Psalm 74

Psalm 74 belongs to Book III of the Psalms (Psalms 73–89) and is one of the psalms of Asaph, bearing the superscription "Maschil of Asaph." In the preceding Psalm 73, a psalmist troubled by the prosperity of the wicked gains understanding upon entering the sanctuary. In Psalm 74, the community laments together over that same sanctuary, now trampled by the enemy.

Structure

• Verses 1–3: The psalmist asks why God has cast off the sheep of his pasture forever. He pleads with God to remember the congregation he redeemed of old and Mount Zion, where he has dwelt, and to come to the places laid in ruins.
• Verses 4–8: The enemies roar in the midst of the congregation and set up their own ensigns. With axes and hammers they break down the carved work of the sanctuary and set it on fire. They have also burned up all the synagogues of God in the land.
• Verses 9–11: The psalmist complains that there are no signs, no longer any prophet, and no one who knows how long this will last. He asks how long the adversary will blaspheme God's name and pleads with God to stretch out the right hand he has withdrawn.
• Verses 12–17: The psalmist recalls the works of God, who has been King from of old. God divided the sea, broke the heads of the dragons and of leviathan, cleft the rock to bring forth water, and dried up rivers. God also made day and night, the light and the sun, the borders of the earth, and summer and winter.
• Verses 18–23: The psalmist asks God to remember the enemy's reproach, not to forget his turtledove and the poor, and to have respect unto the covenant. Finally, he appeals to God to arise and plead his own cause.

Key Verses

• Psalm 74:1 "O God, why hast thou cast us off for ever?": The opening verse displays the character of a lament, which questions God honestly.
• Psalm 74:12 "For God is my King of old": This verse marks the turning point from lament to trust.
• Psalm 74:20 "Have respect unto the covenant": The petition is grounded in the covenant that God made.

People and Places

• Asaph: The figure named in the superscription, traditionally identified as a Levite who led temple praise in the time of David.
• Zion: Described as the mount where God has dwelt.
• The sanctuary: God's dwelling place, burned and defiled by the enemy, commonly understood as the Temple in Jerusalem.

Points for Reflection

• The text does not identify the enemy who destroyed the sanctuary. Many scholars place the psalm in the setting of the Babylonian destruction of the temple in the sixth century BC and the Babylonian exile. Others, citing "synagogues" in verse 8 and "there is no more any prophet" in verse 9, connect the psalm with a much later desecration of the temple during the intertestamental period. Against this view, some argue that the Hebrew of verse 8 is closer in meaning to "meeting places of God" and cannot be equated with the later synagogues.
• Some interpreters read verses 13–15 as recalling events of the Exodus, such as the crossing of the Red Sea, the water that came from the rock in the wilderness, and the crossing of the Jordan. Others, taking these verses together with verses 16–17, read them as a picture of creation in which God rules over the chaotic sea.
• In verse 14, the Korean Revised Version renders the term as "crocodile." The Hebrew word is "Leviathan," and the New Korean Revised Version transliterates it directly as "Leviathan."
• The New Testament contains no direct quotation of this psalm.