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The psalm begins with a description of God, not as a God of love or mercy, but as a God of vengeance. It is a call for God to rise up and act by bringing justice. Particular, the psalmist is calling for judgment against the proud, that they receive what they deserve. Again, we see that there is not a problem with asking God to administer justice. There is not a problem with asking God to give evil people what is due to them. God is a God of justice, which is vengeance. This term “vengeance” should not cause us any trouble or concern.

The question is then brought in prayer: how long will the wicked and the proud be allowed to gloat in their evil? How long will they be allowed to maintain their arrogance? How long will evil people continue to boast? The psalmist goes on to describe their evil actions. They are crushing God’s people. They hurt the righteous. Some evildoers even kill widows and orphans.

Consider the thought process of the evildoers. They think that God does not notice. They think that God is not looking. They think that God does not care what they are doing. This is the typical thinking when we sin. We think that God does not notice. We think that God does not really care. Listen to the answer to such thinking.

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Psalm 90 is a unique psalm because it is attributed to Moses. We do not think of Moses as a songwriter, however, there are a couple of songs that are attributed to him (Exodus 15; Deuteronomy 32). One scholar suggests that Psalm 90 was written after the traumatic events of Numbers 20. In Numbers 20 there are three painful events in Moses’ life: (1) The death of Miriam, (2) Moses’ sin of striking the rock, and (3) The death of Aaron. Moses loses his sister and his brother and also loses the right to enter the promised land because of his sin. Perhaps these are the circumstances that cause reflection in Moses’ song and prayer to God.

The Eternal Grandeur of God (1-2)

The psalm begins with recognition of God as a refuge and dwelling place for His people in every generation. Then Moses praises God for His eternal nature. Verse 2 states a fact that is hard for humans to wrap their minds around. Before there were mountains and before there was an earth, God existed. From eternity to eternity there is no beginning or end to God. This is difficult because everything we know in life is temporal. Everything has a beginning and an end. So we have to remember that God is eternal. God has seen it all and is able to see all things to know what is best for us.

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Psalm 87 is a short psalm about Zion. Zion is described as being beloved above all else. In all of the places in Israel, Zion is loved the most. The second point of the psalm is that there is a blessing of being born in Zion. But notice who are the people born in Zion. They are people from the other nations who now know God. They are from the nations of Egypt (Rahab), Babylon, Philistia, Tyre, and Cush. The Gentiles are pictured as being of God’s registered people born in Zion. The final point of the psalm is found in the last verse where we see all the blessings of God are found in Zion. Springs and streams of water are used throughout the Old Testament as a symbol of God’s blessings (Isaiah 12:3; 41:18; 49:10).

This may seem like an irrelevant psalm because we are reading about the hope of the people being bound in Zion, the holy of city of Jerusalem. But it is important to first of all see how important Zion was to the people. The people understood this as a special privilege of God’s love to his people. The New Testament, based upon this understanding, describes these images in this psalm being fulfilled. People can come to God and be part of Zion, the holy city of God.

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The first thing that is interesting about this psalm is that David does not address exactly what he needs. David does not describe his circumstances. David does not describe the type of deliverance he needs. We have seen in many of the psalms David explain how he needs deliverance from his enemies or to have his life saved. In verse 1 David asks the Lord to listen and to answer him. David asks for his life to be protected in verse 2 and asks for mercy in verse 3 and verse 6. Graciousness is requested again in verse 16. So we are left in the dark as to what is going on. However, it is important to consider that we can go to God and pray without knowing what we want God to do. It seems that all David knows to ask for is mercy and protection. He does not know how that mercy may come about but seems to be entrusting his life to God to take of that. We need to remember to pray to God not only when we think we know what we need but also when we do not know what we need. You and I do not have to know what we need. We can just know that we need God and leave the rest in his hands to provide for us.

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Psalm 81 is another psalm of Asaph. In Psalms 79-80 we saw Asaph describing God’s wrath against Jerusalem and his plea for the “son of man” (the Messiah) to deliver the people. Psalm 81 begins with a call to worship. The first three verses call for Israel to sing aloud to God and to shout for joy. It is time for Israel to worship the Lord. Verse 1 is probably a call to the whole congregation to sing and shout. Verse 2 is probably a call to the Levites who were appointed in the temple as singers and musicians. Verse 3 is probably a call to the priests who had the responsibility of blowing the trumpets. So this seems to be Asaph’s call to all the people to participate in worship. Verse 3 speaks about the feast day. This psalm was probably written in the 7th month when Israel had three festivals: New Year festival (7th month, 1st day), Day of Atonement (7th month, 10th day), and Festival of Tabernacles (7th month, 15th day). The full moon also coincided with the Festival of Tabernacles. The purpose of these festivals was for the people to remember the mighty works of God, specifically Israel’s deliverance from Egypt. This is what Asaph tells the people to recall as they worship in the Lord in the next few verses.

