mh_parser/vol_split/19 - Psalms/Chapter 79.xml

<div2 id="Ps.lxxx" n="lxxx" next="Ps.lxxxi" prev="Ps.lxxix" progress="49.49%" title="Chapter LXXIX">
<h2 id="Ps.lxxx-p0.1">P S A L M S</h2>
<h3 id="Ps.lxxx-p0.2">PSALM LXXIX.</h3>
<p class="intro" id="Ps.lxxx-p1">This psalm, if penned with any particular event in
view, is with most probability made to refer to the destruction of
Jerusalem and the temple, and the woeful havoc made of the Jewish
nation by the Chaldeans under Nebuchadnezzar. It is set to the same
tune, as I may say, with the Lamentations of Jeremiah, and that
weeping prophet borrows two verses out of it (<scripRef id="Ps.lxxx-p1.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.79.6-Ps.79.7" parsed="|Ps|79|6|79|7" passage="Ps 79:6,7">ver. 6, 7</scripRef>) and makes use of them in his
prayer, <scripRef id="Ps.lxxx-p1.2" osisRef="Bible:Jer.10.25" parsed="|Jer|10|25|0|0" passage="Jer 10:25">Jer. x. 25</scripRef>. Some
think it was penned long before by the spirit of prophecy, prepared
for the use of the church in that cloudy and dark day. Others think
that it was penned then by the spirit of prayer, either by a
prophet named Asaph or by some other prophet for the sons of Asaph.
Whatever the particular occasion was, we have here, I. A
representation of the very deplorable condition that the people of
God were in at this time, <scripRef id="Ps.lxxx-p1.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.79.1-Ps.79.5" parsed="|Ps|79|1|79|5" passage="Ps 79:1-5">ver.
1-5</scripRef>. II. A petition to God for succour and relief, that
their enemies might be reckoned with (<scripRef id="Ps.lxxx-p1.4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.79.6-Ps.79.7 Bible:Ps.79.10 Bible:Ps.79.12" parsed="|Ps|79|6|79|7;|Ps|79|10|0|0;|Ps|79|12|0|0" passage="Ps 79:6,7,10,12">ver. 6, 7, 10, 12</scripRef>), that their sins
might be pardoned (<scripRef id="Ps.lxxx-p1.5" osisRef="Bible:Ps.79.8-Ps.79.9" parsed="|Ps|79|8|79|9" passage="Ps 79:8,9">ver. 8,
9</scripRef>), and that they might be delivered, <scripRef id="Ps.lxxx-p1.6" osisRef="Bible:Ps.79.11" parsed="|Ps|79|11|0|0" passage="Ps 79:11">ver. 11</scripRef>. III. A plea taken from the readiness
of his people to praise him, <scripRef id="Ps.lxxx-p1.7" osisRef="Bible:Ps.79.13" parsed="|Ps|79|13|0|0" passage="Ps 79:13">ver.
13</scripRef>. In times of the church's peace and prosperity this
psalm may, in the singing of it, give us occasion to bless God that
we are not thus trampled on and insulted. But it is especially
seasonable in a day of treading down and perplexity, for the
exciting of our desires towards God and the encouragement of our
faith in him as the church's patron.</p>
<scripCom id="Ps.lxxx-p1.8" osisRef="Bible:Ps.79" parsed="|Ps|79|0|0|0" passage="Ps 79" type="Commentary"/>
<scripCom id="Ps.lxxx-p1.9" osisRef="Bible:Ps.79.1-Ps.79.5" parsed="|Ps|79|1|79|5" passage="Ps 79:1-5" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Ps.79.1-Ps.79.5">
<h4 id="Ps.lxxx-p1.10">Mournful Complaints.</h4>
<div class="Center" id="Ps.lxxx-p1.11">
<p id="Ps.lxxx-p2">A psalm of Asaph.</p>
</div>
<p class="passage" id="Ps.lxxx-p3">1 O God, the heathen are come into thine
inheritance; thy holy temple have they defiled; they have laid
Jerusalem on heaps.   2 The dead bodies of thy servants have
they given <i>to be</i> meat unto the fowls of the heaven, the
flesh of thy saints unto the beasts of the earth.   3 Their
blood have they shed like water round about Jerusalem; and <i>there
was</i> none to bury <i>them.</i>   4 We are become a reproach
to our neighbours, a scorn and derision to them that are round
about us.   5 How long, <span class="smallcaps" id="Ps.lxxx-p3.1">Lord</span>?
