Psalms 74:8

They said in their hearts, let us destroy them together,.... The Targum is, "their children, are together;'' or "their kindred", as the Septuagint Vulgate Latin, Ethiopic, and Arabic versions, taking

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.

Destroy them together, root and branch, one as well as another, or all at once. So they desired, and many of them intended, although afterwards, it seems, they changed their counsel, and carried some away captives, and left others to manage the land. All the synagogues of God in the land, i.e. all the public places wherein the Jews used to meet together to worship God every sabbath day, as is noted, , and upon other occasions. That the Jews had such synagogues is manifest, both from these and other places of Scripture; and from the testimony of the Hebrew doctors, and other ancient and learned writers, who affirm it, and particularly of Jerusalem, in which they say there were above four hundred synagogues; and from the nature and necessity of the thing; for seeing it is undeniable that they did worship God publicly, in every sabbath, and other holy times, even then when they neither did nor could go up to Jerusalem, both conscience and prudence must needs direct them to appoint convenient places for that purpose.

Psalms 74:8 They said in their hearts, Let us destroy them together: they have burned up all the synagogues of God in the land.Ver. 8. Let us destroy them together] "Them," that is, the saints; let us prey upon them, as hawks do upon doves: or "them," that is, the temples and schools; these the devil ever sought to destroy, as contrary to his kingdom; and so he doth still by the Turks and Papists and other heretics. They have burnt up all the synayoyues] These were a kind of chapels of ease to the temple at Jerusalem, and in these the people met frequently, on the sabbath especially, for holy exercises, as we do in our churches. The good centurion built one of these, Luke 7:5. See James 2:2.

(8) All the synagogues of God in the land.—This expression excludes from moed either of the meanings possible for it in Psalms 74:4, “the Temple” or “the assembly.” Buildings, and these places of worship, must be meant, and it is implied that they are scattered over the land, and can therefore mean nothing but synagogues. The “high places” would’ not be called God’s, nor would Bethel and Dan have been so called, being connected with irregular and unorthodox worship. Thus we have a clear note of time, indicating a period not only later than the rise of the synagogue in Ezra’s time, but much later, since it takes time for a new institution to spread over a country. Aquila and Symmachus actually render “synagogues.” Possibly the LXX. are right in putting the latter clause into the mouth of the enemies, “let us burn,” &c

Verse 8. Let us destroy them] Their object was totally to annihilate the political existence of the Jewish people. They have burned up all the synagogues of God in the land.] It is supposed that there were no synagogues in the land till after the Babylonish captivity. How then could the Chaldeans burn up any in Judea? The word מועדי moadey, which we translate synagogues, may be taken in a more general sense, and mean any places where religious assemblies were held: and that such places and assemblies did exist long before the Babylonish captivity, is pretty evident from different parts of Scripture. It appears that Elisha kept such at his house on the sabbaths and new moons. See 2Kg 4:23. And perhaps to such St. James may refer, Acts 15:23, a species of synagogues, where the law was read of old, in every city of the land. And it appears that such religious meetings were held at the house of the Prophet Ezekiel, Ezekiel 33:31. And perhaps every prophet's house was such. This is the only place in the Old Testament where we have the word synagogue. Indeed, wherever there was a place in which God met with patriarch or prophet, and any memorial of it was preserved, there was a מועד moed, or place of religious meeting; and all such places the Chaldeans would destroy, pursuant to their design to extinguish the Jewish religion, and blot out all its memorials from the earth. And this was certainly the most likely means to effect their purpose. How soon would Christianity be destroyed in England if all the churches, chapels, and places of worship were destroyed, and only the poor of the people left in the land; who, from their circumstances, could not build a place for the worship of God! After such desolation, what a miracle was the restoration of the Jews!

8. They said in their heart, Let us crush them altogether: They burned up all the meeting places of God in the land. For the form of expression cp. Psalms 83:4. The interpretation of this verse is specially important in its bearing on the date of the Psalm. It would be a strong argument for the late date if it really contained an allusion to synagogues. Though the origin of these buildings for purposes of worship and instruction is hidden in obscurity, it can hardly have been earlier than the post-exilic period. (See Schürer, Hist. of the Jewish People, Div. ii. § 27, E.T. ii. ii. 54.) But it is doubtful whether there is any such allusion. The word translated synagogues is the same as that used in Psalms 74:4, meaning either place or time of meeting. In the plural it always has the latter meaning. Now if the Psalm were Maccabaean and the passage referred to synagogues, it might be expected that the LXX translators, working no long time afterwards, would have so understood it. But they do not; and apparently they had a different text before them, for they render: Come, let us cause the feasts of the Lord to cease out of the land. Similarly the Syriac. These versions then understand the words to refer to the festivals or solemn assemblies. Now the cessation of the festivals is one of the points mentioned in the Lamentations (Psalms 1:4; Psalms 2:6) as a special calamity; and in Hosea 2:11. the Heb. word presumed by the LXX here is used in the prediction of the cessation of religious festivals in the Captivity. This reading and interpretation suit the context. The stated festivals were among the ‘signs,’ the symbols of God’s presence and favour, of which Psalms 74:9 speaks.

They said in their hearts - They purposed; they designed it. Let us destroy them together - Let us destroy all these buildings, temples, towers, and walls at the same time; let us make an entire destruction of them all.

8. They said… Let us destroy them together—We will destroy them at once: or utterly; that is, all the sacred places of Jehovah.