Translation: King James Version
Key Word: “blood” | Hebrew: “dam” | Meaning: “blood”
Asaph laments Jerusalem’s devastating destruction and pleads for God’s mercy and vengeance. Welcome to Bible Life Basics Chapter Reviews, I am Chris and this is Psalm 79.
Asaph laments that the heathen have come into God’s inheritance, defiling His holy temple, laying Jerusalem in heaps, giving the dead bodies of His servants to be food for the fowls of the heaven, and the flesh of His saints to the beasts of the earth, their “blood,” “dam” in Hebrew, being shed like water round about Jerusalem, with none to bury them.
Asaph describes how they have become a reproach to their neighbors, a scorn and derision to those around them, asking how long the Lord will be angry, forever, His jealousy burning like fire, pleading that His wrath be poured out upon the heathen who have not known Him, and upon the kingdoms that have not called upon His name, since they have devoured Jacob, and laid waste his dwelling place.
Asaph pleads that God would not remember former iniquities against them, letting His tender mercies speedily prevent them, since they are brought very low, asking Him to help them for the glory of His name, and deliver them, and purge away their sins, for His name’s sake, asking why the heathen should say, “Where is their God?” pleading for vengeance for the blood of His servants which has been shed, that the sighing of the prisoner would come before Him, closing with a vow that His people, the sheep of His pasture, will give Him thanks forever, showing forth His praise to all generations.
Asaph’s raw, honest plea for vengeance against those who destroyed Jerusalem reflects genuine outrage at real atrocity rather than a polished, sanitized version of grief, giving Scripture’s readers permission to bring even their angriest emotions honestly before God. This psalm’s closing vow to give thanks forever, offered even amid such devastating circumstances, shows that genuine lament and genuine praise can coexist within the very same prayer.
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