74:1(Maschil of Asaph.) O God, a why hast thou cast [us]
off for ever? [why] doth thine anger smoke against the
sheep of thy pasture?
(a) The Church of God is oppressed by the tyranny, either
of the Babylonians or of Antiochus, and prays to God by
whose hand the yoke was laid on them for their sins.
74:2 Remember thy congregation, [which] thou hast purchased of
old; the b rod of thine inheritance, [which] thou hast
redeemed; this mount Zion, wherein thou hast dwelt.
(b) Which inheritance you have measured out for yourself as
with a line or rod.
74:4 Thine enemies roar in the midst of thy congregations; they
c set up their ensigns [for] signs.
(c) They have destroyed your true religion, and spread
their banners in sign of defiance.
74:5 [A man] was famous according as he had d lifted up axes
upon the thick trees.
(d) He commends the temple for the costly matter, the
excellent workmanship and beauty of it, which
nonetheless the enemies destroyed.
74:8 They said in their e hearts, Let us destroy them
together: they have burned up all the synagogues of God in
the land.
(e) They encouraged one another to cruelty, that not only
God's people might be destroyed, but also his religion
utterly in all places suppressed.
74:9 We see not our signs: [there is] no more any prophet:
neither [is there] among us any that knoweth f how long.
(f) They lamented that they had no prophet among them to
show them how long their misery would last.
74:11 Why withdrawest thou thy hand, even thy right hand? g
pluck [it] out of thy bosom.
(g) They join their deliverance with God's glory and
power, knowing that the punishment of the enemy would
be their deliverance.
74:12 For God [is] my King of old, working salvation h in the
midst of the earth.
(h) Meaning in the sight of all the world.
74:13 Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength: thou brakest
the heads of the i dragons in the waters.
(i) That is, Pharaoh's army.
74:14 Thou brakest the heads of k leviathan in pieces, [and]
gavest him [to be] l meat to the people inhabiting the
wilderness.
(k) Which was a great monster of the sea, or whale,
meaning Pharaoh.
(l) His destruction rejoiced them as meat refreshes the
body.
74:16 The m day [is] thine, the night also [is] thine: thou
hast prepared the light and the sun.
(m) Seeing that God by his providence governs and disposes
all things, he gathers that he will take care chiefly
for his children.
74:19 O deliver not the soul of thy n turtledove unto the
multitude [of the wicked]: forget not the congregation of
thy poor for ever.
(n) He means the Church of God, which is exposed as a prey
to the wicked.
74:20 Have respect unto the covenant: for o the dark places of
the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty.
(o) That is, all places where your word does not shine,
there reigns tyranny and ambition.
74:22 Arise, O God, plead thine p own cause: remember how the
foolish man reproacheth thee daily.
(p) He shows that God cannot permit his Church to be
oppressed unless he looses his own right.
