Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Psalms 74:2

Clarke's Commentary

Verse Psalms 74:2. Remember thy congregation, which thou hast purchased of old — We are the descendants of that people whom thou didst take unto thyself; the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Wilt thou never more be reconciled to us?

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

Psalms 74:0 Israel in captivity

This psalm belongs to the time that followed the destruction of the nation Israel. Assyria conquered the northern kingdom in 722 BC, and Babylon the southern kingdom during the years 605-587 BC. The people were taken captive into foreign lands and the temple in Jerusalem was destroyed (2 Kings 25:8-12). Now, with the centre of their religious life gone, the people feel cut off from God. Worse than that, the bitter years in captivity lead them to doubt God’s faithfulness.

Has God forgotten his covenant with Israel? The people invite him to go and inspect the ruins of the city and the temple. Perhaps it will rouse him to remember his covenant and bring them back to their homeland (1-3). They describe the scene of defilement and destruction in the temple: heathen victory symbols set up in the Holy Place (4); the beautiful woodwork broken, smashed and burnt (5-8); not a messenger of God to be found anywhere in the land (9).
Surely such a sight will rouse God from his inaction and cause him to act for them (10-11). Certainly, he is not lacking in power, for he has worked for them in the past. He directed the world of nature in such a way as to save Israel (12-17). Will he not therefore silence those who dishonour him? Will he not save his helpless people according to the covenant he made with them (18-20)? By acting against the oppressors, God can defend his cause and rescue his people (21-23).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

"O God, why hast thou cast us off forever? Why dost thine anger smoke against the sheep of thy pasture? Remember thy congregation, which thou hast gotten of old, Which thou hast redeemed to be the tribe of thine inheritance; And mount Zion, wherein thou hast dwelt."

The plight of Israel at this time was indeed pitiful. Their sins had finally reached a level that required their captivity and the dissolution of their earthly kingdom. The true people of God, after this time, were no longer to be found in the land of Israel, but in Babylon. The Israelites still remaining in "the land" did not understand this.

"Why hast thou cast us off forever" The "kingdom" in the sense of an earthly monarchy, was indeed cast off forever. It had never been God's will in the first place; and the reprobacy, idolatry, and wickedness of Israel's kings had at last made their removal absolutely necessary.

"Remember thy congregation" God did indeed remember "the congregation," which at that time had been transferred to Babylon; but the psalmist was apparently still in Jerusalem, from which God's presence had been removed, and in which the temple itself had been profaned, plundered, desecrated and burned to the ground. God was forever finished with that "earthly kingdom" of Israel. Pitiful indeed was the plight of the few true children of God who, along with the psalmist, were still left among that conceited, rebellious, and soon to be destroyed residue of the people that yet remained in Jerusalem.

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

Remember thy congregation - The word rendered “congregation” means properly an “assembly,” a “community,” and it is frequently applied to the Israelites, or the Jewish people, considered as a body or a community associated for the service of God. Exodus 12:3; Exodus 16:1-2, Exodus 16:9; Leviticus 4:15; Numbers 27:17. The word used by the Septuagint is συναγωγή sunagōgē - synagogue - but refers here to the whole Jewish people, not to a particular synagogue or congregation.

Which thou hast purchased of old - In ancient times; in a former age. That is, Thou hast “purchased” them to thyself, or as thine own, by redeeming them from bondage, thus securing to thyself the right to them, as one does who redeems or purchases a thing. See the notes at Isaiah 43:3.

The rod of thine inheritance - Margin, as in Hebrew, “tribe.” The Hebrew word - שׁבט shêbet - means properly “a staff,” stick, rod; then, a shepherd’s staff, a crook; then, a scepter; and then it is used to denote a “tribe,” so called from the staff or scepter which the chief of the tribe carried as the symbol of authority. Exodus 28:21; Judges 20:2. The word “inheritance” is frequently applied to the children of Israel considered as belonging to God, as property inherited belongs to him who owns it - perhaps suggesting the idea that the right to them had come down, as inherited property does, from age to age. It was a right over them acquired long before, in the days of the patriarchs.

Which thou hast redeemed - By delivering them out of Egyptian bondage. So the church is now redeemed, and, as such, it belongs to God.

This mount Zion - Jerusalem - the seat of government, and of public worship - the capital of the nation.

Wherein thou last dwelt - By the visible symbol of thy presence and power. - On all these considerations the psalmist prays that God would not forget Jerusalem in the present time of desolation and trouble.

