Psalms

In 722 BC the nation of Assyria was the most powerful nation in the world.  They were the world's sole superpower.  When this army moved, kings were conquered, borders were changed, kingdoms fell, men died.  In their wake they left destruction, death and mayhem.  At this time, the nation of Israel was divided.  Israel represented the Northern kingdom and the land of 10 tribes.  The southern kingdom was called Judah.  It encompassed the land of 2 tribes; most of which was the land given to the tribe of Judah.  The Assyrian army came against the northern kingdom of Israel in 722 BC.  As you study through the books of Kings and Chronicles you'll see how the Northern Kingdom had turned away from God.  In the prophetic books you see God warning these people through prophecy to repent and turn back to Him.  When they failed to heed the warnings, the Assyrian army conquered them and carried them away in captivity.  The Assyrian army was particularly known for its brutality.  So when they conquered a city, they killed all the men of fighting age.  They carried off anything of value and destroyed everything else.  They raped and pillaged as they desired.  They were known to skin people alive.  If you were chosen to live in servitude to them, they put hooks in the nose of their captives and led them away. There were no rules to war in that day.

As this happened the people of Judah watched and heard what was going on.  As far as they knew, they were next.  They were astonished; the northern kingdom represented ten tribes of Israel.  How could God allow this to happen?  Yet, God didn't allow it.  He warned them over and over.  They were living in apostasy.  They had removed themselves from the blessing of the covenant of God.  They had been continually warned.  God told Solomon this would happen.

So all this unfolded in the Northern Kingdom before the watchful eyes of the southern Kingdom.  They watched from Jerusalem.  And you know they were wondering.  Could it happen here?  Surely not?  God wouldn't allow that, would he?

That's the setting and the background for this Psalm.  With all this in mind, Asaph, the Psalmist cries out to God.   

To the Chief Musician. Set to "The Lilies." A Testimony of Asaph. A Psalm.

 ¹ Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel,
         You who lead Joseph like a flock;
         You who dwell between the cherubim, shine forth!
 ² Before Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh,
         Stir up Your strength,
         And come and save us!
From Jerusalem this cry to God goes up.  They declare that He is the shepherd of Israel.  God alone leads His people like a flock.  From Israel they worshiped at the temple.  In the Holy of Holies was the Ark of the Covenant.  And on the Ark was the mercy seat where there were 2 Cherubim.  That was where the Israelites saw the presence of God.  This presence was seen as a shining cloud or a pillar of fire, or both.  It was the Shekinah glory.

The Psalmist asked that God would stir up His strength before Ephraim, Benjamin and Manasseh.  These were the tribal lands between them and the Assyrian army.  If Assyria wasn't stopped in the lands of Ephraim, Benjamin and Manasseh, they would be in Judah and then Jerusalem.  These verses show the desperation and intensity they are feeling.  Assyria was coming.  There was no time to waste.  God needed to move on their behalf.

 ³ Restore us, O God;
         Cause Your face to shine,
         And we shall be saved!
The Psalmist wanted the restoration of the 12 tribes.  The words 'restore us' could also be translated, turn us again.  Israel was in trouble.  They needed God's blessing.  To have God's face shine on you was to find favor with God; to have him move on your behalf.  The Northern kingdom had turned from God and Assyria was the means by which God chastened them.  The Southern Kingdom had its problems, also.  This was a cry for all the Jews to be united under One God.  Turn us again Oh God.

 ⁴ O LORD God of hosts,
         How long will You be angry
         Against the prayer of Your people?
 ⁵ You have fed them with the bread of tears,
         And given them tears to drink in great measure.
 ⁶ You have made us a strife to our neighbors,
         And our enemies laugh among themselves.
God's anger was righteous.  Asaph knew that.  The people and the land or the North deserved God's judgment.  So the question was How long.  If people prayed and returned to Him, how long would His anger continue?  The Israelites were feeling the pain.  They were reaping what they had sown.

Hosea was a prophet to the Israel and he said:      

 ⁷ " They sow the wind,
      And reap the whirlwind.

