Shepherding Gentiles

Psalm 80 is addressed to the “shepherd ( ra’ah ) of Israel,” Yahweh, who leads Joseph like a flock. The Psalm is a lament; instead of bringing the flock of Israel to green pastures, he pastures them with the bread of tears and makes them to drink tears.

Worse, though he led them from Egypt to the land and planted them there, He has abandoned His vineyard/flock and allowed the boars and wild beasts to ravage it. The Shepherd of Israel allows just anything to “pasture” ( ra’ah ) in the fields of Israel. Instead of pasturing His own domestic flock, He brings untamed beasts to pasture. He feeds Gentiles on the abundance of Israel.

It is a lament, but in an upside down way it points ahead to the gospel, the promise that the vineyard of Israel is opened to all.

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