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Expositor's Bible Commentary Psalm 80:1 To the chief Musician upon ShoshannimEduth, A Psalm of Asaph. Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, thou that leadest Joseph like a flock; thou that dwellest between the cherubims, shine forth. Psalm 80:1-19 THIS psalm is a monument of some time of great national calamity; but its allusions do not enable us to reach certainty as to what that calamity was. Two striking features of it have been used as clues to its occasion-namely, the designation of the nation as "Joseph," and the mention, of the three tribes in Psalm 80:2 . Calvin, Delitzsch, Hengstenberg, and others are led thereby to regard it as a prayer by an inhabitant of Judah for the captive children of the northern kingdom; while others, as Cheyne, consider that only the Persian period explains the usage in question. The name of "Joseph" is applied to the whole nation in other Asaph psalms. { Psalm 77:15 ; Psalm 81:5 } It is tempting to suppose, with Hupfeld, that this nomenclature indicates that the ancient antagonism of the kingdoms has passed away with the captivity of the Ten Tribes, and that the psalmist, a singer in Judah, looks wistfully to the ideal unity, yearns to see breaches healed, and the old associations of happier days, when "Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh" encamped side by side in the desert, and marched one after the other, renewed in a restored Israel. If this explanation of the mention of the tribes is adopted, the psalm falls in some period after the destruction of the northern kingdom, but prior to that of Judah. The prayer in the refrain "turn us" might, indeed, mean "bring us back from exile," but may as accurately be regarded as asking for restored prosperity-an explanation which accords better with the rest of the psalm. We take the whole, then, as a prayer, for the nation, conceived of in its original, long-broken unity. It looks back to the Divine purpose as expressed in ancient deeds of deliverance, and prays that it may be fulfilled, notwithstanding apparent thwarting. Closer definition of date is unattainable. The triple refrain in Psalm 80:3 , Psalm 80:7 , Psalm 80:19 , divides the psalm into three unequal parts. The last of these is disproportionately long, and may be further broken up into three parts, of which the first ( Psalm 80:8-11 ) describes the luxuriant growth of Israel under the parable of a vine, the second ( Psalm 80:12-14 ) brings to view the bitter contrast of present ruin, and, with an imperfect echo of the refrain, melts into the petitioning tone of the third ( Psalm 80:15-19 ). which is all prayer. In the first strophe "Shepherd of Israel" reminds us of Jacob’s blessing of Ephraim and Manasseh in which he invoked "the God who shepherded me all my life long" to "bless the lads," and of the title in Genesis 49:24 , "the shepherd, the stone of Israel." The comparison of the nation to a flock is characteristic of the Asaph psalms, and here refers to the guidance of the people at the Exodus. Delitzsch regards the notions of the earthly and heavenly sanctuary as being blended in the designation of God as sitting throned on the cherubim, but it is better to take the reference as being to His dwelling in the Temple. The word rendered "shine forth" occurs in Psalm 50:2 , where it expresses His coming from "Zion," and so it does here. The same metaphor underlies the subsequent petition in Psalm 80:3 . In both God is thought of as light, and the manifestation of His delivering help is likened to the blazing out of the sun from behind a cloud. In reference to the mention of the tribes in Psalm 80:2 , we need only add to what has been already said, that the petitions of Psalm 80:1 , which look back to the wilderness marches, when the Ark led the van, naturally suggested the mention of the three tribes who were together reckoned as the "camp of Ephraim," and who, in the removal of the encampment, "set forth third"-that is, immediately in the rear of the tabernacle. The order of march explains not only the collocation here, but the use of the word "Before." Joseph and Benjamin were children of the same mother, and the schism which parted their descendants is, to the psalmist’s faith, as transient as unnatural. Once again shall the old unity be seen, when the brothers’ sons shall again dwell and fight side by side, and God shall again go forth before them for victory. The prayer of the refrain, "turn us," is not to be taken as for restoration from exile, which is negatived by the whole tone of the psalm, nor as for spiritual quickening, but simply asks for the return of the glories of ancient days. The petition that God would let His face shine upon the nation alludes to the priestly benediction, { Numbers 6:25 } thus again carrying us back to the wilderness. Such a flashing forth is all that is needed to change blackest night into day. To be "saved" means here to be rescued from the assaults of hostile nations. The poet was sure that Israel’s sole defence was God, and that one gleam of His face would shrivel up the strongest foes, like unclean, slimy creatures which writhe and die in sunshine. The same conviction is valid in a higher sphere. Whatever elevation of meaning is given to "saved," the condition of it is always this-the manifestation of God’s face. That brings light into all dark hearts. To behold that light, and to walk in it, and to be transformed by beholding, as they are who lovingly and steadfastly gaze, is salvation. A piteous tale of suffering is wailed forth in the second strophe. The peculiar accumulation of the Divine names in Psalm 80:4 , Psalm 80:19 , is found