Prayers For Enemies – Psalm 79

“A Psalm of Asaph.” Psalm 79:1

Asaph was a sweet singer of Israel. In 2 Chronicles 29:30, he is referred to as “Asaph the seer,” indicating his role in receiving and conveying divine messages. He is credited with writing Psalms 12, 50, 73-83. He calls people to give ear to God’s Law.

In Revelation 2-3, Jesus said, “Let him that has an ear thus hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”

“O God, the nations have come into Your inheritance. Your holy temple they have defiled. They have laid Jerusalem in heaps.” Psalm 79:1

The enemy led his captives to defile God’s temple. Have you noticed that? Those who are into Satanic stuff like witchcraft, mind-altering drugs, and godless visions from movie studios and internet images want you to participate in their sins. After, the serpent got Eve to partake of the forbidden fruit, she turned to Adam and offered it to him.

I have seen this scenario play out too often. For example, as I grew up, “friends” suggested to me which rock and roll records to buy, which movies I needed to see and which beer I needed to drink. “Friends” also introduced me to other vices. Christ had to set me free from those vices. Except for the grace of God, the devil would have had my soul.

After Satan defiled my temple, his goal was to reduce me to rubble, just as he did to Asaph’s city. He almost succeeded. After I sinned against God... after I exposed my soul to ungodly activity... I did not want to live anymore. My guilt and shame were too great for me to bear.

Our Lord Jesus Christ stopped Satan from destroying me. He forgave my sin. He took my guilt and shame away. He gave to me His Holy Spirit. He helped me say no to sin. On the day I was born again, I stopped drinking alcohol. 47 years have passed since that day! I trashed my ungodly music and literature. Praise God! Jesus gave me a zeal to purge my temple of defiling influences. He made me brand new. This is what He does. Jesus saves sinners.

“The dead bodies of Your servants they have given as food for the birds of the heavens, the flesh of Your saints to the beasts of the earth. Their blood they have shed like water all around Jerusalem, and there was no one to bury them.” Psalm 79:2-3

I spiritualized Psalm 79:1 to apply to people who have been devastated by sin. However, in Asaph’s city, dead bodies actually littered the ground. Birds were pecking and beasts were tearing at their flesh. Blood streamed from raised areas to lower areas. Blood pooled in spots that had previously only experienced water puddles.

“We have become a reproach to our neighbors, a scorn and derision to those who are around us. How long, Lord? Will You be angry forever? Will Your jealousy burn like fire?” Psalm 79:4-5

How did Jerusalem’s neighbors respond to their downfall? They derided them. The verb “deride” means to speak with contempt. The Jerusalemites needed neighbors who knew how to comfort brokenhearted people, but no such neighbor came to comfort them.

On YouTube, there is a video entitled, “Stolen By The Reich: The Lost Children Of Post-War Europe.” [1] The video tells the story of children who were left orphaned, homeless and hungry after WW2 ended. Many Jewish child survivors continued to be derided after the war was over.

“Pour out Your wrath on the nations that do not know You, and on the kingdoms that do not call on Your Name.” Psalm 79:6

This prayer is in effect a prophecy. As Romans 1:18 says, “The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness.” They suppress the truth because they do not want to hear it. Thus, Romans 1:21 says, “They became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened.”

In 2 Thessalonians 2:9-10, Paul indicates that the lawless one (the antichrist) will “deceive those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved.” He adds in 2 Thessalonians 2:11-12, “And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.”

“For they have devoured Jacob and laid waste his dwelling place.” Psalm 79:7

The descendants of Jacob had to fight off devourers of people and plunderers of property. In 2 Samuel 8 and 1 Chronicles 18, David had to fight the Philistines, the Moabites, the Ammonites, the Amalekites, the Edomites, the Arameans and the Syrians.

After David’s time, the empires of Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Greece and Rome attacked Israel.

Gentile nations have committed pogroms against Jews for many generations. Pogrom is a Russian word meaning to demolish violently. Historically, the term refers to violent attacks by Gentiles on Jews in the Russian Empire and in other countries. [2]

“Major historical waves and notable instances of pogroms include: The Crusades (1096 onwards) in which crusaders destroyed hundreds of Jewish communities across Europe. The Black Death (1348–1349): False conspiracies that Jews caused the plague resulted in the destruction of hundreds of communities. Spanish Massacres (1391): Catholic mobs massacred thousands of Jews. [3]

Russian Empire Waves (1881–1906): Triggered by the assassination of Tsar Alexander II, over 200 organized attacks swept through Russia. Russian Civil War Pogroms (1918–1921): An estimated 1,200 to 1,500 pogroms were perpetrated across Ukraine and Belarus by various armies and local peasants. This wave killed between 100,000 and 250,000 Jews and left hundreds of thousands of orphans. [4]

The Kristallnacht (1938): Instigated by the Nazis, mobs destroyed over 1,400 synagogues and countless Jewish businesses, killing approximately 1,500 people and sending thousands of Jewish men to concentration camps. Eastern Europe (1941): Towns across Poland, Romania, and the Baltics launched brutal pogroms against their Jewish neighbors. [5]

I cannot imagine how it feels to be a Jew in lieu of these pogroms. I am glad that the Jews have a homeland now. In Zechariah 2:8, God reassured the people of Israel that whoever touches them touches the apple of His eye. May God continue to protect Israel.

