Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 79:1
A Psalm of Asaph. O God, the heathen are come into thine inheritance; thy holy temple have they defiled; they have laid Jerusalem on heaps.
1. Cp. Jer 51:51; Lam 1:10; and for the desecration of the Temple cp. Psa 74:7; Eze 7:21-22.
the heathen ] Lit. as in Psa 79:6 ; Psa 79:10, the nations: but where, as here, the nations are in antagonism to God and His people, the rendering heathen may be retained. thine inheritance ] Here of the holy land (cp. Exo 15:17): more commonly of the people (Psa 74:2; Psa 78:62; Psa 78:71).
on heaps ] I.e. in ruins: perhaps an allusion to the prophecy of Micah (Mic 3:12; cp. Jer 26:18). For the archaic use of ‘on,’ Wright ( Bible Word-Book, p. 436) quotes Shakespeare, Henry V, v. 2. 39;
And all her husbandry doth lie on heaps.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
1 4. The Psalmist tells his grief to God: His land is overrun by heathen, His temple is desecrated, His city is in ruins, His people are slaughtered, the survivors are the scorn of their neighbours.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
O God, the heathen are come into thine inheritance – The nations; a foreign people. See Psa 2:1, note; Psa 2:8; note; Psa 78:55, note. The term is one that would be applicable to the Chaldeans, or Babylonians, and the probable allusion here is to their invasion of the holy land under Nebuchadnezzar. 2Ch 36:17-21.
Thy holy temple have they defiled – They have polluted it. By entering it; by removing the sacred furniture; by cutting down the carved work; by making it desolate. See 2Ch 36:17-18. Compare the notes at Psa 74:5-7.
They have laid Jerusalem on heaps – See 2Ch 36:19 : And they burnt the house of God, and brake down the wall of Jerusalem, and burnt all the palaces thereof with fire, and destroyed all the goodly vessels thereof.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Psa 79:1-13
O God, the heathen are come into Thine inheritance.
The inhumanity of man and the mixture of good and evil
I. Here is a fact revealing the inhumanity of man and the permissive government of God.
1. What inhumanity is here! (Psa 79:1-3).
(1) It is opposed to our a priori ideas of God, as a Being of infinite love.
(2) It is repugnant to that moral sense that is implanted in every man.
2. What Divine permission is hotel Why does the Almighty allow such enormities to occur?
(1) Perhaps because of the respect He has for that liberty of action with which He has endowed mankind.
(2) Because of the existence of that state of retribution which He has appointed to succeed the present life.
II. Here is a prayer revealing the mixture of good and evil in human piety.
1. Mark the good that is in this prayer (verses 8, 9, 11). In these sentences there is–
(1) A prayer to be delivered from the iniquities of froward men, that is, the bad influence of their sinful lives.
(2) A prayer that Heaven would vouchsafe His compassion to us. Let Thy tender mercies speedily prevent us; which means, hasten to meet us with Thy mercy.
(3) A prayer for these of our fellow-men who are in distress. Let the sighing of the prisoner come before thee. All these aspirations command our admiration and are worthy of our imitation.
2. Mark the evil that is in this prayer (verses 6, 10, 12). In all these clauses there is the hot flame of revenge, and this certainly is an evil. (Homilist.)
Good men Gods inheritance
Good men are here, as in many other places in the Bible, spoken of as the inheritance of God. They are His property, His portion.
I. He has no property to which He has a stronger right. Whilst good men are His, as all things are His in the universe, by creation, they are His also–
1. By special restoration. They were lost as slaves, aye, as prisoners condemned to death are lost; but He redeemed them by a stupendous sacrifice. Ye are not your own, etc.
2. By voluntary consecration. They have given themselves up to Him, body, soul, and spirit, which they felt to be their reasonable service. This is the one constant act of religion.
II. He has no property that is more valuable.
1. A soul is more valuable in itself than the material universe. A soul can think upon its Creator and love Him, can alter its course, can change its orbit, but matter cannot.
2. A soul is more serviceable to its Owner than the material universe.
(1) It gives Him a higher revelation. There is more of God seen in one soul than in all the orbs of immensity.
(2) It renders Him a higher homage–of free-thought, conscience, heart, life. (Homilist.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
PSALM LXXIX
The psalmist complains of the cruelty of his enemies and the
desolations of Jerusalem, and prays against them, 1-7.
He prays for the pardon and restoration of his people, and
promises gratitude and obedience, 8-13.
NOTES ON PSALM LXXIX
The title, A Psalm of Asaph, must be understood as either applying to a person of the name of Asaph who lived under the captivity; or else to the family of Asaph; or to a band of singers still bearing the name of that Asaph who flourished in the days of David; for most undoubtedly the Psalm was composed during the Babylonish captivity, when the city of Jerusalem lay in heaps, the temple was defiled, and the people were in a state of captivity. David could not be its author. Some think it was composed by Jeremiah; and it is certain that the sixth and seventh verses are exactly the same with Jer 10:25: “Pour out thy fury upon the heathen that know thee not, and upon the families that call not on thy name: for they have eaten up Jacob, and devoured him, and consumed him; and have made his habitation desolate.”
Verse 1. The heathen are come into thine inheritance] Thou didst cast them out, and take thy people in; they have cast us out, and now taken possession of the land that belongs to thee. They have defiled the temple, and reduced Jerusalem to a heap of ruins; and made a general slaughter of thy people.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Are come, as invaders and conquerors. Into thine inheritance; into Canaan and Judea, which thou didst choose for thine inheritance. Defied, by entering into it, and touching and carrying away its holy vessels, and shedding blood in it, and burning of it. Heaps, made of the ruins of those goodly houses which they burned, or threw down.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
1. (Compare Ps74:2-7).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
O God, the Heathen are come into thine inheritance,…. The land of Canaan, divided among the children of Israel by lot and line for an inheritance, out of which the Heathen were cast, to make room for them; but now would come into it again; see
Ps 89:35, and this is called the Lord’s inheritance, because he gave it as such to the people of Israel, and dwelt in it himself; and the rather this is observed as something marvellous, that he should suffer Heathens to possess his own inheritance; or the city of Jerusalem, which was the place the Lord chose to put his name in; or the temple, where he had his residence, called the mountain of his inheritance, Ex 15:17, and into which it was always accounted a profanation for Heathens to enter; see Ac 21:28, into each of these places the Heathen came; the Chaldeans under Nebuchadnezzar; the Syrians under Antiochus, as in the Apocrypha:
“Insomuch that the inhabitants of Jerusalem fled because of them: whereupon the city was made an habitation of strangers, and became strange to those that were born in her; and her own children left her.” (1 Maccabees 1:38)
“Now Jerusalem lay void as a wilderness, there was none of her children that went in or out: the sanctuary also was trodden down, and aliens kept the strong hold; the heathen had their habitation in that place; and joy was taken from Jacob, and the pipe with the harp ceased.” (1 Maccabees 3:45)
the Romans under Pompey, Vespasian, and Titus; and the Papists have since entered among the people of God, who are his heritage or inheritance, and have lorded it over them, and made havoc of them, and who are called Heathens and Gentiles, Ps 10:16,
thy holy temple have they defiled: this was done in the times of Antiochus, by entering into it, taking away the holy vessels out of it, shedding innocent blood in it, and setting up the abomination of desolation on the altar, and sacrificing to it, as in the Apocrypha:
“Every bridegroom took up lamentation, and she that sat in the marriage chamber was in heaviness,” (1 Maccabees 1:27)
“Thus they shed innocent blood on every side of the sanctuary, and defiled it:” (1 Maccabees 1:37)
“And pollute the sanctuary and holy people:” (1 Maccabees 1:46)
“And whosoever was found with any the book of the testament, or if any committed to the law, the king’s commandment was, that they should put him to death.” (1 Maccabees 1:57)
“For thy sanctuary is trodden down and profaned, and thy priests are in heaviness, and brought low.” (1 Maccabees 3:51)
“And they called upon the Lord, that he would look upon the people that was trodden down of all; and also pity the temple profaned of ungodly men;” (2 Maccabees 8:2)
and by burning it in the times of Nebuchadnezzar and Titus; see
Ps 74:7, and the church, which is the holy temple of God, has been defiled by antichrist sitting in it, and showing himself there as if he was God, by his dreadful blasphemies, idolatrous worship, and false doctrines, 2Th 2:4,
they have laid Jerusalem on heaps; the walls and buildings being pulled down, and made a heap of stones and rubbish: in the times of Antiochus and of the Maccabees, it was set on fire, and the houses and the walls pulled down on every side, and was greatly defaced, and threatened to be laid level with the ground, as in the Apocrypha:
“And when he had taken the spoils of the city, he set it on fire, and pulled down the houses and walls thereof on every side.” (1 Maccabees 1:31)
“And that he would have compassion upon the city, sore defaced, and ready to be made even with the ground; and hear the blood that cried unto him,” (2 Maccabees 8:3)
“That the holy city (to the which he was going in haste to lay it even with the ground, and to make it a common buryingplace,) he would set at liberty:” (2 Maccabees 9:14)
and this was thoroughly done in the times of Nebuchadnezzar and Titus, when the city was broke up and burnt with fire, and laid utterly desolate; so the Targum renders the word for “desolation”; it sometimes signifies a grave; see Job 30:24, and the sense may be here, that the city of Jerusalem was made graves to many; and multitudes were buried under the ruins of it. Aben Ezra interprets it, low places which were dug to find hidden things; the Septuagint translate it “a watch”, or cottage “for apple orchards”, and so the versions that follow it; signifying to what a low condition the city was reduced. Jarchi and Kimchi interpret the word as we do, “heaps”: this, as it is true of Jerusalem, which has been trodden under foot by the Gentiles, and remains so to this day, Lu 21:24, so likewise of mystical Jerusalem, the holy city, given to the Gentiles or Papists, to be trodden down for the space of forty and two months, the exact time of the reign of antichrist, Re 11:2.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The Psalm begins with a plaintive description, and in fact one that makes complaint to God. Its opening sounds like Lam 1:10. The defiling does not exclude the reducing to ashes, it is rather spontaneously suggested in Psa 74:7 in company with wilful incendiarism. The complaint in Psa 79:1 reminds one of the prophecy of Micah, Mic 3:12, which in its time excited so much vexation (Jer 26:18); and Psa 79:2, Deu 28:26. confers upon those who were massacred the honour of martyrdom. The lxx renders by , a flourish taken from Isa 1:8. Concerning the quotation from memory in 1 Macc. 7:16f., vid., the introduction to Ps 74. The translator of the originally Hebrew First Book of the Maccabees even in other instances betrays an acquaintance with the Greek Psalter (cf. 1 Macc. 1:37, ). “As water,” i.e., (cf. Deu 15:23) without setting any value upon it and without any scruple about it. Psa 44:14 is repeated in Psa 79:4. At the time of the Chaldaean catastrophe this applied more particularly to the Edomites.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| Mournful Complaints. | |
A psalm of Asaph.
1 O God, the heathen are come into thine inheritance; thy holy temple have they defiled; they have laid Jerusalem on heaps. 2 The dead bodies of thy servants have they given to be meat unto the fowls of the heaven, the flesh of thy saints unto the beasts of the earth. 3 Their blood have they shed like water round about Jerusalem; and there was none to bury them. 4 We are become a reproach to our neighbours, a scorn and derision to them that are round about us. 5 How long, LORD? wilt thou be angry for ever? shall thy jealousy burn like fire?
We have here a sad complaint exhibited in the court of heaven. The world is full of complaints, and so is the church too, for it suffers, not only with it, but from it, as a lily among thorns. God is complained to; whither should children go with their grievances, but to their father, to such a father as is able and willing to help? The heathen are complained of, who, being themselves aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, were sworn enemies to it. Though they knew not God, nor owned him, yet, God having them in chain, the church very fitly appeals to him against them; for he is King of nations, to overrule them, to judge among the heathen, and King of saints, to favour and protect them.
I. They complain here of the anger of their enemies and the outrageous fury of the oppressor, exerted,
1. Against places, v. 1. They did all the mischief they could, (1.) To the holy land; they invaded that, and made inroads into it: “The heathen have come into thy inheritance, to plunder that, and lay it waste.” Canaan was dearer to the pious Israelites as it was God’s inheritance than as it was their own, as it was the land in which God was known and his name was great rather than as it was the land in which they were bred and born and which they and their ancestors had been long in possession of. Note, Injuries done to religion should grieve us more than even those done to common right, nay, to our own right. We should better bear to see our own inheritance wasted than God’s inheritance. This psalmist had mentioned it in the foregoing psalm as an instance of God’s great favour to Israel that he had cast out the heathen before them, Ps. lxxviii. 55. But see what a change sin made; now the heathen are suffered to pour in upon them. (2.) To the holy city: They have laid Jerusalem on heaps, heaps of rubbish, such heaps as are raised over graves, so some. The inhabitants were buried in the ruins of their own houses, and their dwelling places became their sepulchres, their long homes. (3.) To the holy house. That sanctuary which God had built like high palaces, and which was thought to be established as the earth, was now laid level with the ground: They holy temple have they defiled, by entering into it and laying it waste. God’s own people had defiled it by their sins, and therefore God suffered their enemies to defile it by their insolence.
2. Against persons, against the bodies of God’s people; and further their malice could not reach. (1.) They were prodigal of their blood, and killed them without mercy; their eye did not spare, nor did they give any quarter (v. 3): Their blood have they shed like water, wherever they met with them, round about Jerusalem, in all the avenues to the city; whoever went out or came in was waited for of the sword. Abundance of human blood was shed, so that the channels of water ran with blood. And they shed it with no more reluctancy or regret than if they had spilt so much water, little thinking that every drop of it will be reckoned for in the day when God shall make inquisition for blood. (2.) They were abusive to their dead bodies. When they had killed them they would let none bury them. Nay, those that were buried, even the dead bodies of God’s servants, the flesh of his saints, whose names and memories they had a particular spite at, they dug up again, and gave them to be meat to the fowls of the heaven and to the beasts of the earth; or, at least, they left those so exposed whom they slew; they hung them in chains, which was in a particular manner grievous to the Jews to see, because God had given them an express law against this, as a barbarous thing, Deut. xxi. 23. This inhuman usage of Christ’s witnesses is foretold (Rev. xi. 9), and thus even the dead bodies were witnesses against their persecutors. This is mentioned (says Austin, De Civitate Dei, lib. 1 cap. 12) not as an instance of the misery of the persecuted (for the bodies of the saints shall rise in glory, however they became meat to the birds and the fowls), but of the malice of the persecutors.
3. Against their names (v. 4): “We that survive have become a reproach to our neighbours; they all study to abuse us and load us with contempt, and represent us as ridiculous, or odious, or both, upbraiding us with our sins and with our sufferings, or giving the lie to our relation to God and expectations from him; so that we have become a scorn and derision to those that are round about us.” If God’s professing people degenerate from what themselves and their fathers were, they must expect to be told of it; and it is well if a just reproach will help to bring us to a true repentance. But it has been the lot of the gospel-Israel to be made unjustly a reproach and derision; the apostles themselves were counted as the offscouring of all things.
II. They wonder more at God’s anger, v. 5. This they discern in the anger of their neighbours, and this they complain most of: How long, Lord, wilt thou be angry? Shall it be for ever? This intimates that they desired no more than that God would be reconciled to them, that his anger might be turned away, and then the remainder of men’s wrath would be restrained. Note, Those who desire God’s favour as better than life cannot but dread and deprecate his wrath as worse than death.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Psalms 79
A Call For Purging of Sins
This is a psalm of distress, when the Babylonians invaded and destroyed Jerusalem, as related Psalms 74. The sanctuary had been destroyed and the whole area defiled. The Psalmist cried for a purging of the city, because of its defiled condition, from the sins of her people, and the heathen who had destroyed it.
Scripture v. 1-13:
Occasion for This Plaintive Cry
1) The heathen (Babylonians) had seized God’s land and people;
2) They had desecrated His temple;
3) They had laid Jerusalem in as a heap of ruins;
4) Dead bodies of the saints were being picked and torn by beasts and fowls; and
5) The few survivors were an object of reproach and derision.
Verse 1 complains “O God, the heathen are come into thine inheritance (His people, city, and land); The holy temple have they defiled; they have laid low (sacked) Jerusalem on heaps” God’s heritage or holy people and His name of honor were at stake, as in Isa 63:18-19. The defilement of the temple by the heathen was a retribution (punishment) for the idolatrous defilement Israel had already brought to it, Eze 5:11; Eze 23:38; Eze 24:21; Psa 74:7. See also Jer 26:18; Mic 3:12.
Verse 2, 3 describe the state of defilement. Dead bodies of the saints lay in the streets of the city, and the temple area, as meat for prowling carnivorous beasts, and for fowls of the heavens to tear, pick, and devour, Jer 7:33. “Their blood (of the saints) have they shed like water, (flowing) round about Jerusalem, and there was none to bury them,” Jer 14:16; Jer 14:18. This account seems to be both historical of an event or events of that day and prophetic of the time of the end of the Gentile age, as recounted 2Ch 36:17. ft was and is a sweeping scene of Jerusalem brought to destruction by: 1) Babylon, 2) By Titus of the Romans , 3) By antichrist forces, yet to come, Rev 11:9.
Verse 4 pleads “we have become a reproach to our neighbors, a scorn and derision to them that are round about us.” The former holy people of God, feared and respected, had come to be objects of derision and scorn, like a jackal, a wild, scavenger dog, or a buzzard of the air, Psa 44:13; Psa 80:6.
Verse 5 is a turn of a second Strophe, (stanza) to inquire, “How long Lord? wilt thou be angry for ever? shall thy anger burn (keep on) like fire?” This is an appeal for the Lord to turn his anger of wrath upon His own people, the house of God, to the heathen, as set forth, Psa 74:10; 1Pe 4:17. Since they were turning to Him in prayer, they plead for Him to turn to them in mercy, and upon their enemies in judgment, Deu 32:36; Deu 32:43; Eze 38:19-23; Zep 3:8. God’s jealousy burns like fire, in behalf of His people, to give just punishment to His own for their sins, and to their oppressors, Jer 3:14; Psa 78:58; Isa 54:5; Deu 29:20.
Verse 6, 7 call upon the Lord to pour out His wrath (judgment) upon the heathen, who have never known or recognized Him, and upon the kingdoms, governments that have never called upon His name, given Him any honor, Isa 45:4; 2Th 1:8; Psa 53:4.
Verse 7 adds “for they have devoured Jacob and laid waste (torn down or burned) his dwelling places,” Jer 10:25.
Verses 8, 9 add “Remember not against us former iniquities,” that they now confess, for which they seek pardon, 2Ch 7:14; 1Jn 1:8-9. See also Isa 43:25; Isaiah 22; Isa 64:9. He asks that the Lord let his mercies run speedily before or ahead of them because of their helpless condition, unable to defend, protect, or provide for themselves. Verse 9 appeals for help, deliverance, and purging of their sins from the God of their salvation, for His name’s sake, His honor, as the living God, Jer 14:7. See too Psa 65:3; Psa 23:3; Psa 29:1-2. Asaph desired that the he see that true glory, power, and honor should be ascribed to the Lord, as in Rev 5:9-14.
Verse 10 Inquires on what basis the heathen could be justified or go unpunished, blaspheming?”, “where is their God?” the God of the Israelites when they needed Him. Asaph asks that God make Himself known to and before these deriding heathen by avenging the blood of His servants that had been shed in Jerusalem, v. 2, 3; This is a call for God’s known love and omnipotence to be shown now among the heathen, Deu 22:12; Joe 2:17; Deu 9:28; Deu 6:22; Deu 32:43.
Verse 11 continues “let the sighing of the prisoner come before thee; according to (in harmony with) thy power, preserve thou these who are appointed to die.” Israel was not a prisoner again, not of Egypt, but of death and poverty, brought by the Babylonian destruction. Again a dying remnant pled for mercy, and deliverance from those who were destroying them. They asked for it by expressed faith in the mighty power of God to grant it, Psa 74:11; Num 14:17-18. Those “appointed to die,” seem to be the “dying children.” They too were objects of Asaph’s prayer for God’s mercy, Psa 72:4; Deu 3:24; Psa 102:19-20.
Verse 12 calls in an imprecatory, or direct judgment way, for the Lord to pour out His seven-fold reproach, with indignation, upon those who were reproaching His people and His name with scoffing and derision, v. 4, 7, 10; Jer 10:25; Isa 65:6-7.
Verse 13 resolves “So (with this done) we will give thee thanks forever, as thy people, and sheep of thy pasture; we will show forth thy praise to all generations,” go with you all the way, wholly surrendered to your will, Isa 43:21; Psa 44:8. This is a vow of perpetual praise to God, not to be taken lightly, as done by God’s people far too often, Ecc 5:4-5; Num 30:2; Deu 23:21-22; Psa 50:14; Psa 76:11.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
1. O God! the heathen have come into thy inheritance. Here the prophet, in the person of the faithful, complains that the temple was defiled, and the city destroyed. In the second and third verses, he complains that the saints were murdered indiscriminately, and that their dead bodies were cast forth upon the face of the earth, and deprived of the honor of burial. Almost every word expresses the cruelty of these enemies of the Church. When it is considered that God had chosen the land of Judea to be a possession to his own people, it seemed inconsistent with this choice to abandon it to the heathen nations, that they might ignominiously trample it under foot, and lay it waste at their pleasure. The prophet, therefore, complains that when the heathen came into the heritage of God, the order of nature was, as it were, inverted. The destruction of the temple, of which he speaks in the second clause, was still less to be endured; for thus the service of God on earth was extinguished, and religion destroyed. He adds, that Jerusalem, which was the royal seat of God, was reduced to heaps. By these words is denoted a hideous overthrow. The profanation of the temple, and the destruction of the holy city, involving, as they did, heaven-daring impiety, which ought justly to have provoked the wrath of God against these enemies — the prophet begins with them, and then comes to speak of the slaughter of the saints. The atrocious cruelty of these persecutions is pointed out from the circumstance that they not only put to death the servants of God, but also exposed their dead bodies to the beasts of the field, and to birds of prey, to be devoured, instead of burying them. Men have always had such a sacred regard to the burial of the dead, as to shrink from depriving even their enemies of the honor of sepulture. (370) Whence it follows, that those who take a barbarous delight in seeing the bodies of the dead torn to pieces and devoured by beasts, more resemble these savage and cruel animals than human beings. It is also shown that these persecutors acted more atrociously than enemies ordinarily do, inasmuch as they made no more account of shedding human blood than of pouring forth water. From this we learn their insatiable thirst for slaughter. When it is added, there was none to bury them, this is to be understood as applying to the brethren and relatives of the slain. The inhabitants of the city were stricken with such terror by the indiscriminate butchery perpetrated by these ruthless assassins upon all who came in their way, that no one dared to go forth. God having intended that, in the burial of men, there should be some testimony to the resurrection at the last day, it was a double indignity for the saints to be despoiled of this right after their death. But it may be asked, Since God often threatens the reprobate with this kind of punishment, why did he suffer his own people to be devoured of beasts? We must remember, what we have stated elsewhere, that the elect, as well as the reprobate, are subjected to the temporal punishments which pertain only to the flesh. The difference between the two cases lies solely in the issue; for God converts that which in itself is a token of his wrath into the means of the salvation of his own children. The same explanation, then, is to be given of their want of burial which is given of their death. The most eminent of the servants of God may be put to a cruel and ignominious death — a punishment which we know is often executed upon murderers, and other despisers of God; but still the death of the saints does not cease to be precious in his sight: and when he has suffered them to be unrighteously persecuted in the flesh, he shows, by taking vengeance on their enemies, how dear they were to him. In like manner, God, to stamp the marks of his wrath on the reprobate, even after their death, deprives them of burial; and, therefore, he threatens a wicked king, “He shall be buried with the burial of all ass, drawn and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem,” (Jer 22:19; see also Jer 36:30.) (371) When he exposes his own children to the like indignity, he may seem for a time to have forsaken them; but he afterwards converts it into the means of furthering their salvation; for their faith, being subjected to this trial, acquires a fresh triumph. When in ancient times the bodies of the dead were anointed, that ceremony was performed for the sake of the living whom they left behind them, to teach them, when they saw the bodies of the dead carefully preserved, to cherish in their hearts the hope of a better life. The faithful, then, by being deprived of burial, suffer no loss, when they rise by faith above these inferior helps, that they may advance with speedy steps to a blessed immortality.
(370) If this psalm was written on the taking of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, or during the Babylonish captivity, it would appear, from this verse, that when the Chaldeans destroyed Jerusalem, they left the bodies of the slain unburied, to be devoured by beasts and birds of prey.
(371) Similar threatenings are to be found in Isa 14:19; Jer 8:2.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
INTRODUCTION
Superscription.A Psalm of Asaph. See Introduction to Psalms 74. Occasion.This Psalm is closely related to the 74th, and both most probably refer to the devastation and desecration wrought by the Chaldeans.
