PSALM 80 COMME�TARYEDITED BY GLE�� PEASE

For the director of music. To the tune of “The Lilies of the Covenant.” Of Asaph. A psalm.

I�TRODUCTIO�

SPURGEO�, "TITLE. To the Chief Musician upon Shoshannim Eduth. For the fourth time we have a song upon Shoshannim, or the lilies; the former ones being Psalms 45:1-17; Psalms 60:1-12; Psalms 69:1-36. Why this title is given it would be difficult to say in every case, but the delightfully poetical form of the present Psalm may well justify the charming title. Eduth signifies testimony. The Psalm is a testimony of the church as a "lily among thorns." Some interpreters understand the present title to refer to an instrument of six strings, and Schleusner translates the two words, "the hexachord of testimony." It may be that further research will open up to us these "dark sayings upon a harp." We shall be content to accept them as evidence that sacred song was not lightly esteemed in the days of old. A Psalm of Asaph. A latter Asaph we should suppose, who had the unhappiness to live, like the "last minstrel, "in evil times. If by the Asaph of David's day, this Psalm was written in the spirit of prophecy, for it sings of times unknown to David.DIVISIO�. The Psalm divides itself naturally at the refrain which occurs three times: "Turn us again, O God, "etc. Psalms 80:1-3 is an opening address to the Lord God of Israel; from Psalms 80:4-7 is a lamentation over the national woe, and from Psalms 80:8-19 the same complaint is repeated, the nation being represented in a beautiful allegory as a vine. It is a mournful Psalm, and its lilies are lilies of the valley.

ELLICOTT, "That this plaintive cry for restoration to a state which should be indicative of the Divine favour, arose from Israel when groaning under foreign oppression which it was powerless to resist, is plain and incontestable. And if, with the almost unanimous consent of critics, we are right in rendering Psalms 80:6, “Thou makest us an object of strife to our neighbours,” we should be able to approximate very nearly to the date of the poem. For there are only two periods when Palestine became an object of dispute between rival powers: when Assyria and Egypt made it their battleground; and, at a much later date, when it was the apple of discord between the Ptolemies and the Seleucidæ. But at the earlier of these two periods the language of the poet descriptive of utter prostration and ruin (Psalms 80:16) would hardly have been suitable. We hear, too again, in Psalms 80:4, the

pathetic “how long?” of the Maccabæan age. �o argument for date or authorship can safely be drawn from the mode in which the tribes are mentioned and arranged in Psalms 80:2. (See �ote.) The refrain at Psalms 80:3; Psalms 80:7; Psalms 80:19 indicates the structure of the poem.

COKE, "Title. מזמור ףלאס עדות ששנים אל למנזח lamnatseach el shoshanniim eiduth leasaph mizmor.] The author of this psalm, under the figure of a vine, represents the deplorable state of the Jewish nation, and begs of God, at length to take compassion on them, and to protect some young prince, whom he seemed to have raised up and inspirited with vigour for a restoration. See Psalms 80:17. This young prince seems to be Josiah, by the character of vigour, by the reformation's seeming to depend upon him, Psalms 80:18 and by the author's praying God to appear in their favour, in the face of all the tribes, which, in his time, we know, were assembled together at Jerusalem: just at that time, probably, this hymn was composed. Others think, that it was written upon the invasion of Judea by Sennacherib. It is plain however from the first verse, that it was composed while the temple was standing. At the same time it is certain, that the spiritual mind will view the whole in an infinitely higher sense, as relating to Christ and his church.

1 Hear us, Shepherd of Israel, you who lead Joseph like a flock.You who sit enthroned between the cherubim, shine forth

BAR�ES, "Give ear - Incline the ear; as if the ear of God was then turned away, or as if he was inattentive to what was occurring. See the notes at Psa_5:1. O Shepherd of Israel. See the notes at Psa_23:1.

Thou that leadest Joseph like a flock - Joseph, the father of Ephraim and Manasseh. See the notes at Psa_78:67. The name Joseph seems here to be used poetically to represent the whole people of Israel, as he was a man so prominent in their history, and especially as Egypt is mentioned as the country from which the vine had been transplanted - a country where Joseph had acted so important a part, and in connection with which his name would be so naturally associated. The meaning is, that God had led the tribes of the Hebrew people as a shepherd leads or conducts his flock.

Thou that dwellest between the cherubims - See the notes at Psa_18:10. The allusion here is to God as dwelling, by a visible symbol - the Shechinah - on the mercy-

seat, between the cherubims. Exo_25:18, Exo_25:22; Exo_37:7; 1Sa_4:4; 1Ki_6:25. See the notes at Isa_37:16; and notes at Heb_9:5. “Shine, forth.” Manifest thyself. Let light come from thy presence in the midst of our darkness and calamity.

CLARKE, "O Shepherd of Israel - The subject continued from the last verse of the preceding Psalm.

Leadest Joseph - Israel and Joseph mean here the whole of the Jewish tribes; all were at this time in captivity; all had been the people of the Lord; all, no doubt, made supplication unto him now that his chastening hand was upon them; and for all the psalmist makes supplication.

That dwellest between the cherubims - It was between the cherubim, over the cover of the ark, called the propitiatory or mercy-seat, that the glory of the Lord, or symbol of the Divine Presence, appeared. It is on this account that the Lord is so often said to dwell between the cherubim. Of these symbolical beings there is a long and painful account, or system of conjectures, in Parkhurst’s Hebrew Lexicon, of about

twenty quarto pages, under the word כרב carab.

Shine forth - Restore thy worship; and give us such evidences of thy presence now, as our fathers had under the first tabernacle, and afterwards in the temple built by Solomon.

GILL, "Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel,.... The title of a shepherd for the most part belongs to the Messiah, and who is expressly called the Shepherd and stone of Israel, as distinct from the God of Jacob, Gen_49:24 and may be so called because he was to be, and was of Israel, according to the flesh, and sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, and appointed by his Father as a Shepherd over them; and it is on the mountains of Israel he provides a good fold, and pasture for his sheep, Rom_9:4 and it is for the spiritual Israel, his sheep, his elect, both among Jews and Gentiles, for whom he laid down his life; by which it appears that he is the good Shepherd, as he also is the great, the chief, the only one; though this character also may be given, and agrees unto God the Father, who rules, and governs, and feeds his people, his spiritual Israel, as a shepherd his flock; and who is addressed by his people, and is desired to "give ear" to their cries and prayers in their affliction and distress: God has an ear to hear his people's prayers, though sometimes they think he does not hear them; but he not only hears, but answers sooner or later, and in his own way; and the consideration of his character as a shepherd may be an encouragement to their faith, that he will hear, and will not withhold any good thing from them, Psa_23:1.

thou that leadest Joseph like a flock; the posterity of Joseph, the same with Israel, the spiritual Israel, who are like a flock of sheep, a separate people, distinguished by the grace of God, and purchased by the blood of Christ; and as there is but one Shepherd, so one fold, and one flock, and that but a little one neither; and which is sometimes called a flock of slaughter, because exposed to the rage and fury of men; yet a beautiful one in the eye of Christ, which he undertook to feed: and this he leads on gently and softly, gradually, and proportionate to their strength, or as they are able to bear; he leads in and out, and they find pasture; he leads them out of their former state and condition, in which he finds them, out of the pastures of sin and self-righteousness into the green

pastures of his love, grace, word, and ordinances:

thou that dwellest between the cherubim; which were over the mercy seat, and were either emblems of angels, among whom Jehovah dwells, and is surrounded by them; by whom Christ was ministered to on earth, and now in heaven, and among whom he was when he ascended thither, and where they are subject to him: or of the two Testaments, which look to Christ, the mercy seat, and agree with each other in their testimony of him, and in other things; and where these are truly opened and explained, there the Lord dwells: or rather of the saints of both dispensations, who look to Christ alone for salvation, and expect to be saved by his grace; are both partakers of it, as they will be of the same glory; and among these the Lord dwells as in his temple; though it seems best of all to consider them as emblems of Gospel ministers, since Ezekiel's four living creatures are the "cherubim", Eze_10:20, and these the same with John's four beasts, or living creatures, who were certainly men, being redeemed by the blood of Christ; and were ministers, being distinguished from the four and twenty elders, Rev_4:6 and among these the Lord dwells, and with them he has promised his presence shall be unto the end of the world:

shine forth; either God the Father, who dwelt between the cherubim, over the mercy seat, who sits upon a throne of grace, from whence he communes with his people and communicates to them; and then the request is, that he would shine forth in the perfections of his nature, as he has done in his Son, the brightness of his glory, and in redemption and salvation by him, where they are all illustriously displayed; and particularly in his lovingkindness through him, which has appeared and shone forth in the mission of Christ, and in giving him up for us all; and by granting his gracious presence unto his people in Zion, in his house and ordinances; see Psa_1:2, or the Messiah, the Shepherd of Israel, and the Leader of his flock, and under whom the living creatures and cherubim are, Eze_1:26, that he would shine forth in human nature; that this bright morning star would appear; that the dayspring from on high would visit men, and that the sun of righteousness would arise with healing in his wings; and that the glorious light of his Gospel would break forth, and the grace of God, the doctrine of it, appear and shine out unto all men, Jews and Gentiles.

HE�RY, "The psalmist here, in the name of the church, applies to God by prayer, with reference to the present afflicted state of Israel.

I. He entreats God's favour for them (Psa_80:1, Psa_80:2); that is all in all to the sanctuary when it is desolate, and is to be sought in the first place. Observe, 1. How he eyes God in his address as the Shepherd of Israel, whom he had called the sheep of his pasture (Psa_79:13), under whose guidance and care Israel was, as the sheep are under the care and conduct of the shepherd. Christ is the great and good Shepherd, to whom we may in faith commit the custody of his sheep that were given to him. He leads Joseph like a flock, to the best pastures, and out of the way of danger; if Joseph follow him not as obsequiously as the sheep do the shepherd, it is his own fault. He dwells between the cherubim, where he is ready to receive petitions and to give directions. The mercy-seat was between the cherubim; and it is very comfortable in prayer to look up to God as sitting on a throne of grace, and that it is so to us is owning to the great propitiation, for the mercy-seat was the propitiatory. 2. What he expects and desires from God, that he would give ear to the cry of their miseries and of their prayers, that he would shine forth both in his own glory and in favour and kindness to his people, that he would show himself and smile on them, that he would sir up his strength, that he would excite it and exert it. It had seemed to slumber: “Lord, awaken it.” His cause met with great

opposition and the enemies threatened to overpower it: “Lord, put forth thy strength so much the more, and come for salvation to us; be to thy people a powerful help and a present help; Lord, do this before Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh,” that is, “In the sight of all the tribes of Israel; let them see it to their satisfaction.” Perhaps these three tribes are named because they were the tribes which formed that squadron of the camp of Israel that in their march through the wilderness followed next after the tabernacle; so that before them the ark of God's strength rose to scatter their enemies.

JAMISO�, "Psa_80:1-19. Shoshannim - “Lilies” (see on Psa_45:1, title). Eduth -Testimony, referring to the topic as a testimony of God to His people (compare Psa_19:7). This Psalm probably relates to the captivity of the ten tribes, as the former to that of Judah. Its complaint is aggravated by the contrast of former prosperity, and the prayer for relief occurs as a refrain through the Psalm.

Joseph— for Ephraim (1Ch_7:20-29; Psa_78:67; Rev_7:8), for Israel.

Shepherd— (Compare Gen_49:24).

leadest, etc.— (Psa_77:20).

dwellest ... cherubim— (Exo_25:20); the place of God’s visible glory, whence He communed with the people (Heb_9:5).

shine forth— appear (Psa_50:2; Psa_94:1).

CALVI�, "1Hearken, O Shepherd of Israel! The prophet, previous to his naming Manasseh and Ephraim, makes mention of Joseph; and why does he speak of Joseph rather than of Judah, but because it was his design to treat separately of the kingdom of Israel, the government of which was in the family and posterity of Joseph? �or, since God sent special prophets among them, after he had stricken them with his rods, is there any inconsistency when, at the same time, the prayer is added, That God would gather together the remnant to himself. Moreover, that they might not delude themselves by trusting in their spurious worship, the prophet, by applying to God the appellation of Him who sitteth between the Cherubim, calls them back to the pure doctrine of the law. The mercy-seat was a pledge of the presence of God, where he had promised to be near his people to hear their prayers. This divinely instituted form, it was unlawful for men to change at their own pleasure. The Israelites, then, are admonished to return to their original state, if they would expect to find God gracious towards them. Besides, by the title which is here attributed to God, there is expressed his wonderful love towards men in humbling, and, so to speak, lowering himself in order to come down to them, and choose for himself a seat and habitation on the earth, that he might dwell in the midst of them. Properly speaking, God cannot be said to sit; nor is it to be supposed that it is possible for him, whom the heaven of heavens cannot contain, to be shut up in a certain place, (1 Kings 8:27.) But, in accommodation to the infirmity of men, he is represented as placed between the two Cherubim, that the faithful might not imagine him to be far from them; and, consequently, be perplexed with doubt and apprehension in approaching him. At the same time, the remark which I have previously made must be borne in mind, that the Israelites are here furnished with a rule for enabling them to pray in a right manner, that they might be withdrawn from the worship of the god fabricated and set up by themselves at Dan and Bethel,

and that, rejecting all superstitions, they might yield themselves to be guided by the true light of faith, and follow the Word of God.

SPURGEO�, "Ver. 1. "Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel." Hear thou the bleatings of thy suffering flock. The name is full of tenderness, and hence is selected by the troubled psalmist: broken hearts delight in names of grace. Good old Jacob delighted to think of God as the Shepherd of Israel, and this verse may refer to his dying expression: "From thence is the Shepherd, the stone of Israel." We may be quite sure that he who deigns to be a shepherd to his people will not turn a deaf ear to their complaints. "Thou that leadest Joseph like a flock." The people are called here by the name of that renowned son who became a second father to the tribes, and kept them alive in Egypt; possibly they were known to the Egyptians under the name of "the family of Joseph, "and if so, it seems most natural to call them by that name in this place. The term may, however, refer to the ten tribes of which Manasseh was the acknowledged head. The Lord had of old in the wilderness led, guided, shepherded all the tribes; and, therefore, the appeal is made to him. The Lord's doings in the past are strong grounds for appeal and expectation as to the present and the future. "Thou that dwellest between the cherubims, shine forth." The Lord's especial presence was revealed upon the mercyseat between the cherubim, and in all our pleadings we should come to the Lord by this way: only upon the mercyseat will God reveal his grace, and only there can we hope to commune with him. Let us ever plead the name of Jesus, who is our true mercyseat, to whom we may come boldly, and through whom we may look for a display of the glory of the Lord on our behalf. Our greatest dread is the withdrawal of the Lord's presence, and our brightest hope is the prospect of his return. In the darkest times of Israel, the light of her Shepherd's countenance is all she needs.EXPLA�ATORY �OTES A�D QUAI�T SAYI�GSTitle. It is an Asaph prayer again, full of pleas in Israel's behalf. It is as if they had before them Isaiah 63:1, "Then he remembered the days of old." They call to his mind the days of Joseph, when (Genesis 49:24) the Lord miraculously fed them in Egypt. And then the tabernacle days, when (first, since the days of Eden), the Lord was known to dwell between the cherubim, on the mercyseat. They call to his mind wilderness times (verse 2), when their march was gladdened by his presence, "Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh" looking on the Pillar of Glory as it rose before them, the guide and partner of their way (see �umbers 10:32-34) "O God, bring us back again! Cause thy face to shine! and all shall be well again!" Andrew A. Bonar.Ver. 1. The prophet does not nakedly begin his prayer, but mingles therewith certain titles, by which he most aptly addresses God, and urges his cause. He does not say, O you who sustain and govern all things which are in heaven and in earth, who hast placed thy dwelling place above the heaven of heavens; but, Thou who art the Shepherd of Israel, thou that leadest Joseph like a flock, thou that dwellest between the cherubims. Those things which enhance the favour and providence of God revealed to Israel, he brings to remembrance that he might nourish and strengthen confidence in prayer...Let us learn from this example to feed and fortify our confidence in praying to God, with the marks of that divine and paternal

kindness revealed to us in Christ our Shepherd and propitiation. Musculus.Ver. 1. "Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel." It is the part of the shepherd to give ear to the bleatings and cries of the sheep, to call them to mind, that he may readily run to their help. Venema.Ver. 1. "O Shepherd of Israel, thou that leadest Joseph like a flock." Yon shepherd is about to lead his flock across the river; and, as our Lord says of the good shepherd, you observe that he goes before, and the sheep follow. �ot all in the same manner, however. Some enter boldly, and come straight across. These are the loved ones of the flock, who keep hard by the footsteps of the shepherd, whether sauntering through green meadows, by the still waters, feeding upon the mountains, or resting at noon beneath the shadow of great rocks. And now others enter, but in doubt and alarm. Far from their guide, they miss the ford, and are carried down the river, some more, some less, and yet, one by one, they all struggle over and make good their landing. �otice those little lambs. They refuse to enter, and must be driven into the stream by the shepherd's dog, mentioned by Job in his "parable." Poor things! how they leap and plunge, and bleat in terror! That weak one yonder will be swept quite away, and perish in the sea. But, no; the shepherd himself leaps into the stream, lifts it into his bosom, and bears it trembling to the shore. All safely over, how happy they appear. The lambs frisk and gambol about in high spirits, while the older ones gather round their faithful guide, and look up to him in subdued but expressive thankfulness.�ow, can you watch such a scene, and not think of that Shepherd who leadeth Joseph like a flock, and of another river which all his sheep must cross? He too, goes before, and, as in the case of this flock, they who keep near him fear no evil. They hear his sweet voice saying, "When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee." With eyes fastened on him, they scarcely see the stream, or feel its cold and threatening waves. The great majority, however, "linger, shivering on the brink, and fear to launch away." They lag behind, look down upon the dark river, and, like Peter on stormy Gennesaret, when faith failed, they begin to sink. Then they cry for help, and not in vain. The Good Shepherd hastens to their rescue, and none of all his flock can ever perish. Even the weakest lambkins are carries safely over. I once saw flocks crossing the Jordan "to Canaan's fair and happy land, "and there the scene was even more striking and impressive. The river was broader, the current stronger, and the flocks larger, while the shepherd's were more picturesque and Biblical. The catastrophe, too, with which many more sheep were threatened—of being swept down into that mysterious sea of death, which swallows up the Jordan itself, —was more solemn and suggestive. W. M. Thomson, in "The Land and the Book."Ver. 1. "Thou that leadest Joseph like a flock." Thou that leadest Joseph like a flock art considered by the unbelieving to have no thoughts for our affairs; therefore stretch forth thine hand for our assistance, that the mouth of them that speak iniquities may be shut. We seek not gold and riches, or the dignities of this world, but we long for thy light, we desire more ardently to know thee, therefore "shine forth." Savonarola.Ver. 1. "Thou that dwellest between the cherubims." From this phrase the following ideas may be derived:(1) That God is a King, sitting on his throne, and surrounded by his "ministers."

His throne is the heavens, the symbol of which is the holy of holies, his "ministers" are "angels, "and are elsewhere distinguished by that name, as Genesis 3:1-24; Psalms 18:11; (2) that God is the "King" of Israel, dwelling among them by the external symbol of his presence. His most illustrious ministers are depicted by the "Cherubims, "who comprehend his heavenly as well as earthly ministers; (3) that God is the covenant "King" of his people, and has fixed his dwelling place above the "ark of the covenant, "an argument that he will observe the covenant and fulfil its promises, that he will guard his people, and procure for them every felicity; (4) lastly, that God is willing to reveal to the people his grace and mercy through the covering of the ark, called the "mercyseat, "on which God sat.Venema.

