(To the chief Musician. On Shoshannim-Eduth. Of Asaph. A Psalm.) Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, thou that leadest Joseph like a flock; thou that sittest [between] the cherubim, shine forth.
Psalm 80 opens by calling God the Shepherd of Israel, and in the same breath sets Him on the throne above the ark. A ruined people ask the God of glory to show Himself again.
This psalm picks up where the previous one left off.
The last psalm closed with a plea. The people of Israel, however low they may have fallen, are still the Lord's people, and the sheep of His pasture. In this psalm the godly, while still confessing the sin of the people, rise higher in their appeal. If Israel are the Lord's sheep, it follows the Lord is the Shepherd of Israel, the One to whom the sheep should look.
The verse sets a humble picture beside a majestic one.
Two thoughts are brought together in the beginning of Psalm 80... He is not only seen in His lowly character as a shepherd, but He is the One who sits between the cherubim.
That pairing gives confidence to the one who prays:
So we may walk our way in confidence, knowing that He who "dwells between the cherubim" is the One who leads His people "like a flock" (Psalm 80:1). His word, His mercy, His righteousness, His light, His way and His love are as everlasting as Himself.
The answer reaches back to the birthright and to the wilderness journey.
The psalm opens with a cry to the Divine Shepherd who of old led Joseph like a flock. The reference is to the wilderness journey to the promised land... After Reuben lost the birthright for his sin, it passed naturally to Joseph, Rachel's firstborn. The tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh were the twofold witness of this, and so was the tabernacle in Shiloh in the land of Ephraim.
The psalm goes on to name three tribes, and their place in the camp explains why:
Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh were the three tribes at the rear of Israel's host. Their place was right behind the ark.
The phrase points to a place — the mercy-seat, the golden lid of the ark, with a carved figure at each end overshadowing it.
God took possession of the house that had been built according to His word. From then on He dwells among His people. He was known as dwelling between the cherubim (1 Sam. 4:4; Psalm 80:1); that is, between the cherubim overshadowing the mercy-seat. The mercy-seat was His throne, the throne on which He sat. From there He governed His people. From there He gave out mercy according to the value of the incense and the blood of the sacrifices presented before Him on the great day of atonement.
The cry asks God to stop hiding Himself and to appear.
They now call clearly to the Shepherd, He who is enthroned in glory between the cherubim. They ask Him to "shine forth," to show 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 Your face to shine, and we shall be saved." Ancient Jewish comments on this verse say that the face which shines upon Israel is the Messiah.
That shining is not only for the future:
They plead for Him to shine forth, as indeed will be true for them when He comes in great glory to introduce the millennium; but true for believers now, who know the shining of His face.
The psalm asks for two things, and the order matters.
First, we have the appeal to the Shepherd of Israel going out to lead Joseph like a flock, as once the ark went three days' journey into the wilderness to search out a place for them to camp (Deut. 1:33)... Then there follows what answers to Aaron's blessing (Num. 6:24-26), only restoration is in question, not their first state — "O God, restore us, and cause Your face to shine, and we shall be saved."... Here power is looked for first, and the blessing follows... Power must first step in and destroy the adversaries.
- Sheep, therefore Shepherd. The plea grows out of the previous psalm. If the people are His flock, then He is their Shepherd — the One they should look to.
- Shepherd on the throne. One Person holds both titles. The Leader of the flock is the God enthroned in glory.
- The throne is a mercy-seat. God dwelt between the cherubim over the ark's golden lid. From there He ruled His people and gave out mercy on the ground of the blood presented there.
- Memory drives the prayer. Joseph, Ephraim, Benjamin and Manasseh recall the wilderness march. Those tribes marched right behind the ark.
- Shine forth, and we are saved. The threefold cry asks God to show Himself in glory and power. Israel will see that shining face when He comes. Believers know it now.
Before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh, stir up thy strength, and come to our deliverance.
