Psalms 79 commentary

God is complained to: whither should children go but to a Father able and willing to help them? See what a change sin made in the holy city, when the heathen were suffered to pour in upon them. God's own people defiled it by their sins, therefore he suffered their enemies to defile it by their insolence. They desired that God would be reconciled. Those who desire God's favour as better than life, cannot but dread his wrath as worse than death. In every affliction we should first beseech the Lord to cleanse away the guilt of our sins; then he will visit us with his tender mercies.

Those who persist in ignorance of God, and neglect of prayer, are the ungodly. How unrighteous soever men were, the Lord was righteous in permitting them to do what they did. Deliverances from trouble are mercies indeed, when grounded upon the pardon of sin; we should therefore be more earnest in prayer for the removal of our sins than for the removal of afflictions. They had no hopes but from God's mercies, his tender mercies. They plead no merit, they pretend to none, but, Help us for the glory of thy name; pardon us for thy name's sake. The Christian forgets not that he is often bound in the chain of his sins. The world to him is a prison; sentence of death is passed upon him, and he knows not how soon it may be executed. How fervently should he at all times pray, O let the sighing of a prisoner come before thee, according to the greatness of thy power preserve thou those that are appointed to die! How glorious will the day be, when, triumphant over sin and sorrow, the church beholds the adversary disarmed for ever! while that church shall, from age to age, sing the praises of her great Shepherd and Bishop, her King and her God.

PSALM 79

This is a complaint and lamentation of the Church when severely afflicted; in which, while the faithful bewail their miserable and, in one sense, undeserved calamities, and accuse their enemies of cruelty, they acknowledge that, in another sense, they have been justly chastised, and humbly betake themselves to the divine mercy. Their confidence of obtaining this, they rest chiefly upon the fact, that they saw God’s dishonor conjoined with their calamities, inasmuch as the ungodly, in oppressing the Church, blasphemed his sacred name.

A Psalm of Asaph.

This psalm, like others, contains internal evidence that it was composed long after the death of David. Some who ascribe it to him allege, in support of this opinion, that the afflictions of the Church have been here predicted by the spirit of prophecy, to encourage the faithful in bearing the cross when these afflictions should arrive. But there does not appear to be any ground for such a supposition. It is not usual with the prophets thus to speak historically in their prophecies. Whoever judiciously reflects upon the scope of the poem will easily perceive that it was composed either when the Assyrians, after having burnt the temple, and destroyed the city, dragged the people into captivity, or when the temple was defiled by Antiochus, after he had slaughtered a vast number of the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Its subject agrees very well with either of these periods. Let us then take it as an admitted point, that this complaint was dictated to the people of God at a time when the Church was subjected to oppression, and when matters were reduced to the most hopeless condition. How cruelly the Assyrians conducted themselves is well known. And under the tyranny of Antiochus, if a man dared simply to open his mouth in defense of the pure worship of God, he did it at the risk of immediately forfeiting his life.

Psalm 79:1-4

1. O God! the heathen [or the nations] have come into thy inheritance; they have defiled the temple of thy holiness; they have laid Jerusalem in heaps. 2. They have given the dead bodies of thy servants for food to the fowls of the heaven; the flesh of thy meek ones to the beasts of the earth. 3. They have shed their blood like water, around Jerusalem: and there was none to bury them. 4. We have been a reproach to our neighbors; a scorn and a derision to them that are around us.

1. O God! the heathen have come into thy inheritance. Here the prophet, in the person of the faithful, complains that the temple was defiled, and the city destroyed. In the second and third verses, he complains that the saints were murdered indiscriminately, and that their dead bodies were cast forth upon the face of the earth, and deprived of the honor of burial. Almost every word expresses the cruelty of these enemies of the Church. When it is considered that God had chosen the land of Judea to be a possession to his own people, it seemed inconsistent with this choice to abandon it to the heathen nations, that they might ignominiously trample it under foot, and lay it waste at their pleasure. The prophet, therefore, complains that when the heathen came into the heritage of God, the order of nature was, as it were, inverted. The destruction of the temple, of which he speaks in the second clause, was still less to be endured; for thus the service of God on earth was extinguished, and religion destroyed. He adds, that Jerusalem, which was the royal seat of God, was reduced to heaps. By these words is denoted a hideous overthrow. The profanation of the temple, and the destruction of the holy city, involving, as they did, heaven-daring impiety, which ought justly to have provoked the wrath of God against these enemies — the prophet begins with them, and then comes to speak of the slaughter of the saints. The atrocious cruelty of these persecutions is pointed out from the circumstance that they not only put to death the servants of God, but also exposed their dead bodies to the beasts of the field, and to birds of prey, to be devoured, instead of burying them. Men have always had such a sacred regard to the burial of the dead, as to shrink from depriving even their enemies of the honor of sepulture. If this psalm was written on the taking of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, or during the Babylonish captivity, it would appear, from this verse, that when the Chaldeans destroyed Jerusalem, they left the bodies of the slain unburied, to be devoured by beasts and birds of prey. Whence it follows, that those who take a barbarous delight in seeing the bodies of the dead torn to pieces and devoured by beasts, more resemble these savage and cruel animals than human beings. It is also shown that these persecutors acted more atrociously than enemies ordinarily do, inasmuch as they made no more account of shedding human blood than of pouring forth water. From this we learn their insatiable thirst for slaughter. When it is added, there was none to bury them, this is to be understood as applying to the brethren and relatives of the slain. The inhabitants of the city were stricken with such terror by the indiscriminate butchery perpetrated by these ruthless assassins upon all who came in their way, that no one dared to go forth. God having intended that, in the burial of men, there should be some testimony to the resurrection at the last day, it was a double indignity for the saints to be despoiled of this right after their death. But it may be asked, Since God often threatens the reprobate with this kind of punishment, why did he suffer his own people to be devoured of beasts? We must remember, what we have stated elsewhere, that the elect, as well as the reprobate, are subjected to the temporal punishments which pertain only to the flesh. The difference between the two cases lies solely in the issue; for God converts that which in itself is a token of his wrath into the means of the salvation of his own children. The same explanation, then, is to be given of their want of burial which is given of their death. The most eminent of the servants of God may be put to a cruel and ignominious death — a punishment which we know is often executed upon murderers, and other despisers of God; but still the death of the saints does not cease to be precious in his sight: and when he has suffered them to be unrighteously persecuted in the flesh, he shows, by taking vengeance on their enemies, how dear they were to him. In like manner, God, to stamp the marks of his wrath on the reprobate, even after their death, deprives them of burial; and, therefore, he threatens a wicked king, “He shall be buried with the burial of all ass, drawn and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem,” (Jeremiah 22:19; see also Jeremiah 36:30.) Similar threatenings are to be found in Isaiah 14:19, 20; Jeremiah 8:2. When he exposes his own children to the like indignity, he may seem for a time to have forsaken them; but he afterwards converts it into the means of furthering their salvation; for their faith, being subjected to this trial, acquires a fresh triumph. When in ancient times the bodies of the dead were anointed, that ceremony was performed for the sake of the living whom they left behind them, to teach them, when they saw the bodies of the dead carefully preserved, to cherish in their hearts the hope of a better life. The faithful, then, by being deprived of burial, suffer no loss, when they rise by faith above these inferior helps, that they may advance with speedy steps to a blessed immortality.

PSALM 79

Psa 79:1-13. This Psalm, like the seventy-fourth, probably depicts the desolations of the Chaldeans (Jr 52:12-24). It comprises the usual complaint, prayer, and promised thanks for relief.

1. (Compare Psa 74:2-7).

2-3. (Compare Jr 15:3; 16:4).

4. (Compare Psa 44:13; Jr 42:18; La 2:15).

5. How long--(Psa 13:1).

be angry--(Psa 74:1-10).

jealousy burn--(De 29:20).

6-7. (Compare Jr 10:25). Though we deserve much, do not the heathen deserve more for their violence to us (Jr 51:3-5; Zec 1:14)? The singular denotes the chief power, and the use of the plural indicates the combined confederates.

called upon--or, "by"

thy name--proclaimed Thy attributes and professed allegiance (Is 12:4; Ac 2:21).

8. former iniquities--literally, "iniquities of former times."

prevent us--literally, "meet us," as in Psa 21:3.

9. for ... glory of thy name [and for] thy name's sake--both mean for illustrating Thy attributes, faithfulness, power, &c.

purge ... sins--literally, "provide atonement for us." Deliverance from sin and suffering, for their good and God's glory, often distinguish the prayers of Old Testament saints (compare Ep 1:7).

10. This ground of pleading often used (Ex 32:12; Nu 14:13-16).

blood ... shed--(Psa 79:3).

11. prisoner--the whole captive people.

power--literally, "arm" (Psa 10:15).