Calvin's Commentary on the Bible

2.Remember thy congregation, which thou hast possessed of old. ⁽²¹⁴⁾ Here they boast of having been the peculiar people of God, not on account of any merit of their own, but by the grace of adoption. They boast in like manner of their antiquity, — that they are not subjects who have come under the government of God only within a few months ago, but such as had fallen to him by right of inheritance. The longer the period during which he had continued his love towards the seed of Abraham, the more fully was their faith confirmed. They declare, therefore, that they had been God’s people from the beginning, that is, ever since he had entered into an inviolable covenant with Abraham. There is also added the redemption by which the adoption was ratified; for God did not only signify by word, but also showed by deed at the time when this redemption was effected, that he was their King and Protector. These benefits which they had received from God they set before themselves as an encouragement to their trusting in him, and they recount them before him, the benefactor who bestowed them, as an argument with him not to forsake the work of his own hands. Inspired with confidence by the same benefits, they call themselves the rod of his inheritance; that is to say, the heritage which he had measured out for himself. The allusion is to the custom which then prevailed of measuring or marking out the boundaries of grounds with poles as with cords or lines. Some would rather translate the word שבט,shebet, which we have rendered rod, by tribe; but I prefer the other translation, taking the meaning to be, that God separated Israel from the other nations to be his own proper ground, by the secret pre-ordination which originated in his own good pleasure, as by a measuring rod. In the last place, the temple in which God had promised to dwell is mentioned; not that his essence was enclosed in that place, — an observation which has already been frequently made, — but because his people experienced that there he was near at hand, and present with them by his power and grace. We now clearly perceive whence the people derived confidence in prayer; it was from God’s free election and promises, and from the sacred worship which had been set up among them.

(214) Archbishop Secker thinks that this verse may be read thus: “Remember thy congregation, which thou hast purchased, hast redeemed of old; the tribe of thine inheritance; this mount Zion,” etc.

Smith's Bible Commentary

Psalms 74:1-23

Psalms 74:1-23 is one of those psalms where the psalmist again is speaking of the desolation that is come, and the apparent quietness of God in the face of the desolation. God didn't do anything to stop it. God has allowed this desolation, and God's hand is not yet seen, as far as the delivering of the people.

O God, why hast thou cast us off for ever? Why doth thine anger smoke against the sheep of your pasture? Remember thy congregation, which thou hast purchased of old; the rod of thine inheritance, which thou hast redeemed; this mount Zion, where you have dwelt. Lift up your feet unto the perpetual desolations; even all that the enemy hath done wickedly in the sanctuary. For thine enemies roar in the midst of thy congregations; they set up their ensigns for signs. A man was famous according to as he had lifted up axes upon the thick trees. But now they are breaking down the carved work thereof at once with axes and hammers ( Psalms 74:1-6 ).

And so he speaks of the desolation that had come to the house of God. How they had taken the axe and the hammers and had destroyed the beautiful carved works that were there in the sanctuary of God. And how,

They then set it on fire, and they defiled by casting down the dwelling place of thy name to the ground ( Psalms 74:7 ).

And so the holy of holies was cast down.

They said in their hearts, Let us destroy them together: they have burned up all of the synagogues of God in the land. We see not our signs: there is no more any prophet: neither is there among us any that knows how long ( Psalms 74:8-9 ).

We don't know how long this desolation is gonna go on.

O God, how long shall the adversary reproach? Shall the enemy blaspheme thy name for ever? Why do you withdraw your hand, even your right hand? pluck it out of your bosom, Lord ( Psalms 74:10-11 ).

Get busy God, help us.

For God is my King of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth. You did divide the sea by your strength: you broke the heads of the dragons in the waters. You broke the heads of leviathan in pieces, and gave him to be meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness. You did cleave the fountain and the flood: and you dried up the mighty rivers. The day is thine, the night is also yours: and you have prepared the light and the sun. You have set all the borders of the earth: you have made summer and winter. Remember this, that the enemy hath reproached, O Jehovah, and that the foolish people have blasphemed thy name. O deliver not the soul of your turtledove unto the multitude of the wicked: forget not the congregation of the poor for ever. Have respect unto the covenant: for the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty. O let not the oppressed return ashamed: let the poor and needy praise thy name. Arise, O God, plead thine own cause: remember how the foolish man reproaches thee daily. Forget not the voice of thine enemies: the tumult of those that rise up against thee increases continually ( Psalms 74:12-23 ).

