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Day 278: Psalms 79-81 | Read The Bible In A Year | Bible Study with Commentary by Dr. Manny Arango

Sep 3, 2026 · 24 min150

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Even when God’s people rebel, He doesn’t abandon the story. Today’s Psalms move from devastation to intercession to celebration. Asaph gives voice to those who witnessed Jerusalem’s destruction, prayed for restoration across divided tribes, and sang with prophetic joy during the Feast of Tabernacles. These Psalms aren’t just about mourning what was lost—they point toward what’s still possible through repentance, unity, and worship.

✈️ Overview:

• Psalm 79 is a raw lament from Jerusalem’s survivors, crying out in grief and asking how long God’s anger will last.

• Psalm 80 reflects Judah’s grief over Samaria’s fall, praying for God to restore all 12 tribes—north and south—into one nation again.

• Psalm 81 breaks through the sorrow with a call to rejoice during the Feast of Tabernacles, remembering God’s provision in the wilderness and urging the people to listen and obey.

🔎 Context Clues:

• Psalm 79 is written by those still in Jerusalem after its fall, unlike Psalm 137, which is written from exile.

• Psalm 80 references the fall of Samaria (722 BC) and is written by Judahites mourning their northern kin.

• The refrain “Restore us, O God… let your face shine” echoes the Aaronic blessing (Numbers 6:24–26), repeated in verses 3, 7, and 19.

• Psalm 81 is a festival psalm for the Feast of Tabernacles, recalling the wilderness years (Exodus 15–19) and God’s care.

🤓 Nerdy Nuggets:

• Psalm 79’s language mirrors Lamentations, including the question: “How long, O Lord?” (v.5), also echoed in Lamentations 5:22.

• Prophets like Jeremiah, Habakkuk, and Obadiah had already answered some of the Psalmist’s cries—God had declared the exile would last 70 years (Jer. 29:10–11).

• Psalm 80 uses vineyard imagery and calls Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh by name—tribes from the north—signaling longing for reunification.

• Psalm 81 starts joyfully but includes a prophetic rebuke: “But my people did not listen to my voice…”—a reference to Exodus and Israel’s grumbling over manna.

• The feast tune in Psalm 81 likely references grape harvest and wine, which often symbolize joy, covenant, and wedding themes in Scripture.

✅ Timeless Truths:

• God may be just in His discipline—but He’s also consistent in His promises. He had already answered, even when the people were still asking.

• Worship isn’t just emotional—it’s historical. Songs like Psalm 81 teach us to remember God’s faithfulness and obedience together.

• God’s people are one family. When one part falls, the others shouldn’t gloat—they should mourn, pray, and fight for unity.

• Unity doesn’t happen by accident. It’s something we fight to preserve through humility, empathy, and remembering the bigger story.

• No one is too far gone. Judah prayed for Israel even when they had been enemies—reminding us to intercede for those who’ve walked away.

God hears every cry, even when we’re asking questions He’s already answered. His heart is for unity, restoration, and obedience. Let these Psalms stretch your heart for the broken and stir your hope for what God can still rebuild.

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Welcome to the Bible department podcast powered by Arma. We are walking through the entire Bible in a year. You can go to the description or thebaldapartment.com to download a reading plan and join the journey. (upbeat music) Family, welcome to day 278 here on the Bible department. A podcast today we are looking at Psalms 79, 80 and 81. We got three more Psalms of ASAP, ASAP Rocky. Come on, we got a whole segment. It's called ASAP Rocky. I started saying it a couple of days ago now I can't stop saying it anyway. We're gonna be looking at three Psalms today. If you haven't done the reading, this is a good spot to stop the video, pause the audio, go get the reading done. All right, our goal, our desire here at the Bible department is not to replace your daily Bob reading. It's actually to enhance your daily Bob reading. We want people connecting with the word. So get the reading done. We got three Psalms that we're gonna be looking at today. If you have read these three Psalms, then hopefully I can provide context. Some nerdy nuggets in a timeless truth that will help bring what you read to life with no further ado, let's dive in Psalm 79. As soon as you start reading Psalm 79,

