PSALM 79 COMME�TARYEDITED BY GLE�� PEASE

A psalm of Asaph.

I�TRODUCTIO�

SPURGEO�, "Title and Subject. A Psalm of Asaph. A Psalm of complaint such as Jeremiah might have written amid the ruins of the beloved city. It evidently treats of times of invasion, oppression, and national overthrow. Asaph was a patriotic poet, and was never more at home than when he rehearsed the history of his nation. Would to God that we had national poets whose song should be of the Lord.Division. From Psalms 79:1-4 the complaint is poured out, from Psalms 79:5-12 prayer is presented, and, in the closing verse, praise is promised.

ELLICOTT, "The relation of this psalm to Psalms 74 is so close, notwithstanding some points of difference, that commentators are almost unanimous in assigning them to the same period, if not the same author. Psalms 79:1, indeed, by itself seems to point to a profanation of the Temple, such as that by Antiochus, and not a destruction like �ebuchadnezzar’s. To one of these events the psalm must refer. Great importance is attached to the similarity of Psalms 79:6-7, with Jeremiah 10:25, and it certainly looks as if the latter were an adaptation and expansion of the psalmist. Again, Psalms 79:3 (see �ote) appears to be quoted in 1 Maccabees 7:17. On the other hand, every one allows that the best commentary on the psalm is the 1st chapter of 1 Maccabees. A Maccabæan editor may have taken a song of the Captivity period and slightly altered it to suit the events before his eyes. The psalter affords other instances of such adaptation. (See, e.g., Psalms 60) The verse flows smoothly, now in triplets, now in couplets.

COKE, "Title. ףלאס מזמור mizmor leasaph.— This psalm was probably occasioned by the destruction of the Jewish nation by �ebuchadnezzar. 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 Psalms 79:6-7.) is found in Jeremiah 10:25 it is not unlikely that it was written by him.

1 O God, the nations have invaded your inheritance; they have defiled your holy temple, they have reduced Jerusalem to rubble.

BAR�ES, "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.”

CLARKE, "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.

GILL, "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 Psa_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, Exo_15:17, and into which it was always accounted a profanation for Heathens to enter; see Act_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, Psa_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 Psa_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, Luk_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, Rev_11:2.

HE�RY, "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, Psa_79:1. 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, Psa_78:55. 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.

JAMISO�, "Psa_79:1-13. This Psalm, like the seventy-fourth, probably depicts the desolations of the Chaldeans (Jer_52:12-24). It comprises the usual complaint, prayer, and promised thanks for relief.

(Compare Psa_74:2-7).

CALVI�, "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,”(Jeremiah 22:19; see also Jeremiah 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.

SPURGEO�, "Ver. 1. O God, the heathen are come into thine inheritance. It is the cry of amazement at sacrilegious intrusion; as if the poet were struck with horror. The stranger pollutes thine hallowed courts with his tread. All Canaan is thy land, but thy foes have ravaged it.Thy holy temple have they defiled. Into the inmost sanctuary they have profanely forced their way, and there behaved themselves arrogantly. Thus, the holy land, the holy house, and the holy city, were all polluted by the uncircumcised. It is an awful thing when wicked men are found in the church and numbered with her ministry. Then are the tares sown with the wheat, and the poisoned gourds cast into the pot.They have laid Jerusalem on heaps. After devouring and defiling, they have come to destroying, and have done their work with a cruel completeness. Jerusalem, the beloved city, the joy of the nation, the abode of her God, was totally wrecked. Alas! alas! for Israel! It is sad to see the foe in our own house, but worse to meet him in the house of God; they strike hardest who smite at our religion. The psalmist piles up the agony; he was a suppliant, and he knew how to bring out the strong points of his case. We ought to order our case before the Lord with as much care as if our success depended on our pleading. Men in earthly courts use all their powers to obtain their ends, and so also should we state our case with earnestness, and bring forth our strong arguments.EXPLA�ATORY �OTES A�D QUAI�T SAYI�GSWhole Psalm. This Psalm is, in every respect, the pendant of Psalms 74:1-23. The points of contact are not merely matters of style (Psalms 79:5, "how long for ever?" with Ps 74:1,10 79:10, edwy, with Ps 74:5 79:2, the giving over to the wild beasts, with Ps 74:19,14 79:13, the conception of Israel as of a flock, in which respect Psalms 79:1-13 is judiciously appended to Psalms 78:70-72, with Psalms 74:1 and also with Psalms 74:19.) But the mutual relationships lie still deeper. Both Psalms have the same Asaphic stamp, both stand in the same relation to Jeremiah, and both send forth their complaints out of the same circumstances of the time, concerning a destruction of the Temple and of Jerusalem, such as only the age of the Seleucidae (1 Maccabees 1:31 3:45 2 Maccabees 8:3), together with the Chaldean period can exhibit, and in conjunction with a defiling of the Temple and a massacre of the servants of God, of the Chasidim (1 Maccabees 7:13 14:6), such as the age of the Seleucidae exclusively can exhibit. The work of the destruction of the Temple which

was in progress in Psalms 74:1-23, appears in Psalms 79:1-13 as completed, and here, as in the former Psalm, one receives the impression of the outrages, not of some war, but of some persecution: it is straightway the religion of Israel for the sake of which the sanctuaries are destroyed and the faithful are massacred. Franz Delitzsch.Ver. 1. Thy holy temple have they defiled. This was not only the highest degree of the enemy's inhumanity and barbarity, ...but also a calamity to the people of God never to be sufficiently deplored. For by the overthrow of the temple the true worship of God, which had been instituted at that temple alone, appeared to be extinguished, and the knowledge of God to vanish from among mankind. �o pious heart could ponder this without the greatest grief. Mollerus.Ver. 1. They have laid Jerusalem on heaps. They have made Jerusalem to be nothing but graves. Such multitudes were cruelly slain and murdered, that Jerusalem was, as it were, but one grave. Joseph Caryl.Ver. 1-4. In the time of the Maccabees, Demetrius, the son of Seleuces, sent Bacchides to Jerusalem; who slew the scribes, who came to require justice, and the Assideans, the first of the children of Israel who sought peace of them. Bacchides "took of them threescore men, and slew them in one day, according to the words which he wrote, 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." And in that last and most fearful destruction, when the eagles of Rome were gathered round the doomed city, and the temple of which God had said, "Let us depart hence; "when one stone was not to be left upon another, when the fire was to consume the sanctuary, and the foundations of Sion were to be ploughed up; when Jerusalem was to be filled with slain, and the sons of Judah were to be crucified round her walls in such thick multitudes that no more room was left for death; when insult, and shame, and scorn was the lot of the child of Israel, as he wandered an outcast, a fugitive in all lands; when all these bitter and deadly things came upon Jerusalem, it was as a punishment for many and long repeated crimes; it was the accomplishment of a warning which had been often sent in vain. Yea, fiercely did thy foes assault thee, O Jerusalem, but thy sins more fiercely still! "Plain Commentary."Ver. 1,4-5. Entering the inhabited part of the old city, and winding through some crooked, filthy lanes, I suddenly found myself on turning a sharp corner, in a spot of singular interest; the "Jews' place of Wailing." It is a small paved quadrangle; on one side are the backs of low modern houses, without door or window; on the other is the lofty wall of the Haram, of recent date above, but having below five courses of bevelled stones in a perfect state of preservation. Here the Jews are permitted to approach the sacred enclosure, and wail over the fallen temple, whose very dust is dear to them, and in whose stones they still take pleasure. Psalms 102:14. It was Friday, and a crowd of miserable devotees had assembled--men and women of all ages and all nations dressed in the quaint costumes of every country of Europe and Asia. Old men were there, --pale, haggard, careworn men tottering on pilgrim staves; and little girls with white faces, and lustrous black eyes, gazing wistfully now at their parents, now at the old wall. Some were on their knees, chanting mournfully from a book of Hebrew prayers, swaying their bodies to and fro; some were prostrate on the ground, pressing forehead and lips to the earth; some were close to the wall, burying their faces in the rents and crannies of the old stones; some were

kissing them, some had their arms spread out as if they would clasp them to their bosoms, some were bathing them with tears, and all the while sobbing as if their hearts would burst. It was a sad and touching spectacle. Eighteen centuries of exile and woe have not dulled their hearts' affections, or deadened their feelings of devotion. Here we see them assembled from the ends of the earth, poor, despised, down trodden outcasts, --amid the desolations of their fatherland, beside the dishonoured ruins of their ancient sanctuary, --chanting now in accents of deep pathos, and now of wild woe, the prophetic words of their own psalmist, --O God the heathen are come into thine inheritance; thy holy temple have they defiled...We are become a reproach to our neighbours, a scorn and derision to them that are round about us. How long, Lord? wilt thou be angry for ever? J. L. Porter, in "The Giant Cities of Bashan." 1865.

COFFMA�, "A LAME�T OVER THE DESTRUCTIO� OF JERUSALEM;

A�D A PRAYER FOR VE�GEA�CE

George DeHoff called this psalm, "The Funeral Anthem of a �ation."[1]

Charles M. Miller's analysis of this psalm points out that it exhibits several elements found in other psalms: (1) Psalms 79:5,7,10a are lamentation; (2) Psalms 79:6,10b,12 are imprecations; (3) Psalms 79:8-9 are pleas for forgiveness; (4) Psalms 79:11 pleads for deliverance; and (5) Psalms 79:13 carries a pledge of praise and thanksgiving following deliverance.[2]

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."[3] Delitzsch suggested the time of the desecration of the Temple by Antiochus Epiphanes.[4]

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."[5]

(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 (Psalms 79:11) points squarely to the Babylonian era. (4) The complete destruction of Jerusalem (Psalms 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 �ebuchadnezzar in 587 B.C.[6] The Babylonian destruction seems most appropriate.[7] `Jerusalem in heaps' is truer of the Babylonian captivity than of the times of Antiochus Epiphanes.[8] It seems best to assign it to the period of the destruction of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans.[9] The general voice of commentators is that the psalm must be referred to the time of the Babylonian conquest."[10]The psalm naturally falls into two divisions. First, there is a description of the disaster (Psalms 79:1-4). The remaining nine verses are a prayer for deliverance, forgiveness, vengeance upon enemies, etc.

Psalms 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."[11]

"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?

BE�SO�, "Psalms 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 God’s people: “the alienation of God’s inheritance, the profanation of his sanctuary, and the desolation of the beloved city.”

WHEDO�, "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 Psalms 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.

CO�STABLE, "Verses 1-41. A lament over Jerusalem"s destruction79:1-4

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. Isaiah 35:8; Isaiah 52:1)." [�ote: VanGemeren, p519

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. Psalm 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 Psalm 137 reflects.

"This psalm repeats the themes of Psalm 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." [�ote: Brueggemann, p71.

EBC, "THE same national agony which was the theme of Psalms 74:1-23, forced the sad strains of this psalm from the singer’s 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" (Psalms 74:10; Psalms 79:5); the desecration of the Temple (Psalms 74:3; Psalms 74:7; Psalms 79:1) the giving over to wild beasts (Psalms 74:19; Psalms 79:2); the reproach of God (Psalms 74:10; Psalms 74:18; Psalms 74:22; Psalms 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 Psalms 79:6-7, in Jeremiah 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 Psalms 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. �ot 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 prophet’s words into less accurate and elegant ones, and by omissions which impair "the soaring fulness of Jeremiah’s 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.

PULPIT, "THIS is "a psalm of complaint, closely parallel to Psalms 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 (Psalms 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" (Psalms 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 Psalms 74:1-4 the situation is described. In Psalms 74:5-8 and Psalms 74:9-12 prayer is made to God for deliverance, and for vengeance upon the cruel enemy. Psalms 74:13 is an expression of confidence in God, and a promise of perpetual thankfulness.

Psalms 79:1

O God, the heathen are come into thine inheritance (comp. Psalms 74:2; Psalms 78:62). Israel—alike the people and the land—is "God's inheritance." Thy holy temple have they defiled. The Babylonians defiled the temple by breaking into it, seizing its treasures and ornaments (Jeremiah 52:17-23), and finally setting fire to it (Jeremiah 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

(Jeremiah 9:11; Jeremiah 26:18; Micah 3:12), by the Babylonians.

K&D 1-4, "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_

confers upon those who were massacred the honour of עבדיך� .28:26 martyrdom. The lxx

renders לעיים by ε ς��πωροφυλάκιον, 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, κα���ξέχεαν�α!µα�#θ%ον�κύκλ'�το)�

*γιάσµατος). “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.

BI 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 God’s 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.)

2 They have left the dead bodies of your servants as food for the birds of the sky, the flesh of your own people for the animals of the wild.

BAR�ES, "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.

CLARKE, "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.

