Psalms 74 Study Notes: A Lament over the Ruined Sanctuary
Asaph mourns that enemies have smashed and burned God's sanctuary, with no prophet to say how long it will last. He recalls God's ancient power over the sea and His rule over day, night, and seasons, and pleads with God to remember His covenant and defend His own name.
General
In 74:19-21, what does the psalmist ask God to take into account as He looks on His suffering people?
Answer: The covenant He had made with them
The psalmist pictures Israel as God's defenseless dove and asks God not to hand it over to wild animals or forget His afflicted people forever (74:19). He then asks God to have regard for His covenant, because dark places in the land are full of violence (74:20). He prays that the downtrodden will not be turned back in disgrace but will praise God's name (74:21). A covenant is a binding commitment God made to His people. God had promised that even while they were held in enemy territory He would not reject them but would remember His covenant (Leviticus 26:44-45), and Israel's history shows Him doing exactly that, in Egypt (Exodus 2:24) and again and again afterward moved by His loving devotion (Psalm 106:45).
- Psalm 74:19-21 (BSB)“Do not deliver the soul of Your dove to beasts; do not forget the lives of Your afflicted forever. Consider Your covenant, for haunts of violence fill the dark places of the land. Do not let the oppressed retreat in shame; may the poor and needy praise Your name.”The psalmist pleads for God's dove and afflicted people and asks Him to consider His covenant.
- Leviticus 26:44-45 (BSB)“Yet in spite of this, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject or despise them so as to destroy them and break My covenant with them; for I am the LORD their God. But for their sake I will remember the covenant with their fathers, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations, that I might be their God. I am the LORD.””God promised He would remember His covenant and not wholly reject His people even in exile.
- Exodus 2:24 (BSB)“So God heard their groaning, and He remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”When Israel groaned in Egypt, God remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
- Psalm 106:45 (BSB)“And He remembered His covenant with them, and relented by the abundance of His loving devotion.”God remembered His covenant and relented out of His loving devotion.
Theological
What does the psalmist ask God to have regard for in 74:19-21?
Answer: The covenant He had made with them
Casting Israel as God's defenseless dove and His afflicted ones (74:19), the psalmist pleads with God to have regard for the covenant, since the land's hidden corners teem with violence (74:20), and asks that the oppressed not retreat in shame but praise His name (74:21). The plea rests on God's covenant commitment. Leviticus promises that even in exile God will not reject His people but will keep His covenant in mind (Leviticus 26:44-45); He did so in Egypt (Exodus 2:24) and repeatedly thereafter moved by His loving devotion (Psalm 106:45).
- Psalm 74:19-21 (BSB)“Do not deliver the soul of Your dove to beasts; do not forget the lives of Your afflicted forever. Consider Your covenant, for haunts of violence fill the dark places of the land. Do not let the oppressed retreat in shame; may the poor and needy praise Your name.”The psalmist pleads for God's dove and afflicted people and asks Him to consider His covenant.
- Leviticus 26:44-45 (BSB)“Yet in spite of this, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject or despise them so as to destroy them and break My covenant with them; for I am the LORD their God. But for their sake I will remember the covenant with their fathers, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations, that I might be their God. I am the LORD.””God promised He would remember His covenant and not wholly reject His people even in exile.
- Exodus 2:24 (BSB)“So God heard their groaning, and He remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”When Israel groaned in Egypt, God remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
- Psalm 106:45 (BSB)“And He remembered His covenant with them, and relented by the abundance of His loving devotion.”God remembered His covenant and relented out of His loving devotion.
General
True or False: Psalm 74 ends by announcing that God has already defeated the enemies and rebuilt the sanctuary.
Answer: False
This is false. The psalm closes with a plea, not a report of victory. The psalmist calls on God to rise up and take up His own cause, remembering how the fool insults Him constantly (74:22), and asks Him not to overlook the rising, ceaseless roar of His enemies (74:23). This echoes an earlier plea for God to keep in mind the enemy's mockery and the scorn of a foolish people toward His name (74:18). The psalm leaves the question open and hands it to God. Moses prayed in a similar way each time the ark moved forward, calling the LORD to rise and scatter His foes (Numbers 10:35). Another lament also urges God to wake and act (Psalm 44:23), and even in heaven God's martyred people ask how long until He brings justice (Revelation 6:10).
