Psa 79:5-12 | TDavid | STEP | EXPOSITION Verse 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. EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS Whole Psalm. See Psalms on " Psalms 79:1 " for further information. Verse 1, . 4-5. See Psalms on " Psalms 79:1 " for further information. Verse 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. Verse 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. HINTS FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS Verse 5 . The cause of anger: jealousy. The moderation of it. If it continued for ever, the people would perish, the promises be unfulfilled, the covenant fail, and the Lord's honour be impeached. The staying of it. By prayer; by pleading his name, his glory, and the blood of Jesus.

Psalms 79:5-12

EXPOSITION Verse 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. EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS Whole Psalm. See Psalms on " Psalms 79:1 " for further information. Verse 1, . 4-5. See Psalms on " Psalms 79:1 " for further information. Verse 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. Verse 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. HINTS FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS Verse 5 . The cause of anger: jealousy. The moderation of it. If it continued for ever, the people would perish, the promises be unfulfilled, the covenant fail, and the Lord's honour be impeached. The staying of it. By prayer; by pleading his name, his glory, and the blood of Jesus.

EXPOSITION

Verse 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.

EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS

Whole Psalm. See Psalms on "Psalms 79:1" for further information.

Verse 6. Neglect 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.

HINTS FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS

None.

EXPOSITION

Verse 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.

EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS

Verse 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.

HINTS FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS

None.

EXPOSITION

Verse 8. "O remember not against us former iniquities." Sins accumulate against nations. Generations lay up stores of transgressions to be visited upon their successors; hence this urgent prayer. In Josiah's days the most earnest repentance was not able to avert the doom which former long years of idolatry had sealed against Judah. Every man has reason to ask for an act of oblivion for his past sins, and every nation should make this a continual prayer.

"Let thy tender mercies speedily prevent us: for we are brought very low." Hasten to our rescue, for our nation is hurrying down to destruction; our numbers are diminished and our condition is deplorable. Observe how penitent sorrow seizes upon the sweeter attributes, and draws her pleas from the "tender mercies" of God; see, too, how she pleads her own distress, and not her goodness, as a motive for the display of mercy. Let souls who are brought very low find an argument in their abject condition. What can so powerfully appeal to pity as dire affliction? The quaint prayer book version is touchingly expressive: "O remember not our old sins, but have mercy upon us, and that soon; for we are come to great misery." This supplication befits a sinner's life. We have known seasons when this would have been as good a prayer for our burdened heart as any that human mind could compose.

EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS

Verse 8. "O remember not against us former iniquities." The prophet numbers himself with the people not only in their afflictions, but also in their distress, and liability to the anger of God because of the crimes committed. He was not a partner in those enormous sins by which they had provoked the jealousy of God, and yet he exempts not himself from the people at large. Thus in the following verse, he says, "And purge away our sins." He says not, Remember not the iniquity of this people; nor, And purge away their sins: But, Remember not our iniquities, and, Purge away our sins. In this way the prophets, though holy men, were wont to make themselves sharers of the people's sins, not by sinning, but by weeping and praying and imploring the mercy of God. See Isaiah 59:12. "Our transgressions are multiplied before thee, and our sins testify against us." 106:6. "We have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled," etc.

Verse 8. "O remember not against us former iniquities." The Jews 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 Exodus 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. John Gill.

Verse 8. "O remember not against us former iniquities." Old debts vex most; the delay of payment increases them by interest upon interest; and the return of them being unexpected, a person is least provided for them. We count old sores, breaking forth, incurable. Augustus wondered at a person sleeping quietly that was very much in debt, and sent for his pillow, saying, "surely there is some strange virtue in it, that makes him rest so secure." My brethren, if one debt unto God's law be more than the whole creation can satisfy, what do any of us mean to rest secure with so vast a burden upon our consciences and accounts? Ah! take heed you are not surprised and arrested with old debts. O God, thou rememberest former iniquities against us. God will call over, and charge thy sins upon thee, when all the sweet is gone. Elias Pledger (-- 1676), in "Morning Exercises."

Verse 8. "O remember not against us former iniquities." The only right way to remedy a miserable condition, is to sue for the remission of sins, and for the renewed evidence of reconciliation: for before the church here do ask anything for their outward delivery, they pray, "O remember not against us former inequities." David Dickson.

Verse 8. "Speedily." Lest they come too late, for we are at our last gasp. John Trapp.

Verse 8. "Prevent." God's mercy must anticipate, "come to meet," man's necessity. J. J. Stewart Perowne.

Verse 8. "We are brought very low." Literally, "We are greatly thinned." Few of us remain. Adam Clarke.

