Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 74:9
We see not our signs: [there is] no more any prophet: neither [is there] among us any that knoweth how long.
9. our signs ] The outward and visible symbols of our religion, such as sabbath and festival, which God “had caused to be forgotten in Zion” (Lam 2:6). The sabbath is spoken of as a sign in Exo 31:13; Exo 31:17; Eze 20:12; Eze 20:20. The words would of course be specially appropriate to the time at which Antiochus attempted to suppress all the distinctive ordinances of the Jewish religion ( 1Ma 1:45-46 ; 1Ma 1:60-61 ). Note the contrast with the ‘signs’ of hostile domination, Psa 74:4.
there is no more any prophet ] A characteristic of the Maccabaean age ( 1Ma 4:46 ; 1Ma 9:27 ; 1Ma 14:41 ): but the complaints of the exile are not dissimilar (Lam 2:9; Eze 7:26); and even after the Return the angel in Zechariah’s vision (Zec 1:12) asks ‘How long?’
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
We see not our signs – The emblems of worship, or the national emblems or banners, which we have been accustomed to see. There are no signals or tokens of our nationality in the land. All have been removed by the invaders, and we see everywhere evidences of the presence of a foreign power. The marks of our own independency are gone. The nation is subdued and conquered.
There is no more any prophet – No one is raised up as the special messenger of God to assure us of his favor, or to take the lead in the national troubles. In times of danger God had been accustomed to send to them some special teacher who would declare his will, direct the nation what to do, and give encouraging assurances that the national troubles would cease, and that deliverance would come. They saw no such messengers of God now. This is not inconsistent with the supposition that this psalm was written before the captivity, and in the time of the Chaldean invasion, or with the supposition that Jeremiah was then alive, for the meaning may be, not that literally there was no prophet in the land, but that there was no one who had come from God as a special messenger of comfort and deliverance. Ruin had come upon them, and there were no indications of divine interposition in their behalf.
Neither is there among us any that knoweth how long – How long these calamities are to continue. No one can tell when they are to end. The prophetic office seemed to have ceased among them. It was renewed, however, after the captivity, in the case of Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, Haggai, and Malachi.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Psa 74:9
We see not our signs.
Signs of life
This psalm is clearly not one written by David. Verses 6, 7 prove that; but it is one of the psalms of the Exile. The signs here meant, which the writer mourns that he did not see, were certain outward marks of Gods special favour. It is said that there were five signs in the first temple which the second had not–the ark of the covenant; the fire from heaven; the Shechinah; the Urim and Thummim; the spirit of prophecy, for that spirit ceased with Malachi, and did not reappear until John the Baptist. Now, on this groundwork we may build up a spiritual interpretation. We may not always do this, but only where there is, as here, a real groundwork for it, and where there is a response to it in the heart. The Church of to-day often has to lament that she sees not her signs. In considering this, note–
I. The nature of their signs. They are marks of Gods favour, and there appear to be two classes of them.
1. Those which, if removed, would not remove the thing itself which they signify. The crown of a monarch, you may take that away, but he remains a monarch still. Remove the milestones on a road, but you do not remove the distances which they indicate. Banknotes also. But–
2. There are other signs which are constituent parts of the thing itself, so that the taking away of the sign is a taking away of the thing. For example, the lengthening days are a sign of spring; but if there be not this sign there is no spring. Now, of this sort of sign are those which the text tells of. Not, however, entirely. For good works may be absent, partly and for a time, but the life of grace may yet be present. And when good works are present they are not infallible signs of grace.
3. But for the most part the sign and the thing it indicates go together. As, the fear of the Lord; the spirit of grace and of supplication; repentance; faith in Christ; love to the Lords people and to Christ; the witness of the Spirit; a life consistent with the Gospel.
II. The seeing of these signs. What does this mean? It is implied that there are times when the signs can be seen, as well as when they cannot. Now, what is requisite to see them? Those that travel along the heavenward way have certain landmarks–Ebenezers, stones of help. But in order to see them there must be light, that told of in Psa 36:9; not the pale moonlight of speculation, nor the frosty northern light of cold doctrine, nor the meteor light–the ignis fatuus of delusion; not the mere phosphoric light, which dimly gleams by rubbing together rotten evidences; not the sparks of their own kindling, elicited by the collision of flinty hearts and steeled consciences; we want no light such as we can make, but the Lords light.
