Turn us again, O LORD God of hosts, cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved.
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
Turn us again, O Lord God of Hosts. Here we have another advance in the title and the incommunicable name of Jehovah, the I AM is introduced. Faith's day grows brighter as the hours roll on; and her prayers grow more full and mighty. Cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved. Even we who were so destroyed. No extremity is too great for the power of God.
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