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Summarized Bible Commentary

Psalms 74:1-23

Contents: The deplorable condition of God's people spread before Him with petition for deliverance.

Characters: God, Asaph.

Conclusion: The desolations of God's house cannot but grieve the believer more than any desolations that might come to his own house. In the time of such distress, he cannot sit still in apathy but will turn to God seeking to know «why?» (Psalms 74:1) the desolations have come, looking to Him for deliverance.

Key Word: Desolations, Psalms 74:3.

Strong Verses: Psalms 74:12.

Striking Facts: Psalms 74:12. The Christian may now plead the ancient work of the Lord Jesus, that which was finished on Calvary, which was the overthrow of Satan, sin, death and hell. He who wrought such a wonderful salvation for us cannot desert the Christian now.

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See also Psalms 74:1-23 in other biblical comments:

  • Adam Clarke Bible Commentary

    PSALM LXXIV _The psalmist complains of the desolations of the sanctuary,_ _and pleads with God_, 1-3; _shows the insolence and wickedness of their enemies_, 4-8; _prays to God to act for them as h...

  • Albert Barnes' Bible Commentary

    O GOD, WHY HAST THOU CAST US OFF FOR EVER? - Thou seemest to have cast us off forever, or finally. Compare Psalms 44:9, note; Psalms 13:1, note. “Why doth thine anger smoke.” See Deuteronomy 29:20. T

  • Annotated Bible by A.C. Gaebelein

    Psalms 74 The Enemy in the Sanctuary _ 1. The Prayer on account of the enemy (Psalms 74:1)_ 2. The work of the enemy (Psalms 74:4) 3. Intercession for intervention ...

  • Arthur Peake's Commentary on the Bible

    LXXIV. The date may be fixed with certainty and that within narrow limits. The Jews are suffering extreme distress, but apparently by no fault of their own, for there is no confession of sin. The pers...

  • Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes

    TITLE. MASCHIL . Instruction. The ninth of thirteen so named. See note on Title, Psalms 32, and App-65 of Asaph. The third of the twelve Asaph Psalms. See App-63. Not David's Asaph, but. successor bea...

  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

    _for ever_ God's rejection of His people seems to have become permanent. The same thought recurs in Psalms 74:3_; Psalms 74:10; Psalms 74:19_, Psalms 79:

  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

    An appeal to God, Who seems to have abandoned and forgotten the people and city of His choice....

  • Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

    _The prophet complaineth of the desolation of the sanctuary: he moveth God to help, in consideration of his power, of his reproachful enemies, of his children, and of his covenant._ Maschil of Asaph....

  • College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

    PSALMS 74 DESCRIPTIVE TITLE Ruthless Injuries to the Sanctuary and Oppression in the Land by an Enemy, call forth Expostulation with God for his quiescence. ANALYSIS Stanza I., Psalms 74:1-3 a, In...

  • Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

    O God, why hast thou cast us off for ever? why doth thine anger smoke against the sheep of thy pasture? Psalms 74:1. Complaint that God casts off His people; prayer that He will remember Zion, His...

  • Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible

    SMOKE] Like a dark thunder-cloud threatening a flock: see Psalms 18:8....

  • Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible

    Psalms 74, 79 seem to reflect the same historical situation, and are usually ascribed to the same author. Both were written in a time of national calamity, when the Temple was profaned (Psalms 74), an...

  • EasyEnglish Bible Commentaries

    Psalms 73:89 _GORDON CHURCHYARD_ KEEP YOUR PROMISE! PSALMS 74 Jesus said, "One stone will not stay on another. They will all become broken". (Ma

  • Ellicott's Commentary On The Whole Bible

    WHY HAST... — Better, _why hast thou never ceased abandoning us?_ ANGER. — Literally, _nostril,_ as in Psalms 18:8, “there went a smoke from his nostril.” THE SHEEP OF THY PASTURE. — An expression p...

  • ETCBC data on Hebrew bible

    מַשְׂכִּ֗יל לְ אָ֫סָ֥ף לָמָ֣ה אֱ֭לֹהִים זָנַ֣חְתָּ...

  • Expositor's Bible Commentary (Nicoll)

    Psalms 74:1 Two periods only correspond to the circumstances described in this psalm and its companion (Psalms 79:1)-namely, the Chaldean invasion and sack of Jerusalem, and the persecution under Anti...

  • Frederick Brotherton Meyer's Commentary

    THE SANCTUARY OF GOD PROFANED Psalms 74:1 This psalm probably dates from the time when the Chaldeans destroyed the Temple and the city of Jerusalem. Compare Psalms 74:8 with Jeremiah 3:13. The main e...