GILL, "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)

SPURGEO�, "Ver. 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." The enemy cared not to bury the dead, and there was not a sufficient number of Israel left alive to perform the funeral rites; therefore, the precious relics of the departed were left to be devoured of vultures and torn by wolves. Beasts on which man could not feed fed on him. The flesh of creation's Lord became meat for carrion crows and hungry dogs. Dire are the calamities of war, yet have they happened to God's saints and servants. This might well move the heart of the poet, and he did well to appeal to the heart of God by reciting the grievous evil. Such might have been the lamentation of an early Christian as he thought of the amphitheatre and all its deeds of blood. �ote in the two verses how the plea is made to turn upon God's property in the temple and the people: --we read "thine inheritance, ""thy temple, ""thy servants, "and "thy saints." Surely the Lord will defend his own, and will not suffer rampant adversaries to despoil them.EXPLA�ATORY �OTES A�D QUAI�T SAYI�GSWhole Psalm. This Psalm is, in every respect, the pendant of Psalms 74:1-23. The points of contact are not merely matters of style (Psalms 79:5, "how long for ever?" with Ps 74:1,10 79:10, edwy, with Ps 74:5 79:2, the giving over to the wild beasts,

with Ps 74:19,14 79:13, the conception of Israel as of a flock, in which respect Psalms 79:1-13 is judiciously appended to Psalms 78:70-72, with Psalms 74:1 and also with Psalms 74:19.) But the mutual relationships lie still deeper. Both Psalms have the same Asaphic stamp, both stand in the same relation to Jeremiah, and both send forth their complaints out of the same circumstances of the time, concerning a destruction of the Temple and of Jerusalem, such as only the age of the Seleucidae (1 Maccabees 1:31; 1 Maccabees 3:45, 2 Maccabees 8:3), together with the Chaldean period can exhibit, and in conjunction with a defiling of the Temple and a massacre of the servants of God, of the Chasidim (1 Maccabees 7:13, 1 Maccabees 14:6), such as the age of the Seleucidae exclusively can exhibit. The work of the destruction of the Temple which was in progress in Psalms 74:1-23, appears in Psalms 79:1-13 as completed, and here, as in the former Psalm, one receives the impression of the outrages, not of some war, but of some persecution: it is straightway the religion of Israel for the sake of which the sanctuaries are destroyed and the faithful are massacred. Franz Delitzsch.Ver. 1-4. See Psalms on "Psalms 79:1" for further information.Ver. 2. "The dead bodies of thy servants, "etc. It is a true saying of S. Augustine, The care of our funeral, the manner of our burial, the exequial pomp, all these magis sunt vivorum solatia quam subsidia mortuorum, are rather comforts for the living than any way helps for the dead. To be interred profiteth not the party deceased; his body feels it not, his soul regards it not; and we know that many holy martyrs have been excluded from burial, who in a Christian scorn thereof bespoke their persecutors in words of those which were slain at Pharsalia: "You effect nothing by this anger; what matters it whether disease dissolve the body, or the funeral pile!" But yet there is an honesty (i.e. a right, a proper respect) which belongeth to the dead body of man. Jehu commanded Jezebel to be buried; David thanked the people of Jabesh Gilead for burying of Saul. Peter, who commanded Ananias and Sapphira, those false abdicators of their patrimony, to die, commanded to have them buried being dead. It is an axiom of charity, Mortuo non prohibeas gratiam, withhold not kindness from the dead. It shows our love and regard for men in our own flesh to see them buried; it manifests our faith and hope of the resurrection; and therefore when that body which is to rise again, and to be made glorious and immortal in heaven, shall be cast to the fowls of the air or beasts of the field, it argues in God great indignation against sin (Jeremiah 22:19, of Jehoiakim, "He shall be buried as an ass is buried, and cast forth without the gates of Jerusalem"); in man inhuman and barbarous cruelty. John Dunster, in "Prodromus." 1613.Ver. 2-3. (The following extract is from the writings of a godly monk who applies the language of the Psalm to the persecutions of his time. He wrote at Rome during the period of the Reformation, and was evidently a favourer of the gospel.) At this day what river is there, what brook, in this our afflicted Europe, (if it is still ours) that we have not seen flowing with the blood of Christians? And that too shed by the swords and spears of Christians? Wherefore there is made a great wailing in Israel; and the princes and elders mourn; the young men and virgins are become weak, and the beauty of the women is changed. Why? The holy place itself is desolate as a wilderness. Hast thou ever seen so dire a spectacle? They have piled up in heaps the dead bodies of thy servants to be devoured by birds: the unburied remains of thy

saints, I say, they have given to the beasts of the earth. What greater cruelty could ever be committed? So great was the effusion of human blood at that time, that the rivulets, yea, rather, the rivers round the entire circuit of the city, flowed with it. And thus truly is the form of our most beautiful city laid waste, and its loveliness; and so reduced is it, that not even the men who carry forth dead bodies for burial can be obtained, though pressed with the offer of large rewards; so full of fear and horror were their minds: and this was all the more bitter, because "We are become a reproach to those round about us, "and are spoken of in derision by the infidels abroad and by enemies at home. Who is so bold as to endure this and live? How long therefore shall this most bitter disquietude last? Giambattista Folengo. 1490-1559.Ver. 2. "Dead bodies of thy servants have they given to be meat unto the fowls." With what unconcern are we accustomed to view, on all sides of us, multitudes, "dead in trespasses and sins, "torn in pieces, and devoured by wild passions, filthy lusts, and infernal spirits, those dogs and vultures of the moral world! Yet, to a discerning eye, and a thinking mind, the latter is by far the more melancholy sight of the two. George Horne.Ver. 2. "Thy servants." "Thy saints." �o temporal wrath, no calamities whatsoever can separate the Lord's children from God's love and estimation of them, nor untie the relation between God and them: for here, albeit their carcases fall, and be devoured by the fowls of heaven and beasts of the earth, yet remain they the Lord's servants and saints under these sufferings. David Dickson.

COFFMA�, ""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"[12]

BE�SO�, "Verse 2-3Psalms 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 God’s 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.

WHEDO�, "2. Dead bodies—The slaughter was so great that the bodies were left unburied, (Psalms 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.

3 They have poured out blood like water all around Jerusalem, and there is no one to bury the dead.

BAR�ES, "Their blood have they shed like water round about Jerusalem -They have poured it out in such quantities that it seems to flow like water - not an uncommon occurrence in war. There was no event in the history of the Hebrews to which this description would be more applicable than to the Babylonian invasion. The language might indeed be applicable to the desolation of the city by Antiochus Epiphanes, and also to its destruction by the Romans; but, of course, it cannot refer to the latter, and there is no necessity for supposing that it refers to the former. All the conditions of a proper interpretation are fulfilled by supposing that it refers to the time of the Chaldean invasion.

And there was none to bury them - The Chaldeans would not do it, and they would not suffer the Hebrew people to do it.

CLARKE, "There was none to bury them - The Chaldeans would not; and the Jews who were not slain were carried into captivity.

GILL, "Their blood have they shed like water round about Jerusalem,.... Without any concern of mind, or remorse of conscience; without any fear of God or man; as if it had been so much water only; and this they shed in great abundance: from the Apocrypha:

"And when he had taken all away, he went into his own land, having made a great

massacre, and spoken very proudly.'' (1 Maccabees 1:24)

"And spake peaceable words unto them, but all was deceit: for when they had given him credence, he fell suddenly upon the city, and smote it very sore, and destroyed much people of Israel.'' (1 Maccabees 1:30)

"Thus they shed innocent blood on every side of the sanctuary, and defiled it:'' (1 Maccabees 1:37)

"So they rose up against them in battle on the sabbath, and they slew them, with their wives and children and their cattle, to the number of a thousand people.'' (1 Maccabees 2:38)

in like manner the blood of the saints has been shed by the antichristian beast of Rome, for which he and his followers will be righteously retaliated, Rev_17:6.

and there was none to bury them: either the number of the slain was so great, that there were not left enough to bury the dead, or they that did remain were not suffered to do it; this will be the case of the two witnesses, when slain, Rev_11:7.

HE�RY, " 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 (Psa_79:3): 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, Deu_21:23. This inhuman usage of Christ's witnesses is foretold (Rev_11:9), 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.

SPURGEO�, "Ver. 3. "Their blood have they shed like water round about Jerusalem." The invaders slew men as if their blood was of no more value than so much water; they poured it forth as lavishly as when the floods deluge the plains. The city of holy peace became a field of blood."And there was none to bury them." The few who survived were afraid to engage in the task. This was a serious trial and grievous horror to the Jews, who evinced much care concerning their burials. Has it come to this, that there are none to bury the dead of thy family, O Lord? Can none be found to grant a shovelful of earth with which to cover up the poor bodies of thy murdered saints? What woe is here! How

glad should we be that we live in so quiet an age, when the blast of the trumpet is no more heard in our streets.EXPLA�ATORY �OTES A�D QUAI�T SAYI�GSWhole Psalm. See Psalms on "Psalms 79:1" for further information.Ver. 1-4. See Psalms on "Psalms 79:1" for further information.Ver. 2-3. See Psalms on "Psalms 79:2" for further information.

COFFMA�, ""Their blood have they shed like water round about Jerusalem;

And there was none to bury them."

"There is no event in the history of the Hebrews to which this description would be more applicable than to the Babylonian invasion."[13] With most of the population being carried into captivity, there would have been no one left to bury the thousands of the slain.

"This whole verse happens to be quoted in 1 Maccabees 7:17; but priority in point of time obviously belongs to this psalm"[14]

ELLICOTT, "(3) Their blood.—In 1 Maccabees 7:17, we read “The flesh of thy saints and their blood have they shed round about Jerusalem, and there was none to bury them,” introduced by “according to the word which he wrote.” This is evidently a free quotation from this psalm, and seems to imply a reference to a contemporary.

�one to bury.—For this aggravation of the evil comp. Jeremiah 14:16; Jeremiah 22:18-19.

EBC, "A second argument against the Maccabean date is based upon the quotation of Psalms 79:3 in RAPC 1 Maccabees 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 people’s 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. Psalms 79:13 stands out of the strophe scheme as a kind of epilogue.

The first strophe vividly describes the ghastly sights that wrung the psalmist’s heart,

and will, as he trusts, move God’s to pity and help. The same thought as was expressed in Psalms 74:1-23 underlies the emphatic repetition of "Thy" in this strophe-namely, the implication of God’s fair name in His people’s 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 God’s special relation to a nation thus apparently deserted, but the psalmist’s 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 Psalms 79:1 rendered "heathen" is usually translated "nations," but here evidently connotes idolatry (Psalms 79:6). Their worship of strange gods, rather than their alien nationality, makes their invasion of God’s inheritance a tragic anomaly. The psalmist remembers the prophecy of Micah [Micah 3:12] that Jerusalem should become heaps, and sadly repeats it as fulfilled at last. As already noticed, Psalms 79:3 is quoted in RAPC 1 Maccabees 7:16-17, and Psalms 79:4 is found in Psalms 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 God’s 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 God’s people, they have God’s 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 Isaiah’s magnificent prophecy against "the Assyrian" (Isaiah 10:5 seq.), where the conqueror is first addressed as "the rod of Mine anger," and then his "punishment" is foretold, because, while executing God’s 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 God’s scavengers, gathered vulture-like round carrion, but they were each responsible for their cruelty, and were punished "for the fruit of their stout hearts."

PULPIT, "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, Jeremiah 14:16). The population being for the most part carried into captivity, and but few left in the land (Jeremiah 52:15, Jeremiah 52:16), the bodies of the slain lay unburied, the few left not being able to bury them. Compare the preceding verse.

4 We are objects of contempt to our neighbors, of scorn and derision to those around us.

BAR�ES, "We are become a reproach to our neighbours - See the language in this verse explained in the notes at Psa_44:13. The words in the Hebrew are the same, and the one seems to have been copied from the other.

CLARKE, "We are become a reproach to our neighbors - The Idumeans, Philistines, Phoenicians, Ammonites, and Moabites, all gloried in the subjugation of this people; and their insults to them were mixed with blasphemies against God.

GILL, "We are become a reproach to our neighbours,.... That is, those that remained; so the Jews were to the Edomites, especially at the time of the Babylonish captivity, Psa_137:7,

a scorn and derision to them that are round about us; as the Christians in all ages have been to the men of the world, and especially will be insulted and triumphed over when the witnesses are slain, Rev_11:10.

HE�RY, " Against their names (Psa_79:4): “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.

JAMISO�, "(Compare Psa_44:13; Jer_42:18; Lam_2:15).

CALVI�, "4We have been a reproach to our neighbors. Here another complaint is uttered, to excite the mercy of God. The more proudly the ungodly mock and triumph over us, the more confidently may we expect that our deliverance is near; for God will not bear with their insolence when it breaks forth so audaciously; especially when it redounds to the reproach of his holy name: even as it is said in Isaiah,

“This is the word which the Lord hath spoken concerning him, The virgin, the daughter of Zion hath despised thee, and laughed thee to scorn; the daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee. Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed; and against whom hast thou exalted thy voice, and lifted up thine eyes on high? even against the Holy One of Israel.” (Isaiah 37:22)

And assuredly their neighbors, (372) who were partly apostates, or the degenerate children of Abraham, and partly the avowed enemies of religion, when they molested and reproached this miserable people, did not refrain from blaspheming God. Let us, therefore, remember that the faithful do not here complain of the derision with which they were treated as individuals, but of that which they saw to be indirectly levelled against God and his law. We shall again meet with a similar complaint in the concluding part of the psalm.

