Psalm 80:7-11

“You brought a vine out of Egypt; you drove out the nations and planted it.You cleared the ground for it; it took deep root and filled the land.” vss. 8-9 

The psalmist seems to be aware of the vineyard  parable used by the prophets to describe the chosen people and doesn’t hesitate to use that same imagery in his prayer for the restoration of Israel. It is a powerful metaphor. Grapevines covered the slopes of the mountains in Judea and farmers had become skilled at coaxing the grapes to grow and produce vast quantities of wine. 

It’s not a stretch to compare the natural production of a carefully tended vineyard to the nation of Israel itself. Once the Hebrews had moved into Canaan and taken over its cities, the people had prospered and had spread throughout the land. But then Israel had lost its way. Wracked by rebellion and idolatry the once proud country had been ravaged by foreign armies and its people taken captive. 

The psalmist now prays for restoration. He doesn’t understand why this has happened. There is no confession of wrong-doing, only a fervent plea that the Lord would act and that prosperity would return. We’re good at those kinds of prayers! When we’ve enjoyed good times and everything has gone haywire our first impulse is to ask God to bring back the good old days. We’ve heard those laments regularly in recent years. We’re not so good at looking for causes for failure, but we’ve become experts at asking God to fix things!

Thought for the Day: What do we imagine that the “good old days” were like?