Psalms 80:14

Return, we beseech thee, O God of hosts: look down from heaven, and behold, and visit this vine; RETURN, WE BESEECH THEE, O GOD OF HOSTS - (cf. .) The beginning of the second half is marked by "O God, of hosts;" but the close of the first half has not "Turn us again," etc., because the whole main division is bound together by the continued image of the vine. It is only when God first turns again toward us that we turn toward Him, by virtue of His turning us (cf. ). LOOK DOWN FROM HEAVEN - ()...

14._Return, I beseech thee, O God of Hosts! _In these words it is intended to teach, that we ought not to yield to temptation although God should hide his face from us for a time, yea even although to the eye of sense and reason he should seem to be alienated from us. For, provided he is sought in the confident expectation of his showing mercy, he will become reconciled, and receive into his favor those whom he seemed to have cast off. It was a distinguished honor for the seed of Abraham to be accounted the vineyard of God; but while the faithful adduce this consideration as an argument for obtaining the favor of God, instead of bringing forward any claims of their own, they only beseech him not to cease to exercise his accustomed liberality towards them. The words, _from heaven, _have, no doubt, been introduced, that the faithful might find no difficulty in extending their faith to a di...

8-16 The church is represented as a vine and a vineyard. The root of this vine is Christ, the branches are believers. The church is like a vine, needing support, but spreading and fruitful. If a vine do not bring forth fruit, no tree is so worthless. And are not we planted as in a well-cultivated garden, with every means of being fruitful in works of righteousness? But the useless leaves of profession, and the empty boughs of notions and forms, abound far more than real piety. It was wasted and ruined. There was a good reason for this change in God's way toward them. And it is well or ill with us, according as we are under God's smiles or frowns. When we consider the state of the purest part of the visible church, we cannot wonder that it is visited with sharp corrections. They request that God would help the vine. Lord, it is formed by thyself, and for thyself, therefore it may, with hu...

Verse Psalms 80:14. _RETURN - O GOD OF HOSTS_] Thou hast _abandoned_ us, and therefore our enemies have us in captivity. _Come back_ to us, and we shall again be restored. _BEHOLD, AND VISIT THIS VINE_] Consider the state of thy own people, thy own worship, thy own temple. Look down! Let thine eye affect thy heart....

RETURN, WE BESEECH THEE, O GOD OF HOSTS - Again come and visit thy people; come back again to thy forsaken land. This is language founded on the idea that God had withdrawn from the land, or had forsaken it; that he had left his people without a protector, and had left them exposed to the ravages of fierce foreign enemies. It is language which will describe what seems often to occur when the church is apparently forsaken; when there are no cheering tokens of the divine presence; and when the people of God, discouraged, seem themselves to be forsaken by him. Compare Jeremiah 14:8. LOOK DOWN FROM HEAVEN - The habitation of God. As if he did not now see his desolate vineyard, or regard it. The idea is, that if he would look upon it, he would pity it, and would come to its relief. A

EXPOSITION A PSALM in which the writer entreats God to restore his favour once more to Israel, and especially to the ten tribes, who are in affliction, and in danger of perishing (Psalms 80:1, Psalms 80:2, Psalms 80:15). The psalm is evidently written while the temple is standing (Psalms 80:1), and while Israel still occupies the Holy Land (Psalms 80:8), but in a time of deep suffering, when the nation has sustained a severe blow. It probably belongs to the period immediately preceding the final captivity of the ten tribes, whe

RETURN, WE BESEECH THEE, O GOD OF HOSTS,.... The Lord had been with his vine, the people of Israel, when he brought them out of Egypt, and planted and settled them in the land of Canaan, and made them a flourishing people; but had departed from them when he suffered the hedges about them to be broken down, and the boar and wild beast to enter and devour them; and here he is entreated to return and restore them to their former prosperity. So the Lord sometimes departs from his church and people, and hides his face from them; and may be said to return, when he manifests himself, shows his face and his favour again, and grants his gracious presence, than which nothing is more desirable; and if he, the Lord of hosts and armies, above and below, is with his people, none can be against them to their hurt; they have nothing to fear from any enemy: LOOK DOWN FROM HEAVEN: the habitation of his h...

Psalms 80:1. _Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, thou that leadest Joseph like a flock; thou that dwellest between the cherubims, shine forth. Before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh stir up thy strength, and come and save us. Turn us again, O God, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved._ To whom could Israel go, in times of distress, but unto her God? It was well that her psalmists should teach her thus to pray. Notice the form of this prayer: «Come and save us. Turn us again, O God.» We cannot be saved except by being turned from the ways of sin into the path of holiness. But who shall turn us? What power can reverse the current of the human soul? As well might Niagara begin to ascend of its own accord as for man to turn to God except as God turns him. Psalms 80:4

Psalms 80 Looking to Heaven for Help Through the Man at His Right Hand _ 1. Calling to the Shepherd (Psalms 80:1)_ 2. The ruin of His inheritance (Psalms 80:5) 3. The Man of the right hand (Psalms 80:17) This Psalm continues the same theme. They call now definitely to the Shepherd, He who is enthroned in glory between the Cherubim. They ask Him to “shine forth,” to manifest Himself in glory and power for their salvation, to answer their cries for help. Three times they plead, “Turn us again, O God, and cause Thy face to shine, and we shall be saved.” Ancient Jewish comments on this verse say that the face wh

LXXX. THEN AND NOW. THE MESSIANIC HOPE. The Ps. depicts Judah's forlorn condition, first directly (Psalms 80:1) and then under the figure of a vine (Psalms 80:8). It is divided into strophes by the refrain in Psalms 80:3; Psalms 80:7; Psalms 80:19. (In Psalms 80:3 insert of hosts (LXX) as in Psalms 80:7; Psalms 80:19