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 (ver. 6, 7) and makes use of them in
his prayer, Jer. x. 25. Some think it was penned long before by the spirit
of prophecy, prepared for the use of the church in that cloudy and dark day.
Others think that it was penned then by the spirit of prayer, either by a
prophet named Asaph or by some other prophet for the sons of Asaph. Whatever
the particular occasion was, we have here, I. A representation of the very
deplorable condition that the people of God were in at this time, ver. 1-5.
II. A petition to God for succour and relief, that their enemies might be
reckoned with (ver. 6, 7, 10, 12), that their sins might be pardoned (ver.
8, 9), and that they might be delivered, ver. 11. III. A plea taken from the
readiness of his people to praise him, ver. 13. In times of the church's
peace and prosperity this psalm may, in the singing of it, give us occasion
to bless God that we are not thus trampled on and insulted. But it is
especially seasonable in a day of treading down and perplexity, for the
exciting of our desires towards God and the encouragement of our faith in
him as the church's patron.
A psalm of Asaph.
1 O God, the heathen are come into thine
inheritance; thy holy temple have they defiled; they have laid Jerusalem on
heaps. 2 The dead bodies of thy servants have they given to
be meat unto the fowls of the heaven, the flesh of thy saints unto the
beasts of the earth. 3 Their blood have they shed like water
round about Jerusalem; and there was none to bury them.
4 We are become a reproach to our neighbours, a scorn and derision to them
that are round about us. 5 How long, LORD?
wilt thou be angry for ever? shall thy jealousy burn like fire?
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, yet, God having them
in chain, the church very fitly appeals to him against them; for he is King
of nations, to overrule them, to judge among the heathen, and King of
saints, to favour and protect them.
I. They complain here of the anger of their enemies and the outrageous fury
of the oppressor, exerted,
1. Against places, v. 1. They did all the mischief they could, (1.)
To the holy land; they invaded that, and made inroads into it: "The
heathen have come into thy inheritance, to plunder that, and lay it
waste." Canaan was dearer to the pious Israelites as it was God's
inheritance than as it was their own, as it was the land in which God was
known and his name was great rather than as it was the land in which they
were bred and born and which they and their ancestors had been long in
possession of. Note, Injuries done to religion should grieve us more than
even those done to common right, nay, to our own right. We should better
bear to see our own inheritance wasted than God's inheritance. This psalmist
had mentioned it in the foregoing psalm as an instance of God's great favour
to Israel that he had cast out the heathen before them, Ps. lxxviii.
55. But see what a change sin made; now the heathen are suffered to pour in
upon them. (2.) To the holy city: They have laid Jerusalem on heaps,
heaps of rubbish, such heaps as are raised over graves, so some. The
inhabitants were buried in the ruins of their own houses, and their dwelling
places became their sepulchres, their long homes. (3.) To the holy house.
That sanctuary which God had built like high palaces, and which was thought
to be established as the earth, was now laid level with the ground: Thy
holy temple have they defiled, by entering into it and laying it waste.
God's own people had defiled it by their sins, and therefore God suffered
their enemies to defile it by their insolence.
2. Against persons, against the bodies of God's people; and further their
malice could not reach. (1.) They were prodigal of their blood, and killed
them without mercy; their eye did not spare, nor did they give any quarter (v.
3): Their blood have they shed like water, wherever they met with
them, round about Jerusalem, in all the avenues to the city; whoever went
out or came in was waited for of the sword. Abundance of human
blood was shed, so that the channels of water ran with blood. And they shed
it with no more reluctancy or regret than if they had spilt so much water,
little thinking that every drop of it will be reckoned for in the day when God
shall make inquisition for blood. (2.) They were abusive to their dead
bodies. When they had killed them they would let none bury them. Nay, those
that were buried, even the dead bodies of God's servants, the flesh of
his saints, whose names and memories they had a particular spite at,
they dug up again, and gave them to be meat to the fowls of the heaven
and to the beasts of the earth; or, at least, they left those so exposed
whom they slew; they hung them in chains, which was in a particular manner
grievous to the Jews to see, because God had given them an express law
against this, as a barbarous thing, Deut. xxi. 23. This inhuman usage of
Christ's witnesses is foretold (Rev. xi. 9), and thus even the dead bodies
were witnesses against their persecutors. This is mentioned (says Austin, De
Civitate Dei, lib. 1 cap. 12) not as an instance of the misery of
the persecuted (for the bodies of the saints shall rise in glory, however
they became meat to the birds and the fowls), but of the malice of the
persecutors.
