In Chapter 79 we read how our forefather strayed so far from our Heavenly Father that they started to blame God for all their troubles. They became blinded to the fact that they are the ones that caused their own troubles, and started to think in their minds that God had brought it upon them, when it was by their own choices and deeds that they brought their problems down on their own heads. It was a view of the enemy in the Sanctuary of God, changing the minds of God's sheep, causing them to go astray.

In this chapter we will view God in the Sanctuary, for God has promised that He will never leave us nor forsake us. When we follow Him and his Word, and get our life together, then we will receive His blessings. So Psalms 80 will continue on from the last verse of Psalms 79, dealing with the Sheep fold, and the Shepherd of Israel that shall lead it.

This chapter is written to "the chief Musician upon or at Shoshannim-Eduth." "Shoshannim-eduth" is a testimony relating to the Feast of the second Passover, as recorded in Numbers 9:5-14, and 2 Chronicles 29:25-35. We are going to get a testimony in this chapter study. This is also the ninth Psalm of the twelve Psalms of Asaph. "Asaph" meaning, "He who gathers the congregation". It is a Psalm of "mizmor" in the Hebrew; a Psalm of meditation rather than one of singing.

Psalms 80:1 "I will give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, Thou That leadest Joseph like a flock; Thou that dwellest between the cherubims, shine forth."

The "Shepherd of Israel" is the Shepherd that laid down His life for His sheep [Israel]. That good Shepherd is Jesus the Christ, and Jesus has many under shepherds tending to His flock here on earth. Remember that this is drawing from the pasture that is above, and this verse shows us that Jesus is supernatural. Jesus dwells "between the two cherubims" which is "the Ark of the Covenant", which is in heaven today. We know from Revelation 11:19 that when the Seventh trumpet is sounded and Jesus Christ returns to this earth; all flesh is done away with, and in the 19th verse we read.

Revelation 11:19 "And the Temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in His Temple the Ark of His testament [Covenant]: and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail. "

Inside that covenant ark were the tablets of the law, and the manna. We know that Lucifer, or Satan was one of those protecting cherubim's that was to guard the Ark. They were the ones "that covereth the mercy seat" as is stated in the Hebrew tongue. Ezekiel 28:14, 15 tell us of Lucifer's duty in that first earth age.

Ezekiel 28:14, 15 "Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire." [14] "Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee." [15]

The mercy seat was the seat for the Heavenly Father and the Son, but Satan was the other created angel or cherub that tried to claim that right. Because of Satan's great beauty, Satan tried to take God's position there, and when he fell, one third of all the souls or angels in heaven follow after Satan.

There was another cherub, or ark angel also that was there, and he is the one that will boot Satan to this earth at the sixth trumpet, as recorded in Revelation 12:7-9. When Michael and his angels send Satan to this earth, it will mark the final 50 month period of this earth age of the flesh, and the whole world will go whoring after this false Christ, thinking he is God. This will happen in our generation. Each of these events will happen and they are all written in our Heavenly Father's Word. Those sealed in their minds with the truth will not be deceived when these things are going on, for they know the truth and it is sealed in their minds.

Jesus is spoken of as the Good Shepherd: John 10:11 "I am the Good Shepherd: the Good shepherd giveth His life for the Sheep."

John 10:12 "But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth: and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep."

John 10:13 "The hireling fleeth, because he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep."

John 10:14 "I am the good Shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine."

John 10:15 "As the Father knoweth Me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep."

If you are one of the flock of Christ, than you must depend on the good Shepherd for any protection and feeding that you receive. Every thing that any sheep of any fold depends on its shepherd for, that is what we must rely on our good Shepherd to provide. Those things include everything, from protection from the wolves or wicked ones of this world age, to the spiritual and physical food that we receive. Our Shepherd tends to the flock and Christ is waiting to hear from you what your needs are. He knows those things that you overlook and that is his job as the good shepherd to provide for those needs also. He even knew that without His death on the cross, there would be no hope for your eternal salvation, and He provided His blood willingly so that you could be saved. The Shepherd leads the sheep, he doesn't drive them like cattle, but when He goes, they follow. They don't follow false shepherds.

