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Psalms 74

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A Lament Over God’s Abandonment 1–3

1
Maschil of Asaph. O God, why hast thou cast us off for ever? why doth thine anger smoke against the sheep of thy pasture? ​
2
Remember thy congregation, which thou hast purchased of old; the rod of thine inheritance, which thou hast redeemed; this mount Zion, wherein thou hast dwelt. ​
3
Lift up thy feet unto the perpetual desolations; even all that the enemy hath done wickedly in the sanctuary. ​

The Enemy’s Desecration of the Sanctuary 4–11

4
Thine enemies roar in the midst of thy congregations; they set up their ensigns for signs. ​
5
A man was famous according as he had lifted up axes upon the thick trees.
6
But now they break down the carved work thereof at once with axes and hammers. ​
7
They have cast fire into thy sanctuary, they have defiled by casting down the dwelling place of thy name to the ground.
8
They said in their hearts, Let us destroy them together: they have burned up all the synagogues of God in the land. ​
9
We see not our signs: there is no more any prophet: neither is there among us any that knoweth how long. ​
10
O God, how long shall the adversary reproach? shall the enemy blaspheme thy name for ever?
11
Why withdrawest thou thy hand, even thy right hand? pluck it out of thy bosom. ​

Remembering God’s Ancient Power 12–17

12
For God is my King of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth. ​
13
Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength: thou brakest the heads of the dragons in the waters. ​
14
Thou brakest the heads of leviathan in pieces, and gavest him to be meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness. ​
15
Thou didst cleave the fountain and the flood: thou driedst up mighty rivers.
16
The day is thine, the night also is thine: thou hast prepared the light and the sun. ​
17
Thou hast set all the borders of the earth: thou hast made summer and winter. ​

An Urgent Plea for God to Act 18–23

18
Remember this, that the enemy hath reproached, O LORD, and that the foolish people have blasphemed thy name. ​
19
O deliver not the soul of thy turtledove unto the multitude of the wicked: forget not the congregation of thy poor for ever.
20
Have respect unto the covenant: for the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty. ​
21
O let not the oppressed return ashamed: let the poor and needy praise thy name.
22
Arise, O God, plead thine own cause: remember how the foolish man reproacheth thee daily. ​
23
Forget not the voice of thine enemies: the tumult of those that rise up against thee increaseth continually.

Bible text: King James Version (1769 Blayney text) · Public domain

Study Notes for Psalm 74

Verse 1

the sheep of thy pasture — The flock is God’s own: ‘we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture’ (Ps 100:3; also Ps 79:13, another psalm of Asaph). ‘Cast off’ is zanach, to thrust away, the verb of ‘cast us not off for ever’ (Ps 44:23). Anger that smokes (ashan) is the figure of Deut 29:20, ‘his jealousy shall smoke’.

Verse 2

the rod of thine inheritance — Shebet is a rod and also a tribe; ‘Israel is the rod of his inheritance’ (Jer 10:16). ‘Purchased’ (qanah) and ‘redeemed’ (gaal) are the Exodus words, ‘the people… which thou hast purchased’ (Ex 15:16). ‘Of old’ (qedem) returns in v.12. This is the first of three ‘remember’ pleas (vv.2, 18, 22).

Verse 3

perpetual desolations — Mashshu’ah, ruin, is found only here and in Ps 73:18. ‘Lift up thy feet’ calls God to walk through the ruins; the ‘wickedly’ done ‘in the sanctuary’ (qodesh) is detailed in vv.4–8. Ps 79:1 has a similar lament: ‘thy holy temple have they defiled’.

Verse 4

ensigns for signs — ‘Ensigns’ and ‘signs’ are one Hebrew word, oth: the enemies plant their own signs in the sanctuary. It is the word of v.9, ‘We see not our signs’. ‘Congregations’ is moed, an appointed meeting-place, rendered ‘synagogues’ in v.8. Lam 2:7 says ‘they have made a noise in the house of the LORD’.

