Thou broughtest a vine out of Egypt; thou didst cast out the nations, and plant it
Psalm 80 begs the Shepherd of Israel to shine out and save a people living on tears. At verse 8 the prayer turns to history — and to the questions behind it: who planted this vine, what was it planted for, and why is its hedge broken down now?
The verbs of the verse all have one subject. Asaph is not recalling what Israel achieved, but arguing from what God Himself did for them.
Asaph appeals to God again. He bases his appeal on God's sovereign grace and power in bringing Israel out of Egypt and settling them in a land that He Himself had fully prepared for them. The vine stands for Israel — a vine God planted after He drove nations out of their land, so that Israel might have her own place to grow and bear fruit for God (v. 8).
The vine here stands for the nation as a whole. With a vine, only one thing counts.
The vineyard was the circumcision, the nation generally. It was planted to produce fruit, but it failed. What marks the true vine is that fruit is the test. It is not a question of religious rites.
Why a vine and not some other plant?
Other trees may be useful apart from their fruit; with the vine it is not so. Ezekiel, speaking of the vine, asks, "Is wood taken from it to make anything? Do people take a peg from it to hang any vessel on it?" (Ezekiel 15:3). If the vine produces no fruit it is useless.
The next verses describe a vine that took deep root and spread to the sea and the river. Those borders were once literal fact.
The extent of the territory promised by God was reached in the days of Solomon, David's son. Israel achieved its greatest prosperity at that time. Those verses point to the borders of the land. The sea means the Mediterranean, and the river means the Euphrates.
The point of a vine is the wine it gives, and wine means cheer for God and man. Israel's story runs from that planting to ruin.
The great thought of the vine is that it gives wine, which cheers the heart of God and man. Its special meaning is cheer for God as well as for man — man's response to God, more than God's blessing to man. Psalm 80:8-19 tells us that the Lord planted a vine in His own land, a vine brought from Egypt, from among the nations. Sadly, the boar out of the wood wasted it, and the wild beast devoured it. In other words Israel failed to bring joy to God, and to be blessed themselves in serving Him. They turned aside to idolatry, and were deaf to the calls of repentance from the lips of one prophet after another. Last of all God sent His Son. This was the last and final test. Sadly, they rejected Him and cast Him out.
Having pleaded the planting, the psalm asks God to visit the vine again — and then rests everything on one person, the Son of Man of verse 17.
The vine brought out of Egypt was laid waste; its hedge was broken down, as Isaiah had indeed warned them. Tears were the drink of Jehovah's people. They beg God to look down from heaven and visit the vine, the vineyard, and the branch made strong for God Himself. It is God's rebuke. But it also looks for God's own hand of power to rest on the man of that power — the Son of Man whom God had made strong for Himself.
The psalm's Branch is not left in the psalm. Jesus later called Himself the vine, taking up the same picture.
When the Lord spoke of Himself as the Vine, He took up a picture the Old Testament had already used for Israel, above all in Psalm 80:8-18 and Isaiah 5:1-7. The Psalm declares that the vine lies desolate, yet it also speaks of "the Branch" and "the Son of Man," whom "You made strong for Yourself." Isaiah makes the reason for that desolation plain. Israel as the vine brought forth nothing but wild and worthless grapes. There was no fruit for God. Jesus Himself was the Branch made strong for Jehovah, and He now presents Himself as the real Source of all fruit for God on the earth.
- Planted — every verb belongs to God: He brought the vine out, drove out the nations, and prepared the ground. Israel's existence was pure gift.
- Purpose — a vine is planted for one reason. Its wood builds nothing; without fruit it is useless. God set the nation apart to bear fruit for Himself.
- Prosperity — the planting worked. In Solomon's day the vine reached from the Mediterranean to the Euphrates.
- Ruin — the hedge came down and the vine was wasted. The failure was moral: idolatry, deaf ears to the prophets, and at last the rejection of God's own Son.
- Restoration — the psalm's hope is not a mended vine but a Man. The Son of Man, made strong for God, calls Himself the true vine and is the source of all fruit for God.
Thou preparedst space before it, and it took deep root, and filled the land;
Psalm 80 is the prayer of a nation in ruins. At verse 9 the prayer turns to memory. God once made room for a vine He had carried out of Egypt, and it grew until it covered the land. If God Himself did all that work, why does the vine now lie wasted?