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I'll start reading it for you. It says, oh God, the nations have invaded your inheritance. They have defiled your holy temple. They have reduced Jerusalem to rubble. Immediately it is clear what this is about. There's a Psalm of corporate lament concerning what? The fall of Jerusalem, the destruction of Jerusalem. We just had a Psalm like this in Psalm 74, okay? If you remember, whether that was yesterday or the day before that, I think it was two days ago, okay? We had Psalm 74 was a Psalm of corporate lament over the fall of Jerusalem, okay? So Psalm 79, very, very, very similar in content and in context to Psalm 74. And this is a twin Psalm to Psalm 137, okay? So what happens is Jerusalem falls and Psalm 37 is going to be the exiles who are now in Babylon, okay? They are gonna write a corporate Psalm of lament, lamenting the fall of Jerusalem from their vantage point while they are off in exile. Now, this is a twin Psalm to that Psalm because in Psalm 79, this is not written by exiles who got out. This is written by survivors who were locked in or trapped in. So these are people who are gonna remain in Jerusalem. They survived the fall of Jerusalem, but they have not gotten carted off in the exile. And so these are twin Psalms written about the same event from two different groups of people.

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All right, Psalm 80, okay? Psalm 80 is very similar in tone and timbre to Psalm 79. And Psalm 80 is all about the fall of Samaria. Remember, Jerusalem is the capital of the southern kingdom of Judah. And Samaria is the capital of the northern kingdom of Israel. So Psalm 80 is about the fall of Samaria in the north. Remember, Jerusalem is going to fall 160 years after Samaria falls. Samaria is gonna fall in 722 BC. And then Jerusalem is gonna fall later in 586 BC. Now, Psalm 80 is written by the southern Judah heights, or really, or Jews, okay? Those people who live in Judah, who are mourning the destruction of their northern neighbors. And really, they're the same ethnic people group. The monarchy or the kingdoms have been split in a two. They were united under David and Solomon, but then by the time we got to that third generation, the kingdom is split with Judah in the south and Israel, the lost northern tribes essentially in the north. And so Psalm 80 is not written from the perspective of northern Israelites. It's written from the perspective of the southern tribe of Judah mourning the loss of their northern brother, okay? They are sad that Samaria has fallen up in the north. All right, and then last, we're gonna get Psalm 81, okay? And this Psalm is a Psalm are both going to be Psalms of lament. But then it's almost like in the middle of a cloudy day, the sun breaks through and begins to shine and we're going to get a Psalm of celebration, not just any Psalm of celebration, a Psalm that is to be sang during the feast of tabernacles, okay?