A SORROWFUL COMPLAINT, AN EARNEST PRAYER, AND A DEVOUT RESOLUTION
I. A sorrowful complaint. The Psalmist complains
1. Of the devastation of Jerusalem, and especially of the desecration of the temple. O God, the heathen are come into Thine inheritance; Thy holy temple have they defiled; they have laid Jerusalem on heaps. The reference is to the havoc wrought by Nebuchadnezzar and his army. The strongholds of the city were cast down; the palace of Solomon, the temple of God, with all its courts, its roofs of cedar and of gold, were levelled to the earth, or committed to the flames; the sacred vessels, the ark of the covenant itself, with the cherubim, were pillaged by profane hands. (See 2Ch. 36:18-19.) Great, indeed, must have been the distress of those Jews who were religious and patriotic. Their distress must have been the more keen by reason of their knowledge that the heathen could never have laid Jerusalem in ruins and desecrated the temple of God, had not the chosen people themselves first desecrated that holy place. (See 2Ch. 36:14-21.) Their continued pursuit of evil, notwithstanding the earnest remonstrances of God by His prophets, led Him to abandon them for a time to their foes.
2. Of the cruelties inflicted upon the people of God. The dead bodies of Thy servants have they given to be meat unto the fowls of the heaven, the flesh of Thy saints unto the beasts of the earth. Their blood have they shed like water round about Jerusalem; and there was none to bury them. Here is a picture of wide-spread slaughter and misery. The words of the poet are a graphic commentary on the brief statement of the inspired chronicler. (See 2Ch. 36:17.) The bloodshed was great and terrible. Men were slain without compunction, and their conquerors hastened away with their captives, leaving the dead bodies to be devoured by wild beasts and birds of prey.
3. Of the reproaches cast upon the people of God. We are become a reproach to our neighbours, a scorn and derision to them that are round about us. They were treated by surrounding peoples as unworthy of respect, and were derided by them as a people vanquished by their foes and forsaken by their God. They were conquered, were made captives, and in their subjection were despised and reproached. They had great reason for sorrowful complaint. Their sorest grief must have sprung from their knowledge of the fact that their own sins caused their sufferings. The intense sorrow of the pious and patriotic amongst them may be known by considering the plaintive mournings of the prophet Jeremiah. Never did city suffer a more miserable fate, never was ruined city lamented in language so exquisitely pathetic. Vide The Lamentations.
II. An earnest prayer. The Psalmist in his prayer
1. Manifests a consciousness of the sins of the people. The inquiries, Wilt Thou be angry for ever? Shall Thy jealousy burn like fire? imply on the part of the inquirer the consciousness that there had been human provocations, that there had been a cause for Gods anger and jealousy. In the Scriptures, idolatry, of which they had been greatly guilty, is represented as spiritual adultery. God was not jealous without reason. And their manifold sins had aroused His anger against them. The Psalmist is right, God was angry with them on account of their sins, and their conquered and captive and suffering state was a sign of His anger.
2. Petitions God for various favours for His people. Here is a prayer for pardon. O remember not against us the iniquities of them that were before us: and purge away our sins. The effects of sin frequently descend from one generation to another. God declared Himself a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate Him. As a matter of fact men do suffer in many ways from the sins of their ancestors. Prayer is here offered that God would remove from them the judgment of the sins of them that had gone before them; that they might not suffer by reason of them any more. Prayer is offered for the forgiveness of their own sins. Purge away our sins. Cleanse us from our transgressions, and from all impurity of soul. It is well when the soul in trouble cries out not for the removal of the suffering alone, but for the removal of the sin also. To those who sincerely seek Him, God is ever ready to grant pardon and purity. Here is a prayer for speedy help and deliverance. Let Thy tender mercies speedily prevent us: for we are brought very low. Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of Thy name; and deliver us for Thy names sake. As sinners their hope is in the mercy of God. There is great beauty and force in the phrase, tender mercies. It comes from the religious heart, and appeals to the heart. To the tender mercy of the Lord His unworthy and afflicted people look for help. The captive Jews were beyond the aid of human resources. In man they could find no adequate assistance. So they directed their prayer to Him who is equal to the utmost need of His people, and who if He pleased could help them, and deliver them from their enemies. They prayed God to come quickly to their aid; that His tender mercies might speedily prevent them. Prevent does not signify hinder, but anticipate. Gods mercy must anticipate, come to meet, mans necessity. They felt that if God did not speedily interpose for them their utter ruin must be the result. Their salvation depended upon Him, and upon His prompt interposition on their behalf. Here is a prayer on behalf of the captive and the dying. Let the sighing of the prisoner come before Thee; according to the greatness of Thy power preserve Thou those that are appointed to die. Whether the whole of the people are thus spoken of, or the terms prisoner and appointed to die are to be taken literally, cannot, we think, be determined. In either case there is an appeal made to the Divine compassion; that God would graciously regard the sighing of those that are bound. And to the Divine strength; that He would by the greatness of His energy save from death those who were appointed thereunto. Here is a prayer for judgment. Pour out Thy wrath upon the heathen that have not known Thee, and upon the kingdoms that have not called upon Thy name. Wherefore should the heathen say, Where is their God? Let Him be known among the heathen in our sight by the revenging of the blood of Thy servants which is shed. And render unto our neighbours sevenfold into their bosom, wherewith They have reproached Thee, O Lord. We are by no means sure that the spirit expressed in these petitions is a commendable one. The verses certainly require a great deal of explanation when viewed in the light of the teachings, life, and death of our Lord Jesus Christ. Perhaps, however, it is illogical and unfair to view them in that light. If the petitions in the text are simply a prayer for justice, then are they right, and such as may fitly be presented at the throne of grace. If the strong desire was that God would assert His own presence and power and glory before the heathen who said, Where is their God? then the desire is commendable. The time came when He did interpose in judgment. In that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain. And Darius the Median took the kingdom.
3. Urges his petition with powerful pleas. On two grounds the Psalmist urges his prayer. He pleads the greatness and urgency of the peoples need. We are brought very low. Their affliction and helplessness was an appeal to His pity. Their numbers were diminished, their condition was deplorable; if He did not quickly come to their aid they would be utterly undone. He pleads the glory of the Divine name. For the glory of Thy name; for Thy names sake. The idea is, that as they were His redeemed people, His professed people, His honour was involved in the question of their salvation or their destruction. There is no plea so mighty with God as that of His own honour, when it is sincerely urged. If He left them to perish, the heathen would say that He could not or would not save them. If He delivered them, the mockers would be silenced, and His name would be feared. In ancient time God had proclaimed His name to Moses, and there is in this plea, probably, an allusion to that proclamation. If so, there is an appeal to His faithfulness, that He would maintain that name.
III. A devout resolution. So we Thy people and sheep of Thy pasture will give Thee thanks for ever: we will show forth Thy praise to all generations. This is the language of
1. Confidence. With assured faith they looked forward to the salvation of God. They anticipated deliverance and blessing.
2. Gratitude. With thankful hearts they would ascribe unto Him the praise and glory of their redemption. And they would transmit the story of His wondrous doings on their behalf to coming generations, that they also might praise Him.
3. Service. It is implied here that they would no more turn aside to idols or decline from His ways, but would serve Him with glad and grateful hearts.
CONCLUSION.
1. Blessed are they who, having tasted that He is gracious, have not by sin exiled themselves from Gods favour and fellowship. Brethren, prize your blessedness. Walk in the light, as He is in the light, so shall your path be cheered by His presence and conduct you to His throne.
2. Let those who have departed from God return unto Him with earnest prayer and devout resolution. Your hope is in the tender mercy of the Lord. (See Jer. 3:12; Jer. 3:22.)
PROFANE INTRUDERS IN SACRED PLACES
(Psa. 79:1.)
The holy land, the holy house, and the holy city were all polluted by the uncircumcised. We have in this an illustration of what is taking place in this day
I. In Christian churches. The Church is Gods inheritance. The Church of God, which He hath purchased with His own blood. The Church is the abode of God, His temple. He dwells in it by His Spirit. Desecrating intruders have entered into it.
1. Ritualism. Forms, ceremonies, genuflexions, pictures, symbols, instead of the worship of God in spirit and in truth. Superstition instead of faith. Sacraments instead of the living, personal Saviour.
2. Rationalism. Human philosophies instead of the Gospel of Christ. Theories of self-culture instead of the regenerating and sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit.
3. Selfish religionism. The church is desecrated by men who are religious that they might escape a coarse, materialistic hell, and gain an inglorious and vulgar heaven. Their spiritual state is the very opposite of that expressed in Xaviers beautiful hymn
My God, I love Thee, not because
I hope for heaven thereby; &c.
But the spirit which should animate our churches is not that of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. The Christian spirit is not self-seeking, but self-sacrificing.
II. In human spirits. The human spirit is the inheritance of God, which He has redeemed. Ye are not your own; for ye are bought with a price. The human spirit is also the temple of God. Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the spirit of God dwelleth in you? What intruders have defiled and desecrated this temple? Worldliness, carnality, selfishness, hatred, impurity, have defiled Gods holy temple. The human soul has too often resembled a whited sepulchre or a cage of every unclean and hateful bird rather than the dwelling place of God. Even amongst religious men there are some in whose soul a human formula or creed has usurped the place of God; they are theologians, not Christians. There are others in whose soul some ecclesiastical system has usurped the place of God; they are more devoted to the church, or to our denomination, or to our body, than to the Lord of all.
These desecrating intruders must be expelled from the Church, or they will lay it in ruins. These unholy spirits that have entered the human soul must be cast out, or that temple of God will become a synagogue of Satan.
On the contrast exhibited in this verse and Psa. 78:55 of the preceding Psalm a useful discourse might be made. Subject,What God does for man, and what man does for God. I. God casts out the heathen for His people, His people by their sins admit the heathen to destroy His city. II. God gave to His people an inheritance, His people suffer His inheritance to be invaded by foes. III. God provided dwelling-places for His people, His people defiled His dwelling-place, and allowed others to defile it also, &c. Or the contrast might be exhibited thus,
I. Gods faithfulness, mans unfaithfulness.
II. Gods goodness, mans ingratitude.
III. Gods conquering power, mans cowardly weakness, &c.
A MODEL PRAYER
(Psa. 79:9.)
I. The Person addressed. O God of our salvation. Our God, even when He is most severely angry, is not the God of destruction, but of salvation.
1. God was their only Saviour. They were brought so very low as to be beyond the help of all others.
2. God was their sufficient Saviour. He who delivered their fathers from the Egyptians could deliver them from the Chaldeans.
II. The Prayer offered. Three requests they make to God.
1. For Pardon. Purge away our sins.
2. For Deliverance. Deliver us from our afflictions, from our enemies.
3. For Assistance. Help us to bear our troubles, to serve Thee in our lives.
III. The plea urged. For the glory of Thy name, for Thy names sake. The honour of His name would be affected by His treatment of their prayer. If He did not deliver them, the heathen would say that He could not or would not help them. If He delivered them, the display of His mercy would excite admiration, the exhibition of His power would beget awe. His name would be feared. The choicest mercies Gods people have are for His names sake: they have pardon of sin for His names sake (Psa. 25:11; 1Jn. 2:12); purging of sin for His names sake; leading in the paths of righteousness for His names sake (Psa. 23:3); quickening of their dead and dull hearts for His names sake (Psa. 143:11). Though His people offend Him, yet He forsakes them not, for His great names sake.
Let us ask for spiritual blessings of God, urging in faith this plea, and we shall receive, and our joy will be full.
THE AFFLICTIONS OF MAN AND THE HELP OF GOD
(Psa. 79:11.)
The prisoners are those of the Hebrews who were in bondage and suffering. Those that are appointed to die might apply to those who were condemned to death; or to those who were sick and in danger of death; or to those who were prisoners and captives, and who were, by their sufferings, exposed to death.
I. The afflictions of man. The prisoner, those that are appointed to die. To be a prisoner is to be deprived of light, of liberty, &c. How many and varied are the afflictions of man. The sighs and cries of the suffering are ever arising from our world.
Each new morn
New widows howl; new orphans cry; new sorrows
Strike heaven on the face, that it resounds
Like syllable of dolour.Shakespeare.
II. The help of God. It is His to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound. As a helper He is
1. Quick to hear. The sigh of a prisoner in the dungeon reaches His ear in an instant.
2. Strong to save. The greatness of Thy power. His energy is more than equal to the extremest human need. And His tenderness is as great as His strength.
III. The connecting link between the two. Prayer is the means whereby suffering man obtains the help of God. Prayer implies in the suppliant felt need and faith in God. To the ear of God a sigh may be a devout and earnest prayer.
Let distressed and dying men direct their sighs to God and obtain relief.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Psalms 79
DESCRIPTIVE TITLE
Invasion, Desecration, Demolition, Massacre and Derision call forth Lamentation, Expostulation, Petition and Pleading; and the Hope of Deliverance evokes a Promise of Perpetual Praise.
ANALYSIS
Stanza I., Psa. 79:1-4, Lamentation; Stanza II., Psa. 79:5-8, Expostulation and Petition; Stanza III., Psa. 79:9-12, Pleading; Stanza IV., Psa. 79:13, Promise of Perpetual Praise.
(Lm.) PsalmBy Asaph.
1
O God! nations[111] have entered into thine inheritance,
[111] Or: Gentiles.
have made unclean thy holy temple;[112]
[112] Cp. Psa. 74:4-8, Lam. 1:10.
have made Jerusalem heaps of ruins:[113]
[113] Mic. 3:12, Jer. 26:18.
2
have given the dead bodies of thy servants[114] as food to the bird of the heavens,
[114] Deu. 28:26, Jer. 7:33; Jer. 16:4; Jer. 19:7; Jer. 34:20.
the flesh of thy men of kindness[115] to the wild beast of the earth;
[115] Heb. hasidim. In the age of the Macabees (B.C. 168 and following years) the term was adopted as the title of the patriotic party in Israel, who were faithful to the national religion, and resisted the attempts that were made to overthrow itsee 1Ma. 2:12; 1Ma. 7:13, 2Ma. 14:6 (where Hasidaeans is the Heb. hasidim, the plural of this word. It is possible that godly is already used in this sense in Psa. 149:1; Psa. 149:5; Psa. 149:9, if not in Psa. 116:18 as wellDr.
3
have poured out their blood like water
round about Jerusalem with none to bury.[116]
[116] Jer. 14:16; Jer. 16:4.
4
We have become a reproach to our neighbors,
a mockery and derision to them who are round about us.[117]
[117] Psa. 44:13; Psa. 137:7.
5
How long Jehovah wilt thou be angry utterly?
how long shall thy jealousy burn like fire?
6
Pour out thy wrath on the nations that have not known thee,
and on the kingdoms which on thy name have not called;[118]
[118] Cp. Jer. 10:25.
7
For they have[119] devoured Jacob,
[119] M.T. ml.: he hath. But some cod. (w. Aram., Sep., Syr., Vul.): they have. Cp. Jer. 10:25Gn.
and his homestead[120] have laid waste.
[120] So Dr.; cp. Jer. 10:25.
8
Do not remember against us the iniquity of former times![121]
[121] So O.G. But Dr.: (our) forefathers.
haste thee! let thine acts of compassion come to meet us;
for we have been brought very low.
9
Help us O God of our salvation, on account of the honour[122] of thy name
[122] Or: glory.
and rescue us and put a propitiatory covering over[123] our sins, for the sake of thy name.
[123] (Simply) coverPer.; expiateDel.; pardonCarter; atone forLeeser; purge awayKp.; cancelDr., cp. Psa. 65:3 (note).
10
Why should the nations[124] sayWhere is their God?
[124] Or: the Gentiles, cp. Psa. 79:1.
let the avenging of the blood of thy servants which hath been poured out
be made known among the nations before our eyes.[125]
[125] Deu. 32:43.
11
Let the groaning of the prisoner come in before thee,
according to the greatness of thine arm set thou free[126] the sons of death.[127]
[126] So it shd. be (w. Aram., Syr.). Cp. Psa. 105:20, Psa. 146:7.Gn. M.T.: leave remaining. ReprieveDr.
[127] Cp. Psa. 102:20 (2Sa. 12:5).
12
And return to our neighborssevenfold into their bosom
their reproach wherewith they have reproached thee Sovereign Lord!
13
So we, thy people and the flock of thy shepherding[128]
[128] As in Psa. 74:1; cp. Psa. 77:20, Psa. 78:52; Psa. 78:70. The favourite Asaphic way of looking at Israel as a flockDel.
will give thanks[129] unto thee to the ages,
[129] Cp. Psa. 6:5 n.
to generation after generation will tell of thy praise.
(Lm.) To the Chief Musician.
(CMm.) For Lilies of Testimony =the Feast of Weeks.
PARAPHRASE
Psalms 79
O God, Your land has been conquered by the heathen nations. Your Temple is defiled and Jerusalem is a heap of ruins.
2
The bodies of Your people lie exposedfood for birds and animals.
3 The enemy has butchered the entire population of Jerusalem; blood has flowed like water; no one is left even to bury them.
4 The nations all around us scoff. They heap contempt on us.
5 O Jehovah, how long will You be angry with us? Forever? Will Your jealousy burn till every hope is gone?
6 Pour out Your wrath upon the godless nations, not on us! And on kingdoms that refuse to pray, that will not call upon Your name!
7 For they have destroyed Your people Israel, invading every home.
8 Oh, do not hold us guilty for our former sins! Let Your tenderhearted mercies meet our needs, for we are brought low to the dust.
9 Help us, God of our salvation! Help us for the honor of Your name! Oh, save us and forgive our sins.
10 Why should the heathen nations be allowed to scoff, Where is their God? Publicly avenge this slaughter of Your people!
11 Listen to the sighing of the prisoners and those condemned to die. Demonstrate the greatness of Your power by saving them.
12 O Lord, take sevenfold vengeance on these nations scorning You.
13 Then we Your people the sheep of Your pasture, will thank You forever and forever, praising Your greatness from generation to generation.
EXPOSITION
If this psalm now appears as it was first composed, its date must be assigned to the time of the Maccabees; since the time of the Chaldean invasion under Nebuchadnezzar does not suit all its leading features, whereas the persecutions and profanations of Antiochus Epiphanes, against which the Maccabean resistance was directed, serve to supply in counterpart the finishing-touches to this picture of Israels troubles. Such a late time of origin does, indeed, leave little space for translation into the Septuagint; but, as the date usually assigned to the execution of this Greek Bible does not necessarily apply to all the sacred books, and some of them, including the Psalms, may well have been added at a somewhat later time, candour must admit the practical possibility of a Maccabean origin of this psalm consistently with its appearance, in the Septuagint where it now stands, in close conformity with its Hebrew original. The alternative theorythat it was originally composed soon after the Chaldean invasion and subsequently freely adapted to the later timeis not wildly improbable, as the known free action of the Sopherim on the Sacred Text sufficiently shews; but, on the other hand, the unity and symmetry of the psalm as we have it, make strongly for one spirit working at one time in its production. In either case, an extract or two from the first book of Maccabees will be acceptable to the general reader. And there came forth out of [them the servants of Alexander the Great, who bare rule in his place] a sinful root, Antiochus Epiphanes, son of Antiochus the king, who had been a hostage in Rome, and he reigned in the hundred and thirty and seventh year of the kingdom of [the Greeks, circa B.C. 176] . . . And Antiochus, after that he had smitten Egypt, returned in the hundred and forty and third year [circa B.C. 170] and went up against Israel and Jerusalem with a great multitude, and entered presumptuously into the sanctuary, and took the golden altar, and the candlestick of the light, and all that pertained thereto, and the table of the shew-bread, and the cups to pour withal, and the bowls, and the golden censers, and the veil, and the crowns, and the adorning of gold which was on the face of the temple, and he scaled it all off. And he took the silver and the gold and the precious vessels; and he took the hidden treasures which he found. And when he had taken all, he went away into his own land, and he made a great slaughter and spake very presumptuously . . . And the land was moved for the inhabitants thereof, and all the house of Jacob was clothed with shame . . . And after two full years the king sent a chief collector of tribute unto the cities of Judah, and he came unto Jerusalem with a great multitude. And he spake words of peace unto them in subtlety, and they gave him credence; and he fell upon the city suddenly, and smote it very sore, and destroyed much people out of Israel. And he took the spoils of the city, and set it on fire, and pulled down the houses thereof and the walls thereof on every side . . . And they shed innocent blood on every side of the sanctuary, and defiled the sanctuary. And the inhabitants of Jerusalem fled because of them . . . And on the fifteenth day of Chislev, in the hundred and forty and fifth year [circa B.C. 168], they builded an abomination of desolation upon the altar, and in the cities of Judah on every side they builded idol altars. And at the doors of the houses and in the streets they burnt incense. And they rent in pieces the books of the law which they found, and set them on fire . . . On the five and twentieth day of the month they sacrificed on the idol altar, which was upon the altar of God (1Ma. 1:10; 1Ma. 1:20-24; 1Ma. 1:29-31; 1Ma. 1:37-38; 1Ma. 1:54-56) . . . And Jerusalem was without inhabitant as a wilderness, there was none of her offspring that went in or went out; and the sanctuary was trodden down, and the sons of strangers were in the citadel, the Gentiles lodged therein; and joy was taken away from Jacob, and the pipe and the harp ceased (1Ma. 3:45).
The structure of the psalm, according to Del., followed above, is interesting; as revealing three stanzas of nine lines each, closed by a stimple tristich.
The course of thought running through the whole is natural and easy to follow.
The first stanza is filled with lamentation, which takes the obvious course of describing, step by step, Israels deep humiliation; the invasion of the land, the defiling of the temple, the demolition of city, the massacre of inhabitantsespecially of the godly, the contemptuous treatment of the slain, the disregard of the heavy responsibility of shedding blood. This last might have seemed the fitting climax; but, as in Psalms 40 there was to be added Many shall see, &c. though in a totally different strain to that found here; so here there fell to be added a couplet describing the effect of Jerusalems humiliation upon the onlooking neighbouring nationalities, as to the renewed reference to whom in Psa. 79:12, Delitzsch well says: That the prayer comes back in Psa. 79:12 to the neighboring peoples, is explained by the fact that these, seeing they might the soonest have attained to the knowledge of the God of Israel as the one true and living God, bear the greatest guilt on account of their reviling of Him.
Naturally, a stanza follows, taken up with expostulation (How long? Psa. 79:5), and petitions (Pour outDo not rememberHaste thee, Psa. 79:6-8), sustained, no doubt, by reasons, expressed and implied; among which may be singled out the prayer against heathen nations, for the purpose of interposing the caution to be careful not to exaggerate these imprecations, seeing that the simplicity of poetically expressed Eastern thought clearly allows us to understand positives as amounting to comparatives: If thy wrath must be outpoured, let it be rather on the nations, &c.
But these reasoned petitions, are, in the third stanza, followed by yet more urgent pleadings; which may usefully remind us how much of this element is to be found in the prayers of the faithful throughout the Holy Scriptures; as witness, especially, the prayers of Abraham (Genesis 18), (Daniel 9) and the writer of Psalms 119; and though, at first sight, it might appear to have been discountenanced by our Lord (Mat. 6:7-13), yet both his own teaching (Luk. 11:8; Luk. 18:1) and example (John 17, Mar. 14:22-39) caution us to bear in mind that all repetition need not be vain. Indeed it may safely be said: That he who has not learned to plead in prayer, has not yet learned to pray at allespecially by way of intercession (1Ti. 2:1-8). It will not be lost labour, if the devout reader look through this third stanza afresh, in order to note in how many directions there is an outgoing of sympathy to his suffering brethren, on the part of the psalmist, prompting to a holy boldness in drawing near to his God.
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
1.
Do you accept the late date for the composition of this psalmi.e., during the period of the Maccabees?
2.
We must associate this psalm with a desecration and destruction of the Templewhich one? Discuss the reasons for your choice.
3.
War has not changed. We could use the description given here to describe a thousand wars. Who has won by wars?
4.
The writer of the psalm feels that jealousy is the cause for the calamity. Discuss.
5.
Are we to assume that God acts on nationstribes and families as well as individuals? i.e. the sins of nationstribes and families accumulate over a period of time until God brings punishment? If not this, what?
6.
The personal pronoun appears very prominently: (a) your land, (b) your Temple, (c) your people, (d) your name-why? Did it help?
7.
There is both strength and weakness in the promises of the afflicted. Discuss.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(1) Inheritance.Probably intended to embrace both land and people. (Exo. 15:17; Psa. 74:2, &c.)
Heapsi.e., ruins. (Comp. Mic. 3:12; Jer. 26:18; and in singular, Mic. 1:6.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
1. O God, the heathen are come into thine inheritance True to his Hebrew heart, the religious aspects of the desolation first meet his eye. The phrase, “The heathen are come into thine inheritance,” means, they have possessed themselves of what belonged to God, namely, the land and the people of the covenant. This unveiled at once the greatness of their calamity, the severest point of which was, they had defiled the temple of his holiness a desecration implying utter demolition. as in Psa 74:7.
