Psalms 74

Psalms 74THE church prays for deliverance from extreme distress, enforcing the petition, first by a description of the actual state of things, Psalms 74:1-12, and then by an appeal to former mercies, Psalms 74:13-23. The historical occasion is not given, but the terms of the description seem peculiarly appropriate to the state of Judah after the destruction of the temple and the holy city by the Babylonians, as described in Jeremiah 52:12-34.

Psalms 74:1. Maschil. By Asaph. Why, 0 God, hast thou cast off for ever, smokes thy wrath at the flock of thy pasture? The description of the psalm as a didactic one shows that it was not meant to be used in reference to its original occasion merely, but in every emergency resembling it. For this reason the question, what that occasion was, is of little exegetical importance, although not without interest in connection with the critical inquiry as to the date of composition.

The state of things assumed, and indeed described, is so unlike that which existed in the time of David, that we must either make the psalm prophetical, which is arbitrary and without analogy, or no less arbitrarily reject the title as a spurious addition to the text, or understand by Asaph the descendants of David’s Chief Musician, among whom the gift and office of their ancestors were hereditary. See above, on Psalms 1:1, and compare 2 Chronicles 35:15, Ezra 2:41; Ezra 3:10, Nehemiah 7:44; Nehemiah 11:22.

That this title indicates the author, and not merely the performer, can only be inferred from the general fact, that where a single name is given it is usually that of the writer. See above, on Psalms 42:1; Psalms 72:1. The interrogation in this verse does not involve a disavowal of guilt or ill-desert, but is rather a passionate expostulation and indirect petition for deliverance. Cast off, a verb implying abhorrence and disgust. See above, on Psalms 43:2; Psalms 44:9; Psalms 44:23; Psalms 60:1; Psalms 60:10. As the object is easily supplied, namely, us or thy people, its omission adds to the strength of the expression. Cast off for ever, as it seems to us and others. Why past thou cast us off with what appears to be a final and perpetual rejection?

See above, on Psalms 13:1. The interrogation is continued throughout the sentence. (Why) smokes or will smoke? The future form suggests the same idea as the for ever in the other clause. “Why is thy wrath to continue smoking?” The presence of smoke presupposes that of fire; but the former is particularly mentioned, perhaps for the purpose of adding to the primary idea of distress or destruction the secondary one of gloom and terror. At or against thy people, literally in, among them. See below, on Psalms 80:4, and compare Deuteronomy 29:20. The sheep (or flock) of thy pasture, those who feed upon thy pasture, or are fed by thee, a favourite designation of the chosen people, as the occupants of the Land of Promise.

The figurative form of the description was originally furnished by the pastoral experience of David, but from him was borrowed by other sacred writers. See below, Psalms 79:13; Psalms 100:3.

Psalms 74:2. Remember thy congregation thou hast purchased of old, (and) redeem the rod of thine inheritance, this mount Zion thou hast dwelt in. The ellipsis of the relative in both the clauses of this verse is common to the Hebrew and the English idiom. The word translated congregation is one of those applied in the Old Testament to Israel as an organised body and the people of Jehovah. See above, on Psalms 1:5. Purchased, acquired, made thine own.

The word translated of old is an noun meaning antiquity, but here used as an adverb of time. The full phrase occurs below in Psalms 74:12. The next verb contains a specification of the first, to wit, that he purchased by redeeming them from bondage, with particular reference to the exodus from Egypt. The rod of thine inheritance is a phrase which, to any Hebrew reader, would suggest the twofold idea of a chieftain’s staff, the badge of authority in the several tribes, and that of a measuring rod, here put for the portion of land measured. The whole sense conveyed by these associations is that of a definite province, with its population, of which God is the possessor and the sovereign. The last clause applies what had been said of the people and the land still more specifically to the central point of the theocracy.

Mount Zion may be understood as a description of the whole of Jerusalem, including the temple upon mount Moriah. This mount Zion, with which the speakers were familiar, and at or near which they are supposed to be speaking. The explanation of this as a relative is gratuitous, nor could the idea (this mount Zion) have been well expressed in any other form of Hebrew words. The grand distinction of mount Zion, in the wide sense just explained, was the inhabitation of Jehovah, which is therefore here expressly mentioned in the closing words.

Psalms 74:3. Lift thy steps to the perpetual ruins, all the enemy has ill done in the holy place. The first phrase is a poetical expression meaning simply advance, draw near, for the purpose of inspection. The word translated ruins occurs only here and in Ps. lxxiii. 18. The whole phrase strictly means ruins of perpetuity, i.e. such as appears likely to continue for ever, and will certainly do so, unless God comply with this request to draw near. The construction of the second clause adopted by some writers, the enemy has destroyed all (or every thing) in the holy place, is scarcely grammatical.

