Psalms 80:1

The Psalmist addresses God (1) as the Shepherd of Israel, a title which is the correlative of the words in Psalms 79:13, thy people and the flock of thy pasture(cp. Psalms 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 (Psalms 77:20; Psalms 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 (1Sa 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). Israelis the nation as a whole; Josephrepresents the tribes of the Northern Kingdom, in which the Psalmist has a special interest. Cp. Jacob and Joseph, Psalms 77:15. The use of the title Shepherdmay 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. Psalms 50:2; Psalms 94:1; Deuteronomy 33:2.