Why Have You Rejected Us Forever? (Psalm 79:1-13; Jeremiah 52:1-11)
A Maskil of Asaph.
“Why have You rejected us forever, O God? Why does Your anger smolder against the sheep of Your pasture? Remember Your congregation, which You purchased long ago and redeemed as the tribe of Your inheritance—Mount Zion where You dwell.
Turn Your steps to the everlasting ruins, to everything in the sanctuary the enemy has destroyed. Your foes have roared within Your meeting place; they have unfurled their banners as signs, like men wielding axes in a thicket of trees and smashing all the carved work with hatchets and picks. They have burned Your sanctuary to the ground; they have defiled the dwelling place of Your Name.
They said in their hearts, “We will crush them completely.” They burned down every place where God met us in the land. There are no signs for us to see. There is no longer any prophet. And none of us knows how long this will last.
How long, O God, will the enemy taunt You? Will the foe revile Your name forever? Why do You withdraw Your hand? Stretch out Your right hand and destroy them! Yet God is my King from ancient times, working salvation on the earth. You divided the sea by Your strength; You smashed the heads of the dragons of the sea; You crushed the heads of Leviathan; You fed him to the creatures of the desert.
You broke open the fountain and the flood; You dried up the ever-flowing rivers. The day is Yours, and also the night; You established the moon and the sun. You set all the boundaries of the earth; You made the summer and winter.
Remember how the enemy has mocked You, O LORD, how a foolish people has spurned Your name. Do not deliver the soul of Your dove to beasts; do not forget the lives of Your afflicted forever. Consider Your covenant, for haunts of violence fill the dark places of the land. Do not let the oppressed retreat in shame; may the poor and needy praise Your name. Rise up, O God; defend Your cause! Remember how the fool mocks You all day long. Do not disregard the clamor of Your adversaries, the uproar of Your enemies that ascends continually.”
“Why have You rejected us forever, O God? Why does Your anger smolder against the sheep of Your pasture? Remember Your congregation, which You purchased long ago and redeemed as the tribe of Your inheritance—Mount Zion where You dwell.”
When was this psalm composed? David Guzik in his Enduring Word commentary says this: “This psalm is titled A Contemplation of Asaph. It is a plea and a prayer in great sorrow from the destruction of the sanctuary (Psalm 74:3, 7). The majority of commentators believe this psalm followed the destruction of the temple by the Babylonians. Some argue that it is even later, following the desecration of the temple in the days of Antiochus Epiphanes. If these later dates are true, this Asaph is not the great singer and musician of David and Solomon’s era, unless Asaph composed this psalm prophetically, which was possible according to 1 Chronicles 25:1 and 2 Chronicles 29:30.
James Montgomery Boice explains the thinking of a later Asaph: “Either this is a later Asaph, which is not unlikely since the name might have been perpetuated among the temple musicians, or, more likely, the name was affixed to many psalms produced by this body of musicians. We know that the ‘descendants of Asaph’ were functioning as late as the reign of Josiah (2 Chronicles 35:15).”
There is another option: the Asaph of David and Solomon’s time composed this psalm on the occasion or the memory of the destruction of the tabernacle in Shiloh (1 Samuel 4). The word sanctuary used in Psalm 74:3, 7 is also used of the tabernacle (Exodus 25:8; Leviticus 12:4, 21:12; Numbers 10:21, 18:1).”
Whether or not this psalm is prophetic, the destruction it depicts is quite accurate. When the Babylonians attacked Jerusalem, they stripped the temple of everything valuable and burned the rest. That is why in the story of Daniel, the Babylonian king and his court were misusing the silver and gold vessels from the temple to drink wine at their last feast. It was this act of gross sacrilege that occasioned God to write on the wall, indicating that their kingdom was about to fall. Even as that feast continued, the enemies were already entering the city.
The saddest part is that the ancient Israelites have brought this destruction on themselves by turning away from the One True Living God to worship demons. Before Moses died, God had him teach the Israelites a song they were to teach to their children for all generations. That song warned the Israelites that if they rejected God and His commandments, they would be destroyed. Then God repeatedly sent prophets to warn both the Northern and Southern Kingdoms, but very few people listened. Now the day of reckoning has arrived, and everything good and wholesome is being destroyed.
“Remember how the enemy has mocked You, O LORD, how a foolish people has spurned Your name. Do not deliver the soul of Your dove to beasts; do not forget the lives of Your afflicted forever. Consider Your covenant, for haunts of violence fill the dark places of the land. Do not let the oppressed retreat in shame; may the poor and needy praise Your name. Rise up, O God; defend Your cause! Remember how the fool mocks You all day long. Do not disregard the clamor of Your adversaries, the uproar of Your enemies that ascends continually.” Ironically, the Babylonians left many of the poor and needy in the land, carrying off the upper classes who could have fomented rebellion. It was the rich and the rulers who either were slaughtered or blinded after watching their sons being killed. This cruel practice ensured that the last images these people would ever see were their sons dying.
APPLICATION: God doesn’t send people to hell; people choose to go there. 2 Peter 3:9 tells us, “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” God has not changed. God had wonderful plans for the nation of Israel; however, the Israelites insisted on going into idolatry, bringing destruction upon themselves. After generations of warnings, God finally removed His hand of protection. The Assyrians destroyed the Northern Kingdom of Israel while the Babylonians eventually destroyed the Southern Kingdom of Judah.
The question for us is this: What are we doing with the time God has given us? Are we serving God, or are we postponing that decision, promising that we will repent some day? Accidents, cataclysmic events, and health crises may strike at any moment. We are not guaranteed a certain life span. The only time we have is today. There’s an old Gospel song that says, “It wasn’t raining when Noah built the ark.” According to the Bible, Noah worked on the ark for centuries while his idol-worshiping neighbors mocked him. Had those people repented at any point, the flood might not have been necessary; however, they persisted in idolatry until the day they all drowned.
The Bible tells us that today is the day of salvation. Please turn away from your sins and follow God.
PRAYER: Father God, we confess that we are sinners and that nothing we do will be good enough to free us from our sins. By ourselves, we deserve only destruction. But You have sent Your Son Jesus to die as a blood sacrifice for our sins. Forgive us our sins. Help us to follow hard after You all the days of our lives so that when we die, we will be with You in heaven forever. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.
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