Chapter Seventy-Six

The psalm was written during grave circumstances (Ps 76:3), by which the author was shaken (Ps 76:5). He does not see God’s help; events unfold one more terrible than the next, so the writer in bewildered terror asks: “Has the Lord rejected us forever and has His mercy ceased for all generations?” (Ps 76:8-9). Since the writings make no mention of the destruction of the temple, the chief sanctuary and treasure of Jerusalem and all Judea, about which the author would certainly have mentioned if this event had occurred in his time, the composition of the psalm should be dated to the period before the destruction of Jerusalem. Most likely the psalm was written during the time of King Jehoiakim, when Judea had already experienced a whole series of terrible events, such as the captivity of Manasseh, the death of Josiah in battle with Pharaoh Necho, the twofold campaign of Nebuchadnezzar through Judea. All these events were accompanied by the devastation and ruin of Judea, and the writer of the psalm could have witnessed how these calamities increased steadily, while hopes for their cessation or prevention appeared from nowhere. The writer was a singer from the family of Asaph, who designated his psalm for performance by the choir of Jeduthun.

In the day of great calamities I turn with prayer to the Lord. I have lost sleep and give myself over to reflection: Has the Lord turned away from His people forever and will He no longer pour His mercies upon it (2–11)? Then I began to remember Your great deeds, displayed over the Hebrew people in its past (12–13). You, Holy One, then displayed Your omnipotence over the nations, freed Jacob and Joseph, by Your command the clouds poured water and the earth trembled from the thunders. You led Your people through the sea and, like a flock, guarded them by the hand of Moses and Aaron (14–21).

Psalm 76:2. My voice is to God, and I will cry out; my voice is to God, and He will hear me. “I will cry out” means I will constantly beg God to render help to my people. “He will hear me” means the writer trusts that his sincere prayer will call forth God’s favor. This faith determines the further content of the psalm, when the author moves from depicting the grave events of his time to pointing out God’s benefits in the past life of the Hebrew people, and by recounting these benefits concludes the psalm. His cry, therefore, is not a cry of despair and hopelessness, but a bitter prayer warmed by hope.

Psalm 76:3. In the day of my distress I seek the Lord; my hand is stretched out at night and does not rest; my soul refuses comfort. “My hand is stretched out at night and does not rest” means a prayer position with hands raised to God. This prayer is constant (“my hand does not rest”). “My soul refuses comfort” means that the author is either so overwhelmed by grief that nothing can turn his attention elsewhere, or that the author, upon careful observation of the course of events, sees nothing cheering anywhere, no glimpse of a better future (verse 11).

Psalm 76:7. I remember my songs in the night, I commune with my heart, and my spirit inquires: “My spirit inquires” means it examines everything that happens, and on the basis of this tries to foresee the course of events.

Psalm 76:8. Has the Lord rejected us forever, and will He not be favorable anymore? Psalm 76:9. Has His mercy ceased forever, and is His word cut off to all generations? Psalm 76:10. Has God forgotten to be merciful? Has He in wrath shut up His compassion? The result of this searching attitude toward reality is the saddest: he sees the complete abandonment of the Hebrew people by God. From this arises the bewilderment: “Has the Lord rejected us forever?” “Has His word been cut off to all generations?” By “word” here is meant not God’s revelation to the people, since such was then communicated through the preaching of the prophet Jeremiah, but, in agreement with the subsequent content, which recounts the facts of God’s miraculous help to His people, the word means God’s general favor, God’s protection and help.

Psalm 76:11. And I said: “This is my grief — the change of the right hand of the Most High. “This is my grief — the change of the right hand of the Most High,” the change in God’s relationship toward His people. This change is assumed not by one misfortunate event, misfortune in the life of the people, but by a whole series of them. The author grieves not about a chance occurrence, however terrible, but about God’s continual permission for calamities to pour down upon the Hebrews one after another. The latter is what frightens the writer. Since present life offered nothing cheering for the author, he wished to find consolation in the past and from there draw for himself a source of comfort. He saw the latter in the miraculous guidance of his people by God, which is why he briefly relates some of these facts.

Psalm 76:20. Your way is in the sea, and Your path is in the great waters, and Your footprints are not known. The miraculous passage of the Hebrews through the Red Sea is depicted. “Your path is in the great waters” means the trace of Your omnipotence, the display of it in the dividing of the deep waters; “Your footprints are not known” means in the ordinary way, by natural forces such a fact cannot be explained; it is the work of Your incomprehensible power. The indication by the author of God’s miraculous help to His people in the past apparently comforts the writer and instills faith that sincere turning by the Hebrews to God will be a source for the pouring down of the Lord’s mercy upon them in the present time as well. This is why the author of the psalm said at the beginning: “He will hear me.”