The verse credits every stage of Israel's settlement to God. He made the space, and only then did the plant take hold and spread. Older translations read, "You caused it to take deep root" — even the rooting was His work. And the clearing had a purpose beyond survival:
He had brought a vine out of Egypt — and He brought it out, as the figure implies, to yield Him fruit: shall it not yield Him fruit? He had dispossessed nations, to make way for it; and He having made room, it rooted itself and filled the land.
God could have pictured His people with any plant. He chose one that grows by leaning on something else.
The vine is good for nothing else but fruit, and with its trailing branches is the very image of dependence... Here the appeal is to God on the ground of what He had done for them, that that work should not be in vain.
And the fruit was never meant for the vine itself:
The vine here stands for Israel. God planted it after casting nations out of their land, so that Israel might have her own place to grow and bear fruit for God. For the vine is good only for bearing fruit, as Ezekiel 15 bears witness... Fruit, speaking from a scriptural viewpoint, is for God, not for people's enjoyment.
The deep root of verse 9 led to the spread described in the verses that follow. But the psalmist is remembering a height the nation had already lost.
But God caused Israel to take deep root and fill the land. Its shadow even covered the hills and the mighty cedar trees. The cedar is the total opposite of the clinging vine. Yet Israel once prospered so greatly that the greatest men on earth submitted to it... Now this was all past.
The growth had real borders, and Israel reached them once:
Israel reached the full extent of the territory God promised in the days of Solomon, David's son. That was the time of Israel's greatest prosperity. These verses refer to the borders of the land. The sea refers to the Mediterranean, and the river refers to the Euphrates.
Why the collapse? The psalm does not name the cause. Isaiah gives the reason, while the psalmist builds his prayer on other ground.
It was not possible that the failure could be in God. He could appeal to themselves whether He could have done anything for His vineyard that He had not done. Yet when He looked for His vine to bring forth grapes, it brought forth wild grapes... It is this action of God which the psalmist sees, and which he laments. He says nothing directly of the moral causes... his argument goes back of all this, to the Immutable God and His purposes. He leaves out the people, as if they were of no account.
The planting was God's own work. So the ruin becomes an argument in prayer, not a reason to stop praying.
Verses 8-13 contain a touching recital of God's past dealings with the vine of His own planting. The psalm credits the nation's prosperity to the One who brought them out of Egypt. It traces their distress to the same hand... This is a remarkable example of how boldly and urgently faith pleads, when it has its true object clearly in view.
The psalm does not end with the ruined vine:
The Psalm declares that the vine is desolate, but it also mentions "the Branch" and "the Son of Man," the one "You made strong for Yourself." Isaiah makes the reason for that desolation plain. Israel as the vine brought forth nothing but wild and worthless grapes. There was no fruit for God. Jesus Himself was the Branch made strong for Jehovah. He now presents Himself as the real Source of all fruit for God on the earth.
- Cleared — God dispossessed nations to make room; the vine did not win its own ground.
- Rooted — the deep root was His gift, not the plant's achievement.
- Filled — at its height the vine reached the borders God promised, from the sea to the Euphrates.
- Wasted — God could have done nothing more for it; the failure was in the fruit, never in the Planter.
- Restored — faith pleads God's own planting back to Him. The fruit He looked for is found in the Son of Man He made strong for Himself.
The mountains were covered with its shadow, and the branches thereof were [like] cedars of God;
Psalm 80 is a prayer for a nation in ruins. Verse 10 looks back at what that nation once was: a vine so large that it shaded the mountains and rivalled the greatest trees for size. The memory is not nostalgia. The psalm turns it into an argument, and asks God why He broke down the walls of the vine He had grown.
The verse sits inside a picture that moves step by step: rescue, planting, room, roots, and then size. One writer traces that sequence and shows verse 10 as the high point of the vine's glory.
He had brought a vine out of Egypt — brought it out, as is implied, to yield Him fruit: shall it not yield Him fruit? He had dispossessed nations, to make way for it; and He having made room, it rooted itself and filled the land. Next, we see its glory: it rose, shadowing the mountains, with a growth as solid as the mighty cedars. Lastly, we see it spread to the sea and to the River (Euphrates) — the boundaries God gave it in those directions.
Every verb in that sequence belongs to God. The vine did not find the land; God drove out nations and planted it there.
Commentators tie this description to a datable high point in Israel's history.
The extent of the territory promised by God was reached in the days of Solomon, David's son. Israel achieved its greatest prosperity at that time.
