of the Assyrian kings Pul, Tiglath-pileser, and Shalmaneser. The psalmist, as it seems, prays in a time in which the oppression of Assyria rested heavily upon the kingdom of Ephraim, and Judah saw itself threatened with ruin when this bulwark should have fallen. We must not, however, let it pass without notice that our Psalm has this designation of the nation according to the tribes of Joseph in common with other pre-exilic Psalms of Asaph (Psa 77:16; Psa 78:9; Psa 81:6). It is a characteristic belonging in common to this whole group of Psalms. Was Asaph, the founder of this circle of songs, a native, perhaps, of one of the Levite cities of the province of the tribe of Ephraim or Manasseh?

The Psalm consists of five eight-line strophes, of which the first, second, and fifth close with the refrain, “Elohim, restore us, let Thy countenance shine forth, then shall we be helped!” This prayer grows in earnestness. The refrain begins the first time with Elohim, the second time with Elohim Tsebaôth, and the third time with a threefold Jahve Elohim Tsebaôth, with which the second strophe (Psa 80:5) also opens.

Verses 2-4

The first strophe contains nothing but petition. First of all the nation is called Israel as springing from Jacob; then, as in Psa 81:6, Joseph, which, where it is distinct from Jacob or Judah, is the name of the kingdom of the ten tribes (vid., Caspari on Oba 1:18), or at least of the northern tribes (Psa 77:16; Psa 78:67.). Psa 80:3 shows that it is also these that are pre-eminently intended here. The fact that in the blessing of Joseph, Jacob calls God a Shepherd (רעה), Gen 48:15; Gen 49:24, perhaps has somewhat to do with the choice of the first two names. In the third, the sitting enthroned in the sanctuary here below and in the heaven above blend together; for the Old Testament is conscious of a mutual relationship between the earthly and the heavenly temple (היכל) until the one merges entirely in the other. The cherûbim, which God enthrones, i.e., upon which He sits enthroned, are the bearers of the chariot (מרכבה) of the Ruler of the world (vid., Psa 18:11). With הופיעה (from יפע, Arab. yf‛ , eminere , emicare, as in the Asaph Psa 50:2) the poet prays that He would appear in His splendour of light, i.e., in His fiery bright, judging, and rescuing