Psalm 79

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Psalms 79

This psalm, if penned with any particular event in view, is with most probability made to refer to the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple, and the woeful havoc made of the Jewish nation by the Chaldeans under Nebuchadnezzar. It is set to the same tune, as I may say, with the Lamentations of Jeremiah, and that weeping prophet borrows two verses out of it (Ps. 79:6, 7) and makes use of them in his prayer, Jer. 10:25. Some think it was penned long before by the spirit of prophecy, prepared... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Psalms 79:1-5

We have here a sad complaint exhibited in the court of heaven. The world is full of complaints, and so is the church too, for it suffers, not only with it, but from it, as a lily among thorns. God is complained to; whither should children go with their grievances, but to their father, to such a father as is able and willing to help? The heathen are complained of, who, being themselves aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, were sworn enemies to it. Though they knew not God, nor owned him,... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Psalms 79:6-13

The petitions here put up to God are very suitable to the present distresses of the church, and they have pleas to enforce them, interwoven with them, taken mostly from God's honour. I. They pray that God would so turn away his anger from them as to turn it upon those that persecuted and abused them (Ps. 79:6): ?Pour out thy wrath, the full vials of it, upon the heathen; let them wring out the dregs of it, and drink them.? This prayer is in effect a prophecy, in which the wrath of God is... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Psalms 79

INTRODUCTION TO Psalm 79 A Psalm of Asaph . This psalm was not written by one Asaph, who is supposed to live after the destruction of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans, or, according to some, even after the times of Antiochus, of whom there is no account, nor any certainty that there ever was such a man in those times; but by Asaph, the seer and prophet, that lived in the time of David, who, under a prophetic spirit, foresaw and foretold things that should come to pass, spoken of in this... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Psalms 79:1

O God, the Heathen are come into thine inheritance ,.... The land of Canaan, divided among the children of Israel by lot and line for an inheritance, out of which the Heathen were cast, to make room for them; but now would come into it again; see Psalm 89:35 , and this is called the Lord's inheritance, because he gave it as such to the people of Israel, and dwelt in it himself; and the rather this is observed as something marvellous, that he should suffer Heathens to possess his own... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Psalms 79:2

The dead bodies of thy servants have they given to be meat unto the fowls of the heaven ,.... For such there were, both at the time of the Babylonish captivity, and in the times of Antiochus, who were good men, and served the Lord, and yet suffered in the common calamity. Nicanor, a general of Demetrius, in the time of the Maccabees, seems to have been guilty of such a fact as this, since, when he was slain, his tongue was given in pieces to the fowls, and the reward of his madness was hung... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Psalms 79:3

Their blood have they shed like water round about Jerusalem ,.... Without any concern of mind, or remorse of conscience; without any fear of God or man; as if it had been so much water only; and this they shed in great abundance: from the Apocrypha: "And when he had taken all away, he went into his own land, having made a great massacre, and spoken very proudly.' (1 Maccabees 1:24) "And spake peaceable words unto them, but all was deceit: for when they had given him credence, he fell... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Psalms 79:4

We are become a reproach to our neighbours ,.... That is, those that remained; so the Jews were to the Edomites, especially at the time of the Babylonish captivity, Psalm 137:7 , a scorn and derision to them that are round about us ; as the Christians in all ages have been to the men of the world, and especially will be insulted and triumphed over when the witnesses are slain, Revelation 11:10 . read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Psalms 79:5

How long, Lord, wilt thou be angry? for ever ?.... That is, how long wilt thou be angry? shall it be for ever? see Psalm 85:4 , for though what was done, or to be done, as before related, was or will be done by the enemies of the Lord's people, yet by his permission, and as a token of his anger and displeasure against them: at least it might be so understood, both by them and by their enemies; and hence this expostulation, shall thy jealousy burn like fire ? so jealousy does; its coals... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Psalms 79:6

Pour out thy wrath upon the Heathen that have not known thee ,.... Who had poured out the blood of the saints like water, and therefore it was a righteous thing with God to pour out the cup of wrath in his hands, and cause them to drink the dregs of it: these words, though they are in the form of an imprecation, yet regard not private revenge, but public justice, and the honour of God; and, besides, may be considered as a prophecy of what would be, and particularly of God's pouring out the... read more

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