Psalms 77:15
15. Jacob and Joseph—representing all.
Psalms 80:1
1, 2. Joseph—for Ephraim (1Ch 7:20-29; Ps 78:67; Re 7:8), for Israel.
Shepherd—(Compare Ge 49:24). leadest, &c.— (Ps 77:20). dwellest . . . cherubim— (Ex 25:20); the place of God's visible glory, whence He communed with the people (Heb 9:5). shine forth—appear (Ps 50:2; 94:1). Psalms 81:5
5. a testimony—The feasts, especially the passover, attested God's relation to His people.
Joseph—for Israel (Ps 80:1). went out through—or, "over," that is, Israel in the exodus. I heard—change of person. The writer speaks for the nation. language—literally, "lip" (Ps 14:1). An aggravation or element of their distress that their oppressors were foreigners (De 28:49). Zechariah 10:6
6. Judah . . . Joseph—that is, the ten tribes. The distinct mention of both Judah and Israel shows that there is yet a more complete restoration than that from Babylon, when Judah alone and a few Israelites from the other tribes returned. The Maccabean deliverance is here connected with it, just as the painter groups on the same canvas objects in the foreground and hills far distant; or as the comparatively near planet and the remote fixed star are seen together in the same firmament. Prophecy ever hastens to the glorious final consummation under Messiah.
bring them again to place them—namely, securely in their own land. The Hebrew verb is compounded of two, "I will bring again," and "I will place them" (Jer 32:37). MAURER, from a different form, translates, "I will make them to dwell."