Charles Ellicott Commentary Psalms 74:3

Charles Ellicott Commentary

Psalms 74:3

1819–1905
Anglican
Charles Ellicott
Charles Ellicott

Charles Ellicott Commentary

Psalms 74:3

1819–1905
Anglican
SCRIPTURE

"Lift up thy feet unto the perpetual ruins, All the evil that the enemy hath done in the sanctuary." — Psalms 74:3 (ASV)

Lift up your feet. —Better, Lift your steps. A poetical expression. God is invoked to hasten to view the desolation of the Temple. A somewhat similar expression will be found in Genesis 29:1 (margin).

Perpetual desolations. —The word rendered “desolations” also occurs in Psalms 73:18, where it is rendered “destruction.” Here, perhaps, we should render it as ruins which must be forever ruins, or complete ruins, or possibly, taking the first meaning of netsach, ruins of splendour.Isaiah 11:4 does not offer a parallel, since the Hebrew is different and plainly refers to the long time the places have been in ruins.

Even all ... —Better, the enemy has devastated all in the holy place. 1 Maccabees 1:38-40 and 1 Maccabees 3:45 (Now Jerusalem lay void as a wilderness) give the best explanation of the verse, descriptive, as it is, of the condition of the whole of Zion.