“If we have forgotten the name of our God, or stretched out our hands to a strange god;”
The assertion that Israel has not forgotten God's name or lifted their hands to strange gods establishes their continued exclusive devotion despite temptation to apostasy. The specific reference to hands lifted in worship directed only to the true God suggests that Israel resists the natural impulse toward hedging bets by appealing to other deities. The emphatic negation establishes that Israel has not capitulated to the theological temptation to abandon God in quest of alternative divine sources of aid. This verse demonstrates that Israel's fidelity extends not merely to refraining from outward apostasy but to internal resistance against doubt and despair. Yet even such steadfast loyalty produces no visible divine response or relief.
Church Fathers on Psalms 44:20
1. This Psalm is addressed “to the sons of Korah,” as its title shows. Now Korah is equivalent to the word baldness; and we find in the Gospel that our Lord Jesus Christ was crucified in “the place of a skull.” It is clear then that this Psalm is sung to the “sons of His 'Passion.'” Now we have on this point a most certain and most evident testimony from the Apostle Paul; because that at the time when the Church was suffering under the persecutions of the Gentiles, he quoted…
Nicene & Post-Nicene / Ante-Nicene Fathers translations · public domain
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