"O LORD God of hosts, how long wilt thou be angry against the prayer of thy people? Thou feedest them with the bread of tears, and givest them tears to drink in great measure."
Psalm 80:4-5
Part 1
Today: God is Good to the Children of Israel!
Asaph begins Psalm 80 with these words,
“Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, thou that leadest Joseph like a flock; thou that dwellest between the cherubims, shine forth” (Psalm 80:1).
Asaph is asking God to listen to his prayer. And what a beautiful title for Jehovah. He calls Him the “Shepherd of Israel.” It reminds us of our Lord Jesus, the “Good Shepherd.” David personalized this idea about God when he wrote, “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want” (Psalm 23:1). In our verses, Jehovah is the Shepherd, and His sheep, Israel, could say,
“So we thy people and sheep of thy pasture will give thee thanks forever: we will show forth thy praise to all generations” (Psalm 79:13).
Interestingly, Asaph said, “thou that leadest Joseph like a flock.” We usually think of God’s chosen people as the “Children of Israel.”[1] They are the descendants of the sons of Jacob, Joseph being one of his sons. The picture here is of the Shepherd of Israel leading Joseph like a flock of sheep. This isn’t hard to understand if we remember why the “Children of Israel” were invited to move into Egypt. It was during that terrible famine. It looked like Jacob’s family was going to starve to death when they thought of going to buy grain down in Egypt.
In his childhood, Joseph’s brothers hated him. Their bratty little brother was Jacob’s favorite. They made the decision to sell him as a slave and fake his death. Their wicked plan worked, and Jacob, the former trickster, is tricked once again. He believes that Joseph has been mauled to death by a wild animal. But God, knowing the family’s future, had sent Joseph on ahead to Egypt to be ready to aid his family in their time of greatest need. When a famine hit that part of the world and looked like all was lost, and the family would starve to death, the brothers went to Egypt to purchase food as the last hope. They unwittingly bought food from their little brother Joseph. God is faithful. He had promised Jacob many years earlier, “I will be with thee” (Genesis 31:3). God, the “Mighty One,” will not go back on His promise. He will take care of Jacob’s family. Joseph had been placed in Egypt by God to be like a second father to them. With the Pharaoh’s permission, Joseph brought his family down to Egypt to live. Spurgeon said that they might have been known to the Egyptians as “the family of Joseph.”[2] Yes, the Shepherd of Israel did lead Joseph like a flock, his family being God’s sheep.
What wonderful care God gave to the Children of Israel! And He cares for His children today as well. Tomorrow we will see that the Children of Israel are in trouble with God, and even though He loves them, He will not tolerate their sin. Come back tomorrow, and let’s see what God’s attitude is about His people’s sin.
Quote: “Every individual believer is precious in the sight of the Lord, a shepherd would not lose one sheep, nor a jeweler one diamond, nor a mother one child, nor a man one limb of his body, nor will the Lord lose one of His redeemed people. However little we may be, if we are the Lord’s, we may rejoice that we are preserved in Christ Jesus”[3] (C.H. Spurgeon).
[1] We know that God changed Jacob’s name to Israel (Genesis 32:7-8). Each time the “Children of Israel” are mentioned, it refers to the offspring of Jacob – Israel. The Shepherd of Israel is the One protecting Jacob’s offspring.
[2] C.H. Spurgeon, Treasury of David, the electronic version in eSword. Psalm 80:1.
[3] Spurgeon’s quote Downloaded: Friday, February 26, 2021. From: https://quotessayings.net/topics/jesus-as-shepherd/.