The Messiah Of Psalm 80

By Walter C. Kaiser Jr.

[This is the fourth article in the four-part series “Using the Context of the Psalms to Interpret Their Message,” delivered as the W. H. Griffith Thomas Lectures at Dallas Theological Seminary, February 2-5, 2016.

Walter C. Kaiser Jr. is President Emeritus, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, Hamilton, Massachusetts.]

The “Shepherd” theme that begins Psalm 80 connects this psalm with the previous psalms in a group of seven (Pss. 77-83). Psalm 79:13 ends with “We are your people, the sheep of your pasture,” while Psalm 80:1 opens with a cry to the shepherd of Israel: “Hear us, Shepherd of Israel, you who lead Joseph like a flock.”

Psalm 80 is both the midpoint of the whole book of Psalms and the central psalm of the seven psalms of devastation and destruction that are Psalms 77-83. In this central position, Psalm 80 interacts with the destruction of the northern kingdom of Israel, also known as the house of Joseph. It reinforces this focus on the northern ten tribes by its clear references to “Joseph,” “Ephraim,” and “Manasseh.” Not only is Psalm 80 the midpoint of these seven psalms, but also Jewish scribes who counted the Hebrew letters (as a safeguard for maintaining accuracy in copying the text) of this book identified the Hebrew word “from-the-forest” (מִיָּעַר) in Psalm 80:13 as containing the middle letter of the book of Psalms. Thus, what at first glance appears to be an isolated psalm dealing with the northern capital city of Samaria is in fact closely aligned with the adjoining psalms.

Franz Delitzsch described Psalm 80 as consisting of

five eight-line strophes, of which the first, second and fifth [strophes] close with the refrain, “Elohim, restore us, let Thy countenance shine forth, then shall we be helped.” The refrain begins the first time with Elohim [5], the second time with Elohim Tsebaoth [7], and the third time with a threefold Jahve Elohim Tsebaoth [19], with which the second strophe (ver. 5 [4]) also opens.[1]

Robertson notes that except for the single reference to the person of “Joseph” in Book V (Ps. 105:16-22), almost all of the other references to “Joseph” in the book of Psalms are clustered around Psalm 80 (77:15; 78:67; 80:1; 81:5). There is one other exception to this cluster of names for the Joseph tribes: “Ephraim” is mentioned in Psalm 60:7 and echoed in Psalm 108:8.

Already in Psalm 78:67 Scripture informs us that “[God] rejected the tents of Joseph, he did not choose the tribe of Ephraim.” Instead,

[God] chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion which he loved. . . . He chose David his servant and took him from the sheep pens; from tending the sheep he brought him to be shepherd of his people Jacob, of Israel his inheritance. And David shepherded them with integrity of heart; with skillful hands he led them (Ps. 78:68, 70-72).

In keeping with this rejection of the “tents of Joseph,” God had previously rejected King Saul, who came from the tribe of Benjamin, one of the Rachel tribes. But hope for the northern kingdom rested on a single person, who was called a “son” whom God himself had raised up (80:15). This unique “son” was called the “man of [God’s] right hand” and the “son of man” (80:17). But this is confusing, for it calls to mind the messianic “son” promised to David (2 Sam. 7:14) while it also seems to play on the name “Benjamin,” the favored younger son of Rachel, whose name meant “son of the right hand.” How could the only hope that the northern kingdom possessed be placed on this figure called the “man of [God’s] right hand” as well as the “son of man” (80:15, 17)? It would appear that this “son of man,” this “man of [God’s] right hand” was a deliverer who carried in his person the gift of leadership that was assigned to Joseph, or the Rachel side of Jacob’s family, and not Judah from the Leah side of the family.

To understand this reference, we need to go back to the ancient prophetic blessings that Jacob and Moses gave to each of the tribes of Israel. Jacob, the patriarch who fathered all twelve sons of Israel, had declared in his blessing on his deathbed that the scepter would not depart from Judah “until he should come to whom it properly belongs” (שִׁילֹה, Gen. 49:10). However, a later prophetic benediction given by Moses in Deuteronomy 33:16-17 announced that Joseph would be

the prince among his brothers . . . like a firstborn bull; his horns [would be] the horns of a wild ox. With them he [would] gore the nations, even those at the ends of the earth.

Interestingly, an identical priority of position was given to Joseph and his descendants in 1 Chronicles 5:1-2. That text declared that the rights of the firstborn belonged to Reuben, but “when he [Reuben] defiled his father’s marriage bed,” his rights as firstborn “were given to the sons of Joseph, son of Israel; . . . [even] though Judah was the strongest of his brothers and a ruler [would] come from him, [yet] the rights of the firstborn belonged to Joseph.”

