John Calvin Commentary Psalms 80

Hearken, O Shepherd of Israel! Before naming Manasseh and Ephraim, the prophet mentions Joseph. Why does he speak of Joseph rather than Judah? Is it not because his design was to treat separately of the kingdom of Israel, whose government was in the family and posterity of Joseph?

Nor, since God sent special prophets among them after he had struck them with his rods, is there any inconsistency that, at the same time, the prayer is added for God to gather the remnant to himself. Moreover, so that they might not delude themselves by trusting in their spurious worship, the prophet, by applying to God the title Him who sitteth between the Cherubim, calls them back to the pure doctrine of the law.

The mercy-seat was a pledge of God’s presence, where he had promised to be near his people to hear their prayers. It was unlawful for men to change this divinely instituted form at their own pleasure. The Israelites, then, are admonished to return to their original state if they were to expect to find God gracious towards them.

Besides, by the title attributed here to God, his wonderful love towards men is expressed—in his humbling and, so to speak, lowering himself to come down to them, and choosing for himself a seat and habitation on earth, so that he might dwell among them.

Properly speaking, God cannot be said to sit; nor should it be supposed that he, whom the heaven of heavens cannot contain, can be confined to a certain place (1 Kings 8:27). But, to accommodate human weakness, he is represented as placed between the two Cherubim, so that the faithful might not imagine him to be far from them and, consequently, be perplexed with doubt and apprehension in approaching him.

At the same time, the remark I previously made must be remembered: that the Israelites are here given a rule for praying correctly, so that they might be drawn away from the worship of the god they fabricated and set up themselves at Dan and Bethel, and so that, rejecting all superstitions, they might submit to be guided by the true light of faith and follow the Word of God.

Turn us again, O God! The meaning of this prayer is: Restore us to our former state. They had petitioned in the preceding verse that God would stir up his strength in the sight of Ephraim and Manasseh; and now they complain that they are only castaways until God rescues them and remedies their miserable dispersion.

Some understand the words, turn us again, in a different way; namely, as a prayer that God would grant them the spirit of regeneration. But this interpretation is too refined. It is better, adhering to the former sense, to view the expression as meaning that the faithful, under the adversity with which they were afflicted, turn to God, whose unique work it is to restore life to the dead. They acknowledge, on the one hand, that all their miseries were to be traced to this as their cause, that God, being angry on account of their sins, hid his face from them; and, on the other hand, they expect to obtain complete salvation solely through the Divine favor. It will be to us, they say, a resurrection indeed, if once your countenance shines upon us. Their language implies that provided God extended his mercy and favor to them, they would be happy, and all their affairs would prosper.

O Jehovah, God of Hosts! Since God has freely promised in the Scriptures, and so often assured us, that the prayers of his people will not be disappointed, it may cause us surprise to find the faithful here alleging before him that he continues unappeased, although they turn to him.

They complain not only that they are not heard, but also that he is angry, when they call on him, as if he purposely rejected this act of worship. Where, then, it may be asked, is that promise recorded in Isaiah 65:24, Before they call I will answer? To this I would answer that, as God, by delaying to help his people, tests their patience, the prophet, speaking according to the judgment of the flesh, represents him as deaf to their prayers.

It is not proper for those who pray to rest in this opinion, which would place an insurmountable obstacle in their way to the throne of grace. Instead, they should strive to cherish, in opposition to it, the judgment of faith, and to penetrate even into heaven, where they may behold a hidden salvation.

Nevertheless, God still permits them, so they may more effectively unburden their minds, to tell him of the cares, anxieties, griefs, and fears with which they are distressed. In the mention made here of the smoke of God’s wrath, there appears to be an implicit allusion to the incense used in the sacrifices under the law. The smoke of the incense served to purify the air, but the Israelites complain that the heavens were so obscured by a different smoke that their sighs could not ascend to God.

Thou hast fed us with bread of tears, etc. By these forms of expression, they depict the greatness of their grief and the long continuance of their calamities; as if they had said, We are so filled with sorrow that we can contain no more. They add, in the following verse, that they were made a strife to their neighbors. This admits of being explained in two ways.

It means either that their neighbors had taken up a quarrel against them, or that, having obtained the victory over them, they were contending about the spoil, as is usually the case in such circumstances, each being eager to drag it to himself. The former interpretation, however, seems to be the more suitable.

The people complain that, whereas neighborhood ought to be a bond of mutual goodwill, they had as many enemies as neighbors. To the same purpose is their language in the second clause, They laugh at us among themselves; that is to say, they talk among themselves by way of sport and mockery at our adversities.

To encourage and stir themselves up to repentance, they ascribe all this to the judgment of God, in whose power it is to bend the hearts of men. Since we are all today chargeable with the same sins, it is not surprising that our condition is in no degree better than theirs was.

But the Holy Spirit, having inspired the prophet to write this form of prayer for a people who felt their condition to be almost desperate, it serves to inspire us with hope and boldness, and to prevent us from giving up the exercise of prayer, under a consciousness of the greatness of our guilt. The seventh verse is a repetition of the third; and this repetition is undoubtedly intended as a means of surmounting every obstacle. God did not here intend to prescribe for his people a vain repetition of words: his object was to encourage them, when bowed down under the load of their calamities, boldly to rise up, heavy though the load might be. This ground of support was often presented to them; and it is repeated the third time in the concluding verse of the psalm.

Thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt. Under the figure of a vine, the unique grace that God was graciously pleased to exercise toward His people after He had redeemed them is celebrated. This powerfully contributed to inspiring them with the hope of being heard. For which of us can be so presumptuous as to dare to come into the presence of God unless He Himself has first invited us?

Now, He allures us to Himself both by His benefits and by His word. The purpose of now presenting His liberality before Him is that He should not leave unfinished the work of His hands which He had begun. It is indeed true that, without His word, the benefits He has conferred upon us would make only a faint impression on our hearts; but when experience is added to the testimony of His word, it greatly encourages us.

Now, the redemption mentioned here was inseparably connected with God’s covenant; for He had, even four hundred years before, entered into a covenant with Abraham, in which He promised the deliverance of his descendants. In short, what is stated amounts to this: it is unfitting that God should now allow the vine, which He had planted and cultivated so carefully with His own hand, to be ravaged by wild beasts.

God’s covenant was not made to last only for a few days, or for a short time; when He adopted the children of Abraham, He took them under His keeping forever. By the word vine, the high esteem in which God held this people is intimated. He was not only pleased to hold them as His own inheritance, but He also distinguished them with special honor, just as a vine excels all other possessions.

When it is said that the land or ground was cleansed, this is a repetition of what had been previously stated: that the heathen were cast out to make room for the chosen people. Perhaps, however, the allusion is to the continual digging that vines require to be kept clean, so that they do not degenerate. This allusion is made to show how God had performed the part of a good vinedresser toward His people, since, after having planted them, He did not cease to employ every means to cherish and preserve them.

What is added immediately after, Thou hast rooted its roots, is not to be understood as its initial planting, but as the efforts God took to propagate it, which is part of the cultivation of the vine. From this it follows that the mountains were covered with its shadow; for the whole country, although mountainous, was filled with inhabitants, so greatly did that people increase in number.

The branches of this vine are compared to the cedars of God—that is, to the most beautiful and most excellent cedars—thereby expressing still more vividly how greatly Abraham’s descendants were blessed by God. The sea and the Euphrates, as is well known, were the divinely appointed boundaries of the land promised to them for an inheritance.