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 he had done for their fathers,_ _whom, by his miraculous power, he had saved_, 9-17; _begs God to a... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 74:2. _REMEMBER THY CONGREGATION, WHICH THOU HAST PURCHASED OF_ _OLD_] We are the descendants of that people whom thou didst take unto thyself; the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Wilt thou never more be reconciled to us?... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 74:3. _LIFT UP THY FEET_] Arise, and return to us, our desolations still continue. Thy sanctuary is profaned by thine and our enemies.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 74:4. _THINE ENEMIES ROAR_] Thy people, who were formerly a distinct and separate people, and who would not even touch a Gentile, are now obliged to mingle with the most profane. Their boisterous mirth, their cruel mockings, their insulting commands, are heard every where in all our ass... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 74:8. _LET US DESTROY THEM_] Their object was totally to annihilate the political existence of the Jewish people. _THEY HAVE BURNED UP ALL THE SYNAGOGUES OF GOD IN THE LAND._] It is supposed that there were no _synagogues_ in the land till after the Babylonish captivity. How then coul... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 74:9. _WE SEE NOT OUR SIGNS_] "They have taken away all our trophies, and have left us no memorial that God has been among us. Even thou thyself hast left us destitute of all those _supernatural_ _evidences_ that have so often convinced us that thou wert among us of a truth." But we may... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 74:11. _WHY WITHDRAWEST THOU THY HAND_] It has been remarked, that as the outward habit of the easterns had no sleeves, the hands and arms were frequently covered with the folds of the robe; and in order to do any thing, the hand must be disentangled and drawn out. The literal version... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 74:12. _FOR GOD_ IS _MY KING OF OLD_] We have always acknowledged thee as our sovereign; and thou hast reigned as a king in the midst of our land, dispensing salvation and deliverance from the _centre_ to every part of the _circumference_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 74:13. _THOU DIDST DIVIDE THE SEA_] When our fathers came from Egypt. _THOU BRAKEST THE HEADS OF THE DRAGONS IN THE WATERS._] Pharaoh, his captains, and all his hosts were drowned in the Red Sea, when attempting to pursue them.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 74:14. _THE HEADS OF LEVIATHAN_] Leviathan might be intended here as a personification of the _Egyptian government_; and its _heads_, Pharaoh and his chief captains. _TO THE PEOPLE INHABITING THE WILDERNESS._] Probably meaning the _birds and beasts of prey_. These were the people of th... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 74:15. _THOU DIDST CLEAVE THE FOUNTAIN_] Thou didst cleave the _rock_ in the wilderness, of which all the congregation drank. _THOU DRIEDST UP MIGHTY RIVERS._] Does not this refer to the cutting off the waters of the Jordan, so that the people passed over dryshod?... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 74:16. _THE DAY_ IS _THINE, THE NIGHT ALSO_ IS _THINE_] Thou art the Author of light, and of the sun, which is the means of dispensing it.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 74:17. _THOU HAST SET ALL THE BORDERS OF THE EARTH_] Thou alone art the Author of all its grand _geographical_ divisions. _THOU HAST MADE SUMMER AND WINTER._] Thou hast appointed that peculiarity in the poise and rotation of the earth, by which the _seasons_ are produced.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 74:18. _REMEMBER THIS_] The heathen not only deny these things, but give the honour of them to their false gods, and thus blaspheme thy name.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 74:19. _DELIVER NOT THE SOUL OF THY TURTLE-DOVE_] Thy people Israel are helpless, defenceless, miserable, and afflicted: O deliver them no longer into the power of their brutal adversaries.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 74:20. _HAVE RESPECT UNTO THE COVENANT_] הבט לברית _habbet_ _labberith_. Pay attention to the _covenant sacrifice_; to that offered by Abraham, Genesis 15:9, c., when the contracting parties, God and Abram, passed through between the separated parts of the covenant sacrifice. An indispu... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 74:21. _LET NOT THE OPPRESSED RETURN ASHAMED_] Do not permit thy people to be so diminished, that when, according to thy promise, they are restored to their own land, they may appear to be but a handful of men.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 74:22. _PLEAD THINE OWN CAUSE_] Thy honour is concerned, as well as our safety and salvation. _The fool_-the idolater, _reproacheth thee daily _- he boasts of the superiority of his idols, by whose power, he asserts, we are brought under their domination.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 74:23. _FORGET NOT THE VOICE_] While we pray to thee for our own salvation, we call upon thee to vindicate thy injured honour: and let all the nations see that thou lovest thy followers, and hatest those who are thy enemies. Let not man prevail against thee or thine. ANALYSIS OF THE SE... [ Continue Reading ]