Series: Advent
*Psalm 80: 1-7 ESV
2 Chronicles 5:12 ESV
Genesis 3:24 ESV
Numbers 2:18-24 and 10:22-24 (Ephraim, Manasseh, and Benjamin)
Numbers 6:24-26 ESV
I’ve always believed that music and poetry is the ‘stuff’ of life. That’s because often when we cannot adequately express ourselves we often turn to our favorite song or verse.
They touch us in the deep places of our lives.
As we read the psalms we remember they were songs. This psalm and eleven others are accredited to Asaph who was a musician and a leader of musicians. We know from 2 Chronicles 5:12, “and all the Levitical singers, Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun, their sons and kinsmen, arrayed in fine linen, with cymbals, harps, and lyres, stood east of the altar with 120 priests who were trumpeters.”
The writer begins by referring to God as “Shepherd of Israel”; those words were used one other time in the psalms and that was in Psalm 23.
They sang in Psalm 80:1-7, “Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, you who lead Joseph like a flock.You who are enthroned upon the cherubim, shine forth.
Before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh, stir up your might and come to save us!
Restore us, O God; let your face shine, that we may be saved!
O Lord God of hosts, how long will you be angry with your people's prayers?
You have fed them with the bread of tears and given them tears to drink in full measure.
You make us an object of contention for our neighbors, and our enemies laugh among themselves.
Restore us, O God of hosts; let your face shine, that we may be saved!”
I don’t know about you, but as I read I hear the music. I hear a tune led by cymbals, lyres, and harps. A lyre is a stringed instrument that was U-shaped and was hand-held. It usually had from 8-12 strings. A lyre might have sounded like: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=HnPsE61hC4s
A harp could have from 6-30 strings. Ancient harps were often shaped much like a hunting bow in today’s world. Experts believe the harp that David played was a Kinnor Harp. An ancient harp might have sounded like: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=bgAZ28dPjPQ
There were also ancient flutes. Although not mentioned here an ancient flute sounded like: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JD0NDdZKOq0
When we put those sounds together with the cymbal, that is what the psalm set to music would have sounded like.
In the psalm the writer spoke of ‘being saved’. Because of the time period he could have been speaking of the Northern Kingdom of Israel which fell to the Assyrian Armies in 751 BC.
Deliverance if written at the time of David (1090-970 B.C.) could be of an unknown future time.
The exact timing is not known, but we do know deliverance was being sought.
God dwells between the cherubim in heaven. Cherubim are involved in worship in heaven.
In Genesis 3:24 the cherubim were guards, “He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.”
The Tribes of Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh were mentioned in this order in Numbers 2:18-24 and 10:22-24. Those three tribes were assigned to encamp west of the Tabernacle. Each tribe had their place where they could be found. It established a structure and served as their “address”. In other words if someone from the tribe of Judah needed to find someone from the tribe of Benjamin, they were walk to the west of the Tabernacle. In my mind once there, they could ask someone where to go to find them.
We remember that Ephraim and Manasseh were sons of Joseph who preserved the nation before and Benjamin was a brother to Joseph. When we urgently pray we often remind God of a time when God was faithful. It helps us to remember the character and nature of God. WE remember God’s faithfulness to us. We are not the faithful one. It is God who is faithful to us.
The request in the psalm was for restoration which was found in God. Specifically they asked God to shine His face on them (us) to save them (us). The writer knew God could save them if “stirred” to do so. The writer understood God. The writer believed it by faith, and the writer relied on it. The writer knew when God’s face shined on them everything would change. We remember Numbers 6:24-26:
“The Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you;
the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.”
The psalm ends with an urgent request and reminds God: be not angry with our prayers; we drink tears, we suffer discord and our enemies laugh at us.
Psalm 80:7 repeats the request for restoration and salvation.
Spiritual Practice: Shine On Me
Sit with God and ask God to Shine on You today
In God, Deborah
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