also in Psalm 59:5 ; Psalm 84:8 . It is grammatically anomalous, as the word for God ( Elohim ) does not undergo the modification which would show that the next word is to be connected with it by "of." Hence, some have regarded " Ts’bhaoth " (hosts) as being almost equivalent to a proper name of God, which it afterwards undoubtedly became; while others have explained the construction by supposing the phrase to be elliptical, requiring after "God" the supplement "God of." This accumulation of Divine names is by some taken as a sign of late date. Is it not a mark of the psalmist’s intensity rather than of his period? In accordance with the Elohistic character of the Asaph psalms, the common expression "Jehovah of Hosts" is expanded; but the hypothesis that the expansion was the work of a redactor is unnecessary. It may quite as well have been that of the author. The urgent question "How long?" is not petulant impatience, but hope deferred, and, though sick at heart, still cleaving to God and remonstrating for long-protracted calamities. The bold imagery of Psalm 80:4 b cannot well be reproduced in translation. The rendering "wilt Thou be angry?" is but a feeble reproduction of the vigorous original, which runs "wilt Thou smoke?" Other psalms { e.g., Psalm 74:1 } speak of God’s anger as smoking but here the figure is applied to God Himself. What a contrast it presents to the petition in the refrain! That "light" of Israel has become "as a flaming fire." A terrible possibility of darkening and consuming wrath lies in the Divine nature, and the very emblem of light suggests it. It is questionable whether the following words should be rendered "against the prayer of Thy people," or "while Thy people are praying" (Delitzsch). The former meaning is in accordance with the Hebrew, with other Scripture passages, and with the tone of the psalm, and is to be preferred, as more forcibly putting the anomaly of an unanswering God. Psalm 80:5 presents the national sorrows under familiar figures. The people’s food and drink were tears. The words of a may either be rendered "bread of tears"- i.e . eaten with, or rather consisting of tears; or, as above, "tears [as] bread." The word rendered "in large measure" means "the third part"-"of some larger measure." It is found only in Isaiah 11:12 . "The third part of an ephah is a puny measure for the dust of the earth [but] it is a large measure for tears" (Delitzsch, in loc .). Psalm 80:6 adds one more touch to the picture-gleeful neighbours cynically rejoicing to their hearts content (lit., for themselves) over Israel’s calamities. Thus, in three verses, the psalmist points to an angry God, a weeping nation, and mocking foes, a trilogy of woe. On all he bases an urgent repetition of the refrain which is made more imploring by the expanded name under which God is invoked to help. Instead of the simple "God," as in Psalm 80:3 , he now says "God of Hosts." As sense of need increases, a true suppliant goes deeper into God’s revealed character. From Psalm 80:8 onwards the parable of the vine as representing Israel fills the singer’s mind. As has been already noticed this part of the psalm may be regarded as one long strophe, the parts of which follow in orderly sequence, and are held closely together, as shown by the recurrence of the refrain at the close only. Three stages are discernible in it-a picture of what has been, the contrast of what is now, and a prayer for speedy help. The emblem of the vine, which has received so great development in the prophets, and has been hallowed forever by our Lord’s use of it, seems to have been suggested to the psalmist by the history of Joseph, to which he has already alluded. For, in Jacob’s blessing, { Genesis 49:22 seqq.} Joseph is likened to a fruitful bough. Other Old Testament writers have drawn out the manifold felicities of the emblem as applied to Israel. But these need not concern us here, where the point is rather God’s husbandry and the vine’s growth, both of which are in startling contrast with a doleful present. The figure is carried out with much beauty in detail. The Exodus was the vine’s transplanting; the destruction of the Canaanites was the grubbing up of weeds to clear the ground for it; the numerical increase of the people was its making roots and spreading far. In Psalm 80:10 b the rendering may be either that adopted above, or "And the cedars of God [were covered with] its branches." The latter preserves the parallelism of clauses and the unity of representation in Psalm 80:10-11 , which will then deal throughout with the spreading growth of the vine. But the cedars would not have been called "of God,"-which implies their great size-unless their dimensions had been in point, which would not be the case if they were only thought of as espaliers for the vine. And the image of its running over the great trees of Lebanon is unnatural. The rendering as above is to be preferred even though it somewhat mars the unity of the picture. The extent of ground covered by the vine is described, in Psalm 80:11 , as stretching from the Mediterranean to the Euphrates. { Deuteronomy 11:24 ; 1 Kings 4:24 } Such had been the glories of the past; and they had all been the work of God’s hand. In Psalm 80:12 the miserable contrast of present desolation is spread before God, with the bold and yet submissive question "Why?" The vineyard wall is thrown down, and the vine lies exposed to every vagrant passenger, and to every destructive creature. Swine from the woods burrow at its roots, and "whatever moves on the plain" { Psalm 50:11 , the only other place where the expression occurs} feeds on it. The parallelism forbids the supposition that any