Introduction

Beginning with this psalm, we find another series of psalms that prophetically determines the time when the LORD will use Assyria, which in the future is the king of the North, as a disciplinary rod (Isa 10:5) over Israel, which is in unbelief under the government of the antichrist. The king of the North will kill two-thirds of the people (Zec 13:8) and destroy Jerusalem and the third temple (Zec 14:2). These are labor pains necessary for the birth of the remnant or new Israel (Isa 66:8).

The destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar in 586 BC is a foreshadowing of this. Also the attack in 168 BC by king Antiochus Epiphanes – a type of the king of the North – is a foreshadowing.

The Jews use this psalm along with the lamentations at the fast during the anniversary of the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus in 70 AD.

This psalm is about the invasion of Israel by the nations who destroy Jerusalem and the temple. The emphasis here is not so much on the judgment on God’s people because of their sins, but on the means God uses. See further the Introduction to Psalm 74, a psalm that also deals with the destruction of the temple.

The structure of the psalm can be presented as follows:
1. Psa 79:1-7 contain a complaint about the destruction.
2. Psa 79:8-13 contain the prayer for restoration.

1. The center of the first section is Psa 79:4, where they say that they have become a reproach to their neighbors. That is the substance of their complaint.

2. The center of the second section is Psa 79:10b, where they ask God to make the shed blood of His servants known before their eyes among the nations. That is the essence of their plea.

Jerusalem Laid in Ruins

For “a Psalm of Asaph” (Psa 79:1a) see at Psalm 50:1.

The God-fearing, or believing remnant in the end time, complains to God that “the nations” have invaded His inheritance (Psa 79:1b). These nations do not care about God’s ownership of His land. They have boldly invaded the land. Then they have broken through to God’s “holy temple”. ‘Temple’ in Hebrew is literally ‘palace’, a reference to the temple as the dwelling place of God. The nations have “defiled” it by entering as heathen and causing havoc. Finally, “they have laid Jerusalem in ruins” (cf. 2Chr 36:17-18).

We can hardly imagine what all this must have meant for the God-fearing Jew. In his book of Lamentations, Jeremiah expresses the feelings that the faithful remnant will have about this in the future. Jerusalem is the city that God has chosen for His Name to dwell. In that city He has His dwelling place, where He dwells in the midst of His people and receives them. There He has His throne, from which He rules over His people to their blessing. All this has disappeared. It seems as if God has suffered defeat and His people are doomed to extinct.

Those who served God in Jerusalem were mercilessly killed (Psa 79:2). “The dead bodies of Your servants” were not buried by the enemies, but given “for food to the birds of the heavens” (cf. Jer 34:20; Rev 11:7-9). The libel of defeat is greatly increased by the fact that the bodies are not buried. The invaders gave “the flesh of Your godly ones to the beasts of the earth”.

The remnant speaks of themselves as ‘Your servants’ and ‘Your godly ones’. “Godly ones” in Hebrew is chasid, which are those who are faithful to the covenant of God. They want to remind God, as it were, who they are to Him. After all, they have served Him, they are in His favor, and He loves them, right? How then can He, seemingly, stand idly by while they are slaughtered and given as food to the birds and the beasts?

After all, the prophecies speak of the peace of Jerusalem and the subjugation of the nations, as Isaiah does in Isaiah 2, for example (Isa 2:1-5). Certainly the prophets also spoke of the destruction of Jerusalem in case the people would not keep the covenant (Mic 3:12). Indeed the people as a whole did not keep the covenant. Therefore it is written of Jerusalem that in the end time it will be “mystically … called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified” (Rev 11:8). The question comes from the faithful remnant, from those who do have the desire to serve the LORD.

The nations “have poured out their blood like water round about Jerusalem” (Psa 79:3; cf. Rev 14:17-20). The slaughter was great, but “there was no one to bury them”. The enemies did not allow the bodies of those who are killed to be buried (cf. Rev 11:7-9). They viewed their victims as inferior beings not worthy of burial (Jer 14:16).

Added to all the reproach is the reproach of the neighboring peoples (Psa 79:4). They watched with gloating the destruction of Jerusalem and the slaughter of its people (cf. Oba 1:12-14). We can think of the Moabites, Ammonites, Philistines and Edomites, peoples who will not only be spectators, but will also attack Israel together with the king of the North (Psa 83:4-8). Their attitude toward Israel is an additional reason for judging them in the end time. Those judgments are described, for example, in Ezekiel 25 and 36.

Because of everything that has happened to God’s people, they are “a scoffing and derision to those around” them. This mockery and derision is deeply felt by the believing remnant. This is also what the Lord Jesus experienced in abundance (Psa 69:8; 11; 20-21), not only from the nations, but also from the unbelieving mass of God’s people.

How Long?

The exclamation “how long, O LORD?” is an exclamation of faith made in despair (Psa 79:5). It is not the language of impatience, but of fear. It is not a complaint, but one of amazement. They ask the LORD: “Will You be angry forever?” The psalmist here uses the covenant name of God: LORD, Yahweh. In doing so, he is appealing to the faithfulness of God to His covenant.

The question of “how long” is an expression of their faith that the anger of God is coming to an end. What the enemies have done, they rightly see as an expression of God’s anger on their sins. Therefore, they do not ask ‘why’. They know that they have aroused His “jealousy” by their idolatry, which is unfaithfulness to Him. His jealousy burns like fire, but how long will it still last?