SPURGEO�, "Ver. 4. "We are become a reproach to our neighbours." Those who have escaped the common foe make a mockery of us, they fling our disasters into our face, and ask us, "Where is your God?" Pity should be shown to the afflicted, but in too many cases it is not so, for a hard logic argues that those who suffer more than ordinary calamities must have been extraordinary sinners. �eighbours especially are often the reverse of neighbourly; the nearer they dwell the less they sympathize. It is most pitiable it should be so."A scorn and a derision to them that are round about us." To find mirth in others' miseries, and to exult over the ills of others, is worthy only of the devil and of those whose father he is. Thus the case is stated before the Lord, and it is a very deplorable one. Asaph was an excellent advocate, for he gave a telling description of calamities which were under his own eyes, and in which he sympathized, but we have a mightier Intercessor above, who never ceases to urge our suit before the eternal throne.EXPLA�ATORY �OTES A�D QUAI�T SAYI�GSWhole Psalm. See Psalms on "Psalms 79:1" for further information.Ver. 1-4. See Psalms on "Psalms 79:1" for further information.Ver. 1, 4-5. See Psalms on "Psalms 79:1" for further information.Ver. 4. "We are become a reproach." 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 off scouring of all things." Matthew Henry.Ver. 4. "A scorn and derision to them that are round about us." This was more grievous to them than stripes or wounds, saith Chrysostom, because these being inflicted upon the body are divided after a sort betwixt soul and body, but scorns and reproaches do wound the soul only. Habet quendam aculeum contumelia, they leave a sting behind them, as Cicero observeth. John Trapp.Ver. 4. It is the height of reproach a father casts upon his child when he commands his slave to beat him. Of all outward judgments this is the sorest, to have strangers rule over us, as being made up of shame and cruelty. If once the heathen come into God's inheritance, no wonder the church complains that she is "become a reproach to her neighbours, a shame and derision to all round about her." Abraham Wright.

COFFMA�, ""We are become a reproach to our neighbors,

A scoffing and a derision to them that are round about us."

Psalms 79:10 should be noted in this connection. The object of the taunting neighbors was to claim a triumph over the God of Israel. "Where is thy God?" Among all the nations of antiquity, any disaster that overcame a people was always considered as proof that the God or gods worshipped by that people had no power to protect them. See more on this under Psalms 79:10, below.

BE�SO�, "Psalms 79:4. We are become a reproach, &c. — We, who were the terror of our neighbours, and whom they stood in awe of, and were afraid to offend, are now neither feared nor pitied, but are become the objects of their scoffs and reproaches. For they study to abuse us and load us with contempt, upbraiding us with our sins and sufferings, and giving the lie to our relation to God, and expectations from him. 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 them to a true repentance. But it has been the lot of the gospel Israel to be unjustly made a reproach and derision. The apostles and evangelists themselves, who were the wisest and best men that ever lived, and the greatest friends and benefactors of the human race, were counted as the filth of the world, and the offscouring of all things.

ELLICOTT, "(4) This verse occurs Psalms 44:13. Also possibly a Maccabæan psalm. (See Introduction to that psalm.)

The scenes still witnessed by travellers at the Jews’ wailing-place offer a striking illustration of the foregoing verses, showing, as they do, how deep-seated is the love of an ancient place in the Oriental mind. (See a striking description in Porter’s Giant Cities of Bashan.)

5 How long, Lord? Will you be angry forever? How long will your jealousy burn like fire?

BAR�ES, "How long, Lord? - See Psa_74:1, note; Psa_74:10, note; and Psa_77:7-9, notes. This is the language, not of impatience, but of anxiety; not of complaining, but of wonder. It is language such as the people of God are often constrained to employ under heavy trials - trials which continue so long that it seems as if they would never end.

Shall thy jealousy, burn like fire? - That is, Shall it continue to burn like fire? Shall it utterly consume us? On the word jealousy, see the notes at Psa_78:58.

CLARKE, "How long, Lord? -Wilt thou continue thine anger against us, and suffer us to be insulted, and thyself blasphemed?

GILL, "Psalms 79:5

How long, Lord, wilt thou be angry? for ever?.... That is, how long wilt thou be angry? shall it be for ever? see Psa_85:4, for though what was done, or to be done, as before related, was or will be done by the enemies of the Lord's people, yet by his permission, and as a token of his anger and displeasure against them: at least it might be so understood, both by them and by their enemies; and hence this expostulation,

shall thy jealousy burn like fire? so jealousy does; its coals are coals of fire, Son_8:6, there were, at the times referred to, such among the people, who did evil things, and provoked the Lord to jealousy and wrath: see the Apocrypha:

"And there was very great wrath upon Israel.'' (1 Maccabees 1:64)

"When this was done, and they had made a common supplication, they besought the merciful Lord to be reconciled with his servants for ever.'' (2 Maccabees 8:29)

HE�RY, " They wonder more at God's anger, Psa_79:5. 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.

JAMISO�, "How long— (Psa_13:1).

be angry— (Psa_74:1-10).

jealousy burn— (Deu_29:20).

CALVI�, "5How long, O Jehovah! wilt thou be wroth for ever? I have already observed that these two expressions, how long and for ever, when joined together, denote a lengthened and an uninterrupted continuance of calamities; and that there is no appearance, when looking to the future, of their coming to a termination. We may, therefore, conclude that this complaint was not ended within a month or two after persecution against the Church commenced, but at a time when the hearts of the faithful were almost broken through the weariness produced by prolonged suffering. Here they confess that the great accumulation of calamities with which they are overwhelmed, is to be traced to the wrath of God. Being fully persuaded that the wicked, whatever they may plot, cannot inflict injury, except in so far as God permits them — from this, which they regard as an indubitable principle, they at once conclude, that when he allows such ample scope to their heathen enemies in persecuting them, his anger is greatly provoked. �or would they, without this persuasion, have looked to God in the hope that he would stretch forth his hand to save them; for it is the work of Him who hath given loose reins to draw in the bridle. Whenever God visits us with the rod, and our own conscience accuses us, it especially becomes us to look to His hand. Here his ancient people do not charge him with being unjustly displeased, but acknowledge the justice of the punishment inflicted upon them. God will always find in his servants just grounds for chastising them. He often, however, in the exercise of his mercy, pardons their sins, and exercises them with the cross for another purpose than to testify his displeasure against their sins, just as it was his will to try the patience of Job, and as he vouchsafed to call the martyrs to an honorable warfare. But here the people, of their own accord, summoning themselves before the Divine tribunal, trace the calamities which they endured to their own sins, as the procuring cause. Hence it may, with probability, be conjectured that this psalm was composed during the time of the Babylonish captivity. Under the tyranny of Antiochus Epiphanes, they employed, as we have previously seen, a different form of prayer, saying,

“All this is come upon us; yet have we not forgotten thee, neither have we dealt falsely in thy covenant. Our heart is not turned back, neither have our steps declined from thy way,” (Psalms 44:17.)

We are not to suppose that, in the passage now quoted, the faithful murmured against God, but they employ this language because they knew that he had another end in view than simply to punish their sins; for, by means of these severe conflicts, he prepared them for the prize of their high calling.

SPURGEO�, "Ver. 5. "How long, Lord?" Will there be no end to these chastisements? They are most sharp and overwhelming; wilt thou much longer continue them?"Wilt thou be angry for ever?" Is thy mercy gone so that thou wilt for ever smite?"Shall thy jealousy burn like fire?" There was great cause for the Lord to be

jealous, since idols had been set up, and Israel had gone aside from his worship, but the psalmist begs the Lord not to consume his people utterly as with fire, but to abate their woes.EXPLA�ATORY �OTES A�D QUAI�T SAYI�GSWhole Psalm. See Psalms on "Psalms 79:1" for further information.Ver. 1, 4-5. See Psalms on "Psalms 79:1" for further information.Ver. 5. "How long, Lord? Wilt thou be angry for ever?" The voice of complaint says not, How long, Lord, shall this wickedness of our enemy endure? How long shall we see this desolation? But, How long, O Lord? Wilt thou be angry for ever? We are admonished, therefore, in this passage, that we should recognize the anger of God against us in all our afflictions, lest as the nations are accustomed, we only accuse the malice of our enemies, and never think of our sins and the divine punishment. It cannot be that he who acknowledges the anger of God that is upon him, should not at the same time acknowledge his fault also, unless he wishes to attribute the iniquity to God of being angry and inflicting stripes upon the undeserving. Musculus.Ver. 5. The word "jealousy" signifies not mere revenge but revenge mingled with love, for unless he loved, says Jerome, he would not be jealous, and after the manner of a husband avenge the sin of his wife. Lorinus.

COFFMA�, ""How long, O Jehovah? Wilt thou be angry forever?

Shall thy jealousy burn like fire?"

"How long ...?" The Jewish people had already been told by Jeremiah that the captivity would last for seventy years; but there were many of the people who did not know this. There can be no doubt that they were in a big hurry to get the tragic experience behind them, as indicated by Psalms 79:8, where they cried for a "speedy" resolution of the problem. However, it was not the will of God that any quick end would come to Israel's punishment.

"Shall thy jealousy burn like fire?" The psalmist here indicates that he knew the reason that lay back of the nation's destruction; it was the jealousy of God, continually provoked by Israel throughout their previous history by their worshipping false gods in the pagan shrines of Canaan. God had already tried every other possible means of curing this shameful "sickness" of Israel, before bringing about their captivity.

The terrible defeat and captivity that followed it accomplished God's purpose; because, Israel never again resorted to the worship of the pagan gods.

CO�STABLE, "Verses 5-9The psalmist wondered how long God would be angry with His people and allow them to suffer defeat and humiliation. Would He let His jealousy for Israel"s affection burn as a fire forever? Asaph urged God to direct His rage at Israel"s enemies who disregarded Him and devoured His habitation. He also asked God to forget the sins of the Israelites" ancestors and show compassion on His lowly people.

He based his petition on God"s glory as well as the Israelites" need.

PULPIT, "How long, Lord? i.e. "How long, O Lord, is this condition of things to endure?" (comp. Psalms 6:5; Psalms 90:13; Revelation 6:10). An ellipse after "how long?" is common. Wilt thou be angry forever? (see Psalms 13:1; Psalms 74:12; Lamentations 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).

K&D 5-8, "Out of the plaintive question how long? and whether endlessly God wouldbe angry and cause His jealousy to continue to burn like a fire (Deu_32:22), grows up the prayer (Psa_79:6) that He would turn His anger against the heathen who are estranged from the hostile towards Him, and of whom He is now making use as a rod of anger against His people. The taking over of Psa_79:6-7 from Jer_10:25 is not betrayed by the looseness of the connection of thought; but in themselves these four lines sound much more original in Jeremiah, and the style is exactly that of this prophet, cf. Jer_

6:11; Jer_2:3, and frequently, Psa_49:20. The אל, instead of על, which follows שפך� is

incorrect; the singular 3כל gathers all up as in one mass, as in Isa_5:26; Isa_17:13. The

fact that such power over Israel is given to the heathen world has its ground in the sinsof Israel. From Psa_79:8 it may be inferred that the apostasy which raged earlier is now

checked. ראשנים is not an adjective (Job_31:28; Isa_59:2), which would have been

expressed by עונותינו�חראשנים, but a genitive: the iniquities of the forefathers (Lev_26:14, cf. Psa_39:1-13). On Psa_79:8 of Jdg_6:6. As is evident from Psa_79:9, the poet does not mean that the present generation, itself guiltless, has to expiate the guilt of the fathers (on the contrary, Deu_24:16; 2Ki_14:6; Eze_18:20); he prays as one of thosewho have turned away from the sins of the fathers, and who can now no longer consider themselves as placed under wrath, but under sin-pardoning and redeeming grace.

6 Pour out your wrath on the nations that do not acknowledge you,on the kingdoms that do not call on your name.

BAR�ES, "Pour out thy wrath upon the heathen - Punish, as they deserve, the nations that have risen up against thy people, and that have brought; desolation upon

the land. The word rendered here pour out is used with reference to a cup or vial, as containing a mixture for the people to drink - of intoxication, or of poison. See the notes at Rev_16:1; notes at Psa_11:6; notes at Isa_51:17; compare Jer_25:15, Jer_25:17; Mat_20:22; Mat_26:39, Mat_26:42.

That have not known thee -Who are strangers to thee; who are thy enemies. The prayer that the wrath of God might be poured upon them was not because they were ignorant of him, but on account of their wicked conduct toward the people of God. The phrase “that have not known thee” is used merely to designate them, or to describe their character. The prayer is not necessarily a prayer for vengeance, or in the spirit of revenge; it is simply a prayer that justice might be done to them, and is such a prayer as any man may offer who is anxious that justice may be done in the world. See remarks on the imprecations in the Psalms. General Introduction Section 6. It is not proper, however, to use this as a proof-text that God will punish the “pagan,” or will consign them to destruction. The passage obviously has no reference to such a doctrine, whether that doctrine be true or false.

And upon the kingdoms that have not called upon thy name - The people that do not worship thee; referring here particularly to those who had invaded the land, and made it desolate.

