A Reproach to Our Neighbors - Psalms 79:4

In Psalms chapter seventy-nine Asaph said, “O God, the heathen are come into your inheritance; your holy temple have they defiled; they have laid Jerusalem on heaps. The dead bodies of your servants have they given to be meat unto the fowls of the heaven, the flesh of your saints unto the beasts of the earth. Their blood have they shed like water round about Jerusalem; and there was none to bury them”, and in chapter seventy-nine and verse four of Psalms Asaph said, “we are become a reproach to our neighbors”, where we read,

We are become a reproach to our neighbors, a scorn and derision to them that are round about us.

The verse begins, “We are become a reproach to our neighbors, ...” Asaph began with the words, “we are become a reproach” or “we, Asaph and the people of Israel, have come to pass, happened and fallen out as a taunting, scorn, shame and disgrace” “to our neighbors” which means “toward our, Asaph and the people of Israel's, residents and fellow-citizens”. Asaph said he and the other people in Israel became a scorning and disgrace to their fellow citizens.

The verse goes on to say, “... a scorn and derision to them that are round about us.” Asaph continued with the words, “a scorn and derision to them” or “a mocking, stammering, scoffing, ridicule and laughing to the neighbors of Israel” “to them that are round about us” which means “to the neighbors who surrounding and encircled Asaph and his fellow citizens”. Asaph said the heathen foreigners caused he and his fellow-citizens to become a mocking and laughing stock to their surround residents.

When we meditate upon the words in this verse, we learn through Asaph how the people of Israel in Jerusalem were made to be a reproach, mocking, ridicule and laughing-stock to the fellow-citizens who encircled them. In other words, the neighbors of Israel knew what happened to them and laughed. God knows who is for Him and against Him, and He sent His Son Jesus into the world to die on the cross for the sins of all mankind. When we believe in, trust in and rely upon Him, He will forgive our sins, grant us everlasting life and make those who laugh at us be brought to “scorn, derision and shame” themselves.

Next time Asaph asks, “How long, LORD?”, so read ahead, and we shall join together then.

Until tomorrow…there is more…

See more devotionals on the website "thewordfortodaywithray.com" or look for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From Generation to Generation”, the marriage book “So, You Want to Be Married”, “One Year in the Sermon on the Mount” and the new poetry book "Random Mushrooms Volumes I and II" and the new novel "Elizabeth County" in all major bookstore sites, http://www.amazon.com ; http://www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to e-books, and find it locally at www.mrzlc.com/bookstore. All references are from "Strongs Concordance".