12. into their bosom--The lap or folds of the dress is used by Eastern people for receiving articles. The figure denotes retaliation (compare Is 65:6, 7). They reproached God as well as His people.

13. sheep ... pasture--(Compare Psa 74:1; 78:70).

The heathen are come into thine inheritance - Thou didst cast them out, and take thy people in; they have cast us out, and now taken possession of the land that belongs to thee. They have defiled the temple, and reduced Jerusalem to a heap of ruins; and made a general slaughter of thy people.

The dead bodies of thy servants - It appears that in the destruction of Jerusalem the Chaldeans did not bury the bodies of the slain, but left them to be devoured by birds and beasts of prey. This was the grossest inhumanity.

There was none to bury them - The Chaldeans would not; and the Jews who were not slain were carried into captivity.

We are become a reproach to our neighbors - The Idumeans, Philistines, Phoenicians, Ammonites, and Moabites, all gloried in the subjugation of this people; and their insults to them were mixed with blasphemies against God.

How long, Lord? - Wilt thou continue thine anger against us, and suffer us to be insulted, and thyself blasphemed?

Pour out thy wrath - Bad as we are, we are yet less wicked than they. We, it is true, have been unfaithful; but they never knew thy name, and are totally abandoned to idolatry.

Laid waste his dwelling-place - The Chaldee understands this of the temple. This, by way of eminence, was Jacob's place. I have already remarked that these two verses are almost similar to Jer 10:25, which has led many to believe that Jeremiah was the author of this Psalm.

Remember not against us former iniquities - Visit us not for the sins of our forefathers.

Speedily prevent us - Let them go before us, and turn us out of the path of destruction; for there is no help for us but in thee.

We are brought very low - Literally, "We are greatly thinned." Few of us remain.

Purge away our sins - כפר capper, be propitiated, or receive an atonement (על חטאתינו al chattotheynu) on account of our sins.

Where is their God? - Show where thou art by rising up for our redemption, and the infliction of deserved punishment upon our enemies.

The sighing of the prisoner - The poor captive Israelites in Babylon, who sigh and cry because of their bondage.

Those that are appointed to die - בני תמותה beney themuthah, "sons of death." Either those who were condemned to death because of their crimes, or condemned to be destroyed by their oppressors. Both these senses apply to the Israelites: they were sons of death, i.e., worthy of death because of their sins against God; they were condemned to death or utter destruction, by their Babylonish enemies.

Sevenfold into their bosom - That is, Let them get in this world what they deserve for the cruelties they have inflicted on us. Let them suffer in captivity, who now have us in bondage. Probably this is a prediction.

We thy people - Whom thou hast chosen from among all the people of the earth.

And sheep of thy pasture - Of whom thou thyself art the Shepherd. Let us not be destroyed by those who are thy enemies; and we, in all our generations, will give thanks unto thee for ever.

Prevent - Prevent our utter extirpation.

The prisoner - Of thy poor people now in captivity.

1 O God, the heathen are come unto thine inheritance , thy holy temple have they defiled , they have laid Jerusalem on heaps .

As Invaders and Conquerors.

Into Canaan and Iudaea, which thou didst chuse for thine inheritance.

By entring into it, and touching and carrying away its holy Vessels, and shedding blood in it, and burning of it.

Made of the ruines of those goodly houses which they burned, or threw down.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1+ letters]al. 74. 5.

2 The dead bodies of thy servants have they given to be meat unto the fowls of heaven , the flesh of thy saints unto the beasts of the earth.

Either 1. Of thy faithful and holy servants, whom they used as cruelly as the worst of the people. Or 2. Of the Jews, whom, though the generality of them were very wicked, he calleth God's Servants and Saints, because they were all such by profession; and some of them were really such; and the Chaldaeans did never know nor regard those that were so, but promiscuously destroyed all that came in their way.

By casting them out like dung upon the face of the earth, and not suffering any to bury them.

3 Their blood they shed like water round about Jerusalem, and there was none to bury them .

Plentifully and contemptuously, valuing it no more than common water.

Because their friends who should have done it were either slain or fled, or were not permitted, or durst not undertake to perform that Office to them.

Marginal references: Psal. 141. 7. Jer. 14. 16. and 16. 4.

4 We are become a reproach to our neighbours, a scorn and derision to them that are round about us .

We who were their terrour and scourge are now neither feared nor pityed, but become the matter of their scoffs and reproaches. See Psal. 80. 6. and 137. 7. Ezek. 35 2, 12, &c.

Marginal references: Psal. 44. 13.

6 Pour out thy wrath upon the heathen that have not known thee, and upon the kingdoms that have not called upon thy name .

Though we confess that we have deserved thy wrath▪ yet the Heathen, by whom thou hast scourged us, deserve it much more, as being guilty of far greater impieties than we, living in gross ignorance and contempt of God and of his worship. And therefore we pray transfer thy wrath from us to them.

Though we confess that we have deserved thy wrath▪ yet the Heathen, by whom thou hast scourged us, deserve it much more, as being guilty of far greater impieties than we, living in gross ignorance and contempt of God and of his worship. And therefore we pray transfer thy wrath from us to them.

Marginal references: Jer. 1[illegible: 1+ letters]. 25.

7 For they have devoured Jacob , and laid waste his dwelling place.

The posterity of Iacob, whom thou didst love, and with whom and his Seed thou madest a sure and everlasting Covenant; whereby thou didst ingage thy self to be an enemy to their enemies, Exod. 23. 22. Besides thou ha[illegible: 1+ letters]est cruelty, especially when the wicked devour those who are more righteous than themselves. Habak. 1. 13.

8▪ O remember not against us former iniquities: let thy tender mercies speedily prevent us , for we are brought very low .

The sins committed by our Forefathers, and by us who have filled up the measure of their sins, for which, we confess▪ thou hast most righteously brought this desolating judgment upon us.

Upon which all our confidence is fixed; for merit and righteousness we have none. See Dan. 9 7, 9.

Prevent our utter extirpation which we have deserved, and have great reason to expect.

Past the hopes of all humane help, and therefore the glory or our deliverance will be wholly thine.

Marginal references: Isa. 64. 9; Or, the iniquities of them that were before us.

9 Help us, O God of our salvation , for the glory of thy name : and deliver us, and purge away our sins for thy names sake.

From whom we have oft received, and from whom alone we now expect, salvation.

Which is now obscured by the insolency and blasphemy of thine enemies, who ascribe this Conquest to their Idols, and triumph over thee no less than over thy people, as one unable to deliver them out of their hands. See Dan. 3. 15.

Marginal references: Heb. attone▪ or, expiate.

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.

He whom they served, and of whom they boasted. He is lost and gone, or grown impotent or idle.

By the expectation of his judgments upon them according to Psal. 9. 16.

That we may live to see it and praise thy name for it.

Marginal references: Psal. 42. 10. and 115. 2.; Heb. vengeance.

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 .

Of thy poor people now in prison, or at least, in captivity.

Heb. the children of death, (i. e.) Which were either designed to death, or in manifest danger of it, as being wholly in the power of their cruel and barbarous enemies.

Marginal references: Psal. 102. 20.; Heb. thine arm.; Heb. reserve the children of death.

12 And render unto our neighbours sevenfold into their bosom , there reproach wherewith they have reproached thee, , O Lord.

(i. e.) Either 1. Abundantly, as this Phrase notes, Isa. 65. 6, 7. Ier. 32. 18. Luke 6. 38. Or 2. Sensibly, so as it may come home to them, and fall heavily upon them in their own persons.

As impotent or unfaithful or unmerciful to his own people. So they intimate that this dedesire did not proceed from a revengeful mind, but from a due sence of God's favour.

Supplicatory Prayer in a Time of Devastation, of Bloodshed, and of Derision

This Psalm is in every respect the pendant of Ps 74. The points of contact are not merely matters of style (cf. Psa 79:5, how long for ever? with Psa 74:1, Psa 74:10; Psa 79:10, יוּדע, with Psa 74:5; Psa 79:2, the giving over to the wild beasts, with Psa 74:19, Psa 74:14; Psa 79:13, the conception of Israel as of a flock, in which respect Psa 79:1-13 is judiciously appended to Psa 78:70-72, with Psa 74:1, and also with Psa 74:19). But the mutual relationships lie still deeper. Both Psalms have the same Asaphic stamp, both stand in the same relation to Jeremiah, and both send forth their complaint out of the same circumstances of the time, concerning a destruction of the Temple and of Jerusalem, such as only the age of the Seleucidae (1 Macc. 1:31; 3:45, 2 Macc. 8:3) together with the Chaldaean periodAccording to Sofrim xviii. §3, Psa 79:1-13 and Psa 137:1-9 are the Psalms for the Kînoth-day, i.e., the 9th day of Ab, the day commemorative of the Chaldaean and Roman destruction of Jerusalem. can exhibit, and in conjunction with a defiling of the Temple and a massacre of the servants of God, of the Chasîdîm (1 Macc. 7:13, 2 Macc. 14:6), such as the age of the Seleucidae exclusively can exhibit. The work of the destruction of the Temple which was in progress in Ps 74, appears in Psa 79:1-13 as completed, and here, as in the former Psalm, one receives the impression of the outrages, not of some war, but of some persecution: it is straightway the religion of Israel for the sake of which the sanctuaries are destroyed and the faithful are massacred.

