enemies = adversaries. Thy congregations = Thine assembly. their. Compare "our", Psalms 74:9 . ensigns for signs = signs as signs [for us]. signs. Same word as "ensigns" and "standard" in Numbers 2:0 . read more
was = used to be [considered]. The contrast is with "now" in the next line. Axes. Compare Jeremiah 46:22 , Jeremiah 46:23 . read more
cast fire into, &c. = cast Thy holy place into the fire. sanctuary. Some codices, with three early printed editions, read "holy places" (plural) dwelling place. Hebrew. mishkan. App-40 (2). read more
"Lift up thy feet unto the perpetual ruins,All the evil that the enemy hath done in the sanctuary.Thine adversaries have roared in the midst of thine assembly;They have set up their ensigns for signs.""The perpetual ruins" (Psalms 74:3). Expressions of this kind force the conclusion that the period following the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple was the time of the psalm, because in no other period of Jewish history was there anything like this. Solomon's Temple lay in ruins... read more
"They seemed as men that lifted upAxes upon a thicket of trees.And now all the carved work thereofThey brake down with hatchet and hammers."These verses describe the destruction of the holy temple itself. The conquering enemy soldiers assaulted the sanctuary just like a company of woodsmen chopping down a grove of trees. "The interior walls of Solomon's Temple were paneled with cedar and decorated with carvings of cherubim, palm trees and flowers."[6] It was more than the mere instinct of... read more
"They have set thy sanctuary on fire;They have profaned the dwelling place of thy Name by casting it to the ground.They said in their hearts,Let us make havoc of them altogether:They have burned up all the synagogues of God in the land.""Thy sanctuary on fire... God's dwelling place cast to the ground" (Psalms 74:7). The total destruction of the temple is indicated in these lines, a disaster that came only once, namely, in 586 B.C. at the end of the reign of Zedekiah."They ... burned up all the... read more
Psalms 74:3. Lift up thy feet, &c.— Lift up thy feet because of perpetual desolations. The phrase lift up thy feet, signifies no more than come, or return. God had deserted his sanctuary, and the Shechinah had gone up from between the cherubims. See Ezekiel 10:4. In consequence of which, the heathen people had invaded that holy place, and laid it waste. The perpetual desolations, signify those ruins of the city and country which had lasted so very long. read more
Psalms 74:4. Thine enemies roar, &c.— i.e. "They triumph in those places where thy people formerly met to worship thee." See Psalms 74:7. For signs, means, "As trophies, in token of their conquest over us." read more
Psalms 74:5-6. A man was famous, &c.— They shew themselves as one lifts up axes an high, in the thicket of the trees. Psalms 74:6. But now, &c. Houbigant renders it in the perfect tense; and, instead of the carved work thereof, reads, thy gates. But now they have broken down thy gates. read more
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E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes - Psalms 74:3
Lift up Thy feet unto = Hasten to [and see]. Compare Idiom (Genesis 29:1 ). feet. Figure of speech Anthropopatheia. perpetual. Same word as "for ever", Psalms 74:1 . read more