Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 74:20
Have respect unto the covenant: for the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty.
20. the covenant ] With the patriarchs, Gen 9:9 ff; Gen 17:2 ff.; with the nation at the Exodus, Exo 24:8; with David, Psa 89:3; Psa 89:39.
the dark places of the earth ] The heathen lands where Israel was in exile. We might also render, the dark places of the land, i.e. the caves and hiding-places where the persecuted Israelites took refuge, and where they were tracked out and butchered ( 1Ma 1:53 ; 1Ma 2:27 ff.).
are full of the habitations of cruelty ] R.V. violence. If the text is right, the sense seems to be ‘places where violence makes its home.’ But the expression is a strange one, and the emendation are full of insolence and violence, adopted by many commentators, which requires a very slight change in the consonants of the text, is plausible. Cp. Psa 73:6; Gen 6:11; Gen 6:13.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Have respect unto the covenant – The covenant which thou hast made with thy people, promising, on thy part, to protect them, and to be their God. Compare Deu 4:13; Deu 5:2; Deu 26:18-19. The prayer here is, that God would remember, in the day of national calamity, the solemn promise implied in that covenant, and that he would interpose to save his people. Compare Gen 9:15; Lev 26:42; Eze 16:60; Luk 1:72. This may be regarded as the language which the people did use when these calamities were about to come upon them.
For the dark places of the earth – The allusion here is to the lands from whence came the armies that had invaded Judea, and that threatened desolation. They were dark regions of paganism and idolatry.
Are full of the habitations of cruelty – The abodes of violence, or of violent and cruel men. They had sent forth their armies from such places for purposes of conquest and rapine, and no compassion could be expected from them. Their numbers were so great, and their character was so fierce and warlike, that the people of Israel could find defense and security only in God; and they, therefore, plead with him that he would interpose in their behalf. The prayer in this passage may with propriety be used by the people of God now. It is still true that the dark parts of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty; and in view of this fact, and of the utter hopelessness of the renovation of the world by any human means, or by any progress which society can make of itself, it is proper to seek Gods interposition. And it is proper in such prayers to him now, as in ancient times, to make the ground of our appeal to him his own gracious covenant; his promises made to his church; his solemn assurances that this state of things shall not always continue, but that the time will arrive when the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the Lord.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Psa 74:20
Have respect unto the covenant.
The covenant pleaded
It is the covenant of grace, not of works, that we are to plead.
I. What is meant by this plea.
1. Fulfil thy covenant: let it not be a dead letter.
2. Fulfil all its promises.
3. Let nothing hinder or turn them aside.
II. Whence this plea derives its force.
1. From the veracity of God.
2. His jealousy for His honour.
3. The venerable character of She covenant.
4. Its solemn endorsement, Gods Word.
5. Its seal–the blood of Christ.
6. Nothing in it has ever failed.
7. The testimony of Gods dying people.
III. How and when this covenant may be pleaded.
1. Under a sense of sin.
2. Labouring after holiness.
3. When under strong temptation.
4. Or in great distress.
IV. Practical inferences.
1. Have a grateful respect for the covenant to which you pray the Lord to have respect.
2. Have joy in it.
3. Be jealous for it.
4. Practically respect it. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The Divine covenant steadfast and sure
Rutherford says that unbelief may tear the copies of the covenant of grace given us, but Christ keeps the original in heaven with Himself. Though we believe not, yet He remaineth faithful. He cannot deny Himself.
The dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty.
The Churchs duty to the heathen
The world wants the Gospel; the Gospel alone meets the worlds necessities.
I. The worlds need of God. The dark places, etc.
1. How dark a system is idolatry: see its sin, and misery, and cruelty.
II. Gods provision for the world. The covenant tells of the Gospel with all its abundant provisions. It brings light; it implants love. Christ is offered as food for the hungry, pardon for the guilty, consolation for the mourner, life for the dead.
III. How is this remedy to be applied?
1. God Himself must apply it. But–
2. We must pray for the heathen; pray in public and at home.
3. And we must send messengers to the heathen who shall tell them of Christ. (John Hambleton, M. A.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 20. Have respect unto the covenant] habbet labberith. Pay attention to the covenant sacrifice; to that offered by Abraham, Ge 15:9, c., when the contracting parties, God and Abram, passed through between the separated parts of the covenant sacrifice. An indisputable type of Jesus Christ and of God and man meeting in his sacrificed humanity.