Apart from other striking accords, Psa 79:6-7 are repeated verbatim in Jer 10:25. It is in itself far more probable that Jeremiah here takes up the earlier language of the Psalm than that the reverse is the true relation; and, as Hengstenberg has correctly observed, this is also favoured by the fact that the words immediately before viz., Jer 10:24, originate out of Psa 6:2, and that the connection in the Psalm is a far closer one. But since there is no era of pre-Maccabaean history corresponding to the complaints of the Psalm,Cassiodorus and Bruno observe: deplorat Antiochi persecutionem tempore Machabeorum factam, tunc futuram. And Notker adds: To those who have read the First Book of the Maccabees it (viz., the destruction bewailed in the Psalm) is familiar.

Jeremiah is to be regarded in this instance as the example of the psalmist; and in point of fact the borrower is betrayed in Psa 79:6-7 of the Psalm by the fact that the correct על of Jeremiah is changed into אל, the more elegant משׁפחות into ממלכות, and the plural אכלוּ into אכל, and the soaring exuberance of Jeremiah’s expression is impaired by the omission of some of the words.

Psa 79:1-4

The Psalm begins with a plaintive description, and in fact one that makes complaint to God. Its opening sounds like Lam 1:10. The defiling does not exclude the reducing to ashes, it is rather spontaneously suggested in Psa 74:7 in company with wilful incendiarism. The complaint in Psa 79:1 reminds one of the prophecy of Micah, Mic 3:12, which in its time excited so much vexation (Jer 26:18); and Psa 79:2, Deu 28:26. עבדיך confers upon those who were massacred the honour of martyrdom. The lxx renders לעיים by εἰς ὀπωροφυλάκιον, a flourish taken from Isa 1:8. Concerning the quotation from memory in 1 Macc. 7:16f., vid., the introduction to Ps 74. The translator of the originally Hebrew First Book of the Maccabees even in other instances betrays an acquaintance with the Greek Psalter (cf. 1 Macc. 1:37, καὶ ἐξέχεαν αἷμα ἀθῷον κύκλῳ τοῦ ἁγιάσματος). “As water,” i.e., (cf. Deu 15:23) without setting any value upon it and without any scruple about it. Psa 44:14 is repeated in Psa 79:4. At the time of the Chaldaean catastrophe this applied more particularly to the Edomites.

Psa 79:5-8

Out of the plaintive question how long? and whether endlessly God would be angry and cause His jealousy to continue to burn like a fire (Deu 32:22), grows up the prayer (Psa 79:6) that He would turn His anger against the heathen who are estranged from the hostile towards Him, and of whom He is now making use as a rod of anger against His people. The taking over of Psa 79:6-7 from Jer 10:25 is not betrayed by the looseness of the connection of thought; but in themselves these four lines sound much more original in Jeremiah, and the style is exactly that of this prophet, cf. Jer 6:11; Jer 2:3, and frequently, Psa 49:20. The אל, instead of על, which follows שׁפך is incorrect; the singular אכל gathers all up as in one mass, as in Isa 5:26; Isa 17:13. The fact that such power over Israel is given to the heathen world has its ground in the sins of Israel. From Psa 79:8 it may be inferred that the apostasy which raged earlier is now checked. ראשׁנים is not an adjective (Job 31:28; Isa 59:2), which would have been expressed by עונותינו חראשׁנים, but a genitive: the iniquities of the forefathers (Lev 26:14, cf. Psa 39:1-13). On Psa 79:8 of Jdg 6:6. As is evident from Psa 79:9, the poet does not mean that the present generation, itself guiltless, has to expiate the guilt of the fathers (on the contrary, Deu 24:16; 2Ki 14:6; Eze 18:20); he prays as one of those who have turned away from the sins of the fathers, and who can now no longer consider themselves as placed under wrath, but under sin-pardoning and redeeming grace.

Psa 79:9-12

The victory of the world is indeed not God’s aim; therefore His own honour does not suffer that the world of which He has made use in order to chasten His people should for ever haughtily triumph. שׁמך is repeated with emphasis at the end of the petition in Psa 79:9, according to the figure epanaphora. על־דּבר = למען, as in Psa 45:5, cf. Psa 7:1, is a usage even of the language of the Pentateuch. Also the motive, “wherefore shall they say?” occurs even in the Tôra (Exo 32:12, cf. Num 14:13-17; Deu 9:28). Here (cf. Psa 115:2) it originates out of Joe 2:17. The wish expressed in Psa 79:10 is based upon Deu 32:43. The poet wishes in company with his contemporaries, as eye-witnesses, to experience what God has promised in the early times, viz., that He will avenge the blood of His servants. The petition in Deu 32:11 runs like Psa 102:21, cf. Psa 18:7. אסיר individualizingly is those who are carried away captive and incarcerated; בּני תמוּתה are those who, if God does not preserve them by virtue of the greatness (גדל, cf. גּדל Exo 15:16) of His arm, i.e., of His far-reaching omnipotence, succumb to the power of death as to a patria potestas.The Arabic has just this notion in an active application, viz., benı̂ el - môt = the heroes (destroyers) in the battle.

That the petition in Psa 79:12 recurs to the neighbouring peoples is explained by the fact, that these, who might most readily come to the knowledge of the God of Israel as the one living and true God, have the greatest degree of guilt on account of their reviling of God. The bosom is mentioned as that in which one takes up and holds that which is handed to him (Luk 6:38); חיק- (על) אל (שׁלּם) השׁיב, as in Isa 65:7, Isa 65:6; Jer 32:18. A sevenfold requital (cf. Gen 4:15, Gen 4:24) is a requital that is fully carried out as a criminal sentence, for seven is the number of a completed process.

Psa 79:13

If we have thus far correctly hit upon the parts of which the Psalm is composed (9. 9. 9), then the lamentation closes with this tristichic vow of thanksgiving.

Mournful Complaints.

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.

Petitions for Succor and Relief; Petitions for Deliverance.

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.

PSAL. LXXIX.

A Psalme of Asaph.

O God, the heathens are come into thine inheritance; they have defiled the Palace of thine Holinesse, they have laid Ierusalem on heaps. They have given the carkasse of thy servants, for meat, to the fowle of the heavens; the flesh of thy gracious Saints to the wilde beast of the earth. They have shed their bloud like waters round about Ierusalem, and there was none to bury them. We are a reproach to our neighbours, a scoffe and a scorne to them that are round about us. How long, Iehovah, wilt thou be angry to perpetuitie; shall thy jealousie burne as fire? Powre out thy wrathfull heat upō the heathens which know thee not, and upon the kingdoms which call not on thy Name. For he hath eaten up Iakob, and his habitation they have wonderously desolated. Remember not against us former iniquities; make haste, let thy tender mercies prevent us, for wee are brought very low. Helpe us, O God of our salvation, because of the glory of thy Name, and ridde us free, and mercifully cover our sinnes for thy names sake. Why shall the heathens say, where is their God? knowne be among the heathens before our eyes, the vengeance of the bloud of thy servants that is shed. Let the sighing of the prisoner come before thy face; according to the greatnesse of thine arme, reserve thou the sons of death. And render to our neighbors seven-fold into their bosome, their reproach, wherewith they have reproached thee, O Lord. And we thy people, and sheepe of thy pasture, will confesse to thee for ever; to generation and generation, we will tell thy praise.