And so the psalmist crying out unto God because of the desolations of the temples, the synagogues, by the enemies, the oppression of God's people. "

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

1. A call for God to remember His people 74:1-2

Evidently Israel was suffering under the oppression of a foreign foe. The writer prayed that God would stop disciplining His chosen people and remember (act) to bless the nation He had redeemed. The figure of sheep (Psalms 74:2) stresses the helpless, weak condition of the people (cf. Psalms 79:13; Psalms 95:7; Psalms 100:3). The reference to Israel’s redemption recalls the Exodus (cf. Exodus 15:13). The word "tribe" (Psalms 74:2) also pictures Israel as small and vulnerable (cf. Jeremiah 10:16). God regarded Israel as His own inheritance (Deuteronomy 4:20). The sanctuary stood on Mt. Zion in Asaph’s day.

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

Psalms 74

The writer appears to have written this communal lament psalm after one of Israel’s enemies destroyed the sanctuary. [Note: See Ralph W. Klein, Israel in Exile: A Theological Interpretation, pp. 19-20.] The Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem and the temple in 586 B.C. may therefore be the background. The writer asked the Lord to remember His people and defeat her enemies, as He had in the past, for His own glory (cf. Psalms 79; Psalms 137; Lam.).

"The temple has been violated. The key symbol of life has been lost. Things in all parts of life fall apart-precisely because the center has not held. This psalm of protest and grief does not concern simply a historical invasion and the loss of a building. It speaks about the violation of the sacral key to all reality, the glue that holds the world together." [Note: Brueggemann, p. 68.]

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

Remember thy congregation, which thou hast purchased of old,.... Alluding to the redemption of the congregation of Israel out of Egypt, when they were said to be "purchased", Exodus 15:16 and as that people were typical of the people of God, they may be said to be "purchased then", even of old; though the purchase in reality was not made till the blood of Christ was shed, with which he purchased his church, Acts 20:28, indeed he was the Lamb, slain from the foundation of the world, in the purpose and promise of God, and in the typical sacrifices so early offered up, Revelation 13:8, and besides, the words may be considered as the words of the church of God groaning under antichristian oppression and cruelty, hundreds of years since the death of Christ, and so may be said to be of old purchased; and which is called a "congregation", because a select number, chosen of God, and called out of the world, and brought into one body, and into fellowship with Christ and one another; and though they may not meet together in one place, they are all of one body, and will one day make one general assembly and church of the firstborn, called "the congregation of the righteous", Psalms 1:5 now it is desired of the Lord for these, that they might be remembered with his lovingkindness and tender mercies, with his covenant and promises, and be delivered and saved out of the hands of their enemies:

the rod of thine inheritance, which thou hast redeemed; the Targum adds, out of Egypt; but this is to be understood not of the redemption of the people of Israel, but of the redemption of the church of God from sin, Satan, the law, the world, hell, and death; who are chosen by the Lord for his inheritance, his peculiar treasure and portion; and which he highly values and esteems, and is dear unto him as such, as the redemption of them by the blood of Christ shows:

this Mount Sion wherein thou hast dwelt; meaning the church of God, which often goes by this name, both in the Old and in the New Testament, comparable to the mount of Zion for its height, holiness, and immoveableness; where the Lord has promised to dwell, and where he does dwell, and will for evermore. As the reference to Sion literally understood, it is called "this Sion", because well known, and because the psalm might be composed or said in it, as Kimchi observes; and which shows that it was written before the destruction of the city and temple, and while Zion was the seat of religious worship, and therefore a prophecy of future times.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

Maschil of Asaph.

      1 O God, why hast thou cast us off for ever? why doth thine anger smoke against the sheep of thy pasture?   2 Remember thy congregation, which thou hast purchased of old; the rod of thine inheritance, which thou hast redeemed; this mount Zion, wherein thou hast dwelt.   3 Lift up thy feet unto the perpetual desolations; even all that the enemy hath done wickedly in the sanctuary.   4 Thine enemies roar in the midst of thy congregations; they set up their ensigns for signs.   5 A man was famous according as he had lifted up axes upon the thick trees.   6 But now they break down the carved work thereof at once with axes and hammers.   7 They have cast fire into thy sanctuary, they have defiled by casting down the dwelling place of thy name to the ground.   8 They said in their hearts, Let us destroy them together: they have burned up all the synagogues of God in the land.   9 We see not our signs: there is no more any prophet: neither is there among us any that knoweth how long.   10 O God, how long shall the adversary reproach? shall the enemy blaspheme thy name for ever?   11 Why withdrawest thou thy hand, even thy right hand? pluck it out of thy bosom.