Psalms 80:2 "Before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh stir up Thy strength, And come and save us,"

"Before", as used here, should read, "for the sons of" Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh. These three tribes were the offspring from Jacob and Rachel; Joseph being the first born, and Benjamin the second. These two sons held a very special place in Jacob's heart, being from his most favorite wife. When ever Israel was on the move, Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh always protected the rear of the massive movement.

Psalms 80:3 "Turn us again, O God, And cause Thy face to shine; and we shall be saved."

"Restore us again, O God"; and here again is a man's idea of God's face, for God's face always shines, but it is just not shining upon this person. The point to this chapter is that we don't make the same mistakes that this person did to bring him to this point.

Psalms 80:4 "O Lord God of hosts, How long wilt Thou be angry against the prayer of Thy people?"

Here again, these words are coming from one that is not in the good grace with our Lord, for God is never angry with the prayer of His people. Just because you read it here in the Scripture it does not mean that is so and right with God's will. However, it is a man's statement, and it reflects the spiritual condition of that person uttering the words. God is never angry with the prayers of His saints, but He waits on us to come to Him for repentance and help. However He is angry at those people that pray for things in greed and that go against His Will. God has given us His will through His Word, and we are to pray for those things according to Our Heavenly Father's Will. When we don't know what to pray for, the Holy Spirit will intercession for the saints, according to His Will. Our salvation is by hope; that which is seen is not hope: for if a man sees something why would he hope for it? In Romans 8:25; "But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it."

Romans 8:26 "Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit Itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered."

Romans 8:27 "And He That searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because He maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God."

God will intercede into the life of the elect when they don't even know what to pray for, nor what is God's will and purpose is for their lives. God has a plan, and we should pray that we will see what our part is for that plan, and then ask for the gifts necessary to do the work that He has for our lives though that plan. Then you can rely on receiving blessings from God to fulfill your part and for the needs of your life.

Psalms 80:5 "Thou feedest them with the bread of tears; And givest them tears to drink in great measure."

Their tears that they had were brought on by themselves. Don't ever blame your tears on our Heavenly Father, for they brought the tears on by their own impatience and disobedience to our Lord's instruction. The lesson to us, is that we should blame our tears on ourselves, for allowing ourselves to get into the mess we are in.

Psalms 80:6 "Thou makest us a strife unto our neighbours: And our enemies laugh among themselves."

When others look at the trouble your in, they laugh to themselves, knowing that your own attitudes and actions brought on your conflict. It was by your own choices that you caused the troubles to come down on your head. As we read in the Scriptures, each time the tribes ran into trouble, it was because of their own mistakes. They brought in heathen God's and strayed away from the ways and teaching that God gave them in His Scriptures.

Psalms 80:7 "Turn us again, O God of hosts, And cause Thy face to shine; and we shall be saved.

God is waiting on you to open your eyes and turn back to Him. You will never be so deep in trouble that you can not call out to God for help. He is there all the time, but sometimes you have to hit bottom before you can be turned to face our Heavenly Father for help.

Psalms 80:8 "Thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt: Thou hast cast out the heathen, and planted it."

God prepared the way for the children of Israel to leave Egypt, and He even drove the giants and heathen out of the promise land to prepare it for our inhabitance. Then He planted our forefathers in that land.

Psalms 80:9 "Thou preparedst room before it, And didst cause it to take deep root, and it filled the land."

This is so true, and when you see all that God did for them to get them to the promise land, you see that the children of Israel have nothing to blame God for. The vine is Israel, and even when God planted that vine in the promise land, it still hated Him for all the things done for them. God didn't wilt that vine, they started to die on their own part when they turned their backs on God's instructions.

Psalms 80:10 "The hills were covered with the shadow of it, And the boughs thereof were like the goodly cedars."

When God planted the children of Israel in the promise land, it was fertile and the soil was lush with pasture land and crops.

Psalms 80:11 "She sent out her boughs unto the sea, And her branches unto the river."

The promise land, from the Mediterranean sea, to the Euphrates River, the land gave forth rich crops.

Psalms 80:12 "Why hast Thou then broken down her hedges, So that all they which pass by the way do pluck her?"

God didn't bread down Israel's hedges, He did not have to for they allowed it to happen to themselves. All those that saw the blessings that God gave Israel wanted them for themselves, and they plucked Israel and Israel allowed it to happen to her. God allowed it to happen.