Remember What The Lord Has Done (81:4-7)

Asaph tells the people to recall the deliverance the Lord achieved for Israel in Egypt. Asaph says that the Lord went out over the land, which may be reference to the Passover, when God went through Egypt and struck down the firstborn of every child and animal that did not have the blood on the doorposts. In verse 6 the Lord Himself begins to speak. The Lord reminds the people how he relieved the people of their burdens in Egypt. The people repeatedly forgot the miserable lives they were leading in Egypt. Israel’s children at one point in time were being killed by the Egyptians. The people of Israel were forced labor and were treated harshly as the book of Exodus opens. The Lord says that he relieved the people from that labor and they are to remember that in the Passover and in the Festival of Tabernacles. Notice verse 7:

“In distress you called, and I delivered you; I answered you in the secret place of thunder; I tested you at the waters of Meribah.”

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Psalms 79-80 are penned by Asaph and concern the invasion and destruction of Jerusalem. Psalm 79 describes the horror of the destruction upon Jerusalem that took place when the Babylonians invaded. The psalmist calls out to God asking how long the anger of the Lord will burn against Jerusalem because of the sins of the people and their forefathers. Verse 9 is the central part of the psalm: “Help us, O God our Savior, for the glory of your name; deliver us and forgive our sins for your name’s sake.” Psalm 80 also is a cry out to the Lord for help in the face of the Lord’s anger.

Psalm 80

God, the Shepherd of Israel (1-3)

Psalm 80 begins by describing God as the Shepherd of Israel. We particularly know that the psalmist is speaking about the Lord from the description given in verse 1: “you who sit enthroned between the cherubim.” Exodus 25 tells us that the presence of God dwelled between the cherubim on the ark of the covenant. “Set the mercy seat on top of the ark and put the testimony that I will give you into the ark. I will meet with you there above the mercy seat, between the two cherubim that are over the ark of the testimony; I will speak with you from there about all that I command you regarding the Israelites” (Exodus 25:21-22).

Verse 3 seems to be a chorus which is repeated in verse 7 and verse 19. The chorus is a call from Israel to God for restoration. “Restore us, O God; make your face shine upon us; that we may be saved.” This is the psalmist’s prayer on behalf of Israel for deliverance.

This description of God as a shepherd also occurs in Psalm 23, a famous psalm that many people know. Understanding that the Jewish people looked to God as their shepherd make the words of Jesus controversial. “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me—just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep” (John 10:14-15). For Jesus to call himself the good shepherd of Israel was an obvious and direct declaration that he is God.

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Psalm 78 is a rather lengthy psalm that was penned by Asaph. All of the psalms since Psalm 73 have been from Asaph. So he is a major contributor to the psalms in the scriptures. As we read Psalm 78 we will look for the key themes and main message of the song.

Teach The Generations! (78:1-8)

Asaph begins the psalm by declaring the need to teach. The people, particularly the children, need to be taught about God’s works. Verses 2-4 set the stage for what Asaph is trying to accomplish. The events and teachings from the past that their fathers told them, they are going to tell to their children and to the next generation. This declaration is exactly what the Lord commanded:

“You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as emblems on your forehead. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates” (Deuteronomy 6:7-9).

What was supposed to be taught? Asaph says that the mighty works of God need to be taught. Too often we think that we will teach our children by assumption. We assume they know our faith, but we never verbalize exactly what we believe in God and why. We simply think that our children know, but we never taught. We fear sitting our children down and explaining to them things about the Bible and explain why we are disciples. Moses said that children must be taught diligently. That means that we must be teaching them verbally on a regular basis. When we are sitting, walking, laying down, and rising up. In every place and at every time we are to be teaching about God’s laws and God’s mighty works.

The second thing Asaph says that we need to teach our children is to trust in God (vs. 7). Here is a place where we have great difficulty. If our lives do not reflect that we have fully put our trust in God, then our faith will look hypocritical and we will not be able to effectively teach our children about trusting God. We must teach our children that trusting in God is not simply a mental affirmative, but a complete life change. We must show our children that trusting in God is putting him first above the things of the world that so often occupy our time.

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Cries In The Night (77:1-2)

Asaph begins the psalm by recording how he was crying out to the Lord. The first two verses describe how Asaph was seeking after the Lord in the midst of his turmoil. Any person who has ever endured a trial, endured suffering, endured emotional pain, or endured any life difficulties relates to the words of Asaph in the first two verses. Asaph is literally crying to God for help. Emotionally broken and spent, Asaph is in distress reaching out to God for help. The last clause of verse 2 especially describes the nature of the suffering: “…and my soul refused to be comforted.” Nothing can be said to Asaph that will make him feel better. The ordeal is so great that there is no place to find comfort. With the diagnosis of Prader-Willi Syndrome of our daughter, there was no comfort for a few days. There was simply a sharp emotional pain that is simply indescribable that rested upon me. I felt numb toward everything except that pain. We do not know what Asaph is enduring but we can relate to the circumstance where we could not find any comfort or release.

