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Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Psalms 74:1-11

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... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Psalms 74:1

O God, why hast thou cast us off for ever ?..... This the church supposed because of the prevalence, oppression, and triumph of the enemy, because of the hardships and afflictions she laboured under, and because of the hidings of the face of God from her, which unbelief interpreted of a casting off; see Psalm 77:7 when in reality it was not so, only in appearance, and according to a wrong judgment made of things; for God never did nor never will cast off, nor cast away, his people whom he... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Psalms 74:2

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... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Psalms 74:3

Lift up thy feet unto the perpetual desolations ,.... That is, arise, hasten, move swiftly, and in the greatness of strength, and come and see the desolations made by the enemy, which look as if they would remain for ever; meaning either the desolations made in the city and temple of Jerusalem, either by Nebuchadnezzar, or by Titus; or the havocs and devastations made in the church of God by the tyranny and persecutions of antichrist; which have continued so long, that an end of them has... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Psalms 74:1

O God, why hast thou cast us off for ever? - Hast thou determined that we shall never more be thy people? Are we never to see an end to our calamities? read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - 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? read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Psalms 74:3

Lift up thy feet - Arise, and return to us, our desolations still continue. Thy sanctuary is profaned by thine and our enemies. read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Psalms 74:1

Verse 1 1.O God! why hast thou east us off for ever? If this complaint was written when the people were captives in Babylon, although Jeremiah had assigned the 70th year of their captivity as the period of their deliverance, it is not wonderful that waiting so long was to them a very bitter affliction, that they daily groaned under it, and that so protracted a period seemed to them like an eternity. As to those who were persecuted by the cruelty of Antiochus, they might, not without reason,... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Psalms 74:2

Verse 2 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,... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Psalms 74:3

Verse 3 3.Lift up thy strokes. Here the people of God, on the other hand, beseech him to inflict a deadly wound upon their enemies, corresponding to the cruelty with which they had raged against his sanctuary. They would intimate, that a moderate degree of punishment was not sufficient for such impious and sacrilegious fury; and that, therefore, those who had shown themselves such violent enemies of the temple and of the worshippers of God should be completely destroyed, their impiety being... read more

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