START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Psalm 80:1-2, 8-19
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OBSERVE:
This Psalm appeals to the Lord for intervention in a time of adversity. It is difficult to tell from the context alone if the Psalm was written before or after the exile of Israel. It doesn’t really matter to the reader, because it is clearly a cry for help in any event. One clue, though, might be the mention of the tribes of Ephraim, Benjamin and Manasseh, which would suggest that the Psalm was written before the Northern Kingdom of Israel was destroyed and scattered by the Assyrians in 721 B.C.
The imagery of the Lord as Shepherd is familiar to us, and comforting; but then there is the imagery of the Lord sitting enthroned between the cherubim — those terrifying angelic figures who are depicted as the guardians of Eden with a sword of flame, and the close companions of the Lord who bear him up with wings of the wind. This is much more intimidating. There may also be a reference to the winged cherubim made of gold who flank the Ark of the Covenant in the Holy of Holies in the temple in Jerusalem.
Our current lectionary reading jumps from verses 1-2 to verses 8-19.
In verses 8-19, the Psalmist introduces a familiar metaphor — Israel is compared to a vine that the Lord has brought from Egypt. The Psalmist recounts a part of the salvation history of Israel. In language reminiscent of Isaiah 5:1-7, he addresses his prayer to the Lord:
You brought a vine out of Egypt;
you drove out the nations and planted it.
You cleared the ground for it;
it took deep root and filled the land.
The mountains were covered with its shade,
the mighty cedars with its branches;
it sent out its branches to the sea,
and its shoots to the River.
In these few verses we see the sweep of Israel’s history — exodus from Egypt, the conquest of Canaan, flourishing in this new land, and the spread of the nation under the leadership of the Davidic kings. At its height under David and Solomon, Israel’s influence had spread north to Lebanon (the mighty cedars), and from the Mediterranean Sea all the way to the Euphrates River.
But now circumstances have changed. The Psalmist asks God plaintively:
Why then have you broken down its walls,
so that all who pass along the way pluck its fruit?
The boar from the forest ravages it,
and all that move in the field feed on it.
The Psalmist is writing from the perspective of one who sees his nation besieged and harassed, likely by the Assyrians in the late 8th century. Given the references to Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh the Psalmist particularly has the Northern Kingdom in mind, not Judah.
His appeal is for the God of hosts to protect and care for his vine that has been burned and cut down by the invaders.
And what is the source of that salvation?
But let your hand be upon the one at your right hand,
the one whom you made strong for yourself.
Is the Psalmist speaking of a king? If so, is he speaking of a king from the Davidic dynasty that rules in Judah following the separation of the Northern from the Southern Kingdoms? Or is this, as the Christian reader might interpret, a messianic prophecy that will be fulfilled by Jesus, the Son of David?
In any event, the Psalmist vows that when deliverance comes:
Then we will never turn back from you;
give us life, and we will call on your name.
Finally, the Psalmist closes with a litany that appears three times in this Psalm:
Restore us, O Lord God of hosts;
let your face shine, that we may be saved.
This hearkens back to the priestly blessing that Aaron was instructed to give as High Priest:
The Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you;
the Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace (Numbers 6:24-26).
There may also be a reference intended to the shekinah, the glory of God that accompanies his presence, and that made the face of Moses to shine after he’d been in the presence of the Lord.
APPLY:
At some point we all know how it feels to be defeated, demoralized, in despair — as a nation, a family, an individual. The cry of the Psalmist isn’t far from the experience of any of us.
When we have experienced the grace of God, we know how it is to feel that we are like a vine that has been planted and watered by God, and flourished under his care. And when life gets hard, when the “vine” in our lives is uprooted by circumstances beyond our control, we cry out just as the Psalmist does.
What we cry out for, in our nation, our church, our family, our own lives — is revival, restoration. If we have experienced the presence of God in our lives, if we have known the “shine” of his face, and it has faded for us, we earnestly yearn for it again.
We will find it, if the Scriptures are true, in the life and the light of Christ, who brings not only salvation from our sins, but healing to our hearts, and the power to live the holy lives to which he calls us.
RESPOND:
I find myself from time to time dealing with my own drift away from God. I have to cry out again for renewal and revival. As with the Psalmist this happens when I begin to call out his name and seek to live according to the claims of that name.
Our Lord, our nation experiences victories, but also sees defeats — the disabled veteran who wonders ‘was it worth it?’ The ambiguity of race relations in our nation today. The specter of terrorism. And our own personal struggles with grief or depression. We don’t have the wisdom to provide all the answers. But you have provided a Person who is wisdom incarnate, and salvation, and new life! May we find our source of healing and salvation in Christ! Amen.
PHOTO:
“Psalm 80_14” by Baptist Union of Great Britain is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic license.
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