"To the choirmaster: according to Lilies. A Testimony. Of Asaph, a Psalm.
Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel,
you who lead Joseph like a flock!
You who are enthroned upon the cherubim, shine forth.
2 Before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh,
stir up your might
and come to save us!
3 Restore us, O God;
let your face shine, that we may be saved!
4 O Lord God of hosts,
how long will you be angry with your people's prayers?
5 You have fed them with the bread of tears
and given them tears to drink in full measure.
6 You make us an object of contention for our neighbours,
and our enemies laugh among themselves.
7 Restore us, O God of hosts;
let your face shine, that we may be saved!
8 You brought a vine out of Egypt;
you drove out the nations and planted it.
9 You cleared the ground for it;
it took deep root and filled the land.
10 The mountains were covered with its shade,
the mighty cedars with its branches.
11 It sent out its branches to the sea
and its shoots to the River.
12 Why then have you broken down its walls,
so that all who pass along the way pluck its fruit?
13 The boar from the forest ravages it,
and all that move in the field feed on it.
14 Turn again, O God of hosts!
Look down from heaven, and see;
have regard for this vine,
15 the stock that your right hand planted,
and for the son whom you made strong for yourself.
16 They have burned it with fire; they have cut it down;
may they perish at the rebuke of your face!
17 But let your hand be on the man of your right hand,
the son of man whom you have made strong for yourself!
18 Then we shall not turn back from you;
give us life, and we will call upon your name!
19 Restore us, O Lord God of hosts!
Let your face shine, that we may be saved!"
Psalm 80
The third stanza of the Psalm is in three sections: the Psalmist first gives a picture of what once was (8-11); then he presents the contrast to what now is (12-14); and ends with a prayer for speedy help (15-19). In the metaphor of the vine in 8-11 the Psalmist takes up the earlier reference to Joseph, for in Jacob's blessing in Genesis 49:22ff Joseph is called a fruitful vine. The picture is of God the Husbandman, and His people the vine of His care and nurture. The picture is of rich and fruitful growth. But now, in 12-14, the contrast between the glorious past and miserable present prompts the agonising 'Why?' No answer is given, and no reason ascribed for the woeful change, although it is surely implied in the reiterated 'turn us...', a recognition that they themselves needed Divine dealing to put them right. The supplication in 14, itself a modified version of the earlier refrain in 3 and 7, passes into the final prayer for help and deliverance. The vineyard metaphor continues, and now it is the corning of the husbandman to purge and prune the vine, to restore it to its former fruitfulness. The entreaty in 17 is a significant one. Scholars think there may be a possible reference to Benjamin (2) in the play on words here, for 'Benjamin' literally means 'son of the right hand'. Literally, therefore, this is a prayer that God would lay His hand on the man appointed by Him to be the leader of His people, and make him strong for the Divine purpose and commission to be their deliverer. But it is not difficult to see in this a foreshadowing of Christ Himself (cf Psalm 105:16ff for a similar passage, which affords a remarkable illustration of Paul's words about Christ in Philippians 2:5ff). The Psalm ends as it began with an appeal for the Divine intervention.