Destruction of the Temple
Psalm 74 is about the destruction of the Temple by the Babylonians. It isbetter understood when we realize that the destruction of the Temple was the destruction of their means of telling time precisely and especially for determining the time of the sacred feasts. 74:4: “Thy foes have roared in the midst of thy holy place, (môw‘adkâh); they set up their own signs for signs,” (RSV). That is, they had set up their army banners, probably obstructing the significant rays of light and destroying the time-telling function which required visibility of the signs of the heavens as observed from the Temple.
The Temple was the bond between heaven and earth, on earth, as the reference point for time and space. When it was destroyed and the priests and prophets who knew how to read the time-telling signs had been taken captive or had betrayed their people, it was a cosmic event. The destruction of the Temple created a disorientation so complete that it was as if the sun and moon had been darkened and the stars had fallen from their place. (See page 229, my Commentary on Revelation 6:13 “Shaking of the Heavens.”)
Time Renewal
The penultimate Lament of Jeremiah after the Babylonian destruction of the Temple is the plea: “Restore us to thyself, O Lord, that we may be restored! Renew our days as of old!” (Lam. 5:21 RSV). The New Year celebration included the counting of the times, the renewal of the covenant vow and the return through repentance to God. Thus the New Year was thought of as a renewal or restoration of life, of time that had run out. In a symbolic sense it was the Day of the Lord, a time of reckoning and accountability.
The Hebrew verb of being is the verb of existence in time. Being and living are essentially the same. Renewal of time was therefore a renewal of life. God’s revealed Name, Yahweh, I AM, is the verb of being, of life, of time.
Second Esdras 3:18, reflects the traditional view that spiritual events cause a cataclysmic change in the times:
“Thou didst bend down the heavens and shake the earth, and move the world, and make the depths to tremble, and trouble the times, [at Mount Sinai].”
In 1I Esdras 4:36, Ezra has asked the question as to how long the evil seed is to prevail:
And Jeremiel the archangel answered them and said, “When the number of those like yourselves is completed; for he has weighed the age in the balance, and measured the times by measure, and numbered the times by number; and he will not move or arouse them until that measure is fulfilled.”
God dwells in Light:
Thou art clothed with honor and majesty, who coverest thyself with light as with a garment, who hast stretched out the heavens like a tent, (Psalm 104: lb-2).
But when “…they burned all the meeting places (môw‘adey) of God in the land. We do not see our signs; there is no longer any prophet, and there is none among us who knows how long,” (Psalm 74: 8b-9).
God had set an appointed time for the final judgment of the nation, Israel, in Daniel 9:24-27. It was a time or probation, wherein the nation had to make its choice. For those who refused God’s Covenant, it was the end. For those who accepted Jesus Christ and the New Covenant it was the beginning.
(See also in my Commentary, Revelation In Context, pages 21-23: Introductory Articles: “Calculating the Seventy Weeks” and page 136 Commentary 1:8 “Alpha and Omega” and page 57, “Revelation: Definition – Hebrew.”)