(April 11)

Both of these psalms are attributed to “Asaph.” But this is definitely not the Levite Asaph who was one of the chief musicians and singers appointed by King David to worship before the Ark at the Tabernacle of David and who was at the dedication of the Temple of Solomon.

The name Asaph means “collector.” In the case of psalms 74 and 79, it may be a title; someone who collected the various psalms and helped compile them into what we now know as “The Book of Psalms.

It could also be a pseudonym. The writer of these psalms may have borrowed the name of the famous Levite from the time of David and Solomon.

Or, it could be another guy named Asaph. It’s not like only one person could have that name.

Whatever the case, these two psalms concern the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple.

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The psalmist expresses shock and dismay that Yahweh would allow such horrible destruction of His own sanctuary. The imagery in both psalms is vivid.

“They swung their axes like woodcutters in a forest. With axes and picks, they smashed the carved paneling.”
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭74‬:‭5‬-‭6‬ ‭NLT‬‬

“They have left the bodies of your servants as food for the birds of heaven. The flesh of your godly ones has become food for the wild animals. Blood has flowed like water all around Jerusalem; no one is left to bury the dead.”
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭79‬:‭2‬-‭3‬ ‭NLT‬‬

You can practically hear the sickening thuds of axes destroying the beautiful wood paneling that had been so skillfully carved. You can see the strewn corpses and blood-slicked stones while the survivors are forced to march away and leave the bodies of their family and neighbors exposed to scavengers.

In Psalm 74, the psalmist recounts the might of the LORD in His creation; how He subdued chaos, and how He has sometimes overrode His own laws of nature to dry up bodies of water in defense of His people. There is never a question of whether God has the power to rescue. He does.

The psalmist is also angry on God’s behalf. The way the holy sanctuary was treated is insulting. The temple was the heart of the nation. If you watched your nation’s capital defaced and then burned, would you not be indignant on behalf of your country?

Psalm 79 is a cry for justice. Vengeance! Why doesn’t God DO something?

These psalms convey the anger and faith and dismay and hope of the writer. It’s not only possible but perfectly fine for those conflicting emotions to sit side-by-side.

I’ve noticed that the recent emotional climate (at least in the western world) seems to be rather monochromatic. One is expected to be angry and only angry. You can be any shade of dismayed but you can’t be BOTH dismayed and still have faith. You can be various tints of angry but you cannot be angry AND kind. Anger with the restraint of kindness would be likely be dismissed as not being “all in,” or being “controlled.”

You’re darn right it’s controlled. It’s called self-controlled. More people should try it.

My point is, the writer of these psalms is devastated. Yet he doesn’t throw out the faith baby with the devastation bath water as most people today seem to do. He doesn’t “deconstruct” and “deconvert” because life didn’t turn out the way he expected.

He desperately wants vengeance but he does not take the law into his own hands. Instead, his trust in God to handle the world as He sees fit, checks and balances him from becoming a rage-bait influencer.

We could learn a lot from meditation on these psalms. Maybe someone needs to put them to music again. Maybe the saints today need to relearn biblical lament. It is grief and anger that never loose touch with faith.