From Sorrow to Triumph!

A Psalm of Asaph.

In this history psalm, God gave His people victory over Egypt (77) and helped them march through the wilderness and then conquer Canaan (78). He also gave them King David who defeated their enemies and expanded their kingdom (79). But now God’s people are captive, the city and temple are ruined, and the heathen nations are triumphant.

Psalm 79 was written in light of the destruction of Jerusalem. Previously, God had protected Jerusalem from Assyria. But years later, because God’s people persisted in sin, Babylon came and attacked the city, destroying it completely. This psalm is written from the perspective of the few Israelites who were still alive and left behind, now surrounded by ruins. Massive devastation makes this a hard, emotionally raw psalm to read.

We see Asaph playing four different roles as he contemplates the defeat of Judah by the Babylonians. Each division of the psalm opens with an address to Jehovah: “O God” (v. 1); O Lord” (v. 5); “O God our Savior” (v. 9); and “O Lord” (v. 12).

The Mourner (vv. 1–4)

1 O God, the nations have come into your inheritance; they have defiled your holy temple; they have laid Jerusalem in ruins.

2 They have given the bodies of your servants to the birds of the heavens for food, the flesh of your faithful to the beasts of the earth.

3 They have poured out their blood like water all around Jerusalem, and there was no one to bury them.

4 We have become a taunt to our neighbors, mocked and derided by those around us.

Babylon was the leading nation in the conquest of Judah, but the neighboring nations (Ammon, Moab, Edom) were delighted to see the Jews defeated (vv. 4, 12; see 44:13, 80:6; 137:7; Ezek. 25). The land was God’s inheritance (Ex. 15:17), and He shared it with the people of Israel who were His inheritance (28:9; 33:12; Deut. 4:20). They could live in the land and enjoy its blessings as long as they obeyed the covenant (Lev. 26; Deut. 28–30), but repeated rebellion would only bring painful discipline to them, including expulsion from the land (Lev. 26:33–39; Deut. 28:64–68). They would be defeated before their enemies (v. 1; Deut. 28:25) and the dead bodies left unburied, a terrible disgrace for a Jew (v. 2; Deut. 28:26; Lev. 26:30; and see Jer. 7:33; 8:2; 9:22). Her cities would be destroyed (v. 1; Deut. 28:52) and Israel would be reproached by her neighbors (vv. 4, 12; Deut. 28:37). Note how Asaph identified the Lord with the situation: “your inheritance … your holy temple … your servants … your name.”

The Sufferer (vv. 5–8)

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

6 Pour out your anger on the nations that do not know you, and on the kingdoms that do not call upon your name!

7 For they have devoured Jacob and laid waste his habitation.

8 Do not remember against us our former iniquities; let your compassion come speedily to meet us, for we are brought very low.

The question “How long?” is found often in Scripture (see 6:3). God is not jealous of anyone or anything, for He is wholly self-sufficient and needs nothing, but He is jealous over His land and His people. (See 78:58; Ex. 20:5; Deut. 4:24; 6:15–16; 29:20.) He is jealous for His name (Ezek. 39:25), His land (Joel 2:18), and His inheritance (Zech. 1:14). Asaph doesn’t deny that he and the people deserve chastening (v. 9), but if the Jews are guilty, then how much guiltier the heathen nations are that have attacked the Jews! He asked God to pour out His anger on the invaders because of what they have done to the land, the city, and the temple (vv. 6–7).

As the kingdom of Judah declined, their kings and leaders became less and less devoted to the Lord. There were a few godly kings, such as Asa, Josiah, Joash, and Hezekiah, but foreign alliances, idolatry, and unbelief combined to weaken the kingdom and ripen it for judgment. The sins of the fathers accumulated until God could hold back His wrath no longer (Gen. 15:16; Matt. 23:32–33; 1 Thess. 2:13–16). We are guilty before God for only our own sins (Deut. 24:16; Jer. 31:29–30; Ezek. 18), but we may suffer because of the sins of our ancestors (Ex. 20:5; 34:7; 2 Kings 17:7ff; 23:26–27; 24:3–4; Lam. 5:7; Dan. 9:4–14).

The Intercessor (vv. 9–11)

9 Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of your name;

deliver us, and atone for our sins, for your name’s sake!

10 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!

11 Let the groans of the prisoners come before you; according to your great power, preserve those doomed to die!

His concern was for the glory of God’s name (vv. 9, 12), and he felt that a miraculous deliverance for Judah would accomplish that, but no deliverance came. Asaph was quick to confess his own sins and the sins of his contemporaries, for it was not only their ancestors who had disobeyed the Lord (v. 8). (See 25:11, 31:3, 65:3, and 78:38.) In ancient days, a nation’s victory was proof that its gods were stronger than the gods of the enemy, so the Babylonians taunted the Jews and asked, “Where is your God?” (See 42:3, 10; 115:2.) Moses used this same argument when he pled with God to forgive the nation (Ex. 32:12; Num. 14:13).

Asaph was also concerned about the justice of God. Twice he mentioned the pouring out of blood (vv. 3, 10), the slaughter of people, for the blood was very sacred to the Jews (Lev. 17). The shedding of animal blood at the altar at least covered the sins of the worshipers, but to what purpose was the shedding of so much human blood? In verse 11, he prayed on the basis of the Lord’s great compassion, perhaps remembering Jehovah’s words to Moses (Ex. 33:12–23, and see Deut. 32:36). God had felt the burdens of the Jews when He called Moses to lead them out of Egypt (Ex. 2:24–25, 6:1–9), so surely He would have pity on the prisoners and those ready to die. The cross of Jesus Christ is for us today the only evidence we need that God loves us (Rom. 5:8).

The Worshiper (vv. 12–13)

12 Return sevenfold into the lap of our neighbors the taunts with which they have taunted you, O Lord!

13 But we your people, the sheep of your pasture, will give thanks to you forever; from generation to generation we will recount your praise.

How could any person witness what Babylon did to the Jews and not cry out to God for retribution? (See 55 for a discussion of the imprecatory prayers in the Psalms.) God had chosen Babylon to chasten Judah for her sins, but the Babylonians had rejoiced at the privilege and had gone too far in their cruelty (Jer. 50:11–16; 51:24).

Asaph’s burden was that Babylon had reproached the Lord and not just punished His people, and he asked God to pay them back in like measure (see Isa. 65:6; Jer. 32:18; Luke 6:38). God’s covenant with Israel often uses the phrase “seven times” (Lev. 26:18, 21, 24, 28; Deut. 28:7, 25). The prophet Jeremiah promised that God would judge Babylon for her sins (Jer. 50–51), and if Asaph knew of these prophecies, then he was simply praying for God to accomplish His will on earth.

The people of Judah were but sheep (vv. 74:1; 77:20; 78:72; 95:7; 100:3), but they had been ruthlessly slaughtered by their enemies, and God’s name had been slandered. God had called His people to praise Him and to bear witness to the heathen nations (Isa. 43:21), and this is what Asaph promised to do if God would only deliver the people. There were sons of Asaph who left Babylon for Judah when the captivity ended, so Asaph’s promise to the Lord was fulfilled (Ezra 2:41; 3:10; Neh. 7:44; 11:17, 22; 12:35–36).

In God, faith’s laments end in hope—even when our questions are unanswered!