Psalms 74 - Introduction

LXXIV.

Two periods only in the history of the Jews offer possible place for the composition of this psalm — that immediately after the Chaldæan invasion, and that of the persecution under Antiochus Epiphanes (B.C 167). Against the former of these is the statement in Psalms 74:9 (see Note), which could not have been spoken while Jeremiah was alive. Hence, with a certainty allowed by no other of the psalms, this, with Psalms 79, can be referred to the year before the patriotic rise of the Asmoneans. Indeed, as Delitzsch remarks, their contents coincide with the prayer of Judas Maccabæus preserved in 2Ma. 8:1-4. The only argument of any weight against this conclusion is the expression in Psalms 74:3, “ruins,” which appears at first sight too strong a term for the mischief wrought by the Syrians at the command of Antiochus. But we must allow at such a crisis a little licence to patriotism and poetry; and, unless the words must be limited to the sanctuary (which is not absolutely necessary: see Note), the picture given in the Book of Maccabees of the state of the Holy City, is such as to bear out the psalm. The poetical form is irregular.

Title. — See titles, Psalms 32:1.