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And it starts out as such, starts out with these words, okay? Psalm 81 verse 1, sing for joy to God our strength, okay? Shout aloud to the God of Jacob, okay? So we go from mourning, lamenting, grieving, sadness for two Psalms right into sing for joy, okay? So this Psalm is not just a random Psalm, but it's connected to the feast of tabernacles. All right, let's, that's context for the three Psalms that we're looking at today. Let's dive into some nerdy nuggets. All right, let's tackle Psalm 79 is a Psalm of corporate lament, okay? We are going to get very, very, very similar language, okay, in Psalm 79 as we are going to get in the book of lamentations, which if you think about it, I mean, that makes sense. Psalm 79 is a Psalm of corporate lament, limitations is a Psalm of maybe individual lament, but it's still lament. I mean, most people think it's written by Jeremiah, okay? And Jeremiah is lamenting the fall of Jerusalem. Psalm 79 sounds very, very similar to limitations. Let's actually compare a verse, okay? Psalm 79 verse 5 says these words, "How long, O Lord, will you be angry forever?" Okay? Psalm 79 verse 5 is questioning like, "Well, Lord, like how long, like how long are you going to be angry with us?" It says it like this in my Bible, "How long, Lord, will you be angry forever? How long will your jealousy burn like fire?" And then we're going to read Lamentations chapter 5 verse 22 says this, "Unless you have utterly rejected us and you remain exceedingly angry with us." You can see just questions around how long you're going to be angry with us, okay? Don't be angry with us forever, okay? This literally echoes of lamentations are all over Psalm 79. Now, there's also echoes of Jeremiah, Habakkuk, and Obadiah. Now, one of the things that begins to happen, Asaph in Psalm 79 is asking Yahweh questions, okay? The writing of this time all share this theme, the acknowledgement of the sin of Israel and Judah, the acceptance of God's wrath on them as punishment. But then the cry out of how long, like how long is this going to last? How long are you going to be angry with us? What's interesting, of course, is that Jeremiah has already answered this question. Obviously, they're familiar with Jeremiah's writings because Psalm 79 sounds so much like limitations, okay? Jeremiah answered that question and a quote we often use for encouragement. We love this on the Christian coffee mugs, you know what I'm saying? Put a verse description on the coffee mugs out of context, of course, okay? And it's Jeremiah chapter 29, 11. And I'll say Jeremiah chapter 29, 11 to you out of context. And then we're going to add verse 10 says, "For I know the plans I have for you declares Yahweh plans for welfare and not for evil to give you hope in the future." All right, that's verse 11, it's the famous

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verse. But actually, here's what God says in verse 10, "For thus Yahweh, for thus says Yahweh, when 70 years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you declares Yahweh plans to prosper you not to harm you plans to give you hope in the future." So the plans that God has is that He's going to bring the people out of Babylonian exile after 70 years and bring them back to Jerusalem. So they're asking a question that God has already provided the answer to you. This theme is not going to stop, okay? The cry to repay their enemies for destroying Jerusalem and their neighbors for betraying them have also already been answered, okay? This is Psalm 79. Verse 6, "Poor out your wrath on the nations that do not acknowledge you." It's like God, you used like heathens to like punish us, pour out your wrath on them. They don't know you, they don't call in your name. "For they have devoured Jacob and devastated the homeland, do not hold against us the sins of past generations." So not only are they going to say, please like, deal with the nations. They bring your judgment on the nations, But then it's going to move to pay of our neighbors seven times the contempt they have hurled at you, Lord." Now, here's what's fascinating is that God has already answered both of those questions. How am I gonna judge the nations and how am I gonna judge your neighbors in the prophets, okay? So I'll read this to you. The cry to repay their enemies for destroying Jerusalem and the neighbors who are betraying them have already been answered. Just like the question of how long? Are you gonna be angry with us? That's already been answered. Habakkah decades before this Psalm told of how Yahweh's wrath would fall on Babylon too. And Obadiah was also writing at this time

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and was clear that Edom, Judah's neighbor, and brother would pay for betraying them. The people were crying out to Yahweh for answers. He had already given them. Man, I wish that was the timeless truth for the day. I mean, I guess it could be a bonus timeless truth because there are people who ask God for questions that he's already answered. This happens all the time, actually. The people who ask God for answers when God's already given us answers to said questions in the Bible. And I pray that that's why you're spending a year with the Word of God and with us so that you could know what the Bible says so that you're not asking God redundant questions. Now, has God gracious and kind and awesome? And does he provide answers even when he's already given those answers? Yeah, he does, he does. But I don't wanna be someone who is in a relationship with the Lord where I'm asking him a bunch of stuff. He's already answered, okay? I wanna know the Word well enough to begin to have, to provide context when I talk to God, okay? Sambley, the weight is over. My brand new book, "Crushing Chaos," is out now and available everywhere books are sold. Literally today, I walked into a Barnes and Noble and I signed a bunch of copies at a physical location.

