Изъяснение псалма 79-го.

Ps.79:1. To the head of the choir. On the Shoshannim-Eduf musical instrument. Psalm of Asaph. “At the end, in songs about those who have changed, a testimony to Asaph, a psalm about the Assyrian.” This psalm predicts a change in certain circumstances, for this is what the word “change” means and testifies to, and therefore the word “testimony” is also added. The grace of the Spirit foretells the captivity and slavery of the Jews in Babylon. And the psalm is presented in the form of a prayer, as if offered by the Jews themselves to the God of all. For prophetic grace teaches them what words should be used to appease God and incline Him to mercy, and also predicts the future salvation of all people through the Lord Christ. Ps.79:2. Shepherd of Israel! listen; leading Joseph like sheep, sitting on Cherubim, reveal Yourself. “Shepherding Israel at once.” I beg you, Vladyka, like a shepherd caring for the people, to accept my petition. “Instruct as Joseph’s sheep.” You rescued Joseph, caught by his brothers as if by some wolves, from their hands, escorted him to Egypt, and exalted him above those who plotted evil. So the Prophet, having depicted God’s care for the Jews, moves on to depicting God’s general sovereignty. “Sit on the Cherubim, appear.” since the great Moses placed some images of them in the Holy of Holies, and among them he placed a purification house, from which a certain Divine phenomenon occurred to the high priests, the Prophet, by the way, mentioned here the Cherubim, and begged the One sitting on them to appear. Ps.79:3. Arise Your power before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh, and come to save us. "Before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh"; that is, I beg You to appear to Your people. For by the named tribes the Prophet meant the whole people; He mentioned these tribes, because he had already made mention of Joseph, and Ephraim and Manasseh are the sons of Joseph, and Benjamin is Joseph’s half-brother. “Rise up Your power and come to save us.” He arouses God as long-suffering and abiding in peace, and says: “raise up all Your power, providing for our salvation.” Ps.79:4. God! restore us; May Your face shine and we will be saved! “God has the strength to return us.” Free from slavery and grant return. Then he shows the convenience of this matter. “Make Thy face shine, and we will be saved.” It is enough for You to appear to stop disasters. Ps.79:5. Lord, God of strength! How long will you be angry at the prayers of your people? “Lord God of hosts, how long are you angry at the prayer of your servant?” How long, O Lord, will you reject my prayers, angry at my sins? He calls the people servants of God, for other interpreters, instead of the words: “to the prayer of Thy servant,” put: “to the prayer of Thy people.” Ps.79:6. You fed them with the bread of tears, and gave them tears to drink in great measure. “Feed us with the bread of tears: and give us tears to drink in moderation.” Here the time has changed, and other translators presented this as having already happened: “he fed us with the bread of tears, and gave us tears to drink in moderation.” The Prophet says: You dissolved both food and drink for us with tears, because lamenting and sighing we eat the necessary food. You did this by proportioning the punishment to the sins. So the Lord says: “When you measure according to measure, it will be measured back to you” (Matthew 7:2). The Prophet Zechariah also saw this measure, foreshadowing the destruction of Babylon (Zech. 5:9-11), for he said that he saw two wives who had widow’s wings, and carried the measure, and who were commanded to take it to Babylon. And from this we recognize the truthfulness of God’s determination. Ps.79:7. He has made us a quarrel with our neighbors, and our enemies mock us. “Thou hast made us a quarrel with our neighbors, and hast defeated our imitators.” We have become reproached by neighboring peoples, who have always been hostile to us. Ps.79:8. God of strength! restore us; May Your face shine and we will be saved! “Lord God of hosts, turn us and make Your face shine, and we will be saved.” Therefore, by Your appearance, dispel the gloomy cloud of disasters, and grant us return, because You are mighty and the Lord of hosts. Then the Prophet lists the ancient blessings, begging that they too be granted a similar industry. Ps.79:9. You brought the vine from Egypt, drove out the nations and planted it. Ps.79:10. He cleared a place for it, and established its roots, and it filled the earth. “Thou hast brought grapes from Egypt: thou hast driven out the tongues, and thou hast planted them.” “Thou didst make a path before him, and planted his roots, and filled the earth.” You, Lord, crushed the unrighteous rule of the Egyptians, You betrayed the Canaanite peoples to final destruction, and Your people, having brought them out of Egypt and giving them every comfort along the way, planted them in the land of the Canaanites like grapes. Ps.79:11. The mountains were covered with its shadow, and its branches were like the cedars of God. Ps.79:12. She sent out her branches to the sea and her branches to the river. “The mountains were covered with the shadow of it, and the cedars of God covered its branches.” “Stretch out your rods to the sea, and even to the rivers that branch thereof.” Having allegorically called the people grapes, the Prophet continues the allegory, for he calls the fortress of the surrounding peoples mountains, and the canopy covering the mountains is the dominion of Israel stretched over