3. Against their names (v. 4): "We that survive have become a
reproach to our neighbours; they all study to abuse us and load us with
contempt, and represent us as ridiculous, or odious, or both, upbraiding us
with our sins and with our sufferings, or giving the lie to our relation to
God and expectations from him; so that we have become a scorn and
derision to those that are round about us." If God's professing
people degenerate from what themselves and their fathers were, they must
expect to be told of it; and it is well if a just reproach will help to
bring us to a true repentance. But it has been the lot of the gospel-Israel
to be made unjustly a reproach and derision; the apostles themselves were counted
as the offscouring of all things.
II. They wonder more at God's anger, v. 5. This they discern in the
anger of their neighbours, and this they complain most of: How long,
Lord, wilt thou be angry? Shall it be for ever? This intimates
that they desired no more than that God would be reconciled to them, that
his anger might be turned away, and then the remainder of men's wrath would
be restrained. Note, Those who desire God's favour as better than life
cannot but dread and deprecate his wrath as worse than death.
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Petitions
for Succour and Relief; Petitions for Deliverance.
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6 Pour out thy wrath upon the heathen that
have not known thee, and upon the kingdoms that have not called upon thy
name. 7 For they have devoured Jacob, and laid waste his
dwelling place. 8 O remember not against us former iniquities:
let thy tender mercies speedily prevent us: for we are brought very
low. 9 Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of thy
name: and deliver us, and purge away our sins, for thy name's sake.
10 Wherefore should the heathen say, Where is their God? let him be
known among the heathen in our sight by the revenging of the blood of
thy servants which is shed. 11 Let the sighing of the
prisoner come before thee; according to the greatness of thy power preserve
thou those that are appointed to die; 12 And render unto our
neighbours sevenfold into their bosom their reproach, wherewith they have
reproached thee, O Lord. 13 So we thy people and sheep of thy
pasture will give thee thanks for ever: we will show forth thy praise to all
generations.
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 (v. 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 revealed from heaven against all
ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. Observe here, 1. The character
of those he prays against; they are such as have not known God, nor called
upon his name. The reason why men do not call upon God is because they do
not know him, how able and willing he is to help them. Those that persist in
ignorance of God, and neglect of prayer, are the ungodly, who live without
God in the world. There are kingdoms that know not God and obey not the
gospel, but neither their multitude nor their force united will secure them
from his just judgments. 2. Their crime: They have devoured Jacob, v.
7. That is crime enough in the account of him who reckons that those who
touch his people touch the apple of his eye. They have not only disturbed,
but devoured, Jacob, not only encroached upon his dwelling place, the land
of Canaan, but laid it waste by plundering and depopulating it. (3.) Their
condemnation: "Pour out thy wrath upon them; do not only
restrain them from doing further mischief, but reckon with them for the
mischief they have done."
II. They pray for the pardon of sin, which they own to be the procuring
cause of all their calamities. How unrighteous soever men were, God was
righteous in permitting them to do what they did. They pray, 1. That God
would not remember against them their former iniquities (v.
8), either their own former iniquities, that now, when they were old, they
might not be made to possess the iniquities of their youth, or the former
iniquities of their people, the sins of their ancestors. In the captivity of
Babylon former iniquities were brought to account; but God promises not
again to do so (Jer. xxxi. 29, 30), and so they pray, "Remember not
against us our first sins," which some make to look as far back as the
golden calf, because God said, In the day when I visit I will visit for
this sin of theirs upon them, Exod. xxxii. 34. If the children by
repentance and reformation cut off the entail of the parents' sin, they may
in faith pray that God will not remember them against them. When God
pardons sin he blots it out and remembers it no more. 2. That he would purge
away the sins they had been lately guilty of, by the guilt of which their
minds and consciences had been defiled: Deliver us, and purge away our
sins, v. 9. Then deliverances from trouble are granted in love,
and are mercies indeed, when they are grounded upon the pardon of sin and
flow from that; we should therefore be more earnest with God in prayer for
the removal of our sins than for the removal of our afflictions, and the
pardon of them is the foundation and sweetness of our deliverances.