They have laid Jerusalem on heaps Instead of the idea of waste masses thrown together, the Septuagint reads, “They have made Jerusalem a storehouse of fruits;” and the Vulgate has followed, in pomorum custodian: as if the idea were, that of heaps of guarded commissary stores. But this, says Furst, is by an incorrect reading of the Hebrew.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Psalms 79
Introduction – Psalms 79, as in Psalms 74, makes reference to the captivity of Judah and the destruction of the Temple. If this considered is a post-exile psalm based upon the description of Psa 79:1-4, then it was written by the sons of Asaph, or his school of composers. If it was written by Asaph himself, he is called a seer, or prophet (2Ch 25:1-2; 2Ch 29:30), and he would have written this psalm as a future prophecy, since this was the office and ministry of Asaph.
1Ch 25:1, “Moreover David and the captains of the host separated to the service of the sons of Asaph , and of Heman, and of Jeduthun, who should prophesy with harps, with psalteries, and with cymbals : and the number of the workmen according to their service was:
1Ch 25:2, “Of the sons of Asaph ; Zaccur, and Joseph, and Nethaniah, and Asarelah, the sons of Asaph under the hands of Asaph, which prophesied according to the order of the king.
2Ch 29:30, “Moreover Hezekiah the king and the princes commanded the Levites to sing praise unto the LORD with the words of David, and of Asaph the seer . And they sang praises with gladness, and they bowed their heads and worshipped.”
Psa 79:1 (A Psalm of Asaph.) O God, the heathen are come into thine inheritance; thy holy temple have they defiled; they have laid Jerusalem on heaps.
Psa 79:2 Psa 79:2
Jer 19:7, “And I will make void the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem in this place; and I will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies, and by the hands of them that seek their lives: and their carcases will I give to be meat for the fowls of the heaven, and for the beasts of the earth .”
Psa 79:6 Pour out thy wrath upon the heathen that have not known thee, and upon the kingdoms that have not called upon thy name.
Psa 79:6
Jer 10:25, “Pour out thy fury upon the heathen that know thee not, and upon the families that call not on thy name: for they have eaten up Jacob, and devoured him, and consumed him, and have made his habitation desolate.”
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
Prayer in the Midst of Oppression.
v. 1. O God, the heathen are come into Thine inheritance, v. 2. The dead bodies of Thy servants have they given to be meat unto the fowls of the heaven, v. 3. Their blood have they shed like water round about Jerusalem, v. 4. We are become a reproach to our neighbors, v. 5. How long, Lord? Wilt Thou be angry forever? Shall Thy jealousy burn like fire? v. 6. Pour out Thy wrath upon the heathen that have not known Thee, v. 7. For they have devoured Jacob, v. 8. O remember not against us former iniquities, v. 9. Help us, O God of our salvation, v. 10. Wherefore should the heathen, v. 11. Let the sighing of the prisoner, v. 12. and render unto our neighbors, v. 13. So we, Thy people and sheep of Thy pasture,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
EXPOSITION
THIS is “a psalm of complaint, closely parallel to Psa 74:1-23.” (Cheyne), and must, like that psalm, be referred to the time of the Babylonian conquest. It shows us the Holy Land occupied by the heathen, the temple desecrated, Jerusalem laid in ruins, the special servants of God put to death, and the whole nation of the Israelites become an object of scorn and reproach to their neighbours (Psa 74:1-4). Some critics have supposed that it might have been written after the invasion of Shishak; but the condition of things is far worse than can be reasonably supposed to have been reached at that period. Others incline to assign it to the age of the Maccabees; but Jerusalem was not then destroyed, much less “laid on heaps” (Psa 74:1). Hence the general voice of commentators is in favour of the date here advocated.
The psalm consists of four strophes of four verses each, together with an epilogue consisting of one verse only. In Psa 74:1-4 the situation is described. In Psa 74:5-8 and Psa 74:9-12 prayer is made to God for deliverance, and for vengeance upon the cruel enemy. Psa 74:13 is an expression of confidence in God, and a promise of perpetual thankfulness.
Psa 79:1
O God, the heathen are come into thine inheritance (comp. Psa 74:2; Psa 78:62). Israelalike the people and the landis “God’s inheritance.” Thy holy temple have they defiled. The Babylonians defiled the temple by breaking into it, seizing its treasures and ornaments (Jer 52:17-23), and finally setting fire to it (Jer 52:13). They have laid Jerusalem on heaps. This was certainly not done either by Shishak or by Antiochus Epiphanes; but was done, as prophesied (Jer 9:11; Jer 26:18; Mic 3:12), by the Babylonians.
Psa 79:2
The dead bodies of thy servants have they given to Be meat unto the fowls of the heaven. A common incident of warfare (see the Assyrian sculptures, passim). The flesh of thy saints unto the beasts of the earth; or, of the land. Hyaenas and jackals would dispute the flesh of the slain with vultures and crows.
Psa 79:3
Their blood have they shed like water round about Jerusalem. During the long siege (eighteen months) the number slain in the neighbourhood of Jerusalem would be very large. And there was none to bury them (compare the prophecy of Jeremiah, Jer 14:16). The population being for the most part carried into captivity, and but few left in the land (Jer 52:15, Jer 52:16), the bodies of the slain lay unburied, the few left not being able to bury them. Compare the preceding verse.
Psa 79:4
We are become a reproach to our neighbours.
Psa 79:5
How long, Lord? i.e. “How long, O Lord, is this condition of things to endure?” (comp. Psa 6:5; Psa 90:13; Rev 6:10). An ellipse after “how long?” is common. Wilt thou be angry forever? (see Psa 13:1; Psa 74:12; Lam 5:20). Shall thy jealousy burn like fire? It was their worship of other gods that God especially visited on his people by the Babylonish captivity (see Jeremiah, passim).
Psa 79:6
Pour out thy wrath upon the heathen that have not known thee. It is not the heathen that had never heard of God who are intended, but those who, having heard of him, had refused to “know” him (comp. Exo 5:2), as was the case with all the nations round about Canaan. And upon the kingdoms that have not called upon thy Name. Now that we are punished, go on to punish those who have persecuted us, and who are at least as guilty as ourselves. “The prayer rests,” as Hengstenberg remarks, “upon what God does constantly. Judgment begins at the house of God; but it proceeds thence to those whom God has employed as the instrument of his punishment. The storm of the wrath of God always remains to fall at last upon the world at enmity with his Church.”
Psa 79:7
For they have devoured Jacob, and laid waste his dwelling place. This and the preceding verso occur also, almost word for word, in Jer 10:25. It is difficult to say which writer has quoted from the other.
Psa 79:8
O remember not against us former iniquities; or, the iniquities of our forefathers (so Professor Cheyne and the Revised Version); comp. Le 26:45, “I will remember to them the covenant of their ancestors”where the same word () is used. Let thy tender mercies speedily prevent us; or, come to meet us (Kay, Cheyne). For we are brought very low (comp. Psa 111:6; Psa 142:6).
Psa 79:9
Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of thy Name. The calamities suffered have not extinguished all faith or hope. God is still the God of Israel’s salvation, i.e. the God from whom alone salvation can be obtained and may be expected. He is entreated to come to Israel’s aid, not for their sakes, as they are wholly undeserving, but for his own glory (comp. Exo 32:12; Num 14:13; Deu 9:28; and Deu 32:27). And deliver us, and purge away our sins; literally, make atonement for our sins (Exo 30:15); i.e. “cancel them” (Cheyne), or “forgive them” (Hengstenberg, Kay). For thy Name’s sake (comp. Psa 23:3; Psa 25:11; Psa 34:3; Eze 36:22).
Psa 79:10
Wherefore should the heathen say, Where is their God? (so Joe 2:17). A triumph over a foreign nation was always regarded in the ancient world as a triumph over their gods. Their gods were bound to protect them, and, if they did not, must either have been absent or powerless. Let him be known among the heathen in our sight by the revenging of the blood of thy servants which is shed; rather, let there be shown forth among the heathen in our sight vengeance for the blood of thy servants that has been shed; or, in other words, “Let an evident judgment, visible to us, fall upon the heathen who have shed the blood of our brethren, thy true servants.” An immediate judgment is prayed for; but it did not please God to send the judgment till after the expiration of a long term of years.
Psa 79:11
Let the sighing of the prisoner come before thee; or, the groaning, as in Exo 2:24. The Babylonians treated their Jewish captives variously. Some, like Daniel and the “Three Children,” were favoured, and exalted to high places. But the bulk of them were afflicted and oppressed (see Lam 1:3-5; Lam 5:18, etc.). But, whether well or ill treated, all sighed to return (comp. Psa 137:1-6). According to the greatness of thy power preserve thou those that are appointed to die; literally, that are children of death, which may have the meaning assigned to it in our version, or may simply signify, “those whose death is imminent”who cannot live long now that they are torn from their country. The phrase recurs in Psa 102:20.
Psa 79:12
And render unto our neighbours sevenfold into their bosom their reproach, wherewith they have reproached thee, O Lord. (For the “reproach” intended, see Psa 79:10.) The whole passage means, “Punish them seven times as much as thou hast punished us.” Then their reproach will be seven times as great.
Psa 79:13
So we thy people and sheep of thy pasture (see Psa 74:1; and comp. Psa 78:52). Will give thee thanks forever. When thou hast punished our enemies, and delivered us, we will give thee thanks perpetually, and show forth thy praise to all generations. An instance of identical parallelism.
HOMILETICS
Psa 79:9
For the glory of thy Name.
The mariner throws out his heaviest anchor when the storm rages; if that will not hold, nothing else can save. So the psalmist puts out this plea. The tempest of judgment was sweeping over the land. The future was dark. Israel’s unfaithfulness had forfeited God’s promises. We have no certain clue to the exact occasion of this psalm. The Spirit who spake by the prophets would not tie it up to one time of trial, but let it stand ready for the Church’s use. Serious difficulties beset the explanations that it belongs to the time either of Nebuchadnezzar or of the Maccabees. Much may be said for referring it to the Egyptian invasion in the time of Rehoboam; which, if not equally calamitous with the Assyrian and Babylonian, must have appeared unspeakably terrible, following close on the glories of David and Solomon; flinging over the heads of devout Israelites the deadly fear that God was about to annul his covenant and forsake his people. “If the foundations,” etc. (Psa 11:3). He can take refuge in God. So Jeremiah (Jer 14:21).
I. WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS PLEA? A name stands for much or little, according to whose it is. A stranger’s palls on our ear as empty sound. A great man’sMilton, Wren, Howard, Wilberforcestands not only for the man himself, but his work. We think of ‘Paradise Lost,’ St. Paul’s, the lightening of the prisoners’ misery, the freedom of the slave. A friend’s name sets a thousand echoes ringing, the heart beating; brings roses to the cheek or tears to the eye. A man’s name stands for his character, credit, faith. The banker looks what name is at the back of the paper. “Give us your name,” say the promoters of an enterprise, “and we are certain of success.” Pro 22:1 true in more senses than one. When a man gives his name, he pledges his honour. So, then, God’s name stands for his honour, promise, characterin a word, for his very self; and for all that we know concerning him (see Exo 3:13; Exo 6:3 ). When Moses asked to see God’s glory, the Lord answered that he would proclaim his Name (Exo 33:19; Exo 34:5; cf. Exo 23:21). Our Saviour sums up his work on earth thus (Joh 17:6). The “glory“ of God‘s Name, then, corresponds, humanly speaking, with what every honest man holds dearer than lifehis character. On God’s part it stands for his claim to love, trust, obedience, gratitude, reverence, adoration. On ours, when we exercise all these, we are said to “give glory to God,” “the glory due unto his Name.”
II. WHAT IS THIS PLEA WORTH? Wherein lies its force and value? “For men to search their own glory is not glory.” Some minds are perplexed by the thought that what is wrong for us cannot be right for God; and so God cannot make his glory the object of his dealings. This is for want of clear thought. Eternal principles of right and wrong are the same with God as with us, else no mortal likeness to God possible. But duties change with relationships; parental not the same as filial; or a king’s as a private citizen’s. That God is what he is is the eternal foundation of all happiness, life, being. That he should be known to be what he is, and receive the love, obedience, worship, due to him, is indispensable to the order and well being of his children. If all men glorified God perfectly, this would be a happy and glorious world. Just because it is possible for us to glorify God, it is degrading and unhappy to live for lower ends. To live for self is lowest of all, self-worship the worst idolatry. To live for othersfor your family, your profession, your country, your fellow men,this is noble as far as it goes. But high above all other aims (like the snow peak above lower heights) rises this crowning achievement. The highest life was his who could say Joh 17:4. If this is true of each, it must be true of all. And God must act according to truth. “He cannot deny himself;” cannot abdicate, or “give his glory to another.” Impossible! If we try to imagine such an impossibility, we see it would be an infinite wrong to all creatures no less than to the Creator. Clouds in the sky do not hinder the sun’s rays from filling space; but they shut them out from earth. Life is depressed; were they dense enough permanently and completely to shut out the sunlight, it would perish. So all that hides God’s glory is deadly to man’s true life.
III. WHEN AND BY WHOM MAY THIS PLEA BE USED? By all God’s children at all times. It ought to be the prayer of all men. Our Saviour sets it in the forefront of our prayer, “Hallowed,” etc. If our hearts beat true, no selfish desire will compete with this; God’s honour will be dearer than life. Yet our best welfare is comprehended (Pro 18:10; Psa 25:11). But this plea specially fits times of public distress and danger, as in this psalm; and the position and work of God’s Church in the world. Moses urged it (Exo 32:1-35.; Num 14:1-45.); Joshua (Jos 7:9). These two petitions are inseparable, “Hallowed be thy Name; thy kingdom come.”
IV. THE GOSPEL IS THE GREAT ANSWER TO THIS PRAYER. This was the angels’ song (Luk 2:14); our Saviour’s prayer, and God’s answer (Joh 12:28). This is the gospel messageour sins are forgiven for his Name‘s sake (1Jn 2:12). The glory of God’s Name consists, above all, in righteousness and love. It is often said, and the saying is often blamed, that the gospel reconciles these. Where no discord is, there is no room for reconciliation. Yet, to our view, justice requires punishment; love, pardon. The gospel shows these, not in discord or contrast, but unity (Rom 1:17, Rom 1:18; Rom 3:25, Rom 3:26; Rom 6:23; 1Jn 1:9).
HOMILIES BY S. CONWAY
Psa 79:1-13
An imprecatory psalm.
We need not be at pains to fix the date of this psalm, whether it belongs to the period of the Exile or of Antiochus Epiphanes. The words to some extent suit either. But we note in it
I. WHAT IS RIGHT FOR EVERY ONE. The writer is in sore trouble, but he takes his trouble to God. One purpose of all such trouble has already been wonthe heart has been brought nearer God.
II. WHAT WAS NATURAL AND NOT WRONG FOR ISRAEL, BUT WOULD BE VERY WRONG FOR US. We refer especially to the vengeful utterances which we find in Psa 79:6, Psa 79:10, Psa 79:12, Psa 79:13. Now, concerning them we note:
1. That there are very many such in the Psalms. The comminatory, and especially the imprecatory psalms, have ever been a stumbling block to Christian readers. But there they are, and we cannot get rid of them.
2. They are very natural. The spirit of resentment and revenge is a definite part of human nature; it may manifest itself in varied forms, more or less barbaric, according to the degree of civilization which has been reached, but it exists in all.
3. And in Israel of old it was not wrong. For it must ever be remembered that to them no revelation of the future life, still less of the future judgment, had been given. Had there been any Scripture plainly teaching this doctrine which Christians know so well from the New Testament, our Lord, in showing to the Sadducees who believed no such doctrine, would not have appealed to a text which, unless he had told us so, we should never have regarded as teaching that doctrine at all. Before our Lord so explained it, it had not been recognized that the oft-repeated words, “I am the God of Abraham, of Isaac,” etc; involved the truth of the future life. But there was no more evident text, or it would have been appealed to. Hence, and for many other reasons, we conclude that the truth of the future life and immortality, still less of judgment to come, had not been brought to light when these psalms were written. If this were so, then such as the psalmist could only vindicate the righteousness of God by appealing to his visible acts of judgment and retribution here and now. Were they not seen, who would believe in a righteous God at all? Hence was it that so often, and so prominently, not to say so fiercely, the ancient psalmists and prophets appealed to God as in this psalm. Had they known what we do, there would have been no such appeals made. It was not mere personal revenge or national hate, but jealousy for the honour of God’s Name, and therefore we say that, however wrong such sentiments would be for us, in them they were not wrong.
4. But for us they would be wrong, being altogether opposed to the Spirit of Christ.
5. All this does not condemn either national or personal self-defence.
III. HOW WE MAY LAWFULLY ADOPT FOR OURSELVES THIS WHOLE PSALM AND ALL SUCH PSALMS. By turning all these prayers for the destruction of enemies against the hosts of spiritual wickedness, “the gates of hell” which do sore assail, and seek to prevail over the people of God. They are the heathen, the defilers, the destroyers, the shedders of blood, the mockers, the oppressors. Not against our fellow men, but against them, we may and should thus pray. The devil and his angels are no mere myth or superstition, but terrible realities, and every faithful soul knows sadly well their cruel tyranny, and seemingly invincible might.S.C.
Psa 79:8
Brought very low.
I. THIS A CONDITION VERY COMMON. Sometimes it is through:
1. Mental distress, helplessness, sorrow, despair.
2. Or sickness of body, as Hezekiah.
3. Or outward disaster, as in this psalm.
II. ITS CAUSES GENERALLY TRACEABLE:
1. To ourselvesour own sin or folly.
2. To others with whom we are associated.
See this verse, where “former iniquities” mean the iniquities of people who have lived before us. Parents, ancestors. We all are members one of another, and if one suffer, all others suffer with him. Hence it may be their sin or folly rather than our own.
3. To God. He, as with Job, may see fit to let us be brought very low.
III. ITS REASONS VARIOUS.
1. Punishment.
2. Discipline.
3. For the drawing of the soul nearer God.
4. For opportunity of testifying to God’s sustaining grace.
5. To teach sympathy.
IV. BESET WITH PERIL. The devil loves to hit a man when he is down. Hence he assails the mind with thoughts hard, bitter, unbelieving, desperate. Shipwreck of faith and good conscience lies near at hand.
V. BUT MAY BECOME THE MEANS OF GREAT SPIRITUAL ATTAINMENT. Even our Lord “learned obedience” so.S.C.
Psa 79:10
The heathen taunt.
I. THE HEATHEN DID SAY THISWhere is their God? The Jew had talked so much of his God, how great and glorious he was, what wonderful works he had done, the victories he had given them, that now, in view of their burning city, their desecrated temple, the heaps of slain in their streets, the heathen in pride and scorn flung this taunt in their faceWhere is your God?
II. AND THE HEATHEN SAY IT STILL. Missionaries go to them, and tell them of God, so holy, merciful, righteous, that many of them are won for God; but lo! there come, soon after, fellow countrymen of the missionariestraders, sailors, and others, who bring vile alcoholic drinks, murderous weapons, vices unnamable, and much else with them, and do their bad best to make the heathen’s home a hell: what wonder if they should ask, as they doWhere is your God?
III. AND MEN GODLESS AS HEATHENS SAY IT HERE IN OUR OWN LAND.
1. So called scientific men. One of them, the other day, contemptuously declared that he had been looking down a microscope for some thirty years, and he hadn’t found God yet; and he was sure he should have found him if there was a God to be found. And many others scoff at the idea of God, and deny his existence, or, at any rate, defy you to prove it.
2. Others, because of the problems of moral and physical evil, refuse to believe in God.
3. Others under the pressure of trial and earthly care: hence they have become bitter and hard, and so east off all Faith.
4. Many others, as they mark the glaring inconsistencies of professed Christians. They condemn them all as false, hypocritical, and insincere.
IV. But we askWHEREFORE SHOULD THEY SAY THIS?
1. Wherefore the man of science? For God is known by the spirit, not the intellect.
2. Or the mind baffled by moral problems? Our children trust us, when they cannot understand: should not God’s children trust him?
3. Or the care-embittered soul? Does the denial of God make care lighter? Would it not be better to humble one’s self before God, and to hide in the shelter of his love?
4. And the declaimer against the inconsistencies of the Church? He exaggerates them, and ignores the mass of true-hearted believers.
CONCLUSION. But let us take care to give no occasion for the heathen to sayWhere, etc.?S.C.
HOMILIES BY R. TUCK
Psa 79:1-4
Times of persecution.
Such times have been repeated over and over again. They must be recognized as parts of the Divine administration, and we must inquire how they are made to bear on the spiritual interests of God’s Church in the world. They are not merely historical incidents. They are not merely isolated calamities. They are only seen and apprehended aright when they are seen to be Divine permissions, and even taken up and used for high moral ends by Divine power. They are one form in which God’s Church is disciplined, and, through discipline, perfected. Illustrate from the Book of Revelation, which deals so largely with the persecution of Christ’s Church, but shows us the Church being sanctified through its tribulation. Illustrative cases of persecution may be taken from
(1) Old Testament history; e.g. the times of Jezebel.
(2) New Testament history; e.g. the time succeeding Stephen’s martyrdom.
(3) Early Church history; e.g. the persecution under Diocletian.
(4) Middle Age history: give some account of the work of the Inquisition in Spain.
(5) Modern Age history: see the persecution of the native Christians in Madagascar, under the Queen Ranavalona.
The historical associations of this psalm with the seventy-fourth, which is singularly like it, cannot be certainly assured. It is generally agreed that it must refer to the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, or to the sack of the city by Antiochus Epiphanes. If the latter is referred to, we must recognize that some of the psalms belong to the Maccabean period. The details of these two sieges may be given, and the psalm treated as helping us to realize the misery and distress of God’s people at such a time. The points which may be opened out profitably are these:
1. Judgments on the wicked bring disabilities on the righteous. The invasion of Nebuchadnezzar was a distinct Divine judgment on the Israelite nation. The Babylonians did but execute the Divine judgment, as Israel itself had, in previous ages, executed the Divine judgments on the Canaanites. Sometimes God was pleased to spare the few faithful ones, as in the case of Noah; the prophets preserved by Obadiah; and the Christians at the Roman siege of Jerusalem. But usually the judgments affected the pious and the wicked; and the attitude of the pious under the judgment became an appeal and an example. It should, however, be noticed that judgments on the wicked are only chastisements to the righteous.
2. The trouble of the righteous is the insult offered to God, rather than the damage done to themselves. Here the defiling of God’s temple is the chief complaint. This better suits an association with Antiochus Epiphanes. In all times of public calamity, the good man is chiefly concerned about God’s honour, as Joshua was when he cried, “What wilt thou do unto thy great Name?” Such concern for God’s honour is one of the surest signs of right heartedness.R.T.
Psa 79:5
Expected limitations of the Divine wrath.
“How long, O Jehovah, wilt thou be angry forever?” The duration of Divine judgment may seem long to pious feeling; it is known not to be long, when faith begins to read it aright. The Divine wrath is ever in the control of the Divine righteousness and the Divine love. There is no personal feeling in it. When its ends are reached, the Divine wrath is satisfied. God’s people may comfort themselves with the assurance that there are three limitations always being put on the Divine wrath.
I. THE DIVINE HONOUR. Of that honour God is jealous. We may be quite sure that he will never act, or continue to act, in such ways as would reasonably give men wrong thoughts concerning him. Take one thing: the good man may be quite sure that God will never so act as to produce impressions of personal vindictiveness. We may not think of God as “hating” anything that he has made. His judgments are official, parts of the wise ordering of his kingdom. No man could have high ideas of the Divine honour who failed to realize the strict limitations of the Divine wrath. Judgments on frail men could not honour the God of righteousness and love, if they were continued forever. They end when their object is gained.
II. THE DIVINE PURPOSE. This too must be seen to be official, not personal. The well being of the creature, not his own pleasure, we are to regard as the purpose ever set before God. It is, however, a moral purpose concerning a moral being; and call be best represented by the aims cherished in the family life. Parents hold ever before them the good manhood and womanhood of their children; and in their efforts to secure these things, strict limitations have to be put on times of wrath and judgment. If God’s purpose is to fit us to be with him, and to have us with him, his anger can but be a “hiding of his face for a little moment;” it cannot be forever. If God’s purpose is our betterment, no agency used by him can be unduly continued. If it were, “our souls would fail before him.” Illustrate from the Church in the wilderness; the times of the prophets; such Christian times as the age of our Queen Mary. The Divine purpose of dispensations of wrath must be fully accomplished; and therefore troubles, calamities, and persecutions may have to stay wearyingly long, until the souls of the martyred cry out, “How long, O Lord, how long!” But God has the long ages to work in, and his purposes are ever “ripening fast, unfolding every hour.”
III. THE DIVINE PITY. The psalmist found comfort in thinking of this. “He knoweth our frame, he remembereth that we are dust.” His judgments and his chastisements are always strictly limited to that which we are able to bear. There is something very like untrustfulness in the plaint of our text. He who is sure of the Divine pity and love has no voice in which to utter the fear that his judgments can be forever.”R.T.
Psa 79:6, Psa 79:7
Praying against our enemies.
