Bible Commentary

Psalms 79:1-5

Matthew Henry on Psalms 79:1-5

Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · Matthew Henry · CC0 1.0 Universal

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.

Recommended reading

More for Psalms 79:1-5

Continue with other commentaries and DiscipleDeck content connected to this verse, chapter, or topic.

Other commentaries

commentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Psalms 79:1-13Prayer for deliverance from suffering. "Written in a time of the deepest distress; the city is desolate and the whole nation oppressed by the cruel thraldom of their heathen oppressors. They are apparently deserted by G…Joseph S. Exell and contributorscommentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Psalms 79:1-13An imprecatory psalm. We need not be at pains to fix the date of this psalm, whether it belongs to the period of the Exile or of Antiochus Epiphanes. The words to some extent suit either. But we note in it— I. WHAT IS R…Joseph S. Exell and contributorscommentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Psalms 79:1-13EXPOSITION THIS is "a psalm of complaint, closely parallel to Psalms 74:1-23." (Cheyne), and must, like that psalm, be referred to the time of the Babylonian conquest. It shows us the Holy Land occupied by the heathen,…Joseph S. Exell and contributorscommentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Psalms 79:1O God, the heathen are come into thine inheritance (comp. Psalms 74:2; Psalms 78:62). Israel—alike the people and the land—is "God's inheritance." Thy holy temple have they defiled. The Babylonians defiled the temple by…Joseph S. Exell and contributorscommentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Psalms 79:1-4Times of persecution. Such times have been repeated over and over again. They must be recognized as parts of the Divine administration, and we must inquire how they are made to bear on the spiritual interests of God's C…Joseph S. Exell and contributorscommentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Psalms 79:2The dead bodies of thy servants have they given to Be meat unto the fowls of the heaven. A common incident of warfare (see the Assyrian sculptures, passim). The flesh of thy saints unto the beasts of the earth; or, of t…Joseph S. Exell and contributorscommentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Psalms 79:3Their blood have they shed like water round about Jerusalem. During the long siege (eighteen months) the number slain in the neighbourhood of Jerusalem would be very large. And there was none to bury them (compare the p…Joseph S. Exell and contributorscommentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Psalms 79:4We are become a reproach to our neighbours.Joseph S. Exell and contributors