particular enemy is meant by the wild boar. Hupfeld would transpose Psalm 80:16 so as to stand after Psalm 80:13 , which he thinks improves the connection, and brings the last part of the psalm into symmetrical form, in three equal parts, containing four verses each. Cheyne would put Psalm 80:14-15 , before Psalm 80:12-13 , and thereby secures more coherence and sequence. But accuracy in these matters is not to be looked for in such highly emotional poetry, and perhaps a sympathetic ear may catch in the broken words a truer ring than in the more orderly arrangement of them by critics. Psalm 80:14 sounds like an imperfect echo of the refrain significantly modified, so as to beseech that God would "turn" Himself even as He had been implored to "turn" His people. The purpose of His turning is that He may "look and see" the condition of the desolated vineyard, and thence be moved to interfere for its restoration. The verse may be regarded as closing one of the imperfectly developed strophes of this last part; but it belongs in substance to the following petitions, though in form it is more closely connected with the preceding verses. The picture of Israel’s misery passes insensibly into prayer, and the burden of that prayer is, first, that God would behold the sad facts, as the preliminary to His acting in view of them. The last part ( Psalm 80:15-19 ) is prayer for God’s help: into which forces itself one verse ( Psalm 80:16 ), recurring to the miseries of the nation. It bursts in like an outcrop of lava, revealing underground disturbance and fires. Surely that interruption is more pathetic and natural than is the result obtained by the suggested transpositions. The meaning of the word in Psalm 80:15 rendered above "protect" is doubtful, and many commentators would translate it as a noun, and regard it as meaning "plant," or, as the A.V., "vineyard." The verse would then depend on the preceding verb in Psalm 80:14 , "visit." But this construction is opposed by the copula (and) preceding, and it is best to render "protect," with a slight change in the vocalisation. There may be an allusion to Jacob’s blessing in Psalm 80:15 b, for in it { Genesis 49:22 } Joseph is called a "fruitful bough"-lit., "son." If so, the figure of the vine is retained in Psalm 80:15 b as well as in a. The apparent interruption of the petitions by Psalm 80:16 is accounted for by the sharp pang that shot into the psalmist’s heart, when he recalled, in his immediately preceding words, the past Divine acts, which seemed so contradicted now. But the bitterness, though it surges up, is overcome, and his petitions return to their former strain in Psalm 80:17 , which pathetically takes up, as it were, the broken thread, by repeating "right hand" from Psalm 80:15 a, -and "whom Thou madest strong for Thyself" from Psalm 80:15 b. Israel, not an individual, is the "man of Thy right hand," in which designation, coupled with "son," there may be an allusion to the name of Benjamin ( Psalm 80:2 ), the "son of the right hand." Human weakness and Divine strength clothing it are indicated in that designation for Israel "the son of man whom Thou madest strong for Thyself." The inmost purpose of God’s gifts is that their recipients may be "the secretaries of His praise." Israel’s sacred calling, its own weakness, and the strength of the God who endows it are all set forth, not now as lessons to it, but as pleas with Him, whose gifts are without repentance, and whose purposes cannot be foiled by man’s unworthiness or opposition. The psalm closes with a vow of grateful adhesion to God as the result of His renewed mercy. They who have learned how bitter a thing it is to turn away from God, and how blessed when He turns again to them, and turns back their miseries and their sins, have good reason for not again departing from Him. But if they are wise to remember their own weakness, they will not only humbly vow future faithfulness, but earnestly implore continual help; since only the constant communication of a Divine quickening will open their lips to call upon God’s name. The refrain in its most expanded form closes the psalm. Growing intensity of desire and of realisation of the pleas and pledges hived in the name are expressed by its successive forms, -God; God of Hosts; Jehovah, God of Hosts. The faith that grasps all that is contained in that full-tone name already feels the light of God’s face shining upon it, and is sure that its prayer for salvation is not in vain. The Expositor's Bible Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com . Used by Permission.

Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, Thou that leadest Joseph like a flock. Psalm 80 The Almighty in relation to erring man Homilist. I. As A SHEPHERD (ver. 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 (ver. 2). (1) The end. "Save us." (2) The means. Divine strength Divine turning. Divine favour. II. As A CHARACTER (ver. 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 (vers. 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 (vers. 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 (ver. 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 (ver. 18). ( Homilist. ) The relative Deity Homilist. 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 J. Parsons. 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 J. S. Broad, M. A. 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 ( Exodus 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 Cynddylan Jones. 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. ) O Lord God of hosts, how long wilt thou be angry against the prayer of Thy people? Psalm 80:4 God's anger T. Adams. 