Psalms 74


MASCHIL OF ASAPH
[Psalms 74:1] O GOD, WHY HAST THOU CAST US OFF FOR EVER? WHY DOTH THINE ANGER SMOKE  AGAINST THE SHEEP OF THY PASTURE?
David is speaking as a recourse against despair. He has  foreseen the apparent disowning of Judah and tribulation of Judah in Exile.
Brit-Am preaches about the Lost Ten Tribes being in the west.
A small minority of those who feel the same way have adopted anti-Jewish positions.
Alternately they may not be anti-Jewish but they speak as if the Jews are not Judah.
We have written against this pernicious doctrine:
http://britam.org/judah.html
Aternately they speak as if the Jews are not in favor of the Almighty.   Proponents of such views speak falsely. What is more they are in fact enemies of  our own Brit-Am truth.
They are working against the need for recognition of the Lost Ten Tribes to be accepted by Judah.  Not only that but many in "Joseph" will not accept or want to be in any associated with "Identity" type messages as long as they in the slightest way are associated with anti-Semitic doctrines.
There can be ZERO toleration for articles bearing any anti-Jewish doctrine or sentiment  even if  they otherwise contain some valid points.
Brit-Am is in fact THE organization that can potentially promote "Brit-Am" truths.
That is the rationale behind our article,
 "Brit-Am is the True British-Israel Movement!!
  British-Israelite Ideology in the Light of Reality"
http://britam.org/British-Israel.html
Nevertheless,  We also need to give credit where credit is due.
British-Israel was never entirely negative and always contained positive elements.
The management of British-Israel has recently changed and it may that a more Israelite-and-Judah friendly approach will emerge.
 
[Psalms 74:2] REMEMBER THY CONGREGATION, WHICH THOU HAST PURCHASED OF OLD; THE ROD OF  THINE INHERITANCE, WHICH THOU HAST REDEEMED; THIS MOUNT ZION, WHEREIN THOU HAST DWELT.
 <<THE ROD>>: In Hebrew "shevet". This word also means "Tribe" i.e. The Tribe of  YOUR inheritance.  "Shevet" is also translated as "scepter" e.g.
"THE SCEPTRE {"shevet"] SHALL NOT DEPART FROM JUDAH" [Genesis 49:10]
i.e. Judah shall always be recognizable as an Israelite Tribe.
The Almighty Himself stands surety for Judah.
God has redeemed Israel and Judah.
The Promise contains the seeds of Redemption.               
 
[Psalms 74:3] LIFT UP THY FEET UNTO THE PERPETUAL DESOLATIONS; EVEN ALL THAT THE ENEMY HATH DONE WICKEDLY IN THE SANCTUARY.
David is calling in the name of Judah and Israel for the Almighty to restore the desolate Land of Israel and to rebuild the Temple that was destroyed by the enemy.
The Arabs and the friends of the Arabs continue the Temple Destruction by their abominations , houses of worship, and ongoing physical desecration of the Holy Site.
They who tolerate and even actively support Arab presence on the Tempke Mount are participating in the Temple Destruction.
The Arabs are actually now ACTIVELY DIGGING UP remnants of the Temple and throwing them by the truckload  in garbage dumps
and dirt spills.
Jewish patriots and simply lovers of the past assist archaeologists  who in "almost-underground" sift through this garbage looking for First and Second Temple remains and often finding them!                  
 
[Psalms 74:4] THINE ENEMIES ROAR IN THE MIDST OF THY CONGREGATIONS; THEY SET UP THEIR   ENSIGNS FOR SIGNS.
<< THINE ENEMIES>>:  Hebrew "Tsororeca" literally "Your oppressors".  They who persecute and oppress Judah and Israel are considered as if they were oppressing the Almighty. To some extent such is indeed their intention.
The Jews (and to a lesser degree even the British and Americans) represent the expression of Divine Providence, reward and punishment, and Biblical Values in this world.
The enemies of Zionism are proud of their shameful disgraceful views and shout them out.
It is as if under the banner of "anti-Zionism" all the dregs of  perdition have banded together, i.e. homosexuals, sexual maniacs, Nazis, Communists, Islamic extremists, European freethinkers, and any other reprobates  one can think of  that blacked the name of humanity. They will be there besmirtching the "Zionists". They even have their own organization.
It is called "The United Nations"!
Judging by  the subjects the UN concentrates upon one would think that Anti-Zionism was its reason for existence!                    
 
