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Text -- Psalms 74:14 (NET)

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Context
74:14 You crushed the heads of Leviathan; you fed him to the people who live along the coast.
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Names, People and Places, Dictionary Themes and Topics

Names, People and Places:
 · Leviathan a twisting aquatic monster, possibly the crocodile of the Nile, and used symbolically of Assyria and Babylonia (by the twisting Euphrates River IBD).


Dictionary Themes and Topics: WILD BEAST | Sea Monster | Psalms | PSALMS, BOOK OF | Nation | NIGHT-MONSTER | Music | Leviathan | JACKAL | INTERCESSION | GOD, 2 | DRAGON | Asaph | Afflictions and Adversities | more
Table of Contents

Word/Phrase Notes
Wesley , JFB , Clarke , Defender , TSK

Word/Phrase Notes
Barnes , Poole , Gill

Verse Notes / Footnotes
NET Notes , Geneva Bible

Verse Range Notes
TSK Synopsis , MHCC , Matthew Henry , Keil-Delitzsch , Constable

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Commentary -- Word/Phrase Notes (per phrase)

Wesley: Psa 74:14 - -- Pharaoh.

Pharaoh.

Wesley: Psa 74:14 - -- To the ravenous birds and beasts of the desert. These creatures are significantly called the people of the wilderness, because they are the only peopl...

To the ravenous birds and beasts of the desert. These creatures are significantly called the people of the wilderness, because they are the only people that inhabit it.

JFB: Psa 74:13-15 - -- Examples of the "salvation wrought" are cited.

Examples of the "salvation wrought" are cited.

JFB: Psa 74:13-15 - -- That is, Red Sea.

That is, Red Sea.

JFB: Psa 74:13-15 - -- Pharaoh and his host (compare Isa 51:9-10; Eze 29:3-4).

Pharaoh and his host (compare Isa 51:9-10; Eze 29:3-4).

JFB: Psa 74:14 - -- The word is a collective, and so used for many.

The word is a collective, and so used for many.

JFB: Psa 74:14 - -- That is, wild beasts, as conies (Pro 30:25-26), are called a people. Others take the passages literally, that the sea monsters thrown out on dry land ...

That is, wild beasts, as conies (Pro 30:25-26), are called a people. Others take the passages literally, that the sea monsters thrown out on dry land were food for the wandering Arabs.

Clarke: Psa 74:14 - -- The heads of leviathan - Leviathan might be intended here as a personification of the Egypttan government; and its heads, Pharaoh and his chief capt...

The heads of leviathan - Leviathan might be intended here as a personification of the Egypttan government; and its heads, Pharaoh and his chief captains

Clarke: Psa 74:14 - -- 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 d...

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, Ethiopic, and Arabic read, "Thou hast given him for meat to the Ethiopians,"or Abyssinians.

Defender: Psa 74:14 - -- The "people" mentioned here may refer to the fish and other marine creatures whose habitats were overwhelmed in the Flood, but were not preserved on t...

The "people" mentioned here may refer to the fish and other marine creatures whose habitats were overwhelmed in the Flood, but were not preserved on the ark (which contained only land animals). The Hebrew word usually refers to human tribes but can also be used for animal flocks (Pro 30:25). The carcasses of the mighty leviathans could have provided sustenance to sustain marine life through the cataclysm."

TSK: Psa 74:14 - -- leviathan : Psa 104:25, Psa 104:26; Job 3:8 *marg. Job 41:1-34; Isa 27:1; Rev 20:2 meat : Psa 72:9; Exo 12:35, Exo 12:36, Exo 14:30; Num 14:9

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Commentary -- Word/Phrase Notes (per Verse)

Barnes: Psa 74:14 - -- 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 desc...

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.

Poole: Psa 74:14 - -- The heads i.e. the head; called heads , partly for the greatness of this beast, as that great monster is called beasts , Job 40:20 , for the same r...

The heads i.e. the head; called heads , partly for the greatness of this beast, as that great monster is called beasts , Job 40:20 , for the same reason; and partly for the several heads or princes who were and acted under his influence.

Leviathan Pharaoh.

To the people inhabiting the wilderness Heb. to the people in or of the desert ; either,

1. To the Israelites then in the wilderness, to whom the destruction of Pharaoh and his host was meat , i.e. matter of great support and refreshment. Or,

2. To those savage people to whom they were meat , because they lived upon fishes, and might eat those very fishes which had devoured Pharaoh’ s host in the bottom of the sea. Or rather,

3. To those ravenous birds and beasts of the desert, which after their manner fed and feasted themselves upon the carcasses of the Egyptians, who were cast upon the sea-shore, Exo 14:30 , which were properly and immediately meat unto them. And when words can be taken properly, we ought to prefer that before the metaphorical sense, as is agreed by interpreters. And this was a very suitable punishment for this proud and insolent people, that they who were so haughty, that they would not own nor submit to the Lord himself, Exo 5:2 , should be devoured by these contemptible creatures, which was a great reproach, 1Sa 17:44,46 , and oft threatened by God as a grievous curse, as Deu 28:26 Jer 7:33 16:4 , &c. Neither let any think it strange that the name of

people is given to these creatures, for it is given to conies, grasshoppers, pismires, &c., both in Scripture, as Pro 30:25,26 Joe 1:6 , and in Homer, and other ancient profane writers. Nay, here is an elegancy in the expression; for these creatures are significantly called the people of the wilderness, because they are the only people that inhabited it, this being a wilderness wherein was no man , as is said, Job 38:26 .