Verse 6

the carved work — Pittuach, engraving: Solomon ‘carved all the walls of the house… with carved figures of cherubims and palm trees and open flowers’ (1 Kgs 6:29). ‘Axes’ (kashil) and ‘hammers’ (keylaph) each occur only here. ‘At once’ is yachad, the ‘together’ of v.8.

Verse 8

all the synagogues of God — Moade-El, ‘appointed places of God’. The KJV’s ‘synagogues’ is its only use of that word in the Old Testament. ‘Together’ is yachad, the ‘at once’ of v.6: the destroying is a shared decision, ‘they said in their hearts’. ‘Burned up’ is saraph, to burn, in all the land.

Verse 9

We see not our signs — Oth, the word of v.4. The enemy’s signs stand, and God’s are not seen. The absence of a prophet is the famine of Amos 8:11, ‘of hearing the words of the LORD’, and Lam 2:9, ‘her prophets also find no vision from the LORD’. No one ‘knoweth how long’ (v.10 asks it).

Verse 11

thy right hand — Yamin, the hand of action. ‘Withdrawest’ is shub, to turn back, as in Lam 2:3, ‘he hath drawn back his right hand from before the enemy’. The ‘bosom’ (cheyq) is the fold of the garment where a hand rests, as Moses put his hand ‘into thy bosom’ (Ex 4:6).

Verse 12

my King of old — The plural ‘us’ of the lament gives way to ‘my’. ‘Of old’ is qedem, the word of v.2. ‘Working salvation’ (yeshuah, deliverance) is ‘in the midst’ (qereb) of the earth, as the enemy roars ‘in the midst’ of the congregations (v.4). ‘Thou art my King, O God’ is also Ps 44:4.

Verse 13

divide the sea — The crossing of Ex 14:21, when ‘the waters were divided’. ‘Dragons’ (tanninim) is a name applied to Pharaoh: ‘the great dragon that lieth in the midst of his rivers’ (Ezek 29:3). Isa 51:9 calls on the arm of the LORD ‘as in the ancient days’, who ‘wounded the dragon’.

Verse 14

leviathan — God is the maker of leviathan: ‘that leviathan, whom thou hast made to play therein’ (Ps 104:26). He is also the one who will ‘punish leviathan the piercing serpent’ (Isa 27:1). The ‘heads’ are plural, as in v.13. ‘The people inhabiting the wilderness’ is tsiyim, dwellers in dry places.

Verse 16

the light and the sun — The day and the night are both his. ‘Light’ is maor, a luminary, the word for the ‘lights’ set in the firmament on the fourth day (Gen 1:14, 16). ‘Prepared’ is kun, to establish. Ps 136:7 praises ‘him that made great lights’ (‘orim, the plural of ‘or, light).

Verse 17

the borders of the earth — Gebulah, a boundary: when the most High ‘set the bounds of the people’ (Deut 32:8); Acts 17:26 speaks of ‘the bounds of their habitation’. ‘Summer and winter’ stand in the promise of Gen 8:22. ‘Made’ is yatsar, to form, the word for the LORD God ‘formed man’ (Gen 2:7).

Verse 18

the foolish people — Nabal, the fool of Ps 53:1, who says in his heart there is no God; the ‘foolish man’ of v.22 is the same word. ‘Reproached’ (charaph) and ‘blasphemed’ (naats) fall on God’s ‘name’ (shem). This is the second ‘remember’ (vv.2, 18, 22).

Verse 20

the covenant — Nabat, ‘look at, regard’, is asked of God for the covenant, cf. the covenant with Abraham and his seed (Gen 17:7). Ps 106:45 records that ‘he remembered for them his covenant’. The plea rests on the land’s state: its ‘dark places’ are ‘full of the habitations of cruelty’ (chamas, violence).

Verse 22

plead thine own cause — Riv is both the verb and the noun: God is asked to take up his own lawsuit. ‘Arise’ is the call of Ps 9:19, ‘Arise, O LORD’. The ‘foolish man’ is the nabal of v.18, and ‘remember’ is the third of the psalm’s pleas (vv.2, 18, 22): the reproach comes ‘daily’.