CLARKE, "Pour out thy wrath - Bad as we are, we are yet less wicked than they. We, it is true, have been unfaithful; but they never knew thy name, and are totally abandoned to idolatry.

GILL, "Pour out thy wrath upon the Heathen that have not known thee,.... Who had poured out the blood of the saints like water, and therefore it was a righteous thing with God to pour out the cup of wrath in his hands, and cause them to drink the dregs of it: these words, though they are in the form of an imprecation, yet regard not private revenge, but public justice, and the honour of God; and, besides, may be considered as a prophecy of what would be, and particularly of God's pouring out the vials of his wrath on the antichristian states; who, though they profess Christianity, are no other than Heathens, and have no spiritual and serious knowledge of Christ:

and upon the kingdoms that have not called upon thy name; but upon their idols of gold, silver, brass, and stone, on the Virgin Mary, angels, and saints departed; for these, besides the kingdoms of Babylon, Syria, and Rome Pagan, are the kingdoms of the ten kings, that gave their kingdoms to the beast, and committed fornication, i.e. idolatry, with the whore of Rome; see Rev_17:2, these words are referred to in Jer_10:25and also the following.

HE�RY, "The petitions here put up to God are very suitable to the present distresses of the church, and they have pleas to enforce them, interwoven with them, taken mostly from God's honour.

I. They pray that God would so turn away his anger from them as to turn it upon those that persecuted and abused them (Psa_79:6): “Pour out thy wrath, the full vials of it, upon the heathen; let them wring out the dregs of it, and drink them.” This prayer is in effect a prophecy, in which the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. Observe here, 1. The character of those he

prays against; they are such as have not known God, nor called upon his name. The reason why men do not call upon God is because they do not know him, how able and willing he is to help them. Those that persist in ignorance of God, and neglect of prayer, are the ungodly, who live without God in the world. There are kingdoms that know not God and obey not the gospel, but neither their multitude nor their force united will secure them from his just judgments. 2. Their crime: They have devoured Jacob, Psa_79:7. That is crime enough in the account of him who reckons that those who touch his people touch the apple of his eye. They have not only disturbed, but devoured, Jacob, not only encroached upon his dwelling place, the land of Canaan, but laid it waste by plundering and depopulating it. (3.) Their condemnation: “Pour out thy wrath upon them; do not only restrain them from doing further mischief, but reckon with them for the mischief they have done.”

JAMISO�, "(Compare Jer_10:25). Though we deserve much, do not the heathen deserve more for their violence to us (Jer_51:3-5; Zec_1:14)? The singular denotes the chief power, and the use of the plural indicates the combined confederates.

called upon— or, “by”

thy name— proclaimed Thy attributes and professed allegiance (Isa_12:4; Act_2:21).

CALVI�, "6.Pour out thy fury upon the heathen, who have not known thee. This prayer is apparently inconsistent with the rule of charity; for, while we feel anxious about our own calamities, and desire to be delivered from them, we ought to desire that others may be relieved as well as ourselves. It would seem, therefore, that the faithful are to be blamed in here wishing the destruction of unbelievers, for whose salvation they ought rather to have been solicitous. But it becomes us to bear in mind what I have previously stated, that the man who would offer up such a prayer as this in a right manner, must be under the influence of zeal for the public welfare; so that, by the wrongs done to himself personally, he may not suffer his carnal affections to be excited, nor allow himself to be carried away with rage against his enemies; but, forgetting his individual interests, he must have a sole regard to the common salvation of the Church, and to what conduces thereto. Secondly, he must implore God to grant him the spirit of discretion and judgment, that in prayer he may not be impelled by an inconsiderate zeal: a subject which we have treated more at large in another place. Besides, it is to be observed, that the pious Jews here not only lay out of consideration their own particular advantage in order to consult the good of the whole Church, but also chiefly direct their eyes to Christ, beseeching him to devote to destruction his enemies whose repentance is hopeless. They, therefore, do not rashly break forth into this prayer, that God would destroy these or other enemies, nor do they anticipate the judgment of God; but desiring that the reprobate may be involved in the condemnation which they deserve, they, at the same time, patiently wait until the heavenly judge separate the reprobate from the elect. In doing this, they do not cast aside the affection which charity requires; for, although they would desire all to be saved, they yet know that the reformation of some of the enemies of Christ is hopeless, and their perdition absolutely certain.

The question, however, is not yet fully answered; for, when in the seventh verse they arraign the cruelty of their enemies, they seem to desire vengeance. But what I have just now observed must be remembered, that none can pray in this manner but those who have clothed themselves with a public character, and who, laying aside all personal considerations, have espoused, and are deeply interested in, the welfare of the whole Church; or, rather, who have set before their eyes Christ, the Head of the Church; and, lastly, none but those who, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, have elevated their minds to the judgment of God; so that, being ready to forgive, they do not indiscriminately adjudge to death every enemy by whom they are injured, but only the reprobate. With regard to those who make haste in demanding the execution of the Divine vengeance before all hope of repentance is lost, Christ has condemned them as chargeable with inconsiderate and ill-regulated zeal, when he says,

“Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of,” (Luke 9:55.)

Moreover, the faithful do not here simply wish the destruction of those who so wickedly persecuted the Church, but, using that familiarity which God allows them in their dealings with him, they set forth how inconsistent it would be did he not punish their persecutors, (375) and reason thus: Lord, how is it that thou afflictest us so severely, upon whom thy name is invoked, and sparest the heathen nations who despise thee? In short, they mean to say, that God has sufficient ground for executing his wrath elsewhere, since they were not the only people in the world who had sinned. Although it does not become us to prescribe to God the rule of his conduct, but rather patiently to submit to this ordination,

“That judgment must begin at the house of God” (1 Peter 4:17;)

yet he permits his saints to take the liberty of pleading, that at least they may not be worse dealt with than unbelievers, and those who despise him.

These two sentences, who have not known thee, and which call not upon thy name, it is to be observed, are to be taken in the same sense. By these different forms of expression, it is intimated that it is impossible for any to call upon God without a previous knowledge of him, as the Apostle Paul teaches, in Romans 10:14,

“How, then, shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard?” (Romans 10:14)

It belongs not to us to answer, “Thou art our God,” till He has anticipated us by saying, “Thou art my people,” (Hosea 2:23;) but he opens our mouths to speak to him in this manner, when he invites us to himself. Calling on the name of God is often synonymous with prayer; but it is not here to be exclusively limited to that exercise. The amount is, that unless we are directed by the knowledge of God, it is impossible for us sincerely to profess the true religion. At that time the Gentiles

everywhere boasted that they served God; but, being destitute of his word, and as they fabricated to themselves gods of their own corrupt imaginations, all their religious services were detestable; even as in our own day, the human invented religious observances of the blind and deluded votaries of the Man of Sin, who have no right knowledge of the God whom they profess to worship, and who inquire not at his mouth what he approves, are certainly rejected by Him, because they set up idols in his place.

SPURGEO�, "Ver. 6. "Pour out thy wrath upon the heathen that have not known thee." If thou must smite look further afield; spare thy children and strike thy foes. There are lands where thou art in no measure acknowledged; be pleased to visit these first with thy judgments, and let thine erring Israel have a respite."And upon the kingdoms that have not called upon thy name." Hear us the prayerful, and avenge thyself upon the prayerless. Sometimes providence appears to deal much more severely with the righteous than with the wicked, and this verse is a bold appeal founded upon such an appearance. It in effect says--Lord, if thou must empty out the vials of thy wrath, begin with those who have no measure of regard for thee, but are openly up in arms against thee; and be pleased to spare thy people, who are thine notwithstanding all their sins.EXPLA�ATORY �OTES A�D QUAI�T SAYI�GSWhole Psalm. See Psalms on "Psalms 79:1" for further information.Ver. 6. �eglect of prayer by unbelievers is threatened with punishment. The prophet's imprecation is the same in effect with a threatening, see Jeremiah 10:25, and same imprecation, Psalms 79:6. The prophets would not have used such an imprecation against those that call not upon God, but that their neglect of calling on his name makes them liable to his wrath and fury; and no neglect makes men liable to the wrath of God but the neglect of duty. Prayer, then, is a duty even to the heathen, the neglect of which provokes him to pour out his fury on them. David Clarkson.

COFFMA�, ""Pour out thy wrath upon the nations that know thee not,

And upon the kingdoms that call not upon thy name."

As a nation, Israel had become one and the same as the pagan kingdoms around them. Oh yes, they knew God's name; and, in times of emergency they loved to call upon God for help; but the people as a whole had become even worse than Sodom and Gomorrah (Ezekiel 16). If God's moral character was to be established as a fact in the minds of mankind, something drastic had to be done about Israel and their gross wickedness.

The name of God could not be used merely as a charm to get Israel out of every disaster; there positively had to be some moral integrity on the part of the people themselves. There were, no doubt, a few devout souls who sincerely called upon God and walked in his ways, among whom the psalmist here was surely numbered; but such as he were so few that no observer in that day could have told any moral

difference between Israel and any other pagan nation of that era.

BE�SO�, "Psalms 79:6-7. Pour out thy wrath upon the heathen — Though we confess that we have deserved thy wrath, yet the heathen, by whom thou hast scourged us, have deserved it much more, as being guilty of far greater impieties than we, living in gross ignorance and contempt of thee and thy worship. And, therefore, we pray thee to transfer thy wrath from us to them. But the prayer is rather to be considered as a prophecy, in which the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. For they have devoured Jacob — The posterity of Jacob, whom thou didst love, and with whom, and his seed, thou madest a sure and everlasting covenant; whereby thou didst engage thyself to be an enemy to their enemies, Exodus 23:22. Besides, thou hatest cruelty, especially when the wicked devour those that are more righteous than themselves, Habakkuk 1:13.

WHEDO�, "6. Pour out thy wrath upon the heathen—All such imprecations must be viewed from the standpoint of justice between nation and nation, and the rights of God in the land and people of his covenant as against the acts of hostile kings who invade them. The rights of peace and virtue in the earth cry to God against the perpetrators of crime and the authors of oppression. Humanly speaking, the invasion of Palestine by �ebuchadnezzar was without cause, and his treatment of the Jewish religion without parallel of impiety. Justice would seem to reverse this strange order of things. The kingdoms referred to in this verse were such as were subject to and assisted �ebuchadnezzar in his wars. Psalms 79:6-7 seem borrowed from Jeremiah 10:25

PULPIT, "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. Exodus 5:2), as was the case with all the nations round about Canaan. And upon the kingdoms that have not called upon thy �ame. �ow 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."

7 for they have devoured Jacob and devastated his homeland.

BAR�ES, "For they have devoured Jacob - literally, “They have eaten.” That is, they have eaten up what the land produced.

And laid waste his dwelling-place - His home; his habitation; the residence of Jacob, or of the people of Israel.

CLARKE, "Laid waste his dwelling-place - The Chaldee understands this of the temple. This, by way of eminence, was Jacob’s place. I have already remarked that these two verses are almost similar to Jer_10:25, which has led many to believe that Jeremiah was the author of this Psalm.

GILL, "For they have devoured Jacob,.... The posterity of Jacob, the people of the Jews, typical of the church of God, made havoc of by the Romish antichrist: and laid waste his dwelling place; both Jerusalem and the temple, which was done both by the Chaldeans and the Romans, and also in the times of Antiochus; see the Apocrypha:

"38 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. 39 Her sanctuary was laid waste like a wilderness, her feasts were turned into mourning, her sabbaths into reproach her honour into contempt.'' (1 Maccabees 1)

"4 In his acts he was like a lion, and like a lion's whelp roaring for his prey. 5 For He pursued the wicked, and sought them out, and burnt up those that vexed his people.'' (1 Maccabees 3)

which were types of the Gospel church made desolate by the Papists: the word (d) used signifies a sheepcote, the dwelling place of those sheep that are troubled by the beast of Rome.

SPURGEO�, "Ver. 7. "For they have devoured Jacob." The oppressor would quite eat up the saints if he could. If these lions do not swallow us, it is because the Lord has sent his angel and shut the lions' mouths."And laid waste his dwelling place, "or his pasture. The invader left no food for man or beast, but devoured all as the locust. The tender mercies of the wicked are cruel.EXPLA�ATORY �OTES A�D QUAI�T SAYI�GSWhole Psalm. See Psalms on "Psalms 79:1" for further information.Ver. 7. "They have devoured Jacob." Like wolves who cruelly tear and devour a flock of sheep. For the word which follows signifies not only a habitation in general, but also a sheepcote. Mollerus.

COFFMA�, ""For they have devoured Jacob,

And laid waste his habitation."

This and Psalms 79:6 occur almost word for word in Jeremiah 10:25. Many scholars vex themselves almost endlessly trying to figure out who quoted whom; but it is our opinion that in most cases, there is hardly any way to determine such questions. Is it impossible that God, through the Spirit, could have led different writers to use the same words? �o one has ever proved such a proposition. As far as this particular instance is concerned, Rawlinson stated that, "It is difficult to say which writer quoted from the other?"[15]

ELLICOTT, "(7) Dwelling place.—Literally, pasture, as in Jeremiah 23:3; Jeremiah 49:20; Jeremiah 1:19. The figure is a favourite one in the Asaphic group of psalms.

