Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 74:4
Thine enemies roar in the midst of thy congregations; they set up their ensigns [for] signs.
4. Render, Thine adversaries roared in the midst of thy meeting place. M’d may mean either the place or the time at which God meets His people, as of old He met them at “the tent of meeting” (Exo 29:42-44). Here probably the Temple is meant. Its courts were filled with heathen foes instead of reverent worshippers: they rang with wild shouts of triumph instead of the praises of Israel. Cp. Lam 2:6-7.
they set up their ensigns for signs ] Lit., their signs as signs. Probably their military ensigns or standards (Num 2:2) are meant. The erection of these in the Temple itself was a visible sign of its desecration, and of the completeness of the triumph of the heathen. Many commentators however suppose that religious emblems and ceremonies are meant, and those who regard this Psalm as Maccabaean suppose that the idolatrous altars erected and rites celebrated by command of Antiochus are referred to. See 1Ma 1:45-49 ; 1Ma 1:54 ; 1Ma 1:59 ; 1Ma 3:48 .
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
4 9. A graphic picture of the desecration of the Temple by the heathen enemies of Israel.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Thine enemies roar – This refers to the shout and tumult of war. They raised up the war-cry even in the very place where the congregations had been assembled; where God had been worshipped. The word rendered roar properly has reference to wild beasts; and the meaning is, that their war-cry resembled the howling of beasts of prey.
In the midst of thy congregations – literally, in the midst of thine assembly. This is a different word from that which is rendered congregation in Psa 74:2. This word – moed – means a meeting together by mutual appointment, and is often applied to the meeting of God with his people at the tabernacle, which was therefore called the tent of the congregation, or, more properly, the tent of meeting, as the place where God met with his people, Exo 29:10, Exo 29:44; Exo 33:7; Lev 3:8, Lev 3:13; Lev 10:7, Lev 10:9; et saepe. The meaning here is, that they roared like wild beasts in the very place which God had appointed as the place where he would meet with his people.
They set up their ensigns for signs – That is, they set up their banners or standards, as the standards of the place; as that which indicated sovereignty over the place. They proclaimed thus that it was a conquered place, and they set up their own standards as denoting their title to it, or as declaring that they ruled there. It was no longer a place sacred to God; it was publicly seen to belong to a foreign power.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 4. Thine enemies roar] Thy people, who were formerly a distinct and separate people, and who would not even touch a Gentile, are now obliged to mingle with the most profane. Their boisterous mirth, their cruel mockings, their insulting commands, are heard every where in all our assemblies.
They set up their ensigns for signs.] samu othotham othoth, they set up their standards in the place of ours. All the ensigns and trophies were those of our enemies; our own were no longer to be seen.
The fifth, sixth, and seventh verses give a correct historical account of the ravages committed by the Babylonians, as we may see from 2Kg 25:4; 2Kg 25:7-9, and Jer 52:7; Jer 52:18; Jer 52:19: “And the city was broken up, and all the men fled by night by the way of the gate. They took Zedekiah, and slew his sons before his eyes; and put out his eyes, and bound him with fetters of brass, and carried him to Babylon. And on the second day of the fifth month of the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, came unto Jerusalem; and he burnt the house of the Lord, and the king’s house, and every great man’s house; and all the houses of Jerusalem burnt he with fire. And they broke down the walls of Jerusalem round about. And the pillars of brass, and the bases, and the brazen sea, they broke in pieces, and carried the brass to Babylon. And the pots, shovels, snuffers and spoons, and the fire pans and bowls, and such things as were of gold and silver, they took away.” Thus they broke down, and carried away, and destroyed this beautiful house; and in the true barbarian spirit, neither sanctity, beauty, symmetry, nor elegance of workmanship, was any thing in their eyes. What hammers and axes could ruin, was ruined; Jerusalem was totally destroyed, and its walls laid level with the ground. Well might the psalmist sigh over such a desolation.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Roar, i.e. make loud outcries; either from their rage and fury against the conquered and captivated Israelites now in their power; or rather, in way of triumph for their success and victory.