The comparison in the second half of the verse is striking because a vine and a cedar are opposites. One writer presses that contrast. He reads the cedar-like branches as a mark of Israel's standing among the nations.
But God caused Israel to take deep root and fill the land, even covering the hills with its shadow, and the mighty cedar trees. The cedar stands in total contrast to the clinging vine. Yet Israel's prosperity at one time was such that the greatest men of earth were subdued before it. Israel's influence had reached the nations (the sea), and the river, the Euphrates, her eastern border. Now this was all past.
Size like that looks impressive, but no one judges a vine by its height. Its shape and its purpose both show what God wanted from His people.
The vine is good for nothing else but fruit, and with its trailing branches is the very image of dependence.
The prophets later use the same image as an accusation. God's care produced growth, but not the harvest He looked for.
Jehovah had brought a vine out of Egypt, and had cast out the heathen and planted it. He had given it much patient care and had granted many privileges; but where was the fruit? "When I looked for it to yield grapes, why did it yield wild grapes?" (Isaiah 5:4). Israel — man in the flesh — failed. Privileges and favours developed no good where everything was evil and corrupt.
The psalm recites this history to God, not to itself. Having described the vine at its best, it asks at once why God has broken down its walls. Commentators read the whole recital as the boldness of faith.
Verses 8-13 contain a touching account of God's past dealings with the vine of His own planting. They credit the nation's prosperity to Him who brought them out of Egypt. They trace their distress to the same hand too: "Why then have you broken down its walls?" This is a remarkable example of the bold urgency of faith's pleading, when its true object is in plain view.
The psalm's own answer is not a return to the old greatness. It is a person: the Branch God made strong for Himself. Christ later takes the same picture and applies it to Himself.
In speaking of Himself as the Vine the Lord took up a figure that the Old Testament had applied to Israel. The Psalm declares the desolation of the vine, but it also mentions "the Branch" and "the Son of Man," whom "you have made strong for yourself." Jesus Himself was the Branch made strong for Jehovah, and He now presents Himself as the real Source of all fruit for God on the earth.
- Planted. God did every step of the vine's rise: rescue from Egypt, nations driven out, room made, deep roots. None of it was Israel's achievement.
- Grown. Verse 10 is the peak of that growth: shade over the mountains, branches as solid as the mighty cedars. Israel's reach touched the borders God promised.
- Fruitless. A vine exists for fruit and nothing else. Size was no substitute: God looked for grapes and found wild ones.
- Ruined. The psalm credits both the prosperity and the ruin to the same hand, and dares to ask God why.
- Replaced. The psalm's hope narrows from a great vine to one Branch made strong for God — Christ, the real source of all fruit for God.
It sent out its boughs unto the sea, and its shoots unto the river.
Psalm 80 is a prayer of a people in ruin. To plead their case they retell their own history as the story of a vine God carried out of Egypt and planted. Verse 11 is the high point of that story: the vine reached the very borders God had promised. The psalm recalls it because that greatness is now gone.
The two landmarks in this verse are geography, not just poetry. They mark the moment when the land reached the size God had promised.
Israel reached the full extent of the territory God promised in the days of Solomon, David's son. That was the time of Israel's greatest prosperity. These verses point to the borders of the land. The sea is the Mediterranean, and the river is the Euphrates.
The spread of the vine is therefore measured growth, not random growth. It stopped exactly where God said it would.
Lastly, we have its extension to the sea and to the River (Euphrates) — in these directions its divinely-given boundaries.
In this verse the vine does the acting: it sends out, it stretches. But the psalm has already given God the credit for planting it, rooting it and making room for it. And its reach meant real influence over the nations.
But God caused Israel to take deep root and fill the land, even covering the hills with its shadow, and the mighty cedar trees. The cedar is the complete opposite of the clinging vine. Yet Israel's prosperity at one time was so great that it subdued the greatest men of earth. Verse 11 shows that the nations (the sea) had felt Israel's influence, and that it reached the river, the Euphrates, her eastern border. Now this was all past.
The choice of plant matters. A vine is good for one thing only, and it leans on whatever holds it up.
They go back to the deliverance out of Egypt, in which He had separated them to Himself for fruit. The vine is good for nothing else but fruit, and with its trailing branches is the very image of dependence. The prophet Isaiah uses the same picture in the same way, but he speaks from God's side, while the psalmist speaks from the human side. Here the appeal is to God on the ground of what He had done for them, that that work should not be in vain.