Former iniquities.—Better, iniquities of former ones, i.e., of ancestors. (Comp. Leviticus 26:45, “covenant of their ancestors,” and for the thought Exodus 20:5; Leviticus 26:39.)

Prevent.—Better, come to meet. Daniel 9:16 seems to combine the language of this verse and Psalms 79:4.

8 Do not hold against us the sins of past generations; may your mercy come quickly to meet us, for we are in desperate need.

BAR�ES, "O remember not against us forrmer iniquities -Margin, The iniquities of them that were before us. The Hebrew may mean either former times, or former generations. The allusion, however, is substantially the same. It is not their own iniquities which are particularly referred to, but the iniquity of the nation as committed in former times; and the prayer is, that God would not visit them with the results of the sins of former generations, though their own ancestors. The language is derived from the idea so constantly affirmed in the Scripture, and so often illustrated in fact, that the effects of sin pass over from one generation to the next, and involve it in calamity. See Exo_20:5; Exo_34:7; Lev_20:5; Lev_26:39-40; Num_14:18, Num_14:33; compare the notes at Rom_5:12, et seg.

Let thy tender mercies speedily prevent us - literally, “Hasten; let thy tender mercies anticipate us.” The word prevent here, as elsewhere in the Scriptures, does not mean to hinder, as with us, but to go before; to anticipate. See Job_3:12, note; Psa_17:13, note; Psa_21:3, note; Isa_21:14, note; Mat_17:25, note; 1Th_4:15, note. The prayer here is, that God, in his tender mercy or compassion, would anticipate their ruin; would interpose before matters had gone so far as to make their destruction inevitable.

For we are brought very low - The idea in the original word is that of being pendulous, or hanging down - as vines do, or as anything does that is wilted, or withered, or as the hands do when one is weak, faint, or sick. Then it refers to a failure or exhaustion of strength; and the idea here is that their strength as a nation was exhausted.

CLARKE, "Remember not against us former iniquities - Visit us not for the sins of our forefathers.

Speedily prevent us - Let them go before us, and turn us out of the path of destruction; for there is no help for us but in thee.

We are brought very low - Literally, “We are greatly thinned.” Few of us remain.

GILL, "O remember not against us former iniquities,.... Or, "our ancient iniquities", as the Septuagint; the most ancient sin of all is that of our first parents, in which we are involved, and by which we are made sinners; and for which judgment comes upon all men; and from thence flows the corruption of nature, or that original sin of our nature in which we are all conceived and born, and so are transgressors from the womb; or iniquities of former times, of our youth, as Kimchi, sins done of old, committed long ago, in the youthful age, see Psa_25:7, or the sins of former persons, of our fathers, as Aben Ezra, which the Lord visits sometimes upon the children: some think reference is had to the sin of their forefathers in making and worshipping the golden calf; the Jews (e) have a saying, that there is no punishment happens to Israel, but there is an ounce in it for the sin of the calf; their meaning is, that this is always remembered and visited, according to Exo_32:34, the phrase may take in all the sins of former persons, their ancestors, and of former times, from age to age, they had continued in, which had brought ruin upon them; and all their own sins, of nature and of youth, all past ones, to the present time: and it is desired that God would not "remember these against them"; that is, that he would not chastise or punish them for them, but that he would pardon them; for forgiveness of sin is sometimes expressed by a non-remembrance of it, Isa_43:25, or that he would not "remember unto" (f) them; that is, put them in mind of them, lay them home and heavy upon their consciences, charge them with the guilt of them, and demand satisfaction for them; which is causing them to possess the sins of their youth, or former ones, Job_13:26,

let thy tender mercies speedily prevent us; the mercy of God is rich, plenteous, and abundant; many are the acts, and manifold the instances of it; and there is a heart of compassion, and a tenderness expressed in it; and which is free, and comes before the merits of men, goes before them, and is not caused by them; and the phrase denotes the early and timely application of it, the case being desperate, and requiring haste, and the danger such that nothing but mercy could prevent; and indeed it is mercy that prevents both our temporal and eternal ruin. The reason given for this request is,

for we are brought very low; sin brings men into a low estate, and only the grace and mercy of God can raise them up, and that exalts to an high estate; or are become very "weak" (g) and helpless; sin strips men of their strength, leaves them without any, and incapable of helping themselves out of that estate into which it has brought them: or are quite "exhausted" (h) and dried up, no good thing in them, no comfort left them; but are poor, and wretched, and miserable.

HE�RY, " They pray for the pardon of sin, which they own to be the procuring cause of all their calamities. How unrighteous soever men were, God was righteous in permitting them to do what they did. They pray, 1. That God would not remember against them their former iniquities (Psa_79:8), either their own former iniquities, that now, when they were old, they might not be made to possess the iniquities of their youth, or the former iniquities of their people, the sins of their ancestors. In the captivity of Babylon former iniquities were brought to account; but God promises not again to do so (Jer_31:29, Jer_31:30), and so they pray, “Remember not against us our first sins,” which some make to look as far back as the golden calf, because God said, In the day when I visit I will visit for this sin of theirs upon them, Exo_32:34. If the children by repentance and reformation cut off the entail of the parents' sin, they may in faith pray that God will not remember them against them. When God pardons sin he blots it out and remembers it no more. 2. That he would purge away the sins they had been lately guilty of, by the guilt of which their minds and consciences had been defiled: Deliver us, and purge away our sins, Psa_79:9. Then deliverances from trouble are granted in love, and are mercies indeed, when they are grounded upon the pardon of sin and flow from that; we should therefore be more earnest with God in prayer for the removal of our sins than for the removal of our afflictions, and the pardon of them is the foundation and sweetness of our deliverances.

JAMISO�, "former iniquities— literally, “iniquities of former times.”

prevent us— literally, “meet us,” as in Psa_21:3.

SPURGEO�, "8Remember not against us the iniquities of former times. The godly Jews here confirm the sentiment which they had before briefly and obscurely touched upon, namely, that they had justly deserved the chastisements which had been inflicted upon them. And they present this prayer, because they could only get relief from their calamities by obtaining reconciliation with God. This is the sovereign remedy for every kind of adversity; for so long as he is angry with even our prosperity turns out to be unproductive of advantage and happiness. By the iniquities of former times, some understand the sins committed by the fathers. Others think that the sins which the suppliants themselves committed in their childhood and youth are intended. But the expression, I presume, has a more extensive signification, containing a confession not only of one offense or two, and these only recently committed, but an acknowledgement that they had for a long time been involved, along with their fathers, in manifold and old transgressions. Thus they acknowledge a long continued stubbornness, in which they had hardened themselves against God. This acknowledgement corresponds with the rebukes which the prophets administered to them; for sacred history bears testimony that the

punishment of the captivity was suspended until God had proved from experience that their perversity was incurable. �or should it excite our surprise to find the children praying that God would not impute to them the iniquity of their fathers, when we consider that the law declares that God casts the sins of the fathers into the bosom of their children, and takes vengeance upon their iniquities unto the third and fourth generation, (Exodus 20:5.) The contrast between the expressions, make haste, and the iniquities of former times, is worthy of notice. Had God called the Israelites to a strict account for all the sins which they had committed during three or four hundred years before, the time of their deliverance would have been long delayed. The faithful, therefore, beseech him to forget their former offenses, and to make haste to succor them. As their sins proved the great obstacle and cause of delay, we may see the propriety with which they farther implore that the compassions of God might speedily meet them.

COFFMA�, ""Remember not against us the iniquities of our forefathers:

Let thy tender mercies speedily meet us;

For we are brought very low."

"Remember not against us ... iniquity of our forefathers." It does not appear that the psalmist here intends to deny the wickedness of his own generation, for in Psalms 79:9, below, he acknowledges their sins in the petition asking for their forgiveness.

As a matter of fact, it was not solely the sins of the psalmist's generation that had brought about the calamity. It was the long established tradition of wickedness reaching back through many generations that also entered into the fact of God's decision to liquidate the kingdom of Israel.

"Let thy ... mercies speedily meet us." See under Psalms 79:5, above, for comment on this.

BE�SO�, "Psalms 79:8. Remember not against us former iniquities — The sins committed by our forefathers, and by us who have filled up the measure of their sins, for which we confess thou hast most righteously brought this desolating judgment upon us. Let thy tender mercies — Upon which all our confidence is fixed; for merit and righteousness we have none; see Daniel 9:7; Daniel 9:9. Speedily prevent us — Prevent our utter extirpation, which we have deserved, and have great reason to expect; for we are brought very low — Past the hopes of all human help, and therefore the glory of our deliverance will be wholly thine.

COKE, "Psalms 79:8. O remember not against us former iniquities— This may probably have an especial reference to those first sins which this people had been guilty of, after their coming out of Egypt. Such was their idolatry in respect to the golden calf, of which God tells them, In the day that I visit, I will visit this sin upon thee; i.e. this particular sin of theirs. See Exodus 32:34. Accordingly, the Jews have

a received maxim, that there is no visitation or punishment in Israel, in which there is not some visitation or infliction for the calf.

EBC, "The closing verse of the strophe (Psalms 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 Psalms 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 God’s anger is no arbitrarily kindled flame, but one lit and fed by Israel’s 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 children’s 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. [Matthew 23:35]

�ISBET, "GOD THE HOPE OF THE DISTRESSED‘Let Thy tender mercies speedily prevent us.’Psalms 79:8I. 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 they were written.

II. A careful perusal of this psalm will show three things as most evidently forming the deepest conviction of the singer’s hope.—First there is the sense that all the calamity which has overtaken them is the result of their own sin. Behind this is a great idea of 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 �ame, ‘Help us, O God of our salvation! for the glory of Thy �ame: and deliver us and purge away our sins, for Thy �ame’s 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 �ame of that God Who by suffering is dealing with them.

Illustrations

(1) ‘How touching! Think of the prisoners of the world. The lovers of freedom in crowded Russian prisons, the poor natives of the Congo Free State in their heavy irons, the men and women that are undergoing life-sentences, the inmates of infirmaries, workhouses, hospitals, and asylums! How often do they sigh? And their sighs come up before God.’

(2) ‘This is a national psalm. In Psalms 79:1, Jerusalem must mean the literal city, or the Church militant.’

PULPIT, "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 ( ראשגים )(Kay, Cheyne). For we are brought very low (comp. Psalms 111:6; Psalms 142:6).

9 Help us, God our Savior, for the glory of your name;deliver us and forgive our sins for your name’s sake.

BAR�ES, "Help us, O God of our salvation - On whom our salvation depends; who alone can save us.

For the glory of thy name - That thy name may be honored. We are thy professed people; we have been redeemed by thee; and thine honor will be affected by the question whether we are saved or destroyed, It is the highest and purest ground for prayer, that the glory or honor of God may be promoted. See the notes at Mat_6:9, notes at Mat_6:13; notes at Joh_12:28; notes at Dan_9:19.

And deliver us - From our enemies.

And purge away our sins - Forgive our sins, or cleanse us from them. The original word is that which is commonly used to denote an atonement. Compare in the Hebrew, Dan_9:24,; Eze_45:20; Exo_30:15; Exo_32:30; Lev_4:20; 5:26; Lev_16:6, Lev_16:11, Lev_16:24.

For thy name’s sake - See the notes at Dan_9:19.

CLARKE, "Purge away our sins - capper, be propitiated, or receive an כפר

atonement (על�חטאתינו al�chattotheynu) on account of our sins.

GILL, "Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of thy name,.... Help us out of the troubles in which we are; enable us to bear them with patience, and without murmuring, while it is thy pleasure to continue them; assist us against our powerful enemies, and strengthen us to do our duty; afford us more grace, and fresh supplies of it in our time of need: the arguments enforcing these petitions are, because God is "the God of salvation", to whom it belongs, of whom it is, and of him only to be expected; he is the sole author and giver of it; and because to help and save is for the glory of his name, which is great in the salvation of his people:

and deliver us; out of the hands of all our enemies, and out of all our afflictions, and out of this low estate in which we are:

and purge away our sins for thy name's sake; which were the cause of all calamities and distress, and which can only be purged away by the blood and sacrifice of Christ, Heb_1:3, the word signifies to "expiate" (i) sin, or atone for it; which was the work and business of Christ our High Priest, who has made reconciliation for sin, finished, made an end of it, and put it away by the oblation of himself, for the sake of which God is propitious; and so the words may be rendered, "be propitious to our sins" (k): or merciful to our unrighteousnesses, for the sake of Christ the great propitiation; or through the propitiatory sacrifice to be offered up by him; or, in other words, "cover our sins" (l); which is also the sense of the phrase, that they may be seen no more; pardon and forgive them for Christ's sake; see Psa_32:1.

JAMISO�, "for ... glory of thy name [and for] thy name’s sake— both mean for illustrating Thy attributes, faithfulness, power, etc.

purge ... sins— literally, “provide atonement for us.” Deliverance from sin and suffering, for their good and God’s glory, often distinguish the prayers of Old Testament saints (compare Eph_1:7).