Psalms 80:13 "The boar out of the wood doth waste it, And the wild beast of the field doth devour it."

The "wood" is the "forest". the word "forest" in the Hebrew has the letter "Ayin" suspended, so with the letter "Ayin" added in the Hebrew tongue it reads "river". This mistake or happening has happened four other times in the Scripture, as detailed in the Massorah. The ancient Jewish interpreters took this suspended letter as denoting that, when innocent, Israel would be assailed only by a power weak as a river animal; but when guilty, it would be destroyed by a power as strong as a forest animal. This held true until the Roman power arose, whose military ensign was the "boar", and it was understood as "river", and thus meaning Egypt. Much later in the Septuagint, the Vulgate and other versions of the Scriptures came forth, it would be used only as forest [wood].

The point here is that it provides a way to determine if Israel is innocent in what she does or accused of doing, then God will send an enemy against her as week as an animal from the river and she will defeat them. But if Israel is guilt of the sins she is accused of, than she will be ripped as from a boar, or roaring lion from the forest. God will not allow Israel to suffer when she is trying to please our Heavenly Father.

So what this is saying here in this verse, is that God didn't send any beast of the river or forest, for the trouble they were in was caused by their own negligence. Remember that it was reported in verses 8, and 9 that God planted them as a lush vine, and their roots went deep. It was long after this that they accepted heathen gods, and their kings turned their backs on God. They brought it all on themselves, by not following the path that God outlined for them to for them to follow. For a vine to be healthy, it hast to have the dead wood purned off it's branches once and a while.

Psalms 80:14 "Return, we beseech Thee, O God of hosts: Look down from heaven, and behold, and visit this vine;"

The "God of hosts" is our Heavenly Father sitting in control of His entire creation. The hosts of heaven are all the created souls that are and were created. That includes Satan, a created being. Remember that this vine, is Israel. This is a prayer asking God to keep looking down and make those cuts on the dead wood that needs to be pruned away. God will, but he will not interfere with your right to chose Him and His ways, or reject Him.

Psalms 80:15 "And the vineyard which Thy right hand hath planted, And the branch that Thou madest strong for Thyself."

The "branch" is Jesus the Christ, that sits between those two Cherubims, at the right hand of the Father in heaven.

Psalms 80:16 "It is burned with fire, it is cut down: They perish at the rebuke of Thy countenance."

That dead wood is pruned from the vineyard, cut down and burned, for God will do away with those that are unfit for His kingdom.

Psalms 80:17 "Let Thy hand be upon the man of Thy right hand, Upon the son of man whom Thou madest strong for Thyself."

This should not need any explanation, for the "man of Thy right hand", is "the Son of Man" Jesus the Christ. God will never forsake you nor leave you as long as you use common sense.

Psalms 80:18 "So will not we go back from Thee: Quicken us, and we will call upon Thy name."

To "quicken" is to "bring alive". There is only one way that anyone can be made alive or quickened, and that is when you have eternal life. That eternal life comes only through the man at the right hand of the Father, the Son of Man, Jesus Christ. Remember what Jesus said to Martha, concerning her brother Lazarus' death.

John 11:25, 26 "Jesus said unto her, "I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:" "And whosoever liveth and believeth in Me shall never die. Believest thou this?"

Can you say yes? This is in reference to your eternal soul, and not your flesh body. Of course it shall die in time and return to the elements it is composed of. It is your soul that is eternal. The spiritual is a lot more natural than these physical fleshly bodies. We call on our Heavenly Father for help through His Son Jesus, for that name is the only name under heaven whereby we can be saved. However, we must live our lives His way, and walk in His path or we shall be pruned by Him.

Psalms 80:19 "Turn us again, O Lord God of hosts, Cause Thy face to shine; and we shall be saved."

"To the chief Musician upon Gittith.

God our Heavenly Father's face shines all the time. It is when your face turns from God's face that you lose the countenance of His face in yours. We have only one God, not two or three as many teach. There is one entity with three different offices to that one supernatural entity. The offices of the Father, the Son, and His spirit, the Holy Spirit. God's face has never forsaken any of His children. However, though the people cried out that God had forsaken them, He had not. The people in their backsliding position had forsaken God.