Remembering The “Good Old Days” (77:3-6)

Verses 3-6 seems to be Asaph recalling what we often call “the good old days.” In verse 5 Asaph says, “I thought about the former days, the year of long ago; I remembered my songs in the night.” It is amazing how often trials set apart a new time of life. I have two major life chasms that have forever changed my life. Life events that cause a person to try to remember back to before the ordeal started. Asaph seems to remember back to before his ordeal, a time that seems to be so long ago. He remembers the former days when he had pleasure in the night (songs). But now Asaph has tears and distress in the night.

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Psalm 74

“Why have you rejected us forever, O God? Why does your anger smolder against the sheep of your pasture?”

Do you feel like God has rejected you? Asaph did. In fact, Asaph feels this way on behalf of the whole nation of Israel. The chosen people of God have been rejected by God. They are experiencing the burning wrath of the Lord. Notice as we read the first 9 verses that this question is posed in a similar way as Psalm 73. The question is why are the people of God rejected and experiencing God’s anger when the wicked succeed in their fight against the Lord. Essentially, Asaph cries out, “Look at the evil committed against you, Lord!”

Therefore, Asaph says that they have been rejected by God. Do you feel rejected by God? It is a lonely feeling. Notice verse 9, “We do not see our signs; no prophets are left, and none of us knows how long this will be.” The people proclaiming in the name of the Lord have vanished. The wonders and signs of God are no longer available. The two most common questions that people ask in the midst of suffering, when we feel like we have been rejected by God: “why?” and “how long?”

Verse 10: “How long will the enemy mock you, O God? Will the foe revile your name forever?” How long will these continue this way? How long must we endure this suffering? How long will we continue to feel this way?

Verse 11: “Why do you hold back your hand, your right hand? Take it from the folds of your garment and destroy them!” Why are these things happening? Why will God not save us? Why doesn’t God change our circumstances?

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Asaph was one of the members of the tribe of Levi whom David put in charge of the worship at the tabernacle (1 Chronicles 6:39). Most of the psalms were penned by David. However, Asaph is the author of Psalm 73. Asaph writes this psalm about the struggle of being righteous.

The psalm begins with a statement of hope and trust, which is important considering the road Asaph is going to take down in this psalm. “Surely God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart” (73:1). This beginning is important because Asaph is praising and recognizing the goodness of God even though he has difficulty understanding the events of the world.

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We have spent a lot of time trying to understand how the Jewish people understood the psalms and the prophets. Psalm 72 is an important psalm which requires us to look carefully at how the Hebrews interpreted the text.

The Jews understood these psalms in their original context, but also applied the psalms and the prophets to the days of the Messianic age. The Dead Sea Scrolls shows that this is the way the psalms and the prophets were used.

Notice this quotation from the Dead Sea Scrolls concerning Habakkuk 1:6: “For I am now about to raise up the Chaldeans, that brutal and reckless people.” This refers to the Kittim, who are swift and mighty in war, annihilating many people, [and …] in the authority of the Kittim and the wic[ked …] and have no faith in the laws of God. (1QpHab; 2.10-15)

This shows that this is how the Jewish people understood their sacred books. Even though Habakkuk specifically prophesied against the Chaldeans (the Babylonians), the Qumran community, who lived from the first century B.C. to the first century A.D., believed this was speaking about the Kittim, a common Jewish term for the Romans. The text not only had application to the days of Habakkuk and his circumstances, but also applied to the Jewish in their own day and time, with special emphasis on the Messianic age.

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According to the NIV Application Commentary, “Psalms 70 and 71 are combined in many ancient manuscripts, indicating there were (in some traditions at least) read as a single psalm” (965). The other interesting aspect of these psalms is that Psalm 70 appears nearly verbatim in Psalm 40:13-17. Rather than teach these verses again, I would encourage our audience to study Psalm 40 which contains the words of Psalm 70. But we will read Psalm 70 along with Psalm 71 since these psalms were connected in Hebrew history. There are also some significant links between these two psalms. Both psalms also pray for the enemies to be ashamed: “Let those be ashamed and humiliated who seek my life” (70:2). “Let those who are adversaries of my soul be ashamed and consumed” (71:13). We also see similar wording in the pleas to God in these psalms. “O God, hasten to deliver me; O Lord, hasten to my help! (70:1). “O God, do not be far from me; O my God, hasten to my help! (71:12). Psalm 71 also lacks a heading in the superscription, while Psalm 70 contains a heading. So I think we have good reason to look at these psalms as a unit.

Psalm 70 is a call to God for deliverance and help to come quickly. Verse 5 says, “But I am afflicted and needy; hasten to me, O God! You are my help and my deliverer; O Lord, do not delay.” In the composition, Psalm 70 ought to be looked at as the opening petition for God’s help. Psalm 71 continues David’s petition.

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