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Day 170

Psalm 79:4a "We have become a reproach to our neighbours..."

Day 170 – Psalm 79

“We have become a reproach to our neighbours…” Psalm 79:4a

IMPACT ON THE NATION

How did the destruction of Jerusalem impact the people? Asaph mirrors the traumatic impact of the destruction of Jerusalem in the following text.

“We have become a reproach to our neighbours,
A scorn and derision to those who are around us.”
Psalm 79:4

1. “We have become”

a) This was a lament on the present state of the nation.
b) It was a far cry from the old “glory days”.

2. Three thoughts indelibly imprinted:-

a) A reproach – with reference to neighbouring countries.
b) A scorn – with reference to those hostile to Judah.
c) A derision – to everyone who witnessed the destruction of Jerusalem.

FOREWARNING OF MOSES

It was Moses who warned of the destruction of the children of Israel if they were to wickedly forsake the Lord God who redeemed them. The following text is just one of many that forewarned grave danger to the nation of Israel if it chose to reject God and His ways.

“The LORD will bring a nation against you from afar,
from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flies,
a nation whose language you will not understand,
a nation of fierce countenance, which does not respect the elderly nor show favour to the young.”
Deuteronomy 28:49-50

“They shall besiege you at all your gates until your high and fortified walls, in which you trust, come down throughout all your land; and they shall besiege you at all your gates throughout all your land which the LORD your God has given you.”
Deuteronomy 28:52

This prophetic word of warning was fulfilled. Babylon was that nation from afar (Ezekiel 12:13). It used the traditional siege against Jerusalem. All the high gates of Jerusalem could not prevent the armies of Babylon from their determination to conquer and destroy Judah.

The holy land which God had given to His people lay in ruins as a direct consequence of apostasy in the land. The people who had rejected the Lord found that the hedge of protection God had erected had been removed (Job 1:10).