- Psalm 74:22-23 (BSB)“Rise up, O God; defend Your cause! Remember how the fool mocks You all day long. Do not disregard the clamor of Your adversaries, the uproar of Your enemies that ascends continually.”The psalm ends with a plea for God to rise and defend His cause against the unceasing uproar of His enemies.
- Numbers 10:35 (BSB)“Whenever the ark set out, Moses would say, “Rise up, O LORD! May Your enemies be scattered; may those who hate You flee before You.””Moses called on the LORD to rise up and scatter His enemies.
- Psalm 44:23 (BSB)“Wake up, O Lord! Why are You sleeping? Arise! Do not reject us forever.”Another lament urges God to arise and not reject His people forever.
- Revelation 6:10 (BSB)“And they cried out in a loud voice, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge those who dwell upon the earth and avenge our blood?””Martyred saints likewise cry out asking how long until God judges.
Theological
True or False: Psalm 74 closes with a report that God has defeated the enemy and restored the sanctuary.
Answer: False
This is false. The psalm ends in petition, not resolution: God is summoned to arise and plead His own cause against the fool's constant scorn (74:22) and not to ignore the ever-rising tumult of His adversaries (74:23). The plea takes up 74:18, where God is asked to keep in mind the enemy's mockery and a foolish people's scorn for His name. The lament entrusts the unresolved crisis to God. The appeal echoes Moses' cry for the LORD to rise and scatter His enemies (Numbers 10:35), parallels the summons of Psalm 44:23, and anticipates the martyrs' how long in Revelation 6:10.
- Psalm 74:22-23 (BSB)“Rise up, O God; defend Your cause! Remember how the fool mocks You all day long. Do not disregard the clamor of Your adversaries, the uproar of Your enemies that ascends continually.”The psalm ends with a plea for God to rise and defend His cause against the unceasing uproar of His enemies.
- Numbers 10:35 (BSB)“Whenever the ark set out, Moses would say, “Rise up, O LORD! May Your enemies be scattered; may those who hate You flee before You.””Moses called on the LORD to rise up and scatter His enemies.
- Psalm 44:23 (BSB)“Wake up, O Lord! Why are You sleeping? Arise! Do not reject us forever.”Another lament urges God to arise and not reject His people forever.
- Revelation 6:10 (BSB)“And they cried out in a loud voice, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge those who dwell upon the earth and avenge our blood?””Martyred saints likewise cry out asking how long until God judges.
General
According to 74:3-8, what had the enemy done to God's sanctuary?
Answer: Hacked its carvings, set it on fire, and defiled it
The psalmist asks God to walk through the lasting ruins and see what the enemy has done (74:3). Enemies shouted inside God's place of meeting with His people and set up their own standards (74:4). Like woodcutters swinging axes, they smashed the carved work (74:5-6), burned the sanctuary down, and polluted the place where God's name dwelt (74:7). They meant to crush the people completely and burned every meeting place of God in the land (74:8). The psalm does not name the enemy or the occasion. Scripture records one such catastrophe when the Babylonians set fire to the LORD's temple (2 Kings 25:9), and both Lamentations (Lamentations 2:7) and another psalm of Asaph (Psalm 79:1) mourn the desecration of the temple in similar terms.
- Psalm 74:3-8 (BSB)“Turn Your steps to the everlasting ruins, to everything in the sanctuary the enemy has destroyed. Your foes have roared within Your meeting place; they have unfurled their banners as signs, like men wielding axes in a thicket of trees and smashing all the carvings with hatchets and picks. They have burned Your sanctuary to the ground; they have defiled the dwelling place of Your Name. They said in their hearts, “We will crush them completely.” They burned down every place where God met us in the land.”The enemy has roared in God's meeting place, hacked the carvings, burned the sanctuary, and destroyed every place where God met His people.