ELLICOTT, "(1) The reference to the shepherd, so characteristic of the Asaphic psalms, is, no doubt, here chosen especially in recollection of Genesis 48:15; Genesis 49:24. “Shepherd” and “Rock” were Jacob’s especial names for God, as the “Fear” was that of Isaac, and the “Mighty” that of Abraham; but in the blessing of Joseph the patriarch seems to have made more than usually solemn pronunciation of it. It is, therefore, very doubtful whether we must press the selection of Joseph here as a distinct and intended reference to the northern tribes or kingdom, in distinction to Judah or the southern kingdom.

Dwellest.—Rather, sittest (enthroned). (Comp. Psalms 99:1.) That this is not a merely poetical idea drawn from clouds (as possibly in Psalms 18:10), but is derived from the throne, upheld by the wings of the sculptured cherubim in the Temple, is proved by Exodus 25:22. (Comp. �umbers 7:89. Comp. also “chariot of the cherubim,” 1 Chronicles 28:18; Sirach 49:8; also Isaiah 6:1; Isaiah 37:16; Ezekiel 1:26.)

WHEDO�, "1. Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel— “The previous psalm closed with ‘We thy people and sheep of thy pasture;’ and this begins with a cry to the ‘Shepherd of Israel.’”—Delitzsch.

Between the cherubim—The word “between” is not in the original, but is inserted on the authority of Exodus 25:22; �umbers 7:89. But in Ezekiel 1:4-26; Ezekiel 10:1, the “cherubim” are represented as under the throne of God. So, also, in 2 Samuel 22:11; Psalms 18:10. The explanation seems to be, that as the “cherubim” or “living creatures” are symbolic beings—not messengers, as angels, but emblems of God’s living agency, his knowledge, patience, strength, and swiftness in executing his purposes—so when Deity is represented as sitting on his throne, (as Revelation 4:6,) or abiding in a local place, giving oracles, (as in the Hebrew tabernacle, Exodus 25:22,) the “cherubim” stand “round about” him. But when he executes his judgments, the “cherubim” are represented as his “chariot” under the throne, moving “straight forward,” “running and returning as the appearance of a flash of lightning.” Ezekiel 1:14. See notes on Psalms 18:10; Psalms 68:17. Compare Psalm 67:17; Deuteronomy 33:2; Daniel 7:9. This latter sense may suit the text better. Delitzsch renders it, “Thou who sittest enthroned above the ‘cherubim,’ oh appear!”

K&D 1-3, "The first strophe contains nothing but petition. First of all the nation iscalled Israel as springing from Jacob; then, as in Psa_81:6, Joseph, which, where it is distinct from Jacob or Judah, is the name of the kingdom of the ten tribes (vid., Caspari on Oba_1:18), or at least of the northern tribes (Psa_77:16; Psa_78:67.). Psa_80:3shows that it is also these that are pre-eminently intended here. The fact that in the

blessing of Joseph, Jacob calls God a Shepherd (רעה), Gen_48:15; Gen_49:24, perhaps has somewhat to do with the choice of the first two names. In the third, the sitting enthroned in the sanctuary here below and in the heaven above blend together; for theOld Testament is conscious of a mutual relationship between the earthly and the

heavenly temple (היכל) until the one merges entirely in the other. The cherûbim, which

God enthrones, i.e., upon which He sits enthroned, are the bearers of the chariot (מרכבה)

of the Ruler of the world (vid., Psa_18:11). With הופיעה (from יפע, Arab. yf‛, eminere,

emicare, as in the Asaph Psa_50:2) the poet prays that He would appear in His splendour of light, i.e., in His fiery bright, judging, and rescuing doxa, whether asdirectly visible, or even as only recognisable by its operation. Both the comparison,

“after the manner of a flock” and the verb נהג are Asaphic, Psa_78:52, cf. Psa_26:1-12. Just so also the names given to the nation. The designation of Israel after the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh attaches itself to the name Joseph; and the two take the brother after the flesh into their midst, of whom the beloved Rachel was the mother as well as of Joseph, the father of Ephraim and Manasseh. In Num. 2 also, these three are not separated, but have their camp on the west side of the Tabernacle. May God again put

into activity - which is the meaning of עורר (excitare) in distinction from חעיר

(expergefacere) - His גבורה, the need for the energetic intervention of which now makes

itself felt, before these three tribes, i.e., by becoming their victorious leader. לכה is a summoning imperative.

(Note: Not a pronoun: to Thee it belongs to be for salvation for us, as the Talmud, Midrash, and Masora (vid., Norzi) take it; wherefore in J. Succa 54c it is straightway

written לך. Such a לך = לכה is called in the language of the Masora, and even in the

Midrash (Exod. Rabba, fol. 121), לכה ודאית (vid., Buxtorf, Tiberias, p. 245).)

Concerning ישעתה vid., on Psa_3:3; the construction with Lamed says as little against the

accusative adverbial rendering of the ah set forth there as does the Beth of חרשה) (in the wood) in 1Sa_23:15, vid., Böttcher's Neue Aehrenlese, Nos. 221, 384, 449. It is not a

bringing back out of the Exile that is prayed for by השתבנו, for, according to the whole impression conveyed by the Psalm, the people are still on the soil of their fatherland; but in their present feebleness they are no longer like themselves, they stand in need of divine intervention in order again to attain a condition that is in harmony with the promises, in order to become themselves again. May God then cause His long hidden countenance to brighten and shine upon them, then shall they be helped as they desire

.(ונושעה)

BI 1-19, "Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, Thou that leadest Joseph like a flock.

The Almighty in relation to erring man

I. As a shepherd (Psa_80:1).

1. His flock indicated. “Joseph” may stand for all Israel, and Israel as an illustration of the moral condition of men everywhere.

(1) Rebellious.

(2) Discontented.

(3) Pursuing a perilous journey.

2. His dwelling-place described. Dwelt in symbol on mercy-seat. Now, God is in Christ, reconciling the world.

3. His interposition invoked (Psa_80:2).

(1) The end. “Save us.”

(2) The means. Divine strength Divine turning. Divine favour.

II. As a character (Psa_80:4). God’s chastisements are—

1. Always deserved.

2. Often very painful. Physical anguish, moral distress, social bereavement, disappointment, persecution.

3. They sometimes stimulate prayer. However great our afflictions, if they but send us in prayer to God, they are blessings in disguise.

III. As a cultivator (Psa_80:8-13).

1. The work He does.

(1) He prepares the soil. There is only one moral soil in the universe in which dead souls can be quickened and be rightly developed, and that is the Gospel of Christ. Souls are seeds.

(2) He deposit the seed. God alone can bring the soul into the soil of Gospel truth and root it there.

(3) He trains the plant. “The hills were covered with the shadow of it.” The Jewish people became a grand nation under His training. So do human souls become under His spiritual training.

2. The evil He permits. “Why hast thou then broken down her hedges?” etc. He did not do it by His direct agency, only by permission. He could have prevented it. He could have crushed the invaders. But He did not. For wise and beneficent purposes, He permitted it. So it is in the department of spiritual culture. He permits evils.

IV. As the restorer (Psa_80:14-19).

1. He restores by special visitation. “Look down from heaven,” etc. Dead souls are restored to life because God visits the world. “He bowed the heavens and came down.” He appeared in Christ.

2. He restores from apparently the most hopeless condition (Psa_80:16). “There is nothing too hard for the Lord.” “He is able of these stones to raise up children,” etc.

“Can these dry bones live?” you say. Yes, they can.

3. He restores by quickening the soul into devotion (Psa_80:18). (Homilist.)

The relative Deity

I. Here He is presented in His relative character. He is a “Shepherd.” As a Shepherd He has universal knowledge, self-sacrificing love, and almighty power.

II. Here He is presented in His relative agency. “Thou that leadest Joseph like a flock.” He leads us now by the dictates of moral reason, the events of His providence, the revelations of His book, and the influence of His Spirit.

(1) The insufficiency of human reason.

(2) The free agency of man;—He “leads,” not drives.

(3) The considerateness of His compassion.

III. Here He is presented in His relative posture. “Thou that dwellest between the cherubims, shine forth.” Man, from his nature, requires a place for his God—some point in space where he may meet Him. Under the old dispensation this want was met by His appearing in the Shekinah over the mercy-seat. In the new it is met in Christ, of which the old manifestation was but the symbol. Christ is the “Mercy Seat “ where man meets his God.

IV. Here He is presented in His relative light, “Shine forth.” We want Him to shine forth upon us through Christ. (Homilist.)

Thou that dwellest between the cherubims, shine forth.

The mercy-seat

The prayer in the text may be offered—

1. When we are seeking the pardon of our offences,—when our hearts are stricken with conviction,—when we understand and feel that it is an evil thing to sin against God.

2. When we are oppressed by spiritual adversaries.

3. When commending particular efforts for the advancement of the Saviour’s kingdom to the Divine regard.

4. When we contemplate the general condition and wants of mankind. (J. Parsons.)

The God that dwelleth between the cherubims

I. The character of God represented by this phrase.

1. A God of glory.

2. A God of holiness and justice.

3. A God of mercy, full of love and goodness.

4. A God of condescending intercourse. God might be approached with safety and success as He sat upon the mercy-seat sprinkled with blood (Exo_29:43-46).

II. The import of the prayer in the text. “Thou that dwellest between the cherubims, shine forth,” smile upon us with Thy heavenly favour; cast away all our transgressions from Thy sight; break in upon our darkened souls with the light of Thy truth, and cause us to see and know the truth with enlightened understandings; chase away with Thy bright beamings the gloom of sin and unbelief; and let Thy peace “which passeth all understanding,” and the “joy of the Holy Ghost,” dwell within us, to be our portion at all times. Guide us by Thy unerring counsel here, and receive us to Thy eternal glory hereafter. (J. S. Broad, M. A.)

The word “God” means the Shining One

Special reference is probably made to the Shekinah. God under the Old Testament was manifesting His presence in a cloud of dazzling light. The name, therefore, by which He was known was the Brilliant or Shining One. It was long supposed that God etymologically meant good. God, good—they were believed to be one and the same word. But further investigation seems to point out that the English God, the Latin Deus, the Greek Theos, the Welsh Duw—all come from an old Aryan root signifying “to shine.” Men thought of God, and to what could they compare Him? To nothing else than the shining splendour of the light. God is light, God means the “Shining One.” (Cynddylan Jones.)

2 before Ephraim, Benjamin and Manasseh.Awaken your might; come and save us.

BAR�ES, "Before Ephraim, and Benjamin, and Manasseh - Ephraim and Manasseh were the two sons of Joseph, and their names were given to two of the tribes of Israel. See the notes at Psa_78:67. They seem to have been particularly mentioned here, because Joseph, their father, had been referred to in the previous verse; and it was natural, in speaking of the people, to mention his sons. Benjamin is mentioned because, in the encampment and march through the wilderness, these three tribes always went together, as the descendants of the same mother. Gen_46:19-20; Num_2:18-24; Num_10:22-24. It is probable that they were always especially united in the great operations of the Hebrew people, and that when one was mentioned it was customary to mention the

others, as being of the same family, or descended from the same mother. There does not appear, from the psalm itself, any particular reason why the prayer is offered that God would manifest himself especially to these three tribes; and nothing in regard to the occasion on which the psalm was composed, can be argued from the fact that they are thus mentioned.

Hengstenberg indeed supposes that the common idea that the tribe of Benjamin adhered to Judah in the revolt of the ten tribes is erroneous, and that Benjamin was one of the ten tribes which revolted; and that Simeon was not included in the number because he had no separate territory, but only certain towns and places within the limits of the tribe of Judah. Prof. Alexander, embracing this opinion, supposes that the psalm refers to the calamities which came upon the ten tribes at the time of their captivity. But this supposition seems to me to be improbable. The obvious and fair interpretation of the narrative on the subject is, that the tribe of Benjamin adhered to that of Judah at the time of the revolt, for it is said 1Ki_12:21 that “when Rehoboam was come to Jerusalem, he assembled all the house of Judah, with the tribe of Benjamin, an hundred and fourscore thousand chosen men, which were warriors, to right against the house of Israel, to bring the kingdom again to Rehoboam, the son of Solomon.” Besides, even on the supposition that Benjamin was one of the ten revolted tribes, the fact that these three tribes are particularly mentioned together would not prove that the psalm referred to the carrying away of the ten tribes into Assyria, for still the question would arise why these are particularly mentioned rather than any other of the ten. It seems to me, therefore, that the fact that these are specified can be explained on the suppositions above suggested:

(a) That the main reference in the psalm was to the coming out of Egypt - the bringing the “vine” - that is, the people - from that land Psa_80:8;

(b) That in alluding to that, it was natural to make mention of Joseph, who was so distinguished there, and who, after so many trials, was exalted to so great honor that his name might be given to the whole people;

(c) That when Joseph had been spoken of, it was natural, in the progress of the psalm, to mention particularly the names of his sons, Ephraim and Manasseh; and

(d) that having mentioned them, it was natural also to refer to one whose name was always associated with that of Joseph as his younger brother by the same mother, and to the tribe of that name which was always associated with Ephraim and Manasseh in the march.

I regard the psalm, therefore, as referring to the entire Hebrew people, and the names of these three tribes as representatives of the whole nation. The prayer is, that God would manifest; himself in the presence of his people.

Stir up thy strength - As if he were indifferent to their condition; as if he put forth no effort to save them. See the notes at Psa_35:23.

And come and save us -Margin, as in Hebrew, come for salvation to us. That is, Come and deliver us from our enemies and our dangers.

CLARKE, "Before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh - It is supposed that these three tribes represent the whole, Benjamin being incorporated with Judah, Manasseh comprehending the country beyond Jordan, and Ephraim all the rest - Dodd.

GILL, "Before Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh, stir up thy strength,.... Which Christ did in the public ministry of the word, speaking as one having authority, and not as the Scribes and Pharisees; and in the performance of miracles, openly, and in the sight of all; and in his sufferings and death for the salvation of his people; in which he appeared to be the mighty God, travelling in the greatness of his strength, and mighty to save. These tribes design all Israel, before whom the above things were done; and the allusion is to these three tribes marching immediately after the Kohathites, who carried the ark on their shoulders in journeying, Num_2:17 which is called the Lord's strength, and the ark of his strength, Psa_78:61. The Targum in the king's Bible reads, to the

children of Ephraim, &c. reading לבני instead of לפני; see the Masorah, and Pro_4:3,

and come and save us; come from heaven to earth, not by change of place, but by assumption of nature; this was promised and expected, and is here prayed for; Christ is now come in the flesh, which to deny is antichristian; and his end in coming was to save his people from their sins, from the curse and condemnation of the law, and wrath to come; and as he came on this errand, he is become the author of eternal salvation, in w

JAMISO�, "Before Ephraim, etc.— These tribes marched next the ark (Num_2:18-24). The name of Benjamin may be introduced merely in allusion to that fact, and not because that tribe was identified with Israel in the schism (1Ki_12:16-21; compare also Num_10:24).

ELLICOTT, "(2) Before Ephraim . . .—The tribes named from Joseph’s sons and his uterine brother naturally range together; they encamped side by side on the west of the Tabernacle, and when the ark moved forward they took their places immediately behind it to head the procession. The preposition “before” would alone show that this ancient arrangement, and no recent political event, determines the manner in which the poet introduces the tribes. It is used of a funeral procession (2 Samuel 3:31; Job 21:33).

SPURGEO�, "Ver. 2. "Before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh stir up thy strength, and come and save us." It is wise to mention the names of the Lord's people in prayer, for they are precious to him. Jesus bears the names of his people on his breastplate. Just as the mention of the names of his children has power with a father, so it is with the Lord. The three names were near of kin; Ephraim and Manasseh represent Joseph, and it was meet that Benjamin, the other son of the beloved Rachel, should be mentioned in the same breath: these three tribes were wont to march together in the wilderness, following immediately behind the ark. The prayer is that the God of Israel would be mighty on behalf of his people, chasing away their foes, and saving his people. O that in these days the Lord may be pleased to remember every part of his church, and make all her tribes to see his salvation. We would not mention our own denomination only, but lift up prayer for all the sections of the one church.EXPLA�ATORY �OTES A�D QUAI�T SAYI�GSVerse 2. "Before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh." The three tribes of Ephraim, Manasseh, and Benjamin, the three sons of Rachel, went immediately behind the ark. Whenever the ark arose against the enemy, Moses used to exclaim,

"Rise up, Lord, and let thine enemies be scattered; and let them that hate thee flee before thee." The Psalmist repeats this exclamation. "Cause thy face to shine upon us, " was the blessing of Aaron; the psalmist prays for the renewal of that blessing. Augustus F. Tholuck.

WHEDO�, "2. Before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh—These tribes constituted the western division in the grand desert march. �umbers 2:18-24. “Ephraim and Manasseh,” here, represent the alienating jealousy of the “ten tribes,” as Benjamin does the internal division of the kingdom of Judah through the political adherents of the house of Saul. See introduction.

Stir up thy strength—Compare “Take to thee thy great power,” Revelation 11:17. This awaking to action stands opposed to indifference and delay. The language is anthropopathic in accommodation to our weakness, speaking of God according to what we know of men.

3 Restore us, O God; make your face shine on us, that we may be saved.

BAR�ES, "Turn us again - This phrase in our translation would seem to mean, “Turn us again from our sins,” or, “Bring us back to our duty, and to thy love;” and this idea is commonly attached to the phrase probably by the readers of the Bible. But this, though in itself an appropriate prayer, is not the idea here. It is simply, Bring us back; cause us to return; restore us. The idea thus suggested would be either

(a) restore us to our former state of prosperity; that is, Cause these desolations to cease; or

(b) bring us back, as from captivity, to our own land; restore us to our country and our homes, from which we have been driven out.

Thus understood, it would be properly the language of those who were in captivity or exile, praying that they might be restored again to their own land.

And cause thy face to shine - Be favorable or propitious to us. Let the frown on thy countenance disappear. See the notes at Psa_4:6.

And we shall be saved - Saved from our dangers; saved from our troubles. It is also true that when God causes his face to shine upon us, we shall be saved from our sins;

saved from ruin. It is only by his smile and favor that we can be saved in any sense, or from any danger.

CLARKE, "Turn us again - hashibenu, convert or restore us. There are four השיבנוparts in this Psalm, three of which end with the above words; see the third, seventh, and nineteenth verses; and one with words similar, Psa_80:14.

GILL, "Turn us again, O God,.... From our captivity, as the Targum, into our own land; or return us backsliding sinners to thyself by repentance; turn us, and we shall be turned; for the prayer shows it was not in their power, but must be effected by the grace of God; or restore our souls, which have been wandering, and them to their former flourishing and comfortable condition:

and cause thy face to shine; grant thy gracious presence, lift up the light of thy countenance; favour with the manifestations of thyself, the enjoyment of thee, and communion with thee through Christ; indulge us with the discoveries of thy love, the joys of salvation, the comforts of the Spirit, and larger measures of grace:

and we shall be saved; be in a very happy and comfortable condition; see Psa_4:6.

JAMISO�, "Turn us— that is, from captivity.

thy face to shine— (Num_6:25).

CALVI�, "3Turn us again, O God! The meaning of this prayer is, Restore us to our former state. They had petitioned, in the preceding verse, that God would stir up his strength in the sight of Ephraim and Manasseh; and now they complain that they are but castaways until God succor them, and remedy their miserable dispersion. Some understand the words, turn us again, in a different way; namely, as a prayer that God would bestow upon them the spirit of regeneration. But this interpretation being too refined, it will be better, adhering to the former sense, to view the expression as meaning that the faithful, under the adversity with which they were afflicted, betake themselves to God, whose peculiar work it is to restore life to the dead. They acknowledge, on the one hand, that all their miseries were to be traced to this as their cause, that God, being angry on account of their sins, hid his face from them; and, on the other hand, they expect to obtain complete salvation solely through the Divine favor. It will be to us, they say, a resurrection indeed, if once thy countenance shine upon us. Their language implies, that provided God extended his mercy and favor to them, they would be happy, and all their affairs would prosper.