In the midst of thy congregations; in the places where thy people used to assemble together for thy worship; whereby they designed to insult not only over us, but over thee also, as if their gods had been too strong for thee.
Signs; or, trophies, or monuments of their victories obtained over God, and over his people, as conquerors used to do in like cases.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
4. roarwith bestial fury.
congregationsliterally,”worshipping assemblies.”
ensignsliterally,”signs”substituted their idolatrous objects, or tokensof authority, for those articles of the temple which denoted God’spresence.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Thine enemies roar in the midst of thy congregations,…. Particular churches, gathered out of the world in Gospel order, and which meet together at particular times and places; in the midst of these, and against them their enemies, and who are the Lord’s enemies, roar like lions, as Satan, and bloody persecutors, and particularly antichrist, whose mouth is the mouth of a lion, which is opened in blasphemy against God and his people, Re 13:2,
they set up their ensigns for signs; or “signs”, “signs”, false ones for true ones; meaning either military signs, as the Roman eagle, set as signs and trophies of victory; or idolatrous statues and images, such an one as Antiochus brought into the temple; or false miracles and antichristian marks, in the room of true miracles, and the true mark of Christ’s followers; see 2Th 2:9. The Jewish writers generally interpret it of the divinations and superstitions rites used by the king of Babylon, when he was coming up against Jerusalem,
Eze 21:21.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The poet now more minutely describes how the enemy has gone on. Since in Psa 74:3 is the Temple, in Psa 74:4 ought likewise to mean the Temple with reference to the several courts; but the plural would here (cf. Psa 74:8) be misleading, and is, too, only a various reading. Baer has rightly decided in favour of ;
(Note: The reading is received, e.g., by Elias Hutter and Nissel; the Targum translates it, Kimchi follows it in his interpretation, and Abraham of Zante follows it in his paraphrase; it is tolerably widely known, but, according to the lxx and Syriac versions and MSS, it is to be rejected.)
, as in Lam 2:6., is the instituted (Num 17:1-13:19 [4]) place of God’s intercourse with His congregation (cf. Arab. mad , a rendezvous). What Jeremiah says in Lam 2:7 (cf. , Jer 2:15) is here more briefly expressed. By ( Psa 74:4) we must not understand military insignia; the scene of the Temple and the supplanting of the Israelitish national insignia to be found there, by the substitution of other insignia, requires that the word should have the religious reference in which it is used of circumcision and of the Sabbath (Exo 31:13); such heathen , which were thrust upon the Temple and the congregation of Jahve as henceforth the lawful ones, were those which are set forth in 1 Macc. 1:45-49, and more particularly the so-called abomination of desolation mentioned in v. 54 of the same chapter. With (Psa 74:5) the terrible scene which was at that time taking place before their eyes (Psa 79:10) is introduced. is the subject; it became visible, tangible, noticeable, i.e., it looked, and one experienced it, as if a man caused the axe to enter into the thicket of the wood, i.e., struck into or at it right and left. The plural forces itself into the simile because it is the many heathen warriors who are, as in Jer 46:22., likened to these hewers of wood. Norzi calls the Kametz of Kametz chatuph ; the combining form would then be a contraction of (Ewald, Olshausen), for the long a of does not admit of any contraction. According to another view it is to be read bi – sbach – etz , as in Est 4:8 kethab – hadath with counter-tone Metheg beside the long vowel, as e.g., , Gen 2:16). The poet follows the work of destruction up to the destroying stroke, which is introduced by the (perhaps , Ker ), which arrests one’s attention. In Psa 74:5 the usual, unbroken quiet is depicted, as is the heavy Cyclopean labour in the Virgilian illi inter sese , etc.; in jahalomun , Psa 74:6 (now and then pointed jahlomun ), we hear the stroke of the uplifted axes, which break in pieces the costly carved work of the Temple. The suffix of (the carved works thereof) refers, according to the sense, to . The lxx, favouring the Maccabaean interpretation, renders: ( ). This shattering of the panelling is followed in Psa 74:7 by the burning, first of all, as we may suppose, of this panelling itself so far as it consists of wood. The guaranteed reading here is , not . signifies to set on fire, immittere igni , differing from , to set fire to, immittere ignem . On , cf. Lam 2:2; Jer 19:13. Hitzig, following the lxx, Targum, and Jerome, derives the exclamation of the enemies from : their whole generation (viz., we will root out)! But is posterity, descendants; why therefore only the young and not the aged? And why is it an expression of the object and not rather of the action, the object of which would be self-evident? is fut. Kal of , here = Hiph. , to force, oppress, tyrannize over, and like , to compel by violence, in later Hebrew. (from , like ) is changed in pause into ; cf. the future forms in Num 21:30; Exo 34:19, and also in Psa 118:10-12. Now, after mention has been made of the burning of the Temple framework, cannot denote the place of the divine manifestation after its divisions (Hengstenberg), still less the festive assemblies (Bttcher), which the enemy could only have burnt up by setting fire to the Temple over their heads, and does not at all suit this. The expression apparently has reference to synagogues (and this ought not to be disputed), as Aquila and Symmachus render the word. For there is no room for thinking of the separate services conducted by the prophets in the northern kingdom (2Ki 4:23), because this kingdom no longer existed at the time this Psalm was written; nor of the , the burning down of which no pious Israelite would have bewailed; nor of the sacred places memorable from the early history of Israel, which are nowhere called , and after the founding of the central sanctuary appear only as the seats of false religious rites. The expression points (like , Sota ix. 15) to places of assembly for religious purposes, to houses for prayer and teaching, that is to say, to synagogues – a weighty instance in favour of the Maccabaean origin of the Psalm.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
4. Thy adversaries have roared in the midst of thy sanctuaries. Here the people of God compare their enemies to lions, (Amo 3:8,) to point out the cruelty which they exercised even in the very sanctuaries of God. (218) In this passage we are to understand the temple of Jerusalem as spoken of rather than the Jewish synagogues; nor is it any objection to this interpretation that the temple is here called in the plural number sanctuaries, as is frequently the case in other places, it being so called because it was divided into three parts. If any, however, think it preferable to consider synagogues as intended, I would not dispute the point. Yea, without any impropriety, it may be extended to the whole land, which God had consecrated to himself. But the language is much more emphatic when we consider the temple as meant. It thus intimates, that the rage of the enemy was so unbounded and indiscriminate that they did not even spare the temple of God. When it is said, They have set up their signs, (219) this serves to show their insulting and contemptuous conduct, that in erecting their standards they proudly triumphed even over God himself. Some explain this of magical divinations, (220) even as Ezekiel testifies, (Eze 21:21,) that Nebuchadnezzar sought counsel from the flight and the voice of birds; but this sense is too restricted. The explanation which I have given may be viewed as very suitable. Whoever entered into the Holy Land knew that the worship of God which flourished there was of a special character, and different from that which was performed in any other part of the world: (221) the temple was a token of the presence of God, and by it he seemed, as if with banners displayed, to hold that people under his authority and dominion. With these symbols, which distinguished the chosen tribes from the heathen nations, the prophet here contrasts the sacrilegious standards which their enemies had brought into the temple. (222) By repeating the word signs twice, he means to aggravate the abominable nature of their act; for having thrown down the tokens and ensigns of the true service of God, they set up in their stead strange symbols.
(218) Instead of songs of praise and other acts of devotion, nothing was now heard in the Jewish places of worship but profane vociferation, and the tumultuous noise of a heathen army. This is with great beauty and effect compared to the roaring of a lion.
(219) Hammond reads, “They set up their ensigns for trophies.” The original word both for ensigns and trophies is אות, oth But he observes that it requires here to be differently translated. אות, oth, signifies a sign, and thence a military standard or ensign The setting up of this in any place which has been taken by arms, is a token or sign of the victory achieved; and, accordingly, an ensign or standard thus set up becomes a trophy To convey, therefore, the distinctive meaning, he contends that it is necessary in this passage to give different renderings to the same word.