Verse 11 is not nostalgia. The one praying lays this past in front of God, and he traces the ruin that followed to God's own hand.
The psalmist sees this action of God, and he mourns over it. He says nothing about the moral causes. They are implied, no doubt, in the very need they now have of Him. But his argument goes behind all of this, to the unchanging God and His purposes. He leaves out the people, as if they were of no account. Of course, when God took them up, He knew what was in man. He could not be deceived. He had brought this vine out of Egypt; He had taken abundance of pains with it. He had tied Himself to this people of His choice in front of the whole world. After all, could He be defeated?
Another writer reads the same boldness in these lines, calling verses 8 to 13 a moving account of God's past dealings with His own vine:
This is a striking example of how boldly and urgently faith pleads, when it has its true object clearly in view.
Solomon's reign reached that far border. But commentators say the promised limit still waits for Christ.
When God first gave the word to Joshua, the Euphrates was the outer boundary. The Jordan was the proper one. Some of the tribes coveted what was on the other side, and so much the worse for them. They did not gain by it, but lost. But the Euphrates is the extreme limit, and that awaits the Lord Jesus.
The vine picture returns in the Gospels, moved from the nation to a Person.
Israel in the Old Testament is likened to a vine, and to a vine brought by God out of Egypt. One branch of it stood for the royal family, and from that family the Lord would come as a man — the Man of God's right hand, the Son of Man whom He made strong for Himself. But the Lord presents Himself as the true vine, not as Messiah, the Son of David, a branch. He is the stem. The apostles He was speaking to were the branches, and the Father was the gardener who tends it.
- Planted — the vine did not move itself. God carried it out of Egypt, cleared room and rooted it, so every inch of its reach traces back to Him.
- Prospered — at its height its reach ran from the Mediterranean in the west to the Euphrates in the east — the borders God had named.
- Purposed — a vine exists for fruit and cannot stand alone; the spread was never for its own sake.
- Pleaded — the psalm holds that past up to God as an argument. He tied His own name to this vine in front of the world, so how could He be defeated?
- Promised — the far boundary still waits for Christ, and the vine picture now points to Him as the true vine.
Why hast thou broken down its fences, so that all who pass by the way do pluck it?
Psalm 80 has just told a happy story: God planted a vine and made it flourish. Verse 12 breaks that story off with a question, and the question is aimed at God Himself, not at the enemy. (The commentators below quote older translations, which say "hedges" where the ESV says "walls".)
Notice where the psalmist lays the blame for the ruin.
Verses 8–13 contain a touching account of God's past dealings with the vine of His own planting. These verses credit the nation's prosperity to the One who brought them out of Egypt, and trace its distress to the same hand: "Why have you broken down her hedges?" and so on. This is a remarkable example of the bold urgency of faith's pleading, when its true object is clearly in view.
A hedge marks off what belongs to the owner and keeps intruders out. So what was Israel's hedge, and who took it away?
Israel is compared to a vine brought out of Egypt and planted in a land from which the nations had been driven out. Hedged in and cared for by the divine Gardener, it should have borne fruit for Him. But we know His verdict: "it yielded wild grapes." Because of this He allows it to be overrun by the nations… In the past the enclosure had separated the garden of the Lord from the Gentiles around it. The Lord Himself broke it down.
Verse 12 asks why and gives no answer. A vineyard song in Isaiah supplies it.
The answer is plainly stated in Isaiah 5:2: "he looked for it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes." It was not true to its character, for the wild grapes speak of rebellion, like that of a wild animal.
The next psalm, Psalm 81, looks back at this question and answers it.
What was the result of these dealings with the people? Sadly, it proved that they would not listen to the voice of the Lord. They turned aside to strange gods — they would have none of Jehovah. So Jehovah gave them up to their own stubbornness of heart and allowed them to walk in their own plans. Here, then, is the answer to that question raised by the godly in the last psalm.
God had already said what He would do to a fruitless vineyard. The psalmist watches it happen, and then builds his plea on other ground.
