Psalm 79, Temple in Ruins

A psalm of Asaph.

The psalms of Asaph are generally later than the time of David, sometimes even dealing with worship during or after the Babylonian Exile. In this case, the psalmist appears to be walking among the ruins of the temple after it is destroyed by the Babylonians.

Psalm 79, 1-4, Jerusalem destroyed

 O God, the nations have invaded your inheritance; 

they have defiled your holy temple, 

they have reduced Jerusalem to rubble.

 They have given the dead bodies of your servants as food to the birds of the air, 

the flesh of your saints to the beasts of the earth.

 They have poured out blood like water all around Jerusalem,

and there is no one to bury the dead.

 We are objects of reproach to our neighbors, 

of scorn and derision to those around us.

The enemy have broken through the walls of Jerusalem, reduced the temple to rubble (see 2 Chronicles 7:19-22 for this prediction) and dead bodies lie everywhere. Blood flows like water and no one is left to bury the dead.

Psalm 79, 5-8, How long? How long?

How long, O LORD? 

Will you be angry forever? 

How long will your jealousy burn like fire?

 Pour out your wrath on the nations that do not acknowledge you, 

on the kingdoms that do not call on your name;

 for they have devoured Jacob and destroyed his homeland.

 Do not hold against us the sins of the fathers; 

may your mercy come quickly to meet us, 

for we are in desperate need.

A plaintive "how long?" echoes through this sad song -- and throughout many of the psalms. Yes, Israel has disobeyed YHWH, but the other nations are worse! Why, asks the psalmist, does God not pour out His wrath on them?

Psalm 79, 9-10, O God, our Savior

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

deliver us and forgive our sins for your name's sake.

 Why should the nations say, "Where is their God?"

 Before our eyes, make known among the nations that you avenge the outpoured blood of your servants.

The plea for salvation leans on God glorifying His name through the nation, a request repeated from Moses on down. This request rests on God's character and promises to the nation. This is the heart of Moses's argument with God in Exodus 32:7-14.

Psalm 79, 11-12, O God, our Savior

 May the groans of the prisoners come before you; 

by the strength of your arm preserve those condemned to die.

Pay back into the laps of our neighbors 

seven times the reproach they have hurled at you, O Lord.

The prayer for the prisoners seems to be immediate, as if the Babylonian exile has just begun. The psalmists begs God to save the prisoners and then punish the invaders.

Psalm 79, 13, From generation to generation

Then we your people, 

the sheep of your pasture, 

will praise you forever; 

from generation to generation we will recount your praise.

Eventually wrong will be made right. If only God would right these wrongs, then the people of YHWH, the "sheep of His pasture", could praise Him again and pass on to future generations the stories of His salvation! This last verse is more a statement of expectation than a bribe, but it has a hint of desperate pleading in it, the pleading of a man weeping among the bodies around the ruined temple.