_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. _TITLE._ ףּלאס משׂכיל _MASKIIL LEASAPH._— This psalm seems to have been composed just upon the destr... [ Continue Reading ]
REMEMBER THY CONGREGATION— i.e. The Israelites who are thy church, and whom, at the expence of so many miracles, thou didst make thy peculiar people. _The rod,_ in the next clause, is put for the land itself, which was the portion of God's peculiar inheritance, the Israelites; and which, as was the... [ Continue Reading ]
LIFT UP THY FEET, &C.— _Lift up thy feet because of perpetual desolations._ The phrase _lift up thy feet,_ signifies no more than _come,_ or _return._ God had deserted his sanctuary, and the _Shechinah_ had gone up from between the cherubims. See Ezekiel 10:4. In consequence of which, the heathen pe... [ Continue Reading ]
THINE ENEMIES ROAR, &C.— i.e. "They triumph in those places where thy people formerly met to worship thee." See Psalms 74:7. _For signs,_ means, _"As trophies,_ in token of their conquest over us.... [ Continue Reading ]
A MAN WAS FAMOUS, &C.— _They shew themselves as one lifts up axes an high, in the thicket of the trees._ Psalms 74:6. _But now,_ &c. Houbigant renders it in the perfect tense; and, instead of _the carved work thereof,_ reads, _thy gates. But now they have broken down thy gates._... [ Continue Reading ]
WE SEE NOT OUR SIGNS— _Any token of they divine presence among us._ Bishop Patrick concludes from the next clause, that this psalm was composed towards the end of the captivity, because the writer complains here that _there was no prophet left_ (as there was at the beginning of it, particularly, Jer... [ Continue Reading ]
WHY WITHDRAWEST THOU THY HAND— Their upper garments having no sleeves, the arms were wrapped up and covered under them; and consequently, when the hand was made use of, it must have been disengaged from the garment, and made bare. The phrase, _why withdrawest thou thy hand?_ must therefore imply ina... [ Continue Reading ]
DRAGONS—LEVIATHAN— The Hebrew words may mean much the same; only the latter seems to express a more distinguished kind of crocodile. It is under this character that the Egyptians and their king are designed, who were destroyed in the Red Sea, and their bodies thrown out for a prey to the desart nati... [ Continue Reading ]
MIGHTY RIVERS— _Perpetual springs._ Schultens. _Psalms 74:16. The light_] _The luminary,_ or _receptacle of light,_ according to the original, The word מאור _maour_ is collective, and means all the luminaries, with their chief the _sun._ The Psalmist here proceeds to shew, that God's power is manife... [ Continue Reading ]
O DELIVER NOT THE SOUL, &C.— _Do not give up thy turtle to the ravenous beast;_ Mudge. The Hebrew is literally, _the beast of appetite,_ or _the ravenous beast._ We see in the next verse, that all the caves and coverts of the country were filled with parties, who skulked there to cut off straggling... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THE DARK PLACES, &C.— _For the dark places of the land are full of lodgments of treachery;_ Mudge. i.e. "This land is now so far from being inhabited by thy people, that every dark corner of it is a den of thieves and murderers." REFLECTIONS.—1st, A day of trouble should be a day of prayer. Whe... [ Continue Reading ]