Annotations. OF Asaph] or to him: see Ps. 50. 1. thine inheritance] or possession; the land of Canaan invaded by the Gentiles, Exod. 15. 17. 2 Sam. 20. 19. Ier. 50. 10, 11. Lam. 1. 10. heapes] that is, ruines, Mic. 1. 6. and 3. 12. Vers. 2. carkasse] for carkasses, as after, beast, for beasts; and prisoner, vers. 11. for prisoners: See Psal. 34. 8. Vers. 3. none to bury] which is a thing most dishonourable, Eccl. 6. 3. Cōpare herewith, Rev. 11. 2, 9. Vers. 5. jealousie] that is, hot wrath burne, as Psal. 89. 47. So Ezek. 36. 5. elsewhere it is said to smoake, Deut. 29. 19. this fire is the flame of Iah. Song 8. 6. Vers. 6. which call not &c.] a note of prophanenesse, Psalm. 14. 4. This sentence Ieremie useth, Ier. 10. 25. Vers. 8. former iniquities] iniquities of former times (or persons;) done by us, or our fathers, as Psal. 25. 7. both are joyned together, Lev. 26. 40. Lam. 5. 7. Former, and iniquities, differ in gender, yet many times such are coupled, the sense being regarded more than strict forme of words; which the Hebrew text sometime manifesteth, as tabo, 2. Sam. 8. 5. for which in 1 Chron. 18. 5. is jabo; lahen. 2 Chron. 18. 16. lahem, 1 King. 22. 17. So againe in this Psalme, vers. 10. brought low] or, weakened, emptied, impoverished. See this word, Psal. 41. 2. and 116. 6. Vers. 10. knowne be] to wit, the vengeance, let it be open and manifest. The Chaldee translateth, Let him be revealed among the peoples, that we may see the vengeance of thy servants bloud that is shed. Here againe the words differ in gender, (as was noted before, vers. 8.) wherefore some turne it, let him (that is, God) be knowne, by the vengeance, &c. Compare herewith Deut. 32. 42, 43. Jer. 51. 36, 37. Vers. 11. the sighing] or the groaning mournfull crie: So Psal. 102. 21. reserve] or make to remaine, that is, keepe alive from destruction; which if God had not done, they had been as Gomorrah, Isa. 1. 9. And this God promised to doe, Ezek. 6. 7, 8. and 12. 16. sonnes of death] that is, persons appointed to die, or worthy of death; in Chaldee, delivered to death: as 1 Sam. 20. 31. Deut. 25. 2. So Psal. 102. 21. and, Sonne of perdition, 2 Thes. 2. 3. Vers. 12. seven-fold] that is, fully and abundantly. See Psal. 12. 7. into their bosome] that is, largely, and that it may affect, & cleave unto them; so Isa. 65. 7. Ier. 32. 18. See also Luk. 6. 38.

PSAL. LXXIX.

A Pſalm] Of like ſubject, with Pſalm 74. bewayling the ſame calamity of the Jews, whether under Nebuchadnezzar or Antiochus is uncertain; but foreſeen by Aſaph, or deſcribed by ſome other Prophet, and committed to ſome of Aſaphs ſucceſſours to be ſung. Cantant juſti etiam in adverſis; as birds in the Spring tune moſt ſweetly, when it raineth moſt ſadly.

Verſ. 1. O God the Heathen] Ex abrupto ord[illegible: 1 letter]tur; q. d. canſt thou endure it? Is it not high time for thee to ſet in? Lo they have filled the breadth of thy land, O Immanuel, Iſa. 8.8. that is, O thou who art God with us, who giveſt with the Father,Cum parte dator, inter nos petitor. Aug. who prayeſt with the ſuitor, and who in all our afflictions art afflicted.

The holy Temple have they defiled] Spoliando, funeſtando, & omnia profana impia que munera obeundo, See Pſal. 74.7.

They have laid Jeruſalem on heaps] In rudera, into an Orchard-keepers cottage, [non-Latin text not transcribed]. Sept. ſaith the Vulgar. An elegant Hypotypoſis.

Verſ. 2. The dead bodies of thy Servants] Either they denyed them the honour of buriall (which is reckoned among the [non-Latin text not transcribed] the dues of the dead) or elſe they mangled their dead bodies, and exerciſed their rage upon them, [non-Latin text not transcribed], &c. as the Papiſts did upon Huſſe, and Zuinglius, and many of the Engliſh Martyrs. A barbarous practice, as Pauſan[illegible: 1 letter]as judged it in Herodot. Call[illegible: 1 letter]ope.

The fleſh of thy Saints, &c.] Of thy beneficiaries, whoſe ſouls are with thee in Heaven; theſe have not ſo much as a burying-place on earth, but lye like common carrion Morticina, like cattle that dye of the murrain, and are moſt ignominiouſly dealt withall: And yet theſe are Gods Saints, and in ſome ſenſe, Martyrs.

Verſ. 3. Their blood have they ſhed like water] They made no more reckoning of it, than of ditch-water; and were ready to ſay as Hannibal did when he ſaw a ditch full of mens blood, O formoſum spectacutum! O beautifull ſight!Contemptim vel abjecte.

And there was none to bury them] Either none to bury them at all;Immaniatis eſt Scythicae non ſepelir[illegible: 1 letter] mortuos. Sen. ad Ma[illegible: 1 letter]tiam. which the Jews accounted worſe than death, Eccleſ. 6. and the Romans extreme cruelty: Or none to bury them, cum ritibus with the accuſtomed rites and ceremonies, as Jacob was buried, Gen. 50. but not Jeconiah, Jer. 22.18.

Verſ. 4. Wee are become a reproach to our neighbours] To the Edomites, Philiſtines, Syrians, Tyrians, &c. who do now compoſe comedies out of our tragedies.

A ſcorn and deriſion to them that are round about us] Quorum opprobriis, Iudibriis, & contumeliis ſumus expoſiti. This was more grievous to them than ſtripes or wounds, ſaith Chryſoſtom; becauſe theſe being infflicted upon the body, are divided after a ſort betwixt ſoul and body; but ſcorns and reproaches do wound the ſould only. Hebet quendam aculeum contumelia, they leave a ſting behind them,Act. 5 in Ver. as Cicero obſerveth.

Verſ. 5. How long wilt thou be angry, &c?] Or, How long? wilt thou be angry for ever? The Pſalmiſt knew that the enemies were but Gods executioners; and that if he were but once pacified, they ſhould ſoon be put out of office.

Shall thy jealouſy] viz. For our Idolatry, Exod. 20.

Verſ. 6. Pour out thy wrath, &c.] Even the full vials of it.

That have not known thee] More than by the book of the Creatures, wherein there is indeed a [non-Latin text not transcribed], ſomething of God manifeſted, Rom. 1.19, 20. even his eternal power and God-head, rendring men without excuſe, but nothing of his goodneſs and patience leading them to repentance, chap. 2.4.

That have not called upon thy Name] A note of prophaneneſs, Pſal. 14.4.

Verſ. 7. For they have devoured Jacob] As Wolves and other ravenous creatures do the ſimple ſheep.

His dwelling-place] Or, his cottage, his ſheep-coat.

Verſ. 8. O remember not againſt us former iniquities] Or, The iniquities of them [illegible: 1 word] were before us, wherewith we alſo are juſtly chargeable; the ſin of the golden calf, ſaith the Arabick here, [non-Latin text not transcribed]. Diodor. Curt. lib. 7. an ounce whereof is in all our ſufferings to this day, ſay the Jews. Alexander ſlew the Bran[illegible: 1 letter]hidae, and utterly deſtroyed their City, becauſe their Fore-fathers had long before indeavoured to betray Greece into the hands of Xerxes.

Speedily prevent us] Leſt they come too late; for we are at laſt gaſp.

Verſ. 9. Help us — for the glory of thy Name] A ſpeeding argument. God will do much for his own glory, his wife as it were.

Purge away our ſins] Which nothing can do, but tender mercy.

Verſ. 10. Where is their God?] See Pſal. 42.3. So Turks at this day (when they have the better of Chriſtians) cry, where is the Chriſtians God? We are the right Muſalmans, &c.

By the revenging of the blood of thy Servants, &c.] For the which make thou inquiſition, and do juſtice.

Verſ. 11. Let the ſighing of the priſoner, &c.] It was lately in many places of this land a like difficult thing, to find a wicked man in the enemies priſons, or a godly man out of them. The ſights of ſuch were ſhril in Gods ears.

Preſerve thou thoſe that are appointed to dye] Heb. The children of death, thoſe that being deſtined to deſtruction ſeem to be as much in deaths power, as children are in their Parents. The Arabick rendreth it, Redime filios occiſorum, Redeem the children of thoſe who are ſlain, leſt the name of their Parents be blotted out.

Verſ. 12. Into their boſomes] Full meaſure, preſſed down, ſhaken together, and running over, Luk. 6.38. See Iſa. 65.6, 7. Jer. 32.18.

Wherewith they have reproached thee] viz. In reproaching us, who do quarter armes, as it were, with thee.

Verſ. 13. So wee thy people — will give thee praiſe] A ſervice which the Saints know to be ſo acceptable to God, that they commonly promiſe it, and accordingly perform it, Hoſ. 14.2. ingaging alſo their children, as here, to do the like.