[Psalms 74:5] A MAN WAS FAMOUS ACCORDING AS HE HAD LIFTED UP AXES UPON THE THICK  TREES.                     
 
[Psalms 74:6] BUT NOW THEY BREAK DOWN THE CARVED WORK THEREOF AT ONCE WITH AXES AND HAMMERS.
<<WITH AXES AND HAMMERS>>:  This is better translated from the Hebrew as "with chisels and scrapers they pund away".  The Arabs bring in huge bulldozers and earth-moving equipment with financed by Saudi money  coutesy of oil companies who befoul the environment and use their profits to fight against environmental issues.  They also subsidize "thing tanks" who design plans to bring "peace in the Middle East" which is usually an euphemism for the murder of Jews by maniacal Islamists.                  
 
[Psalms 74:7] THEY HAVE CAST FIRE INTO THY SANCTUARY, THEY HAVE DEFILED BY CASTING DOWN  THE DWELLING PLACE OF THY NAME TO THE GROUND.  
<< THY SANCTUARY>>: Hebrew "Moadeca" which is a play on words. It connotes both "annual festival" (moad), meeting place (me-vead), and "make known unto".  The Temple was the place unto which all Israelite Males three times a year on the annual festivals made a pilgrimage.
The Temple was meeting place for all Israel.
The Temple was the place where the Almighty made Himself known unto us, as it says,
AND THERE I WILL MEET WITH THEE [Exodus 25:22] or in Hebrew "No-Adati" (I will make MYSELF known) there unto you (cf. Rashi).                
 
[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. 
The Jews were hunted down, tortured and killed  throughout much of Eastern Europe.
Historically similar attitudes have prevailed in the west.
     <<SYNAGOGUES OF GOD>>:  Hebrew "Moadei-El" rendered by S.R. Hisch as "mmeting places of God".    
We have interpreted this section of the Psalm as referring to Judah and such would seem to be its primary intention.  The message however is ALSO pertinent to those who seek God and endeavor to live a righteous life while supporting their families and trying to by as best they can.   
God-fearing people in the West sometimes feel discriminated against and persecuted. These feelings do not emerge from a vacuum.  The doers of evil are indeed taking over and parading their perversions in the faces of they who would prefer goodness.
Nevertheless, the Almighty will be with us and will show us the way to go in.
We will not be deserted nor alone.
God will be with us.
God is there.
Speak to HIM and HE will make HIMSELF known unto you.   
 [Psalms 74:9] WE SEE NOT OUR SIGNS: THERE IS NO MORE ANY PROPHET: NEITHER IS THERE AMONG US ANY THAT KNOWETH HOW LONG.
There is no-one amongst us whom we know of who has Divine Communication. We cannot be sure of anything. There is no-one to tell us how long the present situation will last.                     
 
[Psalms 74:10] O GOD, HOW LONG SHALL THE ADVERSARY REPROACH? SHALL THE ENEMY BLASPHEME THY NAME FOR EVER?  
The atheists and freethinkers use the presence of injustice and hardship  in this world to justify their disbelief.  Not believing however is not simply a matter of having a different opinion as in some academic-type exercise. Not believing more often than not entails bad behavior  along with hurting oneself and others quite badly and imposing disbelieving notions on the gullible.
The less the intervention of the Divine Presence is felt in this world the stronger does the power of the adversary become.
In Hebrew the word for "adversary" is "satan". This is not the word translated as "adversary" above which is "tsar" and in Hebrew means "oppressor" or "rival".  The freethinkers are "rivals" to us. They are contesting with us for our lives, for the right to live in the way we understand the Almighty wants us to do.                 
 
