O God, how long shall the adversary reproach? shall the enemy blaspheme thy name for ever?
Psalm 74 is one of the post-Davidic psalms associated with the Babylonian captivity, reflecting the sorrow and desolation of the captives together with their longing for deliverance and their prayers for it. It belongs to a lament over the absence of signs and prophets, when the prophetic voice has been withdrawn and there is no one who knows how long the distress will last. In that setting it asks how long the adversary shall reproach and the enemy shall blaspheme the divine name, expressing anguish at apparent divine inaction in the face of such hostility.
The question forms part of a plea for God to act, joined to the cry of the next verse over why He has withdrawn His hand, and that withdrawn hand is His right hand, a condition understood as the withholding of the prophetic gift. In the face of bitter opposition the same question voices how long hostility will continue. It will not continue forever, for all things will be made new and evildoers will be cut off.
Psalm 74 is one of the post-Davidic psalms associated with the Babylonian captivity, reflecting the sorrow and desolation of the captives together with their longing for deliverance and their prayers for it. It belongs to a lament over the absence of signs and prophets, when the prophetic voice has been withdrawn and there is no one who knows how long the distress will last. In that setting it asks how long the adversary shall reproach and the enemy shall blaspheme the divine name, expressing anguish at apparent divine inaction in the face of such hostility.
The question forms part of a plea for God to act, joined to the cry of the next verse over why He has withdrawn His hand, and that withdrawn hand is His right hand, a condition understood as the withholding of the prophetic gift. In the face of bitter opposition the same question voices how long hostility will continue. It will not continue forever, for all things will be made new and evildoers will be cut off.