NOTES for Psa 80:1-19
1 Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, thou that leadest Joseph like a flock; thou that dwellest between the cherubims, shine forth. |
2 Before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh stir up thy strength, and come and save us. |
3 Turn us again, O God, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved. |
4 O LORD God of hosts, how long wilt thou be angry against the prayer of thy people? |
5 Thou feedest them with the bread of tears; and givest them tears to drink in great measure. |
6 Thou makest us a strife unto our neighbours: and our enemies laugh among themselves. |
7 Turn us again, O God of hosts, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved. |
8 Thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt: thou hast cast out the heathen, and planted it. |
9 Thou preparedst room before it, and didst cause it to take deep root, and it filled the land. |
10 The hills were covered with the shadow of it, and the boughs thereof were like the goodly cedars. |
11 She sent out her boughs unto the sea, and her branches unto the river. |
12 Why hast thou then broken down her hedges, so that all they which pass by the way do pluck her? |
13 The boar out of the wood doth waste it, and the wild beast of the field doth devour it. |
14 Return, we beseech thee, O God of hosts: look down from heaven, and behold, and visit this vine; |
15 And the vineyard which thy right hand hath planted, and the branch that thou madest strong for thyself. |
16 It is burned with fire, it is cut down: they perish at the rebuke of thy countenance. |
17 Let thy hand be upon the man of thy right hand, upon the son of man whom thou madest strong for thyself. |
18 So will not we go back from thee: quicken us, and we will call upon thy name. |
19 Turn us again, O LORD God of hosts, cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved. |
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The psalmist asks the Lord to save and restore the people, to restore those who, having turned away from God, have collapsed under the weight of their own sins. On hearing such a request, how easy it would be to say that if they fell, it was their own fault, so there is no point asking for mercy. Yet those who have fallen are entitled to mercy, and this rests not only on the understanding, familiar to every believer, that the Lord is merciful, but also on the precedent of His active help to the people: the exodus from Egypt. A living memory of this event is a pledge that the people can continue to place their hope in God.
Speaking on behalf of the people, the psalmist promises not to turn away from the Lord. By human reasoning, promises alone are not enough; people might respond by saying, “Give us a guarantee that you will fulfill what you have promised.” The Lord does not ask for guarantees. He sees perfectly well both human deceit and weakness, and the unreliability characteristic of many of us. But we may hope that He accepts our striving toward Him, and that with His help our wavering promises to follow Him can therefore become genuine and firm.
Other notes
For Psa 80:1-16
1 Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, thou that leadest Joseph like a flock; thou that dwellest between the cherubims, shine forth. |
2 Before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh stir up thy strength, and come and save us. |
3 Turn us again, O God, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved. |
4 O LORD God of hosts, how long wilt thou be angry against the prayer of thy people? |
5 Thou feedest them with the bread of tears; and givest them tears to drink in great measure. |
6 Thou makest us a strife unto our neighbours: and our enemies laugh among themselves. |
7 Turn us again, O God of hosts, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved. |
8 Thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt: thou hast cast out the heathen, and planted it. |
9 Thou preparedst room before it, and didst cause it to take deep root, and it filled the land. |
10 The hills were covered with the shadow of it, and the boughs thereof were like the goodly cedars. |
11 She sent out her boughs unto the sea, and her branches unto the river. |
12 Why hast thou then broken down her hedges, so that all they which pass by the way do pluck her? |
13 The boar out of the wood doth waste it, and the wild beast of the field doth devour it. |
14 Return, we beseech thee, O God of hosts: look down from heaven, and behold, and visit this vine; |
15 And the vineyard which thy right hand hath planted, and the branch that thou madest strong for thyself. |
16 It is burned with fire, it is cut down: they perish at the rebuke of thy countenance. |
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