Reading: Psalm 79-81

QUESTIONS
  • In Psalm 79 Asaph asks God to help them “for the glory of your name.” How does this compare to what we typically think about when asking God for things in prayer?
  • In Psalm 80 Asaph repeats his request for God to “Make your face shine upon us, that we may be saved” 3 times (vv.3, 7, 19). Read Numbers 6:22-27 and consider the significance of Asaph’s request.
  • In Psalm 81:10 it says, “ I am the Lord your God, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.” What is the significance of God’s deliverance of Israel from Egypt? How does it apply to us today?
DEVOTION

The petitions in the first two verses use four imperatives: ‘Give ear’, ‘shine forth’, ‘stir up’, and ‘come’. The parallel with the history of God’s deliverance of the Israelites from Egypt is notable: (Exodus 3:7) “The LORD said, ‘I have surely seen the affliction of My people who are in Egypt, and have given heed to their cry because of their taskmasters, for I am aware of their sufferings (8) so I have come down to deliver them from the power of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and spacious land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Amorite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite’.” 

The focus of the psalm on Joseph’s sons and his brother Benjamin suggests a judgment against the apostasy of the northern kingdom of Israel resulting in its destruction in 722BC. Jeroboam, the Ephraimite ruled the northern tribes after the death of Soloman, and said, (1Kings 12:27) “If this people go up to offer sacrifices in the house of the LORD at Jerusalem, then the heart of this people will return to their lord, even to Rehoboam king of Judah; and they will kill me and return to Rehoboam king of Judah. (28) So the king consulted, and made two golden calves, and he said to them, ‘It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem; behold your gods, O Israel, that brought you up from the land of Egypt’. (29) He set one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan. (30) And he made houses on high places, and made priests from among all the people who were not of the sons of Levi.”

Judgment was pronounced by the prophet Hosea, (9:16) “Ephraim is stricken, their root is dried up, they will bear no fruit. Even though they bear children, I will slay the precious ones of their womb. (17) My God will cast them away because they have not listened to Him; and they will be wanderers among the nations.” 

The psalmist exults God’s character in spite of the judgment delivered, as Shepherd of Israel (v1), the one enthroned above the cherubim (v1), the God of hosts (vv4,7,14,19), and the Husbandman of the vine (vv8-11). The urgent imperatives return in verse 14, “O God of hosts, turn again now, we beseech You; look down from heaven and see, and take care of this vine. The psalmist returns and challenges the reader to return to our total dependence on God’s grace, the Messianic hope in a deliverer who will change the hearts of His people; (80:17) “Let Your hand be upon the man of Your right hand, upon the son of man whom you made strong for Yourself. (18) Then we shall not turn back from You; revive us, and we will call upon Your name. (19) O LORD God of hosts, restore us; cause Your face to shine upon us, and we will be saved.”

– Jim Yoder