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. 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 the offended God! I. GOD MAY BE ANGRY; and sin the cause of His anger. He hath scourged some in very mercy, till they have smarted under His rod ( Job 6:4 ; Psalm 88:15, 16 ). If He will do thus much in love, what shall be the terrors of His wrath? If the sun were wanting, it would be night for all the stare; and if God frown upon a man, for all the glittering honours of this world, he sits in the shadow of death. Thus terrible is the anger of God; now, what is He angry withal but sin? That is the perpetual make-bate between God and us; the fuel of the fire of His indignation ( Isaiah 59:2 ; Isaiah 63:10 ). II. GOD MAY BE LONG ANGRY. It is some favour when we have the respite to cry, "How long, Lord, wilt thou be angry with us?" There is some hope of remedy when we once complain of our sickness. Yet God may be long angry, and long continue sensible testimonies of His anger ( Psalm 95:10 ). But how, then, doth the prophet say "that he retaineth not anger"? Well enough; for He never retaineth it one moment longer than we retain the cause of it. So soon as we ever cease sinning against Him, He ceaseth to be angry with us. III. GOD MAY BE ANGRY WITH THE WHOLE PEOPLE. The universality of sin calls for the universality of repentance, or else it will provoke God's anger to strike us with universal judgments. If the whole people be guilty, the whole people must fall to deprecation. Such was the Ninevite's repentance, "every man turning from his evil ways." IV. GOD MAY BE ANGRY WITH HIS OWN PEOPLE. Yea, their sins anger Him most of all, because, together with wickedness, there is unkindness. As dearly as He loves them, their sins may provoke Him. Our interest in God is so far from excusing our iniquities, that it aggravates them. The nearer we are to Him, the nearer do our offences torch Him; as a man more takes to heart a discourtesy done by a friend than a great injury by a stranger. V. GOD MAY BE ANGRY WITH HIS PEOPLE THAT PRAYETH. 1. There may be infirmities enough in our very prayers to make them unacceptable. 2. But such is the mercy of our God, that He will wink at many infirmities in our devotions, and will not reject the prayer of an honest heart because of some weakness in the petitioner. It must be a greater cause than all this that makes God angry at our prayers. In general, it is sin ( John 9:31 ; Psalm 66:18 ; Isaiah 1:15 ). God will have none of those petitions that are presented to Him with bloody hands. 3. In particular, it is the hypocrisy of sin, or the sin of hypocrisy, that makes God so angry with our prayers. ( T. Adams. ) Obstructed prayer Essex Remembrancer. I. IN WHAT SENSE GOD MAY BE SAID TO BE ANGRY WITH OUR PRAYERS. 1. When He denies our requests. 2. When He delays His answers. 3. When He bestows blessings under a different form, and in a different manner from what we expected. II. SOME OF THE CAUSES FOR THIS. 1. Our desires may be, and no doubt often are, improper. 2. Desires, not in themselves improper, may be unsuitable to us, such as would not, if granted, become our case or circumstances. 3. Prayers may be ill-timed. 4. They may be polluted and spoiled by sins. 5. They may be incompatible with the plans of infinite wisdom. III. IMPROVEMENT. 1. Instead of restraining prayer, this should make us more importunate. 2. Though we should not give over praying, we ought to give over sinning. 3. Acquiesce in all the Divine proceedings. 4. Be thankful that whatever favours God may see fit to withhold or suspend, He bestows far more than we have deserved. ( Essex Remembrancer. ) The boar out of the wood doth waste it, and the wild beast of the field doth devour it. Psalm 80:13 People to be feared T. De Witt Talmage. By this homely but expressive figure, the text sets forth the bad influences which in olden time broke in upon God's heritage, as with swine's foot trampling, and as with swine's snout uprooting the vineyards of prosperity. What was true then is true now. There have been enough trees of righteousness planted to overshadow the whole earth, had it not been for the axemen who hewed them down. I. I propose to point out to you those whom I consider to be THE UPROOTING AND DEVOURING CLASSES OF SOCIETY. 1. First, the public criminals. What is the fire that burns your store down compared with the conflagration which consumes your morals? What is the theft of the gold and silver from your money safe compared with the theft of your children's virtue? 2. Again: in this class of uprooting and devouring population are untrustworthy officials ( Ecclesiastes 10:16 ). It is a great calamity to a city when bad men get into public authority. Too great leniency to criminals is too great severity to society. 3. Again: among the uprooting and devouring classes in our midst, are the idle. When the French nobleman was asked why he kept busy when he had so large a property, he said: "I keep on engraving so I may not hang myself." I do not care who the man is, you cannot afford to be idle. It is from the idle classes that the criminal classes are made up. Character, like water, gets putrid if it stands still too long. 4. Again: among the uprooting classes I place the oppressed poor. While there is no excuse for criminality, even in oppression, I state it as a simple fact that much of the scoundrelism of the community is consequent upon ill-treatment. There are many men and women battered and bruised, and stung until the hour of despair has come, and they stand with the ferocity of a wild beast, which, pursued until it can run no longer, turns round, foaming and bleeding, to fight the hounds. I want you to know who are