Psalm 79, which begins the second cluster of psalms in Book III, is a lament over a devastating attack on Jerusalem and its temple. As with Psalm 74, this setting raises questions over Asaph's authorship noted in the superscription since Asaph would have seen no such invasion unless he lived well over a century to witness Pharaoh Shishak's invasion in the fifth year of Solomon's son Rehoboam (ca. 925 B.C.). Refer back to the Beyond Today Bible Commentary's introduction of Psalm 74 to see various suggestions for resolving this matter—the likeliest perhaps being that Asaph, as a seer, was foretelling the future.

Asaph may have been writing in Psalm 79 of Shishak's invasion, but it is likely that even later destruction was also being prophesied, such as that wreaked by the Babylonians (586 B.C.) and, later still, by the Romans (A.D. 70). The invasion and temple defilement by the Greek Syrians during the time of the Maccabees (ca. 168 B.C.) could also be represented here—as could the destruction and defilement of the end time yet to come.

Note verse 2 in this regard: "The dead bodies of Your servants they [the invaders] have given as food for the birds of the heavens, the flesh of Your saints to the beasts of the earth." God through Jeremiah later warned of what His people would experience at the hands of the Babylonian invaders in similar terms: "Their dead bodies shall be for meat for the birds of the heaven and the beasts of the earth" (Jeremiah 34:20; compare Jeremiah 7:33; Jeremiah 16:4; Jeremiah 19:7). Of course, Jeremiah's prophecy, in a dual sense, was foretelling both immediate and end-time devastation.

The word "saints" in Psalm 79:2 means "holy ones." This could perhaps refer to God's holy nation generally or more specifically to priests at the temple, yet it may have referred, as it would today, to spiritually converted people. An end-time setting would indicate the latter—and other prophecies do show that even some of God's end-time saints will be slain in the coming time of tribulation along with the people of Israelite nations generally.

The wording of verse 4, about being a reproach and target of scorn and derision, is very similar to that of Psalm 44:13.

Asaph asks "how long" this terrible situation will continue (verse 5). Will God be angry with His people forever? Will His "jealousy burn like a fire"?—that is, will His anger over His people's unfaithfulness utterly consume them? Things appeared so bad as to seem like this might be the case. So the psalm asks God for mercy, deliverance, atonement and salvation (verses 8-9). And it appeals to God to be true to His name as the Savior of His people—to defend His own reputation, as the enemy taunts, "Where is their God?" (verse 10).

The psalm is also a call for just retribution on the enemy and all nations that oppose God and His people: "Pour out Your wrath on the nations that do not know You...for they have devoured Jacob" (verses 6-7). It asks for God to act as His people's divine Kinsman-Redeemer and Avenger of Blood, avenging the deaths of His slain servants (verse 10) and rescuing those who will likewise die at the hands of the enemy if He doesn't act (verse 11). Again, God's reputation is shown to be at stake: "Pay back into the laps of our neighbors seven times the reproach they have hurled at you, O Lord" (verse 12, NIV). "The sevenfold restitution expresses a concern for full justice...the judgment must be equal to the severity of the reproach of God's name!" (Expositor's Bible Commentary, note on verse 12).

Asaph at last expresses confidence that God, as a caring shepherd over His flock (see Psalms 23; 80), will act in His people's favor—so that they may praise Him for all time (79:13).