Chapter Seventy-Eight

This psalm, like (Ps 73), was written after the taking of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar and after his devastation of the land of Judea. The temple is here presented as defiled, Jerusalem as in ruins (Ps 78:1), everywhere lie unburied corpses of slain Hebrews (Ps 78:2), which became a mockery in the eyes of neighboring peoples (Ps 78:4). The writer was one of the descendants of Asaph the seer.

O God! The nations have devastated the land, destroyed Jerusalem, drenched the earth with the blood of the Hebrew people, neighboring peoples mock and jeer at them (1–4). Pour out Your wrath on the nations for the devastation of the land of Jacob: do not remember our sins and deliver us (5–9). Do not allow the nations to mock Your name; punish them for reviling You, and we will proclaim to all generations praise to You (10–13).

Psalm 78:2. They gave the bodies of Your servants as food to the birds of the heavens, the flesh of Your holy ones to the beasts of the earth; “The flesh of Your holy ones” means the Hebrews, as the chosen people of God, designated to be a holy people and servants of the true God.

Psalm 78:3. They poured out their blood like water all around Jerusalem, and there was no one to bury them. “They poured out their blood like water” means the abundance of the slain.

Psalm 78:4. We have become a mockery to our neighbors, a scorn and derision to those around us. A conquered people became the plunder of the enemy, which he disposed of at his whimsical pleasure, subjecting it to all manner of violence and mockery. This custom of the enemy’s treatment of the conquered in ancient times was universal and depended on that deep isolation of the life of peoples, which scarcely allowed any relations even with a neighboring tribe. Each people, therefore, was isolated in its language, rights, customs, and religious beliefs, and regarded another people only as its enemy, whose destruction was for it a matter of sincere longing. This explains the mockery to which the vanquished were subjected by the victor.

Psalm 78:8. Do not remember against us the iniquities of our fathers; let Your compassion come quickly to meet us, for we are brought very low. “Do not remember against us the iniquities of our fathers” means do not hold us responsible or punish us for sins inherited from our ancestors. This prayer indicates that the degree of moral degradation of the Hebrew people that brought about such strict judgment from the Lord was not a temporary decline in the height of life of the Hebrew people, but a prolonged vicious tendency.

Psalm 78:9. Help us, O God our Savior, for the glory of Your name; and deliver us, and forgive our sins for the sake of Your name. “Help us for the glory of Your name; deliver us for the sake of Your name.” When religious beliefs prevailed among the ancient peoples, affecting the structure of their civil life, family life, and social relations and determining their attitude toward other peoples, the significance and power of each tribe was determined by the power of its national god. The victory of one people over another meant that the god of the victor was stronger than the god of the vanquished people, and they considered it right to mock the defeated. The same fate befell the Hebrew people after the victory of the Babylonians over them; the Hebrew God appeared in the eyes of the victors as weaker than their national god, which is why mockeries of the Hebrew God were natural. The writer grieves at such humiliation of the true God and prays to help his people so that His name would not be blasphemed by the nations.

Psalm 78:10. Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?” Let the avenging of the blood of Your servants be known among the nations before our eyes. “Where is their God?” is an ironic question. The conquering nations ask — where is that God on whose power the Jews relied?

Psalm 78:11. Let the groan of the prisoner come before You; according to Your great power preserve those who are doomed to death. “Let the groan of the prisoner come before You” means look with mercy; do not turn away from Your people, who are now deprived of political independence, who are in the chains of slavery.

Psalm 78:12. Return to our neighbors sevenfold into their bosom the reproach with which they have reproached You, O Lord. “Return sevenfold to our neighbors.” The number seven is a round number, meaning completeness in general. Repay the enemies, O Lord, fully what they deserve for their mockeries of You; do not diminish Your justice with lenience.