      This psalm is entitled Maschil--a psalm to give instruction, for it was penned in a day of affliction, which is intended for instruction; and this instruction in general it gives us, That when we are, upon any account, in distress, it is our wisdom and duty to apply to God by faithful and fervent prayer, and we shall not find it in vain to do so. Three things the people of God here complain of:--

      I. The displeasure of God against them, as that which was the cause and bitterness of all their calamities. They look above the instruments of their trouble, who, they knew, could have no power against them unless it were given them from above, and keep their eye upon God, by whose determined counsel they were delivered up into the hands of wicked and unreasonable men. Observe the liberty they take to expostulate with God (Psalms 74:1; Psalms 74:1), we hope not too great a liberty, for Christ himself, upon the cross, cried out, My God my God, why hast thou forsaken me? So the church here, O God! why hast thou forsaken us for ever? Here they speak according to their present dark and melancholy apprehensions; for otherwise, Has God cast away his people? God forbid,Romans 11:1. The people of God must not think that because they are cast down they are therefore cast off, that because men cast them off therefore God does, and that because he seems to cast them off for a time therefore they are really cast off for ever: yet this expostulation intimates that they dreaded God's casting them off more than any thing, that they desired to be owned of him, whatever they suffered from men, and were desirous to know wherefore he thus contended with them: Why does thy anger smoke? that is, why does it rise up to such a degree that all about us take notice of it, and ask, What means the heat of this great anger?Deuteronomy 29:24. Compare Deuteronomy 29:20; Deuteronomy 29:20, where the anger of the Lord and his jealousy are said to smoke against sinners. Observe what they plead with God, now that they lay under the tokens and apprehensions of his wrath. 1. They plead their relation to him: "We are the sheep of thy pasture, the sheep wherewith thou hast been pleased to stock the pasture, thy peculiar people whom thou art pleased to set apart for thyself and design for thy own glory. That the wolves worry the sheep is not strange; but was ever any shepherd thus displeased at his own sheep? Remember, we are thy congregation (Psalms 74:2; Psalms 74:2), incorporated by thee and for thee, and devoted to thy praise; we are the rod, or tribe, of thy inheritance, whom thou hast been pleased to claim a special property in above other people ( Deuteronomy 32:9), and from whom thou hast received the rents and issues of praise and worship more than from the neighbouring nations. Nay, a man's inheritance may lie at a great distance, but we are pleading for Mount Zion, wherein thou hast dwelt, which has been the place of thy peculiar delight and residence, thy demesne and mansion." 2. They plead the great things God had done for them and the vast expense he had been at upon them: "It is thy congregation, which thou hast not only made with a word's speaking, but purchased of old by many miracles of mercy when they were first formed into a people; it is thy inheritance, which thou hast redeemed when they were sold into servitude." God gave Egypt to ruin for their ransom, gave men for them, and people for their life,Isaiah 43:3; Isaiah 43:4. "Now, Lord, wilt thou now abandon a people that cost thee so dear, and has been so dear to thee?" And, if the redemption of Israel out of Egypt was an encouragement to hope that he would not cast them off, much more reason have we to hope that God will not cast off any whom Christ has redeemed with his own blood; but the people of his purchase shall be for ever the people of his praise. 3. They plead the calamitous state that they were in (Psalms 74:3; Psalms 74:3): "Lift up thy feet; that is, come with speed to repair the desolations that are made in thy sanctuary, which otherwise will be perpetual an irreparable." It has been sometimes said that the divine vengeance strikes with iron hands, yet it comes with leaden feet; and then those who wait for the day of the Lord, cry, Lord, lift up thy feet; exalt thy steps; magnify thyself in the outgoing of thy providence. When the desolations of the sanctuary have continued long we are tempted to think they will be perpetual; but it isa temptation; for God will avenge his own elect, will avenge them speedily, though he bear long with their oppressors and persecutors.

      II. They complain of the outrage and cruelty of their enemies, not so much, no, not at all, of what they had done to the prejudice of their secular interests; here are no complaints of the burning of their cities and ravaging of their country, but only what they had done against the sanctuary and the synagogue. The concerns of religion should lie nearer our hearts and affect us more than any worldly concern whatsoever. The desolation of God's house should grieve us more than the desolation of our own houses; for the matter is not great what becomes of us and our families in this world provided God's name may be sanctified, his kingdom may come, and his will be done.

