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Psalm 79:1a "O God, the nations have come into Your inheritance..."

Day 167 – Psalm 79

“O God, the nations have come into Your inheritance…” Psalm 79:1a

SUPERSCRIPTION: A Psalm of Asaph

This superscription has one of the simplest statements. The author is identified as Asaph, with no other instructions.

A PSALM OF GREAT GRIEF

Psalm 79 is similar to Psalm 74. Both psalms reflect great grief. The psalmist Asaph struggled with deep personal grief as he noted the terrible afflictions that came upon Jerusalem.

“O God, the nations have come into Your inheritance;
Your holy temple they have defiled;
They have laid Jerusalem in heaps.”
Psalm 79:1

1. “O God”

Asaph seems so astonished and stunned by what he sees that the simplest term was used when he began writing his psalm. The term was simply “O God”.

2. Three painful observations were made:-

a) “The nations have come into Your inheritance”

i) These were surely wicked nations.

ii) What good nation would invade and destroy another country?

iii) The term “Your inheritance” may be traced to Moses’ song (Deuteronomy 32:9).

iv) God’s portion and His inheritance were His people and the land of Israel.

b) “Your holy temple they have defiled”

i) “Holy temple”- This is a reference to God’s word to Solomon (2 Chronicles 7:16).

ii) God had chosen and sanctified His house and hence it was a “holy temple”.

iii) But the wicked nations had defiled His holy temple.

c) “They have laid Jerusalem in heaps”

i) Jerusalem was “holy city” to Israel.

ii) It was the subject of beautiful psalms (Psalm 48).

iii) But Jerusalem now lay in ruins (“heaps”).