them; and the cedars of God - the exalted rulers of the people who received power from God; branches covering the cedars - the kingdom of Israel, which became more glorious than them. And this, as we know, happened under blessed David and under Solomon, for the great David took tribute not only from the Philistines, Edomites, Ammonites and Moabites, but also from both Syrians; The queen of Ethiopia also came to Solomon, so he was notorious among everyone. And by the rods of the grapes the Prophet signifies a multitude of people, and by the branches - the strangers who joined from the pagans and learned the knowledge of God. In all this, one can see the former well-being of the people. Ps.79:13. Why have You destroyed its fences, so that all who pass along the way tear it down? “Thou hast cast down this stronghold, and embraceth all that pass by?” Why did you leave him without Your providence for him and made it possible for anyone who wants to offend him? And the Prophet called God’s protection a stronghold, for as a stronghold is for grapes, so is God’s providence for those worthy to use it. “Those who pass by” are enemies, because, just as travelers fearlessly rob unfenced and unguarded grapes and plunder their fruit, so those left without God’s care for them are susceptible to the insults of anyone who wants them. Ps.79:14. The boar of the forest blows it up, and the beast of the field devours it. “Ozoba and the boar from the oak grove and the solitary divy eat and.” By this the Prophet signified the different invasions of the Assyrians, because Shalmaneser and Sennacherib destroyed other cities, and Nebuchadnezzar, having besieged Jerusalem, took those who escaped death into captivity as slaves. And since the Prophet called Israel grapes, then, in accordance with this, he called his enemy a wild boar, because this beast especially harms grapes. Solitary diviim calls a boar that lives separately, which is more ferocious than other boars, as if it withdraws from communication with them. Therefore, Nebuchadnezzar, who was fiercer than other kings, rightly called a solitary divi. Ps.79:15. God of strength! turn, look down from heaven, and behold, and visit these vineyards. Ps.79:16. guard what Thy right hand has planted, and the branches which Thou hast strengthened for Thyself. “God of hosts, turn now, and look down from heaven and see, and visit these grapes”: “And do what Thy right hand has planted.” Therefore, I beg You, Omnipotent Master, look from above on the devastation of the grapes, and grant healing to the suffering, because Your providence brought them the same prosperity. The Prophet calls providence the right hand. “And against the son of man, whom you have strengthened for yourself.” Beginning with this, the Prophet shows that from these same grapes the Lord Christ grew, for he begs that the grapes be vouchsafed for the sake of the church borrowed from him, which he clearly called the Son of Man. So the Lord in the Holy Gospel, as God and man together, calls Himself the Son of man, giving Himself a name from visible nature. Therefore, the prophetic word teaches those who have become captives to beg the God of all to show some mercy to the grapes for the sake of the saving root that has to grow from it. For this is what the Lord calls Himself, saying: “I am the true vine, you are the generation, and My Father is the workman” (John 15:1, 5). For He, as a man, is a vine, and as God, He is a worker, sowing “good seed in His village” (Matthew 13:24). since it grew from these grapes, which became good for nothing, and brought thorns to the worker instead of clusters, He Himself became a true vine, and brought forth great rods - a multitude of those who believed in Him. Their shadow truly covered the mountains, and the branches covered the cedars; These grapes really “spread out their rods to the sea, and even to the rivers that branch thereof.” For the sake of sowing grapevines, they beg to give mercy to these grapes, describing their various disasters. Ps.79:17. He is burned by fire, cut off; They will perish from the rebuke of Your face. Ps.79:18. Let Your hand be upon the man of Your right hand, upon the son of man whom You have strengthened for Yourself, Ps.79:19. and we will not depart from You; quicken us, and we will call upon your name. "Burn by fire and excavated". From this it is especially clear that the psalm foretells about the king of Babylon, and not about Antiochus, as some thought, for the king of Babylon burned the church and put most of the city on fire. So it is said here that the enemies not only left, having collected the fruits, but dug up and tore out the grapes by the roots, and burned them with fire. “By the rebuke of Thy face they shall perish.” “Let Thy hand be upon the man of Thy right hand, and upon the son of man, Him whom Thou hast strengthened for Thyself.” “And we will not depart from You.” For by receiving this Firstfruits from us, the entire human race will come to know the true God and will sing songs about the love for mankind that has been revealed to him. “Give us life, and we will call on Your name.” In this way, the power of death will be crushed, and we will gain eternal life by worshiping You, the Savior God. Ps.79:20. Lord, God of strength! restore us; May Your face shine and we will be saved! “Lord God of hosts, turn us and make Your face shine, and we will be saved.” Therefore, for the sake of all this and for the sake of the future salvation of all people through us, end our sorrows and grant us return. 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