John Gill Commentary Psalms 44:2

"Thou didst drive out the nations with thy hand; But them thou didst plant: Thou didst afflict the peoples; But them thou didst spread abroad." — Psalms 44:2 (ASV)

[How] you did drive out the Heathen with your hand
Of power; that is, the Canaanites, as the Targum; the seven nations which inhabited the land of Canaan before the children of Israel came into it, (Deuteronomy 7:1) ;

and plantedst them :
not the Canaanites elsewhere; but, as the same Targum explains it the house of Israel in their land; which, like a vine, was removed from one place, and planted in another; and the settlement of the children of Israel in the land of Canaan is frequently expressed by this metaphor, (Exodus 15:17) (Psalms 80:8) (Isaiah 5:1Isaiah 5:7) (Jeremiah 2:21) ;

[how] you did afflict the people ;
the Egyptians, according to Arama; rather the Canaanitish nations by wars and desolating judgments;

and cast them out ;
that is, the same nations out of their land; though some render this clause, "and you did send them out"; the captive Israelites, as Arama; or "didst propagate them" ^F17 ; meaning the people of Israel; who being like a vine planted in the and, sent out its boughs and branches, and became very flourishing and fruitful; see (Psalms 80:9–11) ;

and so the Syriac version renders it, "and you confirmed them"; but the former sense seems best, agreeably to which is the Targum, "you have broken the nations, and have consumed them"; and that all this was the Lord's work appears by what follows.

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FOOTNOTES:

• F17: (Mxlvtw) "has autem germinare fecisti", Tigurine version; "propagasti ipsos", Piscator; so Ainsworth; but rejected by Gussetius, Ebr. Comment. p. 859.