- Psalm 79:1 (BSB)“A Psalm of Asaph. The nations, O God, have invaded Your inheritance; they have defiled Your holy temple and reduced Jerusalem to rubble.”Another psalm of Asaph mourns that the nations defiled the temple and ruined Jerusalem.
- 2 Kings 25:9 (BSB)“He burned down the house of the LORD, the royal palace, and all the houses of Jerusalem—every significant building.”Scripture records the Babylonians burning down the house of the LORD.
- Lamentations 2:7 (BSB)“The Lord has rejected His altar; He has abandoned His sanctuary; He has delivered the walls of her palaces into the hand of the enemy. They have raised a shout in the house of the LORD as on the day of an appointed feast.”Lamentations mourns the enemy shouting inside the LORD's house.
Theological
What does 74:3-8 describe the enemy doing to the sanctuary?
Answer: Hacked its carvings, set it on fire, and defiled it
74:3-8 describes a systematic desecration: foes roaring in God's meeting place and raising their own standards (74:4), hacking the carved work like woodsmen (74:5-6), burning the sanctuary and defiling the dwelling of God's name (74:7), and destroying every meeting place of God in the land (74:8). The psalm does not identify the enemy or the occasion. Scripture records one such destruction when the Babylonians set fire to the LORD's temple (2 Kings 25:9), and Lamentations (Lamentations 2:7) and the companion psalm of Asaph (Psalm 79:1) lament the defiling of the temple in comparable language.
- Psalm 74:3-8 (BSB)“Turn Your steps to the everlasting ruins, to everything in the sanctuary the enemy has destroyed. Your foes have roared within Your meeting place; they have unfurled their banners as signs, like men wielding axes in a thicket of trees and smashing all the carvings with hatchets and picks. They have burned Your sanctuary to the ground; they have defiled the dwelling place of Your Name. They said in their hearts, “We will crush them completely.” They burned down every place where God met us in the land.”The enemy has roared in God's meeting place, hacked the carvings, burned the sanctuary, and destroyed every place where God met His people.
- Psalm 79:1 (BSB)“A Psalm of Asaph. The nations, O God, have invaded Your inheritance; they have defiled Your holy temple and reduced Jerusalem to rubble.”Another psalm of Asaph mourns that the nations defiled the temple and ruined Jerusalem.
- 2 Kings 25:9 (BSB)“He burned down the house of the LORD, the royal palace, and all the houses of Jerusalem—every significant building.”Scripture records the Babylonians burning down the house of the LORD.
- Lamentations 2:7 (BSB)“The Lord has rejected His altar; He has abandoned His sanctuary; He has delivered the walls of her palaces into the hand of the enemy. They have raised a shout in the house of the LORD as on the day of an appointed feast.”Lamentations mourns the enemy shouting inside the LORD's house.
General
After the lament of 74:1-11, what does the psalmist recall in 74:12-15?
Answer: God's kingship of old and His power over the waters
The psalm turns with a yet: God has been the psalmist's King from long ago, bringing rescue throughout the world (74:12). He split the sea by His power and shattered the sea monsters, crushing Leviathan (74:13-14). He opened springs and streams and dried up rivers that never stopped flowing (74:15). The imagery portrays God's complete mastery over the waters and every power associated with them, recalling His rescue of Israel. At the exodus the LORD pushed the waters back with a wind and split them (Exodus 14:21), and Isaiah joins the picture of God piercing the dragon with His drying up of the sea so that the redeemed could cross (Isaiah 51:9-10). Later the Jordan stopped flowing so the people could pass over (Joshua 3:16).
- Psalm 74:12-15 (BSB)“Yet God is my King from ancient times, working salvation on the earth. You divided the sea by Your strength; You smashed the heads of the dragons of the sea; You crushed the heads of Leviathan; You fed him to the creatures of the desert. You broke open the fountain and the flood; You dried up the ever-flowing rivers.”The psalmist recalls God as his King from of old, who split the sea, crushed the sea monsters, and opened and dried up waters.
