5th November 2022

Study on 5th November 2022, Psalms 80

Psalms 80 - Israel Tarnished

Verse-By-Verse Breakdown

Verse 1

Shepard of Israel → Lead Joseph like a flock Call to be heard by God

Verse 2

Exaltation (shine before the tribes and leaders of Israel) Call to Action: call on the power to save

Verse 3

Call to Action: call to restore and reinstate glory (of God)

Verse 4

Lamentation (being ignored by Angry God)

Verse 5

Lamentation (being punished) → Hyperbole (sadness and grief inflicted)

Verse 6

Lamentation [accusatory] (lack of support, insouciance, and neglect) → Israel has become the laughing stock

Verse 7

Callback to verse 3

Verses 8-9

Metaphor (saved and extricated from Egypt [Exodus]; Promised Land [OT]) → Effort and love previously given

Verses 10-11

Exposition of former glory (greatness and majesty)

Verses 12-13

Questioning God (why does He now let Israel fall into decrepit ruination?) → Casual stomping and trodding over by enemies

Verse 14

Encircle back to verses 3 and 7

Verse 15

Call to Action: Don't let your hard work come to ruin → Come save us

Verse 16

Encircle to verses 12-13, then verse 4

Verse 17

Foreshadowing the coming of the Messiah Call to Action: deliver a better king to deliver them (the promised one)

→ Verse 18

Then Israel will be better

Verse 19

Final Call to Action: reiteration and summizing of all previous calls to action.

Summary and General Flow

Verses 1-2: Exaltation and acknowledgement of the God they are speaking to CTAs from v2b and v3 (asking God to come help) Verses 4-6: Lamentation (being ignored and punished, and having to put up with God's almost blasé attitude) → Verse 7: Circle back to calling on God to re-establish his former glory Verses 8-11: Establishing what the previous glory of Israel under God looked like → Verses 12-16: Lending to a mordant line of questioning and an inveighing of God letting his former glory (including Israel) go to waste → Verses 17-18: Calling for a deliverance of a saviour king (foreshadowing the Messiah) Verse 19: Full circle and summary of their pleas

Notes

Heavy uses of symbolism and allusion, particularly in verses 1, 2, and 8, where previous events are used to signify Israel's downfall.

• Shepherding metaphor and mention of Joseph

  • Joseph symbolising Israel's time in Egypt, reminiscent of the story of Joseph and how God watched over him (and Israel) which represent the state of Israel then, with God watching over them.

• The tribes Ephraim and Manasseh, sons of Joseph, making up the house of Joseph, being two of the lost tribes

  • the tribe of Ephraim fell into idolatry [Hosea's recount] (although God still shows compassion and yearned for them [Jeremiah 31:20]); the tribe of Manasseh was split up and scattered into a "group of nations" [Genesis 48:19]. These two tribes were the worst of the 12 tribes in the cycle of Israel's sin and punishment, and received the brunt of God's wrath when Israel was being punished over and over again. The psalmist probably brings them up in reference to the Assyrian capture of the two tribes, which might situate the psalm's chronological position within that period.

  • The two tribes also symbolise Israel's downfall after the period of blessing and care under God.

• Metaphor representing Israel's exodus from Egypt

  • The vine symbolising Israel's prosperity again (refer to first point), alluding to Exodus and the effort and love previously given.

The psalmist calls God by name (it is written LORD in all-caps in the bible, representing the tetragrammaton YHWH, transliterated to Yahweh, which is God's canonical name), showing the personal and intimate tone, and how the psalmist was making a personal appeal to God by name.