_The prophet complaineth of the desolation of the sanctuary: he moveth
God to help, in consideration of his power, of his reproachful
enemies, of his children, and of his covenant._
Maschil of Asaph.
_TITLE._ ףּלאס משׂכיל _MASKIIL LEASAPH._— This psalm seems
to have been composed just upon the destr... [ Continue Reading ]
REMEMBER THY CONGREGATION— i.e. The Israelites who are thy church,
and whom, at the expence of so many miracles, thou didst make thy
peculiar people. _The rod,_ in the next clause, is put for the land
itself, which was the portion of God's peculiar inheritance, the
Israelites; and which, as was the... [ Continue Reading ]
LIFT UP THY FEET, &C.— _Lift up thy feet because of perpetual
desolations._ The phrase _lift up thy feet,_ signifies no more than
_come,_ or _return._ God had deserted his sanctuary, and the
_Shechinah_ had gone up from between the cherubims. See Ezekiel 10:4.
In consequence of which, the heathen pe... [ Continue Reading ]
THINE ENEMIES ROAR, &C.— i.e. "They triumph in those places where
thy people formerly met to worship thee." See Psalms 74:7. _For
signs,_ means, _"As trophies,_ in token of their conquest over us.... [ Continue Reading ]
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._... [ Continue Reading ]
WE SEE NOT OUR SIGNS— _Any token of they divine presence among us._
Bishop Patrick concludes from the next clause, that this psalm was
composed towards the end of the captivity, because the writer
complains here that _there was no prophet left_ (as there was at the
beginning of it, particularly, Jer... [ Continue Reading ]
WHY WITHDRAWEST THOU THY HAND— Their upper garments having no
sleeves, the arms were wrapped up and covered under them; and
consequently, when the hand was made use of, it must have been
disengaged from the garment, and made bare. The phrase, _why
withdrawest thou thy hand?_ must therefore imply ina... [ Continue Reading ]
DRAGONS—LEVIATHAN— The Hebrew words may mean much the same; only
the latter seems to express a more distinguished kind of crocodile. It
is under this character that the Egyptians and their king are
designed, who were destroyed in the Red Sea, and their bodies thrown
out for a prey to the desart nati... [ Continue Reading ]
MIGHTY RIVERS— _Perpetual springs._ Schultens. _Psalms 74:16. The
light_] _The luminary,_ or _receptacle of light,_ according to the
original, The word מאור _maour_ is collective, and means all the
luminaries, with their chief the _sun._ The Psalmist here proceeds to
shew, that God's power is manife... [ Continue Reading ]
O DELIVER NOT THE SOUL, &C.— _Do not give up thy turtle to the
ravenous beast;_ Mudge. The Hebrew is literally, _the beast of
appetite,_ or _the ravenous beast._ We see in the next verse, that all
the caves and coverts of the country were filled with parties, who
skulked there to cut off straggling... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THE DARK PLACES, &C.— _For the dark places of the land are full
of lodgments of treachery;_ Mudge. i.e. "This land is now so far from
being inhabited by thy people, that every dark corner of it is a den
of thieves and murderers."
REFLECTIONS.—1st, A day of trouble should be a day of prayer. Whe... [ Continue Reading ]