GOD’S WORD FOR YOU
PSALM 79:1
We will continue with Proverbs after meditating on Psalms 79 and 71. For these two Psalms, we will use the new Evangelical Heritage Version of the Bible (EHV, © 2017 Wartburg Project, Inc.).
Psalm 79
They Have Reduced Jerusalem to Rubble
A psalm by Asaph.
Psalms 73-83 are a collection of psalms by Asaph. He was a musician in the time of King David (1 Chronicles 15:19; 16:5). He also wrote Psalm 50 (cf. 50 title).
The Destruction and the Disgrace
1 God, the nations have invaded your possession.
They have profaned your holy temple.
They have reduced Jerusalem to a heap of ruins.
This psalm is a cry to the Lord that his city, his people, and his honor, must be avenged. It might be a cry against the Babylonians who came up against the very city of God to attack it. “They have invaded,” the author says, “they have profaned… they have reduced.” If it is about Babylon, then Asaph was looking ahead prophetically to what was on the way, since Asaph lived in the days of David, more than four hundred years—closer to five hundred—before Babylonian boots trampled the Washerman’s Field.
Asaph’s words could be about many attacks on Jerusalem, but we could flip through pages of history in a vain search to find one single event that fits every detail. Then we might raise a question: Is Asaph the author, or could the Psalm be written in the ‘style’ of Asaph, so that we could date it so many centuries later and let our guess be correct about Babylon?
No. It’s not necessary to criticize the text. It’s necessary to apply it; to fix the words in our hearts and let them speak to us. Besides, the reference to Jacob and his homeland in verse 7 and the many features that match the general style of the great Asaph all point to the superscription telling the truth and nothing but the truth.
When people today invade God’s possession, and profane God’s house, and reduce God’s people (Jerusalem) to ruins, they do it with their words and even with the laws of nations. This is when people attack the teachings of God’s holy word and profane his name, and ruin whole churches with lies. This is where Asaph teaches us to pray that God would put an end to the relentless attacks of the pagan world against his holy people. Even here in America the attacks go on without stop, some of them from within the very church of God.
A friend and colleague of mine is fond of saying, “The one who defines the terms is the one who controls the argument.” This is especially true when people attack the teachings of the Bible. It’s easy for an enemy of the church, whether a popular scientist like the late Carl Sagan, or an entertainer who is not a scientist at all like Bill Nye, to throw dust in an ordinary Christian’s eyes with deceptive words and arguments that prove nothing, based on false assumptions. Cherish the word of God. Don’t doubt what your Savior has done for you, and trust in him for the forgiveness of your sins, and the resurrection to eternal life.
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
Archives by Wisconsin Lutheran Chapel: http://www.wlchapel.org/worship/daily-devotion/
Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, New Ulm, Minnesota