The two last groups of verses paint God's great mercy in delivering the nation from such misery. The daring figure of His awaking as from sleep and dashing upon Israel's foes, who are also His, with a shout like that of a hero stimulated by wine, is more accordant with Eastern fervour than with our colder imagination; but it wonderfully expresses the sudden transition from a period, during which God seemed passive and careless of His people's wretchedness, to one in which His power flashed forth triumphant for their defence. The prose fact is the long series of victories over the Philistines and other oppressors, which culminated in the restoration of the Ark, the selection of Zion as its abode, which involved the rejection of Shiloh and consequently of Ephraim (in whose territory Shiloh was), and the accession of David. The Davidic kingdom is, in the psalmist's view, the final form of Israel's national existence; and the sanctuary, like the kingdom, is perpetual as the lofty heavens or the firm earth. Nor were his visions vain, for that kingdom subsists and will subsist for ever, and the true sanctuary, the dwelling-place of God among men, is still more closely intertwined with the kingdom and its King than the psalmist knew. The perpetual duration of both is, in truth, the greatest of God's mercies, outshining all earlier deliverances; and they who truly have become the subjects of the Christ, the King of Israel and of the world, and who dwell with God in His house, by dwelling with Jesus, will not rebel against Him any more, nor ever forget His wonders, but faithfully tell them to the generations to come. PSALM LXXIX. 1 O God, [the] heathen have come into Thine inheritance, They have profaned Thy holy Temple, They have made Jerusalem heaps of stones. 2 They have given the corpses of Thy servants [as] meat to the fowls of the heavens, The flesh of Thy favoured Ones to the beasts of the earth. 3 They have poured out their blood like water round Jerusalem, And there was none to bury [them]. 4 We have become a reproach to our neighbours, A scoff and a scorn to those round us. 5 How long, Jehovah, wilt Thou be angry for ever? [How long] shall Thy jealousy burn like fire? 6 Pour out Thy wrath upon the heathen who know Thee not, And upon [the] kingdoms which call not upon Thy name. 7 For they have eaten up Jacob, And his pasture have they laid waste. 8 Remember not against us the iniquities of those before us, Speedily let Thy compassions [come to] meet us, For we are brought very low.