Verse 8. "We are brought very low." We are very greatly exhausted (emptied out); that is, we are utterly destitute of all things, both fortune, and strength of mind and body, just like a well or a vessel completely emptied. Martin Geier.

Verse 8. "Very low." Past the hopes of all human help, and therefore the glory of our deliverance will be wholly thine. Matthew Poole.

HINTS FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS

Verse 8. A sinner's confession, petition, and plea. EXPOSITION Verse 9 . "Help us O God of our salvation, for the glory of thy name." This is masterly pleading. No argument has such force as this. God's glory was tarnished in the eyes of the heathen by the defeat of his people, and the profanation of his temple; therefore, his distressed servants implore his aid, that his great name may no more be the scorn of blaspheming enemies. "And deliver us, and purge away our sins, for thy name's sake." Sin, -- the root of the evil -- is seen and confessed; pardon of sin is sought as well as removal of chastisement, and both are asked not as matters of right, but as gifts of grace. God's name is a second time brought into the pleading. Believers will find it their wisdom to use very frequently this noble plea: it is the great gun of the battle, the mightiest weapon in the armoury of prayer. EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS Verse 9 . "Help us , O God of our salvation, for the glory of thy name and deliver us." "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, and from sinking. Matthew Henry. Verse 9 . "God of our salvation ." If human reason were to judge of the many and great blows wherewith God so often smote and wasted his people, it would call God not the Saviour of the people, but the destroyer and oppressor. But the faith of the Prophet judges far otherwise of God, and sees even in an angry and pursuing God, the salvation of his people. The gods of the nations, though they do not afflict even in temporal things, are gods not of the salvation of their worshippers but of their perdition. But our God, even when he is most severely angry, and smites, is not the God of destruction, but of salvation. Musculus. Verse 9 . "For thy name's sake ." Twice the appeal is made "for thy name's sake;" that revelation of God which he had made of himself to Moses when he passed by and proclaimed the name of Jehovah, Exodus 24:6-7 . Compare Psalms 20:1 23:3 29:2. J. J. Stewart Perowne. Verse 9 . "For thy name's sake ." The good which God doth unto his church, be it temporal or spiritual, is for his own sake. What I do (saith God), I do for mine holy name's sake; there is nothing to move me but mine own name; that is holy, great, and glorious, and I will for my name's sake do much for my church and people. That they were preserved in Babylon, was for his holy name's sake; that they were brought out of Babylon, was for his holy name's sake; that they were replanted in Canaan, was for his holy name's sake; that they had a temple, sacrifices, priests, prophets, ordinances again, was for his holy name's sake; when they were near to destruction often, in former days, God wrought for his name's sake, Ezekiel 20; so Isaiah 48:8-9 . It is not for the enemies' sake that God doth preserve or deliver his people; nor for their sakes, their prayers, tears, faith, obedience, holiness, that he doth great things for them, bestows great mercies upon them; but it is for his own name's sake. For man's sake God cursed the earth, Genesis 8:21 ; but it is for his name's sake that he blesseth it. The choicest mercies God's people have, are for his name's sake: they have pardon of sin for his name's sake, Psalms 25:11 1 John 2:12 ; purging of sin for his name's sake; Psalms 79:9 ; leading in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake, Psalms 23:2 ; quickening of their dead and dull hearts for his name's sake, Psalms 143:11 . Though his people offend him, yet he forsakes them not, for his great name's sake. William Greenhill. Verse 9 . If God could not be more glorified in our peace and reconciliation , than in our death and damnation, it were a wicked thing to desire it. But God hath cleared this up to us, that he is no loser by acts of mercy. In this lies the greatest revenue of his crown, or else he would not love "mercy rather than sacrifice." God is free to choose what suits his own heart best, and most conduce to the exalting of his great name: and he delights more in the mercy shown to one than in the blood of all the damned, that are made a sacrifice to his justice. And, indeed, he had a higher end in their damnation than their suffering; and that was the enhancing of the glory of his mercy, in his saved ones. This is the beautiful piece God takes delight in, and the other but the shadow of it. Then thou art in a fit disposition to pray for peace, and mayest go with encouragement when thy heart is deeply affected with the honour that will accrue to God by it. It is an argument God will not deny. "This," said Abigail to David, "shall be no grief to thee nor offence of heart unto my Lord," 1 Samuel 25; she meant, he should never have cause to repent that he was kept from shedding blood. Thus mayest thou plead with God and say, O Lord, when I shall with saints and angels be praising thy pardoning grace in heaven, it will not grieve thee that thy mercy kept thee from shedding my blood, damning my soul in hell. William Gurnall. Verse 9 . When the Lord's people are brought very low , let them not look for a lifting up or relief except from God only; therefore say they here, "Help us, O Lord." Such as have laid hold on God for salvation promised in the covenant, may also look for particular deliveries out of particular troubles, as appendices of the main benefit of salvation; therefore, "Help us, O God of our salvation," say they. When men do ask anything, the granting whereof may glorify God, they may confidently expect to have it; and in special when God may be so glorified, and his people may also be preserved and comforted: "Help us (say they) for the glory of thy name: and deliver us." As the conscience of sin useth to step in oftener between us and mercy, so must we call oftener for remission of sin; for earnest affection can double and treble the same petition without babbling: "Deliver us, and purge away our sins." It is the glory of the Lord to forget sin, and when remission of sins is prayed for according to God's promise, the Lord's glory is engaged for the helping of faith to obtain it: "Purge away our sins, for thy name's sake." David Dickson. HINTS FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS Verse 9 . A threefold prayer. An encouraging title: "God of our salvation." A victorious plea. Verse 9 . The Prayer. "Help us," etc. Purge away sin. Deliver is from our troubles. Help us to serve thee in future. The Plea. For thy name's sake. The glory of thy name. The glory of thy name as our salvation. The order in both cases is inverted.

