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Psalm 74

Plea for Help in Time of National Humiliation

A Maskil of Asaph.

1

O God, why do you cast us off forever?

Why does your anger smoke against the sheep of your pasture?

2

Remember your congregation, which you acquired long ago,

which you redeemed to be the tribe of your heritage.

Remember Mount Zion, where you came to dwell.

3

Direct your steps to the perpetual ruins;

the enemy has destroyed everything in the sanctuary.

 

4

Your foes have roared within your holy place;

they set up their emblems there.

5

At the upper entrance they hacked

the wooden trellis with axes.

6

And then, with hatchets and hammers,

they smashed all its carved work.

7

They set your sanctuary on fire;

they desecrated the dwelling place of your name,

bringing it to the ground.

8

They said to themselves, “We will utterly subdue them”;

they burned all the meeting places of God in the land.

 

9

We do not see our emblems;

there is no longer any prophet,

and there is no one among us who knows how long.

10

How long, O God, is the foe to scoff?

Is the enemy to revile your name forever?

11

Why do you hold back your hand;

why do you keep your hand in your bosom?

 

12

Yet God my King is from of old,

working salvation in the earth.

13

You divided the sea by your might;

you broke the heads of the dragons in the waters.

14

You crushed the heads of Leviathan;

you gave him as food for the creatures of the wilderness.

15

You cut openings for springs and torrents;

you dried up ever-flowing streams.

16

Yours is the day, yours also the night;

you established the luminaries and the sun.

17

You have fixed all the bounds of the earth;

you made summer and winter.

 

18

Remember this, O L ord, how the enemy scoffs,

and an impious people reviles your name.

19

Do not deliver the soul of your dove to the wild animals;

do not forget the life of your poor forever.

 

20

Have regard for your covenant,

for the dark places of the land are full of the haunts of violence.

21

Do not let the downtrodden be put to shame;

let the poor and needy praise your name.

22

Rise up, O God, plead your cause;

remember how the impious scoff at you all day long.

23

Do not forget the clamor of your foes,

the uproar of your adversaries that goes up continually.


9. We see not our signs. Here the pious Jews show that their calamities were aggravated from the circumstance that they had no consolation by which to alleviate them. It is a powerful means of encouraging the children of God, when he enables them to cherish the hope of his being reconciled to them, by promising, that even in the midst of his wrath he will remember his mercy. Some limit the signs here spoken of to the miracles by which God had in the days of old testified, at the very time when he was afflicting his people, that he would, notwithstanding, still continue to be gracious to them. But the faithful rather complain that he had removed from them the tokens of his favor, and had in a manner hidden his face from them. 227227     The verb, which is, כלה, kalleh, in Pihel conjugation, is from כלה, kalah, consumptus est In Psalm 59:13, it is twice used, כלה בחמה כלה, kalleh bechemah kalleh, “consume them in wrath, consume them.” Consume, therefore, appears to be a preferable translation to pluck, which is that of our English version. We are overwhelmed with darkness, as if the prophet had said, because thou, O God! dost not make thy face to shine upon us as thou hast been accustomed to do. Thus it is common for us to speak of persons giving us signs either of their love or of their hatred. In short, God’s people here complain not only that the time was cloudy and dark, but also that they were enveloped in darkness so thick, that there did not appear so much as a single ray of light. As to be assured by the prophets of future deliverance was one of the chief signs of God’s favor, they lament that there is no longer a prophet to foresee the end of their calamities. From this we learn that the office of imparting consolation was committed to the prophets, that they might lift up the hearts which were cast down with sorrow, by inspiring them with the hope of Divine mercy. They were, it is true, heralds and witnesses of the wrath of God to drive the obstinate and rebellious to repentance by threatenings and terrors. But had they merely and without qualification denounced the vengeance of God, their doctrine, which was appointed and intended for the salvation of the people, would have only been the means of their destruction. Accordingly, the foretelling of the issue of calamities while yet hidden in the future, is ascribed to them as a part of their office; for temporary punishments are the fatherly chastisements of God, and the consideration that they are temporary alleviates sorrow; but his continual displeasure causes poor and wretched sinners to sink into utter despair. If, therefore, we also would find matter for patience and consolation, when we are under the chastening hand of God, let us learn to fix our eyes on this moderation on the part of God, by which he encourages us to entertain good hope; and from it let us rest assured, that although he is angry, yet he ceases not to be a father. The correction which brings deliverance does not inflict unmitigated grief: the sadness which it produces is mingled with joy. This end all the prophets endeavored to keep in view in the doctrine which they delivered. They, no doubt, often make use of very hard and severe language in their dealings with the people, in order, by inspiring them with terror, to break and subdue their rebellion; but whenever they see men humbled, they immediately address them in words of consolation, which, however, would be no consolation at all, were they not encouraged to hope for future deliverance.

The question may here be asked, whether God, with the view of assuaging the sadness arising from the chastisement, which he inflicted, always determined the number of years and days during which they would last? To this I answer, that although the prophets have not always marked out and defined a fixed time, yet they frequently gave the people assurance that deliverance was near at hand; and, moreover, all of them spoke of the future restoration of the Church. If it is again objected, that the people in their affliction did wrong in not applying to themselves the general promises, which it is certain were the common property of all ages, I answer, that as it was God’s usual way to send in every affliction a messenger to announce the tidings of deliverance, the people, when at the present time no prophet appeared to be expressly sent for that purpose, not without cause complain that they were deprived of the signs of the Divine favor which they had been accustomed to enjoy. Until the coming of Christ it was highly necessary that the memory of the promised deliverance should be renewed in every age, to show the people of God that to whatever afflictions they might be subjected, he still continued to care for them, and would afford them succor.


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