The Psalm begins with a prayer to the Shepherd of Israel once more to manifest His power and lead His people to victory (Psalm 80:1-3).

How long, pleads the Psalmist, will God continue to be angry with His people and abandon them to the mockery of their enemies (Psalm 80:4-7)?

He reminds God of the care which He had once bestowed upon the vine of Israel, and of its former luxuriant growth: why then has He now withdrawn His protection and abandoned it to the ravages of its foes (Psalm 80:8-13)?

Once more he prays that God will visit and restore His people, and bind them to Himself by a new bond of allegiance (Psalm 80:14-19).

The refrains (Psalm 80:3; Psalm 80:7; Psalm 80:19) mark a strophical arrangement, and Psalm 80:8-19 naturally fall into two divisions, Psalm 80:8-19. But there are indications of some dislocation of the text of Psalm 80:14 ff., and it is possible that the strophical arrangement was originally more complete.

This Psalm throws into the form of a prayer those hopes for the restoration of the Northern tribes and the reunion of all Israel, which are found in the prophets from the time of Amos onward, and are expressed in the fullest detail by Jeremiah (Jeremiah 3:11-15; Jeremiah 31:1-21), and Ezekiel (Ezekiel 37:15-28), and, probably at a still later date, after the first Return from the Exile, in Zechariah 9-11.[43] It must have been written after the fall of the Northern Kingdom, when political rivalry between Israel and Judah was at an end; and it may have been written either before the Exile or after the Return from Babylon, for the language of Psalm 80:3; Psalm 80:7; Psalm 80:19 does not necessarily imply that the whole nation was in exile. But more probably it was written during the Babylonian exile; for (1) Psalm 80:3; Psalm 80:7; Psalm 80:19 are most naturally interpreted as a prayer for the termination of the exile: (2) Psalm 80:12 ff. seem to describe the land as wholly overrun by enemies and the national existence as for the time at an end: and (3) the resemblances of language to Psalms 74, 79 are in favour of referring it to the same period[44].

[43] For a discussion of the date of Zechariah 9-11 the writer would refer to his Doctrine of the Prophets, pp. 445 ff.

[44] With Psalm 80:1 cp. Psalm 74:1; Psalm 79:13; with Psalm 80:4 cp. Psalm 74:1; Psalm 74:9-10; Psalm 49:5; with Psalm 80:6 cp. Psalm 79:4; Psalm 79:12; with Psalm 80:18 cp. Psalm 79:6; Psalm 79:9.

On the whole then, though the Psalm may be a prayer of the post-exile congregation for the fuller restoration of Israel, and doubtless was so used by them, it seems best to regard it as originally the prayer of Israel in exile for a complete national restoration. The special interest shewn in the tribes of the Northern Kingdom (Psalm 80:2) may have been due to the connexion of the author with one of those tribes: but it is sufficiently accounted for by the prominence given to Israel’s restoration in Jeremiah and Ezekiel. “The brotherly love of Judah for Israel (cp. Psalm 77:15; Psalm 81:5) is a reflection (if we may expand the thought of the Asaphite Psalmists in accordance with Jeremiah 31:9; Jeremiah 31:20) of the fatherly love of Jehovah for His ‘first-born.’ Man’s self-will (Hosea 5:11) cannot permanently make void the divine idea of all-Israel.” (Cheyne.)

According to the Massoretic accentuation the title runs, For the chief Musician, set to Shoshannim (lilies): a testimony of Asaph, a Psalm: but the analogy of the title of Psalms 60 suggests the connexion of the words Shoshannim Eduth, i.e. (Like) lilies is the testimony, pure and beautiful. These would be the opening words of some well-known song in praise of the Law, to the melody of which the Psalm was to be sung. Cp. the titles of Psalms 45, 69; and see Introd. p. xxvi. The LXX adds to the title, A Psalm concerning the Assyrian, as in Psalms 76.

1. The Psalmist addresses God (1) as the Shepherd of Israel, a title which is the correlative of the words in Psalm 79:13, thy people and the flock of thy pasture (cp. Psalm 74:1), and appeals to their claim on His protecting care: (2) as thou that leddest Joseph like a flock, recalling His providential guidance of them through the wilderness (Psalm 77:20; Psalm 78:52): (3) as thou that sittest enthroned upon the Cherubim, words which suggest the double idea of the King enthroned in heaven and yet dwelling in the midst of His people (1 Samuel 4:4; 2 Samuel 6:2; 2 Kings 19:15), and are here clearly intended to recall the Presence of God with His people in the wilderness manifested from the ‘mercy-seat’ above the Ark (Exodus 25:22). Israel is the nation as a whole; Joseph represents the tribes of the Northern Kingdom, in which the Psalmist has a special interest. Cp. Jacob and Joseph, Psalm 77:15. The use of the title Shepherd may allude to the use of the word in Jacob’s blessings of Joseph, Genesis 48:15 (fed = shepherded), Genesis 49:24.

shine forth] Manifest Thyself in power and glory for our deliverance. Cp. Psalm 50:2; Psalm 94:1; Deuteronomy 33:2.