- Exodus 14:21 (BSB)“Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the LORD drove back the sea with a strong east wind that turned it into dry land. So the waters were divided,”At the exodus the LORD drove back the sea and divided its waters.
- Isaiah 51:9-10 (BSB)“Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the LORD. Wake up as in days past, as in generations of old. Was it not You who cut Rahab to pieces, who pierced through the dragon? Was it not You who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep, who made a road in the depths of the sea for the redeemed to cross over?”Isaiah links God's defeat of the sea dragon with drying up the sea so the redeemed could cross.
- Joshua 3:16 (BSB)“the flowing water stood still. It backed up as far upstream as Adam, a city in the area of Zarethan, while the water flowing toward the Sea of the Arabah (the Salt Sea) was completely cut off. So the people crossed over opposite Jericho.”The Jordan's flowing waters stopped so Israel could cross.
Theological
What does the psalmist rehearse in 74:12-15 as the ground of renewed appeal?
Answer: God's kingship of old and His power over the waters
The adversative yet of 74:12 introduces a confession of God as King from of old, working salvation in the earth. He divided the sea, shattered the sea monsters and Leviathan (74:13-14), and opened springs while drying up perennial rivers (74:15). The imagery portrays God's sovereignty over the waters and their monsters, with clear echoes of the exodus. The LORD divided the sea's waters (Exodus 14:21), Isaiah fuses the slaying of the dragon with the drying of the deep so the ransomed could pass through (Isaiah 51:9-10), and the Jordan's waters stood still for Israel's crossing (Joshua 3:16). God's past acts of salvation become the argument for present intervention.
- Psalm 74:12-15 (BSB)“Yet God is my King from ancient times, working salvation on the earth. You divided the sea by Your strength; You smashed the heads of the dragons of the sea; You crushed the heads of Leviathan; You fed him to the creatures of the desert. You broke open the fountain and the flood; You dried up the ever-flowing rivers.”The psalmist recalls God as his King from of old, who split the sea, crushed the sea monsters, and opened and dried up waters.
- Exodus 14:21 (BSB)“Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the LORD drove back the sea with a strong east wind that turned it into dry land. So the waters were divided,”At the exodus the LORD drove back the sea and divided its waters.
- Isaiah 51:9-10 (BSB)“Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the LORD. Wake up as in days past, as in generations of old. Was it not You who cut Rahab to pieces, who pierced through the dragon? Was it not You who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep, who made a road in the depths of the sea for the redeemed to cross over?”Isaiah links God's defeat of the sea dragon with drying up the sea so the redeemed could cross.
- Joshua 3:16 (BSB)“the flowing water stood still. It backed up as far upstream as Adam, a city in the area of Zarethan, while the water flowing toward the Sea of the Arabah (the Salt Sea) was completely cut off. So the people crossed over opposite Jericho.”The Jordan's flowing waters stopped so Israel could cross.
General
In 74:10-11, what concern stands at the center of the psalmist's how long question?
Answer: That the enemy keeps mocking and insulting God's name
The psalmist asks how long the foe will sneer at God and whether the enemy will scorn His name without end (74:10). He then asks why God keeps His powerful right hand held back, and pleads with Him to use it (74:11). The deepest concern is not only Israel's suffering but God's own honor, which the enemy is mocking. Another psalm of Asaph asks God to help His people so that His name is honored, so the nations will not ask where Israel's God is (Psalm 79:9-10). God Himself declares that He acts for His own sake and will not allow Himself to be dishonored (Isaiah 48:11).
- Psalm 74:10-11 (BSB)“How long, O God, will the enemy taunt You? Will the foe revile Your name forever? Why do You withdraw Your strong right hand? Stretch it out to destroy them!”The psalmist asks how long the enemy will mock God's name and why God holds back His hand.
- Psalm 79:9-10 (BSB)“Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of Your name; deliver us and atone for our sins, for the sake of Your name. Why should the nations ask, “Where is their God?” Before our eyes, make known among the nations Your vengeance for the bloodshed of Your servants.”Another psalm of Asaph appeals to God to act for the glory of His name before the nations.