“Oh, do not remember former iniquities against us! Let Your tender mercies come speedily to meet us, for we have been brought very low. Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of Your Name, and deliver us, and provide atonement for our sins, for Your Name’s sake!” Psalm 79:8-9

Walter Brueggemann observed, “Without grief there is no newness.” Until a person clearly sees and knows that sin is destroying him, he will not change. John Sung observed that “without repentance there is no reaping.”

Asaph wanted the memory of Israel’s sins removed from God’s mind and replaced with thoughts of tender mercies toward them. Asaph confessed that Israel needed God’s mercy, His help, and His salvation. He asked God to atone for their sins to bring about glory unto His Name.

When God pardons sin, He blots it out and remembers it no more.

In Micah 7:19, the prophet Micah comforted Israel saying, “He [God] will again have compassion on us, and will subdue our iniquities. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.”

In Jeremiah 31:34, the Lord said to Israel, “I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”

In Colossians 2:14, Paul wrote that Christ wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. He has taken it [the indictment] out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.”

God granted forgiveness to Israel and to us because He loves us and He is gracious.

John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

Matthew Henry wrote, “They plead no merit of theirs, but help us for the glory of Your Name. Pardon us for Your Name’s sake.” In Luke 7:47, Jesus said that those who are forgiven much love much. At this point, Israel was very low, thus, they responded to God’s forgiveness with worship.

“Why should the nations say, ‘Where is their God?’ Let there be known among the nations in our sight the avenging of the blood of Your servants which has been shed.” Psalm 79:10

In Genesis 9:6, the Lord says, “Whoever sheds man’s blood, by man his blood shall be shed. For in the image of God He made man.” Asaph wanted God to make it obvious to the world that no one can shed the blood of those who bear His image, and escape divine wrath for it.

God’s wrath on those who slay His servants is a theme in the Book of Revelation.

In Revelation 6:9-11, the souls of those slain for the Word of God cry out from beneath the altar, asking how long until God will “judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth.”

In Revelation 15:2-4, “those who have the victory over the beast, over his image and over his mark and over the number of his name,” play harps and worship the Lord.

Revelation 16:5-7 connects the plagues of blood to the shedding of blood. An angel says, “They have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and You have given them blood to drink, for it is their just due. Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are Your judgments.”

“Let the groaning of the prisoner come before You. According to the greatness of Your power preserve those who are appointed to die, and return to our neighbors sevenfold into their bosom their reproach with which they have reproached You, O Lord.” Psalm 79:11-12

In Acts 12:5-10, when Peter was imprisoned due to his witness for Christ, constant prayer was offered to God for him by a church. In Acts 12:11, Peter testified, “The Lord has sent His angel, and has delivered me from the hand of Herod and from all the expectation of the Jewish people.” And what happened to Herod? In Acts 12:23, the angel of the Lord struck him dead.

“So we, Your people, and sheep of Your pasture, will give You thanks forever. We will show forth Your praise to all generations.” Psalm 79:11-13

What did Israel have to offer the Lord in return for His goodness to them? They were to give Him thanks and praise. In John 4:23, Jesus said, “True worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such to worship Him.”

Asaph asked God to judge those who shed the blood of His servants. His prayer agrees with other prayers that are in the Bible. Thus, we know that it is Scriptural to pray these kind of prayers. But how should we pray for people who are about to slay us due to our witness for Christ? 

In Jeremiah 26:15, Jeremiah told those who planned to execute him, “Know for certain that if you put me to death, you will surely bring innocent blood on yourselves, on this city, and on its inhabitants; for truly the Lord has sent me to you to speak all these words in your hearing.”

In Acts 25:11, Paul said to those who wanted to condemn him, “If I am an offender, or have committed anything deserving of death, I do not object to dying; but if there is nothing in these things of which these men accuse me, no one can deliver me to them. I appeal to Caesar.” His appeal to Caesar helped him to avoid execution.

In Luke 23:34, Jesus prayed for those who crucified Him, saying, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.”

In Acts 7:60, Stephen prayed for his executioners, “Lord, do not charge them with this sin.”

Prayers for forgiveness concern both love for God and love for neighbor. We need to forgive those who sin against us to be forgiven by God. In Matthew 6:14-15, Jesus taught, “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”

In Psalm 103:10, we read that the Lord “has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor punished us according to our iniquities.”

In Proverbs 10:12, we read, “Love covers all sins.”

In Romans 12:17, we read, “Repay no one evil for evil.”

In Matthew 5:44-45, Jesus said, “Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.”

So, on the one hand, we ask God to deliver His servants from executioners, and for Him to deal with those who shed the blood of His people. On the other hand, let us pray for ourselves that if we must suffer death for the Gospel’s sake that we will love our enemies, forgive them, and pray for their salvation.



[1] The video is from the History Hit Network: enquiries@littledotstudios.com
[2] encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/pogroms
[3] Ibid; historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofEngland/Pogroms-1189-1190
[4] home.uncg.edu/~jwjones/russia/378readings/1905pogroms
[5] en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pogrom