Psalm 80
Psalm 80 • 2 min. read • grade level: 8
This Psalm seems to be in connection with the preceding. Psalm 79:1313So we thy people and sheep of thy pasture will give thee thanks for ever: we will show forth thy praise to all generations. (Psalm 79:13) suggests Psalm 80:11<<To the chief Musician upon Shoshannim-eduth, 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. (Psalm 80:1). Accordingly the soul of the Remnant advances in liberty and confidence. There is not the same confession of sin, but a stronger appeal for deliverance, and a fuller intelligence of the divine counsels. The Man at God’s right hand is pleaded—the Son of Man made strong for God’s purposes. What a thought, as we utter it! to think that there is a Man, “a real Man,” now glorified in the highest heavens. And such is Jesus in resurrection and ascension. (See Matt. 28:1818And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. (Matthew 28:18); Psa. 110:11<<A Psalm of David.>> The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool. (Psalm 110:1); Dan. 7:1313I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. (Daniel 7:13); 1 Peter 3:2222Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him. (1 Peter 3:22).)
Psalm 80:22Before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh stir up thy strength, and come and save us. (Psalm 80:2) refers to Numbers 10, where, on the journeying of the camp, we learn that the Ark went immediately before the standard of Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh, and on the moving forward there was a cry to the Lord as here.
The prophet, in pleading for Israel, is animated by tender and lofty thoughts of Israel’s ancient glories, as the Apostle afterward is. (See Rom. 9:1-51I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost, 2That I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. 3For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh: 4Who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises; 5Whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen. (Romans 9:1‑5).) And very beautiful is this. The very nature of the ruin bespeaks the grandeur of the building, and awakens the deeper sympathy.
On the burden of this Psalm, so to call it (see Psa. 80:3,7,193Turn us again, O God, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved. (Psalm 80:3)
7Turn us again, O God of hosts, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved. (Psalm 80:7)
19Turn us again, O Lord God of hosts, cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved. (Psalm 80:19)), it may be observed that we get the person of the Lord strikingly revealed through Scripture. Thus, regarded in different lights, He is both the answerer of prayer and the suppliant. He receives the Spirit, and pours out the Spirit. (Zech. 12:1010And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. (Zechariah 12:10); Acts 2:3333Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear. (Acts 2:33).) He is the Rock (Matt. 16:1818And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. (Matthew 16:18)), and yet He looks to God as the Rock (Psa. 62). He is one of the flock (Psa. 23), and yet the Shepherd of the flock (John 10). He is on the throne praised, and yet the leader of the people’s praise (Psa. 116; Rev. 5). He is a Priest, and yet the redeemed are priests to Him (Rev. 20:66Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years. (Revelation 20:6)). In one respect He is a Jew, desiring the divine favor for His nation, and waiting for the face of Jehovah to be turned again to His people (Isa. 8:1717And I will wait upon the Lord, that hideth his face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for him. (Isaiah 8:17)). In another respect He is as Jehovah Himself, the God of Israel, with His face turned away from His people (Matt. 23:3939For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. (Matthew 23:39)), thus strikingly revealed in both His divine and human place, both as the expectant head of Israel, and yet as Israel’s God. All this can be understood when the great mystery of “God manifest in the flesh” and its glorious results are understood. But who can utter it all? (See on Psa. 18).