- Isaiah 48:11 (BSB)“For My own sake, My very own sake, I will act; for how can I let Myself be defamed? I will not yield My glory to another.”God says He will act for His own sake and will not let His name be defamed.
Theological
What concern dominates the questions of 74:10-11?
Answer: That the enemy keeps mocking and insulting God's name
The how long of 74:10 centers on God's reputation: the adversary taunts and reviles His name, while God seems to withhold His right hand (74:11). The lament appeals to God's zeal for His own glory, not merely to Israel's welfare. The companion psalm of Asaph asks for deliverance for the glory and sake of His name before the nations (Psalm 79:9-10), and God declares that He acts for His own sake and will not permit Himself to be dishonored (Isaiah 48:11).
- Psalm 74:10-11 (BSB)“How long, O God, will the enemy taunt You? Will the foe revile Your name forever? Why do You withdraw Your strong right hand? Stretch it out to destroy them!”The psalmist asks how long the enemy will mock God's name and why God holds back His hand.
- Psalm 79:9-10 (BSB)“Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of Your name; deliver us and atone for our sins, for the sake of Your name. Why should the nations ask, “Where is their God?” Before our eyes, make known among the nations Your vengeance for the bloodshed of Your servants.”Another psalm of Asaph appeals to God to act for the glory of His name before the nations.
- Isaiah 48:11 (BSB)“For My own sake, My very own sake, I will act; for how can I let Myself be defamed? I will not yield My glory to another.”God says He will act for His own sake and will not let His name be defamed.
General
True or False: In 74:16-17, the psalmist grounds his hope in God's rule over creation, including day and night and the seasons.
Answer: True
This is true. Continuing his confession, the psalmist says that both day and night belong to God, who set the sun and moon in place (74:16), marked out the borders of the world, and made summer and winter (74:17). The God who keeps the created order running is able to keep His people. After the flood, God promised that the cycle of seasons and day and night would not cease (Genesis 8:22). Through Jeremiah, God tied His faithfulness to His people directly to His fixed order of day and night: as surely as that order stands, He will not cast off the offspring of Jacob and David (Jeremiah 33:25-26).
- Psalm 74:16-17 (BSB)“The day is Yours, and also the night; You established the moon and the sun. You set all the boundaries of the earth; You made the summer and winter.”God owns day and night, set sun and moon in place, fixed the earth's borders, and made summer and winter.
- Genesis 8:22 (BSB)“As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night shall never cease.””God promised that day and night and summer and winter would continue.
- Jeremiah 33:25-26 (BSB)“This is what the LORD says: If I have not established My covenant with the day and the night and the fixed order of heaven and earth, then I would also reject the descendants of Jacob and of My servant David, so as not to take from his descendants rulers over the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. For I will restore them from captivity and will have compassion on them.””God ties the certainty of His promises to His people to His fixed order of day and night.
Theological
True or False: 74:16-17 grounds the appeal in God's sovereignty over creation, including day and night and the seasons.
Answer: True
This is true. 74:16-17 confesses God's ownership of day and night, His establishing of the luminaries, His fixing of the earth's boundaries, and His making of summer and winter. The stability of creation testifies to the reliability of its Creator. God's post-flood promise guaranteed the constancy of seasons and days (Genesis 8:22), and Jeremiah explicitly binds God's covenant faithfulness to the seed of Jacob and David to the settled pattern of day and night (Jeremiah 33:25-26).
- Psalm 74:16-17 (BSB)“The day is Yours, and also the night; You established the moon and the sun. You set all the boundaries of the earth; You made the summer and winter.”God owns day and night, set sun and moon in place, fixed the earth's borders, and made summer and winter.
- Genesis 8:22 (BSB)“As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night shall never cease.””God promised that day and night and summer and winter would continue.
- Jeremiah 33:25-26 (BSB)“This is what the LORD says: If I have not established My covenant with the day and the night and the fixed order of heaven and earth, then I would also reject the descendants of Jacob and of My servant David, so as not to take from his descendants rulers over the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. For I will restore them from captivity and will have compassion on them.””God ties the certainty of His promises to His people to His fixed order of day and night.