the uprooting classes of society. II. Because I want you to be more discriminating in your charities. Because I want your hearts open with generosity, and your hands open with charity. Because I want you to be made the sworn friends of all city evangelization, and all newsboys' lodging houses, and all Howard missions, and Children's Aid Societies. But more than that, I have preached the sermon because I thought in the contrast you would see how very kindly God had dealt with you, and I thought that you would go to-day to your comfortable homes, and sit at your well-filled tables, and look at the round faces of your children, and that then you would burst into tears at the review of God's goodness to you, and that you would go to your room and lock the door; and kneel down, and say: "O Lord, I have been an ingrate; make me Thy child." ( T. De Witt Talmage. ) Ecclesiastical ruins J. H. Cooke. Whatever may have been the period when this psalm was written, it is a remarkable fact that it has been suitable for every age, from the days of the Judges until now, and been found expressive of the prayer and outlook of the people of the Lord. Failure has ever attended the ecclesiastical systems of earth. The theocracy which Joshua left was soon in ruins. The magnificent and well-ordered temple ritual organized by David and established by Solomon did not continue in its glory for one generation. Again and again it was restored by reforms, but grew worse and worse till the Lord Christ came. Then followed the Christian Church; but as that slowly rose into power it became a degenerate vine, and Catholicism grew to be such a curse that one-third of the Christian world rose in open protest, and the revolt of another third was stifled with blood. Then came the Reformed Churches. For a while they flourish, but full soon when the Master looks for fruit they bring forth wild grapes. The holiest souls in each to-day are crying, as they have through all the ages, "The forest boar rends it, and the wild beast feeds upon it." This continued failure is solemn and instructive. As yet every religious system has sooner or later degenerated. Its fence has been broken down and wayfarers have mocked. Man was not made for ecclesiastical organization, but ecclesiastical organization for man. The work of the Holy Spirit of God is upon separate souls, and sometimes ecclesiastical failure drives the soul into closer communion with the true God. Grand spirits, like Asaph, are developed amidst Church disorder. Let the psalmists and the prophets, let the heroes of successive reformations, and Patrick , Wickliffe and Luther , Wesley and Whitfield bear testimony to this. ( J. H. Cooke. ) Let Thy hand be upon the man of Thy right hand. Psalm 80:17 Christ made strong for God J. Allan. Of Jesus only can it be unreservedly said, that He is the man of God's right hand, and that He hath made Him strong for Himself. Of all the terms in the passage, we may indeed say that they are peculiarly emphatic, and embody views of character and position which could only be realized in the person and work of Christ. I. THE IMPORT OF THE DESIGNATIONS HEREIN GIVEN TO CHRIST. 1. The Man of God's right hand. Inasmuch as a seat at the right hand among men is esteemed the place of honour and power, so the act of elevating to dignity and authority by Jehovah is spoken of as a placing at His right hand; and accordingly Jesus is referred to as sitting at His right hand, or as described in one instance, "the right hand of power." This leads us at once to perceive that the personal and official dignity of the Saviour are eplicity alluded to in our text, in His being called "the Man of God's right hand." 2. The Son of Man. Whilst the title in question implies the doctrine of Christ's perfect manhood, it equally implies that He was more than a mere man. Differing hence in these respects from all the sons of men — though still a man in His creature existence — with much expressiveness could He be called "the Son of Man." II. THE APPOINTMENT OF JESUS TO THE OFFICE OF REDEEMER. Such appointment is expressly involved, if not explicitly stated, in the words, "whom Thou hast made strong for Thyself"; for God is thus represented as having chosen or designated "the Son of Man" to the office He thus holds. In this sense He "made Him" or appointed Him for Himself, to the office of Redeemer. III. THE PECULIAR FITNESS OF THE MAN OF GOD'S RIGHT HAND TO DISCHARGE THE DUTIES OF THE OFFICE TO WHICH HE WAS APPOINTED. It is impossible for any created intelligence to say what strength, or amount of spiritual power, was required on the part of Jesus — the Man of God's right hand — to accomplish the work of redemption; but it behoves us not the less to direct our attention as closely as possible to the specific difficulties we know He had to encounter, that we may arrive at a fair estimate of His endurance; and hence of the greatness of that love and mercy by which these were animated. IV. WHAT IS IMPLIED IN THIS PETITION, requesting God to let His hand be upon the Man of His right hand. 1. A perception of danger. 2. A consciousness that man's help is not to be found in himself. 3. A willingness to rely for salvation on the means appointed by God, through the Son of His love. 4. Full persuasion of God's willingness to confer the blessing thus sought. ( J. Allan. ) A prayer for the Messiah Bp. Cowper. 1. In all ages the saints have greatly longed for their Saviour. Abraham saw His day afar off, and rejoiced that a child was to be born unto him, in whom all nations of the earth should be blessed. And the godly in this verse long for Him, and pray for His coming. 2. He is here shortly three ways described.