III. Why it is that we see not our signs. Some people say they can always see them. This is not true, and the belief of it full of evil. But the causes of our not seeing them are various: the smoke of infidelity; the fogs of unbelief; the valley of trouble; the sun may go down by the Lords bidding. But all this will be a source of sorrow and lamentation, for such things are no signs of grace, though not inconsistent with it. But you must have seen the signs before you can lament that you see them not. (J. C. Philpot.)
The prospects of the age
If it were suggested that there could be any parallel between our own prosperous, progressive, enlightened age, and those melancholy days to which the psalm relates, the supposition might at once be scouted as absurdity. Yet I am not so sure but that in respect at least of the one particular referred to in the text–the dearth of the greater order of men–some degree of parallel might not very fairly be argued.
I. First, then, as to the fact–how far this description of the text answers to anything that exists in our own times. I have in view chiefly the bearings of this subject on religion, but it is not in religion only, but in all the spheres of our thought and life that I think this falling off of the greater order of minds can be detected. We had a series of great poets in the early part and middle of last century. Where is the poet of the present day whose works are likely to live like theirs? We have had a succession of great writers of fiction–their books are on every ones shelves–but where is the writer of to-day whose books we would put in the same rank? We have had great musicians–Mozart, Handel, Beethoven, Haydn, and the like. Their compositions live. Who are producing pieces of the same grandeur? We have had a century of great statesmen. It is no disparagement of the men of the younger generation to say that they are not men of the calibre of those who have led the country for the last fifty or eighty years. We had a generation or two of great preachers–men like Chalmers, Guthrie, MacLeod. Once more the piety and teaching of the past generation gave us Christians, whose weight of religious character it was a pleasure to acknowledge–men reverent, sober-minded, deeply instructed in Gods Word, massive in Christian substance, matured and real in Christian experience; is the newer type of religious character–brighter and more attractive as it is in some of its aspects–characterized by anything like the same depth, solidity, and durableness?
II. THE causes of this apparent absence, in all spheres of life, of the greater order of men in our midst, and what are the possible remedies.
1. One thing which should give us hope is the fact that after every great and creative epoch in history, there comes necessarily a period of pause. The human mind cannot always be at its highest stretch. History does not flow on evenly, but in great ebbs and flows–in grand creative epochs, followed by long-breathing spaces, in times when the strongest call is made for great men, and they are drawn out and developed by the very magnitude of the crisis that calls for them, and quieter times, when people rejoice in the possessions they have won, and do not feel impelled to great efforts.
2. Again, it is to be remembered that after every great creative period which men live through, there comes a time when the results of that creative activity have to be gathered up; and this very process puts of necessity a check, for the time being, on further production. This, indeed, is how history proceeds–there is first a great burst of creative genius under the influence of some new idea or impulse; then, when the wealth of that new movement has been poured into the lap of the age, men have the new task laid upon them of sitting down and looking carefully into the nature of their treasure, taking stock of it, as it were, seeing what it really amounts to; getting to understand it, and working it out to its practical results. This is the labour of industry more than of creation, but it is equally essential to the worlds progress. There is another part of this task which is of great importance. With every great advance of thought or discovery–with every burst of new truth into the world–there is laid on those who receive it, the duty of adjusting it to the truth they already possess.
3. There are, however, special causes which do belong to the character of the present age which tend, I think, to explain more particularly the dearth of the greatest type of minds in our midst.
(1) It is obvious that from the very multiplicity of its possessions our age tends to diffusion rather than to concentration.
(2) Our age is critical rather than constructive.
(3) The bent of the present age has been to material ends rather than spiritual. (James Orr, D. D.)
