Psalm 75- To the Chief Musician. Set to “Do Not Destroy.” A Psalm of Asaph. A Song.
1 We give thanks to You, O God, we give thanks! For Your wondrous works declare that Your name is near. 2 “When I choose the proper time, I will judge uprightly. 3 The earth and all its inhabitants are dissolved; I set up its pillars firmly. Selah
“That for which Psalm 74 prays: ‘Arise, Jahve, plead Thine own cause’ (Psalm 74:22.), Psalm 75:1-10 beholds.” (Keil and Delitzsch) “‘We give thanks to You, O God, we give thanks! For Your wondrous works declare that Your name is near.’ The ‘wondrous works’ are those of times past (cp. Psalms 74:12-15), whereof the psalmist anticipates a continuance or repetition.” (Pulpit Commentary) “‘His name is near’— “We sing not of a hidden God, who sleeps and leaves the church to her fate, but of one who ever in our darkest days is most near, a very present help in trouble. ‘Near is His name.’ [in our hearts and on our lips], Baal is on a journey [and cannot be found], but Jehovah dwells in His church.” (C. H. Spurgeon)
“This communal thanksgiving psalm anticipated a victory in Israel when God as Judge would destroy the wicked and establish the righteous (cf. 1 Samuel 2:1-10; Luke 1:46-53).” (Dr. Thomas B. Constable) In that Day, “‘The earth and all its inhabitants are dissolved’ For behold, the day is coming, burning like a furnace; and all the arrogant and every evildoer will be chaff; and the day that is coming will set them ablaze,' says the LORD of hosts, 'so that it will leave them neither root nor branch.' But for you who fear My name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings; and you will go forth and skip about like calves from the stall. You will tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day which I am preparing,' says the LORD of hosts. 'Remember the law of Moses My servant, even the statutes and ordinances which I commanded him in Horeb for all Israel." (Mal 4:1-4)
“‘I set up its [the earth’s] pillars firmly’... We can imagine a monarch, and especially an eastern monarch, in the plenitude of his power, and the arrogance of his pride, as he casts his haughty glance over the ensign of his might, saying to himself, ‘I bear up the pillars of the earth.’ But one could never imagine such a thought arising in the heart, or proceeding from the lips of David or Hezekiah. I know not who of the sons of Adam, frail and feeble at their best estate, could have ever said, ’The earth and all the inhabitants thereof are dissolved: I bear up the pillars of it.’ I know of none but Him who said, ‘All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth (Mat 28:18),’ and who, as He said these words, ascended up into heaven to exercise that sovereignty, and repair that mighty ruin which had been wrought on earth when Satan triumphed in Paradise.” (Barton Bouchier) Selah
4 "I said to the boastful, ‘Do not deal boastfully,’ And to the wicked, ‘Do not lift up the horn. 5 Do not lift up your horn on high; Do not speak with a stiff neck.’”
"I said to the boastful, ‘Do not deal boastfully,’ The outstretched neck of insolent pride is sure to provoke His axe. Those who carry their heads high shall find that they will be lifted yet higher, as Haman was upon the gallows which he had prepared for the righteous man. Silence, thou silly boaster! Silence! or God will answer thee. Who art thou, thou worm, that thou shouldest arrogantly object against thy Maker's laws and cavil at His truth?” (C. H. Spurgeon)— “And to the wicked, ‘Do not lift up your horn on high’— The word horn was used in the Hebrew metaphorically to express either honor, as Ps 112:9 132:18, etc.; or strength, Mic 4:13, ‘I will make thine horn iron.’ De 33:17, etc. To humble and cast down was often represented by the figure of breaking or cutting off the horn, as here (Ps 75:10). La 2:3, ‘Cut off all the horn of Israel.’ To exalt the horn of any one was to bestow honor and dignity upon him; so also, to make it bud. Ps 132:17 89:18 Eze 29:21. Here, to lift up the horn betokens presumption. It was also somewhat later a symbol for kingdom, Zec 1:18, and Daniel.” (Four Friends) “The horns symbolize strength, and they picture animals. Israel’s enemies would lose their strength, but Gods people would grow stronger.” (Thomas B. Constable) “Do not speak with a stiff neck.”