CALVI�, "9Help O God of our salvation! They again repeat in this verse, that whatever afflictions they endured were to be traced to the anger of God, and that they could have no comfort under them unless He were reconciled to them. Being deeply sensible that they had committed many transgressions, to strengthen their hope of obtaining pardon, they employ a variety of expressions. In the first place, as an argument to induce God to show them favor, they address him as the God of their salvation. In the second place, they testify that they bring nothing of their own to influence him to have mercy upon them; and that the only plea which they present before him is his own glory. From this we learn, that sinners are not

reconciled to God by satisfactions or by the merit of good works, but by a free and an unmerited forgiveness. The observation which I have made a little before, and which I have explained more at length on the sixth psalm, is here to be kept in mind, — That when God visits us with the rod, instead of being merely desirous to be relieved from external chastisements, our chief concern ought to be to have God pacified towards us: nor should we follow the example of foolish sick persons, who are anxious to have merely the symptoms of their disease removed, and make no account of being delivered from the source and cause of it. With respect to the word chapper, (376) which expositors translate, Be merciful, or propitious, I have ,כפרhad an opportunity of speaking in another place. It properly signifies to cleanse, or expiate, and is applied to sacrifices. Whenever, therefore, we desire to obtain the favor of God, let us call to remembrance the death of Christ; for “without shedding of blood is no remissions” (Hebrews 9:22.)

COFFMA�, ""Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of thy name;

And deliver us, and forgive our sins, for thy name's sake."

Significantly, the psalmist pleads no merit of his wicked generation, basing his plea for forgiveness upon the character and glory of God Himself. This attitude must be hailed as profoundly correct. On account of the consciousness of sins so evident here, Leupold believed that Psalms 79:8a should be translated, "`Remember not against us our past iniquities,' instead of `Remember not against us the iniquity of our forefathers.'"[16]

BE�SO�, "Verse 9-10Psalms 79:9-10. Help us, O God of our salvation — From whom we have often received, and from whom alone we now expect salvation, that is, deliverance, or protection; for the glory of thy name — Which is now obscured by the insolence and blasphemy of thine enemies, who ascribe their conquest to their idols, and triumph over thee, no less than over thy people, as one unable to deliver them out of their hands: see Daniel 3:15. Wherefore should the heathen say, Where is their God — He whom they served, and of whom they boasted? He is lost and gone, or grown impotent or idle. Let him be known among the heathen — By the execution of his judgments upon them, according to Psalms 9:16; in our sight — That we may live to see it, and praise thy name for it; by the revenging of the blood of thy servants which is shed — Or, rather, Let the vengeance (Hebrew, נקנת דם, nikmath dam) of thy servants’ blood which is shed be known among the heathen that are in our sight. “It is for the glory of God’s name to deliver his church; because, while she is in trouble, that name is blasphemed by the enemy, as if he wanted either power or will to prevent or remove the calamities of his servants. Prayer is therefore here made by the faithful, that God, not to gratify any vindictive spirit of theirs, but to vindicate his own attributes, would break the teeth of the oppressor, and work a public and glorious salvation for his chosen; at beholding which the very adversaries themselves might possibly be converted.” — Horne.

ELLICOTT, "(9) Purge away.—Rather, put a cover on. So Cicero speaks of political crimes being covered by the plea of friendship.

Our sins.—How is this to be taken in connection with Psalms 79:8? Does the psalmist admit guilt in his own generation, as well as in those of former times? Or is he thinking only of the inherited guilt and punishment? The general tone of post-exile psalms inclines towards the latter view.

WHEDO�, "9. Help us, O God of our salvation—This divine title was the ground of their theocracy. They had forgotten it in their sins and idol worship, but recall it now in their affliction and reproach.

For the glory of thy name— A fundamental reason governing all the acts of God, and which is now urged as cause of immediate action; (Exodus 9:16; �umbers 14:21;) for “wherefore should the heathen say among the people, Where is their God?” Psalms 79:10; Joel 2:17.

Purge away our sins—A confession that there could be no political restoration without a spiritual cleansing of the nation.

EBC, "The last strophe (Psalms 79:9-12) continues the strain begun in Psalms 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 children’s 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 God’s name, which he emphatically puts at the end of both clauses of Psalms 79:9. He repeats the same thought in another form in the question of Psalms 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 God’s name and the "heathen" will take it as proof, not that Israel’s 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 God’s 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 God’s 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 Psalms 74:1-23, which is all but entirely silent as to these. �ot 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 Psalms 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 Psalms 79:13 has the image of a flock, so frequent in the Asaph psalms, suggesting tender thoughts of the shepherd’s 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.

PULPIT, "Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of thy �ame. 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. Exodus 32:12; �umbers 14:13; Deuteronomy 9:28; and Deuteronomy 32:27). And deliver us, and purge away our sins; literally, make atonement for our sins (Exodus 30:15); i.e. "cancel them" (Cheyne), or "forgive them" (Hengstenberg, Kay). For thy �ame's sake (comp. Psalms 23:3; Psalms 25:11; Psalms 34:3; Ezekiel 36:22).

PULPIT, "Psalms 79:9

For the glory of thy �ame.

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 �ebuchadnezzar 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. (Psalms 11:3). He can take refuge in God. So Jeremiah (Jeremiah 14:21).

I. WHAT IS THE MEA�I�G 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's—Milton, Wren, Howard, Wilberforce—stands 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." Proverbs 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, character—in a word, for his very self; and for all that we know concerning him (see Exodus 3:13; Exodus 6:3 £). When Moses asked to see God's glory, the Lord answered that he would proclaim his �ame (Exodus 33:19; Exodus 34:5; cf. Exodus 23:21). Our Saviour sums up his work on earth thus (John 17:6). The "glory" of God's �ame, then, corresponds, humanly speaking, with what every honest man holds dearer than life—his 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 �ame."

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 others—for 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 John 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. WHE� A�D 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 (Proverbs 18:10; Psalms 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 (Exodus 32:1-35.; �umbers 14:1-45.); Joshua (Joshua 7:9). These two petitions are inseparable, "Hallowed be thy �ame; thy kingdom come."

IV. THE GOSPEL IS THE GREAT A�SWER TO THIS PRAYER. This was the angels' song (Luke 2:14); our Saviour's prayer, and God's answer (John 12:28).

This is the gospel message—our sins are forgiven for his �ame's sake (1 John 2:12). The glory of God's �ame 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 (Romans 1:17, Romans 1:18; Romans 3:25, Romans 3:26; Romans 6:23; 1 John 1:9).

K&D 8-12, "The victory of the world is indeed not God's aim; therefore His ownhonour does not suffer that the world of which He has made use in order to chasten His

people should for ever haughtily triumph. שמך� is repeated with emphasis at the end of

the petition in Psa_79:9, according to the figure epanaphora. ברIלמען = על־, as in Psa_45:5, cf. Psa_7:1, is a usage even of the language of the Pentateuch. Also the motive, “wherefore shall they say?” occurs even in the Tôra (Exo_32:12, cf. Num_14:13-17; Deu_9:28). Here (cf. Psa_115:2) it originates out of Joe_2:17. The wish expressed in Psa_79:10 is based upon Deu_32:43. The poet wishes in company with his contemporaries, as eye-witnesses, to experience what God has promised in the early times, viz., that He will avenge the blood of His servants. The petition in Deu_32:11 runs like Psa_102:21, cf.

Psa_18:7. 3סיר individualizingly is those who are carried away captive and incarcerated;

.cf ,גדל) P are those who, if God does not preserve them by virtue of the greatnessני�תמותה

Rדל Exo_15:16) of His arm, i.e., of His far-reaching omnipotence, succumb to the power

of death as to a patria potestas.

(Note: The Arabic has just this notion in an active application, viz., benıU el-môt = the heroes (destroyers) in the battle.)

That the petition in Psa_79:12 recurs to the neighbouring peoples is explained by the fact, that these, who might most readily come to the knowledge of the God of Israel as the one living and true God, have the greatest degree of guilt on account of their reviling of God. The bosom is mentioned as that in which one takes up and holds that which is

handed to him (Luk_6:38); חיק- .as in Isa_65:7, Isa_65:6; Jer_32:18 ,השיב (שZם) אל (על) A sevenfold requital (cf. Gen_4:15, Gen_4:24) is a requital that is fully carried out as a criminal sentence, for seven is the number of a completed process.

10 Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?”Before our eyes, make known among the nations that you avenge the outpoured blood of your servants.

BAR�ES, "Wherefore should the heathen say Where is their God? - The nations. Why should such a course of forbearance toward them be pursued as to lead them to ask the question whether God is able to punish them, or to come to the conclusion that he is not the God of those who profess to worship him. See Psa_42:3, note; Psa_42:10, note.

Let him be known among the heathen - Let him so manifest himself among them that they cannot but see that he is God; that he is a just God; that he is the Friend and Protector of his people.

In our sight - So that we may see it; or, so that it may be seen that he is our Friend and Protector.

By the revenging of the blood of thy servants which is shed -Margin, vengeance. The true idea is, “Let the avenging of the blood of thy servants - the blood poured out, or shed, be known among the nations in our sight.” The prayer is that God would so interpose that there could be no doubt that it was on account of the blood of his people which had been shed by their enemies. It is a prayer that just punishment might be executed - a prayer which may be offered at anytime.

CLARKE, "Where is their God? - Show where thou art by rising up for our redemption, and the infliction of deserved punishment upon our enemies.

GILL, "Wherefore should the Heathen say, where is their God?.... They boast of, and put their confidence in, and expect salvation from? he does not appear for them, he is not with them; he has forsaken them, and will not help them; than which nothing can be more afflicting and distressing to the Lord's people; see Psa_42:3,

let him be known among the Heathen in our sight; in his holiness and justice, as a God of power, and to whom vengeance belongs; let him be known by his judgments executed upon the Heathen, openly and publicly in our sight, and in the view of the whole world; see Psa_9:16, so it follows,

by the revenging of the blood of thy servants, which is shed; as in Psa_79:3, which blood God will revenge according to the request of his people, and give them blood to drink by way of retaliation; by which means his vindictive justice will be known, and it will be seen where the God of his people is, that he is with them, and maintains their cause; see Rev_6:9. The words may be rendered in connection with the preceding clause thus; "let it be known among the Heathen in our sight, even the revenging of the blood of thy servants which is shed"; though Kimchi supplies the words as we do, "by a revenging", &c.

HE�RY, " That God's name and honour would be greatly injured if he did not deliver them; for those that derided them blasphemed God, as if he were weak and could not

help them, or had withdrawn and would not; therefore they plead (Psa_79:10), “Wherefore should the heathen say, Where is their God? He has forsaken them, and forgotten them; and this they get by worshipping a God whom they cannot see.” (Nil praeter nubes et coeli numen adorant. Juv. - They adore no other divinity than the clouds and the sky.) That which was their praise (that they served a God that is every where) was now turned to their reproach and his too, as if they served a God that is nowhere. “Lord,” say they, “Make it to appear that thou art by making it to appear that thou art with us and for us, that when we are asked, Where is your God? we may be able to say, He is nigh unto us in all that which we call upon him for, and you see he is so by what he does for us.” (2.) That God's name and honour would be greatly advanced if he did deliver them; his mercy would be glorified in delivering those that were so miserable and helpless. By making bare his everlasting arm on their behalf he would make unto himself an everlasting name; and their deliverance would be a type and figure of the great salvation, which in the fulness of time Messiah the Prince would work out, to the glory of God's name.

JAMISO�, "This ground of pleading often used (Exo_32:12; Num_14:13-16).

blood ... shed— (Psa_79:3).

CALVI�, "10.Why should the heathen say, Where is their God? Here the people of God, in urging his name as a plea at the throne of grace: do so in a different sense from that in which they had urged it before. He extends his compassion towards us for his own name’s sake; for, as he is merciful, and will have our mouths stopped, that he alone may be accounted righteous, he freely pardons our sins. But here, the faithful beseech him that he would not allow his sacred name to be exposed to the blasphemies and insults of the wicked. From this we are taught that we do not pray in a right manner, unless a concern about our own salvation, and zeal for the glory of God, are inseparably joined together in our exercise. From the second clause of the verse, the same question may be raised which we have just now answered. Although God declares that he will execute vengeance upon our enemies, we are not warranted to thirst for revenge when we are injured. Let us remember that this form of prayer was not dictated for all men indiscriminately, that they might make use of it whenever impelled by their own passions, but that, under the guidance and instruction of the Holy Spirit, they might plead the cause of the whole Church, in common, against the wicked. If we would, therefore, offer up to God a prayer like this in a right manner, in the first place, our minds must be illuminated by the wisdom of the Holy Spirit; and, secondly, our zeal, which is often corrupted by the turbid affections of the flesh, must be pure and well-regulated; and then, with such a pure and well-tempered zeal, we may lawfully beseech God to show us, by evident examples, how precious, in his sight, is the life of his servants whose blood he avenges. The faithful are not to be understood as expressing any desire to be glutted with the sight of the shedding of human blood, (381) as if they longed greedily after it: they only desire that God would grant them some confirmation of their faith, in the exercise of his fatherly love which is manifested when he avenges the wrongs done to his own people. (382) It is farther to be noticed, that the appellation, the servants of God, is given to those who, nevertheless, were justly punished on account

of their sins; for although he may chastise us, yet he does not forthwith cast us off, but, on the contrary, testifies thereby that our salvation is the object of his care. Again, we know that when the anger of God is extended over the whole body of the Church, as the good and the bad are mingled together in her, the former are punished in common with the latter, even as Ezekiel, Jeremiah, Daniel, and others, were carried into captivity. They were not, it is true, altogether faultless; but it is certain that so great a calamity was not brought upon the Jews on their account. In their person, there was rather set forth a spectacle to the ungodly, that they might be the more deeply affected.

