Psalms 85:4

A PLEA FOR SALVATION

"Turn us, O God of our salvation,

And cause thine indignation toward us to cease.

Wilt thou be angry with us forever?

Wilt thou draw out thine anger to all generations? Show us thy loving kindness, O Jehovah,

And grant us thy salvation."

The tone of these verses is radically different from that in the first three; and they can be explained only by understanding them to refer to a period subsequent to the glorious return of the Chosen People from Babylon. Such an explanation is easily provided by the prophets Haggai and Malachi. What had gone wrong?

(1) First, the vast majority of Israel, having accommodated to their situation in Babylon, many of them amassing wealth, simply refused to return to Jerusalem. (2) Those who did return had no enthusiasm whatever for rebuilding the temple, their chief concern being the building of their own houses. (3) They grossly neglected the requirements of God's worship. (4) Even after the second temple had finally been constructed, Malachi flatly declared that the people were "robbing God"! Things in Israel had gone from bad to worse during that first generation of returnees. As the situation deteriorated, there is no wonder that the psalmist included this earnest, even urgent, plea for God to save them.

"Turn us, O God of our salvation" (Psalms 85:4). This means, "Turn us from our sins." God could not bless Israel as long as they preferred iniquity to the righteousness God required of them. "This is always the proper spirit in prayer. The first thing is not that God should take away his wrath, but that he would dispose us to forsake our sins."[6]

This paragraph (Psalms 85:4-7) carries three petitions. The first of these is "Turn us" (Psalms 85:4).

"Wilt thou be angry forever? ... unto all generations" (Psalms 85:5). "Such plaintive questions frequently accompany supplications for forgiveness and restoration. They do not reveal impatience or mistrust but speak, rather, of the earnestness of the petitioner."[7]

"Wilt thou not quicken us again?" (Psalms 85:6). This is the second of the three petitions, It means, "rejuvenate us"; "give us a new spirit"; "make us alive again." There is an overtone here of the ultimate achievement of such a thing in the New Birth revealed in the New Testament.

"Show us thy lovingkindness ... grant us thy salvation" (Psalms 85:7). This is the third of the petitions. "It is a request that Israel might experience fulfilment of the covenant-promises of God's steadfast love and their own salvation."[8]