Psalms Through the Centuries, Volume 3. Susan Gillingham

Psalms Through the Centuries, Volume 3 - Susan Gillingham


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the great miracles described in Psalm 78 are now replaced with groans from the people and taunts from the enemies (79:11–12). And yet the psalm ends, as in Psalms 78 and 77, with knowing that the people are still God’s flock (78:71 and 79:13).

      Psalm 79 continues this second group of *Asaphite psalms (78–83), with the military and nationalist details and the same spirit of questioning having resonances with the first group (73–77). It is possible to discern three strophes in the lament form of Psalm 79: verses 1–4 describe the oppression by enemy nations; verses 5–9 question God in prayer, using the familiar phrase ‘How Long?’; and verses 10–13, addressing God with imperative pleas, imagine the overturning of the nations. Thus there is some movement in the psalm towards hope for a change of fortune. One of the problems is that the psalm has a large store of formulaic language, so that, for example, in trying to account for the obvious correspondences between verse 4 and 44:14, between verse 5 and 89:46, and between verse 11 and Ps. 102:20, it is difficult to know which text has used the other, or indeed if each is from a common liturgical and formulaic source.

      From afar, O God, the nations

       Thy possessions storm and weep,

       Churches now are desolations,

       And Jerusalem an heap…

      Human blood, like wasted water,

       Round about the wall is shed,

       And such universal slaughter

       Leaves no burial for the dead.

      Us of God’s own circumcision,

       All our adversaries brand;

       Scorned we are, the trite derision

       Even for outcasts of the land…

      Psalm 80: A Communal Lament about Ongoing Exile (ii)

      Psalm 80 has an additional superscription in the Greek: ‘for the Assyrian’ links this psalm with Psalm 76, which has a similar title. Here the focus is more on exile than explicitly on Zion. Psalm 80 reveals other northern associations, with its specific references to the ‘Shepherd of Israel, you who lead Joseph like a flock’ in verse 1 and the references to Joseph, Manasseh and Ephraim in verse 2. The southern and northern elements suggest a complex period of early reception. Its threefold refrain (verses 3, 7, 19) and the division of the psalm into four parts (1–3, 4–7, 8–13, 14–19) give further evidence of this process: the refrain itself (‘let thy face shine’) would suggest a plea for restoration to the presence of God in the Temple, showing its ultimate southern provenance.

      It seems clear that the editors intended Psalms 79 and 80 to be read alongside each other. The shepherding imagery at the end of 79 is taken up at the start of 80. The cry ‘how long?’ begins the second part of each psalm (79:5 and 80:4) and the question ‘why?’ (79:10 and 80:12) also lies at the heart of each. The request for God to ‘return’ (in each case, using the root of the verb sh-w-b) is used in 79:12 and 80:4, 8 and 15 (Eng. 3, 7 and 14). The last reference almost seems to ask God to repent—of his anger.


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