Psalms 74:6

Lift up thy feet unto the perpetual desolations; even all that the enemy hath done wickedly in the sanctuary. -The enemy has destroyed God's sanctuary and synagogues, and there are no tokens of God's presence in the land. Verse 3. LIFT UP THY FEET UNTO THE PERPETUAL DESOLATIONS - `ruins' (Psalms 73:18, note). They seem eternal, because all human hope of restoration has been cut off. "Lift up thy feet," in order to come not slowly, but swiftly and majestically, in the sight of all, to restore what must otherwise be 'eternal ruins,' or "perpetual desolation." Compare the same phrase, margin, Genesis 29:1. In the case of God it has a more exalted meaning: 'Lift up thyself' in thy might ...

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. They plead the great things God had done for them. If the deliverance of Israel out of Egypt was encouragement to hope that he would not cast them off, much more reason have we to believe, that God will not cast off any whom Christ has redeemed with his own blood. Infidels and persecutors may silence faithful ministers, and shut up places of worship, and say they will destroy the people of God and their religion together. For a long time they may prosper in these attempts, and God's oppressed servants may see no prospect of deliverance; but there is a remnant of believers, the seed of a future harvest, and the despised church has survived those who once triumphed over her. When the power of...

BUT NOW THEY BREAK DOWN THE CARVED WORK THEREOF ... - literally, “But now the carvings of it together, at once, with sledge and hammers they beat down.” The carved work refers evidently to the ornaments of the temple. The word used here - פתוח _pittûach_ - is rendered engraving, carved work, or carving; Exodus 28:11, Exodus 28:21, Exodus 28:36; Exodus 39:6, Exodus 39:14, Exodus 39:30;...

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 ruthlessly cut down (Psalms 74:6); the aid of fire has been called in to destroy it, and its walls are cast down to the ground (Psalms 74:7). Nor has Jerusalem alone suffered. The object has been to "make havoc" of Israel "altogether;" and the enemy have spread themselves, and "burnt up all the houses of God in the land" (Psalms 74:8). The pr

BUT NOW THEY BREAK DOWN THE CARVED WORK THEREOF AT ONCE WITH AXES AND HAMMERS. Formerly it was an honour to be employed in cutting down a tree for the building of the temple; but now so little regard was paid to it, that all its fine carved work, which Solomon made, 1 Kings 6:18, was demolished at once in a rude and furious manner with axes and hammers; which was done either by the Chaldeans in Nebuchadnezzar's time, or by the Syrians in the times of Antiochus, or by the Romans in the times of Vespasian; the first seems intended; see Jeremiah 46:22....

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 (Psalms 74:10) This is a Psalm for instruction, a Maschil Psalm. The enemy is seen in the sanctuary. This has been applied to the defilement of the temple by Antiochus Epiphanes, but prophetically it rather refers to that end-time, when the enemy will defile the temple with the abomination of desolation (Matthew 24:15). Then the remnant loving the sanctuary tell

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 persecution is a religious one, since we are told repeatedly (Psalms 74:10; Psalms 74:18; Psalms 74:22) that their foes blaspheme God. Synagogues, unknown in pre-exilic times, exist throughout the land. Calamities, to some extent similar, existed in 586 B.C. when the Babylonians took Jerusalem and burned down the Temple. But if the writer had lived in the time of Jeremiah and Ezekiel, he could not have complained that no prophet had arisen (Psalms 74:9

A graphic picture of the desecration of the Temple by the heathen enemies of Israel....

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._...

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 Expostulation for Present Rejection, the Psalmist Reminds God how he had Acquired, Redeemed, and Exalted His Inheritance. Stanza II., Psalms 74:3-7, Profanation of the Sanctuary Described. Stanza III, Psalms 74:8-9, Extent of the Desolation. Stanza IV., Psalms 74:10-11, Renewed Expostulation with God. Stanzas V., VI., VII