October 23, 2012 – Psalms 79 – 80

The first psalm talks about God bringing to justice those that have destroyed Israel.  There are other Psalms like that.  When it is read in conjunction with 80 I think it has a different type of meaning.  80 talks about Israel and its people as a plant.  The fruit is ready or has been picked by others.  It is imagery that is used by Christ when He talks about being wheat.  When you think about the wheat image, the understanding that we must die in order to produce fruit, then look at these two Psalms, I think the image comes through both them.  79 could be seen as the dying.  They are defeated, run down, having very little left.  All they have is hope that God will provide victory.  They have lost everything material and have died.  80 is the rising, they are a tree that has grown and is ready to produce fruit.  They want God to bring the fruit to fruition, to give them back what was taken and they will follow Him.  The fruit that grew from death is better.  The dying was necessary to get the fruit, to get to this point.