Psalm 79: A cry for help

This is another song of which we know nothing except that it is another song of Asaph. Itis probably either prophetic or written by a descendant of his, since the original Asaphdid not see any such calamities that we know of. Its horrific scenes make us think of thedestruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians. There is a plea to God to hear the cries of his people and preserve them, resulting in praise to God.

(1) <A Psalm of Asaph.> O God, the heathen have come into Yourinheritance; Your holy temple have they defiled; they have laid Jerusalemon heaps. (2) The dead bodies of Your servants they have given to be food tothe fowls of the heaven, the flesh of Your saints to the beasts of the earth.(3) Their blood have they shed like water around Jerusalem, and there wasnone to bury them. (4) We have become a reproach to our neighbors, ascorn and derision to those who are around us.

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The word “heathen” was a general purpose term for anyone who was not a Jew. Itis not necessarily a pejorative word, although in a case like this the Psalmist usesit to express his shock that the nations have been allowed to spoil the land thatGod set aside for His people. For this reason he also uses the word “inheritance,”an emotional word for them as the Almighty had literally parceled it out forthem.

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The temple was indeed defiled and the people slaughtered just as literally as the writer says. In other words, this is not exaggerated poetic language. We read

Psalms Bible Study Psalms 79-80

elsewhere of how the people had turned away from the Lord and refused His warnings, until finally He brought judgment upon them:

But they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and misused his prophets, until the wrath of the LORD arose against his people, till there was no remedy. Therefore he brought upon them theking of the Chaldees, who slew their young men with the sword in thehouse of their sanctuary, and had no compassion upon young man or maiden, old man, or him that stooped for age: he gave them all into hishand. And all the vessels of the house of God, great and small, and thetreasures of the house of the LORD, and the treasures of the king, and of his princes; all these he brought to Babylon. And they burnt the house of God, and broke down the wall of Jerusalem, and burnt all the palacesthereof with fire, and destroyed all the goodly vessels thereof. (2 Chron. 36:16-19)

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In addition to all this, they endured the scorn of unsympathetic neighbors like theEdomites, to whom they were related.

(5) How long, LORD? Will You be angry forever? Shall Your jealousy burnlike fire? (6) Pour out Your wrath upon the heathen that have not known You, and upon the kingdoms that have not called upon Your name. (7) Forthey have devoured Jacob, and laid waste his dwelling place. (8) Oremember not against us former iniquities; let Your tender merciesspeedily meet us, for we are brought very low.

Psalms Bible Study Psalms 79-80

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One of the saddest questions in the Psalms is one which occasionally surfaces intimes of trouble is “How long?” The Psalmist expresses wonder at God’s angerand jealousy. We saw in Psalm 78 that God’s jealousy had provoked Him toanger, comparing Him to a man angry with an unfaithful wife.

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A pray is made for wrath against the wicked heathen. We know that in God’stiming, when Daniel was elderly, perhaps 90 years old, Babylon was indeedcaptured by the Medes and Persian – after a night of revelry in which, ironically,the Babylonians were feasting using the vessels of the Lord’s House. Sadly, inthat part of the world hatred of Israel and her God is never far below the surface.

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The Psalmist prays that God will not remember the former iniquities, which canmean those of former generations. Yet this is exactly what set the time boundaries of the Babylonian Captivity. The people were exiled 70 years so thatthe land could enjoy its sabbaths. In Leviticus 26 we read that the land was to liefallow every 7 years, thus enjoying a sabbath as people do. If the land did not getits sabbaths God would ensure that the land did get them – by removing theinhabitants out of the land! 2 Chron. 36:21 ties the length of the captivity intothis principle very directly:

“To fulfill the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths: for as long as she laydesolate she kept sabbath, to fulfill threescore and ten years.”

(9) Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of Your name: and deliverus, and purge away our sins, for Your name's sake. (10) Why should theheathen say, “Where is their God?” Let Him be known among the heathenin our sight by the avenging of the blood of Your servants which is shed.