Faith in signs and without them
The Israelites had formed a certain conception of God, and of His relation to them. They thought themselves to be His own peculiar people, and thought, therefore, that for them there would be a peculiar place among the nations of the earth. When they triumphed over their enemies, they regarded it as a sign of Gods presence with them. National supremacy was one of the signs of God. At the time of this psalm that sign was not to be seen. National supremacy there was none. What was the truth behind that dogma? What was it that was struggling for utterance in it? That truth, I believe, was this: that through them the world was to receive a universal religion. They mistook their true spiritual significance for a prophecy of national dominion over the world. And, therefore, they were looking for victories as signs of the Divine Presence. In times of defeat they had to say, We see not our signs. Again, they connected the Divine Presence specially with certain places. The sanctuaries were the peculiar dwelling-abodes of God–His places of revelation. But here are the enemies roaring in the midst of the congregation, and breaking down the carved work with axes and hammers; burning up all the synagogues of God in the land. No wonder they cry, We see not our signs. This disposition to fix upon certain signs of God is still with us, and it is the prolific source of religious despondency and of partial temporary eclipses of religious faith. Some, when their undertakings do not succeed, cry dolefully, We see not our signs. Others of us can maintain our spirit bravely enough until our sanctuaries are touched. One mans sanctuary is the Church. Another mans sanctuary is a theory about the Bible. The Bible is an infallible book, a Word of God indisputable. Question that theory, and they say they have no sign left, they cant be sure of God. Now, what are we doing when we thus choose signs of God? We are creating for ourselves the possibility, often the certainty, of overwhelming disappointments. We are liable to come to crises where such signs will fail us. In reality we have been setting up a little god of our own make as truly as if we had made an image of wood or stone, and the idol may be destroyed. I am glad to think that there is a faith without signs, and a faith that persists when things are apparently against us. And it is this faith which lies deepest in the human soul. This, I think, is evident even in the history of those who have looked for signs. When the signs do not appear, they are disappointed, they cry bitterly; but even then, as a rule, they pray! Their eclipses are only temporary. Indeed, nothing is more remarkable than the way in which religious faith, that apparently rests on some supposed evidences, can still live when those evidences are taken from it. This shows that the real root of faith was not in such evidences at all, but deeper in the soul of man. The sense of God belongs to us. And like this psalm, even when we have been expecting signs, and cannot see them, we pray to a God above the clouds, whose face is light and whose favour is life. Like the man in the Gospels we say, I believe, help Thou my unbelief. We may doubt all the arguments for Gods existence, declare this unsatisfactory and that untenable, and when every argument fails we find we believe in God still. We feel and know that He is here. Eternal Father, strong to save, Thy child lives in Thee. (T. R. Williams.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 9. We see not our signs] “They have taken away all our trophies, and have left us no memorial that God has been among us. Even thou thyself hast left us destitute of all those supernatural evidences that have so often convinced us that thou wert among us of a truth.” But we may say that they were not totally destitute even of these. The preservation of Daniel in the lion’s den, and of the three Hebrews in the fiery furnace; the metamorphosis of Nebuchadnezzar; the handwriting that appeared to Belshazzar; were all so many prodigies and evidences that God had not left them without proofs of his being and his regard.
There is no more any prophet] There was not one among them in that place that could tell them how long that captivity was yet to endure. But there were prophets in the captivity. Daniel was one; but his prophecies were confined to one place. Ezekiel was another, but he was among those captives who were by the river Chebar. They had not, as usual, prophets who went to and fro through the land, preaching repentance and remission of sins.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Our signs, i.e. those tokens of Gods gracious presence which we and our ancestors formerly used to enjoy; either,
1. Miracles wrought for us, which are called
signs, Psa 78:43; 135:9. Or,
2. The ordinances of God, the temple, and ark, and sacrifices, and solemn feasts, all which were signs between God and his people.
Any prophet: either,
1. Any teacher. We have few or no teachers left to us. Or,
2. Any extraordinary prophet, who can foretell things to come, as the next words explain it. For as for Ezekiel and Jeremiah, they might be dead when this Psalm was composed; and Daniel was involved in civil affairs, and did not teach the people as a prophet; and the prophetical Spirit which sometimes came upon him, and made those great discoveries to him which we read in his book, might possibly at this time suspend his influences. Besides, it is not unusual in Scripture, to say that there is none of a sort of persons or things, when there is a very great scarcity of them. But others make this their great argument, that this Psalm speaks of that persecution in the time of Antiochus, when indeed there was no prophet at all.
