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. Psalm 80 For the Chief Musician, set to Shoshanim Eduth.. A Psalm of Asaph.
O God, why hast thou cast `us' off for ever? Why doth thine anger smoke against the sheep of thy pasture?
For he is our God, And we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. To-day, oh that ye would hear his voice!
Know ye that Jehovah, he is God: It is he that hath made us, and we are his; We are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
In God have we made our boast all the day long, And we will give thanks unto thy name for ever. Selah
Remember this, that the enemy hath reproached, O Jehovah, And that a foolish people hath blasphemed thy name.
Arise, O God, plead thine own cause: Remember how the foolish man reproacheth thee all the day.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Psalms 79
Commentary on Psalms 79 Matthew Henry Commentary
Psalm 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 (v. 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 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,
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.
Psa 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, 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.
Psa 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.