To express that idea, the word all would have the article, as in Psalms 14:3, or a suffix, as in Psalms 29:9, whereas its intimate connection here with the following verb in Hebrew is equivalent to a relative construction. Ill done, injured or destroyed, done mischief.

Psalms 74:4.Thine adversaries have roared in the midst of thine assembly; they have set their signs (as) signs. The tumultuous violence of the destroyers is described in the first clause by a figure borrowed from the habits of wild beasts, and elsewhere used as an expression of extreme distress. See above, on Psalms 22:1; Psalms 32:3; Psalms 38:8. The word translated assembly is not the same that is rendered congregation in Psalms 74:2, but one that strictly means a meeting by mutual agreement or appointment, and is specially applied to the meeting between God and his people at the sanctuary, which was therefore designated in the law as the tent of meeting, not merely the tent where the people assembled, but the place where they met with God by previous appointment. See Exodus 25:8; Exodus 29:42-43; Exodus 29:45-46, Numbers 17:4. The ideas suggested by themeeting consequent upon it, the persons met, and the place where they assemble.

The full sense, therefore, of the phrase here used is, “In the midst of thy people assembled at the appointed time and place to meet thee.” The exclusive local meaning put by some upon the words is quite gratuitous. The plural form which some assume (thine assemblies) varies the meaning only by suggesting the idea of repeated convocations, “In the midst of thy people, whenever (or as often as) they meet thee thus,” but without at all conveying the idea of numerous or even different places.

Set, fixed, established; or set up, exhibited, exposed to view. See above, on Psalms 18:43; Psalms 39:8; Psalms 44:13-14. The common version of the last words, ensigns for signs, conveys a false impression of the form of the original, in which the two nouns are identical. The word signs does not necessarily denote either military or religious ensigns, but rather signifies in general the insignia of sovereignty. For all that once marked the presence and authority of God the impious enemy had substituted the signs or tokens of their own ascendancy. In other words, they had usurped God’s place in his very sanctuary, the spot which he had chosen for his earthly residence.

Psalms 74:5. He is known (or shall be known) as (one) raising on high, in the thicket of the wood, axes. The most probable sense of this obscure verse is as follows: the ruthless enemy is known or recognised as dealing with the sanctuary no more tenderly than a woodman with the forest which he fells. On high seems to be added to suggest the force of the blow, and the sweep of the arm which deals it. The thicket may be mentioned for the purpose of contrasting the delicate and complicated wood-work of the temple with the worthless undergrowth which the woodman cuts away without scruple or discrimination. The word translated wood is often used as a collective, meaning trees.

Psalms 74:6. And now the carvings thereof together (or at once) with sledge and hammers they beat (down). This completes the comparison begun in the preceding verse, with which the one before us is connected by the phrase and now, i.e. in this case. As in the case supposed the woodman deals with trees and thickets, so in the real ease the spoiler deals with the costly fruits of art and skill. The word translated carvings is expressly used in the description of the temple. See 1 Kings 6:29, and compare Exodus 28:11; Exodus 39:6. The suffix (thereof) has no grammatical antecedent in the sentence; the form was probably determined by a word not expressed, though present to the writer’s mind. At once does not mean quickly, suddenly, without delay, but all together, indiscriminately, in confusion.

Psalms 74:7. They have set on fire thy holy place; to the earth they have profaned the dwelling of thy name. The literal translation of the first clause is, they have sent (or cast) into the fire thy holy place. The construction in the last clause is a pregnant one, profaned to the earth, i.e. profaned by casting to the ground a sacred edifice. This form of expression would be inappropriate to mere profanation by defilement, without actual prostration of the edifice itself.

Psalms 74:8. They have said in their heart, let us destroy them together (or at once); they have burned all the assemblies of God in, the land, by burning the only place where such assemblies could be held (Deuteronomy 12:5; Deuteronomy 12:11). Others, with less probability, suppose that the Hebrew word itself denotes the place of assembly, and that all such places means the only such place. The translation synagogues has no authority from Hebrew usage, or the ancient versions (LXX.; Vulg. dies festos. Jer. solennitates), and has been abused to prove that the psalm was written after the Babylonish exile, before which synagogues are commonly supposed to have had no existence.

Psalms 74:9. Our signs we see not; there is no more (any) prophet, and (there is) not with us (any one) knowing until what time, or how long, these things are to last. By signs we are here to understand the tokens of God’s presence, and of Israel’s peculiar relation to him. One of these is then specified, to wit, the gift of prophecy, which seemed to cease at the time of the Babylonian conquest, although afterwards renewed. Even Jeremiah’s ministry may be considered as then closing. The complaint of this, as of a recent loss, shews that the period meant is not that of the persecutions under Antiochus Epiphanes, when the gift of prophecy had been withdrawn for many generations.

