily' and follow Him. This is not the shame of Christianity, but the glory of it. Was not the blood of the martyrs the seed of the Church. History declares from her bloody pages that it is even so.

Can we cite any contributions toward the fulfilment of God's purpose that may be accredited to the suffering of his saints? Indeed yes.

(1) The sufferings of the first generation of Christians, especially of the apostles and evangelists, provided the fantastically convincing proof of the Christian religion. Its original witnesses and proponents sealed with their blood that testimony of the New Testament which is so vital for mankind.

(2) The suffering saints of all ages have been the most eloquent preachers of the gospel; and it continues to be true.

(3) The sufferings of Huss (1415 A.D.), Savanarola (1498 A.D.) and Tyndale (1536 A.D.) gave mankind the Bible in their native languages.

Of course, we should not have expected any Old Testament psalmist, not even David, to have been aware of the world-shaking truth of the New Testament. Yet there was a redeeming feature in the response of those Old Testament sufferers mentioned in this psalm. They did not have the inspiring example of Christ who prayed, "Not my will, but thine be done"; and we may not suppose that it ever entered their minds that God could have willed any suffering for them. Many of the perplexing questions of faith could not have been answered in the dim light of the Old Testament, which are revealed in the New Testament for those upon whom the Day Star has risen, and for whom the Light of the World has shined in their hearts.