Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Psalm 74:1-23


Salutation

... in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.  Amen.  Through the prayers of our holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us and save us.  Amen.  Glory to You, our God, Glory to You.

O Heavenly King: Prayer to the Holy Ghost

O Heavenly King, the Comforter, the Spirit of truth, You are everywhere and fill all things, Treasury of blessings, and Giver of life: come and abide in us, and cleanse us from every impurity, and save our souls, O Good One.

Psalm 74:1-23[i]

Maschil of Asaph.

O God, why have You cast [us] off forever?  Does Your anger smoke against the sheep of Your pasture?  Remember Your congregation, You have purchased of old; The rod of Your inheritance, You have redeemed; This mount Zion, where You have dwelled.  Lift up Your feet to the perpetual desolations, all [that] the enemy has done wickedly in the sanctuary.  Your enemies roar in the center of Your congregations.  They set up their ensigns [for] signs.

[A man] was famous according as he had lifted up axes on the thick trees.  But now they break down the carved work of it at once with axes and hammers.  They have cast fire in Your sanctuary.  They have defiled the dwelling place of Your name to the ground.  They said in their hearts, “Let us destroy them together.”  They have burned up all the synagogues of God in the land.

We see not our signs.  [There is] no more any prophet.  Nor [is there] among us any that knows how long.  O God, how long shall the adversary reproach?  Shall the enemy blaspheme Your name forever?  Why withdraw Your hand, even Your right hand?  Pluck [it] from Your bosom: for God [is] my King of old, working salvation in the heart of the earth.  You divided the sea by Your strength.  You break the heads of the dragons in the waters.  You broke the heads of leviathan in pieces, [and gave] him [to be] meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness.  You split the fountain and the flood.  You dried up mighty rivers.  The day [is] Yours.  The night also [is] Yours.  You have prepared the light and the sun.  You have set all the borders of the earth.  You have made summer and winter.

Remember this: The enemy has reproached, Lord.  The foolish people have blasphemed Your name.  Deliver not the soul of Your turtledove to the mob.  Forget not the congregation of Your poor forever.  Have respect to the covenant: for the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty.  Let not the oppressed return ashamed.  Let the poor and needy praise Your name.  Arise, O God, Plead Your own cause.  Remember how the foolish man reproaches You daily.  Forget not the voice of Your enemies.  The tumult of those who rise up against You increases continually.



[i] There are indications in this Psalm which show that Asaph lived and wrote after 586 BC.  He appears to be among the survivors left in Jerusalem after the Babylonians have sacked the Temple.  Asaph mourns what “the enemy has done wickedly in the sanctuary.”  Ezekiel assures us that God has abandoned Israel-Judah by this time, and Asaph pleads, “Why have You cast [us] off forever? ... Remember Your congregation, You have purchased of old....”  Asaph complains that Babylonian ensigns (flags or other triumphal markers) were even set up over the ashes of God’s Temple ruins.
Then Asaph reminisces that the skill of axe-men in felling timber and carving the beautiful wood work of the Temple used to be what destined men for fame.  He mentions that such beauty was replicated in the Synagogues, which were also in existence already, at that time.  But now that which took years to lovingly build, was now destroyed with fire in minutes.  God’s name was thrown in the dirt.
In contrast, the ensigns of the people of God are gone.  Since God’s Glory has departed, there are no prophets: Israel-Judah is left in darkness.  “Withdraw your hand,” is a reference to the second miracle God worked through Moses: where Moses’ hand turned leprous, then clean again, as he pulled it from his bosom: it is a cry for God to swing into action, to unleash the plagues against the wicked.  Asaph has nothing left on which to cling; in his despair he recounts God’s great redemption and power in the Exodus and in Creation.
Asaph concludes with a glimpse of the future.  He sees Jesus dimly in, “Deliver not the soul of Your turtledove to the mob.”  Accordingly, he prays with fearful confidence for the poor, the covenant, the oppressed, the needy: he prays that God would “Plead [His] own cause.”  We know that God does exactly this.  Christ is risen from the dead.  The day of Pentecost has come.  Let all the earth keep silence before Him.

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