Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Psalms 74:14

Clarke's Commentary

Verse Psalms 74:14. The heads of leviathan — Leviathan might be intended here as a personification of the Egyptian government; and its heads, Pharaoh and his chief captains.

To the people inhabiting the wilderness. — Probably meaning the birds and beasts of prey. These were the people of the wilderness, which fed on the dead bodies of the Egyptians, which the tides had cast ashore. The Vulgate, Septuagint, AEthiopic, and Arabic read, "Thou hast given him for meat to the Ethiopians," or Abyssinians.

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

Psalms 74:0 Israel in captivity

This psalm belongs to the time that followed the destruction of the nation Israel. Assyria conquered the northern kingdom in 722 BC, and Babylon the southern kingdom during the years 605-587 BC. The people were taken captive into foreign lands and the temple in Jerusalem was destroyed (2 Kings 25:8-12). Now, with the centre of their religious life gone, the people feel cut off from God. Worse than that, the bitter years in captivity lead them to doubt God’s faithfulness.

Has God forgotten his covenant with Israel? The people invite him to go and inspect the ruins of the city and the temple. Perhaps it will rouse him to remember his covenant and bring them back to their homeland (1-3). They describe the scene of defilement and destruction in the temple: heathen victory symbols set up in the Holy Place (4); the beautiful woodwork broken, smashed and burnt (5-8); not a messenger of God to be found anywhere in the land (9).
Surely such a sight will rouse God from his inaction and cause him to act for them (10-11). Certainly, he is not lacking in power, for he has worked for them in the past. He directed the world of nature in such a way as to save Israel (12-17). Will he not therefore silence those who dishonour him? Will he not save his helpless people according to the covenant he made with them (18-20)? By acting against the oppressors, God can defend his cause and rescue his people (21-23).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

“Thou brakest the heads of leviathan in pieces; Thou gavest him to be food to the people inhabiting the wilderness. Thou didst cleave fountain and flood: Thou driedst up mighty rivers.”

We reject as irresponsible the claims of certain radicals that we have in this passage references to, “Primitive creation mythology, the Akkadian creation myth, and to the mythical conflict between Marduk and Tiamat.”The Interpreter’s Bible, Vol. IV, p. 397. It may be freely admitted, of course, that some of the terminology here was also used in some of the ancient myths referred to; but as Kidner expressed it, “What Baal had done in the realm of myth, God had actually done in the realm of history, and had done it for his people, ’working salvation’ (Psalms 74:12). What these verses survey is the Exodus and the crossing of the Jordan.”Derek Kidner, Vol. 2, p. 268.

Rhodes reminds us that, “The Babylonians and Canaanites believed their myths to be true, but our psalmist did not. He used some of their language in referring to the Lord in order to state symbolically his power as the one true God and Creator.”The Layman’s Bible Commentary, Vol. 9, p. 110.

As Dummelow pointed out, “The terms ’sea-monsters’ and ’Leviathan’ (or crocodile) are simply figures of speech for Egypt.”J. R. Dummelow’s Commentary., p. 360.

“Food to the people inhabiting the wilderness” This does not mean that Israel fed, literally, upon the bodies of Pharaoh’s army washed ashore, but that Israel was armed with the weapons of the destroyed enemy. The dead bodies no doubt became the food of wild birds and beasts. Dummelow stated that “the people” here refers to the wild animals.Ibid.

“Thou driedst up mighty rivers” The plural is evidently used here for emphasis. Certainly, the primary reference is to Israel’s crossing the Jordan at flood stage, and doing so upon dry land!

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

Thou brakest the heads of leviathan in pieces - On the meaning of the word “leviathan,” see the notes at Job 41:1. The word is used here as descriptive of sea monsters.

And gavest him to be meat - Gavest him for “food.”

