741 God, why have you rejected us forever?
Why does your anger smolder against the sheep of your pasture? 2 Remember your congregation, which you purchased of old,
which you have redeemed to be the tribe of your inheritance;
Mount Zion, in which you have lived. 3 Lift up your feet to the perpetual ruins,
all the evil that the enemy has done in the sanctuary. 4 Your adversaries have roared in the midst of your assembly.
They have set up their standards as signs. 5 They behaved like men wielding axes,
cutting through a thicket of trees. 6 Now they break all its carved work down with hatchet and hammers. 7 They have burned your sanctuary to the ground.
They have profaned the dwelling place of your Name. 8 They said in their heart, “We will crush them completely.”
They have burned up all the places in the land where God was worshiped. 9 We see no miraculous signs.
There is no longer any prophet,
neither is there among us anyone who knows how long. 10 How long, God, shall the adversary reproach?
Shall the enemy blaspheme your name forever? 11 Why do you draw back your hand, even your right hand?
Take it out of your pocket and consume them!
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Psalm 74:1-11
Commentary on Psalm 74:1-11
(Read Psalm 74:1-11)
This psalm appears to describe the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple by the Chaldeans. The deplorable case of the people of God, at the time, is spread before the Lord, and left with him. They plead the great things God had done for them. If the deliverance of Israel out of Egypt was encouragement to hope that he would not cast them off, much more reason have we to believe, that God will not cast off any whom Christ has redeemed with his own blood. Infidels and persecutors may silence faithful ministers, and shut up places of worship, and say they will destroy the people of God and their religion together. For a long time they may prosper in these attempts, and God's oppressed servants may see no prospect of deliverance; but there is a remnant of believers, the seed of a future harvest, and the despised church has survived those who once triumphed over her. When the power of enemies is most threatening, it is comfortable to flee to the power of God by earnest prayer.