How long; either,
1. How long their captivity should continue; for though seventy years were determined, yet there might arise doubts among them, as there now are among us, whence they were to be computed, which might make their end uncertain. Or,
2. How long they should lie under reproach, as it follows, Psa 74:10, which they really did, and might foresee that they should, even after the expiration of their captivity, Neh 1:3.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
9. signsof God’s presence, asaltar, ark, c. (compare Psa 74:42Ch 36:18; 2Ch 36:19;Dan 5:2).
no more any prophet(Isa 3:2; Jer 40:1;Jer 43:6).
how longthis is tolast. Jeremiah’s prophecy (Jer25:11), if published, may not have been generally known orunderstood. To the bulk of the people, during the captivity, theoccasional and local prophetical services of Jeremiah, Ezekiel, andDaniel would not make an exception to the clause, “there is nomore any prophet.”
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
We see not our signs,…. Either such miracles as were formerly wrought to support the faith of God’s people in distress, and for their deliverance out of it, as when they were in Egypt, and brought forth from thence; see Ps 78:43 or rather their sabbaths and sacrifices, the passover and circumcision, and other ordinances and institutions of divine worship; which were signs of the presence of God with them, and of Christ, and blessings of grace, and good things to come by him; which ceased, or were interrupted in their captivity, and which the godly lament: or the signs of redemption, as Kimchi; and may be interpreted of the blindness and stupidity of the greater part of them, who could not discern the signs of the times, as before the destruction of the city and temple, Mt 16:3 so after it, when these being destroyed, and they in the hands of the Romans, might easily have perceived that the sceptre was departed from Judah, and therefore Shiloh must be come, or the Messiah; who also must have been in his temple, and Daniel’s weeks be up; but these signs they saw not, nor do they yet: and so though the signs of the latter day are upon us, we see them not, or at least very few take notice of them, and lament them; such as a very great departure from the faith of the Gospel, a neglect of Gospel worship and ordinances, coldness and lukewarmness in matters of religion, want of love to Christ and his people, a general sleepiness and security, a form of religion without the power of it, a name to live and be dead, and iniquity abounding even among professors of religion; besides the frequent signs in heaven and in earth; see Mt 24:12,
there is no more any prophet; there were but few in the Babylonish captivity, and after Malachi there were none; there were none in the times of Antiochus; there were none till John the forerunner of Christ came; and in the latter day the two prophets that prophesy in sackcloth will be slain, and there will be no prophesying for a while,
Re 11:7. Kimchi explains it, there is no prophet yet, and interprets it thus, Elijah the prophet is not yet come:
neither is there among us any that knoweth how long; the calamity will endure, and ere deliverance will come; how long the Babylonish captivity would continue was known, that it would be seventy years, and no longer; the prophets that searched after the time of salvation and redemption by Christ knew how long it would be to it; Daniel fixed the exact time of it; but how long the present times will last we know not, or how long it is to the end of wonders; or when will end the 1260 days of the reign of antichrist, of the church’s being in the wilderness, of the holy city being trodden under foot by the Gentiles, and of the witnesses prophesying in sackcloth.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The worst thing the poet has to complain of is that God has not acknowledged His people during this time of suffering as at other times. “Our signs” is the direct antithesis to “their sings” (Psa 74:4), hence they are not to be understood, after Psa 86:17, as signs which God works. The suffix demands, besides, something of a perpetual character; they are the instituted ordinances of divine worship by means of which God is pleased to stand in fellowship with His people, and which are now no longer to be seen because the enemies have set them aside. The complaint “there is not prophet any more” would seem strange in the period immediately after the destruction of Jerusalem, for Jeremiah’s term of active service lasted beyond this. Moreover, a year before (in the tenth year of Zedekiah’s reign) he had predicted that the Babylonian domination, and relatively the Exile, would last seventy years; besides, six years before the destruction Ezekiel appeared, who was in communication with those who remained behind in the land. The reference to Lam 2:9 (cf. Eze 7:26) does not satisfy one; for there it is assumed that there were prophets, a fact which is here denied. Only perhaps as a voice coming out of the Exile, the middle of which (cf. Hos 3:4; 2Ch 15:3, and besides Canticum trium puerorum , Psa 74:14: ) was truly thus devoid of signs or miracles, and devoid of the prophetic word of consolation, can Psa 74:9 be comprehended. The seventy years of Jeremiah were then still a riddle without any generally known solution (Dan. 9). If, however, synagogues are meant in Psa 74:8, Psa 74:9 now too accords with the like-sounding lament in the calamitous times of Antiochus (1 Macc. 4:46; 