General
True or False: In 74:9, the people say a prophet has told them exactly how long their suffering will last.
Answer: False
This is false. The psalmist says the people see no signs, no prophet remains among them, and nobody knows how long the trouble will go on (74:9). Part of their distress is silence: God seems to have stopped speaking. Lamentations describes the same bleak condition after Jerusalem fell, when even the prophets were left without any vision (Lamentations 2:9). Amos had warned of a coming famine, not of bread, but of hearing God speak (Amos 8:11).
- Psalm 74:9 (BSB)“There are no signs for us to see. There is no longer any prophet. And none of us knows how long this will last.”The people see no signs, have no prophet, and do not know how long the distress will last.
- Lamentations 2:9 (BSB)“Her gates have sunk into the ground; He has destroyed and shattered their bars. Her king and her princes are exiled among the nations, the law is no more, and even her prophets find no vision from the LORD.”After Jerusalem's fall the prophets found no vision from the LORD.
- Amos 8:11 (BSB)“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord GOD, when I will send a famine on the land—not a famine of bread or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the LORD.”God warned of a famine of hearing His words.
Theological
True or False: 74:9 reports that a prophet has revealed to the people the precise length of their affliction.
Answer: False
This is false. 74:9 laments the absence of signs, the absence of any prophet, and universal ignorance of how long the calamity will endure. The silence of revelation compounds the physical devastation. Lamentations 2:9 describes the same deprivation, with prophets left without vision, and Amos had threatened a famine of God's spoken word (Amos 8:11).
- Psalm 74:9 (BSB)“There are no signs for us to see. There is no longer any prophet. And none of us knows how long this will last.”The people see no signs, have no prophet, and do not know how long the distress will last.
- Lamentations 2:9 (BSB)“Her gates have sunk into the ground; He has destroyed and shattered their bars. Her king and her princes are exiled among the nations, the law is no more, and even her prophets find no vision from the LORD.”After Jerusalem's fall the prophets found no vision from the LORD.
- Amos 8:11 (BSB)“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord GOD, when I will send a famine on the land—not a famine of bread or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the LORD.”God warned of a famine of hearing His words.
General
What reason does the psalmist give in 74:2 for God to remember His congregation?
Answer: He had acquired and redeemed them long ago as His own
The psalmist asks God to call to mind His assembly, the people He acquired in ancient times and rescued to be His own tribe and inheritance, along with Mount Zion where He dwells (74:2). The appeal rests on what God has done, not on anything Israel deserves. At the exodus, Moses sang of the people God had redeemed and bought for Himself (Exodus 15:13, 16), and Moses' later song calls Israel the LORD's own portion (Deuteronomy 32:9). Because God had made them His, the psalmist pleads that He not abandon what belongs to Him.
- Psalm 74:2 (BSB)“Remember Your congregation, which You purchased long ago and redeemed as the tribe of Your inheritance—Mount Zion, where You dwell.”The psalmist asks God to remember the people He purchased and redeemed long ago, and Mount Zion where He lives.
- Exodus 15:13 (BSB)“With loving devotion You will lead the people You have redeemed; with Your strength You will guide them to Your holy dwelling.”Moses' song speaks of the people God redeemed at the exodus.
- Exodus 15:16 (BSB)“and terror and dread will fall on them. By the power of Your arm they will be as still as a stone until Your people pass by, O LORD, until the people You have bought pass by.”The same song calls Israel the people God has bought.
- Deuteronomy 32:9 (BSB)“But the LORD’s portion is His people, Jacob His allotted inheritance.”Israel is called the LORD's own portion and inheritance.
Theological
On what ground does 74:2 ask God to remember His congregation?