wilt thou be angry for ever? shall thy jealousy burn like fire?</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.lxxx-p4">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 <i>a
lily among thorns.</i> 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.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.lxxx-p5">I. They complain here of the anger of their
enemies and the outrageous fury of the oppressor, exerted,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.lxxx-p6">1. Against places, <scripRef id="Ps.lxxx-p6.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.79.1" parsed="|Ps|79|1|0|0" passage="Ps 79:1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>. They did all the mischief they
could, (1.) To the holy land; they invaded that, and made inroads
into it: "<i>The heathen have come into thy inheritance,</i> 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 <i>cast out the heathen
before them,</i> <scripRef id="Ps.lxxx-p6.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.78.55" parsed="|Ps|78|55|0|0" passage="Ps 78:55">Ps. lxxviii.
55</scripRef>. But see what a change sin made; now the heathen are
suffered to pour in upon them. (2.) To the holy city: <i>They have
laid Jerusalem on heaps,</i> 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: <i>Thy holy temple have they defiled,</i> 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.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.lxxx-p7">2. 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 (<scripRef id="Ps.lxxx-p7.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.79.3" parsed="|Ps|79|3|0|0" passage="Ps 79:3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>): <i>Their blood have they
shed like water,</i> wherever they met with them, <i>round about
Jerusalem,</i> in all the avenues to the city; whoever <i>went out
or came in</i> was <i>waited for of the sword.</i> 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 <i>God shall make inquisition for
blood.</i> (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 <i>dead bodies of God's servants, the flesh of his
saints,</i> whose names and memories they had a particular spite
at, they dug up again, and <i>gave them to be meat to the fowls of
the heaven and to the beasts of the earth;</i> 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, <scripRef id="Ps.lxxx-p7.2" osisRef="Bible:Deut.21.23" parsed="|Deut|21|23|0|0" passage="De 21:23">Deut. xxi.
23</scripRef>. This inhuman usage of Christ's witnesses is foretold
(<scripRef id="Ps.lxxx-p7.3" osisRef="Bible:Rev.11.9" parsed="|Rev|11|9|0|0" passage="Re 11:9">Rev. xi. 9</scripRef>), and thus even
the dead bodies were witnesses against their persecutors. This is
mentioned (says Austin, <i>De Civitate Dei, lib.</i> 1 <i>cap.</i>
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.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.lxxx-p8">3. Against their names (<scripRef id="Ps.lxxx-p8.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.79.4" parsed="|Ps|79|4|0|0" passage="Ps 79:4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>): "<i>We that survive have become
a reproach to our neighbours;</i> 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 <i>a scorn and derision to those that are round
about us.</i>" 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
<i>counted as the offscouring of all things.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.lxxx-p9">II. They wonder more at God's anger,
<scripRef id="Ps.lxxx-p9.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.79.5" parsed="|Ps|79|5|0|0" passage="Ps 79:5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>. This they
discern in the anger of their neighbours, and this they complain
most of: <i>How long, Lord, wilt thou be angry?</i> Shall it be
<i>for ever?</i> 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.</p>
</div><scripCom id="Ps.lxxx-p9.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.79.6-Ps.79.13" parsed="|Ps|79|6|79|13" passage="Ps 79:6-13" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Ps.79.6-Ps.79.13">
<h4 id="Ps.lxxx-p9.3">Petitions for Succor and Relief; Petitions
for Deliverance.</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Ps.lxxx-p10">6 Pour out thy wrath upon the heathen that have
not known thee, and upon the kingdoms that have not called upon thy
name.   7 For they have devoured Jacob, and laid waste his
