Psalm 74:1

Prayer for the Preservation of the Church.

Maschil, a didactic poem, of Asaph, a prophetic psalm, foretelling some of the afflictions which would befall the Church of God, in the Old Testament as well as in the New.

V. 1. O God, why hast Thou cast us off forever? this being the conclusion reached by the psalmist in considering the condition of the spiritual Israel as he saw it in spirit. Why doth Thine anger smoke, the smoking of the nostrils as with an inner fire being the picture frequently used in the Hebrew language to denote violent anger, against the sheep of Thy pasture? this being a common designation of the believers throughout the Bible. Cp. John 10.

V. 2. Remember Thy congregation, not only thinking of it in mercy, but showing His favor in deeds of kindness, which Thou hast purchased of old, which had become His possession by the deliverance from the serfdom of Egypt; the rod of Thine inheritance, the tribe or nation of His possession, which Thou hast redeemed, this statement pointing both backward to the purchase out of Egypt’s slavery and forward to the eternal redemption by Jesus Christ; this Mount Zion, His own holy Church of all times, wherein Thou hast dwelt.Note the climax in the terms to denote the relation of God to the people of His covenant.

V. 3. Lift up Thy feet, in long and hurried steps, unto the perpetual desolations, the ruins of His spiritual Temple; even all that the enemy hath done wickedly in the Sanctuary, the desecrations of the Old Testament being due principally to idolatry, those of the New Testament consisting in false doctrine and the perversions of the means of grace.

V. 4. Thine enemies roar in the midst of Thy congregations, in the place where God revealed Himself in the assembled congregation in His Word; they set up their ensigns for signs, heathen customs and ceremonies taking the place of the forms of Worship instituted or approved by God. That this was done in the Chaldean and the Maccabean periods is a matter of historical fact; that it is being done today is evident to every observer.

V. 5. A man was famous according as he had lifted up axes upon the thick trees, or, He, the enemy, shows himself, makes known himself, as one who raises axes on high in the thicket of the woods; v. 6. but now they break down the carved work thereof, the costly and artistic; paneling of the Temple, at once with axes and hammers, in deliberate and ruthless vandalism, exactly as the present-day enemies attempt to desecrate the spiritual temple of the Lord.

V. 7. They have cast fire into Thy sanctuary, deliberately burning the house of Jehovah; they have defiled, by casting down, the dwelling-place of Thy name, where the Lord revealed Himself to His people in the Word, to the ground, the profanation of all things holy being the delight of the Lord’s enemies always.

V. 8. They said in their hearts, Let us destroy them together, bringing the believers into subjection with cruelty and violence; they have burned up all the synagogs of God in the land, all the places of assembly, whether the schools of prophets are here meant or the synagogs proper as they existed after the Exile.

V. 9. We see not our signs, the customs of regular worship had been discontinued; there is no more any prophet, this lament containing a true description not only of the last centuries of the pre-Christian era, but also of many other periods of the Church’s life; neither is there among us any that knoweth how long, that is, how long the time of such persecution and tribulation would last.

V. 10. O God, how long shall the adversary reproach? sneeringly state that Israel had been forsaken by God. Shall the enemy, by such jeering remarks, blaspheme Thy name, the entire revelation of the power and attributes of Jehovah, forever?

V. 11. Why withdrawest Thou Thy hand, even Thy right hand? this being the symbol of God’s almighty power. Pluck it out of Thy bosom, where it seemed that the Lord had hidden it; He should show His might, the psalmist pleads, by sending destruction upon the enemies.