Psalm 79:
 “Help Us, O God! Jerusalem Is in Ruins...” 
“We...will give you thanks forever...”
 

Psalm 79 is usually viewed as a strong emotional statement of the people of God during the Babylonian captivity. Long before, in Deuteronomy 28, they had been warned of the consequences of apostasy.  The terms of despair here have the ring of the words in Deuteronomy.  The difference is about 900 years in time.  Here, the sins of the people have “found them out,” and the Lord is asked to help. They need to have their sins attended to, and they want their troublers to receive the punishment that they deserve for their own sins.

We will do well to remember that the possibility of apostasy is just as real for us as it was for Israel and Judah.  Let us accept the chastening of the Lord when we are wrong (Hebrews 12:5-17), so that the time never comes when there is no remedy (2 Chronicles 36:16).

Let us study this short poem under five headings.

ONE: LOOK AT WHAT THEY HAVE DONE TO US (79:1-4)!
“O God, the nations have come into Your inheritance;
Your holy temple they have defiled;
They have laid Jerusalem in heaps. 
The dead bodies of Your servants 
They have given as food for the birds of the heavens,
The flesh of Your saints to the beasts of the earth. 
Their blood they have shed like water all around Jerusalem,
And there was no one to bury them. 
We have become a reproach to our neighbors,
A scorn and derision to those who are around us.” (NKJV)
The intensity of destruction, death, derision, and despair oozes from every phrase of the first four verses. This is not mere poetic emphasis!  This is a condensed version of the warnings of the previous centuries that had come to pass!  It had affected God, His inheritance, the temple, the city, the people (including the slaughtered and the survivors, Kirkpatrick, p. 479), the animals, and their neighbors.  This section of the poet’s lament has no hint of any joy anywhere except among the wicked enemies of God and His people.

TWO: PLEASE DIRECT YOUR ANGER AT THEM NOW (79:5-7).
“How long, LORD?
Will You be angry forever?
Will Your jealousy burn like fire? 
Pour out Your wrath on the nations that do not know You,
And on the kingdoms that do not call on Your name. 
For they have devoured Jacob,
And laid waste his dwelling place.” (NKJV)
Leupold brings out the despair of the writer by rendering the first part of verse 5 in this manner: “How long, O Lord, wilt Thou be angry? Forever?” (p. 575).  The jealousy of God against their sins has turned against them in severe and justified wrath.  However, it was also true that those who had been God’s instrument of wrath against them were evil.  Their sins should not go unpunished, either.  So, the author calls on God to bring retribution on them.  If indeed this psalm refers to the Babylonian captivity, it was not long before the answer came.  Actually, the fall of Babylon is the very thing that provided for the return from captivity for a remnant of the Israelites. 

THREE: PLEASE FORGIVE US (79:8-10).
“Oh, do not remember former iniquities against us!
Let Your tender mercies come speedily to meet us,
For we have been brought very low. 
Help us, O God of our salvation,
For the glory of Your name;
And deliver us, and provide atonement for our sins,
For Your name's sake! 
Why should the nations say,
"Where is their God?"
Let there be known among the nations in our sight 
The avenging of the blood of Your servants which has been shed.” (NKJV)
The warnings about the certainty of God’s punishment in Deuteronomy 28 are followed by a promise of compassion and restoration in chapter 30.  A new generation was born while in captivity.  They, and some of those who survived the 70 years, had the hope of a new beginning.  God, Who saw no remedy for one generation, provided one for the next.  He is always able to give His tender mercies, salvation, deliverance, and atonement to repenting, obedient souls.  And when He does, the nations can quit saying, “Where is their God?”  While the wicked were shedding their own blood due to their own sins, there were innocent people who were suffering.  So, God’s vengeance upon the heathen conquerors would vindicate the faithful who had suffered some of the consequences of the sins of their brethren.

FOUR: PLEASE HONOR THE PRINCIPLE OF SOWING AND REAPING (79:11,12).
“Let the groaning of the prisoner come before You;
According to the greatness of Your power 
Preserve those who are appointed to die; 
And return to our neighbors sevenfold into their bosom 
Their reproach with which they have reproached You, O Lord.” (NKJV)
This section contains the Bible principle that makes it right for the faithful to seek God’s retribution upon the Babylonians.  They were still in sin. They had gone beyond being God’s arm of punishment—they had reproached God, too!  Therefore, the eternal principle of sowing and reaping ought to be applied to their impenitent condition. Galatians 6:7,8 says, “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life” (NKJV).

FIVE: WE WILL THANK YOU (79:13).
“So we, Your people and sheep of Your pasture,
Will give You thanks forever;
We will show forth Your praise to all generations.” (NKJV)
God’s punishment on sinners is certain.  But so is His mercy upon the obedient.  So, the poet fittingly closes the lesson with a commitment on the part of the people.  Since He has promised to forgive and restore, they can have hope and joy.  And they will express themselves with thanksgiving and praise to the same God Who had rightly punished them so severely and so long.

A brief poem such as this one should serve as both warning and hope for us, too.  Let us be warned that if we do not repent, we will perish (Luke 13:3,5).  Let us have hope in Him by loving His Son enough to yield to His commandments (John 14:15; 1 John 5:3).
    
    — Skip Andrews
 
 

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VOLUME 3:6                    March 25, 2001