O God, the heathen are come into thine inheritance. It is the cry of amazement at sacrilegious intrusion; as if the poet were struck with horror. The stranger pollutes thine hallowed courts with his tread. All Canaan is thy land, but thy foes have ravaged it. "Thy holy temple have they defiled." Into the inmost sanctuary they have profanely forced their way, and there behaved themselves arrogantly. Thus, the holy land, the holy house, and the holy city, were all polluted by the uncircumcised. It is an awful thing when wicked men are found in the church and numbered with her ministry. Then are the tares sown with the wheat, and the poisoned gourds cast into the pot. "They have laid Jerusalem on heaps." After devouring and defiling, they have come to destroying, and have done their work with a cruel completeness. Jerusalem, the beloved city, the joy of the nation, the abode of her God, was totally wrecked. Alas! alas! for Israel! It is sad to see the foe in our own house, but worse to meet him in the house of God; they strike hardest who smite at our religion. The psalmist piles up the agony; he was a suppliant, and he knew how to bring out the strong points of his case. We ought to order our case before the Lord with as much care as if our success depended on our pleading. Men in earthly courts use all their powers to obtain their ends, and so also should we state our case with earnestness, and bring forth our strong arguments.

"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." The enemy cared not to bury the dead, and there was not a sufficient number of Israel left alive to perform the funeral rites; therefore, the precious relics of the departed were left to be devoured of vultures and torn by wolves. Beasts on which man could not feed fed on him. The flesh of creation's Lord became meat for carrion crows and hungry dogs. Dire are the calamities of war, yet have they happened to God's saints and servants. This might well move the heart of the poet, and he did well to appeal to the heart of God by reciting the grievous evil. Such might have been the lamentation of an early Christian as he thought of the amphitheatre and all its deeds of blood. Note in the two verses how the plea is made to turn upon God's property in the temple and the people: —we read "thine inheritance, ""thy temple, ""thy servants, "and "thy saints." Surely the Lord will defend his own, and will not suffer rampant adversaries to despoil them.

"Their blood have they shed like water round about Jerusalem." The invaders slew men as if their blood was of no more value than so much water; they poured it forth as lavishly as when the floods deluge the plains. The city of holy peace became a field of blood. "And there was none to bury them." The few who survived were afraid to engage in the task. This was a serious trial and grievous horror to the Jews, who evinced much care concerning their burials. Has it come to this, that there are none to bury the dead of thy family, O Lord? Can none be found to grant a shovelful of earth with which to cover up the poor bodies of thy murdered saints? What woe is here! How glad should we be that we live in so quiet an age, when the blast of the trumpet is no more heard in our streets.

"We are become a reproach to our neighbours." Those who have escaped the common foe make a mockery of us, they fling our disasters into our face, and ask us, "Where is your God?" Pity should be shown to the afflicted, but in too many cases it is not so, for a hard logic argues that those who suffer more than ordinary calamities must have been extraordinary sinners. Neighbours especially are often the reverse of neighbourly; the nearer they dwell the less they sympathize. It is most pitiable it should be so. "A scorn and a derision to them that are round about us." To find mirth in others' miseries, and to exult over the ills of others, is worthy only of the devil and of those whose father he is. Thus the case is stated before the Lord, and it is a very deplorable one. Asaph was an excellent advocate, for he gave a telling description of calamities which were under his own eyes, and in which he sympathized, but we have a mightier Intercessor above, who never ceases to urge our suit before the eternal throne.

"How long, Lord?" Will there be no end to these chastisements? They are most sharp and overwhelming; wilt thou much longer continue them? "Wilt thou be angry for ever?" Is thy mercy gone so that thou wilt for ever smite? "Shall thy jealousy burn like fire?" There was great cause for the Lord to be jealous, since idols had been set up, and Israel had gone aside from his worship, but the psalmist begs the Lord not to consume his people utterly as with fire, but to abate their woes.

"Pour out thy wrath upon the heathen that have not known thee." If thou must smite look further afield; spare thy children and strike thy foes. There are lands where thou art in no measure acknowledged; be pleased to visit these first with thy judgments, and let thine erring Israel have a respite. "And upon the kingdoms that have not called upon thy name." Hear us the prayerful, and avenge thyself upon the prayerless. Sometimes providence appears to deal much more severely with the righteous than with the wicked, and this verse is a bold appeal founded upon such an appearance. It in effect says —Lord, if thou must empty out the vials of thy wrath, begin with those who have no measure of regard for thee, but are openly up in arms against thee; and be pleased to spare thy people, who are thine notwithstanding all their sins.

"For they have devoured Jacob." The oppressor would quite eat up the saints if he could. If these lions do not swallow us, it is because the Lord has sent his angel and shut the lions' mouths. "And laid waste his dwelling place," or his pasture. The invader left no food for man or beast, but devoured all as the locust. The tender mercies of the wicked are cruel.

"O remember not against us former iniquities." Sins accumulate against nations. Generations lay up stores of transgressions to be visited upon their successors; hence this urgent prayer. In Josiah's days the most earnest repentance was not able to avert the doom which former long years of idolatry had sealed against Judah. Every man has reason to ask for an act of oblivion for his past sins, and every nation should make this a continual prayer. "Let thy tender mercies speedily prevent us: for we are brought very low." Hasten to our rescue, for our nation is hurrying down to destruction; our numbers are diminished and our condition is deplorable. Observe how penitent sorrow seizes upon the sweeter attributes, and draws her picas from the "tender mercies" of God; see, too, how she pleads her own distress, and not her goodness, as a motive for the display of mercy. Let souls who are brought very low find an argument in their abject condition. What can so powerfully appeal to pity as dire affliction? The quaint prayer-book version is touchingly expressive: "O remember not our old sins, but have mercy upon us, and that soon; for we are come to great misery." This supplication befits a sinner's life. We have known seasons when this would have been as good a prayer for our burdened heart as any that human mind could compose.

"Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of thy name." This is masterly pleading. No argument has such force as this. God's glory was tarnished in the eyes of the heathen by the defeat of his people, and the profanation of his temple; therefore, his distressed servants implore his aid, that his great name may no more be the scorn of blaspheming enemies. "And deliver us, and purge away our sins, for thy name's sake." Sin,—the root of the evil—is seen and confessed; pardon of sin is sought as well as removal of chastisement, and both are asked not as matters of right, but as gifts of grace. God's name is a second time brought into the pleading. Believers will find it their wisdom to use very frequently this noble plea: it is the great gun of the battle, the mightiest weapon in the armoury of prayer.

"Wherefore should the heathen say, Where is their God?" Why should those impious mouths be filled with food so sweet to them, but so bitter to us? When the afflictions of God's people become the derision of sinners, and cause them to ridicule religion, we have good ground for expostulation with the Lord. "Let him be known among the heathen in our sight by the revenging of the blood of thy servants which is shed." Justice is desired that God may be vindicated and feared. It is but meet that those who taunted the people of God because they smarted under the Lord's rod, should be made themselves also to smart by the same hand. If any complain of the spirit of this imprecation, we think they do so needlessly; for it is the common feeling of every patriot to desire to see his country's wrongs redressed, and of every Christian to wish a noble vengeance for the church by the overthrow of error. The destruction of Antichrist is the recompense of the blood of the martyrs, and by no means is it to be deprecated; far rather is it one of the most glorious hopes of the latter days.

"Let the sighing of the prisoner come before thee." When thy people cannot sing, and dare not shout aloud, then let their silent sigh ascend into thine ear, and secure for them deliverance. These words are suitable for the afflicted in a great variety of conditions; men of experience will know how to adapt them to their own position and to use them in reference to others. "According to the greatness of thy power preserve thou those that are appointed to die." Faith grows while it prays; the appeal to the Lord's tender mercy is here supplemented by another addressed to the divine power, and the petitioner rises from a request for those who are brought low, to a prayer for those who are on the verge of death, set apart as victims for the slaughter. How consoling is it to desponding believers to reflect that God can preserve even those who bear the sentence of death in themselves. Men and devils may consign us to perdition, while sickness drags us to the grave, and sorrow sinks us in the dust; but, there is One who can keep our soul alive, ay, and bring it up again from the depths of despair. A lamb shall live between the lion's jaws if the Lord wills it. Even in the charnel, life shall vanquish death if God be near.

"And render unto our neighbours sevenfold into their bosom their reproach, wherewith they have reproached thee, O Lord." They denied thine existence, mocked thy power, insulted thy worship, and destroyed thy house; up, therefore, O Lord, and make them feel to the full that thou art not to be mocked with impunity. Pour into their laps good store of shame because they dared insult the God of Israel. Recompense them fully, till they have received the perfect number of punishments. It will be so. The wish of the text will become matter of fact. The Lord will avenge his own elect though he bear long with them.

"So we thy people and sheep of thy pasture will give thee thanks far ever; we will shew forth thy praise to all generations." The gratitude of the church is lasting as well as deep. On her tablets are memorials of great deliverances, and, as long as she shall exist, her sons will rehearse them with delight. We have a history which will survive all other records, and it is bright in every line with the glory of the Lord. From the direst calamities God's glory springs, and the dark days of his people become the prelude to unusual displays of the Lord's love and power.