1–3. A prayer for the restoration of God’s favour to His people.

2. Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh were united by the tie of common descent from Jacob’s beloved wife Rachel, who is regarded by Jeremiah (Jeremiah 31:15) as the mother of the Northern Kingdom, and they are named as representatives of that Kingdom. According to Numbers 2:17 ff. these tribes encamped to the West of the Tabernacle, and marched immediately behind it (Numbers 2:24). Before Ephraim &c. therefore means, ‘placing Thyself at their head as a victorious leader, as Thou didst go before them of old in the journeyings of the wilderness.’ At first sight it may seem strange that Benjamin is reckoned among the Northern tribes, for partially at any rate it sided with Rehoboam (1 Kings 12:21; 2 Chronicles 11:3; 2 Chronicles 11:23; 2 Chronicles 15:8-9); but the one tribe remaining to David was Judah (1 Kings 11:13; 1 Kings 11:32; 1 Kings 11:36), and Benjamin must be reckoned to the Northern Kingdom to make up Ten tribes, for Simeon had become merged in Judah and is not counted. The principal Benjamite towns of Bethel, Gilgal, and Jericho belonged to the Northern Kingdom.

stir up thy strength] Put in action thy might (Psalm 20:6) which seems to be dormant. come and save us] R.V., come to save us: lit. come for salvation or deliverance for us.

3. Turn us again] Usually taken to mean bring us back from exile, or more generally, restore us: repair our broken fortunes. Cp. Psalm 60:1. But is it not rather an allusion to Ephraim’s prayer in Jeremiah 31:18, interpreted in Lamentations 5:21 in a spiritual sense? National repentance is the condition of national restoration; and it must be God’s own work. Make us return to Thee, and return to us (Psalm 80:14) with Thy favour as of old; then and not till then shall we be saved.

cause thy face to shine] Shew us Thy favour as of old: words borrowed from the great Aaronic benediction, Numbers 6:25. Cp. Psalm 4:6.

4. O Lord God of hosts] Jehovah Elôhîm Tsebâôth, as in Psalm 59:5. For the meaning see note on Psalm 46:7. There is a special significance in the repeated appeals to Jehovah (4, 14, 19) by the title which denotes His universal sovereignty, and therefore His ability to help Israel in its humiliation, and also recalls the days when He went forth with Israel’s armies to victory.

how long wilt thou be angry] Lit. hast thou been fuming. For the verb cp. Psalm 74:1. The tense denotes ‘how long hast Thou been and wilt Thou continue to be angry,’ and implies that Israel’s distress has already lasted long. Cp. Psalm 74:9-10; Psalm 79:5.

against the prayer of thy people] As the punishment for the sins of their ancestors (Proverbs 1:28 ff.; Lamentations 3:8). Perhaps the smoke of the divine wrath is thought of as a thick cloud which interposes between them and God; see Lamentations 3:44. We might render in spite of the prayer, but the rendering of A.V. and R.V. is the more forcible. God’s indignation against His people is so intense, that even their prayers are an offence to Him. On the wrath of God as the manifestation of His holiness see Oehler’s O.T. Theology, § 48.

The LXX and Syr. read thy servant or thy servants for thy people.

4–7. How long shall Israel continue to be the object of Jehovah’s displeasure, and the scorn of neighbouring nations?

5. Thou hast fed them with bread of tears,

And given them tears to drink in large measure.

i.e. made tears their daily portion: cp. Psalm 42:3; Psalm 102:9. In large measure, lit. by the tierce, or third part of some larger measure, probably the bath (= ephah, in dry measure), and if so containing nearly three gallons: a huge drinking goblet, though but a tiny measure for the dust of the earth, Isaiah 40:12, the only other place where the word occurs.

LXX, Syr., Jer., read us for them.

6. a strife &c.] An object of contention (Jeremiah 15:10): the petty states round about (Psalm 79:4; Psalm 79:12), Edomites, Arabians, and the like, quarrel among themselves for our territory. Lagarde conjectures that we should read mânôd, shaking (of the head), for mâdôn, strife, as in Psalm 44:14, which would suit the parallelism better.

laugh among themselves] Rather, to their heart’s content, so, laugh scornfully. Cp. Psalm 79:4.

P.B.V. ‘laugh us to scorn’ follows LXX, Vulg., Jer.

8. Thou broughtest a vine out of Egypt (R.V.): the verb is one which can be applied to the transplantation of a vine, or the migration of a people, as in Psalm 78:52. Thou didst drive out the nations, and plantedst it. See Exodus 23:28 ff; Exodus 15:17; Psalm 44:2; Psalm 78:55.

