Psalm 75

Psalm 75  •  2 min. read  •  grade level: 7
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This is a very striking little Psalm, and one of easy simple interpretation.
The first verse gives us the thanksgiving of the nation now, by anticipation, saved and avenged in answer to their cry in the previous Psalm. God’s works in that salvation, and vengeance just executed, had shown Him to be near His people, as they here celebrate. His name had been for a long time distant from Israel. But now, as their faith anticipates, about to do His “wondrous works” for them, they know that He is returning and bringing His name near again.
The following verses, from the second to the end, are Messiah’s utterance. He vows to rule in righteousness, when He receives the people as His inheritance (Psa. 75:22When I shall receive the congregation I will judge uprightly. (Psalm 75:2); see 2 Sam. 23:44And he shall be as the light of the morning, when the sun riseth, even a morning without clouds; as the tender grass springing out of the earth by clear shining after rain. (2 Samuel 23:4); Psa. 101). He recognizes the apostasy of all kingdoms and systems till His own scepter arise. (Psa. 75:33The earth and all the inhabitants thereof are dissolved: I bear up the pillars of it. Selah. (Psalm 75:3); see 1 Sam. 2:8-108He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill, to set them among princes, and to make them inherit the throne of glory: for the pillars of the earth are the Lord's, and he hath set the world upon them. 9He will keep the feet of his saints, and the wicked shall be silent in darkness; for by strength shall no man prevail. 10The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken to pieces; out of heaven shall he thunder upon them: the Lord shall judge the ends of the earth; and he shall give strength unto his king, and exalt the horn of his anointed. (1 Samuel 2:8‑10); Dan. 2:4444And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever. (Daniel 2:44).) He challenges the rebels or apostate powers of the world, who had erected themselves against the Lord, assuring them that God would soon visit them. (Psa. 75:4-84I said unto the fools, Deal not foolishly: and to the wicked, Lift not up the horn: 5Lift not up your horn on high: speak not with a stiff neck. 6For promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south. 7But God is the judge: he putteth down one, and setteth up another. 8For in the hand of the Lord there is a cup, and the wine is red; it is full of mixture; and he poureth out of the same: but the dregs thereof, all the wicked of the earth shall wring them out, and drink them. (Psalm 75:4‑8); see Psa. 82; Psa. 83; Hag. 2:2222And I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms, and I will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the heathen; and I will overthrow the chariots, and those that ride in them; and the horses and their riders shall come down, every one by the sword of his brother. (Haggai 2:22); Heb. 12:2727And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. (Hebrews 12:27).) He then, in contrast with them, pledges Himself to hold His scepter unto God’s praise, and in the righteous dispensation of reward and punishment. (Psa. 75:9-109But I will declare for ever; I will sing praises to the God of Jacob. 10All the horns of the wicked also will I cut off; but the horns of the righteous shall be exalted. (Psalm 75:9‑10); see Matt. 25:31,31When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: (Matthew 25:31) Rev. 3:2121To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne. (Revelation 3:21).)
What holy and glorious consciounesss of Himself fills the soul of Messiah in all this utterance! He knows that when He receives the congregation He will judge uprightly. And He knows too that He alone sustains the pillars of the world.
Thus, the material of this Psalm clearly shows itself to us. The wine cup, the cup of trembling, the cup of His fury, the cup of the wine of the fierceness of His wrath, are various titles of the same cup, which is the emblem of divine judgments, like the vials of Revelation 16. The cup of salvation, on the other hand, expresses the joy of the kingdom. (See Psa. 116; Luke 22:1818For I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine, until the kingdom of God shall come. (Luke 22:18).) Oh what a morning without clouds will the rise and waving of this righteous scepter, here anticipated by the Lord Himself, spread over this groaning and thorny creation! And it is a striking and beautiful point in this Psalm, that the cup here drunk by the people of the earth does not pass on to Messiah. He takes instead of it the other cup, and at once calls on the name of the Lord. (See Psa. 75:8-9,8For in the hand of the Lord there is a cup, and the wine is red; it is full of mixture; and he poureth out of the same: but the dregs thereof, all the wicked of the earth shall wring them out, and drink them. 9But I will declare for ever; I will sing praises to the God of Jacob. (Psalm 75:8‑9) and Psa. 116:33The sorrows of death compassed me, and the pains of hell gat hold upon me: I found trouble and sorrow. (Psalm 116:3).) The cup of anger is for their hand, the cup of salvation for His. He once took, indeed, the cup of sorrows, the cup of Gethsemane, for us poor sinners; but it is the cup of praise, the joy of the kingdom, that remains for Him now, while the apostate powers of the earth are wringing out the dregs of the cup of fury.