Psalms 74 ~ Listen and Read Along

Dramatized KJV
 JV McGee
After an opening appeal to God (74:1~2) the Psalm describes the ravages of the enemy in the Temple (v. 3-7), and the distressed condition of Israel (v. 8~9). A second appeal (v. 10~11) is followed by recollection of God's past mercies, especially in leading His people from Egypt to Canaan (v. 12~15). Next comes an appropriation of praise to God as the Ruler of Nature (v. 16~17), followed by a final prayer that He will vindicate His own glory, which the heathen have dishonoured (v.18~23).

This psalm is a touching prayer to God to intervene after a great national disaster. That disaster concerns the destruction of God’s sanctuary, the temple, His dwelling place in Jerusalem (v. 3). The disaster that Asaph describes is in the future, because the temple was built by Solomon in Asaph’s time. Asaph is called a "prophet" by the Lord Jesus when He quotes a word of Asaph (Mattthew 13:35; Psalm 78:2).

The Holy Spirit worked in Asaph feelings which the God-fearing has who experience the actual destruction of the temple. We can think of the destruction by Nebuchadnezzar in 586 BC. We can also think of the destruction by the Romans in the year 70. Prophetically it is about the destruction by the Assyrians of the temple, which now soon, will be built by the Jews (Daniel 9:27).

The Treasury of David

 

Arise, O God, Defend Your Cause    

Psalms 74:1 Maschil of Asaph. O God, why hast thou cast us off for ever? why doth thine anger smoke against the sheep of thy pasture?
Psalms 74:2 Remember thy congregation, which thou hast purchased of old; the rod of thine inheritance, which thou hast redeemed; this mount Zion, wherein thou hast dwelt.
Psalms 74:3 Lift up thy feet unto the perpetual desolations; even all that the enemy hath done wickedly in the sanctuary.
Psalms 74:4 Thine enemies roar in the midst of thy congregations; they set up their ensigns for signs.
Psalms 74:5 A man was famous according as he had lifted up axes upon the thick trees.
Psalms 74:6 But now they break down the carved work thereof at once with axes and hammers.
Psalms 74:7 They have cast fire into thy sanctuary, they have defiled by casting down the dwelling place of thy name to the ground.
Psalms 74:8 They said in their hearts, Let us destroy them together: they have burned up all the synagogues of God in the land.
Psalms 74:9 We see not our signs: there is no more any prophet: neither is there among us any that knoweth how long.
Psalms 74:10 O God, how long shall the adversary reproach? shall the enemy blaspheme thy name for ever?
Psalms 74:11 Why withdrawest thou thy hand, even thy right hand? pluck it out of thy bosom.
Psalms 74:12 For God is my King of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth.
Psalms 74:13 Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength: thou brakest the heads of the dragons in the waters.
Psalms 74:14 Thou brakest the heads of leviathan in pieces, and gavest him to be meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness.
Psalms 74:15 Thou didst cleave the fountain and the flood: thou driedst up mighty rivers.
Psalms 74:16 The day is thine, the night also is thine: thou hast prepared the light and the sun.
Psalms 74:17 Thou hast set all the borders of the earth: thou hast made summer and winter.
Psalms 74:18 Remember this, that the enemy hath reproached, O LORD, and that the foolish people have blasphemed thy name.
Psalms 74:19 O deliver not the soul of thy turtledove unto the multitude of the wicked: forget not the congregation of thy poor for ever.
Psalms 74:20 Have respect unto the covenant: for the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty.
Psalms 74:21 O let not the oppressed return ashamed: let the poor and needy praise thy name.
Psalms 74:22 Arise, O God, plead thine own cause: remember how the foolish man reproacheth thee daily.
Psalms 74:23 Forget not the voice of thine enemies: the tumult of those that rise up against thee increaseth continually.
  
  
  We can divide the psalm as follows:
  • In Psalm 74:1-11 we hear the complaint about the destruction of the temple.
  • Psalm 74:12-17 mention Who God is and what He has done in the past.
  • Psalm 74:18-23 are a prayer to God to remember His people.
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