6 For exaltation comes neither from the east nor from the west nor from the south.
“No second causes will raise men to preferment without the First Cause. It comes neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south. He mentions not the north; the same word that signifies the north, signifies the secret place; and from the secret of God's counsel it does come" (Matthew Henry) “These verses call the wicked to repent.” (Thomas B. Constable)
7 But God is the Judge: He puts down one, and exalts another. 8 For in the hand of the Lord there is a cup, and the wine is red; it is fully mixed, and He pours it out; Surely its dregs shall all the wicked of the earth drain and drink down.
“For in the hand of the Lord there is a cup, and the wine is red. The ‘cup of God's fury’ is a frequent metaphor with the prophets (Isaiah 51:17, 22; Jeremiah 25:15, 17, 28; Jeremiah 49:12; Lamentations 4:21; Ezekiel 23:31-33; Habakkuk 2:16, etc.); and is commonly represented as full of wine, which his enemies have to drink. The ‘redness’ of the wine typifies the shedding of blood. It is full of mixture. Mingled, i.e., with spices, and so made stronger and more efficacious (see Proverbs 9:2; Proverbs 23:30; Song of Solomon 8:2; Isaiah 5:22). And he poureth out of the same. God pours out the cup of his fury on all nations, or persons, whom he chooses to afflict, and they are compelled to drink of it (Jeremiah 25:15-28). But the dregs thereof, all the wicked of the earth shall wring them out, and drink them. To drink a cup, dregs and all, is to empty it wholly, to swallow down all its contents.” (Pulpit Commentary)
“He forces them to drink all the wine of judgment that He has prepared for them (cf. Psalm 60:3; Isaiah 51:17-23; Habakkuk 2:16). They cannot escape...” (Dr. Thomas B Constable)
“When James and John asked Jesus if they could share in His kingly glory, He responded by saying, ‘You don’t know what you are asking! Are you able to drink from the bitter cup of suffering I am about to drink?’ (Mark 10:38). Jesus would drink the cup of God’s judgment, taking upon Himself the penalty for human sin. Yet, in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus wrestled with this very calling: ‘Abba, Father,’ He cried out, ‘everything is possible for you. Please take this cup of suffering away from Me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine’ (Mark 14:36). In faithfulness to the will of the Father, Jesus chose to drink the cup of judgment, to bear the weight of our sin. Thus, we do not have to fear the cup of God’s wrath. In fact, Jesus offers us the cup of the new covenant in His blood (Luke 22:20). Through the sacrifice of Jesus—His act of drinking the cup— we are forgiven, if we put our trust in Him. Therefore, the next time you receive Communion, remember that Jesus drank the cup of judgment so that you might savor the cup of salvation. ”(Mark D. Roberts)
9 But I will declare forever, I will sing praises to the God of Jacob. 10 “All the horns of the wicked I will also cut off, but the horn of the righteous shall be exalted.”
“‘I will sing praises to the God of Jacob;’ the covenant God of his people, Christ's God, and their God; of His singing praise to Him, see Psalm 22:22. ‘All the horns of the wicked also will I cut off’,.... Therefore let them not lift up the horn on high: ‘horns’ denote the power and authority of wicked men, their kingdoms and states; both Rome Pagan and Rome Papal are said to have ten horns, which are interpreted of ten kings or kingdoms; and which will be cut off when the vials of God's wrath are poured out on the antichristian states; which vials will be filled from the cup which is in the hand of the Lord, Revelation 12:1, the Jews (b) interpret this of the ten horns of the nations of the world, that shall be cut off in future time; and Jarchi particularly of the horns of Esau, by whom he means Rome, or the Roman empire:
‘but the horn of the righteous shall be exalted;’…of the righteous one Christ…” (John Gill)