My wife and I are reading through the Psalms in our evening reading and occasionally a nugget of the Psalms jumps out of the page. Don’t you love it when, after years of reading the “Old Book” passages become alive, reinforcing old teachings or simply warming your heart.
This is the book of Psalms, and it is rich.
I pray I can communicate a portion of the blessing we receive from this wonderful book.
Psalm 74:1 A Maskil of Asaph. O God, why do you cast us off forever? Why does your anger smoke against the sheep of your pasture?
Psalm 74:2 Remember your congregation, which you have purchased of old, which you have redeemed to be the tribe of your heritage! Remember Mount Zion, where you have dwelt.
Psalm 74:3 Direct your steps to the perpetual ruins; the enemy has destroyed everything in the sanctuary!
Before we dig into this psalm, it may be good to recognize that the background to this psalm is somewhat debatable. Does Asaph refer to the times of the tabernacle being overtaken at Shiloh, as the Philistines took the ark and defeated the Israelites? Asaph does speak of Shiloh in a future Psalm, of God’s abandonment of the tabernacle at Shiloh.
Or might this description of the sanctuary being destroyed be referring to the Babylonian invasion, with the author being of the sons of Asaph.
These questions will not be resolved in this post of course, but the fact that this psalm may refer to one of multiple falls of the sanctuary speaks of the impact of our own selfish behavior in relation to the people of God.
As we ignore (or refuse) to be the church, our enemy will come and seek to destroy, whether it be by outside or inside forces. Worse yet, and for Asaph the focus of this Psalm, is that God Himself pulls away from the sanctuary, allowing the sanctuary to be defiled, destroyed and abandoned, giving our enemy an apparent victory.
The topic of God abandoning His sanctuary, abandoning His people is the struggle Asaph speaks of in this psalm. As with Psalm 73, where Asaph struggled with the ease of the wicked, this psalm also provides us a glimpse into the faith struggle of this great man of God.
Our introductory verses speak of Asaph’s shock, of how God had cast off His people forever. Let us not dull the sharpness of this question. To be cast off is to be spurned, to be forcefully rejected.
David warned his son of this danger!
1 Chronicles 28:9 “And you, Solomon my son, know the God of your father and serve him with a whole heart and with a willing mind, for the LORD searches all hearts and understands every plan and thought. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will cast you off forever.
This question of being cast off flies in the face of the constant claims of God’s promises for the people of God. Asaph will attempt to remind God of who He is and how He has made claims and promises to the people He has led.
The Sheep of His pasture
This phrase speaks of God’s ownership of His people. Some may relate this phrase to God’s ownership of Israel due to His creative acts, that the nation is His due to the original creation, and they were the chosen people for His purposes.
The concept of creation and purchasing is intertwined in Asaph’s plea to God.
The congregation He purchased
קָנָה qânâh – To purchase, sometimes to create. Moses used this term in relating to the nation being redeemed from Egypt.
Exodus 15:13a “You have led in your steadfast love the people whom you have redeemed.
Eve declared she had “gotten” a man with the help of God using the same term.
Genesis 4:1 Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, “I have gotten a man with the help of the LORD.”
God has created this nation of Israel out of nothing, for what nation has ever begun from a promise to a single barren man? His creation of the nation of Israel truly mimics His creation at the beginning. Out of nothing, God creates all things!
Asaph understands this, and reminds our God of His ownership and purchase of the people He is acting against.
The people He redeemed
גָּאַל gâʼal
Those He redeemed are the people of His inheritance. The redemption spoken of here looks back to the time when they were under bondage, when they had no strength, no freedom, and no hope. After the sanctuary had been destroyed, these redeemed were again experiencing the same condition of bondage and the loss of hope.
Asaph is reminding his God of the redemption He provided and is now effectively lost to His people. How could this happen?
Based on these descriptions of how God has related to the nation, Asaph implores Him to pay attention, to act, to run to their rescue, to come and help. God has obviously been absent, even working actively against the sheep of His pasture. Asaph is asking for His return, His turning back to His people.
The works of God are mysterious, and as the people of God, we understand so little at times. Even as we see through a glass darkly, and at times when the Lord may be teaching very hard lessons, we have the knowledge those of the Old Testament only imagined. Our God, no matter the situations we find ourselves in, know of the Messiah, of His acts of sacrifice, of His showing the love of God to weak, broken and helpless sinners.
We know of His person, for He walked with us, and died for us. He is with us, and we can take comfort in the midst of trials we don’t fully understand. For Asaph, he will continue to struggle with the conditions he is living in, just as we might.
Thankfully, we have the blessing of knowing the One who proved the love of God for us.
May His name be praised!
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Considering the Bible 