The gravest difficulties in treating the Book of Psalms concern the entire psalms, and the passages in the psalms, which seem to be invocations of wrath on personal enemies. This is reasonably felt to be wholly contrary to the spirit of Christianity. It is not, however, usually noticed, that it is a hopeful sign for a man to speak his bad feelings out to God. He will do mischief if he speaks them out to his fellow men. He will do no mischief if he speaks them out to God. Before him the man will soon grow calm, and begin to think more kindly. Illustrate by the relief it is, when we feel very strongly about a matter, to speak out quite freely to some one who, we are sure, will not make mischief of it. We feel better when we have got it out. The psalmists were wise in thisthat when they felt disagreeably towards their fellows, they told God, and not their fellows. It is also pointed out that most, if not all, the imprecatory psalms represent official rather than personal feelings; and a king or governor may pray against the national enemies, as Hezekiah might properly pray against the Assyrians. From a person acting officially, we presume that the element of temper is excluded. The mischief done by the invaders was distinctly nationalthe desecration of the temple, the reduction of the city to a heap of ruins, the exposure of the dead, the captivity of multitudes. Prayer for the turning of God’s judgments on the nation’s enemies could not be regarded as improper, seeing that exactly this God had done over and over again, notably in the case of Sennacherib. What God would do it could not be wrong to pray him to do. And seeing God says, “Avenge not yourselves;” “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord;” it may even be regarded as an act of virtue and piety to restrain our vengeance, and commit our vindications unto the Lord. He who prays against his enemies will not take upon himself his own vindications. The following thoughts may be opened and illustrated.
I. We had better pray against our enemies than fight against them.
II. When we pray we commit all the times and ways of judgment on them to the infinitely wise and gracious Lord. In even this prayer we should say, “Nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt.”
III. If we pray about persons, we soon begin to change our feelings towards them.
IV. But it is the height to which Christian principle raises us, when we pray for our enemies rather than against them. The older religion prayed for vengeance on them, the newer religion prays for mercy towards them. “If thine enemy hunger, feed him: if he thirst, give him drink.”R.T.
Psa 79:8
The trouble of our old sins.
Prayer book Version, “Oh remember not our old sins.” Because a man cannot forget his old sins, he is very disposed to think that God cannot forget them either. And this he will do in face of the repeated assurances of God’s Word, that his forgiving includes his forgetting. Three very striking figures are used to assure us that God will not keep the memory of the sins which he has forgiven and blotted out.
1. It is as if they were thrown “behind his back.”
2. It is as if they were “cast into the depths of the sea.”
3. It is as if they were removed from us “far as the east is from the west.” We can never really think that God will bring up against us what he has forgiven. The fear that he will only tells of the state of our own hearts. We may, therefore, consider
I. THE REASONABLE USE WE MAY MAKE OF THE MEMORY OF PAST SINS. This may be applied to both national and family sins. Israel was required to keep in memory the sins of its forefathers, and prophets made it part of their work to remind Israel of those bygone iniquities. So we may be sure that some moral value lies in such memories. This much we can see: they keep us
(1) impressed with the sovereignty of Divine grace; and they bring us
(2) the safeguard of a proper fear of ourselves. In view of the sins of the past, we are plainly the monuments of Divine grace; all boasting is excluded. We can have no claim before God. He must mercifully have passed by transgression and sin in order to “clear the guilty.” He loved us because he loved us, and no more can be said. Divine grace triumphed in bringing salvation to such as we were. See St. Paul’s plea: “Such were some of you; but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the Name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God” (1Co 6:11). And the thought of our past sins brings a worthy humbling, and a holy fear. What we have been we might fall back upon again; and we can only be kept steadfast by the sustainings of Divine grace (comp. Psa 78:8). Nothing checks self confidence, the self-trusting that destroys dependence, like recalling our wilful past. We have fallenthe thought makes us fear lest we should fall again; and forces from us the cry, “Hold thou me up, and I shall be safe.”
II. THE UNREASONABLE USE WE MAY MAKE OF THE MEMORY OF PAST SINS. Dwell chiefly on one point. We are always wrong, and we always act unworthily, when we think of our past sins without thinking also that they are forgiven, blotted out, put away; so far as God is concerned, done with, irrecoverable. It honours God for us to use the memory of our past sins in order to make us more watchful and humble; but it never honours God for us to worry over sins that he has forgiven, and put wholly away from him. We ought to enter into the full joy of his forgiveness.R.T.
Psa 79:9
Purging away sins.
“Deliver us, and purge away our sins;” “Cover our sins.” The figure is evidently one familiar to those brought up under the old covenant system. In it the atonement idea was prominent, as a “covering over” of transgression. The two words are distinct, but closely related; and they suggested the two things which man needs to have done to his sin. It must
(1) be covered over;
(2) it must be purged away.
I. OUR SIN MUST BE “COVERED OVER.” The Mosaic idea of the word “atonement” is very clearly defined. It always means “to cover.” An “atonement” is exactly this, “a sin cover.” It is something that covers sin over; puts it out of sight; bides it from view; removes it from consideration; puts something before God in its place. To “make atonement” is really to “make a sin cover;” and that is but a quaint Hebrew figure for “to make reconciliation,” or to provide a basis or persuasion for reconciliation; “the conception being that sin is thereby covered up, hidden from sight and memory. Exactly the same thing is meant when, using a different figure, it is said to be purged, cleansed, taken away. When the transgressor is said to be atoned or reconciled, the being covered is taken subjectively in the same way; as if something had come upon him to change his unclean state and make him ceremonially or, it may be, spiritually pure. But the subject thus atoned is not only covered or cleansed in himself, he is figured as put in a new relation with God, and God with him; and it is as if God were somehow changed towards himnewly inclined, propitiated, or made propitious” (H. Bushnell). As a New Testament illustration of this term, we may be reminded of the words of St. James, “Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him, let him know that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.“ St. James was an apostle of the most Judaic type, and he evidently had in mind the Old Testament idea of covering sin by some conspicuous act of goodness, and so making atonement for it. As an Old Testament illustration, the striking words of Ezekiel may be taken, tie says, in the name of Jehovah, “If the wicked will turn from all his sins that he hath committed, and keep all my statutes, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live, he shall not die. All his transgressions that he hath committed, they shall not be mentioned unto him: in his righteousness that he hath done, he shall live.” That is, his full, hearty return to God shall be graciously regarded as a sin cover, it shall hide from God those former sins which, if God saw, would demand his judgments. There are three very striking historical incidents in the Old Testament which illustrate this “covering over of sin.” They are Moses’ intercession with God in the matter of the golden calf. The atonement made by Aaron in connection with the rebellion of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. And the vindication of Phinehas, when Balaam’s bad advice had brought moral woes on Israel. These were but preparatory illustrations of the way in which man’s sin is “covered over” by the great atonement, the great vindication of the Divine righteousness, made by the Lord Jesus Christ. He is God himself covering over human sin.
II. OUR SIN MUST BE “PURGED AWAY.” We must not for one moment think of the atonement as if it were some device or deception. It is no “covering over” that merely keeps from view. There is another truth that must be clearly seen. Along with the “covering over” goes a “purging away.” It is not covered up and kept, but covered over until it can get purged away. The Word of God is ever trying to help us in apprehending that sin is not the mere act we do, but the state of mind and heart out of which the act comes, and of which it finds the expression. The sin is, as it were, in the stuff, like a stain; so it must be washed, cleansed, purged away. And this is done by Divine discipline. And this the true-hearted man desires to have done in him, and lovingly yields himself to the Divine cleansing. He even makes it a matter of devout and earnest prayer, “Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.” In this passage national calamity is seen as the consequence of national sins; but the psalmist seems almost able to take the truer, deeper view, that those national calamities are doing God’s purging work, and delivering the nation from the power of the old sins. We want our sins covered over, but that cannot content us. We also want them purged away. And this is but another way of saying that we need Jesus the Justifier, and Jesus the Sanctifier.R.T.
Psa 79:11
The cry of the prisoner.
“The sighing of the prisoner.” The prisoner here is not the man under the penalty of his crime. It is the captive placed under wearying limitations, not for personal faults, but as sharing the national disabilities. The case of such may be treated from three points of view. We have the sigh of the captive, the exile, and the oppressed.
I. THE SIGH OF THE CAPTIVE. The restraint of personal liberty is a most grievous distress. Man loves his freedom, and cannot endure bondage. There is the captivity of the body, but there is also a captivity of opinion, and a captivity of habits. When men are awakened, they begin to sigh under these bondages. “He is the free man whom the truth makes free, and all are slaves besides.” Illustrate by the condition of captive Israel in Babylon. One psalmist pictures their distress in a very touching way (Psa 137:1, Psa 137:2), “By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion. We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof.” Not captives in the bodily or in the national sense, we may be captives to sin; then what is the sigh we breathe, and the cry we make, and into whose ears will our cry enter? There is One whose work concerns the “freeing of them that are bound.” There is a trumpet voice which proclaims for all who sigh and cry in the prison house
“The year of jubilee is come,
Return, ye ransomed sinners, home.”
II. THE SIGH OF THE EXILE. Where patriot feeling is strong, it is an inconceivable distress to be away from one’s own land. At least it is to be compelled to be away. We may leave home pleasantly at our own will; we never leave home pleasantly against our will. Illustrate by the passionate yearning of the Babylonian exiles for Jerusalem. “If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning.” See Daniel, the exile, praying with his window open toward Jerusalem. And yet here is a most strange and unnatural thingso many souls are exiled by the compulsions of sin and self-will from their true home in God, and yet they neither sigh nor cry for their return. For all who do sigh there is a Divine Zerubbabel, ever ready to lead them back.
III. THE SIGH OF THE OPPRESSED. For the captive life in Babylon was a life of stern trials and hardships. There were even some “appointed to die,” placed in peril of life. To whom should they cry in their time of sore need, save to the God of their fathers? Like Samson, blind and oppressed, they could find a way to God. And sin is an oppression and humiliation. They who live in sin find it, as the prodigal son did, a hard lot; and presently they cry for home and father and God, even as he did.R.T.
Psa 79:13
Divine relationships our best plea in prayer.
“We thy people and sheep of thy pasture.” This verse gives a gleam of hope and confidence at the end of the long cry of anguish. Compare a New Testament cry, “Though we believe not, yet he abideth faithful; he cannot deny himself.” Illustrate by our Lord’s distress on the cross. In extreme anguish, he yet could say, “My God, my God!” We may set in order three possible pleas which we are permitted to use in prayer.
(1) Our needs;
(2) God’s Name;
(3) God’s relations.
He must be consistent with himself.
I. OUR NEEDS. This may seem the most persuasive plea from our point of view. It is, indeed, our best plea in asking from our fellow men. With them we must make out a clear case of need. And God graciously allows it to be our plea with him. But in our family life we know that the children’s wanting a thing is not a sufficient reason for giving it to them; because their wants and desires are not necessarily their real needs. There are some considerations on which their needs must be estimated. True, we ought to speak quite freely our thoughts about our needs when we draw near to God; and it is equally true that a Divine and gracious consideration of our needs guides the Divine decisions and the Divine doings; but we must not think of this as the supreme persuasion with God.
II. GOD‘S NAME. In the Old Testament it is impressively presented to us that the supreme motive urging God is jealousy of his own Divine Name. All good for man is bound up in keeping the honour of the Divine Name. Man has no anchorage for his trust and hope if God be not infinitely good. For our sakes he must do nothing, give nothing, withhold nothing, if these things imperil his Name, make us question his Divine integrity. Ezekiel is the prophet who puts this point most forcibly. “Thus saith the Lord God, I do not this for your sakes, O house of Israel, but for mine holy Name’s sake” (Eze 36:22). Apply to God’s Name as the Almighty One, the All-holy One, the All-saving One. There must always be consistency between the Divine doings and the Divine Name. Good men, like Joshua, are jealous of the Divine Name.
III. GOD‘S RELATIONS. Not what he abstractly is, but what he relatively is to us. God has been pleased to come into relations with us; to set himself in relations. He has therefore limited himself, conditioned himself, placed himself under honourable obligations. And so our supreme plea in prayer has come to be, reminding God of the honourable obligations involved in his relationships to us. We may be sure of thishe must be true to himself. This may be fully opened out in connection with the most blessed relationship of Fatherhood.R.T.
HOMILIES BY C. SHORT
Psa 79:1-13
Prayer for deliverance from suffering.
“Written in a time of the deepest distress; the city is desolate and the whole nation oppressed by the cruel thraldom of their heathen oppressors. They are apparently deserted by God, and their bitterness enhanced by the feeling that God was exacting from them the penalty for the iniquity of their forefathers.”
I. SUFFERING.
1. God‘s Church seemed in danger of being entirely overthrown. (Psa 79:1-5.) Nothing causes profounder sadness to good men than the apparent triumph of the cause of unrighteousness and injustice.
2. This seemed a retributive penalty for the sins of themselves and their forefathers. (Psa 79:8.) Nothing aggravates our sufferings so much as the knowledge that we, and those connected with us, have been the real causes of them; that they are Divine punishments.
II. THE PRAYER FOR DELIVERANCE. (Psa 79:8, Psa 79:9, Psa 79:12.) Contains three pleas.
1. Their own misery. “We are brought very low;” we are come to great misery (Psa 79:8, Psa 79:12). It is the cry for mercy to a compassionate Father; and God has taught us to make this appeal.
2. For the sake of God‘s own Name. His Name or nature is that he is the God of salvation, and that for his own sake, as well as for the sake of his guilty sons and daughters, he will , deliver. It is his nature to help and save; his glory is his goodness, as we are taught in Exo 34:6, Exo 34:7. But this is more wonderfully brought out in the incarnation and the life and death of Christ. God’s Name or nature is love.
3. Because of their close relation to God. (Exo 34:13.) They are his people, nourished and cared for and led by him. The Lord will not abandon those that are so closely related to him. “The Lord is my Shepherd; therefore I shall not want.” Christ, as the good Shepherd, is his Representative.S.
Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary
Psalms 79.
The Psalmist complaineth of the desolation of Jerusalem: he prayeth for deliverance, and promiseth thankfulness.
A Psalm of Asaph.
Title. mizmor leasaph. This psalm was probably occasioned by the destruction of the Jewish nation by Nebuchadnezzar. The author describes in it the calamities of the times, and prays God to put an end to them at length. As the prophet Jeremiah lived at this time, and as more than one whole verse of it (see Psa 79:6-7.) is found in Jer 10:25 it is not unlikely that it was written by him.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Psalms 79
A Psalm of Asaph
1O GOD, the heathen are come into thine inheritance;
Thy holy temple have they defiled;
They have laid Jerusalem on heaps.
2The dead bodies of thy servants have they given to be meat unto the fowls of the heaven,
The flesh of thy saints unto the beasts of the earth.
3Their blood have they shed like water round about Jerusalem;
And there was none to bury them.
4We are become a reproach to our neighbours,
A scorn and derision to them that are round about us.
5How long, Lord? wilt thou be angry forever?
Shall thy jealousy burn like fire?
6Pour out thy wrath upon the heathen that have not known thee,
And upon the kingdoms that have not called upon thy name.
7For they have devoured Jacob,
And laid waste his dwelling-place.
😯 remember not against us former iniquities:
Let thy tender mercies speedily prevent us;
For we are brought very low.
9Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of thy name:
And deliver us and purge away our sins,
For thy names sake.
10Wherefore should the heathen say, Where is their God?
Let him be known among the heathen in our sight
By the revenging of the blood of thy servants which is shed.
11Let the sighing of the prisoner come before thee;
According to the greatness of thy power preserve thou those that are appointed to die;
12And render unto our neighbours sevenfold into their bosom
Their reproach, wherewith they have reproached thee, O Lord.
13So we thy people and sheep of thy pasture
Will give thee thanks forever:
We will show forth thy praise to all generations.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
Contents and Composition.The Psalm begins by a complaint addressed to God, that Jerusalem has been destroyed amidst the profanation of the Temple, and the pouring out of the blood of His servants (Psa 79:1-4). Upon this there follows, based upon the question as to how long Gods anger was to continue, a prayer that this wrath might be turned against the heathen (57). This prayer then takes the form of a supplication for Gods favor and aid (8, 9), that He would avenge upon the heathen the dishonor which they had inflicted upon His name and His servants (1012), and passes over into a vow that the Church shall offer up to Him thanksgiving to the praise of His glory (13). The points of resemblance to Psalms 74, and to Jeremiah, are so numerous that they have always been the subject of remark. This Psalm is, however, usually (Delitzsch in his last edition also), connected with the devastations in the times of the Seleucid, regarded either as a prophecy (many of the old commentators) or as recording actual events (most of the moderns since Rudinger). But against this there is especially the circumstance that in the first book of Maccabees already translated from the Hebrew, the massacre described in chap. 7 Psalm 79:17, is regarded as a fulfilment of a passage of Scripture, and that Psa 79:2-3 of our Psalm are cited as the passage in question. For the objections to the force of this circumstance, see Ehrt, Abfassungszeit und Abschluss des Psalters, 1869, pp. 13 ff. The desecration mentioned is not indeed to be directly taken as a process of destruction (Hengstenberg, Hupfeld) and yet Eze 25:3 does not exclude the latter. But just as in Psa 74:7 the emphasis is laid upon the profanation on account of the religious feelings of the Israelites. The circumstance, however, that Psa 79:6-7 stand in manifest dependence upon Jer 10:25 must be admitted not to be against a composition in the Chaldean period. [English commentators usually favor the earlier composition. Perowne is as undecided in this case as he is with regard to Psalms 74. Yet he says: It has not, I believe, been noticed, and yet it appears to me almost certain that the prayer of Daniel (Psa 9:16), contains allusions to the language of this Psalm.J. F. M.] The Jews read Psalms 79, 137 on the 9th of Abib, the day on which they call to remembrance the Chaldean and Roman destructions of Jerusalem.
Psa 79:1. Inheritance usually means the holy people,Psa 74:2; Psa 78:64; Psa 78:71, but here as in Exo 15:17 it means the Holy Land, including the City and Temple. The circumstance that the corpses were not buried, is not merely mentioned on account of their great numbers, but also on account of the disgrace connected with such an indignity, in accordance with Deu 28:26. This was still further heightened by the circumstance that it was the heathen who were pouring out the blood of Gods servants like water (Deu 15:23), as though it were worthless and unworthy of regard, and that they were blaspheming the name of God, whom they did not know, by deriding Him as impotent, since they had laid in ruins the city which was known as His dwelling-place (Mic 3:12; Jer 26:18).
Psa 79:7 f. Instead of the scarcely tolerable singular between unmistakable plurals, 16 codices of Kennicott, and 9 of De Rossi, have the plural , which is also found in Jer 10:25. Is the singular a mutilation? Or are the enemy thus intentionally made prominent as a collective? However this may be, nothing decisive as to the priority of the passages can be inferred from this difference. This difference consists in these points: (1) in Jer 10:25, the which alone agrees with the construction, is here replaced by . (2). The prayer for vengeance in Jeremiah is more clearly united to the context, and in a connection of thought which is found also in Jer 30:11; Jer 46:28. In Psa 79:7 b it is not the sanctuary (Targ.) that is referred to, nor the place generally (Sept., Vulg.) nor the pasture specially (J. H. Michaelis and others), but the resting-places of the Shepherd with an allusion to the name flock of God applied to Israel in Psa 79:13. In Psa 79:8 mention is not made of former sins (the ancient translators, Luther, Geier), nor the sins of former days (Aben Ezra, Kimchi, as an alternative) but of the sins of the forefathers (Aben Ezra, Kimchi, J H. Michaelis, and the recent expositors), Jer 11:10; Exo 20:5; Lev 26:39. It is a genitive of possession. The masculine adjective termination could not agree with the feminine noun. Their own sins are not thereby denied, for in Psa 79:9 they are, expressly mentioned. But the weakening mentioned in Psa 79:8 c is not moral deterioration consequent upon guilt (Aben Ezra) but want of physical ability to rise from their defeat. The preventing mercy, Psa 79:8 b, was implored for the help of those who confessed that their punishment was deserved.
Psa 79:10 ff. The first stich of Psa 79:10 is taken literally from Joe 2:17, after Exo 32:12; Num 14:13 f.; Deu 9:28. The wish expressed in the following verse is based upon Deu 32:43; the seven-fold retribution upon Gen 4:15; Gen 4:24 as the exhaustion of judicial punishment, seven being the number of the completed process (Delitzsch). Instead of the expression, children of death, 1Sa 20:31; 1Sa 26:16, there are used here the words: children of slaughter (Hitzig); not: children of one who dies=the dying (Hengstenberg).2[E. V., Those who are appointed to die].
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. It is, as it were, an inversion of the order of nature (Calvin) when Gods inheritance falls into the power of the heathen, and when men who know not God, nor honor His name, tread under foot the sanctuary devoted to His worship and profane it, make the city of God a heap of stones (Sept. wrongly: a lodge of the garden-watcher, comp. Isa 1:8), and give over to dishonor and death its inhabitants, who have been called to life and to a participation in the Divine glory.
2. In such appalling calamities we are to recognize the avenging wrath of God, in which the sins of the fathers are punished together with the sins of the children. For the sins of the forefathers are visited (2Ki 23:26; Lam 5:7) not upon their innocent descendants (Deu 24:16; 2Ki 14:6) but upon those who are guilty like themselves (Exo 20:5). The destruction which ever keeps increasing by united transgressions, breaks forth at last, and makes it manifest that only a heaping up of wrath for the day of judgment is to be expected by those who will not be led to repentance by Gods patience, long-suffering, and goodness.
3. Yet in this there is included also the possibility of a change of destiny. For God does not desire the death of the sinner, but that he should turn and live. The infliction of His judgment upon His people has for its ultimate aim not their destruction, but their purification, that they may be saved. His punishments are to be a chastisement for them for righteousness. If they were regarded and received as such by the Church, then they would lead to confession of common and personal guilt and sinfulness; and likewise to a search after and apprehension of the mercy which comes forth to meet them. But those whose part is to aid in the execution of Gods judgment, and yet have neither known Him nor honored His name, nor spared His people, will be condemned to taste, in its unrestrained intensity and fulness, that wrath, whose blind instruments they had chosen to become (Jer 10:24; Jer 30:11; Jer 46:28).
[Hengstenberg: The people of God have, in every time of need, the joyful privilege of discerning in former deliverances the pledges of those yet to come, and thus possess a sure ground of confidence. The world, when it prays, prays only tentatively, and is dissevered entirely from the lessons of history.J. F. M.]
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
God does not desire the destruction, but the return and deliverance of His people, when He visits them with the punishment of His wrath.No one need presume to feel secure on account of mercy before received: yet none need doubt its reality on account of his sin.The punishment which attends sin, and the mercy that comes forth to meet the repenting.If the judgment upon the house of God is already so awful, how will it be with the unconverted world?It makes a great difference whether we desire to avenge ourselves and our sufferings, or whether we are concerned for Gods honor and the sanctifying of His name.When our own sins and those of others conspire together, then there comes a deep and awful fall.The sins of our forefathers may indeed increase our misfortunes, but they cannot lessen our own guilt.It is true that God is the Shepherd of His people, but it is for this very reason that He needs not only the staff of comfort, but that of pain.God will not be contemned, either by friend or foe.
Starke: The primary source of all wars is Gods anger.The heavier the thunder and the greater the storm, the sooner are they over.The pious deplore the sins of their fathers, as well as of their cotemporaries.It is no good sign when God allows the number of the pious and upright to decrease. Over such a place His judgments are surely impending.It would be a foolish thing to expect mercy and help from God and yet not to become converted; but it would be presumptuous to make boast of a conversion by ones own strength, without the preventing mercy of God.
Arndt: The corruption and adulteration of the true service of God is the great calamity of the country, and the beginning of all misfortune.Frisch: Supplication against the cruel persecutors of Gods Church: (1) Lamentation over the woes inflicted by the cruelty of her enemies: (2) earnest prayer to God for mercy and the turning away of the punishment, that He may hear, and help, and take vengeance upon those enemies; (3) promise of the gratitude that is due.Renschel: The Church of God, though it has been already sorely troubled, yet remains His people, His servant, His flock, and his inheritance.Rieger: The distressing circumstances of our Church proclaim to ourselves, that nothing but judgment is before us, and that in no other way can room be made for what is good. Let us therefore continue ever to know Gods name, and to exercise the joyful privilege of keeping it before Him.Vaihinger: Sins are a dam which obstruct the flow of Gods river of mercy, and only when that is cleared away can His help and blessing be made to appear.Guenther: The prayers of the righteous can turn away Gods anger from them like a stream of water, and cause it to pour forth upon the ungodly. But understand it well; it is the prayers of the humble and peaceable, not the imprecations of the revengeful and presumptuous.Diedrich: Let this be our consolation, that after our enemies have done with us they have still to do with God.Taube: The cry for help is natural for us in distress, but not the shriek for mercy; this is the reason why so many acts of God in behalf of the sinner are received without a blessing.The Lord, who is the God of our salvation, has given, in the honor of His name, the strongest weapon into the very hands of His people.
