What does Psalm 44:13 mean?

Scholars are unsure as to the exact event which inspired this psalm. Some point to evidence from other passages (Psalm 60; Amos 1:6; 2 Samuel 8:13) implying that Edom took advantage of Israel's engagement in other battles to participate in a sneak attack. Regardless of what happened, the psalmist sees this as especially embarrassing. In this portion of the psalm (Psalm 44:14), it is implied that Israel's enemies are openly laughing.

When Nehemiah and his faithful Jewish coworkers began to rebuild Jerusalem's walls after the exile, they, too, were ridiculed by their hostile Gentile neighbors. Nehemiah 4:1–3 tells the story. Sanballat jeered at the Jews. His audacity must have been bolstered by the army of Samaria that surrounded him. He shouted, "What are these feeble Jews doing? Will they restore it for themselves? Will they sacrifice? Will they finish up in a day? Will they revive the stones out of the heaps of rubbish, and burned ones at that?" Tobiah the Ammonite joined Sanballat in taunting the Jews. He remarked that the stone wall would collapse if a fox brushed against.