Psalms 79:1 «A Psalm of Asaph. » O God, the heathen are come into thine inheritance; thy holy temple have they defiled; they have laid Jerusalem on heaps.
A Psalm] Of like subject with Psalms 74:1,23, bewailing the same calamity of the Jews, whether under Nebuchadnezzar or Antiochus is uncertain; but foreseen by Asaph, or described by some other prophet, and committed to some of Asaph's successors to be sung. Cantant iusti etiam in adversis; as birds in the spring tune most sweetly when it raineth most sadly.
Ver. 1. O God, the heathen] Ex abrupto orditur; q.d. Canst thou endure it? Is it not high time for thee to set in? Lo, they have filled the breadth of thy land, O Immanuel, Isaiah 8:8, that is, O thou who art God with us, who givest with the Father, who prayest with the suitor (Cum parte dater, inter nos petitor. Aug.), and who in all our afflictions art afflicted.
Thy holy temple have they defiled] Spoliando, funestando, et omnia profana impiaque munera obeundo. See Psalms 74:7 .
They have laid Jerusalem on heaps] In rudera, into an orchard keeper's cottage, saith the Vulgate, οπωροφυλακιον (Sept.). An elegant hypotyposis.