14 For Thy servants have been pleased with her stones, And her dust they favour.
and saith before his brethren and the force of Samaria, yea, he saith, `What `are' the weak Jews doing? are they left to themselves? do they sacrifice? do they complete in a day? do they revive the stones out of the heaps of the rubbish? -- and they burnt!'
And heads of the fathers of Judah and Benjamin rise, and the priests and the Levites, even every one whose spirit God hath waked, to go up to build the house of Jehovah, that `is' in Jerusalem;
And the seventh month cometh, and the sons of Israel `are' in the cities, and the people are gathered, as one men, unto Jerusalem. And rise doth Jeshua son of Jozadak, and his brethren the priests, and Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, and his brethren, and they build the altar of the God of Israel, to cause to ascend upon it burnt-offerings, as it is written in the law of Moses, the man of God. And they establish the altar on its bases, because of the fear upon them of the peoples of the lands, and he causeth burnt-offerings to ascend upon it to Jehovah, burnt-offerings for the morning and for the evening.
Blessed `is' Jehovah, God of our fathers, who hath given such a thing as this in the heart of the king, to beautify the house of Jehovah that `is' in Jerusalem,
and they say to me, `Those left, who have been left of the captivity there in the province, `are' in great evil, and in reproach, and the wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burnt with fire.'
and I say unto them, `Ye are seeing the evil that we are in, in that Jerusalem `is' waste, and its gates have been burnt with fire; come and we build the wall of Jerusalem, and we are not any more a reproach.'
And we build the wall, and all the wall is joined -- unto its half, and the people have a heart to work.
A Psalm of Asaph. O God, nations have come into Thy inheritance, They have defiled Thy holy temple, They made Jerusalem become heaps,
For `one' hath devoured Jacob, And his habitation they have made desolate. Remember not for us the iniquities of forefathers, Haste, let Thy mercies go before us, For we have been very weak. Help us, O God of our salvation, Because of the honour of Thy name, And deliver us, and cover over our sins, For Thy name's sake. Why do the nations say, `Where `is' their God?' Let be known among the nations before our eyes, The vengeance of the blood of Thy servants that is shed.
`O Lord, according to all Thy righteous acts, let turn back, I pray Thee, Thine anger and Thy fury from Thy city Jerusalem, Thy holy mount, for by our sins, and by the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and Thy people `are' for a reproach to all our neighbours;
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Psalms 102
Commentary on Psalms 102 Matthew Henry Commentary
Psalm 102
Some think that David penned this psalm at the time of Absalom's rebellion; others that Daniel, Nehemiah, or some other prophet, penned it for the use of the church, when it was in captivity in Babylon, because it seems to speak of the ruin of Zion and of a time set for the rebuilding of it, which Daniel understood by books, Dan. 9:2. Or perhaps the psalmist was himself in great affliction, which he complains of in the beginning of the psalm, but (as in Ps. 77 and elsewhere) he comforts himself under it with the consideration of God's eternity, and the church's prosperity and perpetuity, how much soever it was now distressed and threatened. But it is clear, from the application of v. 25, 26, to Christ (Heb. 1:10-12), that the psalm has reference to the days of the Messiah, and speaks either of his affliction or of the afflictions of his church for his sake. In the psalm we have,
In singing this psalm, if we have not occasion to make the same complaints, yet we may take occasion to sympathize with those that have, and then the comfortable part of this psalm will be the more comfortable to us in the singing of it.
A prayer of the afflicted, when he is overwhelmed, and poureth out his complaint before the Lord.
Psa 102:1-11
The title of this psalm is very observable; it is a prayer of the afflicted. It was composed by one that was himself afflicted, afflicted with the church and for it; and on those that are of a public spirit afflictions of that kind lie heavier than any other. It is calculated for an afflicted state, and is intended for the use of others that may be in the like distress; for whatsoever things were written aforetime were written designedly for our use. The whole word of God is of use to direct us in prayer; but here, as often elsewhere, the Holy Ghost has drawn up our petition for us, has put words into our mouths. Hos. 14:2, Take with you words. Here is a prayer put into the hands of the afflicted: let them set, not their hands, but their hearts to it, and present it to God. Note,
Psa 102:12-22
Many exceedingly great and precious comforts are here thought of, and mustered up, to balance the foregoing complaints; for unto the upright there arises light in the darkness, so that, though they are cast down, they are not in despair. It is bad with the psalmist himself, bad with the people of God; but he has many considerations to revive himself with.
Psa 102:23-28
We may here observe,