"I will remove its hedge," He says, "and it shall be devoured; I will break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down. I will make it a waste." It is this action of God which the psalmist sees, and which he laments. He says nothing directly of the moral causes. No doubt they are implied in the very need they now have of Him. But his argument goes back behind all this, to the unchanging God and His purposes. He leaves out the people, as if they counted for nothing. Certainly, when God took them up, He knew what was in man: He could not be deceived. He had brought this vine out of Egypt; He had taken great pains with it… After all, could He be defeated? It is the argument Moses used in the wilderness. God proposed to destroy the people for their stubbornness and to make a great nation of Moses himself. No, said Moses — the Egyptians will hear of it, and the nations will say that Jehovah was not able to bring this people into the land He promised them, and so killed them in the wilderness.
Psalm 80 does not stop with the ruined vine. It also names a Branch, and the New Testament takes up the vine picture.
When the Lord spoke of Himself as the Vine, He took up a picture which the Old Testament had applied to Israel, in passages such as Psalm 80:8–18 and Isaiah 5:1–7. The Psalm declares the ruin of the vine, but it also names "the Branch" and "the Son of Man," whom "You made strong for Yourself." Isaiah makes the reason for the ruin plain. Israel as the vine produced nothing but wild and worthless grapes. There was no fruit for God. Jesus Himself was the Branch made strong for Jehovah, and He now presents Himself as the real Source of all fruit for God on the earth.
- Planted. God brought the vine out of Egypt, drove out the nations, and planted it. So the psalmist brings the loss back to that same hand.
- Hedged. The hedge was the enclosure that separated God's garden from the nations around it. Once it went, anyone passing by could take the fruit.
- Fruitless. The psalm asks why and does not say. Isaiah gives the verdict: wild grapes. Psalm 81 gives the sentence: they would not listen, so God gave them up to their own plans.
- Pleaded. Faith's boldest move here is to argue from God's unchanging purpose, not from the people's record. Can anything defeat the God who took such pains with this vine?
- Replaced. The same psalm names a Branch made strong for God. Jesus takes up the vine picture for Himself, as the real source of fruit for God on the earth.
The boar out of the forest doth waste it, and the beast of the field doth feed off it.
Psalm 80 prays for Israel as a vine that God Himself brought out of Egypt and planted, but whose fence now lies broken. Verse 13 shows what comes in through the gap, and it raises two questions: who is this boar, and why did the Owner let it in?
The animal named here was a real and familiar pest in the land, not a mythical monster.
The well-known animal in its wild state. They are still found in Palestine, and live among the long reeds in the Jordan valley and marshy places. They are very destructive to cultivated land.
The psalm asks why God broke the hedge down, but it gives no answer here. Commentators point to Isaiah for the reason.
Isaiah 5:2 answers this plainly: "He looked for it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes." The vine was not true to its character. Wild grapes speak of rebellion, like the rebellion of a wild animal.
Notice whose hand the psalm blames for the broken fence: God's own.
It is this action of God which the psalmist sees, and which he laments. He says nothing directly about the moral causes. Their very need of Him no doubt implies them. But his argument reaches back behind all this, to the unchanging God and His purposes. He leaves out the people, as if they were of no account. When God took them up, He knew what was in man. No one could deceive Him. He had brought this vine out of Egypt; He had taken great pains with it. He had linked Himself openly, before the eyes of men, with this people of His choice. After all, could anything defeat Him?
Writers differ over the event in view. Some tie the boar to the disaster that ended Israel's hold on the land, after a series of God-given recoveries had failed to last.
Josiah was the last instrument God raised up in grace. After him God let the boar out of the wood waste His vineyard, and the wild beast of the field devour it (Ps. 80:13). That terrible disaster upset the whole order of nations that the Most High had set up. Since then the people of Israel have not held the land. They have forfeited all claim to it, whatever Jewish pride and self-will may say in our time. They will not hold the good land again until He comes whose right it is to reign. Then grace will give what righteousness now refuses.
Others read this psalm with the one before it, where a power from the north does the damage.
The attack of the Assyrian, or northern power, comes onto the scene first in Psalm 79. That attack leaves Jerusalem and Jacob in ruins. Psalm 80 follows, presenting the vine brought out of Egypt, but laid waste by the boar out of the forest.
The animal figure is a standing one in Scripture, and one writer presses it beyond the ancient world.
With respect to the imagery used in this Psalm, it is familiar in Scripture. The Christian does well to remember how the Holy Spirit pictures Gentile rule while Israel lies low under judgment: as a ravenous wild beast. This applies to Christianized Gentile power just as forcefully as it did to the old idol-worshipping heathenism. Such power is not the same thing as the living Church of God. Also, as Christ is the true Vine, so there is another plant that claims the same name but bears only fruit that provokes God — fruit that will fill the winepress of the wrath of God (Revelation 14:18-20).
