Psalm 80 comments

 

Psalm 80:1 ¶  «To the chief Musician upon Shoshannimeduth, A Psalm of Asaph.» 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.

 

Here is another Psalm that may have been written in the time of David’s Asaph prophesying a future time of torment and judgment. Shoshannimeduth, according to Gill, refers to some musical instrument unknown to us today. We can pray a modified version of this prayer in our times of distress.

 

God is the Shepherd of Israel and He is our Shepherd in the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

Matthew 26:31  Then saith Jesus unto them, All ye shall be offended because of me this night: for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad.

 

John 10:11  I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.

 

1Peter 2:25  For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.

 

1Peter 5:4  And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.

 

Notice the reference between the cherubims.

 

Exodus 25:22  And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubims which are upon the ark of the testimony, of all things which I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel.

 

1Samuel 4:4  So the people sent to Shiloh, that they might bring from thence the ark of the covenant of the LORD of hosts, which dwelleth between the cherubims: and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God.

 

Clearly this is a time of great distress for Israel. It is a plea for temporal salvation from a terrible fate on this earth. If God would just turn to them they know they would be saved from it. If He would stir up His strength before the tribes mentioned here representing all Israel they would be saved.

 

Psalm 4:6 ¶  There be many that say, Who will shew us any good? LORD, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us.

 

Who among us who has suffered great loss or endured a terrible trial has not eaten the bread of tears or drank tears metaphorically? In another place the Holy Spirit speaks of God feeding someone with judgment.

 

Ezekiel 34:16  I will seek that which was lost, and bring again that which was driven away, and will bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen that which was sick: but I will destroy the fat and the strong; I will feed them with judgment.

 

Psalm 80:8 ¶  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.

 

Israel is likened to a vine and a vineyard.

 

Isaiah 5:1 ¶  Now will I sing to my wellbeloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard. My wellbeloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill:…7  For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for judgment, but behold oppression; for righteousness, but behold a cry.

 

Isaiah 27:2  In that day sing ye unto her, A vineyard of red wine. 3  I the LORD do keep it; I will water it every moment: lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day.

 

Jeremiah 2:21  Yet I had planted thee a noble vine, wholly a right seed: how then art thou turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine unto me?

 

Hosea 10:1 ¶  Israel is an empty vine, he bringeth forth fruit unto himself: according to the multitude of his fruit he hath increased the altars; according to the goodness of his land they have made goodly images.

 

This speaks about the Exodus and driving out of the idol and devil worshipping, child sacrificing Canaanites. This talks about God’s planting of Israel in the land promised to them and about the judgment that He inflicted on them for their apostasy through agents such as the Assyrians and the Babylonians, metaphorically, with types such as the boar and the wild beast.

 

Consider for us how God delivered the Christian from the clutches of Satan and his or her own sin nature and then an eternity of unquenchable suffering. Then, if we turned our back on God and walked in the way of the heathen world He allowed us to suffer and see the hedges He had placed around us be broken down. When we repent we plead for God to turn back to us and deliver us from our self-inflicted sorrows. We are always saved but He will deliver us out of our temporal distresses in many cases as we repent of our preferred wickedness. This is a great prayer and contemplation for a Christian who realizes how far they have strayed from the fold of God and yearns for His sweet mercy.