Footnotes:
[2][Both of these explanations of appear to me to be wrong, and the common rendering death to be correct. The former meaning is entirely without a parallel in similar cases in the formation of nouns. That given by Hengst. supposes that the word is formed from the 3d sing. fem. pl. This arbitrary method of assuming a distinct principle of formation for each special case is not to be recommended. It may be taken as a rule that words of this form are abstracts, and this will, I believe, be found to be true of all the cases when their primary significations are considered. Alexander here compares and to mors and mortalitas, agreeing with E. V. see Green, Heb. Gr., 192, 2, Ewald, Heb. Gr., 161 a.J. F. M.]
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
CONTENTS
The church is here described as under great affliction. The burden of the complaint is to this effect; the Psalmist looks up to the throne for deliverance, and makes use of the strong plea of God’s faithfulness for his support, and expresses his dependence on the divine mercy.
A Psalm of Asaph.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
It is not distinctly marked, by any parallel part of the history of the church, to what period this desolation refers. As the prophet Jeremiah who lived and ministered in the church about the time of the Babylonish captivity, hath a parallel passage in his prophecy, it is probable that the Psalmist alludes to the Chaldean army; compare Jer 10:25 , with Psa 79:6-7 . But whether this be so or not, the pious humble believer may, in a spiritual sense, but too often find cause, from the assaults of sin and Satan, to lament at a mercy-seat the desolating power of the enemy. Reader, well it is for the faithful, that Jesus and his righteousness are of everlasting and eternal worth.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
The Divine Forgetfulness
Psa 79:8
PSALMS
XI
AN INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOK OF PSALMS
According to my usual custom, when taking up the study of a book of the Bible I give at the beginning a list of books as helps to the study of that book. The following books I heartily commend on the Psalms:
1. Sampey’s Syllabus for Old Testament Study . This is especially good on the grouping and outlining of some selected psalms. There are also some valuable suggestions on other features of the book.
2. Kirkpatrick’g commentary, in “Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges,” is an excellent aid in the study of the Psalter.
3. Perowne’s Book of Psalms is a good, scholarly treatise on the Psalms. A special feature of this commentary is the author’s “New Translation” and his notes are very helpful.
4. Spurgeon’s Treasury of David. This is just what the title implies. It is a voluminous, devotional interpretation of the Psalms and helpful to those who have the time for such extensive study of the Psalter.
5. Hengstenburg on the Psalms. This is a fine, scholarly work by one of the greatest of the conservative German scholars.
6. Maclaren on the Psalms, in “The Expositor’s Bible,” is the work of the world’s safest, sanest, and best of all works that have ever been written on the Psalms.
7. Thirtle on the Titles of the Psalms. This is the best on the subject and well worth a careful study.
At this point some definitions are in order. The Hebrew word for psalm means praise. The word in English comes from psalmos , a song of lyrical character, or a song to be sung and accompanied with a lyre. The Psalter is a collection of sacred and inspired songs, composed at different times and by different authors.
The range of time in composition was more than 1,000 years, or from the time of Moses to the time of Ezra. The collection in its present form was arranged probably by Ezra in the fifth century, B.C.
The Jewish classification of Old Testament books was The Law, the Prophets, and the Holy Writings. The Psalms was given the first place in the last group.
They had several names, or titles, of the Psalms. In Hebrew they are called “The Book of Prayers,” or “The Book of Praises.” The Hebrew word thus used means praises. The title of the first two books is found in Psa 72:20 : “The prayers of David the son of Jesse are ended.” The title of the whole collection of Psalms in the Septuagint is Biblos Psalman which means the “Book of Psalms.” The title in the Alexandrian Codex is Psalterion which is the name of a stringed instrument, and means “The Psalter.”
The derivation of our English words, “psalms,” “psalter,” and “psaltery,” respectively, is as follows:
1. “Psalms” comes from the Greek word, psalmoi, which is also from psallein , which means to play upon a stringed instrument. Therefore the Psalms are songs played upon stringed instruments, and the word here is used to apply to the whole collection.
2. “Psalter” is of the same origin and means the Book of Psalms and refers also to the whole collection.
3. “Psaltery” is from the word psalterion, which means “a harp,” an instrument, supposed to be in the shape of a triangle or like the delta of the Greek alphabet. See Psa 33:2 ; Psa 71:22 ; Psa 81:2 ; Psa 144:9 .
In our collection there are 150 psalms. In the Septuagint there is one extra. It is regarded as being outside the sacred collection and not inspired. The subject of this extra psalm is “David’s victory over Goliath.” The following is a copy of it: I was small among my brethren, And youngest in my father’s house, I used to feed my father’s sheep. My hands made a harp, My fingers fashioned a Psaltery. And who will declare unto my Lord? He is Lord, he it is who heareth. He it was who sent his angel And took me from my father’s sheep, And anointed me with the oil of his anointing. My brethren were goodly and tall, But the Lord took no pleasure in them. I went forth to meet the Philistine. And he cursed me by his idols But I drew the sword from beside him; I beheaded him and removed reproach from the children of Israel.
It will be noted that this psalm does not have the earmarks of an inspired production. There is not found in it the modesty so characteristic of David, but there is here an evident spirit of boasting and self-praise which is foreign to the Spirit of inspiration.
There is a difference in the numbering of the psalms in our version which follows the Hebrew, and the numbering in the Septuagint. Omitting the extra one in the Septuagint, there is no difference as to the total number. Both have 150 and the same subject matter, but they are not divided alike.
The following scheme shows the division according to our version and also the Septuagint: Psalms 1-8 in the Hebrew equal 1-8 in the Septuagint; 9-10 in the Hebrew combine into 9 in the Septuagint; 11-113 in the Hebrew equal 10-112 in the Septuagint; 114-115 in the Hebrew combine into 113 in the Septuagint; 116 in the Hebrew divides into 114-115 in the Septuagint; 117-146 in the Hebrew equal 116-145 in the Septuagint; 147 in the Hebrew divides into 146-147 in the Septuagint; 148-150 in the Hebrew equal 148-150 in the Septuagint.
The arrangement in the Vulgate is the same as the Septuagint. Also some of the older English versions have this arangement. Another difficulty in numbering perplexes an inexperienced student in turning from one version to another, viz: In the Hebrew often the title is verse I, and sometimes the title embraces verses 1-2.
The book divisions of the Psalter are five books, as follows:
Book I, Psalms 1-41 (41 chapters)
Book II, Psalms 42-72 (31 chapters)
Book III, Psalms 73-89 (17 chapters)
Book IV, Psalms 90-106 (17 chapters)
Book V, Psalms 107-150 (44 chapters)
They are marked by an introduction and a doxology. Psalm I forms an introduction to the whole book; Psa 150 is the doxology for the whole book. The introduction and doxology of each book are the first and last psalms of each division, respectively.
There were smaller collections before the final one, as follows:
Books I and II were by David; Book III, by Hezekiah, and Books IV and V, by Ezra.
Certain principles determined the arrangement of the several psalms in the present collection:
1. David is honored with first place, Book I and II, including Psalms 1-72.
2. They are grouped according to the use of the name of God:
(1) Psalms 1-41 are Jehovah psalms;
(2) Psalms 42-83 are Elohim-psalms;
(3) Psalms 84-150 are Jehovah psalms.
3. Book IV is introduced by the psalm of Moses, which is the first psalm written.
4. Some are arranged as companion psalms, for instance, sometimes two, sometimes three, and sometimes more. Examples: Psa 2 and 3; 22, 23, and 24; 113-118.
5. They were arranged for liturgical purposes, which furnished the psalms for special occasions, such as feasts, etc. We may be sure this arrangement was not accidental. An intelligent study of each case is convincing that it was determined upon rational grounds.
All the psalms have titles but thirty-three, as follows:
In Book I, Psa 1 ; Psa 2 ; Psa 10 ; Psa 33 , (4 are without titles).
In Book II, Psa 43 ; Psa 71 , (2 are without titles).
In Book IV, Psa 91 ; Psa 93 ; Psa 94 ; Psa 95 ; Psa 96 ; Psa 97 ; Psa 104 ; Psa 105 ; Psa 106 , (9 are without titles).
In Book V, Psa 107 ; III; 112; 113; 114; 115; 116; 117; 118; 119; 135; 136; 137; 146; 147; 148; 149; 150, (18 are without titles).
The Talmud calls these psalms that have no title, “Orphan Psalms.” The later Jews supply these titles by taking the nearest preceding author. The lack of titles in Psa 1 ; Psa 2 ; and 10 may be accounted for as follows: Psa 1 is a general introduction to the whole collection and Psa 2 was, perhaps, a part of Psa 1 . Psalms 9-10 were formerly combined into one, therefore Psa 10 has the same title as Psa 9 .
QUESTIONS
1. What books are commended on the Psalms?
2. What is a psalm?
3. What is the Psalter?
4. What is the range of time in composition?
5. When and by whom was the collection in its present form arranged?
6. What the Jewish classification of Old Testament books, and what the position of the Psalter in this classification?
7. What is the Hebrew title of the Psalms?
8. Find the title of the first two books from the books themselves.
9. What is the title of the whole collection of psalms in the Septuagint?
10. What is the title in the Alexandrian Codex?
11. What is the derivation of our English word, “Psalms”, “Psalter”, and “Psaltery,” respectively?
12. How many psalms in our collection?
13. How many psalms in the Septuagint?
14. What about the extra one in the Septuagint?
15. What is the subject of this extra psalm?
16. How does it compare with the Canonical Psalms?
17. What is the difference in the numbering of the psalms in our version which follows the Hebrew, and the numbering in the Septuagint?
18. What is the arrangement in the Vulgate?
19. What other difficulty in numbering which perplexes an inexperienced student in turning from one version to another?
20. What are the book divisions of the Psalter and how are these divisions marked?
21. Were there smaller collections before the final one? If so, what were they?
22. What principles determined the arrangement of the several psalms in the present collection?
23. In what conclusion may we rest concerning this arrangement?
24. How many of the psalms have no titles?
25. What does the Talmud call these psalms that have no titles?
26. How do later Jews supply these titles?
27. How do you account for the lack of titles in Psa 1 ; Psa 2 ; Psa 10 ?
XII
AN INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOK OF PSALMS (CONTINUED)
The following is a list of the items of information gathered from the titles of the psalms:
1. The author: “A Psalm of David” (Psa 37 ).
2. The occasion: “When he fled from Absalom, his son” (Psa 3 ).
3. The nature, or character, of the poem:
(1) Maschil, meaning “instruction,” a didactic poem (Psa 42 ).
(2) Michtam, meaning “gold,” “A Golden Psalm”; this means excellence or mystery (Psa 16 ; 56-60).
4. The occasion of its use: “A Psalm of David for the dedication of the house” (Psa 30 ).
5. Its purpose: “A Psalm of David to bring remembrance” (Psa 38 ; Psa 70 ).
6. Direction for its use: “A Psalm of David for the chief musician” (Psa 4 ).
7. The kind of musical instrument:
(1) Neginoth, meaning to strike a chord, as on stringed instruments (Psa 4 ; Psa 61 ).
(2) Nehiloth, meaning to perforate, as a pipe or flute (Psa 5 ).
(3) Shoshannim, Lilies, which refers probably to cymbals (Psa 45 ; Psa 69 ).
8. A special choir:
(1) Sheminith, the “eighth,” or octave below, as a male choir (Psa 6 ; Psa 12 ).
(2) Alamoth, female choir (Psa 46 ).
(3) Muth-labben, music with virgin voice, to be sung by a choir of boys in the treble (Psa 9 ).
9. The keynote, or tune:
(1) Aijeleth-sharar, “Hind of the morning,” a song to the melody of which this is sung (Psa 22 ).
(2) Al-tashheth, “Destroy thou not,” the beginning of a song the tune of which is sung (Psa 57 ; Psa 58 ; Psa 59 ; Psa 75 ).
(3) Gittith, set to the tune of Gath, perhaps a tune which David brought from Gath (Psa 8 ; Psa 81 ; Psa 84 ).
(4) Jonath-elim-rehokim, “The dove of the distant terebinths,” the commencement of an ode to the air of which this song was to be sung (Psa 56 ).
(5) Leannoth, the name of a tune (Psa 88 ).
(6) Mahalath, an instrument (Psa 53 ); Leonnoth-Mahaloth, to chant to a tune called Mahaloth.
(7) Shiggaion, a song or a hymn.
(8) Shushan-Eduth, “Lily of testimony,” a tune (Psa 60 ). Note some examples: (1) “America,” “Shiloh,” “Auld Lang Syne.” These are the names of songs such as we are familiar with; (2) “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” and “There Is a Fountain Filled with Blood,” are examples of sacred hymns.
10. The liturgical use, those noted for the feasts, e.g., the Hallels and Hallelujah Psalms (Psalms 146-150).
11. The destination, as “Song of Ascents” (Psalms 120-134)
12. The direction for the music, such as Selah, which means “Singers, pause”; Higgaion-Selah, to strike a symphony with selah, which means an instrumental interlude (Psa 9:16 ).
The longest and fullest title to any of the psalms is the title to Psa 60 . The items of information from this title are as follows: (1) the author; (2) the chief musician; (3) the historical occasion; (4) the use, or design; (5) the style of poetry; (6) the instrument or style of music.
The parts of these superscriptions which most concern us now are those indicating author, occasion, and date. As to the historic value or trustworthiness of these titles most modern scholars deny that they are a part of the Hebrew text, but the oldest Hebrew text of which we know anything had all of them. This is the text from which the Septuagint was translated. It is much more probable that the author affixed them than later writers. There is no internal evidence in any of the psalms that disproves the correctness of them, but much to confirm. The critics disagree among themselves altogether as to these titles. Hence their testimony cannot consistently be received. Nor can it ever be received until they have at least agreed upon a common ground of opposition.
David is the author of more than half the entire collection, the arrangement of which is as follows:
1. Seventy-three are ascribed to him in the superscriptions.
2. Some of these are but continuations of the preceding ones of a pair, trio, or larger group.
3. Some of the Korahite Psalms are manifestly Davidic.
4. Some not ascribed to him in the titles are attributed to him expressly by New Testament writers.
5. It is not possible to account for some parts of the Psalter without David. The history of his early life as found in Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, and 1and 2 Chronicles, not only shows his remarkable genius for patriotic and sacred songs and music, but also shows his cultivation of that gift in the schools of the prophets. Some of these psalms of the history appear in the Psalter itself. It is plain to all who read these that they are founded on experience, and the experience of no other Hebrew fits the case. These experiences are found in Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, and 1 and 2 Chronicles.
As to the attempt of the destructive critics to rob David of his glory in relation to the Psalter by assigning the Maccabean era as the date of composition, I have this to say:
1. This theory has no historical support whatever, and therefore is not to be accepted at all.
2. It has no support in tradition, which weakens the contention of the critics greatly.
3. It has no support from finding any one with the necessary experience for their basis.
4. They can give no reasonable account as to how the titles ever got there.
5. It is psychologically impossible for anyone to have written these 150 psalms in the Maccabean times.
6. Their position is expressly contrary to the testimony of Christ and the apostles. Some of the psalms which they ascribe to the Maccabean Age are attributed to David by Christ himself, who said that David wrote them in the Spirit.
The obvious aim of this criticism and the necessary result if it be Just, is a positive denial of the inspiration of both Testaments.
Other authors are named in the titles, as follows: (1) Asaph, to whom twelve psalms have been assigned: (2) Mosee, Psa 90 ; (3) Solomon, Psa 72 ; Psa 127 ; (4) Heman, Psa 80 ; (5) Ethem, Psa 89 ; (6) A number of the psalms are ascribed to the sons of Korah.
Not all the psalms ascribed to Asaph were composed by one person. History indicates that Asaph’s family presided over the song service for several generations. Some of them were composed by his descendants by the game name. The five general outlines of the whole collection are as follows:
I. By books
1. Psalms 1-41 (41)
2. Psalms 42-72 (31)
3. Psalms 73-89 (17)
4. Psalms 90-106 (17)
5. Psalms 107-150 (44)
II. According to date and authorship
1. The psalm of Moses (Psa 90 )
2. Psalms of David:
(1) The shepherd boy (Psa 8 ; Psa 19 ; Psa 29 ; Psa 23 ).
(2) David when persecuted by Saul (Psa 59 ; Psa 56 ; Psa 34 ; Psa 52 ; Psa 54 ; Psa 57 ; Psa 142 ).
(3) David the King (Psa 101 ; Psa 18 ; Psa 24 ; Psa 2 ; Psa 110 ; Psa 20 ; Psa 20 ; Psa 21 ; Psa 60 ; Psa 51 ; Psa 32 ; Psa 41 ; Psa 55 ; Psa 3:4 ; Psa 64 ; Psa 62 ; Psa 61 ; Psa 27 ).
3. The Asaph Psalms (Psa 50 ; Psa 73 ; Psa 83 ).
4. The Korahite Psalms (Psa 42 ; Psa 43 ; Psa 84 ).
5. The psalms of Solomon (Psa 72 ; Psa 127 ).
6. The psalms of the era of Hezekiah and Isaiah (Psa 46 ; Psa 47 ; Psa 48 )
7. The psalms of the Exile (Psa 74 ; Psa 79 ; Psa 137 ; Psa 102 )
8. The psalms of the Restoration (Psa 85 ; Psa 126 ; Psa 118 ; 146-150)
III. By groups
1. The Jehovistic and Elohistic Psalms:
(1) Psalms 1-41 are Jehovistic;
(2) Psalms 42-83 are Elohistic Psalms;
(3) Psalms 84-150 are Jehovistic.
2. The Penitential Psalms (Psa 6 ; Psa 32 ; Psa 38 ; Psa 51 ; Psa 102 ; Psa 130 ; Psa 143 )
3. The Pilgrim Psalms (Psalms 120-134)
4. The Alphabetical Psalms (Psa 9 ; Psa 10 ; Psa 25 ; Psa 34 ; Psa 37 ; 111:112; Psa 119 ; Psa 145 )
5. The Hallelujah Psalms (Psalms 11-113; 115-117; 146-150; to which may be added Psa 135 ) Psalms 113-118 are called “the Egyptian Hallel”
IV. Doctrines of the Psalms
1. The throne of grace and how to approach it by sacrifice, prayer, and praise.
2. The covenant, the basis of worship.
3. The paradoxical assertions of both innocence & guilt.
4. The pardon of sin and justification.
5. The Messiah.
6. The future life, pro and con.
7. The imprecations.
8. Other doctrines.
V. The New Testament use of the Psalms
1. Direct references and quotations in the New Testament.
2. The allusions to the psalms in the New Testament. Certain experiences of David’s life made very deep impressions on his heart, such as: (1) his peaceful early life; (2) his persecution by Saul; (3) his being crowned king of the people; (4) the bringing up of the ark; (5) his first great sin; (6) Absalom’s rebellion; (7) his second great sin; (8) the great promise made to him in 2Sa 7 ; (9) the feelings of his old age.
We may classify the Davidic Psalms according to these experiences following the order of time, thus:
1. His peaceful early life (Psa 8 ; Psa 19 ; Psa 29 ; Psa 23 )
2. His persecution by Saul (Psa 59 ; Psa 56 ; Psa 34 ; Psa 7 ; Psa 52 ; Psa 120 ; Psa 140 ; Psa 54 ; Psa 57 ; Psa 142 ; Psa 17 ; Psa 18 )
3. Making David King (Psa 27 ; Psa 133 ; Psa 101 )
4. Bringing up the ark (Psa 68 ; Psa 24 ; Psa 132 ; Psa 15 ; Psa 78 ; Psa 96 )
5. His first great sin (Psa 51 ; Psa 32 )
6. Absalom’s rebellion (Psa 41 ; Psa 6 ; Psa 55 ; Psa 109 ; Psa 38 ; Psa 39 ; Psa 3 ; Psa 4 ; Psa 63 ; Psa 42 ; Psa 43 ; Psa 5 ; Psa 62 ; Psa 61 ; Psa 27 )
7. His second great sin (Psa 69 ; Psa 71 ; Psa 102 ; Psa 103 )
8. The great promise made to him in 2Sa 7 (Psa 2 )
9. Feelings of old age (Psa 37 )
The great doctrines of the psalms may be noted as follows: (1) the being and attributes of God; (3) sin, both original and individual; (3) both covenants; (4) the doctrine of justification; (5) concerning the Messiah.
There is a striking analogy between the Pentateuch and the Psalms. The Pentateuch contains five books of law; the Psalms contain five books of heart responses to the law.
It is interesting to note the historic controversies concerning the singing of psalms. These were controversies about singing uninspired songs, in the Middle Ages. The church would not allow anything to be used but psalms.
The history in Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, and 1 and 2 Chronicles, and in Ezra and Nehemiah is very valuable toward a proper interpretation of the psalms. These books furnish the historical setting for a great many of the psalms which is very indispensable to their proper interpretation.
Professor James Robertson, in the Poetry and Religion of the Psalms constructs a broad and strong argument in favor of the Davidic Psalms, as follows:
1. The age of David furnished promising soil for the growth of poetry.
2. David’s qualifications for composing the psalms make it highly probable that David is the author of the psalms ascribed to him.
3. The arguments against the possibility of ascribing to David any of the hymns in the Hebrew Psalter rests upon assumptions that are thoroughly antibiblical.
The New Testament makes large use of the psalms and we learn much as to their importance in teaching. There are seventy direct quotations in the New Testament from this book, from which we learn that the Scriptures were used extensively in accord with 2Ti 3:16-17 . There are also eleven references to the psalms in the New Testament from which we learn that the New Testament writers were thoroughly imbued with the spirit and teaching of the psalms. Then there are eight allusions ‘to this book in the New Testament from which we gather that the Psalms was one of the divisions of the Old Testament and that they were used in the early church.
QUESTIONS
1. Give a list of the items of information gathered from the titles of the psalms.
2. What is the longest title to any of the psalms and what the items of this title?
3. What parts of these superscriptions most concern us now?
4. What is the historic value, or trustworthiness of these titles?
5. State the argument showing David’s relation to the psalms.
6. What have you to say of the attempt of the destructive critics to rob David of his glory in relation to the Psalter by assigning the Maccabean era as the date of composition?
7. What the obvious aim of this criticism and the necessary result, if it be just?
8. What other authors are named in the titles?
9. Were all the psalms ascribed to Asaph composed by one person?
10. Give the five general outlines of the whole collection, as follows: I. The outline by books II. The outline according to date and authorship III. The outline by groups IV. The outline of doctrines V. The outline by New Testament quotations or allusions.
11. What experiences of David’s life made very deep impressions on his heart?
12. Classify the Davidic Psalms according to these experiences following the order of time.
13. What the great doctrines of the psalms?
14. What analogy between the Pentateuch and the Psalms?
15. What historic controversies concerning the singing of psalms?
16. Of what value is the history in Samuel, 1 Kings and 2 Chronicles, and in Ezra and Nehemiah toward a proper interpretation of the psalms?
17. Give Professor James Robertson’s argument in favor of the Davidic authorship of the psalms.
18. What can you say of the New Testament use of the psalms and what do we learn as to their importance in teaching?
19. What can you say of the New Testament references to the psalms, and from the New Testament references what the impression on the New Testament writers?
20. What can you say of the allusions to the psalms in the New Testament?
XVII
THE MESSIAH IN THE PSALMS
A fine text for this chapter is as follows: “All things must be fulfilled which were written in the Psalms concerning me,” Luk 24:44 . I know of no better way to close my brief treatise on the Psalms than to discuss the subject of the Messiah as revealed in this book.
Attention has been called to the threefold division of the Old Testament cited by our Lord, namely, the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms (Luk 24:44 ), in all of which were the prophecies relating to himself that “must be fulfilled.” It has been shown just what Old Testament books belong to each of these several divisions. The division called the Psalms included many books, styled Holy Writings, and because the Psalms proper was the first book of the division it gave the name to the whole division.
The object of this discussion is to sketch the psalmist’s outline of the Messiah, or rather, to show how nearly a complete picture of our Lord is foredrawn in this one book. Let us understand however with Paul, that all prophecy is but in part (1Co 13:9 ), and that when we fill in on one canvas all the prophecies concerning the Messiah of all the Old Testament divisions, we are far from having a perfect portrait of our Lord. The present purpose is limited to three things:
1. What the book of the Psalms teaches concerning the Messiah.
2. That the New Testament shall authoritatively specify and expound this teaching.
3. That the many messianic predictions scattered over the book and the specifications thereof over the New Testament may be grouped into an orderly analysis, so that by the adjustment of the scattered parts we may have before us a picture of our Lord as foreseen by the psalmists.