(1) First, He is called the Son of God's right hand, for three causes: first, in respect of His marvellous generation in both His natures: in the one, without a father; in the other, without a mother. Secondly, He is called the Son of God's right hand, for that singular love and favour which the Father carries toward Him; for the right hand of God signifies His power, or His favour and love. It is true every Christian man is also the son of God's right hand; by nature his name is Ben-oni, the son of sorrow; but his father hath changed his name with his estate, called him Ben-jamin, the son of his right hand. But in a more special sense doth this title belong to the Lord Jesus. Thirdly, He is the Son of the Father's right hand in respect of his most perfect obedience and ready willingness to do in all things the will of His Father.(2) They call Him the Son of Man; He is in such sort the Son of God, that He is also the Son of Man, not begotten by man, yet formed, and conceived of the seed of man; He is the companion of Jehova; He is also, as Job calleth Him, our Goel or kinsman. Doubtless this is a strong bulwark of our faith, since we see that the Son of God is become the Son of Man, clothed with all the infirmities of our nature, except sin; since we see the God of glory humbled to the ignominy of the cross, why should we doubt that the sons of men shall also be made the sons of God, and that these vile bodies of ours shall be changed, and fashioned like unto the glorious body of Christ, especially since for no other end became He the Son of Man, but to make us the sons of God?(3) "Whom Thou hast made strong for Thyself;" this respecteth His threefold office, and His unction to them all ( Isaiah 61:1 ; John 6:27 ; John 1:14 ; John 3:34 ). Of all these it is plain how the Father is said to have made His Son strong for Himself; that is, He anointed Him, He sealed Him, He put His Spirit into Him, not in a measure, but communicated the fulness of grace to Him, that He might be strengthened to do unto us the office of a king, to deliver us from our enemies, or a prophet, to teach us the whole counsel of God, and. of a priest, to offer Himself in a propitiatory sacrifice for us. In all these appeared His wonderful strength; when He suffered like a weak man, then He wrought like a valiant man. Every way the mighty strength of our strong Redeemer is to be admired, but specially His conquests by suffering, there did appear the weakness of God stronger than man; yea, then all these principalities, powers, and spiritual wickednesses that were opposite to Him. ( Bp. Cowper. ) So will not we go back from Thee. Psalm 80:18 Apostasy from God T. Cruse. I. WHEREIN LIES THE TRUE NATURE OF APOSTASY FROM GOD. 1. Every failure and defect in the exercise of grace is not to be reckoned as an apostasy. The soul may faint and flag in the pursuit of God, and yet not be carried off so far as to steer a contrary course. 2. Every positive discovery of corruption in the actual commission of sin is not apostasy. A man may halt and slip, yea, he may stumble, and fall, and yet not go back. 3. Apostasy from God includes not only a deviation in the life, but an alienation of the heart ( Psalm 95:10 ; Acts 3:39; Psalm 44:18 ). 4. Apostasy from God is really an undoing of all the good which we have done. It is ending in the flesh, after we have begun in the Spirit; when our faces have been towards Zion, and our doings framed to turn to God; this is a revoking and disannulling of all, and driving towards hell. II. OF WHAT CONCERNMENT AND IMPORTANCE IT IS TO BELIEVERS TO RE SECURED AGAINST SUCH APOSTASY. 1. How much they are in danger of it, viz. if left alone, and abandoned to themselves.(1) Grace in us is very weak.(2) Corruption in us is very active ( James 1:14 ). There is folly enough remaining in the wisest and best of men to prevent and mislead them.(3) The temptations which come upon us are very numerous. Every place, every condition, every employment, every relation is full of them. 2. How much danger they incur by apostasy, if they should be left to be guilty of it.(1) They must needs at the present lose all comfortable communion with God.(2) They can never see the kingdom of God, unless they remember from whence they are gone back, and return and do their first works.(3) If they come back to God again, it must be by very bitter and sorrowful repentance. III. HOW IS THE STRENGTH OF CHRIST OUR SECURITY IN THIS CASE? 1. Omnipotence belongs to Christ, on the account of His Godhead, and this shall be exerted on the behalf of them that believe, as there is occasion. 2. Christ was anointed with power, as Mediator, the improvement whereof is not to His own advantage, but the advantage of those that believe in Him ( Isaiah 63:1 ; Luke 1:69 ). 3. Christ hath destroyed the power of the devil by a power superior to him. This is meant by His dividing the spoil with the strong ( Isaiah 53:12 ). 4. Christ, by the matchless efficacy and merit of His blood, hath purchased for us confirming grace, and the perpetual presence of the Spirit with us. 5. Christ's prevailing intercession secures to us the needful, actual succours of grace, while we are here in this world. IV. WHY HATH GOD ORDERED IT SO, THAT BELIEVERS SHOULD BE SECURED AGAINST APOSTASY BY THE STRENGTH OF CHRIST? 1. This agrees with God's general design of heaping all the glory possible upon Jesus Christ. 2. This suits with God's design of grace in our eternal election; for we are chosen in Christ ( Ephesians 1:4 ). Therefore it is fit that we should be also preserved in Christ (Jude). 3. It is necessary that we should be secured against apostasy by the strength of Christ, because He is the First and the Last in our sanctification. 