Tehilim Perek 44

Welcome to NachDaily, covering the entire TANACH one perek at a time. I’m Rabbi Shaya Sussman, and today we’ll be discussing Tehilim, chapter 44.

This chapter continues the themes of Galus and Geula – Exile and Redemption. These chapters were written either by or for the sons of Korach.

There are essentially three main themes to this kapital.

The perek opens with discussing Am Yisrael’s conquest of Eretz Yisrael, describing how God displaced nations in order to give the land to the Jewish nation. Verse 3 tells us that God “planted” Yisrael in the land.

The sons of Korach proclaim that Eretz Yisrael was not conquered through military prowess, but by the strength of God’s “right Hand.” They affirm their deep emunah in God’s goodness and their gratitude for all that He’s done for them.

The Alshich Hakadosh notes that this is similar to the first Rashi in the Torah that says that one day the nations of the world will claim that we stole their land. We will answer them saying that God, who created the entire world, can give the land to whomever He pleases. Out of all the lands in the world, God chose to give us Eretz Yisrael.

This is an amazing Rashi, because this is what’s happening now. The Alshich explains that there are primarily two reasons why it’s considered fair for us to possess the Land.

One reason is because God chose us. He took us out of Egypt with 10 miracles, and then brought us into Eretz Yisrael.

The second reason is that we chose Hashem! When God gave us the Torah on Har Sinai, the entire nation said yes, we’ll do whatever You say!

In verse 10, the chapter switches gears, describing the great humiliation that the nation has suffered from being in exile. Am Yisrael became like sheep to be slaughtered by the nations of the world. In verse 15, the psalmist wrote, “You made us the disgrace among nations.”

From verse 18, the author prays to God saying that even though we’ve suffered throughout our exile, we have not forgotten You. Our hearts and minds are still as strong as ever to serve You.

The perek ends with a strong call for God to end the exile and redeem us, not for our sake, but because of His love and kindness.

Verse 5 says:

אַתָּה־ה֣וּא מַלְכִּ֣י אֱלֹהִ֑ים צַ֝וֵּ֗ה יְשׁוּע֥וֹת יַעֲקֹֽב׃

You are my king, O God; decree victories for Jacob!

The Shi Lemora explains that “You are my king” refers to our desire that just as God did amazing wonders for our ancestors in order to bring us back to our land, He is still our King, and we ask Him to do the same with us!

The reference to Yaakov here is because he represents the trait of emes -truth. The truth is that just as God saved us then, He will save us now!

Rav Nosson explains in Hilchos Hechsher Keilim that our being in exile for over 2,000 years has brought about an amazing revelation of God’s Torah. Throughout every generation, more and more seforim have been written by the some of the greatest, most elevated Tzaddikim of all time.

That hasn’t been enough, however, for God to fully redeem us, so we invoke the merit of Yaakov, who represents the trait of truth. We are all the children of Yaakov, with the trait of emes built into our DNA.

W therefore beseech God to have compassion on us, to help us break through all the barriers and impeding negative forces that are holding back the redemption. We yearn for God to reveal His truth in the world…the truth of Am Yisrael and the truth of Eretz Yisrael.

May we merit seeing the full redemption in our days with the revelation of Mashiach ben Dovid and the rebulding of the 3^rd Beis Hamikdash.