Sunday Sermonette: Moar Anachronism

Psalms 79 and 80 are attributed to Asaph. As you will recall, Asaph was purportedly one of David ' s chief musicians, but the setting of these psalms is evidently the fall of Judah to Babylon, so that makes no sense. These must have been written during the exile, after Nebuchadnezzar sacked Jerusalem and kidnapped the elites. It ' s also possible, though less likely, that the setting is the sack of Jerusalem by the Egyptian Pharaoh Shishak in the 10th Century BCE, in the reign of Rehoboam, but Asaph, if he ever existed, would certainly have been long dead by then. In general, most of the psalms seem to be responses to events in either the communal history, or the biography of an individual writer, which are unspecified. " According to Lilies " in the introductory note to Psalm 80 probably refers to the name of the tune.A Psalm of Asaph.79 O God, the heathen have come into thy inheritance;    they have defiled thy holy temple;    they have laid Jerusalem in ruins.2 They have given the bodies of thy servants    to the birds of the air for food,    the flesh of thy saints to the beasts of the earth.3 They have poured out their blood like water    round about Jerusalem,    and there was none to bury them.4 We have become a taunt to our neighbors,    mocked and derided by those round about us.5 How long, OLord? Wi...
Source: Stayin' Alive - Category: American Health Source Type: blogs