Verses 1-23

Psalm 74

The Enemy in the Sanctuary

1. The Prayer on account of the enemy (Psalms 74:1-3)

2. The work of the enemy (Psalms 74:4-9)

3. Intercession for intervention (Psalms 74:10-23)

This is a Psalm for instruction, a Maschil Psalm. The enemy is seen in the sanctuary. This has been applied to the defilement of the temple by Antiochus Epiphanes, but prophetically it rather refers to that end-time, when the enemy will defile the temple with the abomination of desolation (Matthew 24:15). Then the remnant loving the sanctuary tells the Lord about it as we read in this Psalm, and in a mighty intercession pleads for intervention. “O deliver not the soul of thy turtledove (Israel) unto the multitude of the wicked--Have respect unto the covenant, for the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty.” How true that will be during the great time of trouble. And then the cry to God to arise.