74:3 There is no record that any of Israel's enemies ever destroyed the temple in David's day to the extent that this verse implies. Perhaps Asaph was speaking hyperbolically, namely describing the destruction in extreme terms for the sake of the effect. Probably this description is of what took place when the Babylonians destroyed the temple in 586 B.C. This would mean the writer was an Asaph who lived much later than David's day, or perhaps Asaph stands for the order of musicians he headed.
74:4-8 These descriptions of the destruction also picture a complete devastation of the sanctuary as the last of God's successive meeting places (v. 8; cf. Exod. 20:24; Ps. 78:60-64).
74:9 The writer bewailed the fact that no prophet could give the people a revelation about the length of God's present judgment of His people. There were no prophetic signs that would indicate this.
