Psalm 79 (78):1Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

It is fitting that these words are directed towards God, as they come from the heart of one who speaks with love and reverence, fully aware of the divine revelations. Even angels convey truths to humanity without full understanding, yet when they address God, they do so with complete knowledge, offering prayers and reflecting upon the eternal Truth regarding their actions as an unwavering law. Accordingly, the man of God communicates with God, seeking to grasp divine wisdom, engaging as a learned individual converses with a teacher: discerning, affirming teachings, or challenging what was left unexpressed. The Prophet, while praying, reflects back on those who were to witness the unfolding of these events. In prayer, it is customary to recount God’s righteous actions and to plead for future mercy and compassion. Thus, the judgments are articulated by those who foresee them, as though they were the experience of those who would endure them; the act of lamentation and petition itself becomes a prophecy.

It is said that the nations, steeped in wickedness, have seized Your heritage, having ventured into the sacred confines of Your house; they have tainted Your holy territory not only with altars but also with profane sacrifices. They have turned Jerusalem into a mere storage for produce. After thoroughly plundering the city, they rendered the once-renowned Jerusalem indistinguishable from a field for vegetables.

When the Gentiles entered into the heritage of the Jews — that is, when they received the revelation of God — this was the ancient legacy of the Jews, as Moses stated in Deuteronomy, ‘The Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be His own people out of all the nations that are upon the earth’ (Deut. 7:6). Thus, they desecrated their holy temple, which stood in ancient Jerusalem. This was not in the sense that they were guilty of sacrilege themselves, but rather that they uncovered the latent corruption of the temple, resulting from the sinful actions of those who ministered there. Just as a priest who examined a suspected case of leprosy, and upon confirming the illness, declared the afflicted to be unclean — not due to the initial contamination but because he recognized the actual condition of the individual — so too, the Gentiles revealed the true state of the Jews. The justification of the Gentiles highlighted the holiness that the Jews lacked, and the disobedience of the former people became more apparent through the obedience of the latter.

O God, the nations have invaded Your inheritance, desecrating Your holy sanctuary. They have turned Jerusalem into a place for the storage of vegetables. The prophet addresses God, voicing the lament of His people over the ruin of the temple and the city. His words are not meant to inform God but rather to stir himself to fervent prayer through this recollection. He proclaims, O God, the nations have entered Your possession, referring to that city and land You have chosen as Your own from all creation. Elaborating on the reason for the Gentiles' intrusion into God's heritage, he acknowledges that they have profaned Your sacred temple; specifically, they came to corrupt it, under the leadership of Antiochus (1 Macc. 1). Idols were erected within the temple, altars were profaned, and sacrifices were made to false gods, rendering the holy city of Jerusalem so desolate that it resembled an abandoned tent used for storing produce or grapes. This is corroborated in the first book of Maccabees, which states that Jerusalem was as deserted as a wilderness.

1) The psalm depicts Jerusalem as a pile of ruins in the Hebrew text, and according to the Septuagint, it is portrayed as nearly inconsequential, likened to a temporary shelter for vegetables; 2) In 1 Maccabees 7, the wording from this psalm is cited as Scripture, indicating it could not have been a recent event; 3) In this psalm (vv. 6, 10), various nations are described as triumphant foes of Israel, while during the Maccabean era, Israel's conflicts were predominantly with the Seleucids.

The temple's destruction is not explicitly mentioned since it was the culmination of the earlier profanation by the Chaldeans (2 Chronicles 36:17-18) and is already suggested in the desecration referenced in verse 3. The author is identified as a descendant of Asaph. The themes reflect those found in Lamentations and the Book of Jeremiah. In his plea, the psalmist compellingly illustrates the devastating misfortunes that have struck the people of God; the sacred land is under enemy control, the temple lies in ruin, and the city is reduced to rubble (v. 1). The land He chose as His own inheritance (Lev. 25:23) has been ravaged. The term "vegetable storehouse" may refer to a tent where vineyard workers, gardeners, and overseers keep watch over their crops, or to a tent used for storing the recently harvested produce. The Septuagint likely envisioned a solitary tent, conveying the idea that Jerusalem, once a great city, has become as trivial as a watch-tent in a field.