Whole Psalm. This Psalm is, in every respect, the pendant of Psalm 74. The points of contact are not merely matters of style (Ps 79:5, "how long for ever?" with Ps 74:1,10 79:10, edwy, with Ps 74:5 79:2, the giving over to the wild beasts, with Ps 74:19,14 79:13, the conception of Israel as of a flock, in which respect Psalm 79 is judiciously appended to Ps 78:70-72, with Ps 74:1 and also with Ps 74:19.) But the mutual relationships lie still deeper. Both Psalms have the same Asaphic stamp, both stand in the same relation to Jeremiah, and both send forth their complaints out of the same circumstances of the time, concerning a destruction of the Temple and of Jerusalem, such as only the age of the Seleucidae (1 Maccabees 1:31 3:45 2 Maccabees 8:3), together with the Chaldean period can exhibit, and in conjunction with a defiling of the Temple and a massacre of the servants of God, of the Chasîdîm (1 Maccabees 7:13 14:6), such as the age of the Seleucidae exclusively can exhibit. The work of the destruction of the Temple which was in progress in Ps 74:1-23, appears in Ps 79:1-13 as completed, and here, as in the former Psalm, one receives the impression of the outrages, not of some war, but of some persecution: it is straightway the religion of Israel for the sake of which the sanctuaries are destroyed and the faithful are massacred.—Franz Delitzsch.

Thy holy temple have they defiled. This was not only the highest degree of the enemy's inhumanity and barbarity, ...but also a calamity to the people of God never to be sufficiently deplored. For by the overthrow of the temple the true worship of God, which had been instituted at that temple alone, appeared to be extinguished, and the knowledge of God to vanish from among mankind. No pious heart could ponder this without the greatest grief. Mollerus.

They have laid Jerusalem on heaps. They have made Jerusalem to be nothing but graves. Such multitudes were cruelly slain and murdered, that Jerusalem was, as it were, but one grave.—Joseph Caryl.

Verses 1-4. In the time of the Maccabees, Demetrius, the son of Seleuces, sent Bacchides to Jerusalem; who slew the scribes, who came to require justice, and the Assideans, the first of the children of Israel who sought peace of them. Bacchides "took of them threescore men, and slew them in one day, according to the words which he wrote, the flesh of thy saints have they cast out, and their blood have they shed round about Jerusalem, and there was none to bury them." And in that last and most fearful destruction, when the eagles of Rome were gathered round the doomed city, and the temple of which God had said, "Let us depart hence; "when one stone was not to be left upon another, when the fire was to consume the sanctuary, and the foundations of Sion were to be ploughed up; when Jerusalem was to be filled with slain, and the sons of Judah were to be crucified round her walls in such thick multitudes that no more room was left for death; when insult, and shame, and scorn was the lot of the child of Israel, as he wandered an outcast, a fugitive in all lands; when all these bitter and deadly things came upon Jerusalem, it was as a punishment for many and long repeated crimes; it was the accomplishment of a warning which had been often sent in vain. Yea, fiercely did thy foes assault thee, O Jerusalem, but thy sins more fiercely still!—"Plain Commentary."

Verses 1, 4, 5. Entering the inhabited part of the old city, and winding through some crooked, filthy lanes, I suddenly found myself on turning a sharp corner, in a spot of singular interest; the "Jews' place of Wailing." It is a small paved quadrangle; on one side are the backs of low modern houses, without door or window; on the other is the lofty wall of the Haram, of recent date above, but having below five courses of bevelled stones in a perfect state of preservation. Here the Jews are permitted to approach the sacred enclosure, and wail over the fallen temple, whose very dust is dear to them, and in whose stones they still take pleasure. Ps 102:14. It was Friday, and a crowd of miserable devotees had assembled —men and women of all ages and all nations dressed in the quaint costumes of every country of Europe and Asia. Old men were there, —pale, haggard, careworn men tottering on pilgrim staves; and little girls with white faces, and lustrous black eyes, gazing wistfully now at their parents, now at the old wall. Some were on their knees, chanting mournfully from a book of Hebrew prayers, swaying their bodies to and fro; some were prostrate on the ground, pressing forehead and lips to the earth; some were close to the wall, burying their faces in the rents and crannies of the old stones; some were kissing them, some had their arms spread out as if they would clasp them to their bosoms, some were bathing them with tears, and all the while sobbing as if their hearts would burst. It was a sad and touching spectacle. Eighteen centuries of exile and woe have not dulled their hearts' affections, or deadened their feelings of devotion. Here we see them assembled from the ends of the earth, poor, despised, down trodden outcasts, —amid the desolations of their fatherland, beside the dishonoured ruins of their ancient sanctuary, —chanting now in accents of deep pathos, and now of wild woe, the prophetic words of their own psalmist, —O God the heathen are come into thine inheritance; thy holy temple have they defiled...We are become a reproach to our neighbours, a scorn and derision to them that are round about us. How long, Lord? wilt thou be angry for ever?—J. L. Porter, in "The Giant Cities of Bashan." 1865.

"The dead bodies of thy servants, "etc. It is a true saying of S. Augustine, The care of our funeral, the manner of our burial, the exequial pomp, all these magis sunt vivorum solatia quam subsidia mortuorum, are rather comforts for the living than any way helps for the dead. To be interred profiteth not the party deceased; his body feels it not, his soul regards it not; and we know that many holy martyrs have been excluded from burial, who in a Christian scorn thereof bespoke their persecutors in words of those which were slain at Pharsalia: "You effect nothing by this anger; what matters it whether disease dissolve the body, or the funeral pile!" But yet there is an honesty (i.e. a right, a proper respect) which belongeth to the dead body of man. Jehu commanded Jezebel to be buried; David thanked the people of Jabesh Gilead for burying of Saul. Peter, who commanded Ananias and Sapphira, those false abdicators of their patrimony, to die, commanded to have them buried being dead. It is an axiom of charity, Mortuo non prohibeas gratiam, withhold not kindness from the dead. It shows our love and regard for men in our own flesh to see them buried; it manifests our faith and hope of the resurrection; and therefore when that body which is to rise again, and to be made glorious and immortal in heaven, shall be cast to the fowls of the air or beasts of the field, it argues in God great indignation against sin (Jer 22:19, of Jehoiakim, "He shall be buried as an ass is buried, and cast forth without the gates of Jerusalem"); in man inhuman and barbarous cruelty.—John Dunster, in "Prodromus." 1613.

(The following extract is from the writings of a godly monk who applies the language of the Psalm to the persecutions of his time. He wrote at Rome during the period of the Reformation, and was evidently a favourer of the gospel.) At this day what river is there, what brook, in this our afflicted Europe, (if it is still ours) that we have not seen flowing with the blood of Christians? And that too shed by the swords and spears of Christians? Wherefore there is made a great wailing in Israel; and the princes and elders mourn; the young men and virgins are become weak, and the beauty of the women is changed. Why? The holy place itself is desolate as a wilderness. Hast thou ever seen so dire a spectacle? They have piled up in heaps the dead bodies of thy servants to be devoured by birds: the unburied remains of thy saints, I say, they have given to the beasts of the earth. What greater cruelty could ever be committed? So great was the effusion of human blood at that time, that the rivulets, yea, rather, the rivers round the entire circuit of the city, flowed with it. And thus truly is the form of our most beautiful city laid waste, and its loveliness; and so reduced is it, that not even the men who carry forth dead bodies for burial can be obtained, though pressed with the offer of large rewards; so full of fear and horror were their minds: and this was all the more bitter, because "We are become a reproach to those round about us," and are spoken of in derision by the infidels abroad and by enemies at home. Who is so bold as to endure this and live? How long therefore shall this most bitter disquietude last?—Giambattista Folengo. 1490-1559.

(The following extract is from the writings of a godly monk who applies the language of the Psalm to the persecutions of his time. He wrote at Rome during the period of the Reformation, and was evidently a favourer of the gospel.) At this day what river is there, what brook, in this our afflicted Europe, (if it is still ours) that we have not seen flowing with the blood of Christians? And that too shed by the swords and spears of Christians? Wherefore there is made a great wailing in Israel; and the princes and elders mourn; the young men and virgins are become weak, and the beauty of the women is changed. Why? The holy place itself is desolate as a wilderness. Hast thou ever seen so dire a spectacle? They have piled up in heaps the dead bodies of thy servants to be devoured by birds: the unburied remains of thy saints, I say, they have given to the beasts of the earth. What greater cruelty could ever be committed? So great was the effusion of human blood at that time, that the rivulets, yea, rather, the rivers round the entire circuit of the city, flowed with it. And thus truly is the form of our most beautiful city laid waste, and its loveliness; and so reduced is it, that not even the men who carry forth dead bodies for burial can be obtained, though pressed with the offer of large rewards; so full of fear and horror were their minds: and this was all the more bitter, because "We are become a reproach to those round about us," and are spoken of in derision by the infidels abroad and by enemies at home. Who is so bold as to endure this and live? How long therefore shall this most bitter disquietude last?—Giambattista Folengo. 1490-1559.

