CHAPTER 80

A PSALM OF ASAPH: A PRAYER FOR RESTORATION

¹Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, You Who led Joseph like a flock; You Who dwell between the Cherubims, shine forth. (The blessing of Joseph [Gen. 49:2226] uses the figures of the Shepherd and the Vine, whose fruitful branches run over the wall. Hence, the nation is here called Joseph, and the Messiah is addressed as its Shepherd. This Psalm, as the previous, delineates Israels history and future.)

²Before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh stir up Your Strength, and come and save us. (When the cloud was taken up from Israel in the wilderness, the Tribes journeyed. Following the Kohathites, who were bearing the Sanctuary and the Ark, came Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh. Accordingly, in this Psalm, they occupy this position in relation to the Ark. These Tribes were the Children of Rachel.)

³Turn us again, O God, and cause Your F ace to shine; and we shall be Saved. (In Ezekiel, we are told of the Glory of God departing from Jerusalem and the Temple [Ezek. 11:2223]. Ezekiel also saw the Glory of God returning [Ezek. 43:15]. The latter will be during the opening days of the Millennial Reign.

The Psalmist, and actually Christ as the Intercessor, prays for that Glory to return. In fact, it will return when the Messiah returns, to the discomfiture of Israels oppressors, and thus will recover and replant His Vine.)

⁴O LORD God of Hosts, how long will You be angry against the prayer of Your People? (The anger of God against His People, because they killed the Messiah, has lasted now for nearly 2,000 years.)

⁵You feed them with the bread of tears; and give them tears to drink in great measure. (No people on Earth have shed tears as long as Israel has, due to the great sorrow brought upon them because of their rejection of their Messiah and the worlds Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ.)

⁶You make us a strife unto our neighbours: and our enemies laugh among themselves. (This has happened many times in Israels history; it is happening even now with Israels neighbors, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Syria, Egypt, Iraq, Iran, etc. The greater meaning has to do with the Time of Jacobs Trouble, when it looks like Israel will be totally destroyed by the Antichrist. Her enemies will then laugh among themselves.)

⁷Turn us again, O God of Hosts, and cause Your Face to shine; and we shall be Saved. (This is a petition for Israel to be restored to nationhood and to the worship of God in the Sanctuary. In complete form, this will not be done until the Second Coming.)

⁸You have brought a vine out of Egypt: You have cast out the heathen, and planted it (that vine is Israel).

⁹You prepared room before it, and did cause it to take deep root, and it filled the land (the Land of Promise).

¹⁰The hills were covered with the shadow of it, and the boughs thereof were like the goodly cedars (great growth!).

¹¹She sent out her boughs unto the sea, and her branches unto the river (extended to the Mediterranean Sea and the Euphrates River).

¹²Why have You then broken down her hedges, so that all they who pass by the way do pluck her? (The Lord allowed this to happen to Israel because of her rebellion against Him.)

¹³The boar out of the wood does waste it, and the wild beast of the field does devour it (basically, this refers to Rome and her subjugation of Israel, which took place before the First Advent of Christ).

¹⁴Return, we beseech You, O God of Hosts: look down from Heaven, and behold, and visit this vine (the words, once more, should be supplied in these petitions, because that meaning is found in the Hebrew Text; it actually says, Once more look down from Heaven! Once more behold! Once more visit this vine!);

¹⁵And the vineyard which Your Right Hand has planted, and the branch that You made strong for Yourself (in fact, this prayer ultimately will be answered; God will restore Israel [Rom., Chpt. 11]).

¹⁶It is burned with fire, it is cut down: they perish at the rebuke of Your Countenance. (This means that the shining of His Countenance will save His People; its rebuking will destroy their foes. This Verse should read, They [the destroyers of the vine] shall perish at the rebuke of Your Countenance.)

¹⁷Let Your Hand be upon the Man of Your Right Hand, upon the Son of Man whom You made strong for Yourself. (The Chaldee reads, King Messiah, the Man upon Gods Right Hand. It is possibly to this Verse and Prophecy that the Lord pointed when claiming for Himself the title, Son of Man.)

¹⁸So will not we go back from You: quicken us, and we will call upon Your Name. (The moral results of the Messiahs entrance into the Sanctuary are seen in this Verse. Whenever Jesus enters into the Millennial Temple, Israel will never again turn their back on Him.)

¹⁹Turn us again, O LORD God of Hosts, cause Your Face to shine; and we shall be saved. (For the soul into which He shines, there is no going back; whomever He quickens, He eternally attaches to His Name. With Him Alone is there Salvation.)