The dark places of the earth] The caves, dens, woods, &c., of the land are full of robbers, cut-throats, and murderers, who are continually destroying thy people, so that the holy seed seems as if it would be entirely cut off and the covenant promise thus be rendered void.
The words may either apply to Chaldea or Judea. Judea was at this time little else than a den of robbers, its own natural inhabitants being removed. Chaldea was infested with hordes of banditti also.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Have respect unto the covenant made with Abraham, whereby thou didst give the land of Canaan to him, and to his seed for ever; and thou didst further promise, that if thy people were carried captive into strange lands and did there humble themselves, and pray and turn unto thee, thou wouldst mercifully restore them, 1Ki 8:46-50; do thou therefore now restore us to that pleasant and lightsome land which thou hast given to us.
The dark places of the earth, i.e. this dark and dismal land in which we live, wherein there is nothing but ignorance and confusion, and all the works of darkness; of which the psalmist speaks in general terms, out of a principle of prudence, because the particular designation of the place was unnecessary, and might have been of ill consequence.
Are full of the habitations of cruelty; here is nothing but injustice, and oppression, and tyranny, under which we groan in all the parts of this great empire, where we have our abode.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
20. And the prevalence ofinjustice in heathen lands is a reason for invoking God’s regard toHis promise (compare Num 14:21;Psa 7:16; Psa 18:48).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Have respect unto the covenant,…. The Targum adds,
“which thou hast made with our fathers;”
meaning not the covenant of works, which being broken, no good thing was to be expected from it, not liberty, life, nor eternal salvation, but all the reverse; but the covenant of grace, made with Christ before the world was, and made manifest to Adam, to Noah, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to David, and others: this God has a respect unto, and does look unto it; he looks to the surety and Mediator of it, which is Christ, for the fulfilment of all conditions in it; to the promises of it, that they may be made good; to the blessings of it, that they be bestowed upon the persons to whom they belong; to the blood of it, for the delivering of the church’s prisoners, and the salvation of them from wrath to come; and to the persons interested in it, that they be all called and brought safe to glory; and particularly to the things in it, respecting the glory of the church in the latter day, and increase of its members, and of its light, which seem chiefly designed here; and therefore it follows:
for the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty; many places of the earth are in gross darkness as to the knowledge of spiritual and divine things; even all those places which are inhabited by Pagans, Mahometans, and Papists, which make a great part of the globe; and in these dark places cruelty reigns, and especially in the antichristian states; wherefore the church pleads the covenant of God and his promises, that he would send forth his light and his truth, and cover the earth with the knowledge of the Lord, which is now covered with gross darkness, and under the tyranny and oppression of the man of sin.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
20. Have regard to thy covenant. That God may be the more inclined to show mercy, the prophet brings to his remembrance the Divine covenant; even as the refuge of the saints, when they have found themselves involved in extreme dangers, has always been to hope for deliverance, because God had promised, in the covenant which he made with them, to be a father to then, From this we learn, that the only firm support on which our prayers can rest is, that God has adopted us to be his people by his free choice. Whence, also, it appears how devilish was the phrensy of that filthy dog Servetus, who was not ashamed to affirm that it is foolish, and gross mockery, to lay before God his own promises when we are engaged in prayer. Farther, the godly Jews again show us how severely they were afflicted, when they declare that violence and oppression were everywhere prevalent; as if all places were the haunts of cut-throats and the dens of robbers. (244) It is said the dark places of the earth; for, whenever God seems to hide his face, the wicked imagine that whatever wickedness they may commit, they will find, wherever they may be, hiding-places by which to cover it all.
(244) “The caves, dens, woods, etc., of the land, are full of robbers, cut-throats, and murderers, who are continually destroying thy people; so that the holy seed seems as if it would be entirely cut off, and the covenant promise thus rendered void.” — Dr Adam Clarke. “ For the dark places of the earth, i. e. , the caverns of Judea, are full of the habitations of violence, i. e. , of men who live by rapine. Some, however, by the dark places of the earth, understand the seat of the captivity of the Jews.” — Cresswell.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(20) Habitations.The word thus rendered is so consistently used of the quiet resting-places of Gods people that it seems quite impossible that the psalmist should have used the expression, resting- places of cruelty. A slight change in the text gives, Look upon the covenant, for they have filled (Thy) land with darkness, Thy quiet dwelling with violence (Burgess, Notes on the Hebrew Psalms.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
20. Have respect unto the covenant Hebrew, Look to the covenant. Comp. Gen 9:16, “And I will look upon it” the bow “that I may remember the everlasting covenant.” But the reference is to the covenant, (Gen 17:7,) “To be a God unto thee and to thy seed after thee.” Their present condition seemed wholly in violation of the covenant engagements. But God never forgets his promise. Psa 111:5; Dan 11:4. Faith now goes back to this ground of all their Church relations and national hopes.
