Bible Commentaries
Psalms 79

Verses 1-13

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 Isaiah 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, Ezekiel 5:11; Ezekiel 23:38; Ezekiel 24:21; Psalms 74:7. See also Jeremiah 26:18; Micah 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, Jeremiah 7:33. "Their blood (of the saints) have they shed like water, (flowing) round about Jerusalem, and there was none to bury them," Jeremiah 14:16; Jeremiah 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 2 Chronicles 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, Revelation 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, Psalms 44:13; Psalms 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, Psalms 74:10; 1 Peter 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, Deuteronomy 32:36; Deuteronomy 32:43; Ezekiel 38:19-23; Zephaniah 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, Jeremiah 3:14; Psalms 78:58; Isaiah 54:5; Deuteronomy 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, Isaiah 45:4; 2 Thessalonians 1:8; Psalms 53:4.
Verse 7 adds "for they have devoured Jacob and laid waste (torn down or burned) his dwelling places," Jeremiah 10:25.

Verses 8, 9 add "Remember not against us former iniquities," that they now confess, for which they seek pardon, 2 Chronicles 7:14; 1 John 1:8-9. See also Isaiah 43:25; Isaiah 22; Isaiah 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, Jeremiah 14:7. See too Psalms 65:3; Psalms 23:3; Psalms 29:1-2. Asaph desired that the he see that true glory, power, and honor should be ascribed to the Lord, as in Revelation 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, Deuteronomy 22:12; Joel 2:17; Deuteronomy 9:28; Deuteronomy 6:22; Deuteronomy 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, Psalms 74:11; Numbers 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, Psalms 72:4; Deuteronomy 3:24; Psalms 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; Jeremiah 10:25; Isaiah 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, Isaiah 43:21; Psalms 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, Ecclesiastes 5:4-5; Numbers 30:2; Deuteronomy 23:21-22; Psalms 50:14; Psalms 76:11.