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So, you can grab this book at a physical Barnes and Noble or you can go to a books a million or Amazon or anywhere books are sold and grab a copy if you enjoy reading the Bible from an ancient perspective. If you understand that the beauty of scripture is actually knowing it in context, then you'll love this book. And if there's any chaos in your personal life, I think that reading the Bible from an ancient perspective can actually help to crush the chaos in your life. I think this book is gonna be a New York Times bestseller. I really do. I think we wrote a good one. I think you should get a copy today. All right, back to the episode. Psalm 80, okay, some nerdy nuggets from Psalm 80. This is a corporate lament that gave voice to the shock where in Judah, southern kingdom of Judah, when Israel, the northern kingdom of Israel, fell to the Assyrians, okay? This is 722 BC. It shows that even then the prayer was going out for Yahweh to restore Israel to unite north and south again and bring the lost tribes home. It shows that even though the two nations had split long before and had been at war many times, by the way, the last time only a few years before Samaria fell, by the way. There still was this sense in Judah

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that Israel was still all 12 tribes together. This hope that we would all be together. So the refrain throughout the Psalm is a corporate one that speaks for all Israel and calls all of Israel back. Not just the southern kingdom of Judah, but all of Israel back to the Aaronic blessing given to all 12 tribes at the beginning of the nation's story. So what we're gonna see is in Psalm 80 verse three, Psalm 80 verse seven and Psalm 80 verse 19, we're gonna get the Aaronic blessing repeated over and over and over. Restore us, oh God of hosts, let your face shine that we might be saved. This connection is seen also in the reign of Hezekiah that followed the fall of Samaria. You can read about this or what Hezekiah does in the wake of the fall of Samaria. Second Chronicles chapter 30 verse one, all the way to verse maybe 10, okay? It shows that Hezekiah offered the remnant left in Israel, the opportunity to join the south, that's Judah, in celebrating Passover, but was rebuffed. But also during his reign, the walls of Jerusalem were rebuilt and extended, probably to now surround the growing city, a city that grew mostly to house the refugees that had fled from the fall of Israel. Israel. to Jerusalem, returned to David and Zion, the choices of Yahweh were spared. Okay. Now Psalm 81, love Psalm 81. This Psalm is a nice break in all of the lamenting. Okay. This Psalm is a festal festive Psalm and you can see it in the first few verses. Okay. Sing aloud to God

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our strength. Shout for joy to the God of Jacob. Raise a song. Sound the tambourine, the sweet liar with the harp. Blow the trumpet at the new moon, at the full moon on our feast day. So this is a feast day psalm. Okay. Now what does the feast of tabernacles kind of celebrate? Well, the feast of tabernacles, remember the word tabernacle means to dwell. Okay. It means to tent. It's kind of like God's tent where he dwells called the tabernacle and it's like tent kind of becomes a word like not only are we in a tent, but God has set up his tent amongst us like he's tenting with us. Not only like he's camping with us, he's dwelling with us. Okay. So to tabernacle is like a verb, but the tabernacle is the tent that God is tabernackling in. I hope you get it. All right. And so the feast of tabernacles celebrates God's journey with his people through the Exodus or through the desert, everything from the Red Sea to Mount Sinai. Okay. This psalm of celebration was sung at the feast of tabernacles sung to a tune all about making wine, wine that is usually associated with weddings and making the heart glad. And this is a psalm with psalm for celebration, but a serious challenge. It recalls just like the festival, the time they spent in the wilderness being fed and led by Yahweh. It is a celebration of that past, but also a warning and a challenge. Even then, there were those who did not follow, who were not satisfied with the food God fed them. And now the psalmist gives voice to God that again, the people do not listen and all that they would listen again. This is a psalm then that looks back to a time when God led and fed the people and protected them from their enemies and then challenges those who sang it to come back home. It's a call to be led and fed by Yahweh once again or once more. All right. Let's get into our Thomas truth for the day. That's all the nerdy nuggets I have for you. Here's our Thomas truth. Two big themes that I want us to talk about. Unity is one of them. And then the desire to see prodigals return home is the second one. Okay. I am struck by the solidarity that the remnant in Judah showed to their brothers and their sisters in the north. So often when the story is told, the focus is on Israel and how the northern king of Israel had just gone astray. They've rejected Yahweh and chosen polluted and corrupted worship that has led to the worship of foreign gods and nations. But here in Psalm 80, we hear the cry of those loyal to Yahweh in the south that were crying out for their wayward brothers and sisters who even at this point of the destruction, the judgment on the north, were crying out for salvation and that God would restore the whole country. This is a huge lesson for us for how we look to our brothers and sisters that may have gone astray. I know I personally