To the people inhabiting the wilderness - That is, the sea monsters were killed, and, being thrown on shore, were gathered for food. The “inhabitants of the wilderness” or the desert, may refer either to the wild and savage tribes of men that lived on the shores of the sea, and that subsisted mainly on fish, or it may refer to the wild animals of the desert that consumed such sea monsters as they were cast up on the shore. There is no allusion to the Israelites considered as passing through the desert, as if they had fed on these sea monsters. The essential idea is, that these monsters were put to death, or were so removed but of the way as to offer no obstruction to the passage of the Israelites through the sea. It was as if they had been killed. The image is entirely poetic, and there is no necessity for supposing that such a thing literally occurred.

Smith's Bible Commentary

Psalms 74:1-23

Psalms 74:1-23 is one of those psalms where the psalmist again is speaking of the desolation that is come, and the apparent quietness of God in the face of the desolation. God didn't do anything to stop it. God has allowed this desolation, and God's hand is not yet seen, as far as the delivering of the people.

O God, why hast thou cast us off for ever? Why doth thine anger smoke against the sheep of your pasture? Remember thy congregation, which thou hast purchased of old; the rod of thine inheritance, which thou hast redeemed; this mount Zion, where you have dwelt. Lift up your feet unto the perpetual desolations; even all that the enemy hath done wickedly in the sanctuary. For thine enemies roar in the midst of thy congregations; they set up their ensigns for signs. A man was famous according to as he had lifted up axes upon the thick trees. But now they are breaking down the carved work thereof at once with axes and hammers ( Psalms 74:1-6 ).

And so he speaks of the desolation that had come to the house of God. How they had taken the axe and the hammers and had destroyed the beautiful carved works that were there in the sanctuary of God. And how,

They then set it on fire, and they defiled by casting down the dwelling place of thy name to the ground ( Psalms 74:7 ).

And so the holy of holies was cast down.

They said in their hearts, Let us destroy them together: they have burned up all of the synagogues of God in the land. We see not our signs: there is no more any prophet: neither is there among us any that knows how long ( Psalms 74:8-9 ).

We don't know how long this desolation is gonna go on.

O God, how long shall the adversary reproach? Shall the enemy blaspheme thy name for ever? Why do you withdraw your hand, even your right hand? pluck it out of your bosom, Lord ( Psalms 74:10-11 ).

Get busy God, help us.

For God is my King of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth. You did divide the sea by your strength: you broke the heads of the dragons in the waters. You broke the heads of leviathan in pieces, and gave him to be meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness. You did cleave the fountain and the flood: and you dried up the mighty rivers. The day is thine, the night is also yours: and you have prepared the light and the sun. You have set all the borders of the earth: you have made summer and winter. Remember this, that the enemy hath reproached, O Jehovah, and that the foolish people have blasphemed thy name. O deliver not the soul of your turtledove unto the multitude of the wicked: forget not the congregation of the poor for ever. Have respect unto the covenant: for the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty. O let not the oppressed return ashamed: let the poor and needy praise thy name. Arise, O God, plead thine own cause: remember how the foolish man reproaches thee daily. Forget not the voice of thine enemies: the tumult of those that rise up against thee increases continually ( Psalms 74:12-23 ).

And so the psalmist crying out unto God because of the desolations of the temples, the synagogues, by the enemies, the oppression of God's people. "

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

Psalms 74

The writer appears to have written this communal lament psalm after one of Israel’s enemies destroyed the sanctuary. [Note: See Ralph W. Klein, Israel in Exile: A Theological Interpretation, pp. 19-20.] The Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem and the temple in 586 B.C. may therefore be the background. The writer asked the Lord to remember His people and defeat her enemies, as He had in the past, for His own glory (cf. Psalms 79; Psalms 137; Lam.).

"The temple has been violated. The key symbol of life has been lost. Things in all parts of life fall apart-precisely because the center has not held. This psalm of protest and grief does not concern simply a historical invasion and the loss of a building. It speaks about the violation of the sacral key to all reality, the glue that holds the world together." [Note: Brueggemann, p. 68.]

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

3. An appeal for divine help 74:10-17

The psalmist pleaded for God to help His people and to subdue their enemy. The Lord’s reputation fell with the sanctuary in the eyes of Israel’s neighbors. Ancient Near Easterners regarded a god’s temple as the reflection of his glory. Now that the temple on Mt. Zion had suffered damage, the nations would have concluded that Yahweh was unable to defend His people.

