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 Psalm 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.

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.

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", Zechariah 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 1 Peter 1:1; or the Papacy, who are sometimes called Gentiles, Revelation 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 Revelation 13:10.

Thou hast given us {k} like sheep appointed for meat; and hast scattered us among the heathen.

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

44:11 Scattered - Those who were not slain are carried into captivity, and dispersed in several places.

like...: Heb. as sheep of meat

11. The Babylonian captivity not necessarily meant. There were others (compare 1Ki 8:46).

44:9-16 The believer must have times of temptation, affliction, and discouragement; the church must have seasons of persecution. At such times the people of God will be ready to fear that he has cast them off, and that his name and truth will be dishonoured. But they should look above the instruments of their trouble, to God, well knowing that their worst enemies have no power against them, but what is permitted from above.