Through a poetic lament, the psalmist, who represents the nation of Israel, bemoans that the nation has faced a great persecution from its enemies and is devastatingly separated from God. The agonizing pain felt by the entire nation can be seen through verses 4-6: “O LORD God of hosts, how long will you be angry with your people’s prayers? You have fed them with the bread of tears and given them tears to drink in full measure. You make us an object of contention for our neighbors, and our enemies laugh among themselves.” Perhaps you have consumed tears at some point in your life and God seemed nowhere near as you have walked the road of depravity. Perhaps you thought God was so distant that you imagine God being at a point of anger with you.
The psalmist’s lament over this distress of Israel is further exemplified in the imagery of a vine: “You brought a vine out of Egypt; you drove out the nations and planted it” (verse 8). Israel is the vine that God brings out and plants. The extent to which the vine grows fills the land from the sea to mountains to mighty cedars to the river. God gives land and a place of dwelling for the Israelites; it was He who had called the Israelites out from their captivity to give them new freedom to be enjoyed. Yet, this very vine faces a judgment from God. God is the one who has “broken down its walls, so that all who pass along the way pluck its fruit” (verse 12). The enemies of Israel ravage and feed upon the Israelites as a predator would do to a prey.
WHY? would be the appropriate question to ask in a situation such as this. Why would God, who is explained as the “Shepherd of Israel” and as the king who is “enthroned upon the cherubim” (verse 1) abandon the Israelites to this anguish? This is not a question of a cold-minded logician who seeks an answer to the philosophical problem of evil. This is a question of a man facing existential dilemma and longs for a return to encountering the presence of God. He is a contrite man, who would be satisfied with seeing the shining face of God (note verse 2, 7, and 19 for repetition) as the very act of salvation. A return to the robust fellowship with God as the nation is what he longs for.
Only when he completely feels ruined and utterly desolate does the epiphany and the prophecy of salvific hope reach the psalmist. He understands that the salvation of Israel can and only will come through “the son” (verse 15) whom God has made strong for Himself. This is the man of God’s “right hand” (verse 17), the right hand which always symbolized blessing and power in the Old Testament. God’s hand is upon the man, and this man is to bring salvation for the people. He is to make God’s face shine as the glory of the living God and the very image of Him. He is the one who can “give… life” to the dying vine for He is the true vine (John 15) to which they can cling and finally bear fruit. He is the vine to which the branches cover the entire world, not only Israel, and is the vine that will never be ravaged. He is the vine that the Vinedresser approves.
That man is Jesus Christ. To all who accept him, they will be grafted unto the true vine as the branches. To those who cling to the true vine shall not only turn back from God, but they cannot turn back from God. They are forever grafted to him and given the salvation by which they can call upon God’s name. They can find hope in the one whom God’s hand is upon. This is grace and the gospel for not only the psalmist but us as well. To all the ones agonizing from the bondage of sin and death, come to Christ and find rest in the true vine. Come, come to him who has taken all the anger and all the wrath and all the judgment of God that you might no longer be separated from God by your sins. Come to him by whom we can only find the source of life.
εὐαγγέλιον 