Psalm 80 is a cry for rescue while the nation lies in ruins. Its second verse reaches back to Israel's marching order in the desert, where three tribes camped closest to the ark, and it asks God to rouse His own strength.
Ephraim, Benjamin and Manasseh are not chosen at random. They were the tribes camped and marching closest to the ark. The ark was the chest that carried God's covenant and marked His presence among the people.
The whole of Psalm 80 is opened up by the position of the tribes. In the last days of Israel's desolation, the spirit of the psalmist asks God to lead them and to show His power as He did when He led them through the wilderness. He asks for the power of His presence on the ark of testimony, as God showed it when Israel set forward and the word was, "Rise up, Jehovah, and let your enemies be scattered." Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh were the three tribes nearest the ark in the camp of Israel. That is why verse 2 of the Psalm says, "before Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh."
God set their place, and He set the order of their marching too.
The group under Ephraim was on the west side, and so nearest to the holy place with the cloud of the Divine Presence. This explains why Psalm 80 speaks of God shining forth "before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh." Notice that God commanded the order in which the tribes were to march when they set out on their journeys, just as He commanded the order of their tents when they rested.
Each name carries a meaning, and the order matters: Benjamin stands before Manasseh, the firstborn.
Ephraim, his name meaning "fruitful," speaks of the positive results in blessing of God's dealings with Israel. Benjamin, meaning "the son of my right hand," is a picture of Christ reigning in glory. He is named before Manasseh (the firstborn), whose name means "forgetting." That is the negative side: Israel will one day forget all their past history. Why? Because they now have Christ.
One writer sets this prayer in a time still to come, when the temple lies defiled and the city in ruins.
This psalm is a cry for God to step in after the temple has been defiled and Jerusalem laid in heaps (Ps. 79:1) — a state of sorrow to be known in the future. So the godly remnant will say, "Before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh stir up Your strength, and come and save us" (Ps. 80:2).
The order of the prayer matters. Verse 2 asks for strength; the shining face and salvation come in verse 3.
The psalm calls on His strength (vv. 1, 2), as when Moses said, "Rise up, Lord, and let Your enemies be scattered." Then comes what answers to Aaron's blessing (Num. 6:24-26), only restoration is in question, not their first condition — "O God, restore us, and cause Your face to shine, and we shall be saved." Here power is looked for first, and the blessing is a consequence... Indeed, this is the only principle upon which Israel's blessing is possible. Power must first intervene and destroy the adversaries.
The appeal joins two pictures of the same Person. He leads His people like sheep, and He sits enthroned between the cherubim, the winged figures over the ark.
If Israel are the Lord's sheep, then the Lord is the Shepherd of Israel, the One to whom the sheep should look. So the cry goes up to the Shepherd of Israel who once led His people like a flock and lived among them between the cherubim. They ask Him to shine forth before the tribes again, to come in His strength to deliver them from their enemies, and to cause His face to shine in favour upon them.
The ark's proper place was in the middle of the camp, yet it went out ahead of the people. The same pattern holds for God's people now.
In Ps. 80:2, "Before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh stir up Your strength," calls on God to act as in those days. The proper place of the ark was in the centre, but it went before them... We have the power and presence of Jesus with us in our journey and our worship. So it is now: when He brings out His own sheep He goes before them; and when we rest, "Where two or three are gathered together, there am I."
- Position. Ephraim, Benjamin and Manasseh camped and marched closest to the ark. The prayer asks God to act from the spot where His presence once stood.
- Presence. God Himself placed them nearest the cloud of His presence. That nearness was His arrangement, not their choice.
- Precedent. The plea repeats Moses' words spoken when the ark set out. It asks God to act in ruin as He acted in the wilderness.
- Power. Strength comes first, blessing second. Deliverance must come before the shining face and restoration of verse 3.
- Person. The One they call on is Shepherd and enthroned King at once. The same presence still goes ahead of His own today.