Gill: Psa 74:14 - -- 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 w...

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, Isa 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, Rev 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, Isa 13:21 and may be called a people, as the ants and coneys are, Pro 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, Exo 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.

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Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Psa 74:14 You fed him to the people. This pictures the fragments of Leviathan’s dead corpse washing up on shore and being devoured by those who find them....

Geneva Bible: Psa 74:14 Thou brakest the heads of ( k ) leviathan in pieces, [and] gavest him [to be] ( l ) meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness. ( k ) Which was a g...

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Commentary -- Verse Range Notes

TSK Synopsis: Psa 74:1-23 - --1 The prophet complains of the desolation of the sanctuary.10 He moves God to help in consideration of his power;18 of his reproachful enemies, of his...

MHCC: Psa 74:12-17 - --The church silences her own complaints. What God had done for his people, as their King of old, encouraged them to depend on him. It was the Lord's do...

Matthew Henry: Psa 74:12-17 - -- The lamenting church fastens upon something here which she calls to mind, and therefore hath she hope (as Lam 3:21), with which she encourages her...

Keil-Delitzsch: Psa 74:12-17 - -- With this prayer for the destruction of the enemies by God's interposition closes the first half of the Psalm, which has for its subject-matter the ...

Constable: Psa 73:1--89:52 - --I. Book 3: chs 73--89 A man or men named Asaph wrote 17 of the psalms in this book (Pss. 73-83). Other writers w...

Constable: Psa 74:1-23 - --Psalm 74 The writer appears to have written this psalm after one of Israel's enemies destroyed the sanct...

Constable: Psa 74:10-17 - --3. An appeal for divine help 74:10-17 The psalmist pleaded for God to help His people and to sub...

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Introduction / Outline

JFB: Psalms (Book Introduction) The Hebrew title of this book is Tehilim ("praises" or "hymns"), for a leading feature in its contents is praise, though the word occurs in the title ...

JFB: Psalms (Outline) ALEPH. (Psa 119:1-8). This celebrated Psalm has several peculiarities. It is divided into twenty-two parts or stanzas, denoted by the twenty-two let...

TSK: Psalms (Book Introduction) The Psalms have been the general song of the universal Church; and in their praise, all the Fathers have been unanimously eloquent. Men of all nation...

TSK: Psalms 74 (Chapter Introduction) Overview Psa 74:1, The prophet complains of the desolation of the sanctuary; Psa 74:10, He moves God to help in consideration of his power; Psa 74...

Poole: Psalms (Book Introduction) OF PSALMS THE ARGUMENT The divine authority of this Book of PSALMS is so certain and evident, that it was never questioned in the church; which b...

MHCC: Psalms (Book Introduction) David was the penman of most of the psalms, but some evidently were composed by other writers, and the writers of some are doubtful. But all were writ...

MHCC: Psalms 74 (Chapter Introduction) (Psa 74:1-11) The desolations of the sanctuary. (Psa 74:12-17) Pleas for encouraging faith. (Psa 74:18-23) Petitions for deliverances.

Matthew Henry: Psalms (Book Introduction) An Exposition, with Practical Observations, of The Book of Psalms We have now before us one of the choicest and most excellent parts of all the Old Te...

Matthew Henry: Psalms 74 (Chapter Introduction) This psalm does so particularly describe the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple, by Nebuchadnezzar and the army of the Chaldeans, and can so i...

Constable: Psalms (Book Introduction) Introduction Title The title of this book in the Hebrew Bible is Tehillim, which means...

Constable: Psalms (Outline) Outline I. Book 1: chs. 1-41 II. Book 2: chs. 42-72 III. Book 3: chs. 73...

Constable: Psalms Psalms Bibliography Allen, Ronald B. "Evidence from Psalm 89." In A Case for Premillennialism: A New Consensus,...

Haydock: Psalms (Book Introduction) THE BOOK OF PSALMS. INTRODUCTION. The Psalms are called by the Hebrew, Tehillim; that is, hymns of praise. The author, of a great part of ...

Gill: Psalms (Book Introduction) INTRODUCTION TO PSALMS The title of this book may be rendered "the Book of Praises", or "Hymns"; the psalm which our Lord sung at the passover is c...

Gill: Psalms 74 (Chapter Introduction) INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 74 Maschil of Asaph. Some think that Asaph, the penman of this psalm, was not the same that lived in the times of David, but ...

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