1A Maskil of Asaph. Why have You rejected us forever, O God? Why does Your anger smolder against the sheep of Your pasture? 2Remember Your congregation, which You purchased long ago and redeemed as the tribe of Your inheritance— Mount Zion where You dwell. 3Turn Your steps to the everlasting ruins, to everything in the sanctuary the enemy has destroyed. 4Your foes have roared within Your meeting place; they have unfurled their banners as signs, 5like men wielding axes in a thicket of trees 6and smashing all the carvings with hatchets and picks. 7They have burned Your sanctuary to the ground; they have defiled the dwelling place of Your Name. 8They said in their hearts, “We will crush them completely.” They burned down every place where God met us in the land. 9There are no signs for us to see. There is no longer any prophet. And none of us knows how long this will last. 10How long, O God, will the enemy taunt You? Will the foe revile Your name forever? 11Why do You withdraw Your strong right hand? Stretch it out to destroy them! 12Yet God is my King from ancient times, working salvation on the earth. 13You divided the sea by Your strength; You smashed the heads of the dragons of the sea; 14You crushed the heads of Leviathan; You fed him to the creatures of the desert. 15You broke open the fountain and the flood; You dried up the ever-flowing rivers. 16The day is Yours, and also the night; You established the moon and the sun. 17You set all the boundaries of the earth; You made the summer and winter. 18Remember how the enemy has mocked You, O LORD, how a foolish people has spurned Your name. 19Do not deliver the soul of Your dove to beasts; do not forget the lives of Your afflicted forever. 20Consider Your covenant, for haunts of violence fill the dark places of the land. 21Do not let the oppressed retreat in shame; may the poor and needy praise Your name. 22Rise up, O God; defend Your cause! Remember how the fool mocks You all day long. 23Do not disregard the clamor of Your adversaries, the uproar of Your enemies that ascends continually.
Matthew Henry's Commentary
The desolations of the sanctuary. (1-11) Pleas for encouraging faith. (12-17) Petitions for deliverances. (18-23) 1-11 This psalm appears to describe the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple by the Chaldeans. The deplorable case of the people of God, at the time, is spread before the Lord, and left with him. They plead the great things God had done for them. If the deliverance of Israel out of Egypt was encouragement to hope that he would not cast them off, much more reason have we to believe, that God will not cast off any whom Christ has redeemed with his own blood. Infidels and persecutors may silence faithful ministers, and shut up places of worship, and say they will destroy the people of God and their religion together. For a long time they may prosper in these attempts, and God's oppressed servants may see no prospect of deliverance; but there is a remnant of believers, the seed of a future harvest, and the despised church has survived those who once triumphed over her. When the power of enemies is most threatening, it is comfortable to flee to the power of God by earnest prayer. 12-17 The church silences her own complaints. What God had done for his people, as their King of old, encouraged them to depend on him. It was the Lord's doing, none besides could do it. This providence was food to faith and hope, to support and encourage in difficulties. The God of Israel is the God of nature. He that is faithful to his covenant about the day and the night, will never cast off those whom he has chosen. We have as much reason to expect affliction, as to expect night and winter. But we have no more reason to despair of the return of comfort, than to despair of day and summer. And in the world above we shall have no more changes. 18-23 The psalmist begs that God would appear for the church against their enemies. The folly of such as revile his gospel and his servants will be plain to all. Let us call upon our God to enlighten the dark nations of the earth; and to rescue his people, that the poor and needy may praise his name. Blessed Saviour, thou art the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever. Make thy people more than conquerors. Be thou, Lord, all in all to them in every situation and circumstances; for then thy poor and needy people will praise thy name.