  • G. Campbell Morgan's Exposition on the Whole Bible

    This is a great complaint, but it is a complaint of faith. Hardly a gleam of light is found throughout. The singer sits in the midst of national desolation and pours out his soul to God in passionate...

  • Geneva Study Bible Commentary

    "Maschil of Asaph." O God, (a) why hast thou cast [us] off for ever? [why] doth thine anger smoke against the sheep of thy pasture? (a) The Church of God is oppressed by the tyranny, either of the Ba...

  • George Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary

    Corrupt not. 'Tis believed to have been the beginning of some ode or hymn, to the tune of which this psalm was to be sung. St. Augustine and other Fathers, take it to be an admonition of the Spirit of...

  • Hawker's Poor man's commentary

    CONTENTS There is somewhat of history in this Psalm, as referring to the desolations of the church; probably concerning the devastation made by the Chaldean. The Sacred Writer laments the sad event,...

  • John Calvin's Bible Commentary

    1._O God! why hast thou east us off for ever? _If this complaint was written when the people were captives in Babylon, although Jeremiah had assigned the 70th year of their captivity as the period of...

  • John Darby's Synopsis

    Psalms 74 complains of the hostile desolation of the sanctuary, when rebuilt in the land. God's enemies, as faith here calls them, roar in the congregations. Man's ensigns, not God's, are the signs of...

  • John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

    O GOD, WHY HAST THOU CAST US OFF FOR EVER?..... This the church supposed because of the prevalence, oppression, and triumph of the enemy, because of the hardships and afflictions she laboured under, a...

  • John Trapp Complete Commentary

    Psalms 74:1 «Maschil of Asaph. » O God, why hast thou cast [us] off for ever? [why] doth thine anger smoke against the sheep of thy pasture? _A Psalm of Asaph_] Concerning the Babylonish captivity, s...

  • Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

    _O God, why hast thou cast us off for ever_ So as to leave us no visible hopes of restitution? _Why doth thine anger smoke?_ That is, why doth it rise to such a degree, that all about us take notice o...

  • Kretzmann's Popular Commentary of the Bible

    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...

  • Kretzmann's Popular Commentary of the Bible

    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 wel...

  • Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible

    1-11 This psalm appears to describe the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple by the Chaldeans. The deplorable case of the people of God, at the time, is spread before the Lord, and left with him....

  • Matthew Poole's Concise Commentary On The Bible

    PSALM 74 i.e. Composed by Asaph; either, 1. By that famous Asaph who flourished in David's time, and by the Spirit of God foresaw and foretold the things here mentioned. But the clear, and exact, and...

  • Patchworkid's Personal Study Bible Notes

    Psalms 74:1 Contemplation H4905 (H8688) Asaph H623 God H430 off H2186 (H8804) forever H5331 anger H639 smoke...

  • Scofield's Bible Commentary

    MASCHIL Maschil, instruction....

  • Sutcliffe's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

    Title. _Maschil of Asaph;_ that is, instruction, as Psalms 32. The EDDA is the title of the Icelandic poem, which also signifies instruction. This mournful ode is also alleged to have been written in...

  • The Biblical Illustrator

    _O God, why hast Thou cast us off for ever?_ why doth Thine anger smoke against the sheep of Thy pasture? THE WAIL AND PRAYER OF A TRUE PATRIOT I. The wail (Psalms 74:1). 1. Some communities of men...

  • The ESV Global Study Bible's Study Notes

    PSALM PSALM—NOTE ON PSALMS 74:1. This psalm, a community lament, is a cry of anguish over the destruction of the temple. It recounts God’s mighty deeds in the past, especially the exodus. Past events...

  • The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary

    INTRODUCTION _Superscription_.—“A Maschil of Asaph,” i.e., an Instruction of Asaph, a Didactic Song by Asaph. See introduction to Psalms 1. “But _here_ we cannot have the least idea of the authorship...

  • The Pulpit Commentaries

    EXPOSITION "THE misery of the Jews is here at its deepest". The psalmist describes Jerusalem as fallen into "perpetual ruins" (Psalms 74:3). The temple is violated (Psalms 74:3); its carved work is ru...

  • Through The Bible C2000 Serie by Chuck Smith

    Psa 74:1-23 is one of those psalms where the psalmist again is speaking of the desolation that is come, and the apparent quietness of God in the face of the desolation. God didn't do anything to stop...

  • Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

    Deuteronomy 29:20; Ezekiel 34:31; Ezekiel 34:8; Jeremiah 23:1;...

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