EXPOSITION

Verse 10. "Wherefore should the heathen say, Where is their God?" Why should those impious mouths be filled with food so sweet to them, but so bitter to us? When the afflictions of God's people become the derision of sinners, and cause them to ridicule religion, we have good ground for expostulation with the Lord.

"Let him be known among the heathen in our sight by the revenging of the blood of thy servants which is shed." Justice is desired that God may be vindicated and feared. It is but meet that those who taunted the people of God because they smarted under the Lord's rod, should be made themselves also to smart by the same hand. If any complain of the spirit of this imprecation, we think they do so needlessly; for it is the common feeling of every patriot to desire to see his country's wrongs redressed, and of every Christian to wish a noble vengeance for the church by the overthrow of error. The destruction of Antichrist is the recompense of the blood of the martyrs, and by no means is it to be deprecated; far rather is it one of the most glorious hopes of the latter days.

EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS

Whole Psalm. See Psalms on "Psalms 79:1" for further information.

HINTS FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS

Verse 10. The revenge for the martyrs, which it is lawful and incumbent upon us to desire. EXPOSITION Verse 11 . "Let the sighing of the prisoner come before thee." When thy people cannot sing, and dare not shout aloud, then let their silent sigh ascend into thine ear, and secure for them deliverance. These words are suitable for the afflicted in a great variety of conditions; men of experience will know how to adapt them to their own position and to use them in reference to others. "According to the greatness of thy power preserve thou those that are appointed to die." Faith grows while it prays; the appeal to the Lord's tender mercy is here supplemented by another addressed to the divine power, and the petitioner rises from a request for those who are brought low, to a prayer for those who are on the verge of death, set apart as victims for the slaughter. How consoling is it to desponding believers to reflect that God can preserve even those who bear the sentence of death in themselves. Men and devils may consign us to perdition, while sickness drags us to the grave, and sorrow sinks us in the dust; but, there is One who can keep our soul alive, aye, and bring it up again from the depths of despair. A lamb shall live between the lion's jaws if the Lord wills it. Even in the charnel, life shall vanquish death if God be near. EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS Verse 11 . "Let the sighing of the prisoner come before thee ." The propriety of styling the sons of Adam "prisoners," can scarcely fail to be discerned when we remember the restraint which the immortal spirit endures whilst it inhabits its present earthly house, or recollects the hardships to which many of our race are subjected, or, once more, the degrading slavery to which they reduce themselves by serving their own lusts and refusing to stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ would make them free. Now, in whichever of these senses men are prisoners, it is clear that they have occasion and that they are wont to sigh, and that it is the part of the pious and faithful believer in God to bear this in mind, and, inasmuch as he has put on bowels of compassion, to say, as well for others as for himself, "Let the sighing of the prisoner come before thee." Three things, then, are suggested by the first clause of the passage before us. The first is, that all who live in this world are prisoners...We would go on to remark, secondly, that these various prisoners have their respective sorrowful sighing. Thirdly, then, let it be observed, will the believer, conscious of these several sighing of the crowd of prisoners whom he sees all around him, pray to the Almighty that they may come before his everlasting presence. W. C. Le Breton. 1849. Verse 11 . "The sighing ." The nature of a sigh will suggest to us some important particulars connected with the state of bondage spoken of in the text. A sigh is an unexpressed declaration. Although we do not speak, still we can tell a long tale of sorrow with a sigh. How often the mourner who will not tell a human being of his grief, will vent it when he is alone, with a long drawn, an uneven sigh! Now, I direct your attention to this, because it is a perfect picture of the spiritual condition in which some men are. They are not loud in their complaints; they are not standing in the corners of the streets proclaiming their exceeding sinfulness; they are not continually making their neighbours and their friends hear them preach about their vileness -- a vileness which, if any one else attributed to them, would stir up all their wrath. Theirs is not the character of men in strife; but of men bearing a heavy burden, which presses from them an evidence of what they endure. And if any of you, brethren, thus walk in sighs and sorrow