In allowing the New Testament to authoritatively specify and expound the predictive features of the book, I am not unmindful of what the so-called “higher critics” urge against the New Testament quotations from the Old Testament and the use made of them. In this discussion, however, these objections are not considered, for sufficient reasons. There is not space for it. Even at the risk of being misjudged I must just now summarily pass all these objections, dismissing them with a single statement upon which the reader may place his own estimate of value. That statement is that in the days of my own infidelity, before this old method of criticism had its new name, I was quite familiar with the most and certainly the strongest of the objections now classified as higher criticism, and have since patiently re-examined them in their widely conflicting restatements under their modern name, and find my faith in the New Testament method of dealing with the Old Testament in no way shattered, but in every way confirmed. God is his own interpreter. The Old Testament as we now have it was in the hands of our Lord. I understand his apostle to declare, substantially, that “every one of these sacred scriptures is God-inspired and is profitable for teaching us what is right to believe and to do, for convincing us what is wrong in faith or practice, for rectifying the wrong when done, that we may be ready at every point, furnished completely, to do every good work, at the right time, in the right manner, and from the proper motive” (2Ti 3:16-17 ).
This New Testament declares that David was a prophet (Act 2:30 ), that he spake by the Holy Spirit (Act 1:16 ), that when the book speaks the Holy Spirit speaks (Heb 3:7 ), and that all its predictive utterances, as sacred Scripture, “must be fulfilled” (Joh 13:18 ; Act 1:16 ). It is not claimed that David wrote all the psalms, but that all are inspired, and that as he was the chief author, the book goes by his name.
It would be a fine thing to make out two lists, as follows:
1. All of the 150 psalms in order from which the New Testament quotes with messianic application.
2. The New Testament quotations, book by book, i.e., Matthew so many, and then the other books in their order.
We would find in neither of these any order as to time, that is, Psa 1 which forecasts an incident in the coming Messiah’s life does not forecast the first incident of his life. And even the New Testament citations are not in exact order as to time and incident of his life. To get the messianic picture before us, therefore, we must put the scattered parts together in their due relation and order, and so construct our own analysis. That is the prime object of this discussion. It is not claimed that the analysis now presented is perfect. It is too much the result of hasty, offhand work by an exceedingly busy man. It will serve, however, as a temporary working model, which any one may subsequently improve. We come at once to the psalmist’s outline of the Messiah.
1. The necessity for a Saviour. This foreseen necessity is a background of the psalmists’ portrait of the Messiah. The necessity consists in (1) man’s sinfulness; (2) his sin; (3) his inability of wisdom and power to recover himself; (4) the insufficiency of legal, typical sacrifices in securing atonement.
The predicate of Paul’s great argument on justification by faith is the universal depravity and guilt of man. He is everywhere corrupt in nature; everywhere an actual transgressor; everywhere under condemnation. But the scriptural proofs of this depravity and sin the apostle draws mainly from the book of the Psalms. In one paragraph of the letter to the Romans (Rom 3:4-18 ), he cites and groups six passages from six divisions of the Psalms (Psa 5:9 ; Psa 10:7 ; Psa 14:1-3 ; Psa 36:1 ; Psa 51:4-6 ; Psa 140:3 ). These passages abundantly prove man’s sinfulness, or natural depravity, and his universal practice of sin.
The predicate also of the same apostle’s great argument for revelation and salvation by a Redeemer is man’s inability of wisdom and power to re-establish communion with God. In one of his letters to the Corinthians he thus commences his argument: “For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? -For after that in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preach-ing to save them that believe.” He closes this discussion with the broad proposition: “The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God,” and proves it by a citation from Psa 94:11 : “The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain.”
In like manner our Lord himself pours scorn on human wisdom and strength by twice citing Psa 8 : “At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in thy sight” (Mat 11:25-26 ). “And when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children that were crying in the temple and saying, Hosanna to the Son of David; they were sore displeased, and said unto him, Hearest thou what these say? And Jesus saith unto them, Yea; have ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise?” (Mat 21:15-16 ).
But the necessity for a Saviour as foreseen by the psalmist did not stop at man’s depravity, sin, and helplessness. The Jews were trusting in the sacrifices of their law offered on the smoking altar. The inherent weakness of these offerings, their lack of intrinsic merit, their ultimate abolition, their complete fulfilment and supercession by a glorious antitype were foreseen and foreshown in this wonderful prophetic book: I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices; And thy burnt offerings are continually before me. I will take no bullock out of thy house, Nor he-goat out of thy folds. For every beast of the forest is mine, And the cattle upon a thousand hills. I know all of the birds of the mountains; And the wild beasts of the field are mine. If I were hungry, I would not tell thee; For the world is mine, and the fulness thereof. Will I eat the flesh of bulls, Or drink the blood of goats? Psa 50:8-13 .
Yet again it speaks in that more striking passage cited in the letter to the Hebrews: “For the law having a shadow of good things to come, not the very image of the things, can never with the same sacrifices year by year, which they offer continually, make the comers thereunto perfect. For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshipers, once purged should have no more consciousness of sins. But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance made of sins year by year. For it is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins. Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldst not, But a body didst thou prepare for me; In whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hadst no pleasure: Then said I, Lo, I am come (In the roll of the book it is written of me) To do thy will, O God. Saying above, Sacrifice and offering and whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou wouldst not, neither hadst pleasure therein, (the which are offered according to the law), then hath he said, Lo, I am come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second” (Heb 10:1-9 ).
This keen foresight of the temporary character and intrinsic worthlessness of animal sacrifices anticipated similar utterances by the later prophets (Isa 1:10-17 ; Jer 6:20 ; Jer 7:21-23 ; Hos 6:6 ; Amo 5:21 ; Mic 6:6-8 ). Indeed, I may as well state in passing that when the apostle declares, “It is impossible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins,” he lays down a broad principle, just as applicable to baptism and the Lord’s Supper. With reverence I state the principle: Not even God himself by mere appointment can vest in any ordinance, itself lacking intrinsic merit, the power to take away sin. There can be, therefore, in the nature of the case, no sacramental salvation. This would destroy the justice of God in order to exalt his mercy. Clearly the psalmist foresaw that “truth and mercy must meet together” before “righteousness and peace could kiss each other” (Psa 85:10 ). Thus we find as the dark background of the psalmists’ luminous portrait of the Messiah, the necessity for a Saviour.
2. The nature, extent, and blessedness of the salvation to be wrought by the coming Messiah. In no other prophetic book are the nature, fullness, and blessedness of salvation so clearly seen and so vividly portrayed. Besides others not now enumerated, certainly the psalmists clearly forecast four great elements of salvation:
(1) An atoning sacrifice of intrinsic merit offered once for all (Psa 40:6-8 ; Heb 10:4-10 ).
(2) Regeneration itself consisting of cleansing, renewal, and justification. We hear his impassioned statement of the necessity of regeneration: “Behold, I was shapen in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts,” followed by his earnest prayer: “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me,” and his equally fervent petition: “Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. Purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean; wash me and I shall be whiter than snow” (Psa 51 ). And we hear him again as Paul describes the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputes righteousness without works, saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, And whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not reckon sin Psa 32:1 ; Rom 4:6-8 .
(3) Introduction into the heavenly rest (Psa 95:7-11 ; Heb 3:7-19 ; Heb 4:1-11 ). Here is the antitypical Joshua leading spiritual Israel across the Jordan of death into the heavenly Canaan, the eternal rest that remaineth for the people of God. Here we find creation’s original sabbath eclipsed by redemption’s greater sabbath when the Redeemer “entered his rest, ceasing from his own works as God did from his.”
(4) The recovery of all the universal dominion lost by the first Adam and the securement of all possible dominion which the first Adam never attained (Psa 8:5-6 ; Eph 1:20-22 ; Heb 2:7-9 ; 1Co 15:24-28 ).
What vast extent then and what blessedness in the salvation foreseen by the psalmists, and to be wrought by the Messiah. Atoning sacrifice of intrinsic merit; regeneration by the Holy Spirit; heavenly rest as an eternal inheritance; and universal dominion shared with Christ!
3. The wondrous person of the Messiah in his dual nature, divine and human.
(1) His divinity,
(a) as God: “Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever” (Psa 45:6 and Heb 1:8 ) ;
(b) as creator of the heavens and earth, immutable and eternal: Of old didst thou lay the foundation of the earth; And the heavens are the work of thy hands. They shall perish, but thou shalt endure; Yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; As a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed. But thou art the same, And thy years shall have no end Psa 102:25-27 quoted with slight changes in Heb 1:10-12 .
(c) As owner of the earth: The earth is the Lord’s and the fulness thereof; The world, and they that dwell therein, Psa 24:1 quoted in 1Co 10:26 .
(d) As the Son of God: “Thou art my Son; This day have I begotten thee” Psa 2:7 ; Heb 1:5 .
(e) As David’s Lord: The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, Until I make thine enemies thy footstool, Psa 110:1 ; Mat 22:41-46 .
(f) As the object of angelic worship: “And let all the angels of God worship him” Psa 97:7 ; Heb 1:6 .
(g) As the Bread of life: And he rained down manna upon them to eat, And gave them food from heaven Psa 78:24 ; interpreted in Joh 6:31-58 . These are but samples which ascribe deity to the Messiah of the psalmists.
(2) His humanity, (a) As the Son of man, or Son of Adam: Psa 8:4-6 , cited in 1Co 15:24-28 ; Eph 1:20-22 ; Heb 2:7-9 . Compare Luke’s genealogy, Luk 3:23-38 . This is the ideal man, or Second Adam, who regains Paradise Lost, who recovers race dominion, in whose image all his spiritual lineage is begotten. 1Co 15:45-49 . (b) As the Son of David: Psa 18:50 ; Psa 89:4 ; Psa 89:29 ; Psa 89:36 ; Psa 132:11 , cited in Luk 1:32 ; Act 13:22-23 ; Rom 1:3 ; 2Ti 2:8 . Perhaps a better statement of the psalmists’ vision of the wonderful person of the Messiah would be: He saw the uncreated Son, the second person of the trinity, in counsel and compact with the Father, arranging in eternity for the salvation of men: Psa 40:6-8 ; Heb 10:5-7 . Then he saw this Holy One stoop to be the Son of man: Psa 8:4-6 ; Heb 2:7-9 . Then he was the son of David, and then he saw him rise again to be the Son of God: Psa 2:7 ; Rom 1:3-4 .
4. His offices.
(1) As the one atoning sacrifice (Psa 40:6-8 ; Heb 10:5-7 ).
(2) As the great Prophet, or Preacher (Psa 40:9-10 ; Psa 22:22 ; Heb 2:12 ). Even the method of his teaching by parable was foreseen (Psa 78:2 ; Mat 13:35 ). Equally also the grace, wisdom, and power of his teaching. When the psalmist declares that “Grace is poured into thy lips” (Psa 45:2 ), we need not be startled when we read that all the doctors in the Temple who heard him when only a boy “were astonished at his understanding and answers” (Luk 2:47 ); nor that his home people at Nazareth “all bear him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth” (Luk 4:22 ); nor that those of his own country were astonished, and said, “Whence hath this man this wisdom?” (Mat 13:54 ); nor that the Jews in the Temple marveled, saying, “How knoweth this man letters, having never learned?” (Joh 7:15 ) ; nor that the stern officers of the law found their justification in failure to arrest him in the declaration, “Never man spake like this man” (Joh 7:46 ).
(3) As the king (Psa 2:6 ; Psa 24:7-10 ; Psa 45:1-17 ; Psa 110:1 ; Mat 22:42-46 ; Act 2:33-36 ; 1Co 15:25 ; Eph 1:20 ; Heb 1:13 ).
(4) As the priest (Psa 110:4 ; Heb 5:5-10 ; Heb 7:1-21 ; Heb 10:12-14 ).
(5) As the final judge. The very sentence of expulsion pronounced upon the finally impenitent by the great judge (Mat 25:41 ) is borrowed from the psalmist’s prophetic words (Psa 6:8 ).
5. Incidents of life. The psalmists not only foresaw the necessity for a Saviour; the nature, extent, and blessedness of the salvation; the wonderful human-divine person of the Saviour; the offices to be filled by him in the work of salvation, but also many thrilling details of his work in life, death, resurrection, and exaltation. It is not assumed to cite all these details, but some of the most important are enumerated in order, thus:
(1) The visit, adoration, and gifts of the Magi recorded in Mat 2 are but partial fulfilment of Psa 72:9-10 .
(2) The scripture employed by Satan in the temptation of our Lord (Luk 4:10-11 ) was cited from Psa 91:11-12 and its pertinency not denied.
(3) In accounting for his intense earnestness and the apparently extreme measures adopted by our Lord in his first purification of the Temple (Joh 2:17 ), he cites the messianic zeal predicted in Psa 69:9 .
(4) Alienation from his own family was one of the saddest trials of our Lord’s earthly life. They are slow to understand his mission and to enter into sympathy with him. His self-abnegation and exhaustive toil were regarded by them as evidences of mental aberration, and it seems at one time they were ready to resort to forcible restraint of his freedom) virtually what in our time would be called arrest under a writ of lunacy. While at the last his half-brothers became distinguished preachers of his gospel, for a long while they do not believe on him. And the evidence forces us to the conclusion that his own mother shared with her other sons, in kind though not in degree, the misunderstanding of the supremacy of his mission over family relations. The New Testament record speaks for itself:
Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? behold, thy father and I sought thee sorrowing. And he said unto them. How is it that ye sought me? Knew ye not that I must be in my Father’s house? And they understood not the saying which he spake unto them Luk 2:48-51 (R.V.).
And when the wine failed, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, They have no wine. And Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? Mine hour is not yet come. Joh 2:3-5 (R.V.).
And there come his mother and his brethren; and standing without; they sent unto him, calling him. And a multitude was sitting about him; and they say unto him. Behold, thy mother and thy brethren without seek for thee. And he answereth them, and saith, Who is my mother and my brethren? And looking round on them that sat round about him, he saith, Behold, my mother and my brethren) For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother Mar 3:31-35 (R.V.).
Now the feast of the Jews, the feast of tabernacles, was at hand. His brethren therefore said unto him, Depart hence, and go into Judea, that thy disciples also may behold thy works which thou doest. For no man doeth anything in secret, and himself seeketh to be known openly. If thou doest these things, manifest thyself to the world. For even his brethren did not believe on him. Jesus therefore saith unto them, My time is not yet come; but your time is always ready. The world cannot hate you; but me it hateth, because I testify of it, that its works are evil. Go ye up unto the feast: I go not up yet unto this feast; because my time is not fulfilled. Joh 7:2-9 (R.V.).
These citations from the Revised Version tell their own story. But all that sad story is foreshown in the prophetic psalms. For example: I am become a stranger unto my brethren, And an alien unto my mother’s children. Psa 69:8 .
(5) The triumphal entry into Jerusalem was welcomed by a joyous people shouting a benediction from Psa 118:26 : “Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord” (Mat 21:9 ); and the Lord’s lamentation over Jerusalem predicts continued desolation and banishment from his sight until the Jews are ready to repeat that benediction (Mat 23:39 ).
(6) The children’s hosanna in the Temple after its second purgation is declared by our Lord to be a fulfilment of that perfect praise forecast in Psa 8:2 .
(7) The final rejection of our Lord by his own people was also clear in the psalmist’s vision (Psa 118:22 ; Mat 21:42-44 ).
(8) Gethsemane’s baptism of suffering, with its strong crying and tears and prayers was as clear to the psalmist’s prophetic vision as to the evangelist and apostle after it became history (Psa 69:1-4 ; Psa 69:13-20 ; and Mat 26:36-44 ; Heb 5:7 ).
(9) In life-size also before the psalmist was the betrayer of Christ and his doom (Psa 41:9 ; Psa 69:25 ; Psa 109:6-8 ; Joh 13:18 ; Act 1:20 ).
(10) The rage of the people, Jew and Gentile, and the conspiracy of Pilate and Herod are clearly outlined (Psa 2:1-3 ; Act 4:25-27 ).
(11) All the farce of his trial the false accusation, his own marvelous silence; and the inhuman maltreatment to which he was subjected, is foreshown in the prophecy as dramatically as in the history (Mat 26:57-68 ; Mat 27:26-31 ; Psa 27:12 ; Psa 35:15-16 ; Psa 38:3 ; Psa 69:19 ).
The circumstances of his death, many and clear, are distinctly foreseen. He died in the prime of life (Psa 89:45 ; Psa 102:23-24 ). He died by crucifixion (Psa 22:14-17 ; Luk 23 ; 33; Joh 19:23-37 ; Joh 20:27 ). But yet not a bone of his body was broken (Psa 34:20 ; Joh 19:36 ).
The persecution, hatred without a cause, the mockery and insults, are all vividly and dramatically foretold (Psa 22:6-13 ; Psa 35:7 ; Psa 35:12 ; Psa 35:15 ; Psa 35:21 ; Psa 109:25 ).
The parting of his garments and the gambling for his vesture (Psa 22:18 ; Mat 27:35 ).
His intense thirst and the gall and vinegar offered for his drink (Psa 69:21 ; Mat 27:34 ).
In the psalms, too, we hear his prayers for his enemies so remarkably fulfilled in fact (Psa 109:4 ; Luk 23:34 ).
His spiritual death was also before the eye of the psalmist, and the very words which expressed it the psalmist heard. Separation from the Father is spiritual death. The sinner’s substitute must die the sinner’s death, death physical, i.e., separation of soul from body; death spiritual, i.e., separation of the soul from God. The latter is the real death and must precede the former. This death the substitute died when he cried out: “My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me.” (Psa 22:1 ; Mat 27:46 ).
Emerging from the darkness of that death, which was the hour of the prince of darkness, the psalmist heard him commend his spirit to the Father (Psa_31:35; Luk 23:46 ) showing that while he died the spiritual death, his soul was not permanently abandoned unto hell (Psa 16:8-10 ; Act 2:25 ) so that while he “tasted death” for every man it was not permanent death (Heb 2:9 ).
With equal clearness the psalmist foresaw his resurrection, his triumph over death and hell, his glorious ascension into heaven, and his exaltation at the right hand of God as King of kings and Lord of lords, as a high Driest forever, as invested with universal sovereignty (Psa 16:8-11 ; Psa 24:7-10 ; Psa 68:18 ; Psa 2:6 ; Psa 111:1-4 ; Psa 8:4-6 ; Act 2:25-36 ; Eph 1:19-23 ; Eph 4:8-10 ).
We see, therefore, brethren, when the scattered parts are put together and adjusted, how nearly complete a portrait of our Lord is put upon the prophetic canvas by this inspired limner, the sweet singer of Israel.
QUESTIONS
1. What is a good text for this chapter?
2. What is the threefold division of the Old Testament as cited by our Lord?
3. What is the last division called and why?
4. What is the object of the discussion in this chapter?
5. To what three things is the purpose limited?
6. What especially qualifies the author to meet the objections of the higher critics to allowing the New Testament usage of the Old Testament to determine its meaning and application?
7. What is the author’s conviction relative to the Scriptures?
8. What is the New Testament testimony on the question of inspiration?
9. What is the author’s suggested plan of approach to the study of the Messiah in the Psalms?
10. What the background of the Psalmist’s portrait of the Messiah and of what does it consist?
11. Give the substance of Paul’s discussion of man’s sinfulness.
12. What is the teaching of Jesus on this point?
13. What is the teaching relative to sacrifices?
14. What the nature, extent, and blessedness of the salvation to be wrought by the coming Messiah and what the four great elements of it as forecast by the psalmist?
15. What is the teaching of the psalms relative to the wondrous person of the Messiah? Discuss.
16. What are the offices of the Messiah according to psalms? Discuss each.
17. Cite the more important events of the Messiah’s life according to the vision of the psalmist.
18. What the circumstances of the Messiah’s death and resurrection as foreseen by the psalmist?
XV
PSALM AFTER DAVID PRIOR TO THE BABYLONIAN EXILE
The superscriptions ascribed to Asaph twelve palms (Psa 50 ; 73-83) Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun presided over the Levitical singers in the time of David. Their sons also directed the various bands of musicians (1Ch 25 ). It seems that the family of Asaph for many generations continued to preside over the service of song (Cf. Ezr 3:10 ).
The theme of Psa 50 is “Obedience is better than sacrifice,” or the language of Samuel to Saul when he had committed the awful sin in respect to the Amalekites. This teaching is paralleled in many Old Testament scriptures, for instance, Psa 51:16-17 . For thou delightest not in sacrifice; else would I give it: Thou hast no pleasure in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: A broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.
The problem of Psa 73 is the problem of why the wicked prosper (Psa 73:1-14 ), and its solution is found in the attitude of God toward the wicked (Psa 73:15-28 ). [For a fine exposition of the other psalms of this section see Kirkpatrick or Maclaren on the Psalms.]
The psalms attributed to the sons of Korah are Psa 42 ; Psa 44 ; Psa 45 ; Psa 47 ; Psa 48 ; Psa 49 ; Psa 84 ; Psa 85 ; Psa 87 . The evidence that Psalms 42-43 were one poem is internal. There are three stanzas, each closing with a refrain. The similarity of structure and thought indicates that they were formerly one psalm. A parallel to these two psalms we find in the escape of Christian from the Castle of Giant Despair in Pilgrim’s Progress .
Only two psalms were ascribed to Solomon, viz: Psa 72 and 127. However, the author believes that there is good reason to attribute Psa 72 to David. If he wrote it, then only one was written by Solomon.
The theme of Psa 72 is the reign of the righteous king, and the outline according to DeWitt, which shows the kingdom as desired and foretold, is as follows: (1) righteous (Psa 72:1-4 ) ; (2) perpetual (Psa 72:5-7 ); (3) universal (Psa 72:8-11 ); (4) benign (Psa 72:12-14 ); (5) prosperous (Psa 72:15-17 ).
Psa 127 was written when Solomon built the Temple. It is the central psalm of the psalms of the Ascents, which refer to the Temple. It seems fitting that this psalm should occupy the central position in the group, because of the occasion which inspired it and its relation to the other psalms of the group. A brief interpretation of it is as follows: The house here means household. It is a brief lyric, setting forth the lessons of faith and trust. This together with Psa 128 is justly called “A Song of Home.” Once in speaking to Baylor Female College I used this psalm, illustrating the function of a school as a parent sending forth her children into the world as mighty arrows. Again I used this psalm in one of my addresses in our own Seminary in which I made the household to refer to the Seminary sending forth the preachers as her children.
The psalms assigned to the era of Hezekiah and Isaiah are Psa 46 ; Psa 47 ; Psa 48 . The historical setting is found in the history of the reign of Hezekiel. Their application to Judah at this time is found in the historical connection, in which we have God’s great deliverances from the foreign powers, especially the deliverance from Sennacherib. We find in poetry a description of the destruction and desolation of Jerusalem in the Lamentations of Jeremiah and in Psa 74 ; Psa 79 .
The radical critics ascribe Psa 74 ; Psa 79 to the Maccabean period, and their argument is based upon the use of the word “synagogues,” in Psa 74:8 . The answer to their contention is found in the marginal rendering which gives “places of assembly” instead of “synagogues.” The word “synagogue” is a Greek word translated from the Hebrew, which has several meanings, and in this place means the “place of assembly” where God met his people.
The silence of the exile period is shown in Psa 137 , in which they respond that they cannot sing a song of Zion in a strange land. Their brightening of hope is seen in Psa 102 . In this we have the brightening of their hope on the eve of their return. In Psa 85:10 we have a great text:
Mercy and truth are met together;
Righteousness and peace have kissed each other.
The truth here is God’s law demanding justice; mercy is God’s grace meeting justice. This was gloriously fulfilled in Christ on the cross. He met the demands of the law and offers mercy and grace to all who accept them on the terms of repentance and faith.
Three characteristics of Psa 119 are, first, it is an alphabetical psalm; second, it is the longest chapter in the Bible, and third, it is an expansion of the latter part of Psa 19 . Psalms 146-150 were used for worship in the second temple. The expressions of innocence in the psalms do not refer to original sin, but to a course of conduct in contrast with wicked lives. The psalmists do not claim absolute, but relative sinlessness.
The imprecations in the psalms are real prayers, and are directed against real men who were enemies of David and the Jewish nation, but they are not expressions of personal resentment. They are vigorous expressions of righteous indignation against incorrigible enemies of God and his people and are to be interpreted in the light of progressive revelation. The New Testament contains many exultant expressions of the overthrow of the wicked. (Cf. 1Co 16:22 ; 2Ti 4:14 ; Gal 5:12 ; Rev 16:5-6 ; Rev 18:20 .) These imprecations do not teach that we, even in the worst circumstances, should bear personal malice, nor take vengeance on the enemies of righteousness, but that we should live so close to God that we may acquiesce in the destruction of the wicked and leave the matter of vengeance in the hands of a just God, to whom vengeance belongs (Rom 12:19-21 ).
The clearest teachings on the future life as found in the psalms, both pro and con, are found in these passages, as follows: Psa 16:10-11 ; Psa 17:15 ; Psa 23:6 ; Psa 49:15 ; Psa 73:23-26 . The passages that are construed to the contrary are found in Psa 6:5 ; Psa 30:9 ; Psa 39:13 ; Psa 88:10-12 ; Psa 115:17 . The student will compare these passages and note carefully their teachings. The first group speaks of the triumph over Sheol (the resurrection) ; about awaking in the likeness of God; about dwelling in the house of the Lord forever; about redemption from the power of Sheol; and God’s guiding counsel and final reception into glory, all of which is very clear and unmistakable teaching as to the future life.
