Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 79:2
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.
2. The horrors of a remorseless slaughter were aggravated by the disgrace of the corpses being left unburied, in accordance with the threats of the law (Deu 28:26) and prophets (Jer 7:33; Jer 8:2; Jer 9:22; Jer 15:3; Jer 16:4; Jer 19:7).
thy servants thy saints ] These titles are not meant to plead Israel’s merits, but Israel’s relationship to God in virtue of His covenant with them (Psa 74:20; Psa 50:5).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The dead bodies of thy servants … – They have slain them, and left them unburied. See 2Ch 36:17. This is a description of widespread carnage and slaughter, such as we know occurred at the time when Jerusalem was taken by the Chaldeans. At such a time, it is not probable that the Chaldeans would pause to bury the slain, nor is it probable that they would give opportunity to the captive Hebrews to remain to bury them. That would occur, therefore, which often occurs in war, that the slain would be left on the field to be devoured by wild animals and by the fowls of heaven.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 2. The dead bodies of thy servants] It appears that in the destruction of Jerusalem the Chaldeans did not bury the bodies of the slain, but left them to be devoured by birds and beasts of prey. This was the grossest inhumanity.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Of thy servants; either,
1. Of thy faithful and holy servants, whom they used as cruelly as the worst of the people. Or,
2. Of the Jews, whom, though the generality of them were very wicked, he calleth Gods servants and saints, because they were all such by profession, and some of them were really such; and the Chaldeans did never know nor regard those that were so, but promiscuously destroyed all that came in their way. Given to be meat unto the fowls of heaven, by casting them out like dung upon the face of the earth, and not suffering any to bury them.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
2, 3. (Compare Jer 15:3;Jer 16:4).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
The dead bodies of thy servants have they given to be meat unto the fowls of the heaven,…. For such there were, both at the time of the Babylonish captivity, and in the times of Antiochus, who were good men, and served the Lord, and yet suffered in the common calamity. Nicanor, a general of Demetrius, in the time of the Maccabees, seems to have been guilty of such a fact as this, since, when he was slain, his tongue was given in pieces to the fowls, and the reward of his madness was hung up before the temple, as in the Apocrypha:
“And when he had cut out the tongue of that ungodly Nicanor, he commanded that they should give it by pieces unto the fowls, and hang up the reward of his madness before the temple.” (2 Maccabees 15:33)
the flesh of thy saints unto the beasts of the earth; this clause and the following verse are applied to a case in the times of the Maccabees, when sixty men of the Assideans were slain, religious, devout, and holy men, so called from the very word here translated “saints”;
“Now the Assideans were the first among the children of Israel that sought peace of them:” (1 Maccabees 7:13)
“The flesh of thy saints have they cast out, and their blood have they shed round about Jerusalem, and there was none to bury them.” (1 Maccabees 7:17)
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(2) In addition to references in Margin see Deu. 28:26.
Saints.Heb., chasdm. (See Note, Psa. 16:10.) Here with definite allusion to the Assdans of 1 Maccabees 7.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
2. Dead bodies The slaughter was so great that the bodies were left unburied, (Psa 79:3,) to become food for birds and wild beasts. Even the flesh of the saints, or truly pious, was given unto the beasts of the earth. In national or public calamities the righteous suffer with the wicked, and because of the wicked.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Psa 79:2 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.
Ver. 2. The dead bodies of thy servants ] Either they denied them the honour of burial (which is reckoned among the , the dues of the dead), or else they mangled their dead bodies, and exercised their rage upon them, as the Papists did upon Huss and Zwinglius, and many of the English martyrs. A barbarous practice, as Pausanias judged it in Herodot. Calliope, N , &c.
The flesh of thy saints, &c.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
saints = men of Thy lovingkindness, or gracious ones, or beloved.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Psa 79:2
Psa 79:2
“The dead bodies of thy servants have they given to be food unto the birds of the heavens,
The flesh of thy saints unto the beasts of the earth.”
The commentators who refer this to the murder of some sixty priests by Antiochus Epiphanes overlook the fact that there is not a word here about any priests. Also, the fact of there being no one available to bury the dead bodies speaks of a time when the people were being deported to Babylon. Certainly, those pagan captors would not have allowed any time for burying the dead. “Hyenas and jackals would dispute the flesh of the slain with vultures and crows
E.M. Zerr:
Psa 79:2. Those who were slain in battle were not even given decent burial. Their bodies were left to become food for wild beasts and birds.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Jer 7:33, Jer 15:3, Jer 16:4, Jer 34:20
Reciprocal: 2Ch 36:17 – who slew Psa 44:22 – killed Psa 94:5 – break Jer 14:16 – be cast Jer 19:7 – and their Lam 5:2 – General Eze 32:4 – General Dan 9:2 – the desolations Zep 1:17 – and their blood Rev 11:8 – their dead Rev 11:9 – and shall not
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Psa 79:2-3. The dead bodies of thy servants Either, 1st, Of thy faithful and holy servants, whom they used as cruelly as the worst of the people. Or, 2d, Of the Jews in general, whom, though most of them were wicked, he calls Gods servants and saints, because they were such by profession; and some of them were really such; and the Chaldeans neither knew nor regarded those that were so, but promiscuously destroyed all that came in their way; have they given to be meat to the fowls, &c. By casting them out, like dung upon the earth, and not suffering any to bury them. This is the fourth of those calamities which are bewailed in this Psalm: and a dreadful one it is. For to behold, or even imagine, as Dr. Horne observes, the heaps of slaughtered bodies lying unburied, and exposed to birds and beasts of prey, is inexpressibly shocking to humanity. Their blood they shed like water Plentifully and contemptuously, valuing it no more than common water; and there was none to bury them Because their friends, who should have done it, were either slain or fled, or were not permitted, or durst not undertake to perform that office to them.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
79:2 The {b} 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.
(b) The prophets show to what extremities God sometimes allows his Church to fall to exercise their faith, before he sets his hand to deliver them.