Psalms 79:3

_THE DEAD BODIES OF THY SERVANTS HAVE THEY GIVEN TO BE MEAT UNTO THE FOWLS OF THE HEAVEN, THE FLESH OF THY SAINTS UNTO THE BEASTS OF THE EARTH._ No JFB commentary on these verses....

1-5 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....

Verse Psalms 79:3. THERE WAS _NONE TO BURY_ THEM.] The Chaldeans would not; and the Jews who were not slain were carried into captivity....

THEIR BLOOD HAVE THEY SHED LIKE WATER ROUND ABOUT JERUSALEM - They have poured it out in such quantities that it seems to flow like water - not an uncommon occurrence in war. There was no event in the history of the Hebrews to which this description would be more applicable than to the Babylonian invasion. The language might indeed be applicable to the desolation of the city by Antiochus Epiphanes, and also to its destruction by the Romans; but, of course, it cannot refer to the latter, and there is no necessity for supposing that it refers to the former. All the conditions of a proper interpretation are fulfilled by supposing that it refers to the time of the Chaldean invasion. AND THERE WAS NONE TO BURY THEM - The Chaldeans would not do it, and they would not suffer the Hebrew people to do it....

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" ...

THEIR BLOOD HAVE THEY SHED LIKE WATER ROUND ABOUT JERUSALEM,.... Without any concern of mind, or remorse of conscience; without any fear of God or man; as if it had been so much water only; and this they shed in great abundance: from the Apocrypha: "And when he had taken all away, he went into his own land, having made a great massacre, and spoken very proudly.'' (1 Maccabees 1:24) "And spake peaceable words unto them, but all was deceit: for when they had given him credence, he fell suddenly upon the city, and smote it very sore, and destroyed much people of Israel.'' (1 Maccabees 1:30) "Thus they shed innocent blood on every side of the sanctuary, and defiled it:'' (1 Maccabees 1:37) "So they rose up against them in battle on the sabbath, and they slew them, with their wives and children and their cattle, to the number of a thousand people.'' (1 Maccabees 2:38) in like manner the...

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.

SHED. poured out. Compare same word in Psalms 79:6....

The Psalmist tells his grief to God: His land is overrun by heathen, His temple is desecrated, His city is in ruins, His people are slaughtered, the survivors are the scorn of their neighbours....