SPURGEO�, "Ver. 3. "Turn us again, O God." It is not so much said, "turn our captivity, "but "turn us." All will come right if we are right. The best turn is not that of circumstances but of character. When the Lord turns his people he will soon

turn their condition. It needs the Lord himself to do this, for conversion is as divine a work as creation; and those who have been once turned unto God, if they at any time backslide, as much need the Lord to turn them again as to turn them at the first. The word may be read, "restore us; "verily, it is a choice mercy that "he restoreth my soul.""And cause thy face to shine." Be favourable to us, smile upon us. This was the high priest's blessing upon Israel: what the Lord has already given us by our High Priest and Mediator we may right confidently ask of him."And we shall be saved." All that is wanted for salvation is the Lord's favour. One glance of his gracious eye would transform Tophet into Paradise. �o matter how fierce the foe, or dire the captivity, the shining face of God ensures both victory and liberty. This verse is a very useful prayer. Since we too often turn aside, let us often with our lips and heart cry, "Turn us again, O God, and cause thy face to shine, and we shall be saved."EXPLA�ATORY �OTES A�D QUAI�T SAYI�GSVer. 3. "Turn us, and cause thy face to shine." To thyself convert us, from the earthly to the heavenly; convert our rebellious wills to thee, and when we are converted, show thy countenance that we may know thee; show thy power that we may fear thee; show thy wisdom that we may reverence thee; show thy goodness that we may love thee; show them once, show them a second time, show them always, that through tribulation we may pass with a happy face, and be saved. When thou dost save, we shall be saved; when thou withdrawest thy hand, we cannot be saved. Savonarola.HI�TS TO THE VILLAGE PREACHERVer. 3. The double work in salvation, (1) Turn us; (2) Turn to us.Psalms 80:4

ELLICOTT, '(3) Turn us again—i.e., “restore us,” not necessarily with reference to the Captivity, but generally, restore us to our pristine prosperity.

Cause thy face to shine.—The desert encampment and march is still in the poet’s thought. As in Psalms 67:1 (see �ote) we have here a reminiscence of the priestly benediction.

Saved.—Or, helped. This verse constitutes the refrain.

COKE, "Psalms 80:3. Turn us again, O God— There are evidently four parts in this psalm; all of which conclude with this verse, or with one varying very little from it. In the first, the Psalmist intreats God to assist them, as he formerly did their forefathers. In the second, he beseeches him to have compassion upon their miserable condition. In the third, not to forsake those now, for whom he had already done so much: and the fourth concludes with a prayer for their king, and a promise of future obedience, as a grateful return for God's favours. Instead of turn us, Mudge reads very properly, restore us.

WHEDO�, "3. Turn us again—Bring us back, or, cause us to return. Here, again, is the office of the “Shepherd of Israel.” In Psalms 80:1, he “leads Joseph like a flock;”

now he is called to bring back the strayed ones. Thus the same word Psalms 23:3, “He restoreth [bringeth back] my soul.” It was the first want of the nation, and the first specified act of that saving strength invoked in the previous verse. Unquestionably the word שוב, (shoobh,) “turn,” is to be taken in the fullest sense of restoration, politically and spiritually. �othing less than this would be equal to the national want or the impassioned language of the psalm. The word is often used spiritually in the sense of convert, as Psalms 19:7 ; Psalms 51:13; Isaiah 4:7; Ezekiel 18:21; Ezekiel 18:28; Malachi 2:6

4 How long, Lord God Almighty, will your anger smolder against the prayers of your people?

BAR�ES, "O Lord God of hosts - Yahweh, God of armies. That is either

(a) the God who rules among the hosts of heaven - the inhabitants of that holy world; or

(b) God of the hosts of the sky - the worlds above - the stars, that seem marshalled as hosts or armies, and that are led forth each night with such order and grandeur; or

(c) God of the hosts on earth - the armies that are mustered for war. The phrase is one which is often applied to God. See the notes at Psa_24:10; and at Isa_1:24.

How long wilt thou be angry -Margin, as in Hebrew, wilt thou smoke. The allusion is derived from the comparison of anger with fire. See the notes at Psa_74:1.

Against the prayer of thy people - That is, Thou dost not answer their prayer; thou seemest to be angry against them even when they pray; or in the act of calling upon thee. The earnest inquiry here is, how long this was to continue. It seemed as if it would never end. Compare the notes at Psa_77:7-9.

GILL, "O Lord God of hosts,.... Aben Ezra and Kimchi observe, that the word "Elohe" is here understood, and the words to be read, "O Lord God, the God of hosts"; of the armies above and below, against whom there is no standing, nor any before him when he is angry:

how long wilt thou be angry against the prayer of thy people? which must be put up in a wrong manner, in a very cold and lukewarm way, without faith and love, and with wrath and doubting; or otherwise God is not angry with, nor sets himself against the prayer of his people; nor does he despise, but is highly delighted with it: or how long wilt thou be angry with thy people, and continue the tokens of thy displeasure, though they pray, and keep praying, unto thee? it is in the Hebrew text, "how long wilt thou

smoke (m) at the prayer of thy people?" that is, cause thine anger to smoke at it; in which it is thought there is an allusion to the smoke of the incense, to which prayer is compared; see Psa_141:2, and denotes the acceptance of it with God through the mediation of Christ; but here his displicency at it, not being offered up through him, and by faith in him; such were the prayers of the Pharisees, Mat_6:5.

HE�RY, " He complains of God's displeasure against them. God was angry, and he dreads that more than any thing, Psa_80:4. 1. It was great anger. He apprehended that God was angry against the prayer of his people, not only that he was angry notwithstanding their prayers, by which they hoped to turn away his wrath from them, but that he was angry with their prayers, though they were his own people that prayed. That God should be angry at the sins of his people and at the prayers of his enemies is not strange; but that he should be angry at the prayers of his people is strange indeed. He not only delayed to answer them (that he often does in love), but he was displeased at them. If he be really angry at the prayers of his people, we may be sure it is because they ask amiss, Jam_4:3. They pray, but they do not wrestle in prayer; their ends are not right, or there is some secret sin harboured and indulged in them; they do not lift up pure hands, or they lift them up with wrath and doubting. But perhaps it is only in their own apprehension; he seems angry with their prayers when really he is not; for thus he will try their patience and perseverance in prayer, as Christ tried the woman of Canaan when he said, It is not meet to take the children's bread and cast it to dogs. 2. It was anger that had continued a great while: “How long wilt thou be angry? We have still continued praying and yet are still under thy frowns.” Now the tokens of God's displeasure which they had been long under were both their sorrow and shame

JAMISO�, "be angry— (Compare Margin.)

CALVI�, "4O Jehovah, God of Hosts! God having in the Scriptures freely promised, and so often assured us, that the prayers of his people will not be disappointed, it may excite our surprise to find the faithful here alleging before him, that he continues unpacified, although they betake themselves to him. They complain not only that they are not heard, but also that he is angry, when they call upon him; as if he purposely rejected this religious service. Where, then, it may be said, is that promise recorded in Isaiah 65:24, “Before they call I will answer?” To this I would answer, That as God, by delaying to succor his people, tries their patience, the prophet, speaking according to the judgment of the flesh, represents him as deaf to their prayers. �ot that it is proper for those who pray to rest in this opinion, which would throw an insuperable obstacle in their way to the throne of grace. It rather becomes them to strive to cherish, in opposition to it, the judgment of faith; and to penetrate even into heaven, where they may behold a hidden salvation. But still God permits them, the more effectually to disburden their minds, to tell him of the cares, anxieties, griefs, and fears, with which they are distressed. In the mention here made of the smoke of God’s wrath, there appears to be an implicit allusion to the incense which was used in the sacrifices under the law. The smoke of the incense served to purify the air; but the Israelites complain that the heavens were so obscured by a different smoke, that their sighs could not come up to God.

SPURGEO�, "Ver. 4. "O Lord God of Hosts, how long wilt thou be angry against the prayer of thy people?" How long shall the smoke of thy wrath drown the smoking incense of our prayers? Prayer would fain enter thy holy place, but they wrath battles with it, and prevents its entrance. That God should be angry with us when sinning seems natural enough, but that he should be angry even with our prayers is a bitter grief. With many a pang may the pleader ask, "How long?" Commander of all the hosts of thy creatures, able to save thy saints in their extremity, shall they for ever cry to thee in vain?EXPLA�ATORY �OTES A�D QUAI�T SAYI�GSVer. 4. "Lord God of hosts." All creatures are mustered, and trained, and put into garrison, or brought forth into the field, by his command. Which way can we look beside his armies? If upward into heaven, there is a band of soldiers, even a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God, Lu 2:13. If to the lower heavens, there is a band of soldiers, Genesis 2:1; it was universa militia caeli, to which those idolaters burnt incense. On the earth, not only men are marshalled to the service; so Israel was called the "host of the living God; "but even the brute creatures are ranged in arrays. So God did levy a band of flies against the Egyptians; and a band of frogs that marched into their bed chambers. He hath troops of locusts, Proverbs 30:27, and armies of caterpillars. �ot only the chariots and horsemen of heaven to defend his prophet; but even the basest, the most indocible, and despicable creatures, wherewith to confound his enemies. If Goliath stalk forth to defy the God of Israel, he shall be confuted with a pebble. If Herod swells up to a god, God will set his vermin on him, and all the king's guard cannot save him from them. You have heard of rats that could not be beaten off till they had destroyed that covetous prelate; and of the fly that killed Pope Adrian. God hath more ways to punish than he hath creatures. "The Lord God of Hosts" is not properly a title of creation, but of Providence. All creatures have their existence from God as their Maker; but so have they also their order from him as their Governor. It refers not so much to their being as to their marshalling; not to their natural but militant estate; not only as creatures do they owe him for their making, but as they are soldiers for their managing. Their order is warlike, and they serve under the colours of the Almighty. So that here, God would be respected, not as a creator, but as a general.His anger, therefore, seems so much the more fearful, as it is presented to us under so great a title: "the Lord God of Hosts" is angry. They talk of Tamerlane that he could daunt his enemies with the very look of his countenance. Oh! then what terror dwells in the countenance of an offended God! The reprobates shall call to the rocks to hide them from the wrath of the Lamb. Revelation 6:16. If ira agni doth so affright them, how terrible is ira leonis, the wrath of the lion? It may justly trouble us all to hear that the Lord, "the Lord God of Hosts, "is angry; in the sense whereof the prophet breaks forth here into this expostulation: "O Lord God of hosts, how long wilt thou be angry with thy people that prayeth?" Thomas Adams.Ver. 4. "Angry against the prayer of thy people." There may be infirmities enough in our very prayers to make them unacceptable. As if they be Exanimes, without life and soul; when the heart knows not what the tongue utters. Or Perfunctoriae, for God will have none of those prayers that come out of feigned lips. Or Tentativae, for they that will petere tentando, tempt God in prayer, shall go without. Or Fluctuantes, of a wild and wandering discourse, ranging up and down, which the

Apostle calls "beating the air, "as huntsmen beat the bushes, and as Saul sought his father's asses. Such prayers will not stumble upon the kingdom of heaven. Or if they be Preproperae, run over in haste, as some use to chop up their prayers, and think long till they have done. But they that pray in such haste shall be heard at leisure. Or sine fiducia; the faithless man had as good hold his peace as pray; he may babble, but prays not; he prays ineffectually, and receives not. He may lift up his hands, but he does not lift up his heart. Only the prayer of the righteous availeth, and only the believer is righteous. But the formal devotion of a faithless man is not worth the crust of bread which he asks. Or sine humilitate, so the pharisee's prayer was not truly supplicatio, but superlatio. A presumptuous prayer profanes the name of God instead of adoring it. All, or any, of these defects may mar the success of our prayers. Thomas Adams.

ILLICOTT, "(4) How long wilt thou be angry?—Literally, until when hast thou fumed? A pregnant construction combining two clauses. Thou hast been long angry; how long wilt thou continue to be angry? (Comp. Psalms 13:2, �ote, and Exodus 10:3.) Others say the preterite here has the sense of a future perfect, which comes to the same thing: “How long wilt thou have fumed? (See Müller’s Syntax, § i. 3, rem. (a), Prof. Robertson’s trans.)

Against the prayer.—Literally, in, i.e., during the prayer. The smoke of the Divine anger is, perhaps, conceived of as a cloud through which the prayer (often symbolised by an ascending incense) cannot penetrate.

WHEDO�, "4. Angry against the prayer of thy people—Hebrew, smoke against the “prayer.” So Psalms 74:1. An intensive form of representing anger or displeasure. As the judgment was not abated, notwithstanding the “prayer” of his “people,” the “prayer” seemed repulsed by the divine displeasure.

Lamentations 3:8; Habakkuk 1:2

K&D 4-7, "In the second strophe there issues forth bitter complaint concerning the form of wrath which the present assumes, and, thus confirmed, the petition rises anew.

The transferring of the smoking (עשן) of God's nostrils = the hard breathing of anger (Psa_74:1, Deu_29:19), to God Himself is bold, but in keeping with the spirit of the Biblical view of the wrath of God (vid., on Psa_18:9), so that there is no need to avoid

the expression by calling in the aid of the Syriac word עשן, to be strong, powerful (why art

Thou hard, why dost Thou harden Thyself...). The perfect after עד־מתי has the sense of a

present with a retrospective glance, as in Exo_10:3, cf. עד־1נה, to be understood after the

analogy of ) חרה (to kindle = to be angry against any one), for the prayer of the people is not an object of wrath, but only not a means of turning it aside. While the prayer is being presented, God veils Himself in the smoke of wrath, through which it is not able to

penetrate. The lxx translators have read בתפלת עבדיך, for they render 2π4 τ6ν προσευχήν

τ?ν δούλων σου (for which the common reading is τοD δούλου σου). Bread of tears is,

according to Psa_42:4, bread consisting of tears; tears, running down in streams upon

the lips of the praying and fasting one, are his meat and his drink. השקה with an accusative signifies to give something to drink, and followed by Beth, to give to drink by means of something, but it is not to be translated: potitandum das eis cum lacrymis

trientem (De Dieu, von Ortenberg, and Hitzig). שליש (Talmudic, a third part) is the

accusative of more precise definition (Vatablus, Gesenius, Olshausen, and Hupfeld): by

thirds (lxx 2ν µέτρH, Symmachus µέτρH); for a third of an ephah is certainly a very small

measure for the dust of the earth (Isa_40:12), but a large one for tears. The neighbours

are the neighbouring nations, to whom Israel is become מדון, an object, a butt of

contention. In למו is expressed the pleasure which the mocking gives them.

5 You have fed them with the bread of tears; you have made them drink tears by the bowlful.

BAR�ES, "Thou feedest them with the bread of tears - literally, “Thou causest them to eat the bread of tears,” or of weeping. That is, their food was accompanied with tears; even when they ate, they wept. Their tears seemed to moisten their bread, they flowed so copiously. See the notes at Psa_42:3.

And givest them tears to drink - So abundant were their tears that they might constitute their very drink.

In great measure - Or rather by measure; that is, abundantly. The word here

rendered “great measure” - shâlıLysh שליש - means properly a third, and is usually applied

to a measure for grain - a third part of another measure - as, the third part of an ephah. See the notes at Isa_40:12. Then the word is used for any measure, perhaps because this was the most common measure in use. The idea seems to be, not so much that God gave tears to them in great measure, but that he measured them out to them, as one measures drink to others; that is, the cup, or cask, or bottle in which their drink was served to them was as if filled with tears only.

CLARKE, "Thou feedest them with the bread of tears - They have no peace, no comfort, nothing but continual sorrow.

In great measure - shalish, threefold. Some think it was a certain measure used שליש

by the Chaldeans, the real capacity of which is not known. others think it signifies abundance or abundantly.

GILL, "Thou feedest them with the bread of tears,.... With tears instead of bread, having none to eat; or their bread is mingled with their tears, "dipped" therein, as the Targum; such was their constant grief, and the occasion of it, that they could not cease from tears while they were eating their meals, and so ate them with them (n):

and givest them tears to drink in great measure; or the wine of tears "three fold", as the Targum. Jarchi interprets it of the captivity of Babylon, which was the third part of the two hundred and ten years of Israel's being in Egypt; which exposition, he says, he learned from R. Moses Hadarsan; but he observes, that some interpret it of the kingdom of Grecia, which was the third distress: and so Kimchi and Arama explain it of the third captivity; but Menachem, as Jarchi says, takes "shalish" to be the name of a drinking vessel, and so does Aben Ezra; the same it may be which the Latins call a "triental", the third part of a pint; unless the Hebrew measure, the "seah", which was the third part of an "ephah", is meant; it is translated a "measure" in Isa_40:12 and seems to design a large one, and so our version interprets it; compare with this Isa_30:20.

HE�RY 5-6, " Their sorrow (Psa_80:5): Thou feedest them with the bread of tears;they eat their meat from day to day in tears; this is the vinegar in which they dipped their morsel, Psa_42:3. They had tears given them to drink, not now and then a taste of that bitter cup, but in great measure. Note, There are many that spend their time in sorrow who yet shall spend their eternity in joy. (2.) It was their shame, Psa_80:6. God, by frowning upon them, made them a strife unto their neighbours; each strove which should expose them most, and such a cheap and easy prey were they made to them that all the strife was who should have the stripping and plundering of them. Their enemies laughed among themselves to see the frights they were in, the straits they were reduced to, and the disappointments they met with. When God is displeased with his people we must expect to see them in tears and their enemies in triumph.

JAMISO�, "bread of tears— still an Eastern figure for affliction.

CALVI�, "5Thou hast fed us with bread of tears, etc. By these forms of expression, they depict the greatness of their grief, and the long continuance of their calamities; as if they had said, We are so filled with sorrow, that we can contain no more. (388) They add, in the following verse that they were made a strife to their neighbors This admits of being explained in two ways. It means either that their neighbors had taken up a quarrel against them; or that, having obtained the victory over them, they were contending about the spoil, as is usually the case in such circumstances, each being eager to drag it to himself. The former interpretation, however seems to be the more suitable. The people complain that, whereas neighborhood ought to be a bond of mutual goodwill, they had as many enemies as neighbors. To the same purpose is their language in the second clause, They laugh at us among themselves; that is to say, They talk among themselves by way of sport and mockery at our adversities. To encourage and stir themselves up to repentance, they ascribe all this to the judgment of God, in whose power it is to bend the hearts of men. Since we are all at this day chargeable with the same sins, it is not surprising that our condition is

in no degree better than was theirs. But the Holy Spirit having inspired the prophet to write this form of prayer for a people who felt their condition to be almost desperate, it serves to inspire us with hope and boldness, and to prevent us from giving up the exercise of prayer, under a consciousness of the greatness of our guilt. The seventh verse is a repetition of the third; and this repetition is undoubtedly intended as a means of surmounting every obstacle. God did not here intend to endite for his people a vain repetition of words: his object was to encourage them, when bowed down under the load of their calamities, boldly to rise up, heavy though the load might be. This ground of support was often presented to them; and it is repeated the third time in the concluding verse of the psalm.