8–13. Under the figure of a vine, once carefully tended and spreading far and wide in luxuriant growth, but now exposed to the ravages of wild beasts, the Psalmist contrasts God’s former care for His people with their present plight. The figure of the vine may have been suggested by Genesis 49:22. See Hosea 10:1; Isaiah 5:1-7; Isaiah 27:2-6; Jeremiah 2:21; Jeremiah 12:10 ff. “The vine was the emblem of the nation on the coins of the Maccabees, and in the colossal cluster of golden grapes which overhung the porch of the second Temple; and the grapes of Judah still mark the tombstones of the Hebrew race in the oldest of their European cemeteries, at Prague.” Sinai and Palestine, p. 164.

9. Thou preparedst room before it] As the vinedresser prepares the ground for his vine by clearing away the stones and thorns and all that would hinder its free growth (Isaiah 5:2), so God prepared Canaan for Israel by the expulsion of its old inhabitants.

and didst cause it &c.] Rather, and it struck deep its roots, and filled the land.

10. The hills] The mountains.

the goodly cedars] Cedars of God (El), those “which he hath planted,” the indigenous cedars of Lebanon, noblest of forest trees. Cp. “mountains of God” (Psalm 36:6). The alternative rendering of R.V. marg., And the cedars of God with the boughs thereof, gives the same sense as the LXX. The vine grew so that it overshadowed the mountainous country to the South, and the cedars of Lebanon on the North, an allusion to the ideal boundaries of the Promised Land, as described in Deuteronomy 11:24 (where ‘the wilderness’ = ‘the mountains’ here). That the next verse clearly refers to the Eastern and Western boundaries is an argument in favour of this interpretation.

11. She sent out her branches unto the sea,

And her shoots unto the River (R.V.),

spreading westward to the Mediterranean, and eastward to the Euphrates, boundaries approximately realised in the time of David and Solomon. See Psalm 72:8; Genesis 15:18; Exodus 23:31; Deuteronomy 11:24; 2 Samuel 8:6; 1 Kings 4:24.

12. Why &c.] The question is half expostulation, half inquiry, for Israel’s present plight is a riddle to the Psalmist.

hedges] R.V. fences. Vineyards were always carefully fenced to protect them (Isaiah 5:5). Almost the same words recur in Psalm 89:40-41.

13. The boar out of the forest doth ravage it,

And the wild beasts of the field feed on it.

“Under Hermon,” says Dr Tristram, “in the vineyard districts, we heard grievous lamentations of the damage done to the vines by the boars, which not only devour the grapes, but also munch up the bearing shoots.” Nat. Hist. of Bible, p. 56. Israel’s land is laid waste by remorseless enemies.

14. Return] Or, as R.V., Turn again. It is the intransitive form of the verb turn us again in Psalm 80:3; Psalm 80:7; Psalm 80:19.

14–19. Repeated prayers for the restoration of God’s favour to Israel.

15. This verse presents serious ambiguities and difficulties. The first word may be rendered as a substantive, in close connexion with Psalm 80:14, and the vineyard, or better as R.V. and the stock: or, as in R.V. marg., as a verb: and protect (or maintain) that which thy right hand hath planted. The second rendering is preferable, though not wholly free from difficulty.

the branch] Or, the son, which is the literal meaning of the word. Cp. Exodus 4:22; Hosea 11:1. Probably an allusion to Genesis 49:22. The Targum interprets, “and upon Messiah the king, whom thou hast made strong for thyself.” But the primary reference is obviously to the nation.

madest strong] Tending it with loving care till it grew up: cp. Psa. 39:21; Isaiah 1:2.

16. The gender of the word shews that it refers to the vine. Cut down, as fit for nothing but fuel. Cp. Isaiah 33:12; Ezekiel 15:4.

they perish &c.] The figure is dropped. The Israelites perish, for God has not merely hidden His face, but turned it upon them in anger.

It has been conjectured that there has been some displacement of the text, and various rearrangements have been proposed. Thus Cheyne would read the verses in this order: 11, 14, 15, 12, 13, 16. Let them perish will then refer to Israel’s enemies. Then too there may have been some confusion between 15 b and 17 b.

17. A repetition of Psalm 80:15, dropping the metaphor. Extend Thy hand, put forth Thy power to protect the people which Thy right hand made into a nation and delivered from Egypt. The son of man describes it as affected by human frailty and therefore needing divine help. The personification of Israel as Jehovah’s son underlies the language of the verse. Possibly there is an allusion to Benjamin = ‘son of the right hand.’

18. So shall we not go back from thee (R.V.), bound to Thee by a fresh tie of allegiance. quicken us] The restoration of our national life (Hosea 6:2) will evoke a fresh response of grateful praise.

19. O Lord God of hosts] There is a climax in the use of divine names in the refrains (3, 7, 19). The Psalmist clenches his appeal by the use of the covenant name Jehovah, along with the title expressive of universal sovereignty, God of hosts.