Psalm 79:1-9 Help us, O God of our Salvation!

In our current lectionary study, we will explore Jeremiah as a context for reading the psalms ... and the psalm as a response to Jeremiah's writings ... We will identify themes that connect these biblical writings and consider a prayerful response that emerges in our study.   See sidebar notes for more general information about Jeremiah and the Psalms

Jeremiah 8:18-9:1 (New Revised Standard Version) as the CONTEXT for reading Psalm 79  
My joy is gone, grief is upon me, my heart is sick.   Hark, the cry of my poor people from far and wide in the land: ‘Is the Lord not in Zion?  Is her King not in her?’   (‘Why have they provoked me to anger with their images, with their foreign idols?’)   ‘The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.’   For the hurt of my poor people I am hurt, I mourn, and dismay has taken hold of me.  Is there no balm in Gilead?  Is there no physician there?  Why then has the health of my poor people not been restored?    O that my head were a spring of water, and my eyes a fountain of tears, so that I might weep day and night for the slain of my poor people!

Jeremiah isn’t called the “weeping prophet” for nothing!  He is a man so identified with both his people and his God that sometimes it is hard for us to tell who is speaking in this passage.    Jeremiah feels the suffering and sin-sickness of the people alongside the anguish of the God who loves them so deeply that he exhibits deep fragmentation in the depths of his soul. 

• Have you ever felt fragmented in this way?  Was God a part of your fragmentation?  Can you describe in words or images how you felt during this time of deep sorrow?   What was the situation?   Who was involved and what was the nature and degree of their suffering?   Was this situation resolved?  How?

A prophet is “one who speaks for God.”  In Jeremiah’s case, a prophet is also one who “feels with God.”  So … who is speaking in this passage, Jeremiah or God?   If we look at Jeremiah 8:17, “See, I am letting snakes loose among you, adders that cannot be charmed, and they shall bite you, says the Lord,” it appears that God may continue to speak.  Generally it is God who refers to his ammi, which is a Hebrew word, translated "my people."  However, there is a change of tone, a lamenting lilt ...  Perhaps it is Jeremiah who picks up where God leaves off.  O well, there is no reason to unwind the intricate meshing of the passage.  Perhaps God and Jeremiah speak as one!  

Jeremiah, the weeping prophet spoke, and wrote through his scribe Baruch, during the reigns of Josiah, Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, and Zedekiah, the last five kings of the Southern Kingdom of Judah.  He must have rejoiced in the reforms of King Josiah.  Having found a portion of Deuteronomy, the community turned back to God according to Law of Moses.  Devastating to the Judeans, the death of Josiah spelled the death of reform and the beginning of persecution for Jeremiah.  The community never recovered.   As the Babylonians grew stronger, the Southern Kingdom grew weaker.  Babylon captured, and finally destroyed Jerusalem and left it in a pile of ruins.  Especially devastating to the religious community was the destruction of the temple.  Jeremiah remained with the remnant people and their puppet kings in Jerusalem throughout several deportations until he was finally forced to leave and travel to Egypt. 

• The lives of the Jews in Jerusalem and to a certain extent all of Judah revolved around the Temple, which was the home of God who was experienced only once per year by the High Priest in the Holy of Holies.  Can you imagine what it was like to watch Jerusalem and the Temple burn?   Where is God?   Do you have any memories that are comparable to this communal experience of destruction?   Can you understand Jeremiah’s weeping?   What “world” issue causes you to “weep” on the inside?    What makes you wonder where God is?   *You may have to stretch yourself to go beyond simplistic responses … and walk a mile in Jeremiah’s shoes! 

Jeremiah cries out, “Is there no balm in Gilead?”  Tseriy {tser-ee'} which is the Hebrew word translated balm, is made from a number of natural aromatic substances used for healing and soothing.   During the time of Jeremiah, the balm of Gilead was exported to Israel where it was used for medicinal purposes.   He cries out, “Is there no balm in Gilead?”   We are tempted to project our “faith” onto Jeremiah.  Of course, there is balm!  Of course, there is healing!  Of course, there is God!   We want to join our voices with saints long gone to sing that African American Spiritual, There’s a balm in Gilead.   Before we do that we should take a moment to remember that we are not experiencing a communal tragedy such as the destruction of the Temple and the exile nor are we suffering from human bondage such as the African Americans slave community from which this hymn most likely emerged.  Let us remember the suffering of those who are by ...   

GOING DEEPER through the reading of Psalm 79:1-9 (New Living Translation)

1 O God, pagan nations have conquered your land, your special possession.
   They have defiled your holy Temple and made Jerusalem a heap of ruins.
 2 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.
 3 Blood has flowed like water all around Jerusalem; no one is left to bury the dead.
 4 We are mocked by our neighbors, an object of scorn and derision to those around us.
5 O LORD, how long will you be angry with us?  Forever?  

How long will your jealousy burn like fire?
 6 Pour out your wrath on the nations that refuse to acknowledge you—
      on kingdoms that do not call upon your name.
 7 For they have devoured your people Israel, making the land a desolate wilderness.
 8 Do not hold us guilty for the sins of our ancestors!
      Let your compassion quickly meet our needs, for we are on the brink of despair.
9 Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of your name; 

deliver us, and forgive our sins, for your name’s sake.

Remember the model of lamentation from Psalm 80 … Read and study Psalm 79 to identify its structure:     
1)    Call                                                                Verse(s)___________________________
2)    Description of trouble                                     Verse(s)___________________________
3)    Plea for God to respond                                 Verse(s)___________________________
4)    Statement of trust that God is listening             Verse(s)___________________________
5)    Vow or expression of praise                           Verse(s)___________________________

PONDERING Life in the Connections between Jeremiah 8 and Psalm 79
See how the words of Psalm 79 illuminate the words of Jeremiah?   The Psalm demands that we look closely at the situation the Jews were living in when they were taken away to Babylon.   These passages leave us with Jeremiah and the psalmist in a place of tormented bewilderment with traces of anger mixed in.  There may be trust, but there is no release from pain!    Biblical scholar Walter Brueggemann says three things about psalms of lament:  1) they give authentic expression to our real experiences of life, 2) they show that life can be affirmed in all circumstances, the tragic and the joyful, and 3) biblical faith is always carried on in dialog, we speak to God and God speaks to us.  

• How comfortable are you with showing your real emotions to God?   How good are you at affirming life and God in these dark times?   How comfortable are you with conversing with God when you are suffering and/or angry?    Is it easier for you to speak or to listen?  As you look at both passages, can you see all three of Brueggemann’s observations about lament in the writings? 

PRAYING: Consider the world situation you referred to above that causes you to “weep.”    Perhaps God is calling you to pray through this issue with a lament.  Allow yourself to steep in your emotions and feel God’s Presence with you as you imagine the people who are suffering.   Use the structure for a lament found above and stand in the gap for those people who may not be able to stand up for themselves.  Write or speak your lament on their behalf.  

May God richly bless you as you intercede for those who suffer!    Listen to this arrangement of There is a Balm in Gilead.   My research reveals that this song was not really written as a commentary on Jeremiah's writings but is really all about Jesus and the salvation (healing/wholeness) that we are promised as Christ followers.