Psalm 79:
O remember not against us former iniquities:
let thy tender mercies speedily prevent us:
for we are brought very low.
Vs.8
[Do not hold us accountable for the sins of earlier generations!
Quickly
send your compassion our way, for we are in serious trouble! NET]
"A companion poem to (Psalm 74),
this psalm laments the destruction of Jerusalem at the time of the
Babylonian captivity.
The psalm has two distinct parts:
expression of
the lament to God (verses 1-5),
and petition to God for deliverance of
His people and retribution on their enemies (verses 6-13).
Three motives
for God to act are cited:
the misery God’s people are experiencing
(verses 1-4),
the tender mercies of God Himself (verse 8),
and the
humiliation brought to His name (verse 10).
---Unlike (Psalm 137), which
seems to have been written during the Captivity, this psalm was
apparently written by eyewitnesses of the desolation of Jerusalem.
O God, the heathen are come into thine inheritance; thy holy temple have they defiled; they have laid Jerusalem on heaps. 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. Vs.1,2
Verses 1-13: The historical basis for this lament psalm was probably Nebuchadnezzar’s destruction of the temple in 586 B.C. (compare Psalm 74; 2 Kings 25:8-21; Lam. Chapters 1 to 5). The psalm contains prayer for the nation’s spiritual needs, curses against the enemies of God’s people, and praises in anticipation of God’s actions.
The psalm helps the believer express his anguish in a disaster when it seems as though God is aloof.
The Lamentation Over the National Disaster (79:1-4).The Supplication for Divine Intervention (79:5-13).
How long, LORD? wilt thou be angry for ever? shall thy jealousy burn like fire? Vs.5
The Prayer for Vindication (79:5-7);
Pour out thy wrath upon the heathen that have not known thee, and upon the kingdoms that have not called upon thy name. Vs.6
The Prayer for Forgiveness (79:8-9);
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. Vs.9
The Prayer for Reprisal (79:10-12)
And render unto our neighbors sevenfold into their bosom their reproach, wherewith they have reproached thee, O Lord. Vs.12
The Praise for Response (79:13).
So we thy people and sheep of thy pasture will give thee thanks for ever: we will shew forth thy praise to all generations. Vs.13
Verses 1-5: God is complained to: whither should children go but to a Father able and willing to help them?
---Those who desire God’s favor
as better than life, cannot but dread His wrath as worse than death.
---In
every affliction, we should first beseech the Lord to cleanse away the
guilt of our sins; then he will visit us with his tender mercies."
BooksOfTheBible
Let the sighing of the prisoner come before thee; according to the greatness of thy power preserve thou those that are appointed to die;
Vs.11