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know tons of people who were strong Christians five, seven, ten years ago and have walked away from the faith. So not only is this, you know, is Psalm 80 a remarkable Psalm, but it's the cry. It's the song of the tribe of Judah who's just broken about how the northern king of Israel has gone astray. And man, I want to have that same heart when people that I went to Bible college with, people that I went to seminary with are no longer walking with God, but they signed up not only to love Jesus, but to be in full-time ministry. And sometimes I think we can have this attitude, at least I have, I don't want to project this on to you, that I'm like, if anybody rejects Jesus, then forget them. Like I can kind of have like a you're Judas to me, you're dead to me. Like if you're a Christian and then you stop following God, like screw you, man, like you're dead to me. But that's not the heart. I began to go man Not only do I need to fight for unity and church Because that was God's goal that the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah would be united as one God's goal was never for them to be divided. Okay, so number one I think we can take a Thomas truth out of this and say God's heart's unity God God literally Has created the body of Christ the church for unity and we have to fight to maintain it unity doesn't just happen Doesn't happen by default. It has happened by design But then second man am I actively praying for those who have fallen away from the faith am I actively trying to re-engage or re-witness those who have fallen away from the faith and Sometimes I can just have such a bad attitude when it comes to ex-Christians I can be very gangster like it like you never love God. You know saying like I don't care and That's just not the heart that we see on display in Psalm 80 and I want to be more like Psalm 80 I want my heart to break and I want to really cry out to God that he would intervene and that he would show himself Strong in the lives of people who were Christians at one point and then for whatever reason walked away from the faith That's not only true for the psalmist in Psalm 80. That's true for you and I and today, honestly It's it's something that's convicting me like I I In the middle of watching my brothers and sisters in Christ who are walking away from Christ in the middle of seeing their lives fall apart I shouldn't be rejoicing. I shouldn't be saying well, that's what they get

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For for announcing Jesus my heart should be broken and I should have the heart parts of that says I know that that that that judgment is what they deserve under that wrath is what they deserve But God would you please please please win them back to you? God would you please allow me to be a good witness? And I'm just impressed that the that the Renet in the southern king of rajuda would write a whole psalm about the fall of Samaria up in the north That that it impacted them that it affected them that it shook them up That's just so reputable and I love it And so our timeless truth for the day is that God loves unity that we should be praying for unity and doing everything in our power to make unity possible and then number two is that we should be praying for those who have fallen away from the faith and actively engaging them because Nobody is beyond hope. Okay, and if God if God allowed Psalm 80 to be in the Bible Then maybe God will allow some of my prayers for people who don't know him anymore But that used to know him to go not unanswered but to be answered Okay, and I've got people in mind and I bet you do too. All right, that's our timeless truth for today Which means we're at the end of the episode family. I'll see you tomorrow for day 1979 we're gonna be walking through Psalms 82 83 and 84 it's gonna be fantastic. Love you guys so proud of you I'll see you right here same time same place tomorrow for day 279 peace Thanks so much for joining us on the Bible department podcast if this episode was helpful How about you leave a comment share with a friend and subscribe so that you never miss an episode to learn more about the show Head to the Bible department calm. We'll see you right back here tomorrow You You (upbeat music) [BLANK_AUDIO]

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