John Calvin Commentary Psalms 80:8

"Thou broughtest a vine out of Egypt: Thou didst drive out the nations, and plantedst it." — Psalms 80:8 (ASV)

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.