Their false religions and false gods were useless.  They suffered from the uselessness and futility of all they chased after by suffering tremendous loss and pain.  All they had for food and drink were their tears of affliction.

 ⁷ Restore us, O God of hosts;
         Cause Your face to shine,
         And we shall be saved!
The refrain once again asks God, turn us again.

 ⁸ You have brought a vine out of Egypt;
         You have cast out the nations, and planted it.
 ⁹ You prepared room for it,
         And caused it to take deep root,
         And it filled the land.
 ¹⁰ The hills were covered with its shadow,
         And the mighty cedars with its boughs.
 ¹¹ She sent out her boughs to the Sea,

         And her branches to the River.
It's been said that God took a family to Egypt and 400 years later he brought a nation out.  The Psalmist said that nation was a vine that came out of Egypt.  That vine or Israel was taken to the Promised land.  All the nations were cast from the land where the vine was to be planted.  And then they were planted and they took root and they grew and filled the land.  The vine spread in all directions to fill the land.  The vine was mighty and it bore fruit and it was productive.

 ¹² Why have You broken down her hedges,
         So that all who pass by the way pluck her fruit?
 ¹³ The boar out of the woods uproots it,
         And the wild beast of the field devours it.
The vine forgot where it came from.  The vine forgot that it was supported by something outside itself.  The vine forgot that its life and sustenance came through the entire vine but was supplied by the grace of an awesome God.

The Psalmist saw the vine broken down, lying on the ground where it was used, devoured, kicked about and trampled.  It no longer bore useful fruit.

 ¹⁴ Return, we beseech You, O God of hosts;
         Look down from heaven and see,
         And visit this vine
 ¹⁵ And the vineyard which Your right hand has planted,
         And the branch that You made strong for Yourself.
 ¹⁶ It is burned with fire, it is cut down;
         They perish at the rebuke of Your countenance.
 ¹⁷ Let Your hand be upon the man of Your right hand,
         Upon the son of man whom You made strong for Yourself.
 ¹⁸ Then we will not turn back from You;
         Revive us, and we will call upon Your name.
As the people of Judah and specifically the people in Jerusalem saw their ten Northern tribes fall.  They asked God to not forget they were one nation.  God didn't want them divided.  They allowed it to happen.  Now, with the northern tribes defeated Asaph is calling for God to give them another chance. 

The vineyard God planted is in sad shape.  It is burned with fire and cut down.  Asaph's prayer is that God's hand would once again be with the Israelites.  That they would turn to Him and He would be their God.  God had made them strong before.  They were His people declaring His glory.  They wanted that again.  Iif God would grant that, they would not turn back from Him.  Revive us.......God.  Renew us........save us.

Asaph ends with the refrain.        
 ¹⁹ Restore us, O LORD God of hosts;
         Cause Your face to shine,
         And we shall be saved!

Turn us again.  It's the cry of Asaph on behalf of his people.  Turn us again towards you, O God.  Restore us, renew us.  We want to be your people, we want you to be our God.

This national prayer seems fitting for us.  We live in a time of national crisis.

The world thinks the crisis is the national debt or tornados and flooding.  The world believes border control is a crisis, or the price of a barrel or oil or a pound of coffee.  But these things are nothing.  Our national crisis is a widespread apostasy.  It's a turning away from God and the things of God.  We were a nation born out of Godly values.  We were a strong nation and our values were God, the bible, family, church, morality, piety and hard work.  Now we are a nation that has no real value system.  We operate only on momentum from the past.  And with no values, we are infected with pornography, incredible debt, self-esteem with no correction, convenience at all cost, immorality, laziness, abortion, same sex marriage, leadership that can't lead, liars, cheats, murderers and the list goes on and on.  This list is nearly identical to what was going in any Apostate land.  These things are the results of a society without God.

Asaph knew the answer; turn to God.  Plead our case before God.  Our cry for our nation should be, Turn us, Lord, before its too late.  Restore us, make your face shine upon us and we will be saved.

©2011 Doug Ford