COFFMA�, ""Wherefore should the nations say, Where is their God?

Let the avenging of the blood of thy servants which is shed

Be known among the nations in our sight."

The desire of the psalmist that he and his contemporaries might indeed live to see God's vengeance executed upon the pagan nations which God in their great calamity was using as his instruments in the punishment of Israel -that desire, alas, could not be realized. �o short term punishment of rebellious Israel would have done any good. The wicked nation would be required to suffer in Babylon until the last vestiges of their conceit and false pride were purged away.

Another intention of God, it appears, was that Israel might be weaned away from their mad attachment to an earthly kingdom, but in that intention, the will of God was most certainly frustrated; because even in the times of Christ, racial Israel desired nothing in either heaven or upon earth quite so much as they desired the restoration of their evil earthly kingdom.

God did indeed execute the judgment of his righteous wrath upon Babylon and all of the pagan nations of that period; but he did not choose to do so "in the sight of" that generation. We believe that we can understand why.

In God's finally being compelled, through moral necessity, to destroy Israel's evil kingdom, the pagan nations of the whole world believed that Israel's God had been defeated and that they no longer should honor him. Therefore, the great accomplishment of God achieved in the plagues of Egypt and the delivery of Israel into Canaan after driving out the wicked nations before them, was in a measure lost through the necessity of Israel's destruction. It was for that very reason that not merely Babylon, but Egypt, and Tyre, and all the other pagan nations of the world were required to suffer God's punishment, some of which, no doubt, might have been unnecessary if it had not been for Israel's wickedness. Thus, the Israelites certainly did not deserve to witness God's judgment upon pagan nations.

CO�STABLE, "Verses 10-12Asaph continued to appeal for physical salvation on the basis of God"s honor. He asked for vengeance against the enemy that had slain many of God"s elect. He

urged God to answer the prayers of the prisoners who appealed to Him for deliverance. He wanted a thorough repayment of the reproach the enemy had heaped on Yahweh"s name because the Lord had not given Israel victory.

"Such a prayer may trouble us, and we would not think to pray that way very often, but it is thoroughly biblical. The speaker is honest enough to know that yearning, and the speaker is faithful enough to submit the yearning to "God." [�ote: Brueggemann, p72.

PULPIT, "Wherefore should the heathen say, Where is their God? (so Joel 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.

11 May the groans of the prisoners come before you; with your strong arm preserve those condemned to die.

BAR�ES, "Let the sighing of the prisoner come before thee - The sighing of him who is bound. The allusion here is, doubtless, to those among the Hebrews who had been taken captives, and who “sighed” not only on account of the sufferings which they endured in their bondage, but because they had been taken from their country and home. The meaning is, “Hear those sighs, and come for the deliverance of those who are thus held in captivity.”

According to the greatness of thy power -Margin, as in Hebrew, thine arm. The arm is the symbol of power. It is implied here that great power was needful to deliver those who were held in captivity, power such as God only could exert - power which could be wielded only by an Omnipotent Being. It was the power of God only which could rescue them, as it is only by the power of God that sinners can be saved.

Preserve thou those that are appointed to die -Margin, Reserve the children of

death. The literal meaning is, “Let remain the sons of death;” that is, Preserve those who are in such circumstances that death is impending, and who may be called the sons of death. This 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. The prayer is that such might be suffered to remain on the earth; that is, that they might be kept alive.

CLARKE, "The sighing of the prisoner - The poor captive Israelites in Babylon, who sigh and cry because of their bondage.

Those that are appointed to die - ”.beney�themuthah, “sons of death בני�תמותהEither those who were condemned to death because of their crimes, or condemned to be destroyed by their oppressors. Both these senses apply to the Israelites: they were sons of death, i.e., worthy of death because of their sins against God; they were condemned to death or utter destruction, by their Babylonish enemies.

GILL, "Let the sighing of the prisoner come before thee,.... Such as were so in a literal or spiritual sense; and the sighs and groans of such are not hid from the Lord; they come up into his ears as did the sighing and groaning of the children of Israel when in Egypt, Exo_2:23,

according to the greatness of thy power, preserve thou those that are appointed to die; not by the Lord, as all men are, but by men; who are under a sentence of condemnation, who are ready to die, being appointed to destruction, Pro_31:6, or are in danger of death, as Jarchi observes; the phrase is used in Talmudic writings; whose lives are exposed to danger, who are killed all the day long, and are accounted as sheep for the slaughter, Psa_44:22, these it is desired the Lord would keep from dying, or cause them to remain in life; or not suffer their lives to be taken away from them, which he was able to do through "the greatness of his power"; though these words according to the accents belong to the preceding clause. The Targum, and so Jarchi, and other Jewish writers, render the words, "loose thou those", &c. mention being made before of prisoners, or of persons bound.

HE�RY, "They pray that God would find out a way for the rescue of his poor prisoners, especially the condemned prisoners, Psa_79:11. The case of their brethren who had fallen into the hands of the enemy was very sad; they were kept close prisoners, and, because they durst not be heard to bemoan themselves, they vented their griefs in deep and silent sighs. All their breathing was sighing, and so was their praying. They were appointed to die, as sheep for the slaughter, and had received the sentence of death within themselves. This deplorable case the psalmist recommends, 1. To the divine pity: “Let their sighs come up before thee, and be thou pleased to take cognizance of their moans.” 2. To the divine power: “According to the greatness of thy arm, which no creature can contest with, preserve thou those that are appointed to die from the death to which they are appointed.” Man's extremity is God's opportunity to appear for his people. See 2Co_1:8-10.

JAMISO�, "prisoner— the whole captive people.

power— literally, “arm” (Psa_10:15).

CALVI�, "11.Let the sighing of the prisoner come before thee. The people of God, I have no doubt, were in captivity when the Holy Spirit endited this prayer; and, therefore, the name of prisoners is applied to them all in general, because they were so shut up within the bounds of Assyria and Chaldea, that had they stirred one foot thence, they would have incurred the penalty of death. They are called the children of death; by which is meant, that they were appointed or condemned to death in respect of their captivity. This sentence, however, may not improperly be restricted to a small number who were shut up in prison under closer restraint. By this expression, it is intimated that those proud spirits who had before vaunted themselves against God, were now broken and effectually humbled. The greatness of God’s arm, that is to say, the greatness of his power, (383) is implored; for without a signal and extraordinary interposition on his part, no hope could be entertained of the restoration of the Church.

COFFMA�, ""Let the sighing of the prisoner come before thee:

According to the greatness of thy power preserve thou those that are appointed to death."

"The sighing of the prisoner." This is a clear reference to the fact of the nation being in captivity, servants of the king of Babylon.

"Those that are appointed to death." The margin here gives an alternative reading, "the children of death." The reference is to the many who would die under the rigors of Babylonian servitude, and especially those who would die during the hardship of the long journey on foot to Babylon.

BE�SO�,"Verse 11-12Psalms 79:11-12. Let the sighing of the prisoner — Of thy poor people now in prison, or, at least, in captivity; come before thee — Be taken cognizance of by thee, and be as prevalent with thee as these prayers; according to the greatness of thy power — Hebrew, kזרוע, zerognacha, of thine arm; with which no creature can contend; preserve thou those that are appointed to die — Hebrew, בני תמותה, benee temutha, the children of death, that is, which were either designed for death, or were in manifest danger of it, as being wholly in the power of their cruel and barbarous enemies. Thus, “next to those who had been slain, the case of such as groaned in captivity, lying bound in chains and fetters, under sentence of death, to be inflicted at the will of their cruel and insulting conquerors, is recommended to God.” And render unto our neighbours sevenfold — That is, either, 1st, Abundantly, as this phrase signifies, Isaiah 65:6-7 ; Jeremiah 32:18; Luke 6:38. Or, 2d, Sensibly, so that it may come home to them, and fall heavily upon them in their own persons. The reproach wherewith they have reproached thee — As impotent, or unfaithful, or unmerciful to thy people. As if he had said, “As they have reproached thee with weakness, so manifest to others their weakness, who are but sinful dust and ashes; as they have endeavoured to make thee contemptible, so let the world

have just cause to despise them, who have thus presumptuously offended; according as it is written, Them that honour me, I will honour, and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed,”

1 Samuel 2:30. And be assured, reader, however different the appearance of things may now be, this will certainly be found true in every instance at the last day.

WHEDO�, "11. Let the sighing of the prisoner come before thee—The psalmist had urged the honour and attributes of God, the covenant relation of his people, the equity of the case as between Israel and his enemies, and now carries his appeal directly to the divine pity and compassion: how can he fail here? If we accept the verbs in this and the former verse in the future, as they stand in the original, we have an expression of confidence as well as petition: “He [God] shall be known among the heathen.” “The sighing of the prisoner shall come before thee.”

Preserve thou those that are appointed to die—Hebrew, the sons of death; those of the captives who are under death-sentence, or those who, by the hardships of the long march and exile, must soon succumb to death. The most literal sense, here, is the most probable. The captives, especially those of them who had distinguished themselves by resistance of the besieging army, were treated with great rigour.

PULPIT, "Let the sighing of the prisoner come before thee; or, the groaning, as in Exodus 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 Lamentations 1:3-5; Lamentations 5:18, etc.). But, whether well or ill treated, all sighed to return (comp. Psalms 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 Psalms 102:20.

12 Pay back into the laps of our neighbors seven times the contempt they have hurled at you, Lord.

BAR�ES, "And render unto our neighbors - That is, the neighbors who had

reproached them; the surrounding people who had seen these calamities come upon them, and who had regarded these calamities as proof that their God was unable to protect them, or that they were suffering under his displeasure. See the notes at Psa_79:4. “Sevenfold.” Seven times the amount of reproach which they have heaped upon us. The word seven is often used to denote many, as seven was one of the perfect numbers. The idea is that of complete or full vengeance. Compare Gen_4:15, Gen_4:24; Pro_6:31; Isa_30:26; Mat_18:21-22; Luk_17:4.

Into their bosom ... - Perhaps the allusion here is to the custom of carrying things in the bosom of the flowing dress as it was girded around the loins. “Let them be made to carry with them seven times the amount of reproach which they have endeavored to heap on us.”

CLARKE, "Sevenfold into their bosom - That is, Let them get in this world what they deserve for the cruelties they have inflicted on us. Let them suffer in captivity, who now have us in bondage. Probably this is a prediction.

GILL, "And render unto our neighbours seven fold into their bosom, Not seven fold for one, as the Targum paraphrases it, or a seven fold punishment for one sin; but that he would recompense their sins, or punish for them, and take vengeance on them, largely, abundantly, though not beyond measure, or exceeding the rules of justice; see Gen_4:15,

the reproach with which they have reproached thee, O Lord; by denying his being, or calling in question his perfections of power, truth, and goodness, to help his people; speaking ill of his providence, despising his word and ordinances, and even reproaching his people in reproaching him, Psa_89:50, and this is what a righteous recompence is desired for; see Lam_3:64.

HE�RY, " They pray that God would avenge them on their adversaries, 1. For their cruelty and barbarity (Psa_79:10): “Let the avenging of our blood” (according to the ancient law, Gen_9:6) “be known among the heathen; let them be made sensible that what judgments are brought upon them are punishments of the wrong they have done to us; let this be in our sight, and by this means let God be known among the heathen as the God to whom vengeance belongs (Psa_94:1) and the God that espouses his people's cause.” Those that have intoxicated themselves with the blood of the saints shall have blood given them to drink, for they are worthy. 2. For their insolence and scorn (Psa_79:12): “Render to them their reproach. The indignities which by word and deed they have done to the people of God himself and his name let them be repaid to them with interest.” The reproach wherewith men have reproached us only we must leave it to God whether he will render to them or no, and must pray that he would forgive them; but the reproach wherewith they have blasphemed God himself we may in faith pray that God would render seven-fold into their bosoms, so as to strike at their hearts, to humble them, and bring them to repentance. This prayer is a prophecy, of the same import with that of Enoch, that God will convince sinners of all their hard speeches which they have spoken against him (Jud_1:15) and will return them into their own bosoms by everlasting terrors at the remembrance of them.

JAMISO�, "into their bosom— The lap or folds of the dress is used by Eastern people for receiving articles. The figure denotes retaliation (compare Isa_65:6, Isa_65:7). They reproached God as well as His people.

CALVI�, "12And render to our neighbors sevenfold. We have already said enough on the subject of vengeance; and here the faithful show still more clearly, that they are not so much moved by the injuries done to themselves personally, as inflamed with a holy zeal when they see the sacred name of God blasphemed, and, as it were, torn in pieces by the wicked. If this affection reign in our hearts, it will easily moderate the ungovernableness of our flesh, and if the wisdom of the Spirit is added to it, our prayers will be in strict accordance with the just judgment of God.

