The boar out of the wood doth waste it, and the wild beast of the field doth devour it.
This psalm was composed for the ten tribes after their kingdom began to waste away. The psalmist names Joseph, Ephraim, and Manasseh deliberately: these three tribes followed closest behind the ark in the wilderness march, and so they call upon God who dwelt between the cherubim to remember His ancient faithfulness and restore them.
AI summary
Commenting on Psalm 80:1-19
The boar out of the wood doth waste it. Such creatures are famous for rending and devouring vines. Babylon, like a beast from the marshes of the Euphrates, came up and wasted Judah and Israel. Fierce peoples, comparable to wild swine of the forest, warred with the Jewish nation, until it was gored and torn like a vine destroyed by greedy hogs.
The Church is like a vine: weak, needing support, outwardly unpromising, yet spreading and fruitful with the most excellent fruit. God swept the nations away like dirt with the besom of destruction to make room for it, and then caused it to strike deep root through a firm establishment of government and worship that no enemy could upraise.
AI summary
Commenting on Psalm 80:8-19