ESV Global Study Bible :: Footnotes for Psalms 80

Psalm Ps. 80. This is a community lament for a situation in which the people have received hard treatment from the Gentiles. It asks God to “restore us, let your face shine that we may be saved!” A notable feature of the psalm is its refrain, “Restore us, O [Lord] God [of hosts]; let your face shine, that we may be saved!” (v. 3; see vv. 7, 19). Verses 14–15 can be seen as a longer version of the refrain, explaining more fully what it would mean for God to restore his people and let his face shine.

Ps. 80:1–3 A portion of the people needs God to stir up his might and come to save them.

Ps. 80:1 Shepherd . . . flock. See notes on 23:1; 74:1–3.

Ps. 80:3 Let your face shine recalls Aaron’s blessing (Num. 6:25).

Ps. 80:4–7 The people cry because God is angry with his people’s prayers (which implies that they have been unfaithful, see 74:1). He has brought sorrows upon them, especially that they have become an object of contention for their Gentile neighbors (see 79:4). Faithful Israel ought to be the envy of the Gentiles, drawing them to the light by moral purity, social justice, and political stability (as in Psalm 79). Thus the current situation is a reversal of how things should be.

Ps. 80:8–15 This is the longest stanza, with its image of God’s people as a vine for which God has cared and provided (see notes on Jer. 2:21; Ezek. 15:1–8). The branches of this vine were to give shade to everything within the borders of the Promised Land (see Ex. 23:31), which always included Gentile nations. The branches and shoots are therefore an image of the benefits that come to all who are under the rule of this people. It is God who has broken down the walls that had protected the vine from marauding and empire-building Gentiles (the boar). Psalm 80:14 appeals to God to look down from heaven and have regard for this vine again, that is, to restore it to its proper role in the world.

Ps. 80:15 the son. Israel as a whole is God’s son (see Ex. 4:22–23; Hos. 11:1).

Ps. 80:16–19 The final stanza continues the vine imagery from the previous section, describing the terrible deeds of the Gentile invaders: they have burned it (the vine) with fire; they have cut it down. For such an outrage against God’s own plant, may they perish at the rebuke of your face! The terms in v. 17, the man of your right hand and the son of man, probably refer to the people of Israel. Israel as a whole pledges itself to God. If he will let his hand be on Israel (that is, use his power on their behalf), then Israel will not turn back (again) from God and will call upon his name, that is, will exercise true faithfulness.