COFFMA�, ""And render unto our neighbors sevenfold into their bosom

Their reproach wherewith they have reproached thee, O Lord."

Most of the commentators have softened this imprecation by interpreting it to mean, not actually sevenfold, but, "`Complete or full' vengeance; seven is one of the perfect numbers, and is used to denote `many.'"[17] "The expression does not mean `seven times as much as they have done,' but `completeness of retaliation.'"[18] Well, maybe so; but there is also the possibility that Dahood had it right when he declared that, "This is a demand for vengeance of the most thorough-going kind, in the spirit of Lamech, who in Genesis 4:24 assures his wives Adah and Zillah that, `If Cain is avenged seven times over, then Lamech seventy times seven.'"[19]

ELLICOTT, "(12) �eighbours.—The sharpest pang of the suffering came from the taunts of “neighbours. (See Psalms 79:4.)

Sevenfold.—As in Genesis 4:15. We naturally contrast the law of Christian forgiveness.

Into their bosom.—The deep folds of the Eastern dress were used as a pocket. (Comp. Ruth 3:15; Isaiah 65:7; Jeremiah 32:18; Luke 6:38, &c)

WHEDO�, "12. And render unto our neighbours—Comp, Psalms 79:6. These “neighbours” were the nations lying around Jerusalem, as the Tyrians, Syrians, Moabites, Edomites, who either helped the army of �ebuchadnezzar or exulted in the downfall of the Hebrew nation. See Psalms 137:7; Ezekiel 26:2.

Sevenfold—That is, a full and complete recompense: seven is the number of fulness.

Into their bosom—The orientals were accustomed to place valuable articles in a fold in the “bosom” of their long, loose garments, for convenient carriage. See Luke 6:38; Isaiah 40:11. The same custom prevails now. It is formed by or above the wide girdle which encircles the waist. Instead of these valuables should now be the

recompense of justice.

Reproached thee—This reproach of God’s covenant people was a reproach to the name of God. It was his cause, and he is importuned to see to it. The Chaldaeans hereby inferred the inferiority of Jehovah to their patron god, Bel, or Belus, and thus boasted, as later tests show. See Daniel 3:15; Daniel 4:25; Daniel 4:35; Daniel 4:37; Daniel 5:21; Daniel 5:23.Sweet is the closing breath of the faith and thanksgiving of this mournful psalm:—

So we thy people and the sheep of thy pastureWill give thanks unto thee for ever,We will declare thy praise to generation and generation.

COKE, "Psalms 79:12. And render, &c.— This seems to respect the Edomites chiefly. See Psalms 137.

REFLECTIO�S.—In this world the church of Christ is in a militant state: many are the troubles of the righteous; and whither can they so properly carry their complaints, as to him who is able to save them from the hands of their enemies? We have,

1st, The sorrowful complaint of the Israelites.

1. They are invaded, and their country laid waste. O God, the heathen are come into thine inheritance, where God himself abode, and his Israel dwelt by his gift. Thy holy temple have they defiled, by entering it, and setting up their abominations there; and this was a bitter grief to the righteous, to whom this temple was dearer than all they held beside. They have laid Jerusalem on heaps; burnt and desolate, and the inhabitants buried in the ruins. �ote; The church of God may be sometimes brought to a very low state of misery, but shall rise as a phoenix from her ashes.

2. They were slain and exposed. The dead bodies of thy servants, who fell in the common calamity; for in national judgments it is often seen that the righteous perish with the wicked: or, in hatred to their memory, their enemies dug up their bodies from the graves; these they have given to be meat unto the fowls of the heavens, and the flesh of thy saints unto the beasts of the earth.

3. They were reviled. We, the few survivors, are become a reproach to our neighbours: they insult over our fall: Psalms 137:7 a scorn and derision to them that are round about us, who mock at our pretended relation to God, and our professions of expected relief. �ote; It is no new thing for the people of God to be loaded with reproach, and turned into ridicule by their ungodly neighbours.

2nd, We have the requests of God's people, under the pressure of their heavy afflictions.

1. They beg that God would avenge their quarrel in the punishment of their

oppressors. Pour out thy wrath upon the heathen; which is not to be considered as an imprecation of private revenge, but of public justice, their evil character provoking the wrath of God, as it is added, that have not known thee, and upon the kingdoms that have not called upon thy name. �ote; (1.) They who live in ignorance of God, and neglect of prayer, will assuredly be visited with his wrath. (2.) Though God permit his faithful people to be oppressed and harassed for a while, he will speedily avenge them of their persecutors.

2. They intreat him not to remember either their own former iniquities, or those of their forefathers, now also visited upon them; but that their consciences might be purged from guilt, and then they hope the sufferings, which were the effects of their sins, would cease. �ote; The blood of Jesus alone can purge the conscience; to this therefore the sinner must apply.

3. They importunately pray for speedy deliverance, pleading the greatness of the affliction, and the glory of God concerned in their salvation. Let thy tender mercies speedily prevent us; for sinners have no merit to plead, nor hope but in God's unbounded love. Their case required speedy relief, or they were undone; for we are brought very low, or weak, sin being the disease of the soul, and inevitably mortal, unless the Lord interpose to heal. Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of thy name, and deliver us. All other help they knew was vain; and their own strength but weakness: therefore they cast their care upon him, as every perishing sinner must do, trusting his promises, as the God of their salvation, and pleading his own glory, the most prevailing argument; for his name would be dishonoured by their enemies, if they were suffered to prevail and triumph with impunity. Wherefore should the heathen say, Where is their God? whilst in the salvation of his faithful people a large revenue of praise would accrue to him; and the deeper their distress, the more would he be magnified in their deliverance. �ote; (1.) Our greatest extremity is frequently God's opportunity. (2.) The reproaches cast upon God should be a greater grief to us, than any reproaches cast upon ourselves. (3.) When our distress is so great that we can only speak in sighs and groans, even that is a language which God will hear and answer.

4. They engage to render their hearty thanks for such mercy shewn them, So we thy people, and sheep of thy pasture, in which blessed relation they comforted themselves in confidence of speedy help, will give thee thanks for ever; the voice of prayer exchanged for praise, and their sighing turned into songs of joy. We will shew forth thy praise to all generations; recording the wonders of his grace, and ministering matter of thanksgiving to their grateful posterity. �ote; (1.) Praise is the tribute that we owe for mercies; and, though ever paying, we must own ourselves poor, even in thanks. (2.) Our experience of divine grace and Providence should be transmitted to the succeeding ages, to engage their trust in God, and excite their praises.

13 Then we your people, the sheep of your pasture, will praise you forever;from generation to generation we will proclaim your praise.

BAR�ES, "So we thy people, and sheep of thy pasture - See the notes at Psa_74:1.

Will give thee thanks for ever -Will praise thee always; will acknowledge thee as our God, and will evermore render thee thanksgiving.

We will shew forth thy praise to all generations -Margin, as in Hebrew, to generation and generation. That is, We will make arrangements that the memory of these gracious acts shall be transmitted to future times; to distant generations. This was done by the permanent record, made in the Scriptures, of these gracious interpositions of God, and by their being carefully preserved by each generation to whom they came. No work has been more faithfully done than that by which the records of God’s ancient dealings with his people have been preserved from age to age - that by which the sacred Scriptures have been guarded against error, and handed down from one generation to another.

CLARKE, "We thy people -Whom thou hast chosen from among all the people of the earth.

And sheep of thy pasture - Of whom thou thyself art the Shepherd. Let us not be destroyed by those who are thy enemies; and we, in all our generations, will give thanks unto thee for ever.

GILL, "So we thy people, and sheep of thy pasture,.... Who were the people of God, not by creation and providence only, as all men are, being his creatures, and provided for by him; but by special choice, and by covenant grace: and "the sheep of his pasture"; whom he feeds as a shepherd does his flock, provides good pasture for them, and leads them into it:

will give thee thanks for ever, we will show forth thy praise to all generations: the above petitions being answered and fulfilled; the work of praise is acceptable unto God, what he is well pleased with, being glorified thereby; and is what becomes his people to do, and which they are formed for, and that for evermore, as long

as they live in this world, and to all eternity in another; and who will and do take care that the wonders of divine grace and providence be transmitted and told to their posterity in succeeding ages, that so thanks may be given him, and his praise shown forth in one generation after another.

HE�RY, "Lastly, They promise the returns of praise for the answers of prayer (Psa_79:13): So we will give thee thanks for ever. Observe, 1. How they please themselves with their relation to God. “Though we are oppressed and brought low, yet we are the sheep of thy pasture, not disowned and cast off by thee for all this: We are thine; save us.” 2. How they promise themselves an opportunity of praising God for their deliverance, which they therefore desired, and would bid welcome, because it would furnish them with matter for thanksgiving and put their hearts in tune for that excellent work, the work of heaven. 3. How they oblige themselves not only to give God thanks at present, but to show forth his praise unto all generations, that is, to do all they could both to perpetuate the remembrance of God's favours to them and to engage their posterity to keep up the work of praise. 4. How they plead this with God: “Lord, appear for us against our enemies; for, if they get the better, they will blaspheme thee (Psa_79:12); but, if we be delivered, we will praise thee. Lord, we are that people of thine which thou hast formed for thyself, to show forth thy praise; if we be cut off, whence shall that rent, that tribute, be raised?” Note, Those lives that are entirely devoted to God's praise are assuredly taken under his protection.

JAMISO�, "sheep ... pasture— (Compare Psa_74:1; Psa_78:70).

K&D, "If we have thus far correctly hit upon the parts of which the Psalm iscomposed (9. 9. 9), then the lamentation closes with this tristichic vow of thanksgiving.

CALVI�, "In the last verse, the pious Jews declare that the fruit of their deliverance will be, that the name of God will be celebrated; and we ought not to desire our preservation or welfare for any other end. When he freely bestows upon us all things, the design for which he does this is, that his goodness may be made known and exalted. �ow, these sufferers engage to make a grateful acknowledgement of their deliverance, and declare that this will not be done merely for a short time, but that the remembrance of it will be transmitted to their posterity, and pass, in continued succession, from age to age to the end of the world. The particular designation here given to them is also worthy of notice: We are thy people, and the sheep of thy pasture As the posterity of Abraham were chosen to celebrate the name of God, and that his praises might resound in Zion, what would have been the consequence had that people been destroyed, but that the memory of the name of God would have perished? This passage, there is no doubt, corresponds with that prophecy of Isaiah,

“This people have I formed for myself; they shall show forth my praise.” (Isaiah 43:21)

COFFMA�, ""So we thy people and sheep of thy pasture

Will give thee thanks forever:

We will show forth thy praise to all generations."

Leupold commented here that, "This verse is perhaps to be regarded less as a motive calculated to induce God to help them than as a natural promise to return thanksgiving and praise to God as soon as the deliverance is accomplished."[20]

We wish to conclude our study of this tragic psalm with the beautiful words of Baigent.

"All of the symbols of Israel's security were shattered - their nationhood, their capital, even the temple. Judah's erstwhile allies had deserted her; alone she had faced the foe - and lost! Survivors of the ensuing bloodbath looked to God, their only hope in a creel, friendless world. Behind them lay the grim tragedy of 587 B.C ... Ahead of them lay a question mark regarding both their own and their nation's survival. Heartbroken, they gathered around the mined shrine to lay their anguish before the God of Judah."[21

BE�SO�, "Psalms 79:13. So we thy people will give thanks for ever — “Such is the resolution of a church under persecution; and such ought to be the practice of every church when delivered out of it, and restored to the favour and protection of her God. The same is the duty of every soul with regard to afflictions and mercies of a private kind. But how glorious will be the day, when, triumphant over sin and sorrow, over every thing that exalteth itself, the church universal shall behold the adversary disarmed for ever.” When the Lord God, having swallowed up death in victory, will wipe away tears from off all faces, and take away the rebuke of his people from off all the earth: when it shall be said, Lo! this is our God, we have waited for him, and he hath saved us: this is Jehovah; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation, Isaiah 25:8-9.

ELLICOTT, "(13) “The last word of the psalm is Tehillah; the one crowning privilege of God’s people; the exulting and triumphant confidence in God, which only His chosen can entertain and express. It is here placed in splendid contrast with the reproach of the heathen, and of the malicious neighbours mentioned in the preceding verse. Let them curse so long as thou dost bless (Burgess, �otes on the Hebrew Psalms).

CO�STABLE, "3. A promise of future praise79:13

The psalmist promised that God"s people would reward Him with unceasing praise if He would give them deliverance. He viewed the people as God"s helpless sheep. He said their praise for this salvation would be public from then on.

"The cross of Jesus Christ is for us today the only evidence we need that God loves

us ( Romans 5:8)." [�ote: Wiersbe, The . . . Wisdom . . ., p235.]

It is appropriate to petition God for vengeance when enemies defeat God"s people and consequently make Him look bad. He will deliver eventually because He has promised to preserve His own. However, discipline may continue a long time if sin has been gross.