1. O God, the heathen are come into thine inheritance. It is the cry of amazement at sacrilegious intrusion, as if
the poet were struck with terror. All Canaan is thy land, but thy foes have
ravaged it. They have laid Jerusalem on heaps. It is sad to see the foe
in our own house, but worse to meet him in the house of God; they strike
hardest who smite at our religion. The psalmist knew how to bring out the
strong points of his case. We ought to order our case before the Lord with as
much ease as if our success depended on our pleading.
2. The enemy
cared not to bury the dead, and there was not a sufficient number of Israel
left alive to perform the funeral rites; therefore, the precious relics of the
departed were left to be devoured of vultures and torn by wolves. Note in the
two verses how the plea is made to turn upon God’s property in the temple and
the people: we read “thine inheritance,” “thy temple,” “thy servants,”
and “thy saints.” Surely the Lord will defend his own, and will not suffer
rampant adversaries to despoil them.
3. Their blood have they shed like water round about
Jerusalem. The invaders slew men as if their
blood was of no more value than so much water; they poured it forth as lavishly
as when the floods deluge the plains. The city of holy peace became a field of
blood. And there was none to bury them. The few who survived were afraid
to engage in the task. This was a serious trial and grievous horror to the
Jews, who evinced much care concerning their burials.
4. We are become a reproach to our neighbors. Those who have escaped the common foe make a mockery of us;
they fling our disasters into our face, and ask us, “Where is your God?” Pity
should be shown to the afflicted, but in too many cases it is not so, for a
hard logic argues that those who suffer more than ordinary calamities must have
been extraordinary sinners. Neighbors especially are often the reverse of
neighborly; the nearer they dwell the less they sympathize. A scorn and
derision to them that are round about us. To find mirth in others’
miseries, and to exult over the ills of others, is worthy only of the devil and
of those whose father he is. Asaph was an excellent advocate, for he gave a
telling description of calamities which were under his own eyes, and in which
he sympathized, but we have a mightier Intercessor above, who never ceases to
urge our suit before the eternal throne.
5. How long, Lord? Will there be no end to these chastisements? They are most
sharp and overwhelming; wilt thou much longer continue them? Wilt thou be
angry forever? Is thy mercy gone so that thou wilt forever smite? Shall
thy jealousy bum like fire? There was great cause for the Lord to be
jealous, since idols had been set up, and Israel had gone aside from his
worship, but the psalmist begs the Lord not to consume his people utterly as
with fire, but to abate their woes.
6. Pour out thy wrath upon the heathen that have not known
thee. If thou must smite look further
afield; spare thy children and strike thy foes. And upon the kingdoms that
have not called upon thy name. Hear us the prayerful, and avenge thyself
upon the prayerless. Sometimes providence appears to deal much more severely
with the righteous than with the wicked, and this verse is a bold appeal
founded upon such an appearance. It in effect says, Lord, if thou must empty out
the vials of thy wrath, begin with those who have no measure of regard for
thee, but are openly up in arms against thee; and be pleased to spare thy
people, who are thine notwithstanding all their sins.
7. For they have devoured Jacob. The oppressor would quite eat up the saints if he could. If
these lions do not swallow us, it is because the Lord has sent his angel and
shut the lions’ mouths. And laid waste his dwelling place, or his
pasture. The invader left no food for man or beast.
8. O remember not against us former iniquities. Generations lay up stores of transgressions to be visited
upon their successors; hence this urgent prayer. In Josiah’s days the most
earnest repentance was not able to avert the doom which former long years of
idolatry had sealed against Judah. Every man has reason to ask for an act of
oblivion for his past sins, and every nation should make this a continual
prayer. Let thy tender mercies speedily prevent us: for we are brought very
low. Hasten to our rescue, for our nation is hurrying down to destruction.
Observe how penitent sorrow seizes upon the sweeter attributes, and draws her
pleas from the “tender mercies” of God; see, too, how she pleads her own
distress, and not her goodness, as a motive for the display of mercy.
9. Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of thy
name. No argument has such force as this.
God’s glory was tarnished in the eyes of the heathen by the defeat of his
people and the profanation of his temple; therefore, his distressed servants
implore his aid, that his great name may no more be the scorn of blaspheming
enemies. And deliver us, and purge away our sins, for thy name’s sake.
Sin—the root of the evil—is seen and confessed; pardon of sin is sought as well
as removal of chastisement, and both are asked not as matters of right, but as
gifts of grace. God’s name is a second time brought into the pleading.
Believers will find it their wisdom to use very frequently this noble plea: it
is the great gun of the battle, the mightiest weapon in the armory of prayer.
10. Wherefore should the heathen say, Where is their God? When the afflictions of God’s people become the derision of
sinners, and cause them to ridicule religion, we have good ground for
expostulation with the Lord. Let him be known among the heathen in our sight
by the revenging of the blood of thy servants which is shed. Justice is
desired that God may be vindicated and feared. It is the common feeling of
every patriot to desire to see his country’s wrongs redressed, and of every
Christian to wish a noble vengeance for the church by the overthrow of error.
The destruction of Antichrist is the recompense of the blood of the martyrs,
and by no means is it to be deprecated; far rather is it one of the most
glorious hopes of the latter days.
11. Let the sighing of the prisoner come before thee. When thy people cannot sing, and dare not shout aloud, then
let their silent sigh ascend into thine ear, and secure for them deliverance. According
to the greatness of thy power preserve thou those that are appointed to die.
Faith grows while it prays; the appeal to the Lord’s tender mercy is here
supplemented by another addressed to the divine power, and the petitioner rises
from a request for those who are brought low, to a prayer for those on the verge
of death, set apart as victims for the slaughter. Men and devils may consign us
to perdition, while sickness drags us to the grave, and sorrow sinks us in the
dust; but there is One who can keep our soul alive, and bring it up again from
the depths of despair.
12. They
denied thine existence, mocked thy power, insulted thy worship, and destroyed
thy house; up, therefore, O Lord, and make them feel to the full that thou art
not to be mocked with impunity. The wish of the text will become a matter of
fact. The Lord will avenge his own elect though he bear long with them.
13. The
gratitude of the church is lasting as well as deep. We have a history which
will survive all other records, and it is bright with the glory of the Lord.
From the direst calamities God’s glory springs, and the dark days of his people
become the prelude to unusual displays of the Lord’s love and power.
Excerpt from:
The Treasury of David
By Charles H Spurgeon