The God-fearing then ask God to pour out His “wrath upon the nations which do not know You and upon the kingdoms which do not call upon Your name” (Psa 79:6; cf. 2Thes 1:8; Jer 10:25). The nations do not cry to God, but to their self-made idols. The request for God to pour out His wrath is not an expression of vindictiveness, but the request for the exercise of justice. The righteous one does not do it himself, but leaves it to God (cf. 2Tim 4:14).

Justice must be done, because the nations ignore God and act according to their own will. The fact that God uses them as a disciplinary rod for His people (cf. Isa 10:5) does not mean that He approves of the conduct of those nations. God can use man’s sinful actions to fulfill His plans.

They deserve God’s judgment, “for they have devoured Jacob and laid waste his habitation”, that is God’s habitation in their midst (Psa 79:7). Jacob is the name for the people as the object of God’s discipline. In that people is also the “habitation” of Jacob. God’s own land He has given Jacob to dwell in. In the dwellings of Jacob He dwells among them (cf. Num 24:5; Psa 83:12).

The God-fearing acknowledges that the destruction of the city and temple are the result of the sins of the people (Psa 79:8). They ask God not to remember “the iniquities of [our] forefathers against us”. Those iniquities are there, they realize. Their asking God not to remember them is a humble request for forgiveness, by which God removes these iniquities from His remembrance.

Past iniquities – that is, the transgressions against the covenant – means the iniquities done by their ancestors. These iniquities are the cause of the judgment of God on them. In fact, the psalmist acknowledges that God’s judgment on them was righteous. This is the first step to restoration.

Now they appeal to God to hurry and come to their aid with His compassion. This appeal they make because they are “brought very low”. There is no strength left in them. They are exhausted. Their appeal to God’s compassion is the only appropriate appeal they can make. A person needs compassion when he is in miserable circumstances, as is the case with them.

Call for Salvation and Retribution

Their prayer for help is addressed to the “God of our salvation” (Psa 79:9). They see in God their Savior, their Deliverer. As a ground for their request for help they point – not to the fact that they are His people, but – to “the glory of Your name” (cf. Rom 2:24; Mt 6:9b; Eze 36:20-23). They think first and foremost of God’s glory. God has been dishonored. The glory of His Name is connected to His promise to be faithful to His covenant with them and to the promises He has made, even though man is unfaithful.

They have forfeited the right to His promises by not being faithful to His covenant. They are aware of that. They have broken the covenant by their sins. Therefore they need redemption through forgiveness of their sins. The only way to do this is for Him to forgive their sins or atone for their sins. Atonement for sins means the covering of sins by the blood of the Lamb. As the basis for this request, they refer – not to their need, but – to “Your name’s sake” (cf. Num 14:13-19).

Now that their question regarding their sins is settled, the remnant returns in their prayer to the nations (Psa 79:10). The nations keep saying: “Where is their God?” (cf. Joel 2:17). The righteous ask God to answer that question once and for all by revealing Himself in vengeance to those nations.

God must be known in the execution of “vengeance for the blood of Your servants which has been shed” (cf. Lk 11:51; Rev 17:6; Rev 18:24). This must happen “among the nations in our sight”. When they see God’s vengeance, they will know that He is for them and not against them. All the mocking claims of the enemies will be belied by this.

Their demand for vengeance is not born of hatred or bitterness. They ask for it because they are in need and want to be released from their distress. That deliverance lies in the judgment on their enemies, who deserve it because they have violated God’s servants.

God must let “the groaning of the prisoner” come before Him (Psa 79:11; cf. Exo 2:24; Exo 6:4-5; Zec 14:2). The God-fearing ask God to take personally to heart the suffering of those who have been taken away as prisoners. These prisoners “are doomed to die”. If God intervenes “according to the greatness of” His “power [literally: arm]”, they will “preserve” their lives. Moses also uses the phrase “the greatness of Your arm” (Exo 15:16). God’s arm represents His power. That power is fully manifested in the Lord Jesus (Isa 53:1; 1Cor 1:24).

The prayer for retribution is because of what the neighboring peoples have done to the “Lord” (Psa 79:12). They mocked God for not being able to protect His inheritance. He could not save His own city and sanctuary from destruction. After all, He did not prevent or punish it, did He?

God can remove this reproach by repaying the enemies “sevenfold”, or completely – seven is the number of completion – “in their bosom”, for the evil they have committed against Him. What someone has in his bosom, no one sees. It is a place where you hide things. It refers to man’s inner self, where people can hide their transgressions (cf. Job 31:33). God knows the inner life of every human being through and through. Therefore He is also able to repay the inner evil.

Vow to Praise God

The faithful remnant makes a vow to God. They do so as “Your people and the sheep of Your pasture”. With this the psalmist returns to the conclusion of Psalm 78 (Psa 78:71). God is King of His people and Shepherd of the sheep that pasture in His land. He does not yet make Himself known in this way, but this will happen (Eze 37:22; 24). This is how they see themselves, although they have now been taken away from their land by force. They are now ‘Lo-Ammi’, which is ‘not God’s people’ (Hos 1:9) and are outside God’s ‘pasture’.

When God takes vengeance and brings retribution on the enemies, they “will give thanks to” Him “forever”. They emphasize that they, “we”, will do that. “To all generations” they “will tell of” His “praise”. They want to pass on the glory of God, that is to say His faithfulness and compassion that they experienced in their redemption. This happened by recording it in the Scriptures and will happen in the future by giving thanks to the LORD for all His deeds. To all generations they will tell of the praise of God.