SPURGEO�, "Ver. 5. "Thou feedest them with the bread of tears." Their meat is seasoned with brine distilled from weeping eyes. Their meals, which were once such pleasant seasons of social merriment, are now like funeral feasts to which each man contributes his bitter morsel. Thy people ate bread of wheat before, but now they receive from thine own hand no better diet than bread of tears."And givest them tears to drink in great measure." Tears are both their food and their drink, and that without stint. They swallow tierces of tears, and swim in gulfs of grief, and all this by God's own appointment; not because their enemies have them in their power by force of arms, but because their God refuses to interpose. Tear bread is even more the fruit of the curse than to eat bread in the sweat of one's face, but it shall by divine love be turned into a greater blessing by ministering to our spiritual health.EXPLA�ATORY �OTES A�D QUAI�T SAYI�GSVer. 5. "In great measure." The Hebrew shalish is the name of a measure, so called of three, as containing a third part of the greatest measure, four times as big as the usual cup to drink in. Henry Ainsworth.

ELLICOTT, "(5) Bread of tears.—See Psalms 42:3.

In great measure.—Heb., shalîsh, i.e., a third part. (Comp. Isaiah 40:12, Margin.) Probably meaning a third part of an ephah. (See Exodus 16:36; Isaiah 5:10, LXX.) But here evidently used in a general way, as we say “a peck of troubles.”

WHEDO�, "5. Bread of tears… tears to drink—Hyperbole for great affliction, as Psalms 6:6; Psalms 42:3; Isaiah 30:20.

In great measure—Hebrew, in שלש, (shalish,) a liquid measure holding about two and a half gallons. The idea of giving “tears to drink” in a shalish is another hyperbole for abundantly.

6 You have made us an object of derision[b] to

our neighbors, and our enemies mock us.

BAR�ES, "Thou makest us a strife - An occasion of strife or wrangling; that is, of strife among themselves, to see who will get the most of our spoils; or of contention, to see which could do most to aggravate their sufferings, and to bring disgrace and contempt upon them. They were emulous with each other in the work of desolation and ruin.

Unto our neighbors - The surrounding nations. See Psa_79:4.

And our enemies laugh among themselves - Over our calamities. They exult; they glory; they triumph in our ruin.

CLARKE, "Thou makest us a strife - The neighboring districts have a controversy about us; we are a subject of contention to them. A people so wonderfully preserved, and so wonderfully punished, is a mystery to them. They see in us both the goodness and severity of God. Or, all the neighboring nations join together to malign and execrate us. We are hated by all; derided and cursed by all.

GILL, "Thou makest us a strife unto our neighbours,.... Either obliges us to contend with them for our defence and safety; or having given us into their hands, they strive and contend one with another about dividing the spoil:

and our enemies laugh among themselves; at us, and because there is no help for us in God, as they imagine; or at God himself, as Kimchi, saying he cannot save as.

JAMISO�, "strife— object or cause of (Isa_9:11). On last clause compare Psa_79:4; Eze_36:4.

SPURGEO�, "Ver. 6. "Thou makest us a strife unto our neighbours." Always jealous and malicious, Edom and Moab exulted over Israel's troubles, and then fell to disputing about their share of the spoil. A neighbour's jeer is ever most cutting, especially if a man has been superior to them, and claimed to possess more grace. �one are unneighbourly as envious neighbours."And our enemies laugh among themselves." They find mirth in our misery, comedy in our tragedy, salt for their wit in the brine of our tears, amusement in our amazement. It is devilish to sport with another's griefs; but it is the constant habit of the world which lieth in the wicked one to make merry with the saints' tribulations; the seed of the serpent follow their progenitor and rejoice in evil.

ELLICOTT, "(6) A strife—i.e., an object of contention. In no other sense could Israel be a strife to neighbouring nations. For the bearing of this on the date of the psalm see its Introduction.

Laugh among themselves.—Literally, for themselves. But LXX. and Vulg. read, “at us.”

WHEDO�, "6. Thou makest us a strife unto our neighbours—Thou makest us an object, or butt, of contention. We appear to our neighbours as though thou hadst a controversy with us. Or, it may mean, that by not coming to their help, and turning them back to a better state, God held up to the scorn and derision of the neighbouring nations the intestine quarrels of the Hebrew family, thus prolonging the shame of their dissensions. But whether the “strife” lay between the people and their God, or between the different branches of their own brotherhood, the petty nations around them, who always wished them evil, looked on and laughed among themselves. So is it ever with the world when the Church is distracted with divisions and factions.

7 Restore us, God Almighty; make your face shine on us, that we may be saved.

BAR�ES, "Turn us again, O God of hosts ... - This verse is the same as Psa_80:3, except that here the appeal is to the “God of hosts;” there, it is simply to “God.” This indicates greater earnestness; a deeper sense of the need of the interposition of God, indicated by the reference to his attribute as the leader of hosts or armies, and therefore able to save them.

GILL, "Turn us again, O God of hosts,.... The same with Psa_80:3, only instead of God there, here it is "the God of hosts"; the repetition of these words shows what was uppermost on the minds of God's people; what they were longing for, and most desirous of, namely, the light of God's countenance.

HE�RY, " He prays earnestly for converting grace in order to their acceptance with God, and their salvation: Turn us again, O God! Psa_80:3. Turn us again, O God of hosts! (Psa_80:7) and then cause thy face to shine and we shall be saved. It is the

burden of the song, for we have it again, Psa_80:19. They are conscious to themselves that they have gone astray from God and their duty, and have turned aside into sinful ways, and that it was this that provoked God to hide his face from them and to give them up into the hand of their enemies; and therefore they desire to begin their work at the right end: “Lord, turn us to thee in a way of repentance and reformation, and then, no doubt, thou wilt return to us in a way of mercy and deliverance.” Observe, 1. No salvation but from God's favour: “Cause thy face to shine, let us have thy love and the light of thy countenance, and then we shall be saved.” 2. No obtaining favour with God unless we be converted to him. We must turn again to God from the world and the flesh, and then he will cause his face to shine upon us. 3. No conversion to God but by his own grace; we must frame our doings to turn to him (Hos_5:4) and then pray earnestly for his grace, Turn thou me, and I shall be turned, pleading that gracious promise (Pro_1:23), Burn you at my reproof; behold, I will pour out my Spirit unto you. The prayer here is for a national conversion; in this method we must pray for national mercies, that what is amiss may be amended, and then our grievances would be soon redressed. National holiness would secure national happiness.

SPURGEO�, "Ver. 7. "Turn us again, O God of hosts." The prayer rises in the form of its address to God. He is here the God of Hosts. The more we approach the Lord in prayer and contemplation the higher will our ideas of him become.EXPLA�ATORY �OTES A�D QUAI�T SAYI�GSVer. 7. "Turn us again, O God of hosts." See Psalms 80:3 and observe that there it was only, "Turn us again, O God, "here "O God of hosts, "and Psalms 80:19, "O Lord God of hosts." As the bird by much waving gathers wind under the wing, and mounts higher, so does faith in prayer: viresque acquirit eundo. John Trapp.Ver. 7. Salvation may be certainly expected in God's order; and if we labour to be sure of our turning to God, and living in the sense of communion with him, we need not make question of salvation, for that shall follow infallibly on the former two. "Turn us again, O God of hosts, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved." The last is not put up by way of prayer here, but promised to themselves, and put out of question, that it shall follow; "Turn us, so shall we be saved, "say they. David Dickson.

WHEDO�, "7. Turn us again, O God of hosts—Three times is this plaintive prayer repeated, and once, “Return, we beseech thee, O God!” occurring as refrains at head of strophes. (Psalms 80:3; Psalms 80:7-14; Psalms 80:19.) In chanting, the effect must have been indescribably solemn.

8 You transplanted a vine from Egypt; you drove out the nations and planted it.

BAR�ES, "Thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt - Referring to his people, under the image (which often occurs in the Scriptures) of a vine or vineyard. See the notes at Isa_5:1-7. Compare Jer_2:21; Eze_15:6; Mat_20:1; Mat_21:28, Mat_21:33; Luk_13:6.

Thou hast cast out the heathen - The nations; to wit, the nations that occupied the land of Canaan before the children of Israel dwelt there. See Psa_2:1, note; Psa_2:8, note; Psa_77:15, note.

And planted it - Thou hast established thy people there as one plants a vine in a field. See Psa_44:2.

CLARKE, "Thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt - This is a most elegant metaphor, and every where well supported. The same similitude is used by Isaiah, Isa_5:1, etc.; by Jeremiah, Jer_2:21; by Ezekiel, Eze_17:5, Eze_17:6; by Hosea, Hos_10:1; by Joel, Joe_1:7; by Moses, Deu_32:32, Deu_32:33; and often by our Lord himself, Mat_20:1, etc.; Mat_21:33, etc.; Mar_12:1, etc. And this was the ordinary figure to represent the Jewish Church. We may remark several analogies here: -

1. This vine was brought out of Egypt that it might be planted in a better and more favorable soil. The Israelites were brought out of their Egyptian bondage that they might be established in the land of Canaan, where they might grow and flourish, and worship the true God.

2. When the husbandman has marked out a proper place for his vineyard, he hews down and roots up all other trees; gathers out the stones, brambles, etc., that might choke the young vines, and prevent them from being fruitful, So God cast out the heathen nations from the land of Canaan, that his pure worship might be established, and that there might not remain there any incitements to idolatry.

GILL, "Thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt,.... The house of Israel, who are like unto a vine, as the Targum paraphrases it; and to a vine or vineyard are they often compared; see Isa_5:1, Jer_2:21. These were in Egypt awhile, where they were grievously oppressed and trampled upon; and yet the more they were afflicted, the more they grew and multiplied; and from hence the Lord brought them in due time, with a mighty hand and outstretched arm;

he caused them to go out; the word (o) used fitly expresses their journeyings from thence, and through the wilderness; they were a type of the church of Christ, and special people of God, who also are frequently compared to vines and vineyards; see Son_2:13the vine tree is fruitful, and bears fruit in clusters but its wood is very useless and unprofitable, Eze_15:2 and it is a tree very weak, and cannot rise and support itself, it must be propped up; so believers in Christ, though fruitful through the grace of God, yet are unprofitable to him, and very weak in themselves, and are upheld by the right hand of his righteousness, on whom they lean and stay themselves; and these, in their natural state, are in worse than Egyptian bondage, darkness, and idolatry, out of which they are brought, in the effectual calling, into Gospel liberty, marvellous light, and the true worship and service of God; and out of the antichristian Egypt will all the Lord's people

be brought one day; see Rev_11:8.

thou hast cast out the Heathen; the Targum adds, out of the land of Israel, that is, Canaan; it designs the expulsion of the seven nations from thence, to make way for the Israelites, Deu_7:1 and was an emblem of the ejection of Satan out of the Gentile world, and out of the souls of men, through the ministry of the word; and of sin, and the lusts of it, when the King of glory enters in, so as that they shall not any more have dominion; though as the Canaanites were left in the land to be pricks and thorns in the eyes and sides of the Israelites, so indwelling sin remains in God's people to the distress of their souls, and the trial of their graces. The Papists are sometimes called the Heathens and Gentiles; and there will be a time when they shall be cast out, and be no more in the land, Psa_10:16,

and planted it; the vine, the Israelites, in the land of Canaan; see Exo_15:17. So saints are planted not only in Christ, the true vine, of which they are branches; but in a Gospel church state, where they flourish and become fruitful and pleasant plants, plants of renown; and being of the Lord's planting, he is glorified by them, and they shall never be rooted up, nor wither, but prosper and thrive; see Psa_1:3.

HE�RY 8-9, "The psalmist is here presenting his suit for the Israel of God, and pressing it home at the throne of grace, pleading with God for mercy and grace for them. The church is here represented as a vine (Psa_80:8, Psa_80:14) and a vineyard, Psa_80:15. The root of this vine is Christ, Rom_11:18. The branches are believers, Joh_15:5. The church is like a vine, weak and needing support, unsightly and having an unpromising outside, but spreading and fruitful, and its fruit most excellent. The church is a choice and noble vine; we have reason to acknowledge the goodness of God that he has planted such a vine in the wilderness of this world, and preserved it to this day. Now observe here,

I. How the vine of the Old Testament church was planted at first. It was brought out of Egypt with a high hand; the heathen were cast out of Canaan to make room for it, seven nations to make room for that one. Thou didst sweep before it (so some read Psa_80:9), to make clear work; the nations were swept away as dirt with the besom of destruction. God, having made room for it, and planted it, cause it to take deep root by a happy establishment of their government both in church and state, which was so firm that, though their neighbours about them often attempted it, they could not prevail to pluck it up.

JAMISO�, "brought— or, “plucked up,” as by roots, to be replanted.

a vine— (Psa_78:47). The figure (Isa_16:8) represents the flourishing state of Israel, as predicted (Gen_28:14), and verified (1Ki_4:20-25).

CALVI�, "8Thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt. Under the figure of a vine, the singular grace which God was graciously pleased to exercise towards his people after he had redeemed them is celebrated; and this powerfully contributed to inspire them with the hope of being heard. For which of us can be so presumptuous as to dare to come into the presence of God until he himself has previously invited us? �ow, he allures us to himself both by his benefits and by his word. The object in

view in now presenting his liberality before him is, that he should not leave unfinished the work of his hands which he had commenced. It is indeed true that, without his word, the benefits which he has conferred upon us would make a faint impression upon our hearts; but when experience is added to the testimony of his word, it greatly encourages us. �ow, the redemption of which mention is here made was inseparably connected with the covenant of God; for he had, even four hundred years before, entered into covenant with Abraham, in which he promised the deliverance of his seed. What is stated amounts in short to this, that it is unbecoming that God should now suffer the vine which he had planted and cultivated so carefully with his own hand to be wasted by wild beasts. God’s covenant was not made to last only for a few days, or for a short time: when he adopted the children of Abraham, he took them under his keeping for ever. By the word vine, is intimated the high place which this people held in the estimation of God, who not only was pleased to hold them as his own inheritance, but who also distinguished them by peculiar honor, even as a vine excels all other possessions. When it is said that the land or ground was cleansed, this is a repetition of what had been previously stated, that the heathen were cast out to make room for the chosen people. Perhaps, however, the allusion is to the continual digging which vines require, in order to their being kept clean lest they should degenerate; this allusion being made with the view of showing how God had performed the part of a good husbandman towards his people, since, after having planted them, he did not cease to employ every means to cherish and preserve them. What is added immediately after, Thou hast rooted its roots, is not to be understood of the planting of it at first, but of the pains taken by God to propagate it, (393) which is a part of the culture of the vine. Whence it follows that the mountains were covered with its shadow; for the whole country, although mountainous, was filled with inhabitants; so much did that people increase in number. The branches of this vine are compared to the cedars of God, that is, to the most beautiful and most excellent cedars; thereby to express still more vividly how eminently the seed of Abraham were blessed of God. The sea and the Euphrates, as is well known, were the divinely appointed boundaries of the land promised them for an inheritance.

SPURGEO�, "Ver. 8. "Thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt." There it was in unfriendly soil: the waters of the �ile watered it not, but were as death to its shoots, while the inhabitants of the land despised it and trampled it down. Glorious was the right hand of the Lord when with power and great wonders he removed his pleasant plant in the teeth of those who sought its destruction."Thou hast cast out the heathen, and planted it." Seven nations were digged out to make space for the vine of the Lord; the old trees, which long had engrossed the soil, were torn up root and branch; oaks of Bashan, and palm trees of Jericho were displaced for the chosen vine. It was securely placed in its appointed position with divine prudence and wisdom. Small in appearance, very dependent, exceeding weak, and apt to trail on the ground, yet the vine of Israel was chosen of the Lord, because he knew that by incessant care, and abounding skill, he could make of it a goodly fruit bearing plant.EXPLA�ATORY �OTES A�D QUAI�T SAYI�GSVer. 8. "Thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt, "etc. The blessings are here placed

before us in figurative language, taken from the vine, and the care usually expended upon it. They are,1. The transplanting of the vine from an unfruitful to a very rich and fertile soil.2. Its plantation and care.3. Its incredible fruitfulness derived hence. Venema.Ver. 8-19. Mant's version of the passage is so exquisite that we quote it in full:8. Thy hands from Egypt brought a goodly vine, And planted fair in fertile Palestine;9. Cleared for its grasping roots the unpeopled land, And gave it high to rise, and firm to stand.10. Far over the eternal hills her shadow spread, Her tendrils wreathed the cedar's towering head;11. And, as the centre of the land she stood, Her branches reaches the sea, her boughs the eastern flood.12. Why hast thou now her hedges rent away, And left her bare, the passing traveller's prey?13. The field fed beast devours each tender shoot, Fierce from the wood the boar assails her root.14. Return, O God; from heaven thine eyes incline; Behold, and visit this neglected vine:15. Regard the plant, thou once didst love so well, And chief thy pleasant branch, the hope of Israel.16. Burnt though she be and rent, her haughty foe The deathly terrors of thy wrath shall know.17. But on the man, by thee with strength array'd, The Son of Man by thee for conquest made,18. Thy hand shall rest; till we thy triumph see, Resound thy praise, and still remember thee.19. Turn us again, thou God of heaven's high powers, Beam with thy radiance forth, and peace shall still be ours.

ELLICOTT, "(8) Thou hast brought.—The verb is to be taken as a historic present, “Thou bringest.” It is a verb used both of horticulture (Job 19:10) and, like the word “planted” in the next clause, of breaking up and removing a nomadic encampment, “pulling out the tent-pins, and driving them in.,,

The vine (or vineyard), as an emblem of Israel, is so natural and apt that we do not wonder to find it repeated again and again in the Old Testament, and adopted in the �ew. Probably Isaiah 5:1-7 was the parent image, unless the Patriarchal benediction on Joseph (Genesis 49:22) suggested that song.

COKE, 'Psalms 80:8. Thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt— The Psalmist, whoever he was, describing the Israelites under the simile of a vine, continues the metaphor to a considerable length, and carries it on very happily through the several particulars. Among the many excellencies with which this allegory abounds, that nicety observable both in the beginning and close of it, is not the least; the author sliding, as it were, from the comparison into the subject itself, and from

thence into the comparison, by an almost insensible gradation. Thou hast brought a vine, &c. See Bishop Lowth's 10th Prelection.

WHEDO�, "8. Thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt—�ot two vines, as they were now two kingdoms. Here the unity of the whole Hebrew family is beautifully represented, and God’s gracious care of it confessed, showing that this prayer-psalm was in behalf of the whole nation. A largehearted patriotism and true piety should go together. With this verse begin the details of the providential history of the Hebrew people.

K&D 8-19, "The complaint now assumes a detailing character in this strophe, inasmuch as it contrasts the former days with the present; and the ever more and more importunate prayer moulds itself in accordance therewith. The retrospective description begins, as is rarely the case, with the second modus, inasmuch as “the speaker thinks more of the bare nature of the act than of the time” (Ew. §136, b). As in the blessing of

Jacob (Gen_49:22) Joseph is compared to the layer (ן)) of a fruitful growth (רתM), whose

shoots (נות)) climb over the wall: so here Israel is compared to a vine (Gen_49:22; פןN

M, Psa_128:3), which has become great in Egypt and been transplanted thence intoרOח

the Land of Promise. יעPה, lxx µεταίρειν, as in Job_19:10, perhaps with an allusion to the

.of the people journeying to Canaan (Psa_78:52) מסעים

(Note: Exod. Rabba, ch. 44, with reference to this passage, says: “When

husbandmen seek to improve a vine, what do they do? They root (עוקרין) it out of its

place and plant (שותלין) it in another.” And Levit. Rabba, ch. 36, says: “As one does not plant a vine in a place where there are great, rough stones, but examines the ground and then plants it, so didst Thou drive out peoples and didst plant it,” etc.)