[Psalms 74:11] WHY WITHDRAWEST THOU THY HAND, EVEN THY RIGHT HAND? PLUCK IT OUT OF THY  BOSOM.    
This is a call to the Almighty to intervene more clearly to our perception in the affairs of of the world.                
 
[Psalms 74:12] FOR GOD IS MY KING OF OLD, WORKING SALVATION IN THE MIDST OF THE EARTH.
God is our king. He has helped us on many occasions. Each one of us in our own existence has at some time or other to some degree experienced the Hand of the Almighty helping us. In times of trouble and stress we should remember the good that God did for us in the past.                  
 
[Psalms 74:13] THOU DIDST DIVIDE THE SEA BY THY STRENGTH: THOU BRAKEST THE HEADS OF THE  DRAGONS IN THE WATERS.                     
<<DRAGONS>>:  In Hebrew "taninim" which word in Modern hebrew means "crocodiles". S.R. Hirsch translates it here to mean "sea-peoples" but in his Commentary on Psalms applies it to the Egyptians who pursued the Israelites when they crossed through Red Sea on dry land (Exodus ch.14).
 
[Psalms 74:14] THOU BRAKEST THE HEADS OF LEVIATHAN IN PIECES, AND GAVEST HIM TO BE MEAT  TO THE PEOPLE INHABITING THE WILDERNESS.                     
<<LEVIATHAN>>: This was some kind of sea-monster.
Most of the Classical Rabbinical Commentators equate Leviathan with Pharaoh of Egypt who oppressed the Israelites and who was smashed tp pieces together with his chariots in the Red Sea. They therefore understand Leviathan to be an historical reference concerning the past.
Our practice however is to look for an application pertinent to our own time or to the End Days in general.
 
For a discussion of some of the legends and traditions concerning Leviathan see the Wikipedia article.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leviathan
Thomas Hobbes in  1651 published the book "Leviathan". In this work "Leviathan" represents the power of the Commonwealth or State and is a positive element. Later the term came to be applied to Governmental Bureaucracy in general depicted as a giant monster with a life and purpose of existence of its own.
Since Leviathan was considered a kind of sea-monster and dragon it also became loosely identified with Britain. In the nineteenth century Britain was  the major sea-power. The symbol of Wales is a dragon which could be equated with Leviathan. The Welsh are considered the Ancient Britons and since they are represented by a dragon Leviathan could be used to represent Britain in general. 
Leviathan was known as Lotan to the Cananites (?) of Ugarit on the Syrian coast. Lotan may also have been associated with Latona the mother of  Apollo who in one version came from the Land of the Hyperboreans which is often taken to mean Britain. Latona and Apollo were worshipped by the Philistines and according to Robert Graves this worship formed a link between the Philistines of the Land of Israel, Delos in Greece, and the British Isles.
 
The  legend of Latona and Apollo is connected with Stonehenge in Britain:
 
Diodorus Siculus (ii., 47, ):
<<We think that no one will consider it foreign to our subject to say a word respecting the Hyperboreans.
<<Amongst the writers who have occupied themselves with the mythology of the ancients, Hecataeus [ca. 300s BCE] and some others tell us that opposite the land of the Celts. [ ] there exists in the Ocean an island [Britain] not smaller than Sicily, and which, situated under the constellation of The Bear, is inhabited by the Hyperboreans; so called because they live beyond the point from which the North wind. blows. . . . If one may believe the same mythology, Latona was born in this island, and for that reason the inhabitants honor Apollo more than any other deity. A sacred enclosure [ ] is dedicated to him in the island, as well as a magnificent circular temple adorned with many rich offerings. . . . The Hyperboreans are in general very friendly to the Greeks.>>
The "sacred enclosure" that Hecataeus said was dedicated to Apollo is identified with Stonehenge.
http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/eng/sac/sac08.htm
 
[Psalms 74:15] THOU DIDST CLEAVE THE FOUNTAIN AND THE FLOOD: THOU DRIEDST UP MIGHTY RIVERS.  
The Almighty cleaved the Red Sea and later split the Jordan River in twain  for the sake of Israel.                
 