"Dead bodies of thy servants have they given to be meat unto the fowls." With what unconcern are we accustomed to view, on all sides of us, multitudes, "dead in trespasses and sins, "torn in pieces, and devoured by wild passions, filthy lusts, and infernal spirits, those dogs and vultures of the moral world! Yet, to a discerning eye, and a thinking mind, the latter is by far the more melancholy sight of the two.—George Horne.

"Thy servants." "Thy saints." No temporal wrath, no calamities whatsoever can separate the Lord's children from God's love and estimation of them, nor untie the relation between God and them: for here, albeit their carcases fall, and be devoured by the fowls of heaven and beasts of the earth, yet remain they the Lord's servants and saints under these sufferings.—David Dickson.

"We are become a reproach." 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 off scouring of all things."—Matthew Henry.

"A scorn and derision to them that are round about us." This was more grievous to them than stripes or wounds, saith Chrysostom, because these being inflicted upon the body are divided after a sort betwixt soul and body, but scorns and reproaches do wound the soul only. Habet quendam aculeum contumelia, they leave a sting behind them, as Cicero observeth.—John Trapp.

It is the height of reproach a father casts upon his child when he commands his slave to beat him. Of all outward judgments this is the sorest, to have strangers rule over us, as being made up of shame and cruelty. If once the heathen come into God's inheritance, no wonder the church complains that she is "become a reproach to her neighbours, a shame and derision to all round about her."—Abraham Wright.

"How long, Lord? Wilt thou be angry for ever?" The voice of complaint says not, How long, Lord, shall this wickedness of our enemy endure? How long shall we see this desolation? But, How long, O Lord? Wilt thou be angry for ever? We are admonished, therefore, in this passage, that we should recognize the anger of God against us in all our afflictions, lest as the nations are accustomed, we only accuse the malice of our enemies, and never think of our sins and the divine punishment. It cannot be that he who acknowledges the anger of God that is upon him, should not at the same time acknowledge his fault also, unless he wishes to attribute the iniquity to God of being angry and inflicting stripes upon the undeserving.—Musculus.

The word "jealousy" signifies not mere revenge but revenge mingled with love, for unless he loved, says Jerome, he would not be jealous, and after the manner of a husband avenge the sin of his wife.—Lorinus.

Neglect of prayer by unbelievers is threatened with punishment. The prophet's imprecation is the same in effect with a threatening, see Jer 10:25, and same imprecation, Ps 79:6. The prophets would not have used such an imprecation against those that call not upon God, but that their neglect of calling on his name makes them liable to his wrath and fury; and no neglect makes men liable to the wrath of God but the neglect of duty. Prayer, then, is a duty even to the heathen, the neglect of which provokes him to pour out his fury on them.—David Clarkson.

"They have devoured Jacob." Like wolves who cruelly tear and devour a flock of sheep. For the word which follows signifies not only a habitation in general, but also a sheepcote.—Mollerus.

"O remember not against us former iniquities." The prophet numbers himself with the people not only in their affliction, but also in their distress, and liability to the anger of God because of the crimes committed. He was not a partner in those enormous sins by which they had provoked the jealousy of God, and yet he exempts not himself from the people at large. Thus, in the following verse, he says, "And purge away our sins." He says not, Remember not the iniquity of this people; nor, And purge away their sins: But, Remember not our iniquities: and Purge away our sins. In this way the prophets, though holy men, were wont to make themselves sharers of the people's sins, not by sinning, but by weeping and praying and imploring the mercy of God. See Isaiah 59:12. "Our transgressions are multiplied before thee, and our sins testify against us." . . . Daniel 9:5. "We have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled," etc. 1. Let us also follow this example, that so far we may have fellowship with the whole Church, that we may be partners of those who truly love and worship God. 2. Then, that abstaining from false worship, we may not sin wickedly with the wicked. 3. That whenever we ought to weep or pray, we may mourn and confess not only our own, but also the shortcomings of the whole church corporate, as if they were common to ourselves, even if we have no part in them, and may implore for them the mercy of God.—Musculus.

"O remember not against us former iniquities." The Jews have a saying, that there is no punishment happens to Israel, but there is an ounce in it for the sin of the calf; their meaning is, that this is always remembered and visited, according to Exodus 32:34; the phrase may take in all the sins of former persons, their ancestors, and of former times, from age to age, they had continued in, which had brought ruin upon them; and all their own sins of nature and of youth, all past ones to the present time.—John Gill.

"O remember not against us former iniquities." Old debts vex most; the delay of payment increases them by interest upon interest; and the return of them being unexpected, a person is least provided for them. We count old sores, breaking forth, incurable. Augustus wondered at a person sleeping quietly that was very much in debt, and sent for his pillow, saying, "surely there is some strange virtue in it, that makes him rest so secure." My brethren, if one debt unto God's law be more than the whole creation can satisfy, what do any of us mean to rest secure with so vast a burden upon our consciences and accounts? Ah! take heed thou beest not surprised and arrested with old debts. O God, thou rememberest former iniquities against us. God will call over, and charge thy sins upon thee, when all the sweet is gone.—Elias Pledger (—1681), in "Morning Exercises."

"O remember not against us former iniquities." The only right way to remedy a miserable condition, is to sue for the remission of sins, and for the renewed evidence of reconciliation: for before the church here do ask any thing for their outward delivery, they pray, "O remember not against us former iniquities."—David Dickson.

"Speedily." Lest they come too late, for we are at our last gasp.—John Trapp.

"Prevent." God's mercy must anticipate, "come to meet," man's necessity.—J. J. Stewart Perowne.

"We are brought very low." Literally, "We are greatly thinned." Few of us remain.—Adam Clarke.

"We are brought very low." We are very greatly exhausted (emptied out): that is, we are utterly destitute of all things, both fortune, and strength of mind and body, just like a well or a vessel completely emptied.—Martin Geier.

"Very low." Past the hopes of all human help, and therefore the glory of our deliverance will be wholly thine.—Matthew Pool.

"Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of thy name and 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, and from sinking.—Matthew Henry.

"God of our salvation." If human reason were to judge of the many and great blows wherewith God so often smote and wasted his people, it would call God not the Saviour of the people, but the destroyer and oppressor. But the faith of the Prophet judges far otherwise of God, and sees even in an angry and pursuing God, the salvation of his people. The gods of the nations, though they do not afflict even in temporal things, are gods not of the salvation of their worshippers but of their perdition. But our God, even when he is most severely angry, and smites, is not the God of destruction, but of salvation.—Musculus.

"For thy name's sake." Twice the appeal is made "for thy name's sake;" that revelation of God which he had made of himself to Moses when he passed by and proclaimed the name of Jehovah, Ex. 24:6, 7. Compare Ps. 20:1, 23:3; 29:2.—J. J. Stewart Perowne.

"For thy name's sake." The good which God doth unto his church, be it temporal or spiritual, is for his own sake. What I do (saith God), I do for mine holy name's sake; there is nothing to move me but mine own name; that is holy, great, and glorious, and I will for my name's sake do much for my church and people. That they were preserved in Babylon, was for his holy name's sake; that they were brought out of Babylon, was for his holy name's sake; that they were replanted in Canaan, was for his holy name's sake; that they had a temple, sacrifices, priests, prophets, ordinances again, was for his name's sake; when they were near to destruction often, in former days, God wrought for his name's sake, Ezek. 20; so Isaiah 48:8, 9. It is not for the enemies' sake that God doth preserve or deliver his people; nor for their sakes, their prayers, tears, faith, obedience, holiness, that he doth great things for them, bestows great mercies upon them; but it is for his own name's sake. For man's sake God cursed the earth, Gen. 8:21; but it is for his name's sake that he blesseth it. The choicest mercies God's people have, are for his name's sake; they have pardon of sin for his name's sake, Ps. 25:11, 1 John 2:12; purging of sin for his name's sake; Ps. 79:9; leading in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake, Ps. 23:2; quickening of their dead and dull hearts for his name's sake, Ps. 143:11. Though his people offend him, yet he forsakes them not, for his great name's sake.—William Greenhill.