9:27; 14:41). In Psa 74:10 the poet turns to God Himself with the question “How long?” how long is this (apparently) endless blaspheming of the enemy to last? Why dost Thou draw back (viz., , from us, not , Psa 81:15) Thy hand and Thy right hand? The conjunction of synonyms “Thy hand and Thy right hand” is, as in Psa 44:4, Sirach 33:7, a fuller expression for God’s omnipotent energy. This is now at rest; Psa 74:11 calls upon it to give help by an act of judgment. “Out of the midst of Thy bosom, destroy,” is a pregnant expression for, “drawing forth out of Thy bosom the hand that rests inactive there, do Thou destroy.” The Chethb has perhaps the same meaning; for , Arab. hawq , signifies, like , Arab. hayq , the act of encompassing, then that which encompasses. Instead of (Exo 4:7) the expression is , because there, within the realm of the bosom, the punitive justice of God for a time as it were slumbers. On the , which outwardly is without any object, cf. Psa 59:14.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
9. We see not our signs. Here the pious Jews show that their calamities were aggravated from the circumstance that they had no consolation by which to alleviate them. It is a powerful means of encouraging the children of God, when he enables them to cherish the hope of his being reconciled to them, by promising, that even in the midst of his wrath he will remember his mercy. Some limit the signs here spoken of to the miracles by which God had in the days of old testified, at the very time when he was afflicting his people, that he would, notwithstanding, still continue to be gracious to them. But the faithful rather complain that he had removed from them the tokens of his favor, and had in a manner hidden his face from them. (227) We are overwhelmed with darkness, as if the prophet had said, because thou, O God! dost not make thy face to shine upon us as thou hast been accustomed to do. Thus it is common for us to speak of persons giving us signs either of their love or of their hatred. In short, God’s people here complain not only that the time was cloudy and dark, but also that they were enveloped in darkness so thick, that there did not appear so much as a single ray of light. As to be assured by the prophets of future deliverance was one of the chief signs of God’s favor, they lament that there is no longer a prophet to foresee the end of their calamities. From this we learn that the office of imparting consolation was committed to the prophets, that they might lift up the hearts which were cast down with sorrow, by inspiring them with the hope of Divine mercy. They were, it is true, heralds and witnesses of the wrath of God to drive the obstinate and rebellious to repentance by threatenings and terrors. But had they merely and without qualification denounced the vengeance of God, their doctrine, which was appointed and intended for the salvation of the people, would have only been the means of their destruction. Accordingly, the foretelling of the issue of calamities while yet hidden in the future, is ascribed to them as a part of their office; for temporary punishments are the fatherly chastisements of God, and the consideration that they are temporary alleviates sorrow; but his continual displeasure causes poor and wretched sinners to sink into utter despair. If, therefore, we also would find matter for patience and consolation, when we are under the chastening hand of God, let us learn to fix our eyes on this moderation on the part of God, by which he encourages us to entertain good hope; and from it let us rest assured, that although he is angry, yet he ceases not to be a father. The correction which brings deliverance does not inflict unmitigated grief: the sadness which it produces is mingled with joy. This end all the prophets endeavored to keep in view in the doctrine which they delivered. They, no doubt, often make use of very hard and severe language in their dealings with the people, in order, by inspiring them with terror, to break and subdue their rebellion; but whenever they see men humbled, they immediately address them in words of consolation, which, however, would be no consolation at all, were they not encouraged to hope for future deliverance.
The question may here be asked, whether God, with the view of assuaging the sadness arising from the chastisement, which he inflicted, always determined the number of years and days during which they would last? To this I answer, that although the prophets have not always marked out and defined a fixed time, yet they frequently gave the people assurance that deliverance was near at hand; and, moreover, all of them spoke of the future restoration of the Church. If it is again objected, that the people in their affliction did wrong in not applying to themselves the general promises, which it is certain were the common property of all ages, I answer, that as it was God’s usual way to send in every affliction a messenger to announce the tidings of deliverance, the people, when at the present time no prophet appeared to be expressly sent for that purpose, not without cause complain that they were deprived of the signs of the Divine favor which they had been accustomed to enjoy. Until the coming of Christ it was highly necessary that the memory of the promised deliverance should be renewed in every age, to show the people of God that to whatever afflictions they might be subjected, he still continued to care for them, and would afford them succor.