Here God made His vine a way and a place (VWM, to clear, from נהM, to turn, turn aside,

Arabic fanija, to disappear, pass away; root פן, to urge forward), and after He had secured to it a free soil and unchecked possibility of extension, it (the vine) rooted its roots, i.e., struck them ever deeper and wider, and filled the earth round about (cf. the antitype in the final days, Isa_27:6). The Israelitish kingdom of God extended itself on every side in

accordance with the promise. חYשZ (cf. Eze_17:6, and vegetable שלח, a shoot) also has the

vine as its subject, like שרשZ. Psa_80:11-12 state this in a continued allegory, by the “mountains” pointing to the southern boundary, by the “cedars” to the northern, by the “sea” to the western, and by the “river” (Euphrates) to the eastern boundary of the

country (vid., Deu_11:24 and other passages). VYצ and ענפיה are accusatives of the so-

called more remote object (Ges. §143, 1). קציר is a cutting = a branch; יונקת, a (vegetable)

sucker = a young, tender shoot; רזי־אל], the cedars of Lebanon as being living monuments of the creative might of God. The allegory exceeds the measure of the reality of nature, inasmuch as this is obliged to be extended according to the reality of that which is typified and historical. But how unlike to the former times is the present! The poet asks “wherefore?” for the present state of things is a riddle to him. The

surroundings of the vine are torn down; all who come in contact with it pluck it (ארה, to

pick off, pluck off, Talmudic of the gathering of figs); the boar out of the wood (מיער with

(Ajin ,עין תלויה

(Note: According to Kiddushin, 30a, because this Ajin is the middle letter of the

Psalter as the Waw of גחון, Lev_11:42, is the middle letter of the Tôra. One would

hardly like to be at the pains of proving the correctness of this statement; nevertheless in the seventeenth century there lived one Laymarius, a clergyman, who

was not afraid of this trouble, and found the calculations of the Masora (e.g., that אדני

.occurs 222 times) in part inaccurate; vid., Monatliche Unterredungen, 1691, S ה

467, and besides, Geiger, Urschrift und Uebersetzungen der Bibel, S. 258f.))

cuts it off (רסם , formed out of סם Nזם =

(Note: Saadia appropriately renders it Arab. yqrbhâ, by referring, as does Dunash

also, to the Talmudic קרסם, which occurs of ants, like Arab. qrb, of rodents. So Peah

ii. §7, Menachoth 71b, on which Rashi observes, “the locust (חגב) is accustomed to eat

from above, the ant tears off the corn-stalk from below.” Elsewhere קירסם denotes the

breaking off of dry branches from the tree, as זרד the removal of green branches.))

viz., with its tusks; and that which moves about the fields (vid., concerning זיז, Psa_50:11), i.e., the untractable, lively wild beast, devours it. Without doubt the poet associates a distinct nation with the wild boar in his mind; for animals are also in other instances the emblems of nations, as e.g., the leviathan, the water-serpent, the behemoth (Isa_30:6), and flies (Isa_7:18) are emblems of Egypt. The Midrash interprets it of Seîr-

Edom, and זיז שדי, according to Gen_16:12, of the nomadic Arabs.

In Psa_80:15 the prayer begins for the third time with threefold urgency, supplicating for the vine renewed divine providence, and a renewal of the care of divine grace. We

have divided the verse differently from the accentuation, since שוב־נא ה(ט is to be

understood according to Ges. §142. The junction by means of ו is at once opposed to the

supposition that הW in Psa_80:16 ו signifies a slip or plant, plantam (Targum, Syriac,

Aben-Ezra, Kimchi, and others), and that consequently the whole of Psa_80:16 is

governed by ופקד. Nor can it mean its (the vine's) stand or base, ן (Böttcher), since one

does not plant a “stand.” The lxx renders וכנה: κα4 κατάρτισαι, which is imper. aor. 1.

med., therefore in the sense of וננה`.

(Note: Perhaps the Caph majusculum is the result of an erasure that required to be made, vid., Geiger, Urschrift, S. 295. Accordingly the Ajin suspensum might also be the result of a later inserted correction, for there is a Phoenician inscription that has

(.vid., Levy, Phönizisches Wörterbuch, S. 22 ;(wood, forest) יר

But the alternation of על (cf. Pro_2:11, and Arab. jn ‛lâ, to cover over) with the accusative

of the object makes it more natural to derive כנה, not from נן נן but from ,`ון = Arab.

kanna = נןN, to cover, conceal, protect (whence Arab. kinn, a covering, shelter, hiding-place): and protect him whom...or: protect what Thy right hand has planted. The

pointing certainly seems to take כנה as the feminine of ן (lxx, Dan_11:7, φυτόν); for an

imperat. paragog. Kal of the form הW does not occur elsewhere, although it might have

been regarded by the punctuists as possible from the form לN, volve, Psa_119:22. If it is

regarded as impossible, then one might read הWכ. At any rate the word is imperative, as

the following אשר, eum quem, also shows, instead of which, if כנה were a substantive, one

would expect to find a relative clause without אשר, as in Psa_80:16. Moreover Psa_

80:16 requires this, since קד עלM can only be used of visiting with punishment. And who

then would the slip (branch) and the son of man be in distinction from the vine? If we

take בנה as imperative, then, as one might expect, the vine and the son of man are both

the people of God. The Targum renders Psa_80:16 thus: “and upon the King Messiah, whom Thou hast established for Thyself,” after Psa_2:1-12 and Dan_7:13; but, as in the latter passage, it is not the Christ Himself, but the nation out of which He is to proceed,

that is meant. ץkא has the sense of firm appropriation, as in Isa_44:14, inasmuch as the

notion of making fast passes over into that of laying firm hold of, of seizure. Rosenmüller well renders it: quem adoptatum tot nexibus tibi adstrinxisti.

The figure of the vine, which rules all the language here, is also still continued in Psa_

80:17; for the partt. fem. refer to פןN ot refer, - the verb, however, may take the plural

form, because those of Israel are this “vine,” which combusta igne, succisa (as in Isa_

33:12; Aramaic, be cut off, tear off, in Psa_80:13 the Targum word for ארה; Arabic, ksn,

to clear away, peel off), is just perishing, or hangs in danger of destruction (יאבדו) before the threatening of the wrathful countenance of God. The absence of anything to denote the subject, and the form of expression, which still keeps within the circle of the figure of the vine, forbid us to understand this Psa_80:17 of the extirpation of the foes. According

to the sense הי־ידך עלZ

(Note: The תהי has Gaja, like שאו־זמרה (Psa_81:3), בני־נכר (Psa_144:7), and the like. This Gaja beside the Shebâ (instead of beside the following vowel) belongs to the peculiarities of the metrical books, which in general, on account of their more melodious mode of delivery, have many such a Gaja beside Shebâ, which does not

occur in the prose books. Thus, e.g., יהוה and אלהים always have Gaja beside the Shebâ when they have Rebia magnum without a conjunctive, probably because Rebia and Dechî had such a fulness of tone that a first stroke fell even upon the Shebâ-letters.)

coincides with the supplicatory כנה על. It is Israel that is called ן) in Psa_80:16, as being the son whom Jahve has called into being in Egypt, and then called out of Egypt to Himself and solemnly declared to be His son on Sinai (Exo_4:22; Hos_11:1), and who is

now, with a play upon the name of Benjamin in Psa_80:3 (cf. Psa_80:16), called איש ימינך, as being the people which Jahve has preferred before others, and has placed at His right hand

(Note: Pinsker punctuates thus: Let Thy hand be upon the man, Thy right hand

upon the son of man, whom, etc.; but the impression that ימינך and אמצתה לך coincide is so strong, that no one of the old interpreters (from the lxx and Targum onwards)

has been able to free himself from it.)

for the carrying out of His work of salvation; who is called, however, at the same time

because belonging to a humanity that is feeble in itself, and thoroughly ,(ן־1דם

conditioned and dependent. It is not the more precise designation of the “son of man”

that is carried forward by ולא־נסוג, “and who has not drawn back from Thee” (Hupfeld,

Hitzig, and others), but it is, as the same relation which is repeated in Psa_80:19 shows,

the apodosis of the preceding petition: then shall we never depart from Thee; נסוג being not a participle, as in Psa_44:19, but a plene written voluntative: recedamus, vowing new obedience as thanksgiving of the divine preservation. To the prayer in Psa_80:18

corresponds, then, the prayer נוOחZ, which is expressed as future (which can rarely be avoided, Ew. §229), with a vow of thanksgiving likewise following: then will we call with Thy name, i.e., make it the medium and matter of solemn proclamation. In v. 20 the refrain of this Psalm, which is laid out as a trilogy, is repeated for the third time. The name of God is here threefold.

9 You cleared the ground for it, and it took root and filled the land.

BAR�ES, "Thou preparedst room before it - The Hebrew word used here means properly to turn; to turn the back; then, to turn in order to look at anything; to look upon; to see; then, in Piel, to cause to turn away; to remove. Then it comes to mean to remove, or to clear from impediments so as to prepare a way Isa_40:3; Isa_57:14; Isa_62:10; Mal_3:1, and hence, to remove the impediments to planting a vine, etc.; to wit, by clearing away the trees, brush, stones, etc. Compare Isa_5:2. Here it means that the hindrances in planting the vine were taken out of the way; that is, God removed the pagan so that there was room then to establish his own people.

And didst cause it to take deep root - Hebrew, “And didst cause it to root roots;” that is, Its roots struck deep into the soil, and the plant became firm.

And it filled the land - Its branches ran everywhere, so as to fill the whole land. See the notes at Isa_16:8.

CLARKE, "Thou preparedst - before it -

3. When the ground is properly cleared, then it is well digged and manured, and the vines are placed in the ground at proper distances, etc. So when God had cast out the heathen, he caused the land to be divided by lot to the different tribes, and then to the several families of which these tribes were composed.

And didst cause it to take deep root -

4. By sheltering, propping up, and loosening the ground about the tender plants, they are caused to take a deep and firm rooting in the ground. Thus did God, by especial manifestations of his kind providence, support and protect the Israelites in Canaan; and by various religious ordinances, and civil institutions, he established them in the land; and, by the ministry of priests and prophets, did every thing necessary to make them morally fruitful.

It filled the land -

5. To multiply vines, the gardener cuts off a shoot from the old tree, leaving a joint or knob both at top and bottom; then plants it in proper soil; the lower knob furnishes the roots, and the upper the shoot, which should be carefully trained as it grows, in order to form another vine. By these means one tree will soon form a complete vineyard, and multiply itself to any given quantity. Thus God so carefully, tenderly, and abundantly blessed the Israelites, that they increased and multiplied; and, in process of time, filled the whole land of Canaan. Vines are propagated, not only by cuttings, but by layers, seed, grafting, and inoculation.

GILL, "Thou preparedst room before it,.... By sending the hornet before the Israelites, and driving the Canaanites out of the land, Exo_23:28 and so the Targum,

"thou didst remove from before thee the Canaanites;''

which made way and room for them: and thus the Lord prepared room for his interest, church, and people, in the Gentile world, in the first times of Christianity, by sending the Gospel into all parts of it, and making it successful, and still there is room, Luk_14:22.

and didst cause it to take deep root; which denotes the settlement of the people of Israel in Canaan, in church and state, as a body ecclesiastic and politic; so believers, being rooted in Christ, are grounded, settled, and established in him, and in a Gospel church state, and so become fruitful; see Col_2:7.

and it filled the land; with people, who, in the days of Solomon, were as the sand of the sea, 1Ki_4:20 and so the Gentile world was filled with Christian converts in the first times of the Gospel; and the interest and church of Christ will fill the whole world another day, Isa_11:9.

SPURGEO�, "Ver. 9. "Thou preparedst room before it." The weeds, brambles, and huge stones were cleared; the Amorites, and their brethren in iniquity, were made to quit the scene, their forces were routed, their kings slain, their cities captures, and Canaan became like a plot of land, made ready for a vineyard."And didst cause it to take deep root, and it filled the land." Israel became settled and established as a vine well rooted, and then it began to flourish and to spread to every side. This analogy might be applied to the experience of every believer in Jesus. The Lord has planted us, we are growing downward, "rooting roots, "and by his grace we are also advancing in manifest enlargement. The same is true of the church in a yet closer degree, for at this moment through the goodwill of the dresser

of the vineyard her branches spread far and wide.

WHEDO�, "9. Thou preparedst room before it—This Hebrew vine came not to an unprepared place. The miracles of Egypt and the wilderness had caused the terror of God to fall upon the corrupt nations, and multitudes had fled from their country. The rest were cast out for their abominations. The Israelites entered the land in the opportune month, the forepart of April, just before harvest, (Joshua 3:15; Joshua 5:10; Joshua 5:12,) and the land was full of supplies. For the force of the word prepare, see Genesis 24:31; Isaiah 40:3; Malachi 3:1

10 The mountains were covered with its shade, the mighty cedars with its branches.

BAR�ES, "The hills were covered with the shadow of it - That is, It made a shade, by its luxuriant foliage, on the hills in every part of the land; it seemed to cover all the hills.

And the boughs thereof were like the goodly cedars -Margin, as in Hebrew, cedars of God; that is, lofty, majestic cedars. See the notes at Psa_65:9. The reference here is to the cedars of Lebanon, among the most majestic objects known to the Hebrews.

CLARKE, "The hills were covered -6. The vine, carefully cultivated in a suitable soil, may be spread to any extent. In the

land of Judea it formed shades under which the people not only sheltered and refreshed themselves in times of sultry heats; but it is said they even ate, drank, and dwelt under the shelter of their vines. See 1Ki_4:25; Mic_4:4; 1 Maccabees 14:12. God so blessed the Jews, particularly in the days of David and Solomon, that all the neighboring nations were subdued - the Syrians, Idumeans, Philistines, Moabites, and Ammonites.

GILL, "The hills were covered with the shadow of it,.... Alluding to the land of Canaan, which was a mountainous and hilly country, at least some part of it; hence we read of the hill country of Judea, Luk_1:39 and to the nature of vines, which delight to grow on hills and mountains (p): in a figurative sense this may denote the subjection of kings and kingdoms, comparable to hills, to the Israelites in the times of David and

Solomon, 2Sa_8:1 and the exaltation of the church of Christ, in the latter day, over the hills and mountains, Isa_2:2. The Targum is,

"the mountains of Jerusalem were covered with the shadow of the house of the sanctuary, and of the houses of the schools:''

and the boughs thereof were like the goodly cedars; to these the righteous are compared, Psa_92:13, the Targum is,

"the doctors, the mighty preachers, who are like to the strong cedars:''

the words may be rendered, "the boughs thereof cover the goodly cedars", or "cedars of God" (q); that is, overrun and overtop the goodly cedars; alluding to vines running and growing upon high and goodly trees; and so may denote, as before, the power of Israel over the princes and potentates of the earth, comparable to cedars, the most excellent; as things most excellent have often the name of God added to them; see Psa_104:16.

HE�RY 10-11, " How it spread and flourished. 1. The land of Canaan itself was fully peopled. At first they were not so numerous as to replenish it, Exo_23:29. But in Solomon's time Judah and Israel were many as the sand of the sea; the land was filled with them, and yet such a fruitful land that it was not over-stocked, Psa_80:10. The hills of Canaan were covered with their shadow, and the branches, though they extended themselves far, like those of the vine, yet were not weak like them, but as strong as those of the goodly cedars. Israel not only had abundance of men, but those mighty men of valour. 2. They extended their conquests and dominion to the neighbouring countries (Psa_80:11): She sent out her boughs to the sea, the great sea westward, and her branches to the river, to the river of Egypt southward, the river of Damascus northward, or rather the river Euphrates eastward, Gen_15:18. Nebuchadnezzar's greatness is represented by a flourishing tree, Dan_4:20, Dan_4:21. But it is observable here concerning this vine that it is praised for its shadow, its boughs, and its branches, but not a word of its fruit, for Israel was an empty vine,Hos_10:1. God came looking for grapes, but, behold, wild grapes, Isa_5:2. And, if a vine do not bring forth fruit, no tree so useless, so worthless, Eze_15:2, Eze_15:6.

SPURGEO�, "Ver. 10. "The hills were covered with the shadow of it." Israel dwelt up the mountains' summits, cultivating every foot of soil. The nation multiplied and became so great that other lands felt its influence, or were shadowed by it."And the boughs thereof were like the goodly cedars." The nation itself was so great that even its tribes were powerful and worthy to take rank among the mighty. A more correct rendering describes the cedars as covered with the vine, and we know that in many lands vines climb the trees, and cover them. What a vine must that be which ascends the cedars of God, and even overtops them! It is a noble picture of the prosperity of the Israelitish people in their best days. In Solomon's time the little land of Israel occupied a high place among the nations. There have been times when the church of God also has been eminently conspicuous, and her power has been felt far and near.EXPLA�ATORY �OTES A�D QUAI�T SAYI�GSVer. 8-19. See Psalms on "Psalms 80:8" for further information.

Ver. 10. "The hills, "etc. That the sides of hills are the most commodious places for vineyards, is sufficiently known; as also that the vine hath props on which it climbs, and rests itself, and that these are lower or higher, according to the nature of the several soils or climates. In fertile soils, as now a days in Lombardy, the vines run up the trees and cover them. And so here with respect to the luxuriant growth of this fruitful vine, it may not unfitly be said, in the poetical style, to run up to and reach the tops of the tall "cedars, "as Joseph is said to be "a fruitful bough, whose branches run over the wall, "Genesis 49:22. Thomas Fenton.

11 Its branches reached as far as the Sea,[c] its shoots as far as the River.[d]

BAR�ES, "She sent out her boughs unto the sea - To the Mediterranean Sea on the one side.

And her branches - Her sucklings. The word is usually applied to little children, and means here the little branches that are nourished by the parent vine.

Unto the river - The Euphrates, for so the river usually means in the Scriptures. The Euphrates on the one side, and the Mediterranean Sea on the other, were the natural and proper boundaries of the country as promised to Abraham. See Psa_72:8; 1Ki_4:21. Compare the notes at Psa_60:1-12.

CLARKE, "She sent out her boughs unto the sea and her branches unto the river - The Israelitish empire extended from the River Euphrates on the east to the Mediterranean Sea on the west, and from the same Euphrates on the north of the promised land to its farthest extent on the south; Syria bounding the north, and Arabia and Egypt the south. And this was according to the promises which God had made to the fathers, Exo_23:31; Deu_11:24.

GILL, "She sent out her boughs unto the sea,.... The Mediterranean, or midland sea, which was the border of the land of Canaan to the west:

and her branches unto the river; the river Euphrates, which was its border to the east; see Deu_11:24. This, in the spiritual sense of it, will have its accomplishment in the church of Christ, when he shall have dominion from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth, Psa_72:8. The Targum is,

"she sent out her disciples to the great sea, and to the river Euphrates her babes;''

or sucklings.

SPURGEO�, "Ver. 11. "She sent out her boughs unto the sea." Along the Mediterranean and, perhaps, across its waters, Israel's power was felt."And her branches unto the river." On her Eastern side she pushed her commerce even to the Euphrates. Those were brave days for Israel, and would have continued, had not sin cut them short. When the church pleases the Lord, her influence becomes immense, far beyond the proportion which her numbers or her power would lead us to expect; but, alas! when the Lord leaves her she becomes as worthless, useless, and despised as an untended vine, which is of all plants the most valueless.

COKE, "Psalms 80:11. She sent out her boughs, &c.— That is to the Mediterranean sea, and to the river Euphrates; alluding to the extent of the Israelitish dominions. The enemies and destroyers of Israel are represented under the idea of a boar or wild beast. Theodoret says, that �ebuchadnezzar was meant by the Psalmist; and that he terms him very properly the wild beast of the field, because he was more fierce than any other monarch.

12 Why have you broken down its walls so that all who pass by pick its grapes?

BAR�ES, "Why hast thou then broken down her hedges? -Why hast thou dealt with thy people as one would with a vineyard who should break down all its enclosures, and leave it open to wild beasts? The word rendered hedges means wall or enclosure. Compare the notes at Isa_5:2.

