Walk Of Life – Day 28, October 2022 – Thoughts From The Book Of Psalms
Psalm 80 – Prayer For Restoration
This psalm of Asaph is addressed to the Chief Musician set to the tune of ‘The Lilies of the Covenant’. This is a prayer made to the Shepherd of Israel for restoration of two major northern kingdom, Ephraim and Manasseh and Benjamin, where the capital of southern kingdom of Judah, Jerusalem was located. This best suit the time when Assyrian armies invaded Israel in 721 B.C. This must be either written by Asaph prophetically or by one of his descendants who were functioning as late as the reign of Josiah.
The Assyrians kept attacking Israel and forced them to pay tribute as vassals like Israel’s king Menahen gave to Pul (2 Kings 15:19), Hosea last king of Israel to King Shalmaneser (2 Kings17:3) and king of Judah, Ahaz gave to Tiglath-Pileser (2 Kings 16:8) who led the Assyrians to conquer and assimilate the ten tribes of Israel. Later his son Shalmaneser captured Samaria and deported the Israelites to Assyria.
The whole northern kingdom of Israel was sent to exile because they sinned against the LORD their God who had brought them up out of Egypt from under the power of Pharaoh, King of Egypt. They imitated the nations around them, set up Asherah poles, burned incense, worshiped them and followed their evil practices. The Lord warned Israel through all his prophets and seers but they would not listen and were as stiff-necked as their ancestors, who did not trust in the Lord their God.
While the suffering of the exiled northern kingdom was too much to bear Assyrian king, Sennacherib put a siege around Jerusalem and mocked God and terrified those who were still faithful in Judah. When God heard the prayers of King Hezekiah and those who were faithful, the message of deliverance came through prophet Isaiah. God saved Judah but eventually the latter kings resorted to the same sin and they too were subdued by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and were exiled.
Asaph cries and asks God to remember the little vine that He had planted by his own hands and not reject them forever. Israel never had any king after the exile of Babylon who was from the lineage of Jacob. But God in his great mercy remembered the promise given to his servant David, “Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me” 1Samuel7:16. So, He sent his son who sits at his right hand to be born from the lineage of Judah to restore the broken walls of Israel.
Asaph prophetically prays for the Messiah who is the only one who would revive and restore Israel to its former glory. For his, is an eternal kingdom which will restore their faith in God and save them form all unrighteousness.
