Psalms 74:4

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

Lift up thy feet unto the perpetual desolations; even all that the enemy hath done wickedly in the sanctuary. -The enemy has destroyed God's sanctuary and synagogues, and there are no tokens of God's presence in the land.

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.

Psalms 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] They set them up upon the very temple (as if they had conquered God himself), those their trophies and monuments of victory, Posuerunt signa sua, signa (Kimchi). Some refer us for the sense of these words to Ezekiel 21:21; others render them thus, They have brought in their signs, or profane pictures, for the sacred signs; and so have polluted these holy places (R. Solom.). Besides what Antiochus did (concerning which see the books of Maccabees and Josephus) in aftertimes, the arms of Rome were set upon the temple, and a swine engraven over the gate; this was the abomination of desolation foretold by our Saviour, Matthew 24:15.

(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 Psalms 74:8, where see Note for the meaning of the word. For “roared,” see Psalms 22:1, Note, and comp. Lamentations 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.

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.] שמו אותתם אתות 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 Jeremiah 52:7; Jeremiah 52:18; Jeremiah 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.

4–9. A graphic picture of the desecration of the Temple by the heathen enemies of Israel.

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.

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.