So that all they which pass by the way - All travelers; or, wild beasts. So that there is nothing to prevent their coming up to the vine and plucking the grapes.

Do pluck her - Pluck, or pick off the grapes; or, if the phrase “all which pass by the way” denotes wild beasts, then the meaning is, that they eat off the leaves and branches of the vine.

CLARKE, "Why hast thou broken down -

7. When a vineyard is planted, it is properly fenced to preserve it from being trodden down, or otherwise injured by beasts, and to protect the fruit from being taken by the

unprincipled passenger. So God protected Jerusalem and his temple by his own almighty arm; and none of their enemies could molest them as long as they had that protection. As it was now spoiled, it was a proof that that protection had been withdrawn; therefore the psalmist addresses the Lord with, “Why hast thou broken down her hedges?” Had God continued his protection, Jerusalem would not have been destroyed.

GILL, "Why hast thou then broken down her hedges,.... After having done all this for her; which signifies the Lord's removing his presence, power, and protection, from Israel; which were the hedge he set about them, and by which they were secured and defended from their enemies; but these being gone, they became an easy prey to them; see Job_1:10, the hedge about the church and people of God are the angels that encamp about them; salvation, which is as walls and bulwarks to them; and the Lord himself, who is a wall of fire around them; which may be said to be broken down when he withdraws his presence, and does not exert his power in the protection of them; but suffers them to be exposed to the persecutions of men:

so that all they which pass by the way do pluck her? the hedge being broken down, all passengers and travellers plucked the fruit of the vine as they passed along, there being noticing to keep them off from it: this may denote the plunder of the Israelites by their enemies, when left of God, they fell into their hands; and the havoc persecutors make of the church of Christ, and their spoiling them of their goods and substance, when they are permitted to do it.

HE�RY 12-13, "How it was wasted and ruined: “Lord, thou hast done great things for this vine, and why shall it be all undone again? If it were a plant not of God's planting, it were not strange to see it rooted up; but will God desert and abandon that which he himself gave being to?” Psa_80:12. Why hast thou then broken down her hedges? There was a good reason for this change in God's way towards them. This noble vine had become the degenerate plant of a strange vine (Jer_2:21), to the reproach of its great owner, and then no marvel if he took away its hedge (Isa_5:5); yet God's former favours to this vine are urged as pleas in prayer to God, and improved as encouragements to faith, that, notwithstanding all this, God would not wholly cast them off. Observe, 1. The malice and enmity of the Gentile nations against Israel. As soon as ever God broke down their hedges and left them exposed troops of enemies presently broke in upon them, that waited for an opportunity to destroy them. Those that passed by the way plucked at them; the board out of the wood and the wild beast of the fieldwere ready to ravage it, Psa_80:13. But, 2. See also the restraint which these cruel enemies were under; for till God had broken down their hedges they could not pluck a leaf of this vine. The devil could not hurt Job so long as God continued the hedge round about him, Job_1:10. See how much it is the interest of any people to keep themselves in the favour of God and then they need not fear any wild beast of the field, Job_5:23. If we provoke God to withdraw, our defence has departed from us, and we are undone. The deplorable state of Israel is described (Psa_80:16): It is burnt with fire; it is cut down;the people are treated like thorns and briers, that are nigh unto cursing and whose end is to be burned, and no longer like vines that are protected and cherished. They perish not through the rage of the wild beast and the boar, but at the rebuke of thy countenance;that was it which they dreaded and to which they attributed all their calamities. It is well or ill with us according as we are under God's smiles or frowns.

JAMISO�, "hedges— (Isa_5:5).

CALVI�, "12Why then hast thou broken down its hedges? This is the application of the similitude; for nothing seems more inconsistent than that God should abandon the vine which he had planted with his own hand, to be rooted up by wild beasts. It is true that he often threatened and forewarned the people by his prophets that he would do this; but what constrained him to inflict upon them so strange and dreadful a species of punishment was, that he might render their ingratitude the more detestable. At the same time, it is not without reason that true believers are enjoined to take encouragement from such distinguished liberality on the part of God; that, even in the midst of this rooting up, they might at least hope that He, who never forsakes the work of his own hands, would graciously extend his care towards them, (Psalms 138:8.) The people were brought to desolation, on account of their own incurable obstinacy; but God did not fail to save a small number of shoots, by means of which he afterwards restored his vine. This form of supplicating pardon was, indeed, set forth for the use of the whole people, with the view of preventing a horrible destruction. But as very few sought to appease the wrath of God by truly humbling themselves before him, it was enough that these few were delivered from destruction, that from them a new vine might afterwards spring up and flourish. The indignity which was done to the Church is aggravated from the contrast contained in the words, when God, on the one hand, is exhibited to us as a vine-keeper, and when the destroyers of this vine, on the other, are represented to be not only all that pass by, but also the wild boars and other savage beasts. The word כרסם, kiresem, which I have translated to waste, is taken by some for to fill the belly. (394) This sense would very well agree with the present passage; but it is not supported by the ordinary meaning of the word.

SPURGEO�, "Ver. 12. "Why hast thou then broken down her hedges?" Thou hast withdrawn protection from her after caring for her with all this care; wherefore is this, O Lord? A vine unprotected is exposed to every form of injury; none regard it, all prey upon it: such was Israel when given over to her enemies; such has the church full often been."So that all they which pass by the way do pluck her." Her cruel neighbours have a pluck at her, and marauding bands, like roaming beasts, must needs pick at her. With God no enemy can harm us, without him none are so weak as to be unable to do us damage.EXPLA�ATORY �OTES A�D QUAI�T SAYI�GSVer. 8-19. See Psalms on "Psalms 80:8" for further information.Ver. 12. "Why hast thou then broken down her hedges?" Why hast thou done this, O Lord? What is the advantage? The guard of angels thou hast removed; they used to ward off the robbers; they used to defend it. Where, today, is this faithful guard? Where are the prophets? Where the apostles? Where the teachers? Where the pastors surrounding the vine? Casting out devils, excommunicating heretics, arresting perverse men, and guarding the imperfect. What is the hedge? The guard of angels, the defense of pastors, the sacred doctrine of preachers. Where is the

hedge? It is destroyed. Who has destroyed it? Thou, O Lord, who hast taken away the preachers, gathered the pastors into heaven, removed the angels. Why hast thou cast down her hedges? Was it that she might fill up her iniquities, complete the measure of her wickedness, that at length she might be punished and renovated? But what was wanting to her? What sin was not found in her? Behold, Lord, for her wickedness is full. And now they gather her grapes, even all who go out of the way. �ot the true vine dressers, not the true husbandmen, gather her grapes, not all good, not a few good, not partly good and partly bad, not even one good, but all who pass beyond the way, pluck her. All who keep not thy precepts, who know not the way of God, open sinners, disreputable, these are the men that are chosen to minister at the altar, to these are benefices given, these gather her grapes for themselves, not for thee. They regard not thy poor; they feed not the hungry; they clothe not the naked; they help not the stranger; they defend not the widow and orphan; they eat up the lamb of the flock, and the fatted calf from the midst of the herd. They sing to the sound of psaltery and organ, like David; they think they have the instruments of song, arranged in choirs, praising God with the lips, but in heart they are far from God. Drinking wine in cups, perfumed with the richest odours, they suffer nothing for the grief of Joseph; with no pity are they moved for the needy and poor. These, then, are the men who go out of thy way and gather the grapes of thy vine. But what shall I say, Lord? For even all who transgress thy way, gather thy vintage? Walking in thy way and seeing the hedge of thy vine broken down, they have gone out of the way. They have not walked a straight course, but leaving the way, have turned their feet to thy vine, to pluck her, to gather her fruit, not the spiritual fruit, but the temporal. What is it you say? This I say, Lord: The rich men of this world walking in the way of their sins, seeking by thy will and against thy will the riches, honours, dignities, and pleasures of this world, have turned aside from thy ways. The riches of this world they have ceased to pursue; its honours they seek no longer; they are turned to thy vine, to ecclesiastical dignities and riches. The hedge is broken down which repelled the unworthy, and now even they who go out of thy way have entered, and gather her grapes. What is your indictment? This: Today in the theatre, tomorrow in the bishop's chair. Today at the custom house, tomorrow a canon in the choir. Today a soldier, tomorrow a priest. They have transgressed thy way, and turned to thy vine: not, indeed, that they might cultivate her for thee, but that they might gather her grapes for themselves. Savonarola.

13 Boars from the forest ravage it, and insects from the fields feed on it.

BAR�ES, "The boar out of the wood -Men come in and ravage the land, whose character may be compared with the wild boar. The word rendered boar means simply swine. The addition of the phrase “out of the wood” determines its meaning here, and shows that the reference is to wild or untamed swine; swine that roam the woods - an animal always extremely fierce and savage.

Doth waste it - The word used here occurs nowhere else. It means to cut down or cut off; to devour; to lay waste.

And the wild beast of the field - Of the unenclosed field; or, that roams at large -

such as lions, panthers, tigers, wolves. The word here used - zıLyz זיז - occurs besides only in Psa_50:11; and Isa_66:11. In Isa_66:11, it is rendered abundance.

Doth devour it - So the people from abroad consumed all that the land produced, or thus they laid it waste.

CLARKE, "The boar out of the wood - Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, who was a fierce and cruel sovereign. The allusion is plain. The wild hops and buffaloes make sad havoc in the fields of the Hindoos, and in their orchards: to keep them out, men are placed at night on covered stages in the fields.

GILL, "The boar out of the wood doth waste it,.... As Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, who carried the ten tribes captive; the title of this psalm in the Septuagint version is, a psalm for the Assyrian. Vitringa, on Isa_24:2 interprets this of Antiochus Epiphanes, to whose times he thinks the psalm refers; but the Jews (r) of the fourth beast in Dan_7:7, which designs the Roman empire: the wild boar is alluded to, which lives in woods and forests (s), and wastes, fields, and vineyards:

and the wild beast of the field doth devour it; as Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, who carried the two tribes captive, and who for a while lived among and lived as the beasts of the field; both these, in their turns, wasted and devoured the people of Israel; see Jer_50:17. Jarchi interprets this of Esau or Edom, that is, Rome; and says the whole of the paragraph respects the Roman captivity; that is, their present one; but rather the words describe the persecutors of the Christian church in general, comparable to wild boars and wild beasts for their fierceness and cruelty; and perhaps, in particular, Rome Pagan may be pointed at by the one, and Rome Papal by the other; though the latter is signified by two beasts, one that rose out of the sea, and the other out of the earth; which have made dreadful havoc of the church of Christ, his vine, and have shed the blood of the saints in great abundance; see Rev_12:3, unless we should rather by the one understand the pope, and by the other the Turk, as the Jews interpret them of Esau and of Ishmael.

JAMISO�, "The boar— may represent the ravaging Assyrian and

the wild beast— other heathen.

SPURGEO�, "Ver. 13. The boar out of the wood doth waste it. Such creatures are

famous for rending and devouring vines. Babylon, like a beast from the marshes of the Euphrates, came up and wasted Judah and Israel. Fierce peoples, comparable to wild swine of the forest, warred with the Jewish nation, until it was gored and torn like a vine destroyed by greedy hogs.And the wild beast of the field doth devour it. First one foe and then another wreaked vengeance on the nation, neither did God interpose to chase them away. Ruin followed ruin; the fox devoured the young shoots which had been saved from the damage wrought by the boar. Alas, poor land. How low wast thou brought! An oak or cedar might have been crushed by such ravages, but how canst thou endure it, O weak and tender vine? See what evils follow in the train of sin, and how terrible a thing it is for a people to be forsaken of their God.EXPLA�ATORY �OTES A�D QUAI�T SAYI�GSVer. 8-19. See Psalms on "Psalms 80:8" for further information.Ver. 13. The boar out of the wood doth waste it. The very boar that laid her waste is a singular wild beast. Singular, because proud. For thus saith every proud one, It is I, it is I, and no other. Augustine.Ver. 13. The boar out of the wood doth waste it. �o image of a destructive enemy could be more appropriate than that which is used. We have read of the little foxes that spoil the vines, but the wild boar is a much more destructive enemy, breaking its way through fences, rooting up the ground, tearing down the vines themselves, and treading them under its feet. A single party of these animals will sometimes destroy an entire vineyard in a single night. We can well imagine the damage that would be done to a vineyard even by the domesticated swine, but the wild boar is infinitely more destructive. It is of a very great size, often resembling a donkey rather than a boar, and is swift and active beyond conception. The wild boar is scarcely recognizable as the very near relation of the domestic species. It runs with such speed, that a high bred horse finds some difficulty in overtaking it, while an indifferent steed would be left hopelessly behind. Even on level ground the hunter has hard work to overtake it; and if it can get upon broken or hilly ground, no horse can catch it. The wild boar can leap to a considerable distance, and can wheel and turn when at full speed, with an agility that makes it a singularly dangerous foe. Indeed, the inhabitants of countries where the wild boar flourishes would as soon face a lion as one of these animals, the stroke of whose razor like tusks is made with lightning swiftness, and which is sufficient to rip up a horse, and cut a dog nearly asunder. J. G. Wood, in "Bible Animals." 1869.Ver. 13. The boar.In vengeance of neglected sacrifice,On Aneus' fields she sent a monstrous boar,That levelled harvests and whole forests tore. Pope's Homer's Iliad.Ver. 13. The wood. Or rather marsh; that is, a moist marshy piece of ground, where trees and plants flourish, and which wild beasts delight in. Such is the neighbourhood of the river Jordan, thus described by Maundrell: "After having descended to the outermost banks, you go about a furlong upon a level strand, before you come to the immediate bank of the river. The second bank is so beset with bushes and trees, such as tamarisks, willows, oleanders, and the like, that you can see no water till you have made your way through them. In this thicket anciently (and the same is reported of it to this day), several sorts of wild beasts were wont to

harbour themselves." ...In these places, according to the same author, live many wild boars. Bp. Pococke in particular observed very large herds of them on the other side of Jordan, where it flows out of the Sea of Tiberias; and several of them on the same side on which he was, lying among the reeds by the sea. Richard Mant.Ver. 13. According to the Talmud, the middle letter of the word rendered wood, in this verse, is the middle letter of the Hebrew Psalter. Daniel Cresswell.

ELLICOTT, "(13) Boar.—This is the sole mention of the wild boar in Scripture. But it must not therefore be inferred that it was rare in Palestine. (See Tristram’s �at. Hist. Bib., p. 54.) The writer gives a sad picture of the ravage a herd of them will make in a single night. Comp.—

“In vengeance of neglected sacrifice,

On Oencus’ fields she sent a monstrous boar,

That levell’d harvests and whole forests tore.”

HOMER: Iliad (Pope’s Trans.).

Wild beast.—It seems natural, at first, to take this beast as the emblem of some particular power or oppressor, as the crocodile is of Egypt, the lion of Assyria, &c. But the general term—literally, that moving in the field (see Ps. )—makes against such an identification.

WHEDO�, "13. The boar out of the wood doth waste it—Wild hogs are numerous in the East, and their destructiveness a terror to the husbandman and vine-dresser. They go in herds, led by old boars, and move with great speed and fierceness. �o ordinary fence will resist them, and they soon devastate a garden, or turn up a plot or field of turf to get the roots. They are very ferocious, never hesitating to attack a man or beast if obstructed. They still inhabit northern Palestine. The wild “boar” in the text may fitly point to Tiglath-pileser, the Assyrian king, who had already “wasted” Israel, and carried away numerous captives. 2 Kings 15:29; 1 Chronicles 5:26. See note on the title of the psalm. The moral application of the figure is easily seen.

14 Return to us, God Almighty! Look down from heaven and see!Watch over this vine,

BAR�ES, "Return, we beseech thee, O God of hosts - Again come and visit thy people; come back again to thy forsaken land. This is language founded on the idea that God had withdrawn from the land, or had forsaken it; that he had left his people without a protector, and had left them exposed to the ravages of fierce foreign enemies. It is language which will describe what seems often to occur when the church is apparently forsaken; when there are no cheering tokens of the divine presence; and when the people of God, discouraged, seem themselves to be forsaken by him. Compare Jer_14:8.

Look down from heaven - The habitation of God. As if he did not now see his desolate vineyard, or regard it. The idea is, that if he would look upon it, he would pity it, and would come to its relief.

And behold, and visit this vine - It is a visitation of mercy and not of wrath that is asked; the coming of one who is able to save, and without whose coming there could be no deliverance.

CLARKE, "Return - O God of hosts - Thou hast abandoned us, and therefore our enemies have us in captivity. Come back to us, and we shall again be restored.

Behold, and visit this vine - Consider the state of thy own people, thy own worship, thy own temple. Look down! Let thine eye affect thy heart.

GILL, "Return, we beseech thee, O God of hosts,.... The Lord had been with his vine, the people of Israel, when he brought them out of Egypt, and planted and settled them in the land of Canaan, and made them a flourishing people; but had departed from them when he suffered the hedges about them to be broken down, and the boar and wild beast to enter and devour them; and here he is entreated to return and restore them to their former prosperity. So the Lord sometimes departs from his church and people, and hides his face from them; and may be said to return, when he manifests himself, shows his face and his favour again, and grants his gracious presence, than which nothing is more desirable; and if he, the Lord of hosts and armies, above and below, is with his people, none can be against them to their hurt; they have nothing to fear from any enemy:

look down from heaven: the habitation of his holiness, the high and holy place where he dwells, and his throne is, from whence he takes a survey of men and things; where he now was at a distance from his people, being returned to his place in resentment, and covered himself with a cloud from their sight; and from whence it would be a condescension in him to look on them on earth, so very undeserving of a look of love and mercy from him:

and behold; the affliction and distress his people were in, as he formerly beheld the affliction of Israel in Egypt, and sympathized with them, and brought them out of it:

and visit this vine; before described, for whom he had done such great things, and now was in such a ruinous condition; the visit desired is in a way of mercy and kind providence; so the Targum,

"and remember in mercies this vine;''

so the Lord visits his chosen people by the mission and incarnation of his Son, and by the redemption of them by him, and by the effectual calling of them by his Spirit and grace through the ministration of the Gospel; and which perhaps may, in the mystical sense, be respected here; see Luk_1:68.

HE�RY 14-15, "What their requests were to God hereupon. 1. That God would help the vine (Psa_80:14, Psa_80:15), that he would graciously take cognizance of its case and do for it as he thought fit: “Return, we beseech thee, O Lord of hosts! for thou hast seemed to go away from us. Look down from heaven, to which thou hast retired, - from heaven, that place of prospect, whence thou seest all the wrongs that are done us, that place of power, whence thou canst send effectual relief, - from heaven, where thou hast prepared thy throne of judgment, to which we appeal, and where thou hast prepared a better country for those that are Israelites indeed, - thence give a gracious look, thence make a gracious visit, to this vine. Take our woeful condition into thy compassionate consideration, and for the particular fruits of thy pity we refer ourselves to thee. Only behold the vineyard, or rather the root, which thy right hand hath planted, and which therefore we hope thy right hand will protect, that branch which thou madest strong for thyself, to show forth thy praise (Isa_43:21), that with the fruit of it thou mightest be honoured. Lord, it is formed by thyself and for thyself, and therefore it may with a humble confidence be committed to thyself and to thy own care.” As for God, his work is

perfect. What we read the branch in the Hebrew is the son (Ben), whom in thy counsel

thou hast made strong for thyself. That branch was to come out of the stock of Israel (my servant the branch, Zec_3:8), and therefore, till he should come, Israel in general, and the house of David in particular, must be preserved, and upheld, and kept in being. He is the true vine, Joh_15:1; Isa_11:1. Destroy it not for that blessing is in it, Isa_65:8.

JAMISO�, "visit this vine— favorably (Psa_8:4).

