20 Keep in mind your undertaking; for the dark places of the earth are full of pride and cruel acts.
And I will make between me and you and your seed after you through all generations, an eternal agreement to be a God to you and to your seed after you. And to you and to your seed after you, I will give the land in which you are living, all the land of Canaan for an eternal heritage; and I will be their God.
This I say, then, and give witness in the Lord, that you are to go no longer in the way of the Gentiles whose minds are turned to that which has no profit, Whose thoughts are dark, to whom the life of God is strange because they are without knowledge, and their hearts have been made hard;
Being full of all wrongdoing, evil, desire for the goods of others, hate, envy, putting to death, fighting, deceit, cruel ways, evil talk, and false statements about others; Hated by God, full of pride, without respect, full of loud talk, given to evil inventions, not honouring father or mother, Without knowledge, not true to their undertakings, unkind, having no mercy:
To do acts of mercy to our fathers and to keep in mind his holy word, The oath which he made to Abraham, our father, That we, being made free from the fear of those who are against us, might give him worship, In righteousness and holy living before him all our days.
The Lord has said: If it is possible for my agreement of the day and the night to be broken, so that day and night no longer come at their fixed times, Then my agreement with my servant David may be broken, so that he no longer has a son to take his place on the seat of the kingdom; and my agreement with the Levites, the priests, my servants. As it is not possible for the army of heaven to be numbered, or the sand of the sea measured, so will I make the seed of my servant David, and the Levites my servants. And the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying, Have you taken note of what these people have said, The two families, which the Lord took for himself, he has given up? This they say, looking down on my people as being, in their eyes, no longer a nation. The Lord has said, If I have not made day and night, and if the limits of heaven and earth have not been fixed by me, Then I will give up caring for the seed of Jacob and of David my servant, so that I will not take of his seed to be rulers over the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: for I will let their fate be changed and will have mercy on them.
Simeon and Levi are brothers; deceit and force are their secret designs. Take no part in their secrets, O my soul; keep far away, O my heart, from their meetings; for in their wrath they put men to death, and for their pleasure even oxen were wounded. A curse on their passion for it was bitter; and on their wrath for it was cruel. I will let their heritage in Jacob be broken up, driving them from their places in Israel.
I will be true to my agreement; the things which have gone out of my lips will not be changed. I have made an oath once by my holy name, that I will not be false to David. His seed will not come to an end for ever; the seat of his kingdom will be like the sun before me.
And they will have grief for their sins and for the sins of their fathers, when their hearts were untrue to me, and they went against me; So that I went against them and sent them away into the land of their haters: if then the pride of their hearts is broken and they take the punishment of their sins, Then I will keep in mind the agreement which I made with Jacob and with Isaac and with Abraham, and I will keep in mind the land. And the land, while she is without them, will keep her Sabbaths; and they will undergo the punishment of their sins, because they were turned away from my decisions and in their souls was hate for my laws. But for all that, when they are in the land of their haters I will not let them go, or be turned away from them, or give them up completely; my agreement with them will not be broken, for I am the Lord their God. And because of them I will keep in mind the agreement which I made with their fathers, whom I took out of the land of Egypt before the eyes of the nations, to be their God: I am the Lord.
And Moses took half the blood and put it in basins; draining out half of the blood over the altar. And he took the book of the agreement, reading it in the hearing of the people: and they said, Everything which the Lord has said we will do, and we will keep his laws. Then Moses took the blood and let it come on the people, and said, This blood is the sign of the agreement which the Lord has made with you in these words.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Psalms 74
Commentary on Psalms 74 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
PSALM 74
Ps 74:1-23. If the historical allusions of Ps 74:6-8, &c., be referred, as is probable, to the period of the captivity, the author was probably a descendant and namesake of Asaph, David's contemporary and singer (compare 2Ch 35:15; Ezr 2:41). He complains of God's desertion of His Church, and appeals for aid, encouraging himself by recounting some of God's mighty deeds, and urges his prayer on the ground of God's covenant relation to His people, and the wickedness of His and their common enemy.
1. cast … off—with abhorrence (compare Ps 43:2; 44:9). There is no disavowal of guilt implied. The figure of fire to denote God's anger is often used; and here, and in De 29:20, by the word "smoke," suggests its continuance.
sheep … pasture—(Compare Ps 80:1; 95:7).
2. The terms to denote God's relation to His people increase in force: "congregation"—"purchased"—"redeemed"—"Zion," His dwelling.
3. Lift … feet—(Ge 29:1)—that is, Come (to behold) the desolations (Ps 73:19).
4. roar—with bestial fury.
congregations—literally, "worshipping assemblies."
ensigns—literally, "signs"—substituted their idolatrous objects, or tokens of authority, for those articles of the temple which denoted God's presence.
5, 6. Though some terms and clauses here are very obscure, the general sense is that the spoilers destroyed the beauties of the temple with the violence of woodmen.
was famous—literally, "was known."
6. carved work—(1Ki 6:29).
thereof—that is, of the temple, in the writer's mind, though not expressed till Ps 74:7, in which its utter destruction by fire is mentioned (2Ki 25:9; Isa 64:11).
7. defiled—or, "profaned," as in Ps 89:39.
8. together—at once, all alike.
synagogues—literally, "assemblies," for places of assembly, whether such as schools of the prophets (2Ki 4:23), or "synagogues" in the usual sense, there is much doubt.
9. signs—of God's presence, as altar, ark, &c. (compare Ps 74:4; 2Ch 36:18, 19; Da 5:2).
no more any prophet—(Isa 3:2; Jer 40:1; 43:6).
how long—this is to last. Jeremiah's prophecy (Jer 25:11), if published, may not have been generally known or understood. To the bulk of the people, during the captivity, the occasional and local prophetical services of Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel would not make an exception to the clause, "there is no more any prophet."
10. (Compare Ps 31:1).
how long … reproach?—us, as deserted of God.
blaspheme thy name—or, "perfections," as power, goodness, &c. (Ps 29:2).
11. Why cease to help us? (Compare Ps 3:7; 7:6; 60:5).
12. For—literally, "And," in an adversative sense.
13-15. Examples of the "salvation wrought" are cited.
divide the sea—that is, Red Sea.
brakest … waters—Pharaoh and his host (compare Isa 51:9, 10; Eze 29:3, 4).
14. heads of leviathan—The word is a collective, and so used for many.
the people … wilderness—that is, wild beasts, as conies (Pr 30:25, 26), are called a people. Others take the passages literally, that the sea monsters thrown out on dry land were food for the wandering Arabs.
15. cleave the fountain—that is, the rocks of Horeb and Kadesh; for fountains.
driedst up—Jordan, and, perhaps, Arnon and Jabbok (Nu 21:14).
16, 17. The fixed orders of nature and bounds of earth are of God.
18. (Compare Ps 74:10; De 32:6). The contrast is striking—that such a God should be thus insulted!
19. multitude—literally, "beast," their flock or company of men (Ps 68:10).
turtledove—that is, the meek and lonely Church.
congregation—literally, "the company," as above—thus the Church is represented as the spoiled and defeated remnant of an army, exposed to violence.
20. And the prevalence of injustice in heathen lands is a reason for invoking God's regard to His promise (compare Nu 14:21; Ps 7:16; 18:48).
21. oppressed—broken (Ps 9:9).
return—from seeking God.
ashamed—(Ps 35:4).
22, 23. (Compare Ps 3:7; 7:6). God hears the wicked to their own ruin (Ge 4:10; 18:20).