Bird's-eye view
Psalm 79 is a raw, corporate lament. The scene is one of utter devastation. The holy city has been desecrated, the bodies of God's people are food for the birds, and their blood has been poured out like water. This is a national catastrophe. In the midst of this carnage, the psalmist, speaking for the covenant community, turns to God with a series of desperate questions and petitions. The selected passage, verses 5-8, forms the hinge of the psalm. It pivots from describing the disaster to pleading for deliverance. The prayer is brutally honest, acknowledging God's righteous anger as the ultimate cause of their suffering, while simultaneously pleading for that anger to be redirected toward the pagan nations who acted as His instruments of judgment. It is a prayer that blends confession of sin with a bold call for God's justice and compassion, grounding its appeal in the covenant name of Yahweh and the desperate condition of His people.
This is not a tidy, sanitized prayer. It is a cry from the crucible of history, where the people of God are grappling with the apparent contradiction of being God's chosen, yet suffering His fierce anger. It is a model for the church in times of chastisement, teaching us how to appeal to God on the basis of His character, His promises, and His reputation among the nations, even as we acknowledge our own deep unworthiness.
Outline
- 1. The Covenant Cry from the Rubble (Ps 79:5-8)
- a. The Anguished Question to a Jealous God (Ps 79:5)
- b. The Imprecatory Appeal for Justice (Ps 79:6-7)
- c. The Humble Confession and Plea for Mercy (Ps 79:8)
Context In The Psalter
Psalm 79 is one of the psalms of Asaph. Like Psalm 74, it deals with the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple. Whether this refers to the Babylonian conquest in 586 B.C. or some other horrific event, the situation is dire. The psalm is a communal lament, meaning it is a prayer designed for the corporate use of God's people in a time of shared disaster. It follows a classic lament structure: address to God, description of the crisis, confession of sin, petition for help, and an expression of trust or vow of praise. This passage sits right at the heart of the psalm, where the complaint transitions into petition. It is a prayer for a people who know they are guilty, but who also know that God is their only hope. They understand that the pagan nations are merely the rod of God's anger, and so they appeal to God to deal with the rod-wielders and to remember His covenant compassion for His children.
Key Issues
- God's Jealousy and Covenant Faithfulness
- The Nature of Imprecatory Prayer
- Corporate Guilt and Generational Sin
- Divine Chastisement vs. Final Wrath
- The Relationship Between God's Mercy and His Justice
- Praying for God's Reputation
The Logic of Covenant Prayer
When we are under the chastening hand of God, our prayers must have a certain kind of logic to them, a logic derived from the covenant. The psalmist here provides a master class. He does not deny God's anger. He does not pretend Israel is innocent. But neither does he despair. His prayer is built on a series of foundational truths. First, he knows God is a jealous God. This is not the petty jealousy of a human lover, but the righteous zeal of a husband for His covenant bride. Her sin with other gods has provoked this jealousy. Second, he knows there is a difference between God's people and the pagan nations. Israel is being disciplined; the nations are under wrath. Therefore, it is entirely right to ask God to stop disciplining His children and to pour out His wrath on those who hate Him. Third, he knows that God's mercy is their only hope. They cannot appeal to their own righteousness. They are "brought very low." Their appeal is to God's "compassion," which they ask to "quickly approach" them. This is the logic of grace, argued from the depths of ruin.
Verse by Verse Commentary
5 How long, O Yahweh? Will You be angry forever? Will Your jealousy burn like fire?
The prayer begins with the raw cry of the afflicted: How long? This is the question saints have asked throughout the ages when God's deliverance seems delayed (Ps 13:1; Rev 6:10). It is not a question of unbelief, but of faith under immense pressure. The psalmist knows who is behind their calamity. It is Yahweh, the covenant God. He is angry, and His anger is not a passing mood but a burning, consuming fire. The psalmist also knows why He is angry. It is jealousy. God had bound Himself to Israel in a covenant marriage, and they had played the harlot with idols. God's jealousy is the righteous, holy reaction of a faithful husband to the adultery of His bride. The psalmist doesn't question the legitimacy of the anger, but he does question its duration. Will it be "forever?" This is a covenantal argument. God had promised that His anger would not last forever, that He would not utterly abandon His people (Lev 26:44). The psalmist is holding God to His own promise.