Asaph recalled God’s mighty acts in the past in order to motivate Him to act for His people by defeating their enemy in the present (Psalms 74:12-17). Psalms 74:13-14 describe the crossing of the Red Sea during the Exodus.

". . . the language of Psalms 74:12-14, while tailored to reflect the redemptive character of the Exodus event, also alludes to God’s victory over chaos at creation." [Note: Chisholm, "A Theology . . .," p. 260.]

The sea monsters refer to Pharaoh’s soldiers, and Leviathan was a mythical monster that the writer used to describe Egypt here. The creatures of the wilderness are the Israelites. Psalms 74:15 recalls events in the wilderness wanderings and the crossing of the Jordan. Psalms 74:16-17 go back to God’s creation of the cosmos.

"The point here is that what Baal had claimed in the realm of myth, God had done in the realm of history-and done for His people, working salvation." [Note: Kidner, Psalms 73-150, p. 268.]

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

Thou breakest the heads of leviathan in pieces,.... A large fish, generally thought to be the whale, by some the crocodile, described in Job 41:1 to which the king of Egypt or Babylon is compared, Isaiah 27:1 and so the Romish antichrist in one of his characters is represented as a sea beast with many heads, which will all be broken in pieces in due time, Revelation 13:1, as here is one "leviathan" with heads in the plural number. Aben Ezra thinks the word

כל is wanting, and may be supplied thus, "thou hast broken the heads of every leviathan"; it may be interpreted as before of Pharaoh and his chief men; so the Targum,

"thou hast broken the heads of the mighty men of Pharaoh:''

and gavest him to be meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness; either to the wild beasts, called "tziim", the word here used,

Isaiah 13:21 and may be called a people, as the ants and coneys are,

Proverbs 30:25, to whom the dead bodies of Pharaoh and his host, drowned in the Red sea, were given for food, when they were cast upon the shore, where the Israelites saw them dead, Exodus 14:28, or to the "Ichthyophagy", a sort of people that dwelt by the Red sea, and lived on fishes; and so the Egyptians became their food, they living upon the fish which devoured their bodies, at least some of them: the Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, Ethiopic, and Arabic versions, render it, "to the people", the Ethiopians; who, it seems, living upon the borders of Egypt, took this opportunity, when Pharaoh and his host were drowned, and seized upon their country; but others refer it to the people of Israel themselves, as the Targum,

"thou hast given them for destruction to the people of the house of Israel, and their bodies to the dragons;''

and so Jarchi,

"thou hast given his mammon or riches to the people of Israel, to feed their companies and armies;''

and Kimchi interprets it of the spoil of the sea which the Israelites took from them; and they may be truly called the people inhabiting the wilderness, since they were in one forty years; so the Romish "leviathan", or antichristian whore, will be given to the Christian kings, who will hate her, eat her flesh, and burn her with fire; and to the Christian church, which now is in the wilderness, where it is nourished for a time and times, and half a time.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      12 For God is my King of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth.   13 Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength: thou brakest the heads of the dragons in the waters.   14 Thou brakest the heads of leviathan in pieces, and gavest him to be meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness.   15 Thou didst cleave the fountain and the flood: thou driedst up mighty rivers.   16 The day is thine, the night also is thine: thou hast prepared the light and the sun.   17 Thou hast set all the borders of the earth: thou hast made summer and winter.

      The lamenting church fastens upon something here which she calls to mind, and therefore hath she hope (as Lamentations 3:21), with which she encourages herself and silences her own complaints. Two things quiet the minds of those that are here sorrowing for the solemn assembly:--

      I. That God is the God of Israel, a God in covenant with his people (Psalms 74:12; Psalms 74:12): God is my King of old. This comes in both as a plea in prayer to God (Psalms 44:4, thou art my King, O God!) and as a prop to their own faith and hope, to encourage themselves to expect deliverance, considering the days of old,Psalms 77:5. The church speaks as a complex body, the same in every age, and therefore calls God, "My King, my King of old," or, "from antiquity;" he of old put himself into that relation to them and appeared and acted for them in that relation. As Israel's King, he wrought salvation in the midst of the nations of the earth; for what he did, in the government of the world, tended towards the salvation of his church. Several things are here mentioned which God had done for his people as their King of old, which encouraged them to commit themselves to him and depend upon him.

