Psalms 79:11

Let the sighing of the prisoner come before thee; according to the greatness of thy power preserve thou those that are appointed to die; LET THE SIGHING OF THE PRISONER COME BEFORE THEE - literally, 'into thy sight,' even as the sighing of Israel in the Egyptian bondage "came up unto God by reason of the bondage." Now again the people are as it were a "prisoner." ACCORDING TO THE GREATNESS OF THY POWER - literally, 'of thine arm' (). PRESERVE THOU THOSE THAT ARE APPOINTED TO DIE - literally, 'the children of the dying;' a Hebrew idiom (), "the children of the needy;" i:e., the needy. Compare with this clause , "according unto the greatness of thy mercy" ...

11._Let the sighing of the prisoner come before thee. _The people of God, I have no doubt, were in captivity when the Holy Spirit endited this prayer; and, therefore, the name of _prisoners _is applied to them all in general, because they were so shut up within the bounds of Assyria and Chaldea, that had they stirred one foot thence, they would have incurred the penalty of death. They are called _the children of death; _by which is meant, that they were appointed or condemned to death in respect of their captivity. This sentence, however, may not improperly be restricted to a small number who were shut up in prison under closer restraint. By this expression, it is intimated that those proud spirits who had before vaunted themselves against God, were now broken and effectually humbled. _The greatness of God’s arm, _that is to say, the greatness of his power, (383) is implored; for without...

6-13 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 a...

Verse Psalms 79:11. _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....

LET THE SIGHING OF THE PRISONER COME BEFORE THEE - The sighing of him who is bound. The allusion here is, doubtless, to those among the Hebrews who had been taken captives, and who “sighed” not only on account of the sufferings which they endured in their bondage, but because they had been taken from their country and home. The meaning is, “Hear those sighs, and come for the deliverance of those who are thus held in captivity.” ACCORDING TO THE GREATNESS OF THY POWER - Margin, as in Hebrew, thine arm. The arm is the symbol of power. It is implied here that great power was needful to deliver those who were held in captivity, power such as God only could exert - power which could be wielded only by an Omnipotent Being. It was the power of God only which could rescue them, as it is only by the power of God that sinners can be saved. Preserve thou those that are appoi

EXPOSITION THIS is "a psalm of complaint, closely parallel to Psalms 74:1." (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, the temple desecrated, Jerusalem laid in ruins, the special servants of God put to death, and the whole nation of the Israelites become an object of scorn and reproach to their neighbours (Psalms 74:1). Some critics have supposed that it might have been written after the invasion of Shishak; but the condition of things is far worse than can be reasonably supposed to have been reached at that period. Others incline to assign it to the age of the Maccabees; but Jerusalem was not then destroyed, much less "laid on heaps" ...

LET THE SIGHING OF THE PRISONER COME BEFORE THEE,.... Such as were so in a literal or spiritual sense; and the sighs and groans of such are not hid from the Lord; they come up into his ears as did the sighing and groaning of the children of Israel when in Egypt, Exodus 2:23, ACCORDING TO THE GREATNESS OF THY POWER, PRESERVE THOU THOSE THAT ARE APPOINTED TO DIE; not by the Lord, as all men are, but by men; who are under a sentence of condemnation, who are ready to die, being appointed to destruction, Proverbs 31:6, or are in danger of death, as Jarchi observes; the phrase is used in Talmudic writings; whose lives are exposed to danger, who are killed all the day long, and are accounted as sheep for the slaughter,...

Psalms 79 Lamentation and Prayer on Account of the Enemy _ 1. The Enemy in Jerusalem (Psalms 79:1)_ 2. How Long, Lord? (Psalms 79:5) Zion, the place He loves, mentioned in the preceding Psalm, is here prophetically seen in desolation. The nations have come into the inheritance, Jerusalem is become a heap of ruins, the temple is defiled. The dead bodies of His servants and His saints lie unburied, and the people are a reproach, a scorn and a derision. A similar prophecy we found in the Seventy-fourth Psalm, which should be compared with this Psalm. While Jerusalem and the temple has seen more than once such desolations, we must view these predicted calamities as being the final disaster which is yet to

LXXIX. THE SANCTUARY PROFANED. The Ps. is of the same date as Psalms 74. It does not suit the earlier destruction of the city and the Temple in 586 B.C. The words war, overthrow, and the like do not occur: the Temple is profaned, not destroyed. On the other hand, Psalms 79:3 is in striking accord with the picture drawn in 1Ma_1:37. Notice also the mention of the godly or Asideans in 2 (see Psalms 4:3). PSALMS 79:2 F. is quoted in 1Ma_7:17_._ Psalms 79:6 f. is from Jeremiah 10:25, and was perhaps inserted here by a later hand.

THY POWER. Hebrew Thine arm. Put by Figure of speech _Metonymy_ (of Effect), App-6, for the power contained in and put forth by it. By Figure of speech _Anthropopatheia_ (App-6), an "arm" attributed to God. PRESERVE. reserve. THOSE THAT ARE APPOINTED TO DIE. sons of death. Genitive of Relation. Compare Romans 8:36....