For the dark places of the earth Hebrew, The darknesses, the plural for emphasis. Those regions where God is not known nor his law obeyed. All religions and all infidelity which reject the one true God, and man’s accountability to him, have ever been against humanity, cruel and selfish, as all history attests.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Psa 74:20. For the dark places, &c. For the dark places of the land are full of lodgments of treachery; Mudge. i.e. “This land is now so far from being inhabited by thy people, that every dark corner of it is a den of thieves and murderers.”
REFLECTIONS.1st, A day of trouble should be a day of prayer. Whence can we hope for relief, but by pouring our complaints into the bosom of our compassionate God? The Psalmist here,
1. Humbly expostulates with God on the calamities of the people of Israel. O God, why hast thou cast us off for ever; for so long their sufferings were continued, that they began to fear they would never end. Why doth thine anger smoke against the sheep of thy pasture? so fierce his wrath appeared against them, though the sheep of his pasture, whom once he had fed with a shepherd’s care; and though foolishly they had strayed from him, yet cannot the Psalmist quit his hope, that Jehovah would still regard them in this endeared relation, and stay the furiousness of his displeasure.
2. He pleads for a gracious remembrance from God. Remember thy congregation, chosen by him to be a peculiar people, which thou hast purchased of old, by the blood of the Lamb, then slain in effect by virtue of the promise; the rod of thine inheritance, not only by the redemption of his Son, but by many temporal deliverances wrought for them, especially from Egypt; this mount Zion wherein thou hast dwelt, and from whence he intreats God would not remove his residence. And this is applicable to the faithful in every age, redeemed by Jesus from sin, death, and hell, in the midst of whom, as his living temple, God is pleased to dwell, and who may in every time of trouble expect a gracious remembrance from him.
2nd, We have two considerations suggested for quieting the people of God under their troubles.
1. God is Israel’s king, working wonders for their salvation. God is my king of old, protecting and preserving his people from their foes, working salvation in the midst of the earth; that spiritual and eternal salvation which all the faithful should partake of through Jesus Christ; or as interposing in a miraculous manner, in delivering the Jewish people, dividing the Red Sea for their passage, and destroying Pharaoh and his captains in the waters, Note; (1.) The head of the old dragon is bruised by our divine Lord, and we may triumph over him as a vanquished foe. (2.) The same rock which followed Israel follows us, for that rock was Christ; and from the waters of his grace and consolations, believers are daily comforted and strengthened in their journey through this wilderness. (3.) If we see not these outward miracles, as great spiritual wonders are still wrought for the faithful, who, through difficulties to human apprehension insurmountable, are led safely to their heavenly Canaan.
2. He is the God of nature. The day is thine, the night also is thine; he opens the eye-lids of the morning, and draws the curtains of the evening; and in regular succession the luminaries of heaven move in their orbits. Thou hast set all the borders of the earth: fixing the bounds of nations and empires: thou hast made summer and winter; and surely he who made all these, hath power to save his faithful people: While they see these changes in the world, they must not despair; their night of adversity he can dispel with the sunshine of prosperity, and change their dreary winter, of sorrows and desolation, into the summer of abundance and joy.
3rdly, Conscious that their help cometh only from the Lord, the Psalmist calls upon Jehovah to arise and plead, not merely on their behalf, but thine own cause, his glory being intimately connected with the salvation of the faithful.
1. God was reproached and blasphemed daily by their enemies, as if he was unable to deliver them, or unfaithful to his promises, and had disappointed their hopes: the success of Israel’s enemies intoxicated them, and daily they increased their proud boastings. This their foolishness and wickedness, the Psalmist hopes God will remember, and not forget, for the sake of his own glory, so dishonoured thereby. Note; (1.) Success often makes sinners more daring, and ripens them for ruin. (2.) The enemies of God’s people triumph often, as if the day was their own; but the prosperity of fools destroys them. (3.) Ungodly sinners think they are very wise, when they turn things sacred into ridicule; but, to their confusion, they will be proved in the end as foolish as they are wicked. (4.) God needs no memorial, he sees and notes the ways of men; but it is right that we should plead thus, as a testimony of our regard for the glory of God, and of our confidence that he will appear to vindicate it.