4. It is necessary that Christ should secure us in our way to glory, because it is His business to receive us into the possession of that glory at the close of all ( John 14:3 ). 5. The wisdom of God is hereby seen in a most shameful baffling of the devil. 6. Believers could not have a better security than that whereof there hath been a visible experiment in the Person of Christ Himself. V. USES. 1. This lays open the ground of the devil's enmity against Christ, which hath been always most extreme and implacable. 2. It is inexcusable folly for any one in the world to lean to his own arm. 3. Make no promises of perseverance in your own strength. 4. Look to your faith as the principal grace, which contributes to your establishment ( Isaiah 7:9 ). 5. Do not arrogate the honour of your standing in Christ, and abiding with Christ, in the least measure to yourselves. Let Christ have all the glory of your setting out, and holding out; let Him have it now, and let Him have it at the last. ( T. Cruse. ) Backsliders and their guilt D. Macfarlan, D. D. I. POINT OUT THOSE WHO MAY BE JUSTLY CHARGED WITH GOING BACK FROM GOD. 1. Those who, having been once instructed in the Gospel, and having enjoyed the benefits of its means of grace, and continued for some time professors of Christianity, have afterwards renounced the faith through an evil heart of unbelief. The religion of Jesus presents insurmountable objections to fraud, deceit, or dishonesty — to the indulgence of sinful passions or of unlawful pleasures; yet they are attached to their worldly enjoyments, and, desirous of shaking off the restraints of religion, they begin by impugning particular doctrines, and imagine that the precepts of Christianity are not so strict, or its denunciations against sin so very positive as they seem, and fancy that they shall find some way of escaping punishment not commonly understood, some easier way than passing through the strait gate which Christ has pointed out By degrees they go on to deny religion altogether, and to magnify for themselves difficulties into serious objections. 2. Those who shrink from an open and fair avowal and confession of their faith. They are afraid lest they be accounted puritanical, singular, narrow-minded or superstitious; they dread the laugh, the ridicule, the contempt of weak and worthless mortals whom they cannot possibly esteem, more than the reproofs of a disapproving conscience, more than the awful displeasure of God. 3. There are many who, from pure fickleness and love of change, are carried about with every wind of doctrine; many have no root in themselves, and therefore become the deluded followers of every new instructor, of every arrogant pretender to superior knowledge or holiness. 4. There are also not a few who, influenced by worldly attachments and connections, accompany and follow their companions and friends, and separate themselves from others with whom they have had some trifling quarrel, or conceived something wrong. Those who thus act go in direct opposition to Christ's admonition. "Seek ye first the kingdom of God." 5. Those who act habitually inconsistent with their religious profession. A licentious and immoral Christian, a profane and ungodly believer, a false and deceitful follower of Jesus, a lover of God who is cruel or unjust to men, are characters which, by the very words of which they are expressed, involve a contradiction, and cannot by possibility have any existence. 6. They may be more especially charged with going back, who return to the wilful commission of sin, after having been engaged in the ordinances of devotion, namely, those professing Christians who have made public and solemn declaration of love, obedience, and attachment, to Jesus, and of a determination to act faithfully as Christians. II. LET ME ENTREAT YOU TO AVOID FOLLOWING THEIR EXAMPLE, because — 1. It is weak and contemptible. In the most ordinary affairs of life can you ever have confidence, can you ever have esteem for the fickle, changeable, and irresolute? 2. It is very sinful to go back from God; for dishonesty and unfaithfulness to engagements are uniformly regarded as criminal, and are generally punished. Shall he, then, who vows, escape the vows he has made before heaven? III. LET ME ENTREAT YOU, THEN, TO FORM THE RESOLUTION HERE EXPRESSED BY THE PSALMIST, that you will not go back from God. Whatever your difficulties or trials, whether pleasures allure or dangers intimidate, it is yours to follow unmoved the great Captain of your salvation. Think of the recompense set before you — the crown of life set before him who shall be faithful unto death. ( D. Macfarlan, D. D. ) Quicken us, and we will call upon Thy name The quickening necessary to prayer Homilist. Man requires spiritual quickening before he can pray. He must be quickened — I. With the sense of the DIVINE PRESENCE. Who can pray without the vivid realization of the Divine personality, the Divine presence, and the Divine entreatability? II. With the sense of MORAL OBLIGATION. Who will pray without feeling the strongest convictions of duty to love, serve, and honour the great God? III. With the sense of SPIRITUAL NEEDS. Sense of dependence underlies all prayer, all religion, all worship. This sense which, alas! is deadened within us, must be quickened before we can pray. ( Homilist. ) Turn us again, O Lord God of hosts, cause Thy face to shine; and we shall be saved. Psalm 80:19 Divine greatness and Divine graciousness Homilist. I. DIVINE GREATNESS, "Lord God of hosts." What hosts are under Him? All the tribes of irrational life on this earth, all classes of men, all the stars of heaven, all the myriad systems of globes in space, all the innumerable armies of intelligent existences, both the happy and the miserable, He is Lord of all. How great is God! "To whom will ye liken Me? saith the Lord," etc. II. DIVINE GRACIOUSNESS. "Cause Thy face to shine." 