Psalms 80:1

PSALM 80 THE ANGUISHED CRY OF A DESOLATE NATION

PROBLEMS OF THE CORRUPT VINE

The first of these titles we have taken from Leupold, and the other is our own, based upon the fact of the "rather full development of the figure of Israel as a vine of God's planting."[1]

There are two divisions in the psalm: (1) a prayer (Psalms 80:1-7); and (2) the metaphor of the vine.

The occasion of the psalm is difficult, if not impossible, to determine. Barnes summarized various views as follows:

"This psalm strongly resembles Psalms 74 and Psalms 79, and is generally supposed to refer to the same period, namely, that of the Babylonian captivity. Others have referred it to the times of Antiochus Epiphanes, or to those of Jehoshaphat, or to the period following the fall of Samaria and the loss of the northern kingdom."[2]

In any case, the occasion was a period of hardship and disaster for the entire Hebrew nation.

Psalms 80:1-7

THE PRAYER

"Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel,

Thou that leadest Joseph like a flock;

Thou that sittest above the cherubim, shine forth.

Before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh, stir up thy might,

And come to save us.

Turn us again, O God,

And cause thy face to shine, and we shall be saved.

Oh Jehovah, God of hosts,

How long wilt thou be angry against the prayer of thy people?

Thou hast fed them with the bread of tears,

And given them tears to drink in large measure.

Thou makest us a strife unto our neighbors;

And our enemies laugh among themselves.

Turn us again, O God of hosts;

And cause thy face to shine, and we shall be saved."

Barnes stated that there are two prayers here (Psalms 80:1-3 and Psalms 80:4-7), but there are similarities. God is petitioned for salvation in both; He is requested to "Turn us again" in both (Psalms 80:3,7); and the reference to the Aaronic blessings of Numbers 6:25, "Cause thy face to shine," is in both (Psalms 80:3,7).

The problem in these verses is the mention of Ephraim and Manasseh and Benjamin with no specific reference to any other of the tribes of Israel. Some have made this the basis of supposing that the falling away of the northern Israel was the occasion of the psalm; but Benjamin did not belong to the ten tribes who rebelled against the house of David.

Barnes' explanation here of how these three names came to be mentioned is: (1) "Thou leadest Joseph like a flock" was a common reference to God as the leader of all Israel. (2) This came about because of the vital part Joseph had in preserving the life of the nation from the famine and for his favorable location of Israel in the Nile Delta. (3) "Ephraim and Manasseh seem to be mentioned here because Joseph their father had been referred to in the previous verse; and it was natural in speaking of the people to refer to his sons."[3] Benjamin was mentioned because he was the brother of Joseph, and all three of these constituted the whole Rachel branch of the Twelve Tribes.

It appears to us that there is also another good reason. The two half-tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh represented the northern Israel, and the tribe of Benjamin represented the southern Israel, where they remained faithful to the house of David. How beautifully all of this fits! God is the "Shepherd of Israel," who leads Joseph like a flock, not merely part of Joseph (standing for Israel) but all Israel, as represented by the three descendants of Jacob through Rachel.

"Thou hast fed them with the bread of tears" (Psalms 80:5). This is a reference to the times of extreme sorrow, disappointment, and suffering through which Israel was passing at the time this psalm was written.

THE METAPHOR OF THE VINE

This metaphor of Israel as a vine is frequently mentioned in the Old Testament.

"My well-beloved had a vineyard in a very fruitful hill; he digged it, gathered the stones out of it, and planted it with the choicest vine. He built a tower in the midst of it, hewed out a winepress; and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes" (Isaiah 5:1-2).

"I had planted thee a noble vine, a wholly right seed: how then art thou turned into the degenerate branches of a foreign vine unto me? (Jeremiah 2:21). An alternative reading here for `degenerate vine,' is `corrupt vine.'"[4]

It is this background teaching of Israel as God's vine that illuminates the declaration of Jesus Christ that, "I am the true vine" (John 15:1). This means that Christ is the True Israel of God, and that there is none other.

The historical Israel never developed as the vine God had intended; only in Jesus Christ did there appear the Noble Vine of God's intentions. It is in the full realization of these facts that we have the understanding that Jesus' holy Church, which is "in him," is therefore a part of his spiritual body, the New Israel which has replaced the Old Israel. God's Church in Christ is the True Israel of God. The New Testament eloquently bears witness of this epic truth. Paul referred to Christians in Galatians 6:16 as, "The Israel of God."

PROBLEMS OF THE CORRUPT VINE

In the times when this psalm was written, the degenerate vine had brought forth a sufficient crop of "wild grapes," to fully justify God's rooting them out of Canaan where God had planted them. The balance of this chapter describes what was happening to the doomed degenerate vine of Ancient Israel.