The second group speaks of DO remembrance in death; about no profit to the one when he goes down to the pit; of going hence and being no more; about the dead not being able to praise God and about the grave as being the land of forgetfulness ; and about the dead not praising Jehovah, all of which are spoken from the standpoint of the grave and temporal death.
There is positively no contradiction nor discrepancy in the teaching of these scriptures. One group takes the spirit of man as the viewpoint and teaches the continuity of life, the immortality of the soul; the other group takes the physical being of man as the viewpoint and teaches the dissolution of the body and its absolute unconsciousness in the grave.
QUESTIONS
1. How many and what psalms were ascribed to Asaph?
2. Who presided over the Levitical singers in the time of David?
3. What is the theme of Psa 50 , and where do we find the same teaching in the Old Testament?
4. What is the problem of Psa 73 , and what its solution?
5. What psalms are attributed to the sons of Korah?
6. What is the evidence that Psalms 42-43 were one poem and what the characteristic of these two taken together?
7. What parallel to these two psalms do we find in modern literature?
8. What psalms were ascribed to Solomon?
9. What is the theme of Psa 72 ?
10. What is the outline according to DeWitt, which shows the kingdom as desired and foretold?
11. When was Psa 127 written and what the application as a part of the Pilgrim group?
12. Give a brief interpretation of it and the uses made of it by the author on two different occasions.
13. What psalms are assigned to the era of Hezekiah and Isaiah, and what their historical setting?
14. What is their application to Judah at this time?
15. Where may we find in poetry a description of the destruction and desolation of Jerusalem?
16. To what period do radical critics ascribe Psalms 74-79; what is their argument, and what is your answer?
17. Which psalm shows the silence of the exile period and why?
18. Which one shows their brightening of hope?
19. Explain Psa 85:10 .
20. Give three characteristics of Psa 119 .
21. What use was made of Psalms 146-150?
22. Explain the expression of innocence in the psalms in harmony with their teaching of sin.
23. Explain the imprecations in the psalms and show their harmony with New Testament teachings.
24. Cite the clearest teachings on the future life as found in the psalms, both pro and con.
XV
PSALM AFTER DAVID PRIOR TO THE BABYLONIAN EXILE
The superscriptions ascribed to Asaph twelve palms (Psa 50 ; 73-83) Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun presided over the Levitical singers in the time of David. Their sons also directed the various bands of musicians (1Ch 25 ). It seems that the family of Asaph for many generations continued to preside over the service of song (Cf. Ezr 3:10 ).
The theme of Psa 50 is “Obedience is better than sacrifice,” or the language of Samuel to Saul when he had committed the awful sin in respect to the Amalekites. This teaching is paralleled in many Old Testament scriptures, for instance, Psa 51:16-17 . For thou delightest not in sacrifice; else would I give it: Thou hast no pleasure in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: A broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.
The problem of Psa 73 is the problem of why the wicked prosper (Psa 73:1-14 ), and its solution is found in the attitude of God toward the wicked (Psa 73:15-28 ). [For a fine exposition of the other psalms of this section see Kirkpatrick or Maclaren on the Psalms.]
The psalms attributed to the sons of Korah are Psa 42 ; Psa 44 ; Psa 45 ; Psa 47 ; Psa 48 ; Psa 49 ; Psa 84 ; Psa 85 ; Psa 87 . The evidence that Psalms 42-43 were one poem is internal. There are three stanzas, each closing with a refrain. The similarity of structure and thought indicates that they were formerly one psalm. A parallel to these two psalms we find in the escape of Christian from the Castle of Giant Despair in Pilgrim’s Progress .
Only two psalms were ascribed to Solomon, viz: Psa 72 and 127. However, the author believes that there is good reason to attribute Psa 72 to David. If he wrote it, then only one was written by Solomon.
The theme of Psa 72 is the reign of the righteous king, and the outline according to DeWitt, which shows the kingdom as desired and foretold, is as follows: (1) righteous (Psa 72:1-4 ) ; (2) perpetual (Psa 72:5-7 ); (3) universal (Psa 72:8-11 ); (4) benign (Psa 72:12-14 ); (5) prosperous (Psa 72:15-17 ).
Psa 127 was written when Solomon built the Temple. It is the central psalm of the psalms of the Ascents, which refer to the Temple. It seems fitting that this psalm should occupy the central position in the group, because of the occasion which inspired it and its relation to the other psalms of the group. A brief interpretation of it is as follows: The house here means household. It is a brief lyric, setting forth the lessons of faith and trust. This together with Psa 128 is justly called “A Song of Home.” Once in speaking to Baylor Female College I used this psalm, illustrating the function of a school as a parent sending forth her children into the world as mighty arrows. Again I used this psalm in one of my addresses in our own Seminary in which I made the household to refer to the Seminary sending forth the preachers as her children.
The psalms assigned to the era of Hezekiah and Isaiah are Psa 46 ; Psa 47 ; Psa 48 . The historical setting is found in the history of the reign of Hezekiel. Their application to Judah at this time is found in the historical connection, in which we have God’s great deliverances from the foreign powers, especially the deliverance from Sennacherib. We find in poetry a description of the destruction and desolation of Jerusalem in the Lamentations of Jeremiah and in Psa 74 ; Psa 79 .
The radical critics ascribe Psa 74 ; Psa 79 to the Maccabean period, and their argument is based upon the use of the word “synagogues,” in Psa 74:8 . The answer to their contention is found in the marginal rendering which gives “places of assembly” instead of “synagogues.” The word “synagogue” is a Greek word translated from the Hebrew, which has several meanings, and in this place means the “place of assembly” where God met his people.
The silence of the exile period is shown in Psa 137 , in which they respond that they cannot sing a song of Zion in a strange land. Their brightening of hope is seen in Psa 102 . In this we have the brightening of their hope on the eve of their return. In Psa 85:10 we have a great text:
Mercy and truth are met together;
Righteousness and peace have kissed each other.
The truth here is God’s law demanding justice; mercy is God’s grace meeting justice. This was gloriously fulfilled in Christ on the cross. He met the demands of the law and offers mercy and grace to all who accept them on the terms of repentance and faith.
Three characteristics of Psa 119 are, first, it is an alphabetical psalm; second, it is the longest chapter in the Bible, and third, it is an expansion of the latter part of Psa 19 . Psalms 146-150 were used for worship in the second temple. The expressions of innocence in the psalms do not refer to original sin, but to a course of conduct in contrast with wicked lives. The psalmists do not claim absolute, but relative sinlessness.
The imprecations in the psalms are real prayers, and are directed against real men who were enemies of David and the Jewish nation, but they are not expressions of personal resentment. They are vigorous expressions of righteous indignation against incorrigible enemies of God and his people and are to be interpreted in the light of progressive revelation. The New Testament contains many exultant expressions of the overthrow of the wicked. (Cf. 1Co 16:22 ; 2Ti 4:14 ; Gal 5:12 ; Rev 16:5-6 ; Rev 18:20 .) These imprecations do not teach that we, even in the worst circumstances, should bear personal malice, nor take vengeance on the enemies of righteousness, but that we should live so close to God that we may acquiesce in the destruction of the wicked and leave the matter of vengeance in the hands of a just God, to whom vengeance belongs (Rom 12:19-21 ).
The clearest teachings on the future life as found in the psalms, both pro and con, are found in these passages, as follows: Psa 16:10-11 ; Psa 17:15 ; Psa 23:6 ; Psa 49:15 ; Psa 73:23-26 . The passages that are construed to the contrary are found in Psa 6:5 ; Psa 30:9 ; Psa 39:13 ; Psa 88:10-12 ; Psa 115:17 . The student will compare these passages and note carefully their teachings. The first group speaks of the triumph over Sheol (the resurrection) ; about awaking in the likeness of God; about dwelling in the house of the Lord forever; about redemption from the power of Sheol; and God’s guiding counsel and final reception into glory, all of which is very clear and unmistakable teaching as to the future life.
The second group speaks of DO remembrance in death; about no profit to the one when he goes down to the pit; of going hence and being no more; about the dead not being able to praise God and about the grave as being the land of forgetfulness ; and about the dead not praising Jehovah, all of which are spoken from the standpoint of the grave and temporal death.
There is positively no contradiction nor discrepancy in the teaching of these scriptures. One group takes the spirit of man as the viewpoint and teaches the continuity of life, the immortality of the soul; the other group takes the physical being of man as the viewpoint and teaches the dissolution of the body and its absolute unconsciousness in the grave.
QUESTIONS
1. How many and what psalms were ascribed to Asaph?
2. Who presided over the Levitical singers in the time of David?
3. What is the theme of Psa 50 , and where do we find the same teaching in the Old Testament?
4. What is the problem of Psa 73 , and what its solution?
5. What psalms are attributed to the sons of Korah?
6. What is the evidence that Psalms 42-43 were one poem and what the characteristic of these two taken together?
7. What parallel to these two psalms do we find in modern literature?
8. What psalms were ascribed to Solomon?
9. What is the theme of Psa 72 ?
10. What is the outline according to DeWitt, which shows the kingdom as desired and foretold?
11. When was Psa 127 written and what the application as a part of the Pilgrim group?
12. Give a brief interpretation of it and the uses made of it by the author on two different occasions.
13. What psalms are assigned to the era of Hezekiah and Isaiah, and what their historical setting?
14. What is their application to Judah at this time?
15. Where may we find in poetry a description of the destruction and desolation of Jerusalem?
16. To what period do radical critics ascribe Psalms 74-79; what is their argument, and what is your answer?
17. Which psalm shows the silence of the exile period and why?
18. Which one shows their brightening of hope?
19. Explain Psa 85:10 .
20. Give three characteristics of Psa 119 .
21. What use was made of Psalms 146-150?
22. Explain the expression of innocence in the psalms in harmony with their teaching of sin.
23. Explain the imprecations in the psalms and show their harmony with New Testament teachings.
24. Cite the clearest teachings on the future life as found in the psalms, both pro and con.
Psa 79:1 A Psalm of Asaph. O God, the heathen are come into thine inheritance; thy holy temple have they defiled; they have laid Jerusalem on heaps.
A Psalm ] Of like subject with Psa 74:1-23 , bewailing the same calamity of the Jews, whether under Nebuchadnezzar or Antiochus is uncertain; but foreseen by Asaph, or described by some other prophet, and committed to some of Asaph’s successors to be sung. Cantant iusti etiam in adversis; as birds in the spring tune most sweetly when it raineth most sadly.
Ver. 1. O God, the heathen ] Ex abrupto orditur; q.d. Canst thou endure it? Is it not high time for thee to set in? Lo, they have filled the breadth of thy land, O Immanuel, Isa 8:8 , that is, O thou who art God with us, who givest with the Father, who prayest with the suitor ( Cum parte dater, inter nos petitor. Aug.), and who in all our afflictions art afflicted.
Thy holy temple have they defiled
They have laid Jerusalem on heaps It is “A psalm of Asaph.” Here we have the desolating ruin of the city and the sanctuary, when the ovewhelming scourge falls on Jerusalem as in Isa 10:28 , Zec 14:1 , Zec 14:2 , and other scriptures. It sets before us the feelings and prayers of the righteous Israelites, after the first Gentile siege which is partially successful, and before their leader, the king of the north, comes up a second time for his and their total destruction, Dan 8:11 ., etc.
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Psa 79:1-7
1O God, the nations have invaded Your inheritance;
They have defiled Your holy temple;
They have laid Jerusalem in ruins.
2They have given the dead bodies of Your servants for food to the birds of the heavens,
The flesh of Your godly ones to the beasts of the earth.
3They have poured out their blood like water round about Jerusalem;
And there was no one to bury them.
4We have become a reproach to our neighbors,
A scoffing and derision to those around us.
5How long, O Lord? Will You be angry forever?
Will Your jealousy burn like fire?
6Pour out Your wrath upon the nations which do not know You,
And upon the kingdoms which do not call upon Your name.
7For they have devoured Jacob
And laid waste his habitation.
Psa 79:1-3 These verses delineate what the Gentile invaders have done to the covenant people (perfects).
1. invaded Your inheritance (lit. came in) – BDB 97, KB 112, Qal perfect
2. defiled Your holy temple – BDB 379, KB 375, Piel perfect
3. laid Jerusalem in ruins (lit. put, place, set) – BDB 962, KB 1321, Qal perfect
4. given the dead bodies. . .for food to the birds – BDB 678, KB 733, Qal perfects, cf. Jer 7:33; Jer 16:4; Jer 19:7; Jer 34:20
5. poured out their blood – BDB 1049, KB 1629, Qal perfect, cf. Psa 79:6; Psa 79:10
6. there was no one to bury them – BDB 868, KB1064, Qal participle
The Jews could not understand how their God could allow the invasion of the land and defilement of the temple (i.e., Habakkuk). It seemed to question His:
1. power
2. promises
3. purpose for Israel
Psa 79:8-13 gives the answer (cf. Dan 9:1-14).
Psa 79:1 O God This is the first of several vocatives.
1. O God (Elohim), Psa 79:1
2. O Lord (YHWH), Psa 79:5
3. O God (Elyon), Psa 79:9
4. O Lord (Adonai), Psa 79:12
The AB adds two more (p. 249).
5. O God, Psa 79:6
6. O Scribe, Psa 79:8
Your inheritance Notice the number of times the psalmist accentuates that the objects of attack belong to YHWH.
1. Your inheritance, Psa 79:1
2. Your temple, Psa 79:1
3. Your servants, Psa 79:2; Psa 79:10
4. for the glory of Your name, Psa 79:9
5. for Your name’s sake, Psa 79:9
6. Your people, Psa 79:13
7. sheep of Your pasture, Psa 79:13
in ruins This is a rare term (BDB 730) which is used twice in Micah.
1. for the destruction of Samaria, Mic 1:6
2. for the destruction of Jerusalem, Mic 3:12 (quoted in Jer 26:18)
This Psalm seems to reflect the fall of Jerusalem to Nebuchadnezzar in 586 B.C. (see 2 Kings 25; 2 Chronicles 36 and Lamentations).
Psa 79:2 To be improperly buried was a horror to ANE people. To be eaten by animals was a fearful prospect (cf. Jer 7:33; Jer 8:2; Jer 34:20; Eze 29:5; Eze 32:4-6; Eze 33:27; Eze 39:4-5; Eze 39:17-20). Psa 79:2 is a fulfillment of the curse for disobedience in Deu 28:26!
SPECIAL TOPIC: BURIAL PRACTICES
Psa 79:3 The first line of this verse alludes to the ritual procedure where the blood of sacrifices was poured out at the base of the altar of sacrifice after a small amount was smeared on the horns of the altar (i.e., Lev 4:7). Jerusalem was destroyed as a ritual sacrifice and the bodies of the dead as a banquet for the wild animals.
Psa 79:4 The covenant people have become
1. a reproach (lit. a taunt, BDB 357) to their Gentile neighbors, cf. Psa 44:13; Psa 69:9; Psa 69:19; Psa 80:6; Psa 89:41
2. a scoffing (lit. mocked, BDB 541), cf. Psa 44:13; Eze 23:32; Eze 36:4
3. a derision, cf. Psa 44:13; Jer 20:8 (noun , BDB 887, used only three times and the verb form four more in the OT)
This was exactly opposite to YHWH’s purpose for Israel, which was to help the nations know Him and come to Him (cf. Eze 36:22-23).
Psa 79:5 These three questions,
1. How long? (cf. Psa 13:1; Psa 74:10; Psa 80:4; Psa 89:46; Psa 90:13; Psa 94:3)
2. Will You be angry forever? (cf. Ps. 44:23; Ps.74:1; Ps. 77:7; 85:5; Ps. 89:46)
3. Will Your jealousy burn like fire? (cf. Psa 89:46)
are the focus of Israel’s confusion and prayer. Has YHWH’s special relationship with the descendants of Abraham changed (cf. Psa 89:1-4)?
YHWH has an unchanging purpose for Israel (cf. Leviticus 26; Deuteronomy 27-30, see Special Topic: YHWH’s Eternal Redemptive Plan), but they must remember that the promises of protection, provision, and presence are conditional (see SPECIAL TOPIC: COVENANT ). Each generation must embrace and live out the covenant. Remember the Psalms are part of the OT’s two ways (cf. Deu 30:15-20; Psalms 1).
Psa 79:6-7 This is a prayer (pour out, BDB 1049, KB 1629, Qal imperative) for YHWH to act in judgment and deliverance (cf. Psa 79:9) for His covenant people (cf. Jer 10:25). Notice how the nations (BDB 156) are characterized.
1. which do not know You (see Special Topic: Know )
2. which do not call upon Your name (see Special Topic: Shadow as a Metaphor for Protection and Care )
It must be remembered that the nations
1. do not have true revelation
2. are controlled by the demonically inspired pagan idols
Israel was to be the channel of YHWH’s revelations about Himself. It is not surprising that the nations act in inappropriate ways (cf. Psa 79:7). What is surprising is that Israel, with all the spiritual benefits (cf. Rom 9:4-5), acts the way she does (cf. Luk 12:48)!
Psa 79:7 For they have The MT has for he has, but the ancient versions have they (LXX, Syriac, Vulgate). The change involves only a revocalization.
NASB, NRSVhabitation
NASB marginpasture
NKJVdwelling places
TEVcountry
NJB, JPSOAhome
REBhomeland
This root (BDB 627) has several meanings.
1. abode of a shepherd (i.e., Jer 33:12) or person (i.e., Job 18:15)
2. habitation of a nation (i.e., Jer 31:23 – Judah; Jer 49:20 – Edom; Jer. 50:45 – Babylon)
3. a city (cf. Isa 33:20)
4. remote military outposts (NIDOTTE, vol. 3, p. 55, i.e., Psa 79:7; Isa 27:10; Jer 10:25; Jer 25:30)
5. habitation (i.e., the earth, cf. Jer 25:30)
6. place of rest (BDB 628, cf. Isa 32:18 parallels)
Psa 79:7 follows the usage of #2.
Title. A Psalm. Hebrew mizmor. See App-65.
of Asaph. The eighth of the twelve Asaph Psalms. Compare Psalms 74, the second of the third book. See App-10. The Psalm is said to have “hardly any regular strophical divisions”. But see the Structure above.
God. Hebrew. Elohim. App-4.
heathen = nations.
holy. See note on Exo 3:5.
temple. See 1Ki 14:25, 1Ki 14:26; 2Ch 12:2-10. Pillaged, but not destroyed.
on heaps = in ruins. Compare the prophecy in Mic 3:12.
Psa 79:1-13
O God, heathen are come into thine inheritance; thy holy temple have they defiled; they have laid Jerusalem on heaps ( Psa 78:1 ).
So this goes out to the future to the time when the temple was laid waste, perhaps under the reign of Rehoboam by the Egyptians.
The dead bodies of thy servants have given to be meat unto the fowls of the heaven, the flesh of the saints, the beast of the earth. Their blood have they shed like water round about Jerusalem; and there was no one to bury them. We are become a reproach to our neighbors, a scorn and a derision to them around about us. How long, O LORD? will you be angry forever? shall your jealously burn like fire? Pour out thy wrath upon the heathen that have not known thee, and upon the kingdoms that have not called upon thy name. For they have devoured Jacob, laid waste his dwelling place. O remember not against us former iniquities: let the tender mercies speedily prevent us; for we are brought very low. Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of thy name: and deliver us, and purge away all our sins, for thy name’s sake. Why should the heathen say, Where is their God? let him be known among the heathen in thy sight in the revenging of blood of thy servants which is shed. Let the sighing of the prisoner come before thee; according the greatness of thy power preserve thou those that are appointed to die; and render to our neighbors sevenfold into their bosom their reproach, wherewith they have reproached thee, O Lord. And so we thy people, the sheep of thy pasture will give thee thanks for ever: and will show forth thy praise to all generations ( Psa 79:2-13 ).
And so it begins, of course, with speaking of the desolation that was brought by their enemies upon the temple, upon the people, and asking God to take vengeance upon those that had wrought the destruction upon the nation Israel. “
Psa 79:1
A LAMENT OVER THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM;
AND A PRAYER FOR VENGEANCE
George DeHoff called this psalm, “The Funeral Anthem of a Nation.
Charles M. Miller’s analysis of this psalm points out that it exhibits several elements found in other psalms: (1) Psa 79:5; Psa 79:7; Psa 79:10 a are lamentation; (2) Psa 79:6; Psa 79:10 b,12 are imprecations; (3) Psa 79:8-9 are pleas for forgiveness; (4) Psa 79:11 pleads for deliverance; and (5) Psa 79:13 carries a pledge of praise and thanksgiving following deliverance.
Three possible occasions identified with this psalm were proposed by Halley, namely, “The invasion of Shishak, the fall of the northern kingdom, and the Babylonian captivity.” Delitzsch suggested the time of the desecration of the Temple by Antiochus Epiphanes.
To this writer, the only logical selection is that of the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem and the final captivity of the residue of the people that accompanied the capture and deportation of Zedekiah to Babylon. There are many reasons for this choice.
(1) There is the fact that for eighteen centuries, “The Jews have recited this psalm upon the 9th day of the Jewish month Ab, commemorating the two destructions of Jerusalem (by the Babylonians in 587 B.C., and by the Romans in A.D. 70). This practice may point to an old tradition associating this psalm with the Babylonian period.
(2) Shishak never entered Jerusalem. (2) Antiochus Epiphanes did not destroy either the temple or the city of Jerusalem. (3) The mention of the people’s captivity (Psa 79:11) points squarely to the Babylonian era. (4) The complete destruction of Jerusalem (Psa 79:1) occurred only once in pre-Christian history, namely in 587 B.C.; and (5) many of the ablest scholars we have consulted agree on the Babylonian date and occasion.
“The only time which adequately fits this description is the exilic period after the burning of Jerusalem and the temple by Nebuchadnezzar in 587 B.C. The Babylonian destruction seems most appropriate. `Jerusalem in heaps’ is truer of the Babylonian captivity than of the times of Antiochus Epiphanes. It seems best to assign it to the period of the destruction of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans. The general voice of commentators is that the psalm must be referred to the time of the Babylonian conquest.
The psalm naturally falls into two divisions. First, there is a description of the disaster (Psa 79:1-4). The remaining nine verses are a prayer for deliverance, forgiveness, vengeance upon enemies, etc.
Psa 79:1
“O God, the nations have come into thine inheritance;
Thy holy temple have they defiled;
They have laid Jerusalem in heaps.”
“The nations, ” “the Gentiles.” It was an especially bitter thing for the Jews that a pagan nation was permitted to triumph over them. “It is the height of reproach when a father casts upon a slave the task of beating his son. Of all outward judgments against Israel, this was the sorest.
“They have laid Jerusalem in heaps.” Some writers have made too much of the fact that it is not stated here that the temple was destroyed, but `defiled.’ However, the destruction of it would have been indeed a defilement; and besides that, how could it be imagined that with the whole city in “heaps” the temple would not have suffered the same fate as the rest of the city?
E.M. Zerr:
Psa 79:1. The heathen were the idolaters that were continually opposing Israel. Many of the remarks of David could have been said at various times in the history. He wrote both as a prophet and historian. The strange people of the surrounding nations were envious of Jerusalem and used every opportunity for injuring the holy city.
This is a cry of distress. The conditions described are those of overwhelming national calamity. The country and the city of God are overrun and spoiled by ruthless enemies. The people have been slain and left without burial. Out of the midst of these circumstances the psalmist prays to God for pardon, help, and deliverance.
There is no present note of praise in the psalm, but there is an undertone of confidence in God. This is the quality of these old songs of the men of faith which makes them living and powerful in an age utterly different from the one in which makes them living and powerful in an age utterly different from the one in which they were written. A careful perusal of this song will show three things as most evidently forming the deepest conviction of the singers hope. First there is the sense that all the calamity which has overtaken the power and goodness of God. These things need not have been had they been faithful, for God is strong and tender. Again there is the passion for the glory of the Divine Name,
Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of Thy name; And deliver us, and purge away out sins, for Thy names sake. Wherefore should the heathen say, Where is their God?
Finally, the very fact of the song is a revelation of the underlying confidence in God. In distress the heart seeks its way back to some hiding-place, and finds it in the Name of God, Who, by suffering is dealing with them.
Help Us, O God of Our Salvation
Psa 79:1-13
It was the period of the Chaldean invasion. This cry of horror went forth from the heart of the Chosen People, who had looked upon the sacred shrine as inviolable. They could not believe that the tide of invasion could break in upon Jerusalem, or that the Holy City should be defiled by the profane feet of the heathen. This psalm should be compared with the book of Lamentations. We there find the same horror, the same anguish, the same sense of surprise, the same hatred of the foe, the same cry to God.
Does it seem as if God were angry with you? Have the heathen forced their way into the inner shrine and city of your heart? Are you brought very low and near unto death? Then begin to inquire whether some sin may not have alienated God from you. Confess it and put it away. Turn to God with a free and glad faith. Ask that His mercies may prevent (literally, go before) and His help succor you, for His Names sake. The sighing of the captive and the greatness of God power, Psa 79:11, are in close affinity; and when you are delivered, remember your vows, and show forth His praise to all within your reach.
