Psalms 74:3 - Exposition

Lift up thy feet unto the perpetual desolations; or, the perpetual ruins. God is asked to visit and protect, or else to visit and inspect, the desolate ruins with which the Babylonians have covered Mount Zion. Even all that the enemy hath done wickedly in the sanctuary. The Babylonians had plundered the temple of all its treasures, breaking the precious Phoenician bronze work into pieces, and carrying off everything of value that was portable ( 2 Kings 25:13-17 ). They had also "burnt the house of the Lord "( Psalms 74:9 ), and "broken down the walls of Jerusalem" ( Psalms 74:10 ) and the walls of the temple to a large extent (see below, Psalms 74:7 ). It is quite certain that neither Shishak nor the Syrians under Antiochus Epiphanes created any such devastation.