Chapter 80
Introduced as a testimony of Asaph.
An appeal to The Shepherd of Israel for His help.
I have noticed this kind of prayer several times in Psalms when David is praying. I think this is an acknowledgement to God that the chastisement one is undergoing is first FROM God, and is a JUST chastisement. It is a prayer that the chastisement has accomplished its intended purpose, and a request that it end. Here is the prayer:
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 neighbors, and our enemies laugh among themselves. 7 Restore us, O God of hosts; let your face shine, that we may be saved! [Psa 80:4-7 ESV] Good one for FB.
2021 - This sounds like 74 and 79. It seems like Jerusalem is in a bad way and Asaph is praying for her restoration. It would seem odd for these to be written about a future time. Who would sing such songs in good times with the bad times far away? But it is also hard to believe these three Psalms - 74, 79, and 80 - were written AFTER 70 AD. Surely that would be easy to establish if it were so.
2025 - MSB thinks this one goes with the fall of the northern 10 tribes to Assyria rather than either 586 BC or 70 AD. But AGAIN, that makes this Psalm entirely prophecy. The fall of the northern 10 were LONG after David and Solomon.
2025 - One has to start wondering if we have the right Asaph for ANY of these Psalms attributed to Asaph. Perhaps this Asaph lived in 586 BC and all of these Psalms were written to record his observatrions of actual events. To take this position, we'd have to look at the other Psalms too - the ones that do not mention invasions - and see if they can nail down a time. And realize that if no one else has been able to pin it down - or determine if there is one Asaph or two - it is not likely that I will either. All I can do is decide how it seems to me.
Israel is likened to a vine, brought from Egypt, and then once the "land" is prepared, sown in Canaan. Since then it spread and produced, but is now being plundered and used by others. The prayer for restoration continues.
2021 - This verse:
Why then have you broken down its walls, so that all who pass along the way pluck its fruit? Psalm 80:12 ESV
There aren't many times when Jerusalem was left without walls. This almost has to be about the time after 586 BC. No one was allowed to live in Jerusalem after 70 AD.
In vs 15 and early in 17, the nation of Israel is called "the son whom you made strong" and "the man of your right hand". Then the phrase "son of man" is used in vs. 17. MSB says its immediate context is the nation of Israel - and based on what has been said just before this seems certain. MSB goes on to say that it may also be referring to the Davidic line, and even extend to the Messiah, since that title is used of him so often in the NT.
2022 - later, Note that Cullman, in Christology, points out that it is common in Semitic thinking for a "task" to start with a large group - mankind - and then be focused into a smaller group - Israel - and be refined down to a subset of that - the Davidic line - and finally to a man - Jesus.
These Psalms in the Chronological Bible are placed after Sennacherib's army is wiped out by God's angel and he goes home. It is easy to imagine these psalms being sung by the people as they cowered inside the city, praying and hoping for a miracle. (2021 - But Sennacherib didn't actually kill anyone. No bodies for the birds and beasts. This is not about Sennacherib.) Surely some, at that time, would have recognized that God had sent this very serious, very grave warning to Jerusalem, making clear that this invasion is what they have earned with their sin. They see their isolation during the siege, their fear of the invaders, as punishment enough, and they are praying that God will go no further, they are saying they have learned their lesson and see what "can happen", and are ready to turn back to God. We know that there were either too few of these, or that the repentance was either insincere or at best short-lived. Babylon's time is not far away as this psalm is being sung.
2022 - Vss 14-19, again, as I have seen several times with the Psalms of Asaph, seem to point to, or to long for, the Millennial reign. Look especially at the last two verses: 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! [Psa 80:18-19 ESV]. Give us life - as in preserve us through Great Trib, and we will be yours in the Millennial. "Restore us" surely goes right along with this verse: 26 And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written, "The Deliverer will come from Zion, he will banish ungodliness from Jacob"; 27 "and this will be my covenant with them when I take away their sins." [Rom 11:26-27 ESV]. Hard to believe that both Asaph and Paul were thinking of the same time, of this future "relationship" between God and Israel that is the fulfillment of the New Covenant, including the possession of the land promised to Abraham.
2023 - I can also see this as the kind of prayer you'd pray as you huddled fearfully in your house after the walls had been broken down by the enemy but before they came rushing in. It is one of those "If you will just get me out of this jam, Lord, I will stop drinking forever" kind of prayers. We see this especially in vs 18, in this phrase: "...give us life, and we will call upon your name...". They cannot worship if they are dead.