Psalm 74[a]
Prayer in Time of Calamity
1 A maskil[b] of Asaph.
Why, O God, have you cast us off forever?
Why[c] does your anger blaze forth
against the sheep of your pasture?
2 Remember the people that you purchased long ago,
the tribe that you redeemed as your own possession,[d]
and Mount Zion that you chose as your dwelling.
3 Direct now your steps[e] to the endless ruins,
toward the sanctuary destroyed by the enemy.
4 Your foes exulted triumphantly in the place of your assembly
and set up their memorial emblems.
5 They set upon it with their axes
as if it were a thicket of trees.
6 And then, with hatchets and hammers,
they bludgeoned all the carved work.
7 They set your sanctuary ablaze;
they razed and defiled the dwelling place of your name.[f]
8 They said to themselves, “We will utterly crush them,”
and they burned every shrine of God in the land.[g]
9 Now we see no signs,
there are no longer any prophets,
and none of us knows how long this will last.[h]
10 How long, O God, will the foe mock you?
Will the enemy blaspheme your name forever?[i]
11 Why do you hold back your right hand?
Take it out from your robe and destroy them.[j]
12 Yet you, O God, are my King from of old,
working deeds of salvation throughout the earth.
13 [k]By your power you split the sea in two
and shattered the heads of the dragons in the waters.
14 You crushed the heads of Leviathan
and gave him as food for the wild beasts.
15 You opened up springs and torrents
and turned flowing rivers into dry land.[l]
16 [m]Yours is the day, and yours also is the night,
for you set in place both sun and moon.
17 You fixed all the boundaries of the earth
and created both summer and winter.
18 [n]Remember, O Lord, how the enemy has mocked you,
how a foolish people has blasphemed your name.
19 Do not surrender the soul of your dove[o] to wild beasts;
do not forget forever the life of your poor.
20 Have regard for your covenant!
For the land is filled with darkness,
and the pastures are haunts of violence.
21 Do not let the oppressed turn back in shame;
let the poor and needy[p] bless your name.
22 Rise up, O God, and defend your cause;
remember how fools mock you all day long.
23 Do not ignore the outbursts of your enemies,
the unceasing tumult of your foes.
Footnotes
- Psalm 74:1 This lamentation expresses the soul of a stricken people who feel abandoned even by God. The deportees who have returned from the Exile (538–529 B.C.), or else the Jews persecuted by Antiochus IV Epiphanes (167–164 B.C.), mourn over their sanctuary, which the pagans have profaned (see 2 Ki 25:9-12; Isa 64:10 for the former and 1 Mac 4:38; 2 Mac 1:8 for the latter). Has the Lord forgotten the covenant and the wonders he once accomplished to free his people (Ps 74:13-14), to sustain them in the journey through the wilderness, and to open the Promised Land for them (v. 15)?
Rightly, the past prevents the psalmist from despairing and enables him to believe in a better future. Israel has now lost all pretense of power; it is the community of the poor (vv. 19-21), conscious of its weakness; it is like the timid dove that God cannot abandon to the ferocity of the beasts (v. 19).
Prolonging Christ’s presence and even identifying mysteriously with him, the Church is now God’s people on earth (see 1 Pet 2:9f). She is also the earthly, visible temple of God, his city and the spiritual capital of the world (see 1 Cor 3:16; 1 Pet 2:4-6). Hence, her members can pray this psalm in trials when Christ seems to have delivered them over to persecution without end. - Psalm 74:1 Maskil: see note on Ps 32:1a. Asaph: see notes on Pss 73–89.
- Psalm 74:1 Why . . . ? Why . . . ?: see note on Ps 6:4. Forever: figuratively speaking; it seemed like forever. Sheep of your pasture: see note on Ps 23.
- Psalm 74:2 In this time of great calamity, the psalmist begs God to recall his exploits at the Exodus, the Conquest, and the establishment of the temple. You redeemed as your own possession: see Deut 9:29.
- Psalm 74:3 The psalmist begs the Lord to hasten (direct . . . steps) to restore the sanctuary that the pagans have destroyed.
- Psalm 74:7 Name: see note on Ps 5:12.
- Psalm 74:8 Every shrine of God in the land: i.e., shrines, whether legitimate or not (see 1 Ki 3:2; 2 Ki 18:4).
- Psalm 74:9 The people were used to asking the Prophets how long a divine punishment would last (see 2 Sam 24:13). In this case, they have had no miraculous signs of any kind, and the voice of the Prophets is absent as it has been for some time (see Ps 77:9; 1 Mac 4:46; 9:27; 14:41; Lam 2:9; Ezek 7:26).
- Psalm 74:10 Jeremiah had announced that there would be 70 years of exile (see Jer 25:11; 29:10), a round figure symbolizing a very long time (see Pss 6:4; 89:47).
- Psalm 74:11 To do battle, the warrior bared his arm from his garment (see Isa 52:10).
- Psalm 74:13 Allusion to the crossing of the Red Sea (see Ex 14:30) and the defeat of the Egyptians (see Isa 27:1; Ezek 29:3; 32:4). Leviathan: a mythological multi-headed monster of chaos; here it seems to stand especially for Egypt (for Egypt’s crocodiles, see Job 40:25f).
- Psalm 74:15 Allusion to the miracles of the Exodus (see Ex 17:6; Num 20:11) and the crossing of the Jordan (see Jos 3:15f) where God’s creative power is exercised (see Ps 89:11).
- Psalm 74:16 The psalmist indicates that God—in addition to having accomplished the Redemption of his people from Egypt (vv. 13-14)—is also the Creator who established the world. Thus, the clear implication is that God can establish his kingdom on earth in spite of all opposition.
- Psalm 74:18 The godly beg God to remember (see v. 2) the evil conduct of their oppressors (v. 19) who blaspheme his name and afflict his people. The Lord’s name is sacred to them for it ensures that he will fulfill his covenant promises (see Ex 6:6-8). They ask him to come to their aid so that they will have reason to bless his name.
- Psalm 74:19 Your dove: a term of endearment for Israel (see Ps 68:14; Song 2:14; 5:2; 6:9; Hos 7:11; 11:11).
- Psalm 74:21 Poor and needy: see note on Ps 34:7. Name: see note on Ps 5:12.