The psalm does not stop at the wreckage. Beside the ruined vine it points to a Branch.
The Psalm declares the desolation of the vine, but it also mentions "the Branch" and "the Son of Man," whom "you have made strong for yourself." Isaiah makes the reason for the desolation plain. Israel as the vine brought forth nothing but wild and worthless grapes. There was no fruit for God. Jesus Himself was the Branch made strong for Jehovah, and He now presents Himself as the real Source of all fruit for God on the earth.
- Planted — God Himself brought the vine out of Egypt and took great pains with it, so its ruin was never His failure.
- Wild — God looked for grapes from His vine and got wild grapes, and that rebellion is why the fence came down.
- Broken — The psalm lays the broken wall at God's own hand, then pleads with Him as the unchanging God whom nothing can defeat.
- Devoured — Scripture pictures Gentile rule as a wild beast while God's people lie under judgment. That warning outlives the ancient empires.
- Restored — Writers differ on which invader the boar is. They agree on where the psalm turns: to the Branch God made strong for Himself. There grace gives what righteousness now refuses.
O God of hosts, return, we beseech thee; look down from the heavens, and behold, and visit this vine;
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
Even the stock which thy right hand hath planted, and the young plant thou madest strong for thyself.
Here the psalm's prayer turns most urgent: it asks God to come back and look at a vine He planted Himself, and at a branch He made strong. Two questions follow — what right does a ruined people have to ask this, and who is this "branch"?
The prayer does not start with what Israel deserves. It starts with what God has already put in.
Here the appeal is to God on the ground of what He had done for them, that that work should not be in vain.
That argument has an edge to it. If God lets the vine go to ruin, what would that say about Him?
Here is the same powerful argument. It leaves out the sin of the people, and pleads with God about the undoing of His own acts — as if the Unchangeable One could change, or the Almighty could be powerless.
The vine was not a random choice for a picture of God's people. It has one purpose, and it cannot stand on its own.
The vine is good for nothing else but fruit, and with its trailing branches is the very image of dependence.
One writer traces where that leads, and who the fruit was always for.
For the vine is good only for bearing fruit, as Ezekiel 15 bears witness. Indeed, if it does not bear fruit, it is thrown in the fire (John 15:6). Fruit, from a scriptural viewpoint, is for God, not for people's enjoyment.
Commentators differ over who this branch is. One reading takes it as the royal line through which the Messiah would come:
They beg God to look down from heaven and visit His vine — the vine that God had planted and the branch that God made strong for Himself. Could the branch be a reference to David and his family, the line from which Christ came as a man?
Another reading goes straight to the Messiah. It rests on the Hebrew word, and on the Targum, an early Jewish translation. The older wording quoted here reads "branch" where the ESV reads "son":
So he cries now to God as the all-powerful one, "the God of hosts," always ready to carry out His will. He asks Him to return and visit this vine. Only His power had ever made it what it was — "the stock which Your right hand has planted, and the branch that You made strong for Yourself." Here the Targum renders it, "and upon the King Messiah, whom You have established for Yourself." The word literally means "the son," but in relation to a vine it would mean a branch, following Hebrew usage.
Two verses later the same phrase returns, this time about "the Son of Man." That repetition points to who the branch is.
Surely "the Son of man, whom You made strong for Yourself" is meant to remind us of the earlier "branch" or "son, whom You made strong for Yourself." But the argument can work the other way too. God does, as we know, call Israel His son, so the first passage could be explained of the nation. Yet "the Son of man" and "the Man of God's right hand" cannot be applied to the nation according to Scripture. The first title clearly applies to Christ, and the second applies to Him by the easiest inference. He is just as clearly the "Branch" that God strengthens for Himself. And here is Israel's hope, and the hope of anyone.
The New Testament picks the picture up again. Jesus applies the image of the vine to Himself.
The Psalm declares the ruin of the vine, yet it also mentions "the Branch" and "the Son of Man," whom "You made strong for Yourself." Isaiah makes the reason for the ruin plain. Israel as the vine brought forth nothing but wild and worthless grapes. There was no fruit for God. Jesus Himself was the Branch made strong for Jehovah, and He now presents Himself as the real Source of all fruit for God on the earth.
The plea is blunt. Faith can press God like this because it knows exactly who it is speaking to.
