Albert Barnes Commentary Psalms 44:19

"That thou hast sore broken us in the place of jackals, And covered us with the shadow of death." — Psalms 44:19 (ASV)

Though you have sore broken us in the place of dragons—Or rather, “That you have crushed us in the place of dragons.” The connection is continued from the previous verse: “Our heart is not so turned back, nor have our steps so declined from your path, that you should crush us in the place of dragons.” That is, we have been guilty of no such apostasy and infidelity as to account for the fact that you have dealt with us in this manner, or make it necessary and proper that we should thus be crushed and overthrown.

The word rendered “dragons”—תנין tannı̂yn—means either a great fish, a sea monster, a serpent, a dragon, or a crocodile (see the notes at Isaiah 13:22). It may also mean a jackal, a fox, or a wolf. DeWette renders it here as jackals. The idea in the passage is essentially the same, whichever interpretation of the word is adopted. The “place of dragons” would denote the place where such monsters are found, or where they had their dwelling; that is, in desolate places, wastes, deserts, old ruins, and depopulated towns.

See the notes, as above, at Isaiah 13:19-22 . The meaning here would be, therefore, that they had been vanquished, that their cities and towns had been reduced to ruins, that their land had been laid waste, and that the place where they had been “sore broken” was in fact a fit dwelling for wild beasts and monsters.

And covered us with the shadow of death—Our land has been covered with a dark and dismal shade, as if Death had cast his image or shadow over it. See Job 3:5, note, and Psalm 23:4, note. There could be no more striking illustration of calamity and ruin.