The word maskil comes from the verb meaning having and passing on insight and refers to instructional or didactic poems. Psalm 74 is an instructional psalm, full of insight from God’s Word.

The psalm was written in a time when God's people were unrepentant and being punished by God. First, there were assaults by the Assyrians, then the Babylonians, and still the people failed to see God’s hands in these events (Isaiah 5:12; Isaiah 9:13; Isaiah 22:11–13; Isaiah 26:11). Only a few people saw that God was using the Babylonians to chastise his people. Among them were Jeremiah, Baruch, Daniel and his friends, Ezekiel, the author of Lamentation, and the author of Psalm 74.

The Asaph who wrote this psalm is not the same as the Asaph who was appointed by David, but he was one of his descendants.

The psalm consists of three parts:

• Psalm 74:1–11, in which the curse of God’s covenant is described.

• Psalm 74:12–17, in which the psalmist reminds Yahweh of his historic deeds of redemption, especially of his covenant with the people.

• Psalm 74:18–23, in which the psalmist pleads with Yahweh for intervention for the sake of God’s own name.

A central theme of the psalm is the prolonged oppression and exile of the people. The psalmist asks if God deserted them permanently and if Jerusalem would be destroyed forever. It looks like God has forgotten about his people. The psalmist tells of God’s great deeds of creation and those he did during the exodus. He knows that God is able to save them. He pleads for God to step in and deliver them, for the sake of the honour of his name.