III. They pray that God would work deliverance for them, and bring their
troubles to a good end and that speedily: Let thy tender mercies speedily
prevent us, v. 8. They had no hopes but from God's mercies, his
tender mercies; their case was so deplorable that they looked upon
themselves as the proper objects of divine compassion, and so near to
desperate that, unless divine mercy did speedily interpose to prevent their
ruin, they were undone. This whets their importunity: "Lord, help
us; Lord, deliver us; help us under our troubles, that we may bear them
well; help us out of our troubles, that the spirit may not fail. Deliver us
from sin, from sinking." Three things they plead:-- 1. The great
distress they were reduced to: "We are brought very low, and,
being low, shall be lost if thou help us not." The lower we are brought
the more need we have of help from heaven and the more will divine power be
magnified in raising us up. 2. Their dependence upon him: "Thou art the
God of our salvation, who alone canst help. Salvation belongs to
the Lord, from whom we expect help; for in the Lord alone is the
salvation of his people." Those who make God the God of their
salvation shall find him so. 3. The interest of his own honour in their
case. They plead no merit of theirs; they pretend to none; but, "Help
us for the glory of thy name; pardon us for thy name's sake." The
best encouragements in prayer are those that are taken from God only, and
those things whereby he has made himself known. Two things are insinuated in
this plea:-- (1.) That God's name and honour would be greatly injured if he
did not deliver them; for those that derided them blasphemed God, as if he
were weak and could not help them, or had withdrawn and would not; therefore
they plead (v. 10), "Wherefore should the heathen say, Where
is their God? He has forsaken them, and forgotten them; and this they
get by worshipping a God whom they cannot see." (Nil præter nubes
et cœli numen adorant. Juv.--They adore no other divinity than the
clouds and the sky.) That which was their praise (that they served a God
that is every where) was now turned to their reproach and his too, as if
they served a God that is nowhere. "Lord," say they, "make it
to appear that thou art by making it to appear that thou art with us and for
us, that when we are asked, Where is your God? we may be able to say,
He is nigh unto us in all that which we call upon him for, and you see he is
so by what he does for us." (2.) That God's name and honour would be
greatly advanced if he did deliver them; his mercy would be glorified in
delivering those that were so miserable and helpless. By making bare his
everlasting arm on their behalf he would make unto himself an everlasting
name; and their deliverance would be a type and figure of the great
salvation, which in the fulness of time Messiah the Prince would work out,
to the glory of God's name.
IV. They pray that God would avenge them on their adversaries, 1. For their
cruelty and barbarity (v. 10): "Let the avenging of our
blood" (according to the ancient law, Gen. ix. 6) "be known among
the heathen; let them be made sensible that what judgments are brought upon
them are punishments of the wrong they have done to us; let this be in our
sight, and by this means let God be known among the heathen as the
God to whom vengeance belongs (Ps. xciv. 1) and the God that espouses
his people's cause." Those that have intoxicated themselves with the
blood of the saints shall have blood given them to drink, for they
are worthy. 2. For their insolence and scorn (v. 12): "Render
to them their reproach. The indignities which by word and deed they have
done to the people of God himself and his name let them be repaid to them
with interest." The reproach wherewith men have reproached us only we
must leave it to God whether he will render to them or no, and must pray
that he would forgive them; but the reproach wherewith they have blasphemed
God himself we may in faith pray that God would render seven-fold into their
bosoms, so as to strike at their hearts, to humble them, and bring them to
repentance. This prayer is a prophecy, of the same import with that of
Enoch, that God will convince sinners of all their hard speeches which they
have spoken against him (Jude 15) and will return them into their own bosoms
by everlasting terrors at the remembrance of them.
V. They pray that God would find out a way for the rescue of his poor
prisoners, especially the condemned prisoners, v. 11. The case of
their brethren who had fallen into the hands of the enemy was very sad; they
were kept close prisoners, and, because they durst not be heard to bemoan
themselves, they vented their griefs in deep and silent sighs. All their
breathing was sighing, and so was their praying. They were appointed to die,
as sheep for the slaughter, and had received the sentence of death within
themselves. This deplorable case the psalmist recommends, 1. To the divine
pity: "Let their sighs come up before thee, and be thou pleased
to take cognizance of their moans." 2. To the divine power: "According
to the greatness of thy arm, which no creature can contest with, preserve
thou those that are appointed to die from the death to which they are
appointed." Man's extremity is God's opportunity to appear for his
people. See 2 Cor. i. 8-10.
Lastly, They promise the returns of praise for the answers of prayer
(v. 13): So we will give thee thanks for ever. Observe, 1. How
they please themselves with their relation to God. "Though we are
oppressed and brought low, yet we are the sheep of thy pasture, not disowned
and cast off by thee for all this: We are thine; save us." 2.
How they promise themselves an opportunity of praising God for their
deliverance, which they therefore desired, and would bid welcome,
because it would furnish them with matter for thanksgiving and put their
hearts in tune for that excellent work, the work of heaven. 3. How they
oblige themselves not only to give God thanks at present, but to show
forth his praise unto all generations, that is, to do all they could
both to perpetuate the remembrance of God's favours to them and to engage
their posterity to keep up the work of praise. 4. How they plead this with
God: "Lord, appear for us against our enemies; for, if they get the
better, they will blaspheme thee (v. 12); but, if we be
delivered, we will praise thee. Lord, we are that people of thine which thou
hast formed for thyself, to show forth thy praise; if we be cut off,
whence shall that rent, that tribute, be raised?" Note, Those lives
that are entirely devoted to God's praise are assuredly taken under his
protection.
Contents
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