(220) That is, they understand signs to mean such signs as diviners or soothsayers were wont to give, by which to foretell things to come. Jarchi, who adopts this interpretation, gives this sense: That the enemies of God’s people having completed their conquest according to the auspices or signs of soothsayers, were fully convinced that these signs were real signs; in other words, that the art of divination was true.
(221) “ Qu’il y avoit un service divine special et different de ce qui se faisoit ailleurs.” — Fr.
(222) “ Their own symbols they have set for signs. Profane representations, no doubt, agreeable to their own worship. See 1Ma 1:47.” — Dr Geddes.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(4) Thine enemies . . .As the text stands, render, Thine enemies have roared in the midst of thine assembly, but many MSS. have the plural as in Psa. 74:8, where see Note for the meaning of the word.
For roared, see Psa. 22:1, Note, and comp. Lam. 2:7, where a similar scene is described. Instead of the voices of priest and choir, there have been heard the brutal cries of the heathen as they shouted at their work of destruction like lions roaring over their prey; or if, as some think, the reference in the next clause is to military ensigns, we have a picture of a wild soldiery exulting round the emblem of their triumph.
They set up their ensigns for signs.The Hebrew for ensigns and signs is the same. Possibly the poet meant to have written some word meaning idols, but avoids it from dislike of mentioning the abominable things, and instead of places their idols as signs, writes, places their signs as signs.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
4. Thine enemies roar Having taken the city and entered the temple, the fierce cry of the soldiery was like the roaring of wild beasts.
In the midst of thy congregations Here to be understood of the places of assembly of the people for worship, chiefly the temple and its courts.
They set up their ensigns for signs They have erected their military standards, bearing the insignia of their gods, as trophies or signals of victory, in the holy places. This was a direct challenge to Jehovah, on the part of the heathen conquerors, to deliver his people if he could, as in Psa 74:10; Psa 74:18; Psa 74:22. See Psa 79:10; Isa 10:13; Hab 1:11; Hab 1:16
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Psa 74:4. Thine enemies roar, &c. i.e. “They triumph in those places where thy people formerly met to worship thee.” See Psa 74:7. For signs, means, “As trophies, in token of their conquest over us.”
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Psa 74:4 Thine enemies roar in the midst of thy congregations; they set up their ensigns [for] signs.
Ver. 4. Thine enemies roar ] When they give the onset, or after the victory; our roaring boys are so called by a woeful prolepsis, here, for hereafter.
They set up their ensigns for signs
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
enemies = adversaries.
Thy congregations = Thine assembly.
their. Compare “our”, Psa 74:9.
ensigns for signs = signs as signs [for us].
signs. Same word as “ensigns” and “standard” in Num 2.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Thine: 2Ch 36:17, Lam 2:7, Luk 13:1, Rev 13:6
they set: Jer 6:1-5, Dan 6:27, Mat 24:15, Luk 21:20
Reciprocal: 2Ki 19:28 – thy tumult 2Ch 36:19 – they burnt Psa 74:23 – tumult Psa 79:1 – the heathen Psa 83:2 – lo Isa 37:29 – tumult Lam 1:10 – seen
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Psa 74:4. Thine enemies roar Make loud outcries; either out of rage and fury against the conquered and captivated Israelites, now in their power; or rather, in the way of triumph for their success and victory. In the midst of thy congregations In the places where thy people used to assemble together for thy worship; whereby they designed to insult, not only over us, but over thee also, as if their idols had been too strong for thee. They set up their ensigns for signs As trophies, in token of their victory over us and over thee. No sound, says Dr. Horne, can be more shocking than the confused clamours of a heathen army sacking the temple; no sight so afflicting as that of the abomination of desolation standing in the holy place. Turbulent passions are the enemies which raise an uproar of confusion in the heart; wealth, power, and pleasure are the idols which profane that sanctuary.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
74:4 Thine enemies roar in the midst of thy congregations; they {c} set up their ensigns [for] signs.
(c) They have destroyed your true religion, and spread their banners in sign of defiance.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
These descriptions of the destruction also picture a complete devastation of the sanctuary as the last of God’s successive meeting places (Psa 74:8; cf. Exo 20:24; Psa 78:60-64).