Homilist Psalm 80:1-19 Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, you that lead Joseph like a flock; you that dwell between the cherubim, shine forth.… I. As A SHEPHERD (ver. 1). 1. His flock indicated. "Joseph" may stand for all Israel, and Israel as an illustration of the moral condition of men everywhere. (1) Rebellious. (2) Discontented. (3) Pursuing a perilous journey. 2. His dwelling-place described. Dwelt in symbol on mercy-seat. Now, God is in Christ, reconciling the world. 3. His interposition invoked (ver. 2). (1) The end. "Save us." (2) The means. Divine strength Divine turning. Divine favour. II. As A CHARACTER (ver. 4). God's chastisements are — 1. Always deserved. 2. Often very painful. Physical anguish, moral distress, social bereavement, disappointment, persecution. 3. They sometimes stimulate prayer. However great our afflictions, if they but. send us in prayer to God, they are blessings in disguise. III. As A CULTIVATOR (vers. 8-13). 1. The work He does. (1) He prepares the soil. There is only one moral soil in the universe in which dead souls can be quickened and be rightly developed, and that is the Gospel of Christ. Souls are seeds. (2) He deposit the seed. God alone can bring the soul into the soil of Gospel truth and root it there. (3) He trains the plant. "The hills were covered with the shadow of it." The Jewish people became a grand nation under His training. So do human souls become under His spiritual training. 2. The evil He permits. "Why hast thou then broken down her hedges?" etc. He did not do it by His direct agency, only by permission. He could have prevented it. He could have crushed the invaders. But He did not. For wise and beneficent purposes, He permitted it. So it is in the department of spiritual culture. He permits evils. IV. As THE RESTORER (vers. 14-19). 1. He restores by special visitation. "Look down from heaven," etc. Dead souls are restored to life because God visits the world. "He bowed the heavens and came down." He appeared in Christ. 2. He restores from apparently the most hopeless condition (ver. 16). "There is nothing too hard for the Lord." "He is able of these stones to raise up children," etc. "Can these dry bones live?" you say. Yes, they can. 3. He restores by quickening the soul into devotion (ver. 18). (Homilist.) Parallel Verses KJV: {To the chief Musician upon ShoshannimEduth, A Psalm of Asaph.} Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, thou that leadest Joseph like a flock; thou that dwellest between the cherubims, shine forth. |
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