Psalms 74:7, commentary and pictures

They have set God's sanctuary on fire and defiled it, bringing the dwelling place of His name down to the ground. That sanctuary was the house built by Israel within Canaan where God dwelt, first in the tabernacle and afterward in the temple on Mount Moriah, distinct from the land itself and from the mount on which it stood. The burning was fulfilled when the Babylonians under Nebuchadnezzar destroyed the temple and Jerusalem in the final judgment under Zedekiah, carrying the people into captivity and scattering them, and the psalm is the sorrow and prayer for deliverance of that captivity. It was God's judgment upon His people, following His earlier forsaking of the sanctuary at Shiloh, when they were driven from the land and the sanctuary was left in ruins as foretold and as described in Daniel. The casting down also applies to the casting down of the fourth commandment and the setting up of a counterfeit sign in place of God's Sabbath, connected with the loss of prophetic signs and guidance.

Burned Sanctuary and Setting

They cast fire into the sanctuary of God, defiled it, and brought the dwelling place of his name down to the ground by burning and throwing it down. The burning and profaning was foretold against the Lord's sanctuary by the heathen, and was fulfilled when the sanctuary at Jerusalem was destroyed in the same event described in Daniel. The sanctuary is distinct from the ground on which it stood and from the land of Canaan where it stood, for the land was its border and location and its place of building, and Mount Moriah itself was not the sanctuary.

God dwelt in the sanctuary built by his people within the land of Canaan as the dwelling built for his name, first connected with the tabernacle and afterward with the temple on Mount Moriah. It was destroyed by fire and burned to the ground and laid in ruins when God's people were driven from the land and its adversaries cast it down. The destruction was wrought by the Babylonians, whose forces under Nebuchadnezzar burned and defiled the sanctuary and brought temple and city down to the ground in the final judgment on Jerusalem under Zedekiah, when temple and city were burned and destroyed and the people were carried into captivity and scattered.

The psalm belongs to and applies to the time of the Jews' captivity in Babylon, when Jerusalem was brought low and its people scattered, expressing sorrow and desolation with longing for deliverance and prayers for it. The burned places named in the following verse as synagogues of God were local places of religious instruction and worship, distinct from the one sanctuary while still sacred to God's service.

Prophecy Judgment and Application

The verse foretells the heathen burning and profaning of the Lord's sanctuary by bringing it down to the ground. That prediction was fulfilled when Jerusalem's sanctuary was destroyed. Its destruction occurred in the same event described in Daniel. The sanctuary is distinguished from the ground on which it stood, showing that Mount Moriah itself was not the sanctuary.

The sanctuary was the dwelling built for His name in the land of Canaan, distinct from the land itself. It was destroyed and laid in ruins when God's people were driven from the land. The destruction was carried out by Nebuchadnezzar's forces, which burned and defiled the sanctuary and then brought the temple and city down to the ground. This destruction of the Jerusalem sanctuary was God's judgment, following His earlier forsaking of the sanctuary at Shiloh.

The burning of the sanctuary and the profaning and leveling of God's dwelling place to the ground applies to the casting down of the fourth commandment. In its place a counterfeit sign was set up instead of God's Sabbath. That rejection of God's law is connected with the loss of prophetic signs and prophetic guidance described later in the psalm.