Psalm 79
Lamentation and Prayer on Account of the Enemy
1. The Enemy in Jerusalem (Psa 79:1-4)
2. How Long, Lord? (Psa 79:5-13)
Zion, the place He loves, mentioned in the preceding Psalm, is here prophetically seen in desolation. The nations have come into the inheritance, Jerusalem is become a heap of ruins, the temple is defiled. The dead bodies of His servants and His saints lie unburied, and the people are a reproach, a scorn and a derision. A similar prophecy we found in the Seventy-fourth Psalm, which should be compared with this Psalm. While Jerusalem and the temple has seen more than once such desolations, we must view these predicted calamities as being the final disaster which is yet to overtake the city. Read Dan 9:27; Mat 24:15; Rev 11:1-19, and Rev 13:11-18. And in that day of calamity where shall the faithful turn? They cry to Him whose faithfulness is proven by the dealings of the past and assured by the Davidic covenant. How long, Lord? Pour out Thy wrath upon the nations and the kingdoms, the ten kingdoms and the little horn of Dan 7:1-28. They pray, Remember not our former iniquities–Help us, God of our Salvation. Then when the answer comes they will give Him never ceasing praise.
of Asaph: or, for Asaph, Psa 74:1, *title, marg:
the heathen: Psa 74:3, Psa 74:4, Psa 80:12, Psa 80:13, 2Ki 21:12-16, 2Ki 25:4-10, 2Ch 36:3, 2Ch 36:4, 2Ch 36:6, 2Ch 36:7, 2Ch 36:17, Luk 21:24, Rev 11:2
into: Psa 74:2, Psa 78:71, Exo 15:17, Isa 47:6
holy: Psa 74:7, Psa 74:8, 2Ki 24:13, Lam 1:10, Eze 7:20, Eze 7:21, Eze 9:7
have laid: 2Ki 25:9, 2Ki 25:10, 2Ch 36:19, Jer 26:18, Jer 39:8, Jer 52:13, Mic 3:12
Reciprocal: Deu 28:26 – General 1Sa 4:13 – his heart 1Ch 6:39 – Asaph 1Ch 25:2 – Asaph 2Ch 35:15 – according 2Ch 36:16 – the wrath Psa 31:2 – deliver Psa 102:14 – General Psa 137:3 – wasted us Isa 64:10 – General Jer 9:11 – Jerusalem Jer 19:13 – defiled Jer 50:11 – ye destroyers Jer 51:51 – for strangers Lam 5:2 – General Eze 5:14 – I will Eze 24:21 – I will Dan 9:2 – the desolations 1Co 3:17 – any
The plea against the invasion of the enemy.
A psalm of Asaph.
The seventy-ninth psalm is strikingly similar to the seventy-fourth; and these occupy the same position in their respective sections. The one is the second psalm of the first section, as the other is of the second. In both it is the invasion of the enemy that is the subject, and in both they have profaned the very sanctuary of God. But in the seventy-fourth this and the similar destruction of the places of assembly in the land are the whole topic, while here it is still more the slaughter of the people of God themselves. But both are before us, and we have evidently such a state of things as that in the last psalm, when God removed His tabernacle from Shiloh, and His people were oppressed and slaughtered by the Philistine foe. Here it is the time of the end, and the desolation is still worse, and plainly hopeless, save to God Himself. But the greater the distress the greater the remedy; and as in the former case God raised up David, it is now a greater than David that is to be their resource, as we have seen in the psalms that follow. In the present we have only their prayer, the pleading which shows the ground they are on in their souls with God, and what is effectual with Him. Essentially, this ground is always in Himself, and the utter break-up of self-confidence it is which gives us a bolder and more confident appeal to Him.
There are thirteen verses in the psalm; which is divided otherwise as a twelve-versed psalm would be; the additional verse finding its place in the first section.
1. We have first the occasion of their prayer, the case spread out before God. It concerns Him. The nations have invaded His inheritance, defiled His temple, laid Jerusalem in heaps. They have given the dead bodies of His servants as food to the birds and beasts of prey. No doubt their sins -and they own it to be so -have provoked the Lord to anger; but here are enemies to Himself who have come in to slaughter those who at least were His servants, worshipers of His, and “saints,” sanctified by His Name upon them. Their blood has been shed like water round the city of peace, so that none was left to bury them. Yet thus they were left to appeal to God in the open sight of heaven, -the crime manifested, earth refusing to cover it (comp. Job 16:18; Eze 24:8). But so too was the reproach of their helplessness to those round about but without pity for them.
2. They now impute this rightly to Jehovah’s anger: but will it be, then, perpetual 2 These are aliens who disown Him altogether: will He not rather pour it out on these? these who have shown their hostility by devouring Jacob, and laying waste his habitation?
3. Thus for the glory of His Name they can appeal to Him to come in. They acknowledge the sins of their fathers and their own: but the glory of His Name still appeals for their salvation. The nations taunt Him as One not to be found in the day of need: let the avenging of the blood of His servants make Him known.
4. The last section pleads their helplessness. They are as prisoners shut up and under the death sentence: they plead that His mercy may give them life, and that He render seven-fold the reproach with which His adversaries have reproached Him. As His people, the sheep of His pasture, their thankful hearts, from generation to generation, shall show forth His praise.
The psalm is of the simplest character, and needs little labor to make it plain.
The first psalm in this lesson suggests Psalms 74 on which we did not dwell, but both of which depict the desolations of Judah by the Babylonians (compare Jer 52:12-14). On this supposition their date would be that of the captivity, and their author a later Asaph than the Asaph mentioned in Davids time.
Psalms 80
Has captivity features also. Some would say it relates to the ten tribes, as the preceding psalm does to Judah. The next several psalms are much alike in this respect and may easily be interpreted from that point of view.
Psalms 86
Attributed to David, constitutes a break in the series, and is a prayer which we pause to analyze. Observe the touching picture in Psa 86:1, a child with his arms round his fathers neck. Observe the five requests for: preservation, joy, instruction, strength and encouragement, in Psa 86:2; Psa 86:4; Psa 86:11; Psa 86:16 and Psa 86:17 respectively. Observe the grounds from the human side on which an answer is expected, his need, importunity (margin), trust, relationship to God (margin), Psa 86:1; Psa 86:3-4; Psa 86:2. From the divine side he expected it because of Gods goodness, greatness and grace, Psa 86:5; Psa 86:10; Psa 86:13.
Of the authors of Psalms 88, 89 we know nothing save that their names are among Davids singers (1Ch 6:18; 1Ch 6:33; 1Ch 15:17). There is little to show the occasion when they were written, but the last-named has been assigned to Absaloms rebellion. From that point of view it may be a contrast between the promised prosperity of Davids throne (2 Samuel 7), and what now threatens its downfall; but in any event it is full of helpfulness in spiritual application.
Psalms 90, 91
(ESPECIALLY THE LATTER) Rank with Psalms 37, 51, 103 in popular favor, being quoted almost as frequently. The first is a contrast between mans frailty and Gods eternity, and the second, an outburst, of confidence in the presence of physical peril. Many a foreign missionary has found this last a very present help in time of trouble! The two psalms are also capable of a dispensational application, the first referring to Israels day of sorrow and repentance, and the second to her deliverance and protection from the tribulation to come. Satans use of Psa 91:11-12, in the temptation of our Lord (Mat 4:6), will not be forgotten.
Psalms 93-102
Were applied by the Jews to the times of the Messiah, who had in mind His first advent only; but we in the light of subsequent events see their application to His second advent. In Psalms 93 He is entering on His reign; in Psalms 94 He is appealed to for judgment on the evil-doers; in
Psalms 95 Israel is exhorted to praise him, and warned against unbelief. The substance of the next four is found in 1 Chronicles 16, which was used by Davids direction at the dedication of the tabernacle on Matthew Zion, which typified the dispensation of the Messiah.
A break appears at Psalms 101, where David is once more named, and is making a vow of consecration corresponding to Psalms 15. In Psalms 102 he is pouring out a deep complaint, prophetic of Israels hour of tribulation and her deliverance therefrom (Psalms 102 13-22). Observe that when the kingdoms of the earth are serving the Lord, men will be declaring His name in Zion and praising Him in Jerusalem. As we have seen earlier, that sacred city will be the center of things in the millennial age.
Psalms 103-108
Are all of praise. In the first, David rises from a thankful acknowledgment of personal blessings (Psa 103:1-5) to a celebration of Gods attributes. In the next God is praised for His works of creation and providence. In the next Israels special reasons for praise are enumerated, the thought being carried forward into the two succeeding psalms, although the second of the two broadens out again into a celebration of Gods mercy to all people in their various emergencies. It is one of the most beautiful of the psalms and its structure affords another good opportunity to illustrate Hebrew poetry.
QUESTIONS
1. To what period of Israels history may Psalms 74, 79 apply?
2. What other psalms may here be included?
3. Have you studied Psalms 86 with the aid of the outline in the lesson?
4. Memorize Psalms 91.
5. To what period does the group 93-100 probably belong?
6. How would you designate the next group?
7. What is the refrain of Psalms 107?
Psa 79:1. O God, the heathen are come As invaders and conquerors; into thine inheritance Into Canaan and Judea, which thou didst choose for thine inheritance. Thy holy temple have they defiled By entering into it, and touching and carrying away its holy vessels, and shedding blood in it, and burning of it; they have laid Jerusalem on heaps Made of the ruins of those goodly houses which they have burned and thrown down. Thus, in this verse, the psalmist enumerates three deplorable calamities which were come upon Gods people: the alienation of Gods inheritance, the profanation of his sanctuary, and the desolation of the beloved city.
Title. A psalm of Asaph, an elegy over the slain, as is supposed, when Shishak king of Egypt invaded Judea with a great army, besieging the cities and slaughtering the people. Sir Isaac Newton thinks, that Shishak and Sesostris are the same person. This psalm cannot refer to the burning of the city by the Chaldeans, because the last verse represents the temple as still standing, and the choirs as singing, Oh Lord,we will show forth thy praise unto all generations. See an account of this invasion, which happened in the fifth year of Rehoboam, son of Solomon, as recorded in 1Ki 14:25. 2Ch 12:2.
Psa 79:1. Oh God, the heathen are come into thine inheritance. Shishak with twelve hundred chariots, seventy thousand horsemen, and a countless army of infantry; took the fenced cities, and it would seem, without much resistance, till he reached Jerusalem, where blood was shed like water. Jerusalem also opened her gates; the Egyptians entered the temple, the palace, the arsenal, and carried away all the treasures of Solomon, leaving Jerusalem desolate without, and naked within.
Psa 79:11. Preserve thou those that are appointed to die. The reading of the LXX relieves the text. Preserve thou the children of those that have been slain. Let the stock survive the fall of the tree. So here; Judah acquired strength, and flourished again.
REFLECTIONS.
What a narrow escape was this of Davids house and kingdom from utter destruction. Rehoboam and his princes, intoxicated with wealth and pride, knew neither themselves nor their fathers God. They had not recovered from the countless carnage in the war with Jeroboam, who had averted this storm by an alliance with Egypt, and had probably invited it on Judah for revenge. How vain to lay up gold as the dust. It tempts the thieves to carry it away.
How happy for Judah, that she had at this time the prophet Shemaiah to pray for his country, and advise his sovereign and the princes to submission to the stroke that could not be averted. He assembled good men to cry, Help us, oh God of our salvation. They alleged the wanton insolence of the invaders, who on profaning the temple said, Where is their God; for the heathen placed every city and temple under the patronage of some divinity. So the Lord was entreated once more to relieve and comfort Zion. The Lord allowed Shishak to do his work, and gave him gold for his reward; but he limited his commission.
LXXIX. The Sanctuary Profaned.The Ps. is of the same date as Psalms 74. It does not suit the earlier destruction of the city and the Temple in 586 B.C. The words war, overthrow, and the like do not occur: the Temple is profaned, not destroyed. On the other hand, Psa 79:3 is in striking accord with the picture drawn in 1Ma 1:37. Notice also the mention of the godly or Asideans in 2 (see Psa 4:3).
Psa 79:2 f. is quoted in 1Ma 7:17.
Psa 79:6 f. is from Jer 10:25, and was perhaps inserted here by a later hand.
Psa 79:11. preserve: read, loose.
Psa 79:12. The eastern flowing lobes were well adapted for carrying burdens in the front folds (see Isa 65:6, Jer 32:18, Luk 6:38).
PSALM 79
The confession by the godly of the sin and utter helplessness of God’s people, with an appeal to God to act on their behalf on the ground of his tender mercies, and for the glory of His great Name.
Psalm 78 had set forth the utter ruin of God’s people, and that their only hope lies in the sovereign grace of God. This psalm is the proper response of the godly. They own their sin and cast themselves upon God and His mercy.
(vv. 1-4) The godly spread out their sad condition before God. Apparently the enemy has completely triumphed over God’s people, leaving them utterly helpless; in reproach and derision before the world. They plead, however, that the enemy is attacking God’s inheritance, God’s holy temple, God’s servants, and God’s saints.
(vv. 5-7) The godly rightly feel that an attack against God, and His possessions, must have a limit. God cannot allow it to go on for ever. Thus they ask, How long, Lord? furthermore they own they are suffering under the chastening anger and jealousy of the Lord. They plead, however, that the instruments of His chastening are simply expressing their hatred against God. They have not known God or called upon His Name.
(vv. 8-10) They acknowledge their sins and that they are brought very low: but they plead God’s tender mercies, the glory of His Name, and the reproach of the enemies who say, Where is their God? Outwardly it might appear to the world that God was indifferent to the sufferings of His people.
(vv. 11-13) Finally they plead their own utter weakness and God’s great power. Let the sighing of the prisoner come before thee, is followed by the prayer that the greatness of God’s power might preserve His people who, apparently, were at the point of death. Then they plead that those who reproach the Lord may be dealt with in judgment and thus eternal praises would arise from those who, in spite of all their failure, are still the sheep of His pasture.
79:1 [A Psalm of Asaph.] O God, {a} the heathen are come into thine inheritance; thy holy temple have they defiled; they have laid Jerusalem on heaps.
(a) The people cry to God against the barbarous tyranny of the Babylonians who spoiled God’s inheritance, polluted his temple, destroyed his religion, and murdered his people.
Psalms 79
In this national (communal) lament psalm: Asaph mourned Jerusalem’s destruction and pleaded with God to have mercy on His people, despite their sins, for His name’s sake (cf. Psalms 74). This Asaph may have lived after the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem. The writer’s viewpoint seems to be that of the survivors left in Jerusalem, rather than that of the deportees, which Psalms 137 reflects.
"This psalm repeats the themes of Psalms 74, but seemingly with more venom. The situation is the same: the temple is destroyed, Israel is bereft, and the conquering enemy gloats. Yahweh cannot afford to be a disinterested party. Appeal is made to the partisan holiness of God which works beyond visible religiosity. Israel here presses Yahweh to decide what counts with him." [Note: Brueggemann, p 71.]
1. A lament over Jerusalem’s destruction 79:1-4
Enemies had invaded Israel, defiled the temple, destroyed Jerusalem, and left the bodies of Israel’s soldiers unburied. To lie unburied, like an animal for which no one cared, was the final humiliation. Consequently, God’s inheritance had become an object of derision for her neighbors.
"The issue here is not God’s justice in judging his people but the means used by the Lord [cf. Habakkuk 1-2]. The pagans must be held accountable for their desecration of the holy people and the holy temple so that they may be restored and God’s people no longer experience defilement and disgrace (cf. Isa 35:8; Isa 52:1)." [Note: VanGemeren, p. 519.]
Psa 79:1-13
THE same national agony which was the theme of Psa 74:1-23, forced the sad strains of this psalm from the singers heart. There, the profanation of the Temple and here, the destruction of the city, are the more prominent. There, the dishonour to God; here, the distresses of His people, are set forth. Consequently, confession of sin is more appropriate here, and prayers for pardon blend with those for deliverance. But the tone of both psalms is the same, and there are similarities of expression which favour, though they do not demand, the hypothesis that the author is the same. Such similarities are the “how long” (Psa 74:10; Psa 79:5); the desecration of the Temple (Psa 74:3; Psa 74:7; Psa 79:1) the giving over to wild beasts (Psa 74:19; Psa 79:2); the reproach of God (Psa 74:10; Psa 74:18; Psa 74:22; Psa 79:12). The comparison of Israel to a flock is found in both psalms, but in others of the Asaph group also.
The same remarks which were made as to the date of the former psalm apply in this case. Two arguments have, however, been urged against the Maccabean date. The first is that drawn from the occurrence of Psa 79:6-7, in Jer 10:25. It is contended that Jeremiah is in the habit of borrowing from earlier writers, that the verse immediately preceding that in question is quoted from Psa 6:1, and that the connection of the passage in the psalm is closer than in the prophet, and, therefore, that the words are presumably in situ here, as also that the verbal alterations are such as to suggest that the prophet rather than the psalmist is the adapter. But, on the other hand, Hupfeld maintains that the connection in Jeremiah is the closer. Not much weight can be attached to that point, for neither prophet nor poet can be tied down to cool concatenation of sentences. Delitzsch claims the verbal alterations as indubitable proofs of the priority of the prophet, and maintains that “the borrower betrays himself” by changing the prophets words into less accurate and elegant ones, and by omissions which impair “the soaring fulness of Jeremiahs expressions.” The critics who hold that the psalm refers to the Chaldean invasion, and that Jeremiah has borrowed from it, have to face a formidable difficulty. The psalm must have been written after the catastrophe: the prophecy preceded it. How then can the prophet be quoting the psalm? The question has not been satisfactorily answered, nor is it likely to be.
A second argument against the Maccabean date is based upon the quotation of Psa 79:3 in RAPC 1Ma 7:16, which it introduces by the usual formula of quotation from Scripture. It is urged that a composition so recent as the psalm would be, if of Maccabean date, would not be likely to be thus referred to. But this argument confuses the date of occurrence recorded in 1 Maccabees with the date of the record; and there is no improbability in the writer of the book quoting as Scripture a psalm which had sprung from the midst of the tragedy which he narrates.
The strophical division is not perfectly clear, but it is probably best to recognise three strophes of four verses each, with an appended verse of conclusion. The first spreads before God His peoples miseries. The second and third are prayer for deliverance and confession of sin; but they differ, in that the former strophe dwells mainly upon the wished for destruction of the enemy, and the latter upon the rescue of Israel, while a subordinate diversity is that ancestral sins are confessed in the one, and those of the present generation in the other. Psa 79:13 stands out of the strophe scheme as a kind of epilogue.
The first strophe vividly describes the ghastly sights that wrung the psalmists heart, and will, as he trusts, move Gods to pity and help. The same thought as was expressed in Psa 74:1-23 underlies the emphatic repetition of “Thy” in this strophe-namely, the implication of Gods fair name in His peoples disasters. “Thine inheritance” is invaded, and “Thy holy Temple” defiled by the “heathen.” The corpses of “Thy servants” lie unburied, torn by vultures beaks and jackals claws. The blood of “Thy favoured Ones” saturates the ground. It was not easy to hold fast by the reality of Gods special relation to a nation thus apparently deserted, but the psalmists faith stood even such a strain, and is not dashed by a trace of doubt. Such times are the test and triumph of trust. If genuine, it will show brightest against the blackest background. The word in Psa 79:1 rendered “heathen” is usually translated “nations,” but here evidently connotes idolatry (Psa 79:6). Their worship of strange gods, rather than their alien nationality, makes their invasion of Gods inheritance a tragic anomaly. The psalmist remembers the prophecy of Micah {Mic 3:12} that Jerusalem should become heaps, and sadly repeats it as fulfilled at last. As already noticed, Psa 79:3 is quoted in RAPC 1Ma 7:16-17, and Psa 79:4 is found in Psa 44:13, which is by many commentators referred to the Maccabean period.
The second strophe passes to direct petition, which, as it were, gives voice to the stiffened corpses strewing the streets, and the righteous blood crying from the ground. The psalmist goes straight to the cause of calamity-the anger of God-and, in the close of the strophe confesses the sins which had kindled it. Beneath the play of politics and the madness of Antiochus, he discerned Gods hand at work. He reiterates the fundamental lesson, which prophets were never weary of teaching, that national disasters are caused by the anger of God, which is excited by national sins. That conviction is the first element in his petitions. A second is the twin conviction that the “heathen” are used by God as His instrument of chastisement, but that, when they have done their work, they are called to account for the human passion-cruelty, lust of conquest, and the like-which impelled them to it. Even as they poured out the blood of Gods people, they have Gods wrath poured out on them, because “they have eaten up Jacob.”
The same double point of view is frequently taken by the prophets: for example, in Isaiahs magnificent prophecy against “the Assyrian” (Isa 10:5 seq.), where the conqueror is first addressed as “the rod of Mine anger,” and then his “punishment” is foretold, because, while executing Gods purpose, he had been unconscious of his mission, and had been gratifying his ambition. These two convictions go very deep into “the philosophy of history.” Though modified in their application to modern states and politics, they are true in substance still. The Goths who swept down on Rome, the Arabs who crushed a corrupt Christianity, the French who stormed across Europe, were Gods scavengers, gathered vulture-like round carrion, but they were each responsible for their cruelty, and were punished “for the fruit of their stout hearts.”
The closing verse of the strophe (Psa 79:8) is intimately connected with the next, which we take as beginning the third strophe; but this connection does not set aside the strophical division, though it somewhat obscures it. The distinction between the similar petitions of Psa 79:8-9, is sufficient to warrant our recognition of that division, even whilst acknowledging that the two parts coalesce more closely than usual. The psalmist knows that the heathen have been hurled against Israel because God is angry; and he knows that Gods anger is no arbitrarily kindled flame, but one lit and fed by Israels sins. He knows, too, that there is a fatal entail by which the iniquities of the fathers are visited on the children. Therefore, he asks first that these ancestral sins may not be “remembered,” nor their consequences discharged on the childrens heads. “The evil that men do lives after them,” and history affords abundant instances of the accumulated consequences of ancestors crimes lighting on descendants that had abandoned the ancient evil, and were possibly doing their best to redress it. Guilt is not transmitted, but results of wrong are; and it is one of the tragedies of history that “one soweth and another reapeth” the bitter fruit. Upon one generation may, and often does, come the blood of all the righteous men that many generations have slain. {Mat 23:35}
The last strophe (Psa 79:9-12) continues the strain begun in Psa 79:8, but with significant deepening into confession of the sins of the existing generation. The psalmist knows that the present disaster is no case of the fathers having eaten sour grapes and the childrens teeth being set on edge, but that he and his contemporaries had repeated the fathers transgressions. The ground of his plea for cleansing and deliverance is the glory of Gods name, which he emphatically puts at the end of both clauses of Psa 79:9. He repeats the same thought in another form in the question of Psa 79:10, “Why should the heathen say, Where is their God?” If Israel, sinful though it is, and therefore meriting chastisement, is destroyed, there will be a blot on Gods name and the “heathen” will take it as proof, not that Israels God was just, but that He was too feeble or too far off to hear prayers or to send succours. It is bold faith which blends acknowledgment of sins with such a conviction of the inextricable intertwining of Gods glory and the sinners deliverance. Lowly confession is wonderfully wedded to confidence that seems almost too lofty. But the confidence is in its inmost core as lowly as the confession, for it disclaims all right to Gods help, and clasps His name as its only but sufficient plea.
The final strophe dwells more on the sufferings of the survivors than the earlier parts of the psalm do, and in this respect contrasts with Psa 74:1-23, which is all but entirely silent as to these. Not only does the spilt blood of dead confessors cry for vengeance since they died for their faith, as “Thy servants,” but the groans and sighs of the living who are captives, and “sons of death”-i.e., doomed to die, if unrescued by God-appeal to Him. The expressions “the groaning of the captive” and “the sons of death” occur in Psa 102:20, from which, if this is a composition of Maceabean date they are here quoted. The strophe ends with recurring to the central thought of both this and the companion psalm-the reproach on God from His servants calamities-and prays that the enemies taunts may be paid back into their bosoms sevenfold-i.e., in fullest measure.
The epilogue in Psa 79:13 has the image of a flock, so frequent in the Asaph psalms, suggesting tender thoughts of the shepherds care and of his obligations. Deliverance will evoke praise, and, instead of the sad succession of sin and suffering from generation to generation, the solidarity of the nation will be more happily expressed by ringing songs, transmitted from father to son, and gathering volume as they flow from age to age.
Fuente: Expositor’s Dictionary of Text by Robertson
Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible
Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible
Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: William Kelly Major Works (New Testament)
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Fuente: Through the Bible Commentary
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Fuente: An Exposition on the Whole Bible
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary
Fuente: Gaebelein’s Annotated Bible (Commentary)
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Grant’s Numerical Bible Notes and Commentary
Fuente: James Gray’s Concise Bible Commentary
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Sutcliffe’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
Fuente: Smith’s Writings on 24 Books of the Bible
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Expositors Bible Commentary