dwelling place.   8 O remember not against us former
iniquities: let thy tender mercies speedily prevent us: for we are
brought very low.   9 Help us, O God of our salvation, for the
glory of thy name: and deliver us, and purge away our sins, for thy
name's sake.   10 Wherefore should the heathen say, Where
<i>is</i> their God? let him be known among the heathen in our
sight <i>by</i> the revenging of the blood of thy servants <i>which
is</i> shed.   11 Let the sighing of the prisoner come before
thee; according to the greatness of thy power preserve thou those
that are appointed to die;   12 And render unto our neighbours
sevenfold into their bosom their reproach, wherewith they have
reproached thee, O Lord.   13 So we thy people and sheep of
thy pasture will give thee thanks for ever: we will show forth thy
praise to all generations.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.lxxx-p11">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.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.lxxx-p12">I. They pray that God would so turn away
his anger from them as to turn it upon those that persecuted and
abused them (<scripRef id="Ps.lxxx-p12.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.79.6" parsed="|Ps|79|6|0|0" passage="Ps 79:6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>):
"<i>Pour out thy wrath,</i> the full vials of it, <i>upon the
heathen;</i> let them wring out the dregs of it, and drink them."
This prayer is in effect a prophecy, in which the <i>wrath of God
is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness
of men.</i> 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 <i>without God in the world.</i> 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: <i>They have devoured Jacob,</i>
<scripRef id="Ps.lxxx-p12.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.79.7" parsed="|Ps|79|7|0|0" passage="Ps 79:7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>. 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: "<i>Pour out thy
wrath</i> upon them; do not only restrain them from doing further
mischief, but reckon with them for the mischief they have
done."</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.lxxx-p13">II. 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 <i>remember
against them their former iniquities</i> (<scripRef id="Ps.lxxx-p13.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.79.8" parsed="|Ps|79|8|0|0" passage="Ps 79:8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>), 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 (<scripRef id="Ps.lxxx-p13.2" osisRef="Bible:Jer.31.29-Jer.31.30" parsed="|Jer|31|29|31|30" passage="Jer 31:29,30">Jer. xxxi. 29,
30</scripRef>), 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, <i>In the day when I visit I will visit for
this sin</i> of theirs <i>upon them,</i> <scripRef id="Ps.lxxx-p13.3" osisRef="Bible:Exod.32.34" parsed="|Exod|32|34|0|0" passage="Ex 32:34">Exod. xxxii. 34</scripRef>. If the children by
repentance and reformation cut off the entail of the parents' sin,
they may in faith pray that God will not <i>remember them against
them.</i> 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: <i>Deliver us, and purge away our sins,</i> <scripRef id="Ps.lxxx-p13.4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.79.9" parsed="|Ps|79|9|0|0" passage="Ps 79:9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>. 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.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.lxxx-p14">III. They pray that God would work
deliverance for them, and bring their troubles to a good end and
that speedily: <i>Let thy tender mercies speedily prevent us,</i>
<scripRef id="Ps.lxxx-p14.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.79.8" parsed="|Ps|79|8|0|0" passage="Ps 79:8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>. They had no
hopes but from God's mercies, his tender mercies; their case was so
deplorable that they looked upon themselves as the proper objects
of divine compassion, and so near to desperate that, unless divine
mercy did speedily interpose to prevent their ruin, they were
undone. This whets their importunity: "<i>Lord, help us; Lord,
deliver us;</i> help us under our troubles, that we may bear them
well; help us out of our troubles, that the spirit may not fail.
Deliver us from sin, from sinking." Three things they plead:—1.