(227) The verb, which is, כלה, kalleh, in Pihel conjugation, is from כלה, kalah, consumptus est In Psa 59:13, it is twice used, כלה בחמה כלה, kalleh bechemah kalleh, “consume them in wrath, consume them. ” Consume, therefore, appears to be a preferable translation to pluck, which is that of our English version.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(9) We see not our signs . . .It is natural to take this statement in direct contrast to what Psa. 74:4 (see Note) says of the heathen signs. While these abominationsrallying points of savage profanitywere visibly set up, the tokens of the invisible Gods presence, His wonders wrought for Israel, are no more seen.
There is no more any prophet.This was the constant lament of the Maccaban period (1Ma. 4:46; 1Ma. 9:27; 1Ma. 14:41), and suits no earlier timeat least none into which the rest of the psalm would fit. During the exile period Jeremiah and Ezekiel were prophesying, and the complaint took quite a different form then and probably for some time afterwards (Lam. 2:9; Eze. 7:26). The full desolation of the situation is told in Song of the Three Children, Psa. 74:15; Neither is there at this time prince, or prophet, or leader, or burnt offering, or sacrifice, or oblation, or incense, or place to sacrifice before Thee or find mercy.
Neither is there among us any that knoweth how long.This, too, carries us on past the time of Jeremiah, who had given an exact date for the termination of the exile. Probably (if the arrangement of the words is right) we have here another expression of a widely-spread feelinga feeling which inspired the apocalyptic literature, which had for its object partly to answer this question, how long? But it has been suggested, as more in the Hebrew style, to end the clause with the word know, and make it directly parallel with the preceding (there is neither a prophet nor one who knows), and carry on the interrogative to the next verse, where its repetition would add much to the force of the question there put. (Burgess.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
9. We see not our signs The word rendered “our signs” implies tokens or answers of prayer, of a general character, connected with the instituted ordinances of worship. These they had not, now that their temple and altars were destroyed, and they in exile.
There is no more prophet For Jeremiah did not accompany the exiles, but was released at Ramah and returned to Mizpah. Jer 40:1-6. Ezekiel, however, did live and prophesy among the exiles of Mesopotamia, by the river Chebar, or Chaboras, (Eze 1:1-3,) but did not go into Babylonia. The complaint strongly indicates that the psalm was written after Ezekiel’s death, and before Daniel came into public repute as a prophet.
Neither is there among us any that knoweth how long They did not know how long the captivity was to continue, though Jeremiah had foretold it, (Jer 25:12,) and afterward wrote to the exiles more specifically as to the time. Jer 29:10. For the same cause the disciples understood not the Saviour’s prediction of his own death and sufferings.
Luk 18:31-34. It was against their traditional faith, not against their sacred writings, and they had not risen to the height of the new dispensation.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Psa 74:9. We see not our signs Any token of they divine presence among us. Bishop Patrick concludes from the next clause, that this psalm was composed towards the end of the captivity, because the writer complains here that there was no prophet left (as there was at the beginning of it, particularly, Jeremiah,) to tell the Jews how long it would last.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Psa 74:9 We see not our signs: [there is] no more any prophet: neither [is there] among us any that knoweth how long.
Ver. 9. We see not our signs ] Those testimonies of God’s special favour, the public ordinances, together with the legal ceremonies, which was then Christ in figure, q.d. we are utterly benighted as to thee-ward.
There is no more any prophet, &c.
Neither is there among us any
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
signs: i.e. the signs of God’s presence and power, or miraculous signs. Compare “their” of Psa 74:4 with “our”, Psa 74:9.
prophet. Put by Figure of speech Metonymy (of Cause), App-6, for prophetic utterances.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Psa 74:9-10
Psa 74:9-11
“We see not our signs:
There is no more any prophet;
Neither is there among us any that knoweth how long.
How long, O God, shall the adversary reproach?
