Psalm 79

November 5, 2015

Listen to our prayer (Ps 79:11-79:13)

“Let the groans of the prisoners come before you!

According to your great power

Preserve those doomed to die!

Return sevenfold into the bosom of our neighbors

The taunts with which they have taunted you!

Yahweh!

Then we your people,

The flock of your pasture,

Will give thanks to you forever.

From generation to generation

We will recount your praise.”

This psalm ends with the request to listen to their prayers. The Israelites considered themselves as prisoners who were doomed to die. Indeed the psalmist wanted God to preserve them. He wanted God to return sevenfold the taunts that had been delivered to them. They were his people, his flock. They would give thanks forever so that generation after generation would praise him.

November 5, 2015

Asking Yahweh to help (Ps 79:8-79:10)

“Do not remember against us

The iniquities of our ancestors.

Let your compassion come speedily to meet us.

We are brought very low.

Help us!

O God of our salvation!

For the glory of your name!

Deliver us!

Forgive our sins!

For your name’s sake!

Why should the nations say?

‘Where is their God?’

Let the avenging of the outpoured blood

Of your servants

Be known among the nations

Before our eyes!”

Their ancestor’s iniquities should not cause a problem today. God should not remember them, rather he should have compassion on the present day lowly Israelites. The glory of God’s name should deliver them. Their sins should be forgiven for God’s name. Why should the nations say that their God is gone? He should avenge the outpoured blood on the other nations, right before their eyes.

November 4, 2015

How long will Yahweh wait? (Ps 79:5-79:7)

“How long?

Yahweh?

Will you be angry forever?

Will your jealous wrath burn like fire?

Pour out your anger on the nations

That do not know you!

Pour out your anger on the kingdoms

That do not call on your name!

They have devoured Jacob.

They have laid waste his habitation.”

How long will Yahweh wait? Will he be angry forever? Will the wrath of his jealous anger burn like a fire? Rather, the psalmist wants Yahweh to pour out his anger on the nations and kingdoms that do not know him or do not call on his name. They are the ones who devoured Jacob or Israel as they laid waste to their living spaces.

November 4, 2015

National lament (Ps 79:1-79:4)

A psalm of Asaph

“O God!

The nations have come into your inheritance.

They have defiled your holy temple.

They have laid Jerusalem in ruins.

They have given the bodies of your servants

To the birds of the air for food.

The flesh of your faithful has been given

To the wild animals of the earth.

They have poured out their blood like water,

All around Jerusalem.

There was no one to bury them.

We have become a taunt to our neighbors.

We are mocked.

We are derided

By those around us.”

Psalm 79 is another psalm of Asaph. This national lamentation deplores the defeat and ruin of Jerusalem and its Temple, probably at the time of the captivity around 587 BCE. The bodies of the faithful were given over to the birds of the air and the wild animals. Their blood was all around Jerusalem. No one was there to bury them. The Israelites had become a taunt to their neighbors. They were mocked and derided by everybody around them.