Psalms · psalm 74 of 150
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Psalm 74 is a communal lament by Asaph over the destruction of the sanctuary: enemies have roared in the meeting place, burned all the meeting places of God in the land, and there is no prophet to say how long it will last. The people ask why God holds back his hand. They recall that God is their king from of old, who divided the sea and crushed Leviathan, and they ask him to remember his covenant and the poor.
The title calls it a Maskil of Asaph, that is, a teaching poem. It is in Book III and is a national lament. It does not say which destruction prompted it. Many link it with the destruction of Jerusalem by Babylon in 586 BC, and others think of a different devastation, such as an earlier attack. Either way, it expresses the grief of a people who see the place where God had set his name go up in flames.
The psalm begins with a painful question: why, O God, have you rejected us forever? Why does your anger smoke against the sheep of your pasture? It asks God to remember his congregation, which he purchased long ago, and Mount Zion. It asks him to direct his steps to the perpetual ruins: the enemy has destroyed everything in the sanctuary.
Verses 4 to 8 describe the destruction. The foes roared in the midst of the meeting place and set up their own signs. Like men wielding axes in a forest, they hacked the carved work with hatchets and hammers. They set his sanctuary on fire and profaned the dwelling place of God's name. They burned all the meeting places of God in the land. Verses 9 to 11 express the disorientation: they see no signs, there is no longer any prophet and none among them knows how long. They ask how long the foe will scoff and why God holds back his right hand in his bosom.
Verses 12 to 17 turn to memory. God is their king from of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth. He divided the sea by his might, broke the heads of the sea monsters and crushed the heads of Leviathan. He split open springs and brooks and dried up ever-flowing streams. Day is his and night also, and he established the heavenly lights and the sun, fixed all the boundaries of the earth and made summer and winter.
Verses 18 to 23 return to the plea: that God remember how the enemy scoffed at the Lord and a foolish people reviled his name. May he not give the soul of his dove to the wild beasts or forget the life of his poor forever. May he have regard for the covenant, for the dark places of the land are full of violence. May the downtrodden not return in shame, but may the poor and needy praise his name. And may God arise, plead his cause and not forget the clamor of his foes that goes up continually.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
The people ask why God has rejected them and why his anger smokes against the sheep of his pasture. The complaint is not unbelief: it is addressed to God himself and starts from the fact that they are his.
After the complaint, the psalmist affirms that God is his king from of old and works salvation in the midst of the earth. Remembering who God is changes the direction of the prayer.
Day and night are his, and he fixed the boundaries of the earth and the seasons. The God who ordered creation can also order the chaos in which his people live.
He asks God to have regard for the covenant, for the dark places of the land are full of violence, and that the oppressed not return in shame. Hope rests on God's promises, not on his people's merits.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: Why God has rejected them forever and why his anger smokes against the sheep of his pasture. — Psalm 74:1
Answer: They set it on fire and profaned the dwelling place of God's name. — Psalm 74:7
Answer: Signs and a prophet, and no one who knows how long it will last. — Psalm 74:9
Answer: He divided the sea and crushed the heads of Leviathan. — Psalm 74:13-14
Answer: His covenant. — Psalm 74:20
Answer: Praise God's name. — Psalm 74:21
Psalm 74 gives language to communities that have lost something central: a temple, a leader, a place of worship, an era. It offers no easy explanations but a model of prayer that combines complaint, memory and plea. In a small group it can help to distinguish between complaining about God and complaining to God: the psalm does the second.
It also teaches us to pray with history. When God cannot be seen in the present, the psalmist recalls what he did with the sea, the waters and creation. Someone going through a time of silence can write down God's past works and use them as the basis for asking for help today.
Psalm 74 ends by asking God to arise and not forget his own. Psalm 75 answers in a different tone: the community gives thanks because God judges at his appointed time, humbles the arrogant and lifts up the righteous.
The psalm does not say. Many link it with the destruction of the temple by the Babylonians in 586 BC (2 Kings 25:8-9) and read it as a lament of the exile. Others prefer an earlier date, because of Asaph's title, which is associated with the time of David, or because of the mention of meeting places throughout the land. Both views are possible.
It is a sea monster that in Old Testament poetry represents the forces of chaos. Here the psalmist uses the image to say that God overcame every power that threatens creation. It may allude to the exodus, with the defeat of Egypt, but the text leaves it open.