[Psalms 74:16] THE DAY IS THINE, THE NIGHT ALSO IS THINE: THOU HAST PREPARED THE LIGHT AND  THE SUN.                     
 
[Psalms 74:17] THOU HAST SET ALL THE BORDERS OF THE EARTH: THOU HAST MADE SUMMER AND  WINTER.
Everything has a limitation and a season of its own determined by the Almighty.                    
 
[Psalms 74:18] REMEMBER THIS, THAT THE ENEMY HATH REPROACHED, O LORD, AND THAT THE  FOOLISH PEOPLE HAVE BLASPHEMED THY NAME.                     
 
[Psalms 74:19] O DELIVER NOT THE SOUL OF THY TURTLEDOVE UNTO THE MULTITUDE OF THE WICKED:  FORGET NOT THE CONGREGATION OF THY POOR FOR EVER. 
  <<TURTLEDOVE>>: In Hebrew "tor". The dove has only one partner. The dove is also unable to defend itself.  The ONLY natural  partner and source of succor for Israel so the Almighty. Whether we possess prowess or not there is always somebody better or it not at least there is always somebody capable of overcoming us in  some way or other. Only the Almighty saves us and only to HIM should we have recourse. HE will help us.                
 
[Psalms 74:20] HAVE RESPECT UNTO THE COVENANT: FOR THE DARK PLACES OF THE EARTH ARE FULL  OF THE HABITATIONS OF CRUELTY.
The last section of this section may also be translated as saying:
"They that darken the earth give a dwelling-space for violent extortion".
Those who deny the Almighty allow criminal and extortioner elements to take control of the innocent and helpless.                    
 
[Psalms 74:21] O LET NOT THE OPPRESSED RETURN ASHAMED: LET THE POOR AND NEEDY PRAISE  THY NAME.   
I once met a girl who had been raped when young by an education official.  She said she did not believe in the Almighty or at least not in the need to be religious since she felt that God would not watch over her in her hour of distress.
Most of us to some degree or other in dark moments have experienced similar traumas though not necessarily in the physical sense though this too is not uncommon. 
At the time when the girl told me she did not believe I did not know what to reply and even now I do not think I do.
 
 We are however altogether an interconnected, interdependent, unity on one level but on another all quite alone.
 
The fact is that the Almighty does help.
It may not be clear to why at some stages the help is not felt while at others it is. We can also always throw out some kind of magic formula like "pray", "learn", "believe", etc. These formulae actually do work.
 
If you pray and do the best you can sooner or later the Almighty in some way will make HIMSELF known unto you. After that you may continue to ascend spiritually or you may go backwards. Nevertheless the imprint of the experience will always be with you and will help you.
When the Children of Israel came out of Egypt and entered the land of Canaan to conquer it they experienced the Presence of the Almighty on a communal level as one united body. Somewhere in our collective subconscious the impression of this experience must still remain.
The impression must remain in the spiritual awareness of all humankind and be pertinent also even to those of us whose ancestors were not Hebrews.  By prayer and good intention we may tune into what once was and be revived through it.                  
 
[Psalms 74:22] ARISE, O GOD, PLEAD THINE OWN CAUSE: REMEMBER HOW THE FOOLISH MAN REPROACHETH THEE DAILY.
<<FOOLISH MAN>>: Hebrew "naval" meaning "wind-bag", "ingrate", "criminally stupid" or "stupidly criminal".                    
 
[Psalms 74:23] FORGET NOT THE VOICE OF THINE ENEMIES: THE TUMULT OF THOSE THAT RISE UP  AGAINST THEE INCREASETH CONTINUALLY. 
Every day that goes by without Divine Providence manifesting Itself openly do the fools and reprobates increase their denials of the truth.