If God could not he more glorified in our peace and reconciliation, than in our death and damnation, it were a wicked thing to desire it. But God hath cleared this up to us, that he is no loser by acts of mercy. In this lies the greatest revenue of his crown, or else he would not love "mercy rather than sacrifice." God is free to choose what suits his own heart best, and most conduceth to the exalting of his great name: and he delights more in the mercy shown to one than in the blood of all the damned, that are made a sacrifice to his justice. And, indeed, he had a higher end in their damnation than their suffering; and that was the enhancing of the glory of his mercy, in his saved ones. This is the beautiful piece God takes delight in, and the other but the shadow of it. Then thou art in a fit disposition to pray for peace, and mayest go with encouragement when thy heart is deeply affected with the honour that will accrue to God by it. It is an argument God will not deny. "This," said Abigail to David, "shall be no grief to thee nor offence of heart unto my Lord," 1 Sam. 25; she meant, he should never have cause to repent that he was kept from Shedding blood. Thus mayest thou plead with God, and say, O Lord, when I shall with saints and angels be praising thy pardoning grace in heaven, it will not grieve thee that thy mercy kept thee from shedding my blood, damning my soul in hell.—William Gurnall.

When the Lord's people are brought very low, let them not look for a lifting up or relief except from God only; therefore say they here, "Help us, O Lord." Such as have laid hold on God for salvation promised in the covenant, may also look for particular deliveries out of particular troubles, as appendices of the main benefit of salvation; therefore, "Help us, O God of our salvation," say they. When men do ask anything, the granting whereof may glorify God, they may confidently expect to have it; and in special when God may be so glorified, and his people may also be preserved and comforted: "Help us (say they) for the glory of thy name: and deliver us." As the conscience of sin useth to step in oftener between us and mercy, so must we call oftener for remission of sin; for earnest affection can double and treble the same petition without babbling; "Deliver us, and purge away our sins." It is the glory of the Lord to forget sin, and when remission of sins is prayed for according to God's promise, the Lord's glory is engaged for the helping of faith to obtain it: "Purge away our sins, for thy name's sake."—David Dickson.

"Let the sighing of the prisoner come before thee." The propriety of styling the sons of Adam "prisoners," can scarcely fail to be discerned when we remember the restraint which the immortal spirit endures whilst it inhabits its present earthly house, or recollect the hardships to which many of our race are subjected, or, once more, the degrading slavery to which they reduce themselves by serving their own lusts and refusing to stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ would make them free. Now, in whichever of these senses men are prisoners, it is clear that they have occasion and that they are wont to sigh, and that it is the part of the pious and faithful believer in God to bear this in mind, and, inasmuch as he has put on bowels of compassion, to say, as well for others as for himself, "Let the sighing of the prisoner came before thee." Three things, then, are suggested by the first clause of the passage before us. The first is, that all who live in this world are prisoners . . .. We would go on to remark, secondly, that these various prisoners have their respective sorrowful sighings. Thirdly, then, let it be observed, will the believer, conscious of these several sighings of the crowd of prisoners whom he sees all around him, pray to the Almighty that they may come before his everlasting presence.—W. C. Le Breton. (1849.)

"The sighing." The nature of a sigh will suggest to us some important particulars connected with the state of bondage spoken of in the text. A sigh is an unexpressed declaration. Although we do not speak, still we can tell a long tale of sorrow with a sigh. How often the mourner who will not tell a human being of his grief, will vent it when he is alone, with a long-drawn, an uneven sigh! Now, I direct your attention to this, because it is a perfect picture of the spiritual condition in which some men are. They are not loud in their complaints; they are not standing in the corners of the streets proclaiming their exceeding sinfulness; they are not continually making their neighbours and their friends hear them preach about their vileness—a vileness which, if any one else attributed to them, would stir up all their wrath. Theirs is not the character of men in strife; but of men bearing a heavy burden, which presses from them an evidence of what they endure. And if any of you, brethren, thus walk in sighs and sorrow before God, he takes these sighs as applications to him for relief. Your misery, if entirely pent in, would be obstinate impenitency, but if vented, even in a sigh, is a declaration of your need. Let me encourage you, brethren, not to spare these evidences of your state. There are times when you feel so dead that you cannot enter into long confessions; when the spirit is so weary that you feel that you cannot speak. Much might at such a season be spoken by a sign. "Destroy it not," we say, "for a blessing is in it:" pour it forth, find it will reach the throne. And here it will prove to be not only an unexpressed declaration of your state, but also an unexpressed wish for deliverance therefrom. When the captive gazes through the bars of iron which night and day stand like mute sentinels before the narrow window of his cell, and when his eyes fall upon the green fields and groves beyond, he sighs, and turns away from the scene with a wish. He spake not a word, yet he wished. That sigh was a wish that he could be set free. And such sighs as these are heard by God. Your longings, your sorrows, when they are not fulfilled, your sad thoughts,—"Oh! when shall I be delivered from the burden of my sin, and from the coldness of my heart!"—all these wishes were your sighs, and they have been heard on high.—Philip Bennett Power.

"The prisoner." An eastern prison is still a place of great misery, chiefly from the limited supply of water to the prisoners.—Daniel Cresswell.

"Come before thee."

Though not a human votes he hears,

And not a human form appears

His solitude to share,

He is not all alone—the eye

Of him who hears the prisoner's sigh

Is even on him there. —J. L. Chester.

"Preserve thou those that are appointed to die." Ought not pious people more closely to imitate their heavenly Father in caring for those who have been condemned to die? An eminent Christian lady keeps a record of all who have been sentenced to death, so far as she hears of them, and prays for them every day till their end come. Is not such conduct in sympathy with the heart of God!—William S. Plummer.

"Render unto our neighbours sevenfold into their bosom," etc. This may seem to be contrary to common justice; because that the punishment should not exceed the fault. But here you are to know, that this hath not respect unto what the enemies of God's church have acted, but what they have deserved. And therefore when the prophet here says, "Render unto our neighbours sevenfold," it is not sevenfold beyond their deserts; for one scorn that a wicked man poureth upon a child of God (and so upon God), cannot be recompensed with ten thousand reproaches poured upon wicked men. The least reproach poured upon God is an infinite wrong. And the reproach of his people is so much his, as he reckons it as his own; and will therefore render to their enemies their reproach "sevenfold" (and that's but equal) "into their bosom."—Abraham Wright.

"Unto our neighbours." Because their scorn was more intolerable, and also more inexcusable than the oppression of distant enemies.—J. J. Stewart Perowne.

"Into their bosom." An expression which originally seems to have had reference to the practice of carrying and holding things in the lap, or the front fold of the flowing oriental dress, has in usage the accessory sense of retribution or retaliation.—Joseph Addison Alexander.

Saints the subject of derision to sinners. When justly so. When unjustly. What do they see to excite ridicule; what shall we do under the trial; how will it end?

1. The cause of anger: jealousy.

2. The moderation of it. If it continued for ever, the people would perish, the promises be unfulfilled, the covenant fail, and the Lord's honour be impeached.

3. The staying of it. By prayer; by pleading his name, his glory, and the blood of Jesus.

Verse 8. A sinner's confession, petition, and plea.

Verse 9. I. A threefold prayer. II. An encouraging title: "God of our salvation." III. A victorious plea.

Verse 10.

I. The Prayer. "Help us," etc.     1. Purge away sin.     2. Deliver us from our troubles.     3. Help us to serve thee in future.

II. The Plea.     1. For thy name's sake.     2. The glory of thy name.     3. The glory of thy name as our salvation. The order in both cases is inverted.—G. R.

Verse 10. The revenge for the martyrs, which it is lawful and incumbent upon us to desire.

Verse 11.

I. The prisoner.     1. Under forced bondage to sin.     2. Under the bondage of conviction.     3. In the dungeon of despair.

II. The prisoner's application for relief.

III. The source from which he looked for help.—P. B. Power.

Verse 11.

I. The degree of protection solicited: "According to the greatness of thy power."

II. The protection itself: "Preserve thou."

III. The objects of it: "Those that are appointed to die."—W. C. Le Breton.

Verse 11.

I. Mournful condition. A prisoner, sighing, appointed to die.

II. Hopeful facts: a God, a God hearing sighs, a God of great power.

III. Suitable prayers: "come before thee": "preserve."

Verse 11. "Appointed to die," used as a description of deep spiritual distress. Fears of the divine decree, of having apostatised, of having sinned away the day of grace, of the sin which is unto death, etc. How these cases can be effectually met.

Verse 13. The obligations of the Protestant church based on her martyrs' blood, her great deliverances, her nearness to God. She ought to secure gospel teaching to coming generations.

Verse 13.

I. Relation claimed: "We thy people, the sheep of," etc.

II. Obligation admitted: "So we," etc., when thou hast interposed for our deliverance, we will praise thee.

III. Resolution formed.     1. To give thanks for ever.     2. To transmit his praise to generations following.—G. R

WORK UPON THE SEVENTY-NINTH PSALM

"Prodromus, or the Literal Destruction of Jerusalem as it is described in the 79th Psalm...1613" (By JOHN DUNSTER.)