Psalms 74:10. Till when, 0 God, shall the foe revile, the enemy contemn thy name for ever? By making the last clause a distinct interrogation (shall the enemy despise thy name for ever?) we avoid the solecism of combining how long and for ever; but this can occasion no more difficulty here than in Psalms 74:1, and in Psalms 13:1). The verb in the last clause means to treat contemptuously, to shew contempt by word or deed. Blaspheme expresses only one mode of doing this, and that too strongly.

Psalms 74:11. Why wilt thou withdraw thy hand and thy right hand From the midst of thy bosom (draw it and) consume (them). The future here includes the present (why dolt thou withdraw thy hand?) with the additional idea of continuance or perseverance in so doing. The hand, and especially the right hand, is the seat and symbol of strength. The and between them is equivalent to the English even. To make the hand return, or draw it back, is to cease from action, the continuance of which cessation is described as hiding it in the bosom.

Psalms 74:12. And God (is) my king of old, working salvations in the midst of the land. Having pleaded the greatness of the danger and distress as a reason for imploring the divine interposition, the church now pleads her covenant relation to him as her Sovereign and her Saviour in former emergencies, with particular reference to the plagues of Egypt, which makes it probable that land, and not earth, is the true translation of the last word. The very form of expression is borrowed from the narrative of Moses. See Exodus 8:22. Doing, working, as opposed to a mere promise or prediction.

The participle signifies continued action, and extends the description beyond the particular occasion specially, referred to. God is described as He who, then and ever, works salvations or deliverances, the plural form implying fulness and variety. See above, on Psalms 18:50, Psalms 28:8; Psalms 42:5; Psalms 42:11, Psalms 43:5, Psalms 53.

Psalms 74:13. Thou hast burst, with thy strength, the sea; thou hast broken the heads of dragons on the water. The word translated dragons is applied to the largest class of aquatic animals. Some suppose these to be here emblematic of Egypt and other hostile powers, as in Ezekiel 29:3-4, Isaiah 51:9-10. Others, with more probability, explain the verse as a description of God’s power over nature, and particularly over the sea, as specially maniested in the passage of the Red Sea. The dragons or sea-monsters are then added merely to complete the picture.

As if he had said, “Thou hast subdued and crushed the sea, and its most terrible inhabitants.” This is described as taking place, not in or under the waters, the abode of the sea-monsters, but on the surface, where the contest becomes visible. The pronoun at the beginning is emphatic: “it is thou that hast done all this, and not another.”

Psalms 74:14. (It is) thou (that) hast crushed the heads of Leviathan, (that) wilt give him (as) food to the people, to the wild men, or the dwellers in the desert. See above, on Psalms 72:9. Leviathan, according to its etymology, denotes a coiled or crooked serpent, but like dragon in ver. 13, is used as a generic term for huge aquatic animals. Having no plural form, it is here used in a collective sense, as appears from the expression heads, unless we understand this as denoting a many-headed monster, to which, however, there is no analogy in Scripture. In the last clause, people seems to mean men in general, and is then rendered definite by the use of the specific erm which follows. By the people of the desert some understand the savage beasts, by whom the Egyptians were devoured after the overthrow of Pharaoh; others, with more probability, the wild men living on the shores of the Red Sea, and subsisting on its fish, and hence called by the Greeks the Ichthyophagi. The transition from the past tense to the future seems to represent the scene as actually passing, or the act as one that may be frequently repeated. “It is thou that hast done all this, and wilt do it again.” Psalms 74:15. (It is) thou (that) didst cleave fount and flood, (that) didst dry up rivers ever flowing. Fountain and flood is a kind of proverbial expression for smaller and greater bodies of water. The primary historical allusion here is to the passage of the Jordan. The original construction of the last phrase is streams of perpetuity, perennial or unfailing streams, as distillguished from the winter torrents of the Holy Land, which disappear in summer. The common version, rivers of strength or mighty rivers, is not sustained by etymology or usage.

Psalms 74:16. To thee (belongs) day, yea, to thee night; THOU hast prepared light and sun. From the mention of God’s actual control over the elements, as exercised in certain memorable cases, the Psalmist here proceeds to assert his sovereignty by right of creation. Not only day but night, which seems to sense beyond the reach of government or regulation, is subject to God’s power. Thou, and no other, as in the three preceding verses. Prepared for the place which they now fill and the work which they perform. Light and sun are related as the genus and the species, like hand and right hand in Psalms 74:11, signs and prophet in Psalms 74:9. Light, in the local sense of luminary, which the same Hebrew word has in Genesis 1:14-16.