      1. The psalmist complains of the desolations of the sanctuary, as Daniel, Daniel 9:17; Daniel 9:17. The temple at Jerusalem was the dwelling-place of God's name, and therefore the sanctuary, or holy place,Psalms 74:7; Psalms 74:7. In this the enemies did wickedly (Psalms 74:3; Psalms 74:3), for they destroyed it in downright contempt of God and affront to him. (1.) They roared in the midst of God's congregations,Psalms 74:4; Psalms 74:4. There where God's faithful people attended on him with a humble reverent silence, or softly speaking, they roared in a riotous revelling manner, being elated with having made themselves masters of that sanctuary of which they had sometimes heard formidable things. (2.) They set up their ensigns for signs. The banners of their army they set up in the temple (Israel's strongest castle, as long as they kept closely to God) as trophies of their victory. There, where the signs of God's presence used to be, now the enemy had set up their ensigns. This daring defiance of God and his power touched his people in a tender part. (3.) They took a pride in destroying the carved work of the temple. As much as formerly men thought it an honour to lend a hand to the building of the temple, and he was thought famous that helped to fell timber for that work, so much now they valued themselves upon their agency in destroying it, Psalms 74:5; Psalms 74:6. Thus, as formerly those were celebrated for wise men that did service to religion, so now those are applauded as wits that help to run it down. Some read it thus: They show themselves, as one that lifts up axes on high in a thicket of trees, for so do they break down the carved work of the temple they make no more scruple of breaking down the rich wainscot of the temple than woodcutters do of hewing trees in the forest; such indignation have they at the sanctuary that the most curious carving that ever was seen is beaten down by the common soldiers without any regard had to it, either as a dedicated thing or as a piece of exquisite art. (4.) They set fire to it, and so violated or destroyed it to the ground,Psalms 74:7; Psalms 74:7. The Chaldeans burnt the house of God, that stately costly fabric, 2 Chronicles 36:19. And the Romans left not there one stone upon another (Matthew 24:2), rasing it, rasing it, even to the foundations, till Zion, the holy mountain, was, by Titus Vespasian, ploughed as a field.

      2. He complains of the desolations of the synagogues, or schools of the prophets, which, before the captivity, were in use, though much more afterwards. There God's word was read and expounded, and his name praised and called upon, without altars or sacrifices. These also they had a spite to (Psalms 74:8; Psalms 74:8): Let us destroy them together; not only the temple, but all the places of religious worship and the worshippers with them. Let us destroy them together; let them be consumed in the same flame. Pursuant to this impious resolve they burnt up all the synagogues of God in the land and laid them all waste. So great was their rage against religion that the religious houses, because religious, were all levelled with the ground, that God's worshippers might not glorify God, and edify one another, by meeting in solemn assemblies.

      III. The great aggravation of all these calamities was that they had no prospect at all of relief, nor could they foresee an end of them (Psalms 74:9; Psalms 74:9): "We see our enemy's sign set up in the sanctuary, but we see not our signs, none of the tokens of God's presence, no hopeful indications of approaching deliverance. There is no more any prophet to tell us how long the trouble will last and when things concerning us shall have an end, that the hope of an issue at last may support us under our troubles." In the captivity in Babylon they had prophets, and had been told how long the captivity should continue, but the day was cloudy and dark (Ezekiel 34:12), and they had not as yet the comfort of these gracious discoveries. God spoke once, yea, twice, good words and comfortable words, but they perceived them not. Observe, They do not complain, "We see not our armies; there are no men of war to command our forces, nor any to go forth with our hosts;" but, "no prophets, none to tell us how long." This puts them upon expostulating with God, as delaying, 1. To assert his honour (Psalms 74:10; Psalms 74:10): How long shall the adversary reproach and blaspheme thy name? In the desolations of the sanctuary our chief concern should be for the glory of God, that it may not be injured by the blasphemies of those who persecute his people for his sake, because they are his; and therefore our enquiry should be, not "How long shall we be troubled?" but "How long shall God be blasphemed?" 2. To exert his power (Psalms 74:11; Psalms 74:11): "Why withdrawest thou thy hand, and dost not stretch it out, to deliver thy people and destroy thy enemies? Pluck it out of thy bosom, and be not as a man astonished, as a mighty man that cannot save, or will not," Jeremiah 14:9. When the power of enemies is most threatening it is comfortable to fly to the power of God.