Shall the enemy blaspheme thy name forever?”
“Why drawest back thy hand, even thy right hand?
Pluck it out of thy bosom and consume them.”
“There is no more any prophet” (Psa 74:9). This does not appear to be a reference to that long inter-testamental period of Israel’s history, during which the voice of prophecy in Israel was providentially silenced. As Ash suggested, we believe this refers to the time when there was no longer any prophet in Jerusalem and Judaea.
If this psalm was written after Jeremiah had been taken to Egypt, Psa 74:9 and Psa 74:10, below, would be properly understood as reference to the fact that there was no longer any prophet in “the land” of Israel. With Daniel and Ezekiel in Babylon, and with Jeremiah no longer in Jerusalem, there would indeed have been “no prophet” anymore. To us this appears to be the certain meaning of the passage. The rebellious residue of Israel that was still in Jerusalem were very conceited, believing that only they themselves were any longer the object of God’s concern, whereas, in truth, God’s true people at that time were in no sense whatever identified with Jerusalem, but with Babylon. The psalmist appears to be, in a class with Jeremiah, that is, a member of God’s “true people.” Thus with Jeremiah having been forcefully taken to Egypt, there would have been indeed “no prophet” available to the psalmist.
Certainly Ash’s statement is correct that there are enough alternative explanations of what is meant by ‘no prophet,’ “To warrant the conclusion that this verse could refer to the fall of Jerusalem in 587 to 586 B.C.
The anthropomorphic metaphor in Psa 74:11 icts God as having withdrawn his right hand from its usual task of defending Israel, concealing it in his bosom instead. The psalmist appeals to God to use that right hand, and use it at once, in the defense of Israel. Alas, the Israel still remaining in Judaea was not destined to enjoy any such benefit. The whole nation had become so corrupt that pagan gods were being worshipped in the temple itself, as revealed by Ezekiel. Nevertheless, we may be sure that for faithful believers such as the psalmist, God no doubt kept them in the Book of Life. It was a sorrowful time for such as he.
E.M. Zerr:
Psa 74:9. This verse means there were no signs left of the former greatness of the nation. The literal force of this language should be understood in the light of comments on the preceding verse.
Psa 74:10-11. This is just another one of David’s anxious prayers for God’s help.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
We see: Exo 12:13, Exo 13:9, Exo 13:10, Jdg 6:17, Eze 20:12, Heb 2:4
no more: 1Sa 3:1, Amo 8:11, Mic 3:6
Reciprocal: 1Sa 28:6 – by prophets 2Ki 3:11 – Is there not here Psa 35:17 – how Psa 79:5 – How long Psa 86:17 – Show Psa 94:3 – Lord Isa 3:2 – mighty Isa 30:20 – yet shall Lam 1:9 – for Lam 2:9 – her prophets Eze 7:26 – but Dan 8:13 – How Dan 9:19 – defer Dan 12:6 – How long Mic 2:6 – they shall not prophesy Mic 3:7 – no Hab 1:2 – how Rev 6:10 – How
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Psa 74:9. We see not our signs Those tokens of Gods gracious presence with us, which we and our ancestors used to enjoy. There is no more any prophet Either, 1st, Any public teacher. We have few or none left to instruct us in the law of God, and in divine things. Or, 2d, Any extraordinary prophet, who can foretel things to come, as the next words explain it. For as for Jeremiah and Ezekiel, they might be dead when this Psalm was composed; and Daniel was involved in civil affairs, and did not teach the people as a prophet; and the prophetical spirit, which sometimes came upon him, and made those great discoveries to him which we read in his book, might possibly at this time suspend his influences. Besides, it is not unusual, in Scripture, to say there is none of a sort of persons or things, when there is a very great scarcity of them. Bishop Patrick thinks what is here said respecting there being no prophet, to tell the Jews how long the captivity would last, is a proof that this Psalm was written toward the end of that captivity.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
74:9 We see not our signs: [there is] no more any prophet: neither [is there] among us any that knoweth {f} how long.
(f) They lamented that they had no prophet among them to show them how long their misery would last.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The writer bewailed the fact that no prophet could give the people a revelation about the length of God’s present judgment of His people. There were no prophetic signs that would indicate this.