What, then, are we to do with this tension created by the rights that seem to have been given simultaneously to the line of Joseph and to the line of David? The book of Psalms never completely resolved this tension. In fact, the Lord clearly rejected Ephraim as well as another of the Rachel tribes, i.e., Benjamin, from which hailed the deposed King Saul. In their place, God appointed King David of the Leah tribes (Ps. 78:9, 67). However, Psalm 80 informs us that a position of priority remained for the Joseph tribe as well. Thus, from Joseph and his sons, the Lord would raise up for himself a “man at [his] right hand” and a “son of man” (80:1-2, 15, 17) with an explanation that is based on the name Benjamin (בִּנְיָמִין), meaning a “son” of the “right hand.”

Rabbinic apocalyptic literature, using a dubious midrashic interpretation of the text, declared that a

Messiah b. Joseph will appear prior to the coming of Messiah b. David; he will gather the children of Israel around him, march to Jerusalem, and there, after overcoming the hostile powers, reestablish the Temple-worship and set up his own dominion.[2]

This act by Messiah ben Joseph would prompt certain hosts/armies to wage war and slay him. One group of Jewish interpreters argued that Messiah ben Joseph’s corpse would be hidden by the angels until Messiah ben David came and resurrected him.

In Psalm 80, then, the psalmist uses various plays on words, such as three different phrases for the “vine” and the play on the name “Benjamin,” to speak of a hero who will deliver the devastated people of the northern kingdom so that God’s face might shine on them with a blessing once again (Ps. 80:3, 7, 19). Notably, the Aramaic Targum explained the term “son” in Psalm 80:15 (Hebrew v. 16) as “anointed king.”[3] However, Psalm 80 should be looked at in its entirety.

Strophe I—Psalm 80:1-3

Asaph began with a plea and a cry to the Shepherd of Israel that he would hear their entreaty. The Lord was identified as the one “who [led] Joseph like a flock” and “who [sits] enthroned between the cherubim” (80:1). The cherubim are those who bear up the chariot on which the throne of God is placed (Ezek. 10:9-17).

The psalm identifies the petitioners addressing God as “Israel,” “Ephraim,” “Benjamin,” and “Manasseh” (80:2). It is surprising to see “Benjamin” in this list of names from the northern ten tribes, for Benjamin remained with Judah and King Rehoboam after the division of the kingdom (1 Kings 12:21). However, 1 Kings 11:13, 32, 36 says only one tribe remained with the house of David, i.e., the tribe of Judah. This is why the Benjamite cities of Bethel, Gilgal, and Jericho are sometimes placed with the northern kingdom. We conclude that the boundaries of the Israelite tribes were fluctuating and that the tribe of Benjamin was divided in its loyalties between the northern and southern kingdoms.

The ten tribes of the north are summarized in the name of “Joseph” (Ps. 80:1), and the triad of names “Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh” all come from the Rachel line of Jacob’s family.

The plea was for “Elohim” (v. 2b) to “awaken [his] might and to come and save [them],” making his “face shine on [them] so that [they might] be saved” (vv. 2b–3). Their primary adversaries were the Assyrian kings Tiglath-pileser and Shalmaneser, who oppressed the northern ten tribes heavily. It was because of this pressure that the Joseph tribes cried, “Restore us, O Elohim” (v. 3). This refrain also occurs at verses 7 and 19, with a hint of the same in verse 14. The request that God would make his “face shine” on them takes up the words of the Aaronic blessing in Numbers 6:25.

Strophe II—Psalm 80:4-7

The petition for God’s help arises anew in the second strophe. God apparently veils himself in the impenetrable smoke of his wrath (v. 4). The petitioners are fed, but with the “bread of tears,” tears that they can drink “by the bowlful” (v. 5). As a result, the northern ten tribes have become the “object of derision to [their] neighbors” (v. 6). The foreign forces threatened all the promises of God, for in Book III of the Psalter they appear to be too numerous to defeat.

The refrain in verse 7 pleads once again for God’s restoration, using the name “Elohim Tsebaoth.” The name Elohim applies to all creatures and creation, but the psalmist now adds Tsebaoth (צְבָאוֹת), a reference to the “armies” or “hosts” of both earth and the angelic realms of heaven (1 Sam. 16:26, 36).

Strophe III—Psalm 80:8-11

In this strophe, Asaph contrasts what God had done in the former days for Israel with what he was doing in the present. Here Joseph is compared with “a vine” that had been “transplanted . . . from Egypt” (v. 8); this may have been the background for our Lord’s teaching, “I am the true vine” (John 15:1). From this same period came the parable of the vineyard in Isaiah 5:1-7. Later, the vine is featured in Ezekiel 15. This metaphor of the vine may have been inspired by Jacob’s reference to the “fruitful bough” in his blessing of Joseph in Genesis 49:22.

