Psalms 79:1-13
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 to be 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 there was none to bury them.
4 We are become a reproach to our neighbours, a scorn and derision to them that are round about us.
5 How long, LORD? wilt thou be angry for ever? shall thy jealousy burn like fire?
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 formera 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 is their God? let him be known among the heathen in our sight by the revengingb of the blood of thy servants which is 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 shew forth thy praise to allc generations.
Title. A psalm of Asaph, an elegy over the slain, as is supposed, when Shishak king of Egypt invaded Judea with a great army, besieging the cities and slaughtering the people. Sir Isaac Newton thinks, that Shishak and Sesostris are the same person. This psalm cannot refer to the burning of the city by the Chaldeans, because the last verse represents the temple as still standing, and the choirs as singing, “Oh Lord, we will show forth thy praise unto all generations.” See an account of this invasion, which happened in the fifth year of Rehoboam, son of Solomon, as recorded in 1 Kings 14:25; 2 Chronicles 12:2.
Psalms 79:1. Oh God, the heathen are come into thine inheritance. Shishak with twelve hundred chariots, seventy thousand horsemen, and a countless army of infantry; took the fenced cities, and it would seem, without much resistance, till he reached Jerusalem, where blood was shed like water. Jerusalem also opened her gates; the Egyptians entered the temple, the palace, the arsenal, and carried away all the treasures of Solomon, leaving Jerusalem desolate without, and naked within.
Psalms 79:11. Preserve thou those that are appointed to die. The reading of the LXX relieves the text. “Preserve thou the children of those that have been slain.” Let the stock survive the fall of the tree. So here; Judah acquired strength, and flourished again.
REFLECTIONS.
What a narrow escape was this of David's house and kingdom from utter destruction. Rehoboam and his princes, intoxicated with wealth and pride, knew neither themselves nor their fathers' God. They had not recovered from the countless carnage in the war with Jeroboam, who had averted this storm by an alliance with Egypt, and had probably invited it on Judah for revenge. How vain to lay up gold as the dust. It tempts the thieves to carry it away.
How happy for Judah, that she had at this time the prophet Shemaiah to pray for his country, and advise his sovereign and the princes to submission to the stroke that could not be averted. He assembled good men to cry, Help us, oh God of our salvation. They alleged the wanton insolence of the invaders, who on profaning the temple said, Where is their God; for the heathen placed every city and temple under the patronage of some divinity. So the Lord was entreated once more to relieve and comfort Zion. The Lord allowed Shishak to do his work, and gave him gold for his reward; but he limited his commission.