Psalms 79:8

O remember not against us former iniquities: let thy tender mercies speedily prevent us: for we are brought very low. O REMEMBER NOT AGAINST US FORMER INIQUITIES - rather, 'the iniquities of our forefathers.' confirms this: after threatening in Ps. 79:39 , "In the iniquities of their fathers shall they pine away," God proceeds to promise, "If they snail confess their iniquity, and the iniquity of their fathers ... I will for their sakes remember the covenant of their ancestors." The Jews now plead this promise, after they have experienced the fulfillment of the threat (cf. ). The children, when innocent, are not punished for the guilt of their fathers, but for personal guilt: the entail of guilt might be cut off by repentance and faith; but the guilty children, inheriting the...

8_Remember not against us the iniquities of former times. _The godly Jews here confirm the sentiment which they had before briefly and obscurely touched upon, namely, that they had justly deserved the chastisements which had been inflicted upon them. And they present this prayer, because they could only get relief from their calamities by obtaining reconciliation with God. This is the sovereign remedy for every kind of adversity; for so long as he is angry with even our prosperity turns out to be unproductive of advantage and happiness. By _the iniquities of former times, _some understand the sins committed by the fathers. Others think that the sins which the suppliants themselves committed in their childhood and youth are intended. But the expression, I presume, has a more extensive signification, containing a confession not only of one offense or two, and these only recently committed,...

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 79:8. _REMEMBER NOT AGAINST US FORMER INIQUITIES_] Visit us not for the sins of our forefathers. _SPEEDILY PREVENT US_] Let them _go before us_, and turn us out of the path of destruction; for there is no help for us but in _thee_. _WE ARE BROUGHT VERY LOW._] Literally, "We are greatly thinned." Few of us remain....

O REMEMBER NOT AGAINST US FORRMER INIQUITIES - Margin, The iniquities of them that were before us. The Hebrew may mean either former times, or former generations. The allusion, however, is substantially the same. It is not their own iniquities which are particularly referred to, but the iniquity of the nation as committed in former times; and the prayer is, that God would not visit them with the results of the sins of former generations, though their own ancestors. The language is derived from the idea so constantly affirmed in the Scripture, and so often illustrated in fact, that the effects of sin pass over from one generation to the next, and involve it in calamity. See Exodus 20:5; Exodus 34:7; Levi

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" ...

O REMEMBER NOT AGAINST US FORMER INIQUITIES,.... Or, "our ancient iniquities", as the Septuagint; the most ancient sin of all is that of our first parents, in which we are involved, and by which we are made sinners; and for which judgment comes upon all men; and from thence flows the corruption of nature, or that original sin of our nature in which we are all conceived and born, and so are transgressors from the womb; or iniquities of former times, of our youth, as Kimchi, sins done of old, committed long ago, in the youthful age, see Psalms 25:7, or the sins of former persons, of our fathers, as Aben Ezra, which the Lord visits sometimes upon the children: some think reference is had to the sin of their forefathers in making and worshipping the golden calf; the Jews e have a saying, that there is no punishment happens to Israel, but there is an ounce in it for the sin of the calf;

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.

INIQUITIES. Hebrew. _'avah._ App-44. PREVENT US. come to meet us. Eng. usage changed. Original sense obsolete....