Albert Barnes Commentary Psalms 74:9

"We see not our signs: There is no more any prophet; Neither is there among us any that knoweth how long." — Psalms 74:9 (ASV)

We see not our signs — The emblems of worship, or the national emblems or banners, which we were accustomed to see. There are no signals or tokens of our nationality in the land. All have been removed by the invaders, and we see everywhere evidences of the presence of a foreign power. The marks of our own independence are gone. The nation is subdued and conquered.

There is no more any prophet — No one is raised up as the special messenger of God to assure us of his favor, or to take the lead in the national troubles. In times of danger, God had been accustomed to send them some special teacher who would declare his will, direct the nation what to do, and give encouraging assurances that the national troubles would cease, and that deliverance would come. They saw no such messengers of God now.

This is not inconsistent with the supposition that this psalm was written before the captivity and during the Chaldean invasion, or with the supposition that Jeremiah was then alive, for the meaning may be, not that there was literally no prophet in the land, but that no one had come from God as a special messenger of comfort and deliverance. Ruin had come upon them, and there were no indications of divine interposition on their behalf.

Neither is there among us any that knoweth how long — How long these calamities will continue. No one can tell when they will end. The prophetic office seemed to have ceased among them. It was renewed, however, after the captivity, in the case of Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, Haggai, and Malachi.