      1. He had divided the sea before them when they came out of Egypt, not by the strength of Moses or his rod, but by his own strength; and he that could do that could do any thing.

      2. He had destroyed Pharaoh and the Egyptians. Pharaoh was the leviathan; the Egyptians were the dragons, fierce and cruel. Observe, (1.) The victory obtained over these enemies. God broke their heads, baffled their politics, as when Israel, the more they were afflicted by them, multiplied the more. God crushed their powers, though complicated, ruined their country by ten plagues, and at last drowned them all in the Red Sea. This is Pharaoh and all his multitude,Ezekiel 31:18. It was the Lord's doing; none besides could do it, and he did it with a strong hand and an outstretched arm. This was typical of Christ's victory over Satan and his kingdom, pursuant to the first promise, that the seed of the woman should break the serpent's head. (2.) The improvement of this victory for the encouragement of the church: Thou gavest him to be meat to the people of Israel, now going to inhabit the wilderness. The spoil of the Egyptians enriched them; they stripped their slain, and so got the Egyptians' arms and weapons, as before they had got their jewels. Or, rather, this providence was meat to their faith and hope, to support and encourage them in reference to the other difficulties they were likely to meet with in the wilderness. It was part of the spiritual meat which they were all made to eat of. Note, The breaking of the heads of the church's enemies is the joy and strength of the hearts of the church's friends. Thus the companions make a banquet even of leviathan, Job 41:6.

      3. God had both ways altered the course of nature, both in fetching streams out of the rock and turning streams into rock, Psalms 74:15; Psalms 74:15. (1.) He had dissolved the rock into waters: Thou didst bring out the fountain and the flood (so some read it); and every one knows whence it was brought, out of the rock, out of the flinty rock. Let this never be forgotten, but let it especially be remembered that the rock was Christ, and the waters out of it were spiritual drink. (2.) He had congealed the waters into rock: Thou driedst up mighty rapid rivers, Jordan particularly at the time when it overflowed all its banks. He that did these things could now deliver his oppressed people, and break the yoke of the oppressors, as he had done formerly; nay, he would do it, for his justice and goodness, his wisdom and truth, are still the same, as well as his power.

      II. That the God of Israel is the God of nature, Psalms 74:16; Psalms 74:17. It is he that orders the regular successions and revolutions, 1. Of day and night. He is the Lord of all time. The evening and the morning are of his ordaining. It is he that opens the eyelids of the morning light, and draws the curtains of the evening shadow. He has prepared the moon and the sun (so some read it), the two great lights, to rule by day and by night alternately. The preparing of them denotes their constant readiness and exact observance of their time, which they never miss a moment. 2. Of summer and winter: "Thou hast appointed all the bounds of the earth, and the different climates of its several regions, for thou hast made summer and winter, the frigid and the torrid zones; or, rather, the constant revolutions of the year and its several seasons." Herein we are to acknowledge God, from whom all the laws and powers of nature are derived; but how does this come in here? (1.) He that had power at first to settle, and still to preserve, this course of nature by the diurnal and annual motions of the heavenly bodies, has certainly all power both to save and to destroy, and with him nothing is impossible, nor are any difficulties or oppositions insuperable. (2.) He that is faithful to his covenant with the day and with the night, and preserves the ordinances of heaven inviolable will certainly make good his promise to his people and never cast off those whom he has chosen, Jeremiah 31:36; Jeremiah 33:20; Jeremiah 33:21. His covenant with Abraham and his seed is as firm as that with Noah and his sons, Genesis 8:21. (3.) Day and night, summer and winter, being counterchanged in the course of nature, throughout all the borders of the earth, we can expect no other than that trouble and peace, prosperity and adversity, should be, in like manner, counterchanged in all the borders of the church. We have as much reason to expect affliction as to expect night and winter. But we have then no more reason to despair of the return of comfort than we have to despair of day and summer.