What does Psalm 44:17 mean?

The psalmist laments what has happen to Israel. "All this" refers to the nation's having been defeated, disgraced, abandoned, plundered, slaughtered, scattered, and ridiculed (Psalm 44:9–16). He doesn't understand why all this has happened, because he does not see sin in Israel that would call for such a response. According to the psalmist, the people of Israel had neither forgotten the Lord nor violated His covenant—at least, not at this time.

The same history which detailed Israel's God-empowered victories (Psalm 44:1–8) explained that it was evil to forget the Lord. Moses had accused Israel of this very sin of turning their backs on God. In Deuteronomy 32 he rehearses the Lord's many kindnesses to Israel during the wilderness wandering. In verse 18, he levels the following charge against the people of Israel: "You were unmindful of the Rock that bore you, and you forgot the God who gave you birth."

That attitude is contrasted by the claims made in this verse. Israel, in the palmist's day, was not "forgetting" or ignoring the Lord. Furthermore, Israel had not deviated from His covenant. The covenant promised curses as punishment for violating it, but the psalmist claimed innocence, so he wondered why Israel was experiencing so much calamity. Since this psalm is not connected to any explicit event, we cannot say for certain if the psalmist's view is accurate. What's beyond question is that the psalmist is utterly convinced that this humiliation cannot be a punishment for sin.