CALVI�, "14.Return, I beseech thee, O God of Hosts! In these words it is intended to teach, that we ought not to yield to temptation although God should hide his face from us for a time, yea even although to the eye of sense and reason he should seem to be alienated from us. For, provided he is sought in the confident expectation of his showing mercy, he will become reconciled, and receive into his favor those whom he seemed to have cast off. It was a distinguished honor for the seed of Abraham to be accounted the vineyard of God; but while the faithful adduce this consideration as an argument for obtaining the favor of God, instead of bringing forward any claims of their own, they only beseech him not to cease to exercise his accustomed liberality towards them. The words, from heaven, have, no doubt, been introduced, that the faithful might find no difficulty in extending their faith to a distance, although God, from whom they had departed, was far from them; and, farther that if they saw no prospect of deliverance upon earth, they might lift up their eyes to

heaven.

SPURGEO�, "Ver. 14. Return, we beseech thee, O God of hosts. Turn thyself to us as well as us to thee. Thou hast gone from us because of our sins, come back to us, for we sigh and cry after thee. Or, if it be too much to ask thee to come then do at least give us some consideration and cast an eye upon our griefs.Look down from heaven, and behold, and visit this vine. Do not close thine eyes; it is thy vine, do not utterly turn away from it as though it were quite gone from thy mind. Great Husbandman, at least note the mischief which the beasts have done, for then it may be thy heart will pity, and thy hand will be outstretched to deliver.EXPLA�ATORY �OTES A�D QUAI�T SAYI�GSVer. 8-19. See Psalms on "Psalms 80:8" for further information.Ver. 14. Look down from heaven, and behold. This prayer is fit for none but the truly contrite, and those who are in heart returning. Otherwise, with what conscience could we entreat God to look down from heaven and behold our affairs? Should we not inflame his anger all the more, if, besides living in sin, we dared to challenge the all holy eyes of God to behold from heaven our wickedness? Musculus.Ver. 14. Look down from heaven. Thou hast gone far from us, thou hast ascended to heaven. Thou hast departed from us, look down at least upon us from heaven, if thou art not willing to descend to earth, if our sins do not merit this. Savonarola.Ver. 14. Visit this vine. Still it has roots, still some branches are living. In the beginning of the world it began, and never has failed, and never will. For thou hast said, Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. It may be diminished, it can never utterly fall. This vine is the vine which thou hast planted. There is one spirit, one faith, one baptism, one God, and Lord of all, who is all in all. Visit, then, this vine, for thy visitation preserves her spirit; visit by thy grace, by thy presence, by thy Holy Spirit. Visit with thy rod, and with thy staff; for thy rod and thy staff comfort her. Visit with thy scourge that she may be chastened and purified, for the time of pruning comes. Cast out the stones, gather up the dry branches, and bind them in bundles for burning. Raise her up, cut off the superfluous shoots, make fast her supports, enrich the soil, build up the fence, and visit this vine, as now thou visitest the earth and watereth it. Savonarola.

15 the root your right hand has planted, the son[e] you have raised up for yourself.

BAR�ES, "And the vineyard ... - Gesenius renders this as a verb: “Protect;” that is, “Protect or defend what thy right hand hath planted.” So the Septuagint renders it

κατάρτισαι katartisai - and the Vulgate, perfice, fit, prepare, order. Prof. Alexander renders it sustain. DeWette, “Guard what thy right hand hath planted.” This is doubtless the true idea. It is a prayer that God would guard, sustain, defend what he had planted; to wit, the vine which he had brought out of Egypt, Psa_80:8.

And the branch - literally, the son; that is, the offspring or shoots of the vine. Not merely the original plant - the parent stock - but all the branches which had sprung from it and which had spread themselves over the land.

That thou madest strong for thyself - Thou didst cause it to grow so vigorously for thine own use or honor. On that account, we now call on thee to defend what is thine own.

CLARKE, "The vineyard which thy right hand hath planted - Thy holy and pure worship which thy Almighty power had established in this city.

And the branch - thou madest strong for thy self - The original ועל בן veal ben, “and upon the Son whom thou hast strengthened for thyself.” Many have thought that the Lord Jesus is meant. And so the Chaldee understood it, as it translates the passage

thus: ועל מלכא משיחא veal Malca Meshicha, And upon the King Messiah, whom thou hast

strengthened for thyself.” The Syriac, Vulgate, Septuagint, Ethiopic, and Arabic, have, “the Son of man,’ as in the seventeenth verse. Eighteen of Kennicott’s and De Rossi’s

MSS. have בן אדם ben Adam, “Son of man,” and as the Versions have all the same reading,

it was probably that of the original copies. As Christ seems here to be intended, this is the first place in the Old Testament where the title Son of man is applied to him. The old Psalter understands this of setting Christ at the right hand of God.

GILL, "And the vineyard which thy right hand hath planted,.... The word "Cannah" is only used in this place, and the first letter of it is larger than usual, to keep in perpetual remembrance, as is thought by some (t), the bringing of this vine out of Egypt, and the great things done for it in the land of Israel; and the letter, being crooked, may denote the oppression of this vine by various calamities. The Targum renders the word, a branch or shoot; and Kimchi, according to the scope of the place, a plant; and observes, that others interpret it an habitation or dwelling place; and so may be understood of Jerusalem, or the temple. Aben Ezra takes it to be an adjective, and to signify "prepared" or "established", which is said of this vine, Psa_80:9. It is an Egyptian word used by the psalmist, treating of the vine brought out of Egypt, and signifies a

plant; hence the ivy is by the Greeks called χενοσιρις the plant of Osiris (u); the clause carries in it a reason or argument, enforcing the above petition, taken from this vine being of the Lord's planting, as in Psa_80:8 and therefore his own honour and glory were concerned in it:

and the branch that thou madest strong for thyself: meaning the same thing, and the same people whom he confirmed in the land of Canaan, and made strong for his service and glory. The word (w) translated "branch" signifies a son, as Israel was, to the

Lord, son and firstborn. The Targum understands it of Christ, and paraphrases it thus,

"and for the King Messiah, whom thou hast strengthened for thyself;''

that is, for the sake of Christ, whom thou hast appointed to work out the salvation of thy people by his great strength, and who was to come from this vine, or descend from Israel; for the sake of him destroy it not, nor suffer it to be destroyed; and is the same with the Son of man, Psa_80:17, and so it is read in a manuscript.

JAMISO�, "And the vineyard— or, “And protect or guard what thy right hand,” etc.

the branch— literally, “over the Son of man,” preceding this phrase, with “protect” or “watch.”

for thyself— a tacit allusion to the plea for help; for

CALVI�, "Ver. 15. And the vineyard which thy right hand hath planted. Shall all thy care be lost? Thou has done so much, wilt thou lose thy labour? With thy power and wisdom thou didst great things for thy people, wilt thou now utterly give them up, and suffer thine enemies to exult in the evil which they delight in?And the branch that thou madest strong for thyself. A prayer for the leader whom the Lord had raised up, or for the Messiah whom they expected. Though the vine had been left, yet one branch had been regarded of the Lord, as if to furnish a scion for another vine; therefore, is the prayer made in this form. Let us pray the Lord, if he will not in the first place look upon his church, to look upon the Lord Jesus, and then behold her in mercy for his sake. This is the true art of prayer, to put Christ forward and cry,"Him and then the sinner see,Look through Jesus' wounds on me."

COKE, "Psalms 80:15. And the vineyard which thy right hand hath planted.— And the stock, &c. and the youth thou has invigorated for thyself: "The stock of thy own planting, and the "man of thy own raising to keep it." So the sense will be continued onto the next verse; which should be rendered, It is burned with fire, it is plucked up. Let them perish at the rebuke of thy countenance: where, the vine being again mentioned, it becomes not unnatural to add a prayer for the destruction of its enemies, the boar and wild beast. Mudge.

WHEDO�, "15. And the vineyard which thy right hand hath planted— ,כנה(kannah,) translated “vineyard,” signifies a layer-plant, or shoot. Its etymological sense, figuratively applied, takes us back to the germ life of the nation, when first planted in Canaan. Adopting the version of Gesenius we may read: “Behold and visit this vine; even the tender shoot which thy right hand hath planted.” The appeal is pathetic, like that of the infant child to the parent, and the successive pleas, “look down,” “behold,” “visit this vine,” indicate the earnestness of the prayer.

And the branch that thou madest strong for thyself—The Hebrew reads, The son

that thou hast strengthened; but though the figure is changed the sense is “branch,” or vine.

16 Your vine is cut down, it is burned with fire; at your rebuke your people perish.

BAR�ES, "It is burned with fire - That is, the vineyard. This is a description of the desolations that had come upon the nation, such as would come upon a vineyard if it were consumed by fire.

It is cut down - It has been made desolate by fire and by the axe.

They perish at the rebuke of thy countenance - At the frown on thy face, as if God has only to look upon people in anger, and they perish. The word they refers to those who were represented by the vine which had been brought out of Egypt - the people of the land.

GILL, "It is burnt with fire, it is cut down,.... That is, the vine of Israel, and the branch before spoken of, alluding to a vine, and its branches; which, when become unprofitable, are cut down or cut off, and cast into the fire; see Joh_15:6, so Jerusalem and the temple were burnt with fire by Nebuchadnezzar, and afterwards by Vespasian:

they perish at the rebuke of thy countenance; that is, the Israelites, signified by the vine, whose destruction was owing to the wrath of God upon them for their sins; he frowned upon them, and rebuked them in his hot displeasure, and to that their ruin was owing; others were only instruments in his hands. Some understand this as a wish or imprecation, let them that cut down the vine, and burn it with fire, perish at the rebuke of thy countenance; see Psa_68:1, so the Targum.

JAMISO�, "it— the “vine” or

they— the “people” are suffering from Thy displeasure.

CALVI�, "Ver. 16. It is burned with fire. In broken utterances the sorrowful singer utters his distress. The vineyard was like a forest which has been set on fire; the choice vines were charred and dead.It is cut down. The cruel axe had hacked after its murderous fashion, the branches were lopped, the trunk was wounded, desolation reigned supreme.They perish at the rebuke of thy countenance. God's rebuke was to Israel what fire and axe would be to a vine. His favour is life, and his wrath is as messengers of

death. One angry glance from Jehovah's eye is sufficient to lay all the vineyards of Ephraim desolate. O Lord, look not thus upon our churches. Rebuke us, but not in anger.

WHEDO�, "16. It is burned with fire… cut down—As the tender vines are devoured by fire, so the nation had been wasted by foreign war and internal broils. The twofold figure of cutting and burning seems borrowed from Isaiah 33:12, “As thorns cut up, shall they be burned with fire.” The predominant figure of the vine here begins to yield to the literal application, which further discovers itself in Psalms 80:17-18

17 Let your hand rest on the man at your right hand, the son of man you have raised up for yourself.

BAR�ES, "Let thy hand be upon the man of thy right hand - Luther renders this, “Let thy hand guard the folks of thy right hand, and the people whom thou hast powerfully chosen.” The right hand is the place of honor; and the phrase “the man of thy right hand” means one who occupies such a position of honor. The phrase “Let thy hand be upon” is ambiguous. It may denote either favor or wrath; let it be upon him either to protect him, or to punish him. The connection, however, evidently demands the former interpretation, for it is in reference to the “man whom God had made strong for himself.” The allusion is either

(a) to some individual man whom God had raised up to honor, as a prince or ruler of the people; or

(b) to the people as such - as Luther understands it.

Most probably the former is the correct interpretation; and the prayer is, that God would interpose in behalf of the ruler of the people - the king of the nation - whom he had exalted to so high honor, and whom he had placed in such a position of responsibility; that he would now endow him properly for his work; that he would give him wisdom in counsel, and valor in battle, in order that the nation might be delivered from its foes. It is, therefore, a prayer for the civil and military ruler of the land, that God would give him grace, firmness, and wisdom, in a time of great emergency. Prof. Alexander strangely supposes that this refers to the Messiah.

Upon the son of man - This means simply man, the language being varied for the sake of poetry. Compare the notes at Psa_8:4. It is true that the appellation “the Son of man” was a favorite designation which the Lord Jesus applied to himself to denote that he was truly a man, and to indicate his connection with human nature; but the phrase is

often used merely to denote a man. Here it refers to the king or civil ruler.

Whom thou madest strong for thyself - The man whom thou hast raised up to that exalted station, and whom thou hast endowed to do a work for thee in that station. A magistrate is a servant and a representative of God, appointed to do a work for him -not for himself. See Rom_13:1-6.

CLARKE, "The man of thy right hand - The only person who can be said to be at the right hand of God as intercessor, is Jesus the Messiah. Let him become our Deliverer: appoint him for this purpose, and let his strength be manifested In our weakness! By whom are the Jews to be restored, if indeed they ever be restored to their own land, but by Jesus Christ? By Him alone can they find mercy; through Him alone can they ever be reconciled to God.

GILL, "Let thy hand be upon the man of thy right hand,.... Which some understand of the people of Israel in general, beloved, supported, and strengthened, by the Lord: and others of the then king of Israel, or Judah, the vinedresser, or keeper of the vineyard under God; praying that he might be directed, supported, and protected, by the Lord; but it seems better to understand it with R. Obadiah on the place, and Abarbinel (x) of the Messiah; and so Aben Ezra interprets it either of Israel, or of Messiah the son of Ephraim. Christ is called the "man", though as yet he was not really man, because it was purposed and promised that he should; and he had agreed to become man, and had appeared often in an human form; and it was certain that he would be incarnate: and also the man of God's "right hand", which is expressive of the power of God, because by him, who, in time, became man, even the Son of God, the world, and all things in it, were made; and by him all things are upheld in their being; by him his people were to be redeemed, and have been redeemed from all their enemies; and by him they are upheld, kept, and preserved from a final and total falling away, and will be raised at the last day: and the phrase may design the support and strength the human nature of Christ, which was weak in itself, was to have, and had, not only from its union in the Son of God, but from God the Father; who promised and gave support and strength to it, under all the sufferings endured in it: to which may be added, that this phrase is expressive of love and affection; so Benjamin had his name, which signifies the son of the right hand, from the great affection of his father; so Christ is the Son of God's love, his dear and well beloved Son; as appears by hiding nothing from him, by putting all things into his hands, and appointing him the Head and Saviour of his people, and the Judge of the world; and his love to him is a love of complacency and delight, is everlasting and unchangeable: moreover, he may be so called, because he was to be, and now is, exalted at the right hand of God, in human nature, as a Prince and Saviour, above angels, authorities, and powers, and above every name whatever: and the prayer is either that the hand of vindictive justice might not be upon the vine, or the church of God, but upon Christ their surety, who was able to bear it, and had engaged to do it; or the hand of divine power and support might be upon him, to strengthen him for the work of redemption and salvation, that so that might prosper in his hand; and the hand of love, grace, and mercy, might be turned upon his people: it is added,

upon the son of man, whom thou madest strong for thyself; for the accomplishment of his purposes, promises, and covenant, for the bringing about the

salvation of his own people, and for ends of his own glory: the same person is here meant as before; and his being called "the Son of Man", which is a very usual phrase for Christ in the New Testament, and which seems to be taken from hence, and from Dan_7:13, shows that he could not be really from eternity, since he was to be the Son of Man, as he was, of Abraham, David, &c.

HE�RY 17-18, "That he would help the vine-dresser (Psa_80:17, Psa_80:18): “Let thy hand be upon the man of thy right hand,” that king (whoever it was) of the house of David that was now to go in and out before them; “let they hand be upon him, not only to protect and cover him, but to own him, and strengthen him, and give him success.” We have this phrase, Ezr_7:28, And I was strengthened as the hand of the Lord my God was upon me. Their king is called the man of God's right hand as he was the representative of their state, which was dear to God, as his Benjamin, the son of his right hand, as he was president in their affairs and an instrument in God's right hand of much good to them, defending them from themselves and from their enemies and directing them in the right way, and as he was under-shepherd under him who was the great shepherd of Israel. Princes, who have power, must remember that they are sons of men,of Adam (so the word is), that, if they are strong, it is God that has made them strong, and he has made them so for himself, for they are his ministers to serve the interests of his kingdom among men, and, if they do this in sincerity, his hand shall be upon them;and we should pray in faith that it may be so, adding this promise, that, if God will adhere to our governors, we will adhere to him: So will not we go back from thee; we will never desert a cause which we see that God espouses and is the patron of. Let God be our leader and we will follow him. Adding also this prayer, “Quicken us, put life into us, revive our dying interests, revive our drooping spirits, and then we will call upon thy name. We will continue to do so upon all occasions, having found it not in vain to do so.” We cannot call upon God's name in a right manner unless he quicken us; but it is he that puts life into our souls, that puts liveliness into our prayers. But many interpreters, both Jewish and Christian, apply this to the Messiah, the Son of David, the protector and Saviour of the church and the keeper of the vineyard. (1.) He is the man of God's right hand, to whom he has sworn by his right hand (so the Chaldee), whom he has exalted to his right hand, and who is indeed his right hand, the arm of the Lord, for all power is given to him. (2.) He is that son of man whom he made strong for himself, for the glorifying of his name and the advancing of the interests of his kingdom among men. (3.) God's hand is upon him throughout his whole undertaking, to bear him out and carry him on, to protect and animate him, that the good pleasure of the Lord might prosper in his hand. (4.) The stability and constancy of believers are entirely owing to the grace and strength which are laid up for us in Jesus Christ, Psa_68:28. In him is our strength found, by which we are enabled to persevere to the end. Let thy hand be upon him; on him let our help be laid who is mighty; let him be made able to save to the uttermost and that will be our security; so will not we go back from thee.

JAMISO�, "thy hand ... upon— that is, strengthen (Ezr_7:6; Ezr_8:22).

man of ... hand— may allude to Benjamin (Gen_35:18). The terms in the latter clause correspond with those of Psa_80:15, from “and the branch,” etc., literally, and confirm the exposition given above.