before God, he takes these sighs as applications to him for relief. Your misery, if entirely pent in, would be obstinate impenitency, but if vented, even in a sigh, is a declaration of your need. Let me encourage you, brethren, not to spare these evidences of your state. There are times when you feel so dead that you cannot enter into long confessions; when the spirit is so weary that you feel that you cannot speak. Much might at such a season be spoken by a sigh, "Destroy it not," we say, "for a blessing is in it:" pour it forth, and it will reach the throne. And here it will prove to be not only an unexpressed declaration of your state, but also an unexpressed wish for deliverance therefrom. When the captive gazes through the bars of iron which night and day stand like mute sentinels before the narrow window of his cell, and when his eyes fall upon the green fields and groves beyond, he sighs, and turns away from the scene with a wish. He spake not a word, yet he wished. That sigh was a wish that he could be set free. And such sighs as these are heard by God. Your longings, your sorrows, when they are not fulfilled, your sad thoughts, -- "Oh! when shall I be delivered from the burden of my sin, and from the coldness of my heart!" -- all these wishes were your sighs, and they have been heard on high. Philip Bennett Power. Verse 11 . "The prisoner ." An eastern prison is still a place of great misery, chiefly from the limited supply of water to the prisoners. Daniel Cresswell. Verse 11 . "Come before thee ." Though not a human voice he hears, And not a human form appears His solitude to share, He is not all alone -- the eye Of Him who hears the prisoner's sigh Is even on him there. J. L. Chester. Verse 11 . "Preserve thou those that are appointed to die ." Ought not the pious people more closely to imitate their heavenly Father in caring for those who have been condemned to die? An eminent Christian lady keeps a record of all who have been sentenced to death, so far as she hears of them, and prays for them every day till their end come. Is not such conduct in sympathy with the heart of God! William S. Plumer. HINTS FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS Verse 11 . The prisoner. Under forced bondage to sin. Under the bondage of conviction. In the dungeon of despair. The prisoner's application for relief. The source from which he looked for help. P. B. Power. Verse 11 . The degree of protection solicited: "According to the greatness of thy power." The protection itself: "Preserve thou." The objects of it: "Those that are appointed to die." W. C. Le Breton. Verse 11 . Mournful condition. A prisoner, sighing, appointed to die. Hopeful facts: a God, a God hearing sighs, a God of great power. Suitable prayers: "come before thee": "preserve." Verse 11 . "Appointed to die," used as a description of deep spiritual distress. Fears of the divine decree, of having apostatised, of having sinned away the day of grace, of the sin which is unto death, &c. How these cases can be effectually met.

EXPOSITION

Verse 12. "And render unto our neighbours sevenfold into their bosom their reproach, wherewith they have reproached thee, O Lord." They denied thine existence, mocked thy power, insulted thy worship, and destroyed thy house; up, therefore, O Lord, and make them feel to the full that thou art not to be mocked with impunity. Pour into their laps good store of shame because they dared insult the God of Israel. Recompense them fully, till they have received the perfect number of punishments. It will be so. The wish of the text will become matter of fact. The Lord will avenge his own elect though he bear long with them.

EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS

Verse 12. "Render unto our neighbours sevenfold into their bosom," etc. This may seem to be contrary to common justice; because that the punishment should not exceed the fault. But here you are to know, that this hath not respect unto what the enemies of God's church have acted, but what they have deserved. And therefore when the prophet here says, "Render unto our neighbours sevenfold," it is not sevenfold beyond their deserts; for one scorn that a wicked man poureth upon a child of God (and so upon God), cannot be recompensed with ten thousand reproaches poured upon wicked men. The least reproach poured upon God is an infinite wrong. And the reproach of his people is so much his, as he reckons it as his own; and will therefore render to their enemies their reproach "sevenfold" (and that's but equal) "into their bosom." Abraham Wright.

Verse 12. "Unto our neighbours." Because their scorn was more intolerable, and also more inexcusable than the oppression of distant enemies. J. J. Stewart Perowne.

Verse 12. "Into their bosom." An expression which originally seems to have had reference to the practice of carrying and holding things in the lap, or the front fold of the flowing oriental dress, has in usage the accessory sense of retribution or retaliation. Joseph Addison Alexander.

HINTS FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS

None.