We have been reading the Psalms of David’s time, many attributed to David, but some attributed to Asaph, a worship leader David appointed. In today’s reading there is a group of Psalms with the name Asaph on them, but the content indicates that they were written long after David and Solomon’s lifetimes.

The name Asaph was part of temple worship from the time of David through Israel’s return from exile in Babylon four hundred years later. We don’t know if there was another psalmist named Asaph at that late date, or if that name was associated with the Asaphites, the temple singers.

Psalm 79

Psalm 79 is a lament for the destruction of Jerusalem, and it’s surprising to read it in this part of Israel’s history, just after David died. All was well with the nation at that time, and no one was thinking about Jerusalem being overrun by enemies. They were at peace with all of their neighbors and King Solomon was about to usher in the greatest time of prosperity in Israel’s history.

The catastrophe Psalm 79 describes took place around four hundred years after David’s death. Since it’s placed here in our reading, you can think of this psalm as a preview of coming events.

“O God, the nations have invaded your inheritance; they have defiled your holy temple, they have reduced it to rubble . . . How long, Lord? Will you be angry forever? How long will your jealousy burn like fire?” Psalm 79:1

God was angry at Israel; they provoked his jealousy by worshiping idols. He sent other nations to punish Israel, but he was also going to punish those pagan nations.

“Pour out your wrath on the nations that do not acknowledge you, on the kingdoms that do not call on your name; for they have devoured Jacob and devastated his homeland.” Psalm 79:6-7

Nowhere Else to Turn

Psalm 79 is for a nation in trouble. The psalmist knew their suffering came from the hand of God, but he didn’t blame God for it. He knew Israel’s sins had brought them down and that only God could forgive and deliver them.

“Do not hold against us the sins of past generations; may your mercy come quickly to meet us, for we are in desperate need. Help us, God our Savior, for the glory of your name; deliver us and forgive our sins for your name’s sake. Why should the nations say, ‘Where is their God?’” Psalm 79:8-10

Israel sinned and God punished them, then they turned to him to seek deliverance from the punishment. There was nowhere else for them to go.

Psalm 80

This psalm continues the theme of Israel crying out for God’s deliverance. The psalmist reminds God of his long relationship with the northern tribes of Benjamin, Ephraim, and Manasseh. When Israel fell to its enemies close to four hundred years after David, those northern tribes were the first to go. Assyria conquered them and dispersed their people across the Assyrian empire.

The psalmist reminds God that he brought Israel to the Promised Land like a transplanted vine from Egypt and they flourished there.

“You cleared the ground for it, and it took root and filled the land.” Psalm 80:9

But the beautiful vine was cut down and burned with fire. Israel is desperately in need of someone to rescue them and the psalmist asks God to send them a savior.

“Return to us, God Almighty! Look down from heaven and see! Watch over this vine, the root your right hand has planted, the son you have raised up for yourself . . . Let your hand rest on the man at your right hand, the son of man you have raised up for yourself. Then we will not turn away from you; revive us, and we will call on your name.” Psalm 80:14-15, 17-18

The Man at God’s Right Hand

Israel didn’t know the name of the savior God was going to send, but when Jesus Christ came, he spent his life in northern Israel, among those people this psalmist prayed for. Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judah, but his childhood and most of his ministry was spent in Nazareth and Galilee, right in the middle of the region of the northern tribes.

The writer of Psalm 80 didn’t know it, but Jesus was the answer to his plea in verse 9.

“Restore us, Lord God Almighty; make your face shine on us, that we may be saved.” Psalm 80:9

Psalm 81

This psalm was an invitation to one of the religious festivals Israel celebrated every year, possibly the Feast of Tabernacles. It seems to have been written in a troubled time because after the joyful opening to the psalm it takes on a mournful tone.

“Hear me, my people, and I will warn you – if you would only listen to me, Israel! You shall have no foreign god among you; you shall not worship any god other than me . . . But my people would not listen to me; Israel would not submit to me. So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts to follow their own devices.” Psalm 81:8-9, 11-12

God wanted Israel to return to him so he could help them with their enemies. He offered to subdue their foes and make them cringe, while caring for Israel with “the finest of the wheat and honey from the rock.” Psalm 81:16

The Psalms are like snapshots of the relationships between God and people. Some of the shots are tender and inviting; others show God and his people at odds with each other. We can’t always tell what’s going on behind the scenes, but we can usually find something we identify with personally in these word pictures.

Psalm 82

God speaks to earthly judges in courtrooms in this psalm. He calls them “gods”, but only because they have the power of life and death when they pass sentences in cases. He is angry with them for abusing their power to pervert justice.

“How long will you defend the unjust and show partiality to the wicked? Defend the weak and the fatherless; uphold the cause of the poor and oppressed. Rescue the weak and needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.” Psalm 82:2-4

Judges have a very privileged position and if they make corrupt decisions “all the foundations of the earth are shaken.” (Psalm 82:5) Judges are like God in meting out justice, but they have to be very careful to be righteous in their decisions because in the end they will stand in judgment before God himself.

“I said, ‘You are ‘gods’; you are all sons of the Most High.’ But you will die like mortals; you will fall like every other ruler. Rise up, O God, judge the earth, for all the nations are your inheritance.” Psalm 82:6-8

No one, no matter what their rank in this life, will escape when it’s time to face God in final judgment.