2. His people were oppressed and persecuted: they are called God’s turtle-dove, so mournful, harmless, pure, affectionate, constant; his poor, humble and lowly in spirit, such as God promises to regard; therefore the Psalmist prays, O deliver not the soul of thy turtle-dove unto the multitude of the wicked, who waited but for permission to destroy them; forget not the congregation of thy poor for ever; though for a time they had seemed forsaken, he hopes God will at last remember them in mercy. Have respect unto the covenant, made in Christ to all the faithful: for the dark places of the earth, and such were the mansions of their captivity, are full of the habitations of cruelty, which rendered their state more wretched and pitiable, being so cruelly treated by their enemies. O let not the oppressed return ashamed; as disappointed of their requests at a throne of grace: let the poor and needy praise thy name, give them occasion to do so, for the disappointment of their enemies, and their own salvation; and give them a heart to do so, that while the wicked blaspheme, they may adore thee.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Here is the great charter of a poor sinner’s plea. It is as if the soul said, Look, O Lord, unto Jesus! Behold, O God, our shield! See the Lamb in the midst of the throne! Oh! blessed argument! God himself manifesting grace to the soul, in putting a plea into a poor sinner’s heart, of God’s own providing. Psa 84:9 ; Rev 5:6 ; Gen 22:8 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Psa 74:20 Have respect unto the covenant: for the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty.
Ver. 20. Have respect unto the covenant ] This the Church knew to be her best plea; and, therefore, she so plieth it.
For the dark places of the earth are full of cruelty
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
the. Septuagint, Syriac, and Vulgate, read “Thy”.
covenant. Compare Gen 15:18; Gen 17:7, Gen 17:8.
the earth: or the land.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Psa 74:20-21
Psa 74:20-21
“Have respect unto the covenant;
For the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of violence.
Oh let not the oppressed return ashamed:
Let the poor and needy praise thy name.”
“Have respect unto the covenant” (Psa 74:20). It was not God who needed to be reminded of the covenant, it was the apostate Israel; but the psalmist was correct in calling God to remember it. That remembrance resulted in blessing the Babylonian captives, not the conceited and arrogant residue of apostasy in Judaea.
“The dark places of the earth” (Psa 74:20). Most of the scholars seem to think this refers to the hiding places such as caves, etc., where people tried to hide from the Babylonian enemies, who, as this verse states, were systematically hunting them down wherever they could find them and killing them.
“The oppressed … the poor” (Psa 74:21). God never forgot those who loved him and called upon his name; but at a time when an entire kingdom was being cut off and destroyed completely, it was inevitable that many innocent and deserving people of God suffered.
E.M. Zerr:
Psa 74:20. God had made more than one covenant concerning the people. But the present subject of interest was the treatment being accorded the descendants of Abraham. We therefore would conclude that David meant the one in the first half of Gen 12:3. Dark places indicates the secret conspiracies of enemies against Israel.
Psa 74:21. If God should suffer the oppression to continue without relief they would be ashamed or confused. On the other hand, if they were strengthened to overcome their enemy it would cause them to praise the Lord.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Have: Psa 89:28, Psa 89:34-36, Psa 89:39, Psa 105:8, Psa 106:45, Gen 17:7, Gen 17:8, Exo 24:6-8, Lev 26:40-45, Deu 9:27, 2Sa 23:5, Jer 33:20-26, Luk 1:72-75, Heb 8:10
the dark: Deu 12:31, Rom 1:29-31, Eph 4:17, Eph 4:18
habitations: Psa 5:8, Gen 49:5-7
Reciprocal: 2Ch 6:19 – Have respect 2Ch 36:17 – who slew Psa 94:5 – break Jer 14:21 – disgrace Jer 50:42 – they are cruel Act 27:42 – General Eph 5:8 – ye were
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Psa 74:20. Have respect unto the covenant Made with Abraham, whereby thou didst give the land of Canaan to him, and to his seed for ever; and thou didst further promise, that if thy people were carried away captive into a strange land, and did there humble themselves and pray, and turn unto thee, thou wouldst mercifully restore them, 1Ki 8:46-50. Do thou, therefore, now restore us to that pleasant land which thou hast given us. For the dark places of the earth That is, this dark and dismal land in which we live, wherein there is nothing but ignorance and confusion, and all the works of darkness; are full of the habitations of cruelty Here are nothing but injustice, and oppression, and tyranny, under which we groan, in all the parts of this great empire, where we have our abode.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
74:20 Have respect unto the covenant: for {o} the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty.
(o) That is, all places where your word does not shine, there reigns tyranny and ambition.