Salutation
... in the name of the Father, and
of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.
Amen. Through the prayers of our
holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us and save us. Amen. Glory
to You, our God, Glory to You.
O Heavenly King: Prayer to the Holy
Ghost
O
Heavenly King, the Comforter, the Spirit of truth, You are everywhere and fill
all things, Treasury of blessings, and Giver of life: come and abide in us, and
cleanse us from every impurity, and save our souls, O Good One.
Maschil of Asaph.
O God, why have You cast [us] off forever? Does Your anger smoke against the sheep of Your
pasture? Remember Your congregation,
You have purchased of old; The rod of Your inheritance, You have redeemed; This
mount Zion, where You have dwelled. Lift up Your feet to the perpetual desolations, all [that] the enemy has done wickedly in the sanctuary. Your enemies roar in the center
of Your congregations. They set up their
ensigns [for] signs.
[A man] was famous according as he had lifted up axes on the thick
trees. But now they break
down the carved work of it at once with axes and hammers. They have cast fire in Your
sanctuary. They have defiled the
dwelling place of Your name to the ground.
They said in their hearts, “Let us destroy them together.” They have burned up all the synagogues of God
in the land.
We see not our signs. [There
is] no more any prophet. Nor [is there] among us any that knows how
long. O God, how long
shall the adversary reproach? Shall the
enemy blaspheme Your name forever? Why withdraw Your hand, even Your right hand? Pluck [it]
from Your bosom: for God [is]
my King of old, working salvation in the heart of the earth. You divided the sea by Your
strength. You break the heads of the
dragons in the waters. You
broke the heads of leviathan in pieces, [and
gave] him [to be] meat to the
people inhabiting the wilderness. You split the fountain and the flood. You dried up mighty rivers. The day [is] Yours. The night also [is] Yours. You have prepared the light and the sun. You have set all the borders of
the earth. You have made summer and
winter.
Remember this: The enemy has
reproached, Lord. The foolish people have
blasphemed Your name. Deliver
not the soul of Your turtledove to the mob. Forget not the congregation of Your poor forever. Have respect to the covenant:
for the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty. Let not the oppressed return
ashamed. Let the poor and needy praise Your
name. Arise, O God, Plead Your
own cause. Remember how the foolish man reproaches
You daily. Forget not the
voice of Your enemies. The tumult of those
who rise up against You increases continually.
[i]
There are indications in this Psalm which show that Asaph lived and wrote after
586 BC. He appears to be among the
survivors left in Jerusalem after the Babylonians have sacked the Temple. Asaph mourns what “the enemy has done
wickedly in the sanctuary.” Ezekiel
assures us that God has abandoned Israel-Judah by this time, and Asaph pleads,
“Why have You cast [us] off forever? ... Remember Your congregation, You have
purchased of old....” Asaph complains
that Babylonian ensigns (flags or other triumphal markers) were even set up over
the ashes of God’s Temple ruins.
Then Asaph reminisces that the skill of axe-men in felling
timber and carving the beautiful wood work of the Temple used to be what
destined men for fame. He mentions that
such beauty was replicated in the Synagogues, which were also in existence
already, at that time. But now that
which took years to lovingly build, was now destroyed with fire in
minutes. God’s name was thrown in the
dirt.
In contrast, the ensigns of the people of God are gone. Since God’s Glory has departed, there are no
prophets: Israel-Judah is left in darkness.
“Withdraw your hand,” is a reference to the second miracle God worked
through Moses: where Moses’ hand turned leprous, then clean again, as he pulled
it from his bosom: it is a cry for God to swing into action, to unleash the
plagues against the wicked. Asaph has
nothing left on which to cling; in his despair he recounts God’s great
redemption and power in the Exodus and in Creation.
Asaph concludes with a glimpse of the future. He sees Jesus dimly in, “Deliver not the soul
of Your turtledove to the mob.”
Accordingly, he prays with fearful confidence for the poor, the
covenant, the oppressed, the needy: he prays that God would “Plead [His] own
cause.” We know that God does exactly this. Christ is risen from the dead. The day of Pentecost has come. Let all the earth keep silence before Him.