The great distress they were reduced to: "<i>We are brought very
low,</i> and, being low, shall be lost if thou help us not." The
lower we are brought the more need we have of help from heaven and
the more will divine power be magnified in raising us up. 2. Their
dependence upon him: "Thou art the <i>God of our salvation,</i> who
alone canst help. <i>Salvation belongs to the Lord,</i> from whom
we expect help; for <i>in the Lord alone is the salvation of his
people.</i>" Those who make God the God of their salvation shall
find him so. 3. The interest of his own honour in their case. They
plead no merit of theirs; they pretend to none; but, "<i>Help us
for the glory of thy name;</i> pardon us for thy name's sake." The
best encouragements in prayer are those that are taken from God
only, and those things whereby he has made himself known. Two
things are insinuated in this plea:—(1.) 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 (<scripRef id="Ps.lxxx-p14.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.79.10" parsed="|Ps|79|10|0|0" passage="Ps 79:10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>),
"<i>Wherefore should the heathen say, Where is their God?</i> He
has forsaken them, and forgotten them; and this they get by
worshipping a God whom they cannot see." (<i>Nil præter nubes et
cœli numen adorant.</i> Juv.—<i>They adore no other divinity
than the clouds and the sky.</i>) 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,
<i>Where is your God?</i> 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.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.lxxx-p15">IV. They pray that God would avenge them on
their adversaries, 1. For their cruelty and barbarity (<scripRef id="Ps.lxxx-p15.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.79.10" parsed="|Ps|79|10|0|0" passage="Ps 79:10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>): "Let the avenging of
our blood" (according to the ancient law, <scripRef id="Ps.lxxx-p15.2" osisRef="Bible:Gen.9.6" parsed="|Gen|9|6|0|0" passage="Ge 9:6">Gen. ix. 6</scripRef>) "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 <i>let God be known among the heathen</i>
as <i>the God to whom vengeance belongs</i> (<scripRef id="Ps.lxxx-p15.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.94.1" parsed="|Ps|94|1|0|0" passage="Ps 94:1">Ps. xciv. 1</scripRef>) and the God that espouses his
people's cause." Those that have intoxicated themselves with the
blood of the saints shall have <i>blood given them to drink,</i>
for they are worthy. 2. For their insolence and scorn (<scripRef id="Ps.lxxx-p15.4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.79.12" parsed="|Ps|79|12|0|0" passage="Ps 79:12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>): "<i>Render to them
their reproach.</i> 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 (<scripRef id="Ps.lxxx-p15.5" osisRef="Bible:Jude.1.15" parsed="|Jude|1|15|0|0" passage="Jude 1:15">Jude 15</scripRef>) and will return them into their own
bosoms by everlasting terrors at the remembrance of them.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.lxxx-p16">V. They pray that God would find out a way
for the rescue of his poor prisoners, especially the condemned
prisoners, <scripRef id="Ps.lxxx-p16.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.79.11" parsed="|Ps|79|11|0|0" passage="Ps 79:11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>.
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: "<i>Let their sighs come up before thee,</i> and be
thou pleased to take cognizance of their moans." 2. To the divine
power: "<i>According to the greatness of thy arm,</i> which no
creature can contest with, <i>preserve thou those that are
appointed to die</i> from the death to which they are appointed."
Man's extremity is God's opportunity to appear for his people. See
<scripRef id="Ps.lxxx-p16.2" osisRef="Bible:2Cor.1.8-2Cor.1.10" parsed="|2Cor|1|8|1|10" passage="2Co 1:8-10">2 Cor. i. 8-10</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.lxxx-p17"><i>Lastly,</i> They promise the returns of
praise for the answers of prayer (<scripRef id="Ps.lxxx-p17.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.79.13" parsed="|Ps|79|13|0|0" passage="Ps 79:13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>): <i>So we will give thee thanks
for ever.</i> 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: <i>We are thine; save us.</i>" 2. How they promise
themselves an opportunity of praising God for their deliverance,
which they <i>therefore</i> 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 <i>show forth his praise unto all generations,</i> 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
<i>blaspheme thee</i> (<scripRef id="Ps.lxxx-p17.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.79.12" parsed="|Ps|79|12|0|0" passage="Ps 79:12"><i>v.</i>
12</scripRef>); but, if we be delivered, we will praise thee. Lord,
we are that people of thine which thou hast <i>formed for thyself,
to show forth thy praise;</i> 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.</p>
</div></div2>