Answer: He had acquired and redeemed them long ago as His own
The plea of 74:2 is grounded in God's prior redemptive acts: the congregation He acquired of old and ransomed to be His own inherited tribe, together with Mount Zion, His dwelling. The appeal rests on sovereign grace rather than Israel's merit. The Song of the Sea speaks of the people God redeemed and purchased (Exodus 15:13, 16), and the Song of Moses names Israel the LORD's portion and allotted inheritance (Deuteronomy 32:9). God's ownership of His people is itself the argument for His intervention.
- Psalm 74:2 (BSB)“Remember Your congregation, which You purchased long ago and redeemed as the tribe of Your inheritance—Mount Zion, where You dwell.”The psalmist asks God to remember the people He purchased and redeemed long ago, and Mount Zion where He lives.
- Exodus 15:13 (BSB)“With loving devotion You will lead the people You have redeemed; with Your strength You will guide them to Your holy dwelling.”Moses' song speaks of the people God redeemed at the exodus.
- Exodus 15:16 (BSB)“and terror and dread will fall on them. By the power of Your arm they will be as still as a stone until Your people pass by, O LORD, until the people You have bought pass by.”The same song calls Israel the people God has bought.
- Deuteronomy 32:9 (BSB)“But the LORD’s portion is His people, Jacob His allotted inheritance.”Israel is called the LORD's own portion and inheritance.
General
Psalm 74's heading calls it a Maskil and names Asaph. What does its opening verse ask God?
Answer: Why He has cast off His own flock in anger
The psalm begins with urgent questions: why has God cast His people off, seemingly for good, and why does His anger keep burning against the flock He tends (74:1)? The people speak of themselves as God's own sheep, which makes His apparent anger all the harder to bear. Lamentations raises a similar cry, asking why God has forgotten and forsaken His people for so long (Lamentations 5:20). The image of Israel as God's flock is common in worship: they confess that they belong to Him as the flock in His care (Psalm 100:3), and another psalm of Asaph promises that His flock will thank Him forever (Psalm 79:13).
- Psalm 74:1 (BSB)“A Maskil of Asaph. Why have You rejected us forever, O God? Why does Your anger smolder against the sheep of Your pasture?”The psalm opens by asking why God has rejected His people and why His anger burns against His own flock.
- Lamentations 5:20 (BSB)“Why have You forgotten us forever? Why have You forsaken us for so long?”Lamentations asks the same kind of question about being forgotten and forsaken for so long.
- Psalm 100:3 (BSB)“Know that the LORD is God. It is He who made us, and we are His; we are His people, and the sheep of His pasture.”Israel confesses that they are the LORD's people, the flock He cares for.
- Psalm 79:13 (BSB)“Then we Your people, the sheep of Your pasture, will thank You forever; from generation to generation we will declare Your praise.”Another psalm of Asaph calls Israel God's people and His flock.
Theological
What does the opening verse of Psalm 74, a Maskil headed with Asaph's name, ask of God?
Answer: Why He has cast off His own flock in anger
The psalm opens with a communal lament: why has God rejected His people apparently forever, and why does His wrath keep burning against the flock He pastures (74:1)? The covenant relationship, expressed in the shepherd image, sharpens the anguish of divine wrath. Lamentations voices the same question of prolonged abandonment (Lamentations 5:20), and the flock imagery belongs to Israel's confession of belonging to the LORD (Psalm 100:3), used again in the companion Asaph psalm (Psalm 79:13).
- Psalm 74:1 (BSB)“A Maskil of Asaph. Why have You rejected us forever, O God? Why does Your anger smolder against the sheep of Your pasture?”The psalm opens by asking why God has rejected His people and why His anger burns against His own flock.
- Lamentations 5:20 (BSB)“Why have You forgotten us forever? Why have You forsaken us for so long?”Lamentations asks the same kind of question about being forgotten and forsaken for so long.
- Psalm 100:3 (BSB)“Know that the LORD is God. It is He who made us, and we are His; we are His people, and the sheep of His pasture.”Israel confesses that they are the LORD's people, the flock He cares for.
- Psalm 79:13 (BSB)“Then we Your people, the sheep of Your pasture, will thank You forever; from generation to generation we will declare Your praise.”Another psalm of Asaph calls Israel God's people and His flock.