George Davison

In Psalm 74 we have a plaint of Asaph concerning the destruction of the temple by Nebuchadnezzar. He tells us that at one time a man was accounted famous as going to Lebanon and, with an axe, hewing down trees; and with a hammer shaping them for the ornamentation of the temple. He used destructive weapons in the right way, for you will remember that in the construction of the temple neither of these tools was used in the house itself. We learn from this Psalm that they were used outside the house in order to secure material for its construction. There have been famous men in our own day who, by the gospel, cut men down from their lofty places in this world, and were thus instrumental in producing spiritual material for the house of God. But Asaph goes on to say that the axes and hammers were now being used inside the temple — not outside — and the skilled work of others was being destroyed.