This is a remarkable example of how boldly and urgently faith pleads, when it has its true object clearly in view.
- Planted — the prayer's whole strength is that the vine is God's own doing; it asks Him not to abandon His own work.
- Purposed — a vine exists for fruit and nothing else. With no fruit, it has no use left.
- Strengthened — commentators differ over the branch. Some see David's royal line; others see the Messiah Himself.
- Identified — verse 17 uses the same phrase of "the Son of Man," and that points the psalm's hope to Christ.
- Fulfilled — Christ is the Branch made strong for God. He now presents Himself as the real source of fruit for God on earth.
It is burned with fire, it is cut down; they perish at the rebuke of thy countenance.
A vine that God planted lies burned and cut down. The psalm blames the ruin on God's own rebuke, not on the enemy who held the fire and the axe — so what hope is left when God is the one who struck?
The writers below use an older translation of this verse: "they perish at the rebuke of your face." The ESV reads "may they perish."
The verse reads like the end of everything.
All seems to be over: "it is burned with fire, it is cut down: they perish at the rebuke of Your face." God seems to be against Himself, undoing the work He has done. But it is the sense of man's ruin that, after all, lifts the soul to grasp God's thoughts, and the psalmist ends with renewed confidence.
The ruin showed the enemy's power, yet the psalm names God's rebuke as the cause. That is where faith takes hold.
There is the sense of belonging to God, of being God's people, and of God's rebuke resting on them — "they perish at the rebuke of your face." This is God dealing with His people, or with a believer in his testimony today, when God deals with him in it. They feel they are His; yet God's work, looked back over as God carried it out in blessing, now looks foiled and a witness to the enemy's power. That power is not what faith rests on, but the rebuke of God. Faith turns to Him, to Him as the original source of the blessing and of the power that did the work.
Why was the vine left open to ruin? One writer points to another passage for the answer, and names the burned "branch."
The answer is stated plainly in Isaiah 5:2: "He expected it to bring forth good grapes, but it brought forth wild grapes." It was not true to character, for the wild grapes speak of rebellion, like that of a wild animal... This branch is the line of David, which God had made strong. Human failure left it open to the burning flame, and it was perishing at the rebuke of God's face.
Commentators differ over who the "son" made strong for God is. Some read it of the nation. One writer ties it to the Son of Man, and stakes Israel's hope on Him.
"The Son of man, whom You made strong for Yourself," is surely meant to remind us of the earlier "branch" or "son, whom You made strong for Yourself"... God does call Israel His son, so the first passage could be explained of the nation. But "the Son of man" and "the man of God's right hand" cannot be applied that way according to Scripture. The first title directly, and the second by the easiest inference, apply to Christ. He is just as plainly the "Branch" that God strengthens for Himself. And here is Israel's hope, as well as the hope of anyone.
Jesus later called Himself the vine, taking up a picture this psalm had already used.
When the Lord spoke of Himself as the Vine, He took up a picture the Old Testament had already applied to Israel, in passages such as Psalm 80:8-18 and Isaiah 5:1-7. The Psalm declares the vine's desolation, yet it also mentions "the Branch" and "the Son of Man," whom "You made strong for Yourself." ... Jesus Himself was the Branch made strong for Jehovah, and He now presents Himself as the real Source of all fruit for God on the earth.
After ruin, the natural prayer is for God to put things back as they were. This prayer asks for something else.
It looks, too, for God to return and visit the vine. But it does not look for the original state of things to be restored — that is not God's way. It looks for the setting up of the branch God had made so strong for Himself. And so with us now: we look for Christ to be exalted, even in the details. If we have failed, it is not fitting for us to ask God to set things right as before, as if nothing had happened. That could not be for His glory. We look instead for God Himself to come in and show His goodness in what displays His own grace.
- Planted. The vine was God's own work, so its burning looks like God undoing what He had done.
- Fruitless. Isaiah supplies the reason for the fire: God expected good grapes, and the vine brought forth wild ones. There was no fruit for God.
- Rebuked. The enemy held the fire and the axe, but the psalm names God's rebuke as the cause. Faith rests on that, not on the enemy's power.
- Branch. Commentators differ over the burned "son made strong": some read it of the nation, others of Christ — the Branch who later called Himself the vine, and the hope of Israel and of anyone.
- Restored. The prayer does not ask for the old days back. It asks for the Branch to be set up — and after our own failure we look the same way, to Christ exalted.