Psalms 74:17. THOU hast set (or established) all the bounds of earth; summer and winter— thou hast formed them. This is the seventh emphatic repetition of the pronoun thou. The bounds of earth are supposed by some to be the limits of the land, by which it is separated from the sea. See above, on Psalms 24:2. The description of God’s power over nature is completed by referring to it the revolution of the seasons as not only appointed but created by him. He is not only the ordainer of the change itself, but the author of the causes which produce it.

Psalms 74:18. Remember this; an enemy has reviled Jehovah, and a foolish people have contemned thy name. For the meaning of the verbs see above on Psalms 74:10, where the same facts are alleged, but are here recalled to God’s remembrance as a reason for his interposition. Jehovah may also be construed as a vocative, which makes the parallelism more exact. Foolish, in the strong sense of that word, as used in Scripture, to denote the irrationality of sin. See above, on Psalms 14:1, and compare Deuteronomy 32:6, from which place the whole phrase is borrowed.

Psalms 74:19. Give not to the greedy herd thy turtle-dove: the herd of thy afflicted (ones) forget not for ever! The general import of this prayer is obvious, and the only doubtful point is the precise sense of the Hebrew word, twice translated herd above. It usually means an animal or living thing, and more especially a wild beast, as distinguished from domesticated cattle. This would yield a good sense in the first clause (greedy beast), but is inadmissible in the other. The same objection lies against the explanation of the first as meaning life, and the last as meaning flock.

The only meaning equally admissible in both parts of the sentence is the one just mentioned, that of animal collectively, and then a flock or herd of animals, from which it is sometimes transferred to human subjects. See above, on Psalms 68:10. Greedy herd, literally herd of appetite. See above, on Psalms 27:12; Psalms 41:2. The turtle-dove is here used as an emblem of innocence and helplessness, as well as an expression of affectionate endearment.

Psalms 74:20. Look to the covenant; for filled are the darknesses of earth with homes of violence (or cruelty). The prayer in the first clause is equivalent to aying, Remember thy promise, fulfil thy covenant engagements. The reason assigned is, that the existing state of things is such as to require this fulfilment. The word translated darknesses has the form of a local noun, and may therefore mean dark places, not in the sense of hiding places, but in that of gloomy, dismal places. The same idea, of distress and gloom, which is always included in the sense of the word elsewhere, may be obtained by making it an obstract, darkness, or supposing the plural form to be emphatic, profound darkness, not as an attribute of certain places, but of the whole earth.

As if he had said, the darkness of the earth, or this dark world, is filled with homes of cruelty. This word used here as elsewhere, comprehends the two ideas of injustice and violence. See above, on Psalms 7:16; Psalms 18:48. The use of the word homes (or habitations) indicates that violence or cruelty is there domesticated, permanently resident. See above, on Psalms 25:13. The meaning of the whole verse thus explained is, that the permanent establishment and prevalence of “wrong and outrage” in the darkness of the world may be urged as a reason for the fulfilment of God’s promise, nay, his solemn oath, hat the whole earth shall be filled with his glory (Numbers 14:21).

Psalms 74:21. Let not the oppressed turn back confounded; let the sufferer and the poor (man) praise thy name. The word translated oppressed means strictly broken, bruised, or crushed. See above, on Psalms 9:9; Psalms 10:18. Turn back, abandon his pursuit, retire in despair. Confounded, disappointed, put to shame, by the frustration of his hopes and wishes. See above, on Psalms 35:4; Psalms 40:14; Psalms 69:6; Psalms 70:2.

Psalms 74:22. Arise, 0 God! Plead thine own cause! Remember thy reviling by the fool all day! The first prayer is the common one, that God would put an end to his apparent inaction and indifference to the sufferings of his servants. See above, on Psalms 3:7; Psalms 7:6; Psalms 9:19; Psalms 10:12; Psalms 17:13; Psalms 35:2; Psalms 44:26. Plead thine own cause, literally strive thy strife. See above, on Psalms 43:1. “Remember how thou art reviled by the irrational transgressor, and arouse thyself to silence his reproaches.” Psalms 74:23. Forget not the voice of thy foes, the noise of thy assailants, ascending always. The voice and noise here meant are the clamorous revilings and blasphemies of wicked men, continually going up into the ears of God, and calling down his wrath upon them. This striking figure, representing gross sin as a vocal and audible witness against him who commits it, is a common one in Scripture, from the earliest books downwards. See Genesis 4:10; Genesis 18:21; Genesis 19:13, and compare Jonah 1:2. Thy assailants, or more literally thy insurgents, those who rise up against thee, in the way not only of attack but of rebellion.

See above, on Psalms 3:1; Psalms 18:40,. Psalms 18:39; Psalms 18:48; Psalms 44:5, and compare Exodus 15:7, Deuteronomy 33:11, 2 Samuel 22:49. All this the Psalmist, or rather the Church, in whose behalf he speaks, recalls to the divine remembrance, as a ground or reason for immediate interference.