6 Pour out Your wrath upon the nations which do not know You, And upon the kingdoms which do not call upon Your name.
This is a jarring transition for the modern reader, but it is perfectly logical within the covenant framework. The psalmist, having acknowledged God's anger against Israel, now asks God to redirect that fiery wrath. "Pour it out," he says, upon the nations. The distinction here is crucial. The nations are defined in two ways: they "do not know You," and they do not "call upon Your name." They are outside the covenant, strangers to grace, living in open rebellion. Israel, for all her sin, is still God's people. They are being disciplined. The nations, however, are objects of wrath. This is an imprecatory prayer, a call for divine justice. It is not personal vengeance. The psalmist is asking God to be God, to act in accordance with His own stated character and deal justly with those who are His implacable enemies. He is praying for the kingdom to come, which necessarily involves the judgment of God's enemies.
7 For they have devoured Jacob And laid waste his abode.
Here is the legal basis for the imprecation. Why should God pour out His wrath on them? Because they have "devoured Jacob." Jacob is a covenant name for the people of God. The pagan nations were not just bystanders; they were rapacious wolves. They acted as God's instrument of chastisement, yes, but they did so with malice and cruelty, far exceeding their commission. They intended to annihilate God's people and destroy His dwelling place, the Temple. God often uses the wicked to discipline His people, but He always holds the wicked accountable for their own sinful motives and actions in the process (Isa 10:5-12). The psalmist is reminding God of this principle. These nations are not innocent; they are ravenous and guilty.
8 Do not remember our former iniquities against us; Let Your compassion quickly approach us, For we are brought very low.
The prayer now pivots back to Israel's condition. Having called for justice on the nations, the psalmist pleads for mercy for his own people. The foundation of this plea is a confession of sin. He asks God not to "remember our former iniquities against us." The word "former" is significant. This is a recognition of generational and cumulative sin. The disaster they are in is not just because of what they did last week, but because of a long history of covenant unfaithfulness. They are acknowledging the justice of their plight. But on the basis of that confession, they plead for mercy. They are "brought very low." They have hit rock bottom. They have nowhere else to look. Their only hope is that God's compassion will come to them, and they need it to come "quickly." This is the prayer of a people who have been stripped of all self-righteousness. It is the prayer that God loves to answer.
Application
This psalm is a bracing tonic for a church that has grown comfortable and therapeutic in its prayers. It teaches us, first, how to be honest with God in the midst of suffering. God is not offended when His children cry out "How long?" He invites us to wrestle with Him, to plead His promises back to Him.
Second, it teaches us the necessity of corporate confession. We are not isolated individuals. We are part of a people, a nation, a civilization. We must learn to confess not just "my" sins, but "our" sins, the "former iniquities" of our fathers that have brought us to our current state of spiritual and cultural ruin. As Daniel did, we must identify with the sins of our people and confess them as our own.
Third, it rehabilitates imprecatory prayer. We live in a sentimental age that chokes on prayers for judgment. But to pray for God's kingdom to come is to pray for His enemies to be scattered. We must distinguish carefully between personal vindictiveness and a righteous zeal for God's glory and justice. When we see the unborn devoured, the faithful persecuted, and the name of Christ blasphemed, it is right to pray, "Pour out Your wrath upon the nations which do not know You." We pray this in Christ, knowing that the ultimate destruction of God's enemies is their conversion, but also knowing that if they will not be converted, justice must be done.
Finally, this passage drives us to the foot of the cross. Our only plea is that God would not remember our iniquities against us. And why would He not? Because He remembered them all against His Son. Jesus is the one who cried "How long?" from the cross. He is the one upon whom the fire of God's jealousy and wrath was poured out. And because He was "brought very low," even to death, God's compassion can now "quickly approach" us. We are always in desperate need, and He is always a God of swift mercy.