In those former days, God drove out the nations from Canaan “and planted [the vine]” in the land of promise (Ps. 80:8b). This vine, the people of Israel, “took root” and “filled the land” (v. 9b). “The mountains [the southern boundaries of the land of Canaan] were covered with [the vine’s] shade, the mighty cedars [the northern boundaries] with its branches” (v. 10). The “branches reach[ing] as far as the Sea” (v. 11a) refers to the western boundary created by the Mediterranean Sea, and “the shoots [extending] as far as the River” to the Euphrates River in the east. Taken together, the imagery describes the extent of the territory given to Israel by God.

Strophe IV—Psalm 80:12-15

Now, however, Assyria is hammering the ten northern tribes with its armies and reducing their sovereignty and territory. The poet wants to know why this present state of affairs is taking place. The walls around the vine are being torn down so that anyone who passes by can pick the grapes off Israel’s vine (v. 12). “Boars from the forest ravage it” (v. 13), the “boars” being an obvious metaphor for Assyria. It is not unusual for animals to be used as symbols for foreign nations; this can be seen in references to the sea monster (Isa. 30:7) and “flies” (7:18) as metaphors for Egypt and the extensive use of animals in Daniel’s vision in Daniel 7.

The psalmist’s request resumes with triple urgency in verse 14: “Return,” “Look down,” “Watch!” Verse 14 is also a variant of the chorus in verses 3, 7, and 19. Its request to “return to us, Elohim Tsebaoth” emphasizes the compassionate regard God has for all who call on him.

Strophe V—Psalm 80:16-19

Three different phrases are used for the “vine,” the nation of Israel that God had brought out of Egypt. Israel is called (1) the “son you have raised up for yourself” (v. 15b), (2) the “man of your right hand” (v. 17a), and (3) the “son of man you have raised up for yourself” (v. 17b). These alternative names for the “vine” all play on the name “Benjamin,” “son of the right hand,” whose name was introduced in verse 2. These names represent both the whole community of Israel as well as a single individual. The referent will be deliverer of Israel, but Israel cannot be her own savior. Moreover, this psalm has the descendants of Rachel in mind (Joseph, Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh) and not the descendants of Leah (Judah, David); thus the psalm is not primarily about a Davidic Messiah, yet the individual mentioned here seems to be messianic.

Robertson argued that the tradition of two “saviors” (or even Messiahs) who come from two different tribal lines (Joseph and David) finds its

resolution in a single Savior who combines in himself the major elements of both traditions. Because the ultimate Redeemer of God’s people is so rich in significance, no one figure could encompass all the facets of his person and work.[4]

What was needed was a royal image of a Davidic king who was sovereign over all, along with an image of a suffering Joseph figure who goes down into a pit, down into Egypt, down into prison, and then ascends to the ruling position alongside Pharaoh.

Book III, the middle of the book of Psalms, began by recalling how Israel, including the descendants of Jacob and Joseph, was delivered from Egypt (Ps. 77:15). Near the end of Book III this theme is highlighted again in Psalm 81:

This is the decree for Israel, an ordinance of the God of Jacob. When God went out against Egypt, he established it as a statute for Joseph (Ps. 81:4-5).

Psalm 80 ends in verse 19 with a third expression of the psalm’s plea for restoration, only this time Asaph uses the triple name for God: Yahweh Elohim Tsebaoth. The psalmist pleads with Israel’s covenant God, Yahweh, who is also God over all creation and over mighty armies, to repeat with Joseph’s descendants his restoration of Joseph from suffering. The agent of this restoration is to be the “son of man,” the Messiah. This is not a second Messiah, as rabbinic interpretation would suggest, but rather the same Messiah who, in addition to being a Davidic king, would also fulfill the role of the suffering Joseph. Asaph has chosen the Joseph figure in Psalm 80 to highlight Messiah’s identification with the suffering of Israel as well as his ability to “gore the nations” (Deut. 33:17), here necessary due to the oppression of Assyria. The Messiah cannot be reduced to the likeness of a single historical figure, but encompasses many roles. In Psalm 80, he is the one who will restore the decimated people of Joseph and cause God to shine his blessing on Joseph and his descendants once more.

Notes

1. Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Psalms (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1953), 2:383.
2. Moses Buttenwieser, “Messiah,” in The Jewish Encyclopedia (New York: Funk and Wagnalls), 1906, 8:511-12. Also see Gerald J. Blidstein, “Messiah,” in Encyclopedia Judaica (Jerusalem: Keter, 1972), 11:1410-12, as cited by O. Palmer Robertson, The Flow of the Psalms: Discovering Their Structure and Theology (Phillipsburg, NJ: P. & R., 2015), 143, n. 11.
3. David M. Stec, The Targum of Psalms (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2004), 157, as cited by O. Palmer Robertson, The Flow of the Psalms, 133, n. 11. Delitzsch noted that the Targum rendered Psalm 80:16b as “king Messiah” (Biblical Commentary on the Psalms, 2:388).
4. Robertson, The Flow of the Psalms, 134.