Psalm 74

Psalm 73 deals with a personal crisis of faith, but Psalm 74 moves to the national scene and focuses on the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem by the Babylonians in 587-86 bc. The author is obviously not the Asaph of David’s day but a namesake among his descendants. Psalm 79 is a companion psalm, and you will find parallel passages in the book of Lamentations (v. 4/2:6-7; v. 7/2:2; v. 9/2:6, 9) and Jeremiah (vv. 6-7/10:25; vv. 1, 13/23:1). Even though the prophets had warned that judgment was coming (2 Chron. 36:15-21), the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the temple were catastrophic events that shook the people’s faith. As he surveyed the situation, Asaph moved from despair to confidence and in the end affirmed that all was not lost.