Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible
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Psalms
Book: Psalms
Chapter: 79
Overview:
The deplorable condition of the people of
God.
(1-5) A
petition for relief.
(6-13)
1-5 God is complained to: whither should children go but to a
Father able and willing to help them? See what a change
Sin made
in the holy
City, when the
Heathen were suffered to pour in upon
them.
God's own people defiled it
By their sins, therefore he
suffered their enemies to defile it
By their insolence. They
desired that
God would be reconciled. Those who desire
God's
favour as better than
Life, cannot but dread his wrath as worse
than
Death. In every affliction we should first beseech the
Lord
to cleanse away the guilt of our sins; then he will visit us
with his tender mercies.
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 are appointed to die! How glorious will
the
Day be, when, triumphant over
Sin and sorrow, the
Church
beholds the
Adversary disarmed for ever! while that
Church
shall, from
Age to
Age, sing the praises of her great
Shepherd
and
Bishop, her
King and her
God.