CALVI�, ""Ver. 17. Let thy hand be upon the man of thy right hand. Let thy

power rest on thy true Benjamin, son of thy right hand; give a commission to some chosen man by whom thou wilt deliver. Honour him, save us, and glorify thyself. There is no doubt here an outlook to the Messiah, for whom believing Jews had learned to look as the Saviour in time of trouble.Upon the son of man whom thou madest strong for thyself. Send forth thy power with him whom thou shalt strengthen to accomplish thy purposes of grace. It pleases God to work for the sons of men by sons of men. "By man came death, by man came also the resurrection from the dead." �ations rise or fall largely through the instrumentality of individuals: by a �apoleon the kingdoms are scourged, and by a Wellington nations are saved from the tyrant. It is by the man Christ Jesus that fallen Israel is yet to rise, and indeed through him, who deigns to call himself the Son of Man, the world is to be delivered from the dominion of Satan and the curse of sin. O Lord, fulfil thy promise to the man of thy right hand, who participates in thy glory, and give him to see the pleasure of the Lord prospering in his hand.EXPLA�ATORY �OTES A�D QUAI�T SAYI�GSVer. 8-19. See Psalms on "Psalms 80:8" for further information.Ver. 17. Let thy hand be upon the man of thy right hand, etc. �either the church, nor any member thereof needeth any more security for their stability and perpetuation, but Christ; for now when the vineyard is burnt, and the visible church defaced, the remnant are content to rest satisfied with this, which also they take for granted, and do subscribe unto it: Let thy hand be upon the man of thy right hand, upon the son of man whom thou madest strong for thyself. The consanguinity of Christ with the believer, and his humiliation in his human nature, are strong supporters of the faith and comfort of his people that do seek salvation through him; therefore do the faithful here fix themselves on this, that as he is God's Son, so he is a branch of their vineyard also; that as he is at the right hand of the Father as God, so he is the man of his right hand also; the Son of Man, or of Adam, partaker of flesh and blood with us, of the same stock that we are of, in all things like to us, except sin; for the Son of Man is the style whereby Christ styled himself in his humiliation. The perpetuity of the church, and the perseverance of the saints, is founded upon the sufficiency of Christ; and the unfeigned believer may assure himself, as of the continuance of the church, so of his own perseverance and constant communion with God through him. Let thy hand be upon the man of thy right hand, etc.; so will not we go back from thee. David Dickson.Ver. 17. The man of thy right hand... The Son of Man. These striking expressions apply in the fullest and most perfect sense to Christ. If the Man of God's right hand be the man placed there, to whom can the title apply but to him? for, to which of the angels said God at any time, Sit thou on my right hand?, Hebrews 1:5; and much less has he said this of any Jewish king. As to the other appellation, The Son of Man, it is one of Christ's most definite titles, being given to him in Scripture no less than seventy-one times; in sixty-seven instances by himself; once by Daniel; once by the martyr Stephen; and twice by the Apostle John in the Revelation. He it is, too, whom the Father has made strong for the salvation of his church, and who will yet turn away captivity from the chosen people, and restore them to a place in the church, so that henceforth they will not go back from God. Editorial �ote to Calvin in loc.Ver. 17 The man of thy right hand. The man of the right hand is,

I. Most dear, whom one holds equally dear with his own right hand, Matthew 5:29-30. Jacob called the son of his most beloved wife, Benjamin, the son of his right hand, Genesis 35:18, who was so dear to him that his life was bound up in the lad's life, Genesis 44:30.II. Most honoured; a man upon whom one wishes to confer the highest honour, is placed at the right hand as Solomon placed his mother, 1 Kings 2:19, and the spouse stands at the right hand, Psalms 45:10. Sitting down at the right hand is in Scripture a proof of the greatest honour.III. Allied, because covenants and mutual agreements are ratified by giving the right hand, 2 Kings 10:15. Jehu said to Jehonadab, Is thy heart right? and Jehonadab answered, It is. If it be, give me thine hand. And he gave him his hand. The right hand used to be given, as in Galatians 2:9. The man of God's right hand, therefore, is one most dear to God, most honoured and joined with him in covenant. James Alting. 1618-1679.Ver. 17. Though the phrase, man of thy right hand, may have an immediate reference to the King who ruled in Judah when this Psalm was penned, it must ultimately and most properly intend Jesus Christ, the great antitype of all the kings of David's line. The �ew Testament is the best interpreter of the Old; and it assures us that this highly dignified man is the Son of God. Hebrews 1:1; Hebrews 1:3; Hebrews 1:13. But if we would understand the genuine import of the phrase, we must attend to a custom which obtained in Judea and other eastern countries. At meals, the master of the feast placed the person whom he loved best on his right hand, as a token of love and respect; and as they sat on couches, in the intervals between the dishes, when the master leaned on his left elbow, the man at his right hand, leaning also on his, would naturally repose his head on the master's bosom, while at the same time the master laid his right hand on the favourite's shoulder or side, in testimony of his favourable regards. This custom is obviously referred to in John 21:20, where John is called the disciple whom Jesus loved, who also leaned on his breast at supper. �ow, since Christ is called the man of God's right hand, this says that he is the object of his warmest and most honourable regards. In him he is well pleased, and in token of this, he has set him in the most honourable place. He is the Son of Man, whom the Father made to stand strong for himself, i.e., to support the honour and dignity of the divine character amidst a perverse and crooked generation: the consideration of the Father's right hand being upon him, or of the Father's satisfaction in him as our Surety, serves to animate and embolden our addresses to his throne, and is the keenest incitement to put in practice that resolution, Henceforth will we not go back from thee. Alexander Pirie.

ELLICOTT, "(17) Man of thy right hand.—This is manifestly a continuation of Psalms 80:15, and should follow it:—

“Protect what thy right hand hath planted,

The branch which thou hast made strong for thyself:

Let thy hand be over the man of thy right hand,

Over the son of man whom thou madest strong for thyself.”

A fine instance of the mode in which the thought can pass naturally from the figurative to the literal. The man of God’s right hand is evidently the man protected by the right hand, but the expression introduces such a tautology that we suspect a misreading.

In the words “son,” “son of man,” some see a reference to the Messiah. But the parallelism and context show that the poet is thinking of Israel as a community, of which the vine is the emblem.

COKE, "Psalms 80:17. Let thy hand be, &c.— Let thy hand be over the prince; thy right arm over the young man thou hast invigorated for thyself. Mudge. God is prayed to let his hand be upon or over him; i.e. to support him in his attacks from the enemies of his country, to influence his counsels with his almighty wisdom, and to enable him to vindicate the honour of his nation.

REFLECTIO�S.—1st, The eyes of the Lord are ever upon his faithful people, and his ears open to their prayers; to him therefore in every distress they look, and find him ever near to help in time of need.

1. The Psalmist begs God's gracious regard and powerful deliverance. He addressed him as the shepherd of Israel, whose tender care towards the sheep of his pasture had been proved by long experience. Thou that leadest Joseph like a flock; who had done so in time past, and was still ready to manifest the same regard towards them: thou that dwellest between the cherubims, exalted on a throne of grace, to receive the petitions of them that seek him, give ear to our prayers; shine forth, to dispel the gloom which thickens round us: Before Ephriam, and Benjamin, and Manasseh, stir up thy strength, these tribes on their march, �umbers 17:13 immediately following the ark; and come and save us from the power of our enemies, who are too mighty for us. This may be considered as the prayer of the church for the appearance of Christ in the flesh, the Sun of righteousness, whose rising with healing in his wings was the great object of their desire, and his spiritual salvation the great hope of their souls.

2. He humbly expostulates with God on their afflictions. How long wilt thou be angry against the prayer of thy people? appear so at least, by refusing them an answer; or be really displeased with them, because they asked amiss; were insincere, or lukewarm? Thou feedest them with the bread of tears, and givest them tears to drink in great measure: so abundant were their sorrows, that even they did not eat or drink, but tears mingled with their repast. Thou makest us a strife unto our neighbours, who divide our spoil; and our enemies laugh among themselves, at the easy prey they have gotten, and the disappointment of our hopes. �ote; (1.) When we pray, it becomes us well to consider what we say, and in what manner we approach God; lest, by our formality and unbelief, our prayers should be turned into sin. (2.) The way to join the everlasting songs of angels lies frequently, in this world, through the vale of tears. (3.) The people of God will be often the derision of

their enemies. But woe to those who laugh now; for they shall mourn and weep, when blessed are those that mourn, for they shall be comforted.

3. In order to obtain the salvation that he desired, the Psalmist begs the conversion of their souls to God. Turn us again, O God, and cause thy face to shine, in token of reconciliation, and then he is sure their hope shall not be delayed, we shall be saved. And thus is repeated, as the great burden of their prayer; for, this being obtained, every other request would be granted. �ote; (1.) The soul has already begun to turn to God, on whom this spirit of prayer and supplication is poured out. (2.) The great desire of the awakened sinner is, to obtain reconciliation with God.

2nd, The former favours of God to his Israel are here pleaded as an argument for his present regard towards them in their distress. The church is compared to a vine, of which Jesus is the living root; and to a vineyard, of which God is the husbandman.

1. By the divine mercy and providence they had been brought out of Egypt: the Canaanites dispossessed to make room for them; and they planted in their stead. Deep-rooted and vigorous, they multiplied exceedingly, and extended their branches unto the sea and the river.

2. They had experienced a sad reverse of state, and inquire into the cause. Why hast thou then broken down her hedges? withdrawn his defence and protection, in consequence of which they were become desolate; so that every traveller, every enemy, now made inroads upon them, to spoil and lay their vineyard waste. Fierce and cruel as the beasts of the desert, their foes devoured them without pity or remorse: Their cities were burnt with fire; their land wasted; and the inhabitants slaughtered: being under God's rebuke, they fell an easy prey to their invaders, �ote; (1.) If God corrects, surely there is a cause: sin, sin, breeds all our misery. (2.) The strongest nation becomes an easy prey, the moment God withdraws his protection.

3. They earnestly intreat a return of the divine favour; that God would from heaven cast a favourable look towards them, and, as he was so able to rescue them, would graciously visit them with his salvation; nor suffer the vineyard, the planting of his own hands, and therefore dear to him, to be destroyed; and the branch he had made so strong for himself, the people separated for his service and designed for his glory, to be broken down. Therefore, let thy hand be upon the man of thy right hand, which may be applied to the king of Israel, but in a higher sense belongs to the Lord Jesus, the great repairer of the breaches of his church, who in the fulness of time should become incarnate, the son of man, the object of his Father's regard, and made strong for all the arduous work of redemption; and for thyself, because by his undertaking, and the accomplishment of his mediatorial office, glory was given to God in the highest. �ote; There is help laid on one mighty to save; we may therefore boldly trust, and not be afraid.

4. They engage heartily to cleave to God. So will not we go back from thee: the all-

sufficiency of Jesus would encourage their faith and hope; and God's love, herein manifested, attach them to his service. Quicken us, and we will call upon thy name: so dead and lifeless often are our hearts, that we have no power to pray with any fervency, till the Lord pours out a spirit of prayer and supplication, and then our drooping souls revive. �ote; (1.) Though we can do nothing as of ourselves, we can do all things through Christ strengthening us. (2.) Prayer is the daily employment of every one who is truly alive to God.

5. The Psalmist, in behalf of the people of Israel, concludes with reiterating his former supplication for converting grace; and addressing his prayer to the Lord God of hosts, so able to save all that come to him, expects in faith the salvation for which he so ardently pleads. �ote; Repetition in our prayers is not always vain, but often speaks the language of most importunate desire. Lord, have mercy upon us! Christ, have mercy upon us! Lord, have mercy upon us!

WHEDO�, '17. Let thy hand be upon the man of thy right hand—That is, upon the man thou hast chosen for the first place of honour and confidence. The allusion is to the ancient custom of placing the first in honour at the right hand. 1 Kings 2:19; Psalms 45:9. As to the supposed doubtfulness whether the Hebrew phrase “thy hand be upon the man,” etc., is to be taken in a good or in an evil sense, the connexion clearly shows the former, which is not unusual, as in such passages as Ezra 7:9; Ezra 8:22; �ehemiah 2:8; �ehemiah 2:18; Isaiah 1:25. Some have taken lאיש ימינ, the man of thy right hand, to refer to Christ.

Upon the son of man—The same as the man of thy right hand. The words “right hand” and “son,” in these two members of the verse, put together, make the Hebrew name Benjamin, (son of the right hand,) which some suppose was intentional, “on account of the connexion of that tribe with both the rival kingdoms, its central position, its possession of the sanctuary, [Moriah was within its tribal limits,] and its historical relation to the infant monarchy under Saul the Benjamite.” Viewed in this light it is a delicate compliment to the tribe of Benjamin. But the descriptive titles may apply to any person whom God might choose to act in his name as the restorer and saviour of his people, or, as in the preceding figure of the vine, as personifications of the Hebrew nation itself, which ranked as a prince at the right hand of God. The imagery is explained in the next verse.

18 Then we will not turn away from you; revive us, and we will call on your name.

BAR�ES, "So will not we go back from thee - That is, if thou wilt thus interpose; if thou wilt deliver the nation; if thou wilt help him whom thou hast placed over it, giving him wisdom and valor, we will hereafter be obedient to thy law; we will not apostatize from thee. It is a solemn promise or pledge of future obedience made by the psalmist as expressing the purpose of the people if God would be merciful and would withdraw his judgments; a pledge proper in itself, and often made by the Hebrew people only to be disregarded; a pledge proper for all who are in affliction, and often made in such circumstances, but, as in the case of the Hebrews, often made only to be forgotten.

Quicken us - literally, Give us life. See the notes at Eph_2:1. Restore life to us as a people; save us from ruin, and reanimate us with thy presence.

And we will call upon thy name -We will worship thee; we will be faithful in serving thee.

CLARKE, "So wilt not we go back from thee -We shall no more become idolaters: and it is allowed on all hands that the Jews were never guilty of idolatry after their return from the Babylonish captivity.

Quicken us -Make us alive, for we are nearly as good as dead.

We will call upon they name -We will invoke thee. Thou shalt be for ever the object of our adoration, and the center of all our hopes.

GILL, "So will not we go back from thee,.... From thy fear, as the Targum; or from thy service, as Kimchi; doing as above would encourage them to stand before the Lord, and worship him; which they could not do, if he marked their sins, and demanded satisfaction from them for them; but if he looked to his Son and their surety, and took it from him, this would encourage their faith and hope, and give them boldness in his presence, and attach them to his service:

quicken us, and we will call upon thy name; the people of God are sometimes dead and lifeless in their frames, and in the exercise of grace and discharge of duty, and have need of the quickening influences of the Spirit and grace of God; and which are necessary to a fervent calling upon the name of the Lord in prayer, and without which none will stir up themselves so to do. Kimchi interprets this of quickening, or of raising to life, from the death of the captivity; and so Abarbinel, who thinks also that it respects the resurrection of the dead in the times of the Messiah.

JAMISO�, "We need quickening grace (Psa_71:20; Psa_119:25) to persevere in Thy right worship (Gen_4:26; Rom_10:11).

CALVI�, "Ver. 18 So will not we go back from thee. Under the leadership of one whom God had chosen the nation would be kept faithful, grace would work gratitude, and so cement them to their allegiance. It is in Christ that we abide faithful; because he lives we live also. There is no hope of our perseverance apart

from him.Quicken us, and we will call upon thy name. If the Lord gives life out of death, his praise is sure to follow. The Lord Jesus is such a leader, that in him is life, and the life is the light of men. He is our life. When he visits our souls anew we shall be revived, and our praise shall ascend unto the name of the Triune God.EXPLA�ATORY �OTES A�D QUAI�T SAYI�GSVer. 8-19. See Psalms on "Psalms 80:8" for further information.Ver. 18. So will not we, etc. How are we to understand the connection between this and the preceding words? It may be understood two ways.1. As it would oblige them to the yielding of steadfast obedience; it would lay them under a special engagement never to revolt any more, as they had done; if God would grant this request, it would be a most eminent tie and bond upon them to the most constant and faithful service.2. As it would enable them to yield such obedience. And this I conceive to be chiefly aimed at; if God would lay such help upon Christ for them, they should receive power by that means to discharge their duty to him better than ever heretofore; though they were very feeble and wavering, false and treacherous of themselves, yet here would be a successful remedy. Timothy Cruso.

19 Restore us, Lord God Almighty; make your face shine on us, that we may be saved.

BAR�ES, "Turn us again, O Lord God of hosts ... - See Psa_80:3, note; Psa_80:7, note; Psa_80:14, note. This is the sum and the burden of the psalm. The repetition of the prayer shows the earnestness of the people, and their conviction that their only hope in their troubles was that God would interpose and bring them back again; that he would be favorable to them, and lift upon them the light of his countenance. So with all. In our backslidings, our afflictions, and our troubles, our only hope is that God will bring us back to himself; our proper place is at the throne of mercy; our pleadings should be urgent, earnest, and constant, that he will interpose and have mercy on us; our solemn purpose - our expressed and recorded pledge - should be that if we are restored to God, we will wander no more. But, alas! how much easier it is to say this than to do it; how much easier to promise than to perform; how much easier to pledge ourselves when we are in affliction that if the troubles are removed we will be faithful, than it is to carry out such a purpose when the days of prosperity return, and we are again surrounded by the blessings of health and of peace. If all people - even good people - kept the vows which they make, the world would be comparatively a pure and happy world; if the church

itself would only carry out its own solemn pledges, it would indeed arise and shine, and the world would soon be filled with light and salvation.

CLARKE, "Turn as again - Redeem us from this captivity.

O Lord God of hosts - Thou who hast all power in heaven and earth, the innumerable hosts of both worlds being at thy command.

Cause thy face to shine - Let us know that thou art reconciled to us. Let us once more enjoy thy approbation. Smile upon thy poor rebels, weary of their sins, and prostrate at thy feet, imploring mercy.

And we shall be saved - From the power and oppression of the Chaldeans, from the guilt and condemnation of our sins, and from thy wrath and everlasting displeasure. Thus, O God, save Us!

GILL, "Turn us again, O Lord God of hosts,.... This is a repetition of Psa_80:3, in which may be observed an increase of the names or titles of the Divine Being: in Psa_80:3, it is only "O God"; in Psa_80:7 "O God of hosts"; and here, "Lord God of hosts"; some have thought that the doctrine of the Trinity is here suggested; which is a better thought than that of Jarchi's, who supposes that three captivities of Israel are pointed at: but as it follows,

cause thy face to shine, and we shall be saved; it appears that this was the burden of their song, being in darkness and distress, that they might have the light of God's countenance, and therefore repeat it again and again.

HE�RY, "Lastly, The psalm concludes with the same petition that had been put up twice before, and yet it is no vain repetition (Psa_80:19): Turn us again. The title given to God rises, Psa_80:3, O God! Psa_80:7, O God of hosts! Psa_80:19, O Lord (Jehovah)God of hosts! When we come to God for his grace, his good-will towards us and his good work in us, we should pray earnestly, continue instant in prayer, and pray more earnestly.

JAMISO�, "(Compare Psa_80:3, “O God”; Psa_80:7, “O God of hosts”).

CALVI�, "Ver. 19. Turn us again, O Lord God of Hosts. Here we have another advance in the title and the incommunicable name of Jehovah, the I AM is introduced. Faith's day grows brighter as the hours roll on; and her prayers grow more full and mighty.Cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved. Even we who were so destroyed. �o extremity is too great for the power of God. He is able to save at the last point, and that too by simply turning his smiling face upon his afflicted. Men can do little with their arm, but God can do all things with a glance. Oh, to live for ever in the light of Jehovah's countenance.EXPLA�ATORY �OTES A�D QUAI�T SAYI�GSVer. 8-19. See Psalms on "Psalms 80:8" for further information.Ver. 19. Turn us again. How well that we can look to God when our face is set wrong, that he may turn us, and so his face shine on us, as to bring blessing and

present deliverance to his people. J. �. Darby.Ver. 19. During distress God comes; and when he comes it is no more distress. Gaelic Proverb.

ELLICOTT, "(19) Turn us.—By a fine gradation in the style of the address to God, the refrain has at last reached its full tone, expressive of the completest trust—

“God’s ways seem dark, but soon or late

They touch the shining hills of day.

The evil cannot brook delay;

The good can well afford to wait.”

WHITTIER.

WHEDO�, "19. Turn us again, O Lord God of hosts—The closing refrain. See Psalms 80:7. In this wonderful prayer a noticeable rising in the titles of deity appears: “Shepherd of Israel,” “God,” “God of hosts,” “Jehovah, God of hosts;” and with the endearing and awful names of deity, urged in the agony of desire and the imminence of ruin, rises the psalmist’s earnest, tender, and appealing pathos. With the good King Hezekiah and the prophets Isaiah, (now in his vigour,) Micah, and Hosea, to cooperate in the movements of the reformation, as in the spirit of this psalm, how could they fail of success? Yet most of the people of the northern tribes mocked at the preachers and heralds, though many were brought back to God. 2 Chronicles 30:10-11. After this by Hezekiah, no great effort was made to reclaim the wasted “ten tribes,” or kingdom of Israel. At the restoration of Judah from the Babylonian captivity, all of Israel, of whatsoever tribe, who could prove their genealogical descent, were welcomed back to the fellowship of the Hebrew family; but beyond this no restoration of the lost “ten tribes” has ever been made, nor has history preserved any record of their distinct existence. We know that in later times the Galileans, Samaritans, and those east of Jordan were largely of mixed heathen and Hebrew blood.