1. The enjoyment of God's graciousness requires a Divine change on man's part. "Turn us."(1) Some do not see God at all. "God is not in all their thoughts."(2) Some see His frown. Their guilty conscience invests Him with terrible attributes and covers His face with the frowns of indignant justice.(3) Some see His shining face. "Thy face" — beaming face; Such are they whom He has turned to Him, by repentance towards Him and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. 2. The enjoyment of God's graciousness involves the realization of man's highest hopes, "And we shall be saved." What is that? We know what it meant to the author of this poem; but it means infinitely more to all human souls. ( Homilist. ) One antidote for many ills This seems to be the only prayer the psalmist puts up in this psalm, as being of itself sufficient for the removal of all the ills over which he mourned. The reason is obvious. He had traced all the calamities to one source — "O Lord God, how long wilt Thou be angry?" and now he seeks refreshing from one fountain. I. THE BENEFITS OF REVIVAL TO ANY CHURCH IN THE WORLD will be a lasting blessing. I do not mean that spurious kind of revival. I do not mean all that excitement attendant upon religion, which has brought men into a kind of spasmodic godliness, and translated them from sensible beings into such as could only rave about a religion they did not understand. I do not think that is a real and true revival. God's revivals, whilst they are attended with a great heat and warmth of piety, yet have with them knowledge as well as life, understanding as well as power. Among the blessings of the revival of Christians are — 1. The salvation of sinners. For this we must, and will, cry, "O Lord our God, visit Thy plantation, and pour out again upon us Thy mighty Spirit." 2. The promotion of true love and unanimity in its midst. Oh, if God gives us revival, we shall have perfect unanimity. 3. The mouths of the enemies of the truth are stopped. 4. The promotion of the glory of God. If we would honour God by the Church, we must have a warm Church, a burning Church, loving the truths it holds, and carrying them out in the life. II. WHAT ARE THE MEANS OF REVIVAL? They are twofold. One is, "Turn us again, O Lord God of hosts"; and the other is, "Cause Thy face to shine." There can be no revival without both of these. 1. "Turn us again, O Lord God of hosts."(1) Your minister feels that he needs to be turned more thoroughly to the Lord his God.(2) But there are some of you who are workers in the Church. Large numbers are actively engaged for Christ. Now, what I exhort you to is this: cry unto God — "Turn us again, O God." You want more of the Spirit of God in all your labours.(3) "Turn us again" must be the prayer of all of you, not only in your religious labours, but in your daily lives. 2. The other means of revival is a precious one — "Cause Thy face to shine." Ah! we might ask of God, that we might all be devoted, all His servants, all prayerful, and all what we want to be; but it would never come without this second prayer being answered; and even if it did come without this, where would be the blessing? It is the causing of His face to shine on His Church that makes a Church flourish. A black cloud has swept over us, all we want is that the sun should come, and it shall sweep that cloud away. There have been direfu

80:1-7 He that dwelleth upon the mercy-seat, is the good Shepherd of his people. But we can neither expect the comfort of his love, nor the protection of his arm, unless we partake of his converting grace. If he is really angry at the prayers of his people, it is because, although they pray, their ends are not right, or there is some secret sin indulged in them, or he will try their patience and perseverance in prayer. When God is displeased with his people, we must expect to see them in tears, and their enemies in triumph. There is no salvation but from God's favour; there is no conversion to God but by his own grace. 80:8-16 The church is represented as a vine and a vineyard. The root of this vine is Christ, the branches are believers. The church is like a vine, needing support, but spreading and fruitful. If a vine do not bring forth fruit, no tree is so worthless. And are not we planted as in a well-cultivated garden, with every means of being fruitful in works of righteousness? But the useless leaves of profession, and the empty boughs of notions and forms, abound far more than real piety. It was wasted and ruined. There was a good reason for this change in God's way toward them. And it is well or ill with us, according as we are under God's smiles or frowns. When we consider the state of the purest part of the visible church, we cannot wonder that it is visited with sharp corrections. They request that God would help the vine. Lord, it is formed by thyself, and for thyself, therefore it may, with humble confidence, be committed to thyself. 80:17-19 The Messiah, the Protector and Saviour of the church, is the Man of God's right hand; he is the Arm of the Lord, for all power is given to him. In him is our strength, by which we are enabled to persevere to the end. The vine, therefore, cannot be ruined, nor can any fruitful branch perish; but the unfruitful will be cut off and cast into the fire. The end of our redemption is, that we should serve Him who hath redeemed us, and not go back to our old sins.