Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 80:4
O LORD God of hosts, how long wilt thou be angry against the prayer of thy people?
4. O Lord God of hosts ] Jehovah Elhm Tsebth, as in Psa 59:5. For the meaning see note on Psa 46:7. There is a special significance in the repeated appeals to Jehovah (4, 14, 19) by the title which denotes His universal sovereignty, and therefore His ability to help Israel in its humiliation, and also recalls the days when He went forth with Israel’s armies to victory.
how long wilt thou be angry ] Lit. hast thou been fuming. For the verb cp. Psa 74:1. The tense denotes ‘how long hast Thou been and wilt Thou continue to be angry,’ and implies that Israel’s distress has already lasted long. Cp. Psa 74:9-10; Psa 79:5.
against the prayer of thy people ] As the punishment for the sins of their ancestors (Pro 1:28 ff.; Lam 3:8). Perhaps the smoke of the divine wrath is thought of as a thick cloud which interposes between them and God; see Lam 3:44. We might render in spite of the prayer, but the rendering of A.V. and R.V. is the more forcible. God’s indignation against His people is so intense, that even their prayers are an offence to Him. On the wrath of God as the manifestation of His holiness see Oehler’s O.T. Theology, 48.
The LXX and Syr. read thy servant or thy servants for thy people.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
4 7. How long shall Israel continue to be the object of Jehovah’s displeasure, and the scorn of neighbouring nations?
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
O Lord God of hosts – Yahweh, God of armies. That is either
(a) the God who rules among the hosts of heaven – the inhabitants of that holy world; or
(b) God of the hosts of the sky – the worlds above – the stars, that seem marshalled as hosts or armies, and that are led forth each night with such order and grandeur; or
(c) God of the hosts on earth – the armies that are mustered for war. The phrase is one which is often applied to God. See the notes at Psa 24:10; and at Isa 1:24.
How long wilt thou be angry – Margin, as in Hebrew, wilt thou smoke. The allusion is derived from the comparison of anger with fire. See the notes at Psa 74:1.
Against the prayer of thy people – That is, Thou dost not answer their prayer; thou seemest to be angry against them even when they pray; or in the act of calling upon thee. The earnest inquiry here is, how long this was to continue. It seemed as if it would never end. Compare the notes at Psa 77:7-9.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Psa 80:4
O Lord God of hosts, how long wilt thou be angry against the prayer of Thy people?
Gods anger
The Lord God of hosts is not properly a title of creation, but of providence. All creatures have their existence from God as their Maker; but so have they also their order from Him as their Governor. So that here, God would be respected, not as a creator, but as a general. His anger, therefore, seems so much the more fearful, as it is presented to us under so great a title, The Lord God of hosts is angry. They talk of Tamerlane, that he could daunt his enemies with the very look of his countenance. Oh! then what terror dwells in the countenance of the offended God!
I. God may be angry; and sin the cause of His anger. He hath scourged some in very mercy, till they have smarted under His rod (Job 6:4; Psa 88:15-16). If He will do thus much in love, what shall be the terrors of His wrath? If the sun were wanting, it would be night for all the stare; and if God frown upon a man, for all the glittering honours of this world, he sits in the shadow of death. Thus terrible is the anger of God; now, what is He angry withal but sin? That is the perpetual make-bate between God and us; the fuel of the fire of His indignation (Isa 59:2; Isa 63:10).
II. God may be long angry. It is some favour when we have the respite to cry, How long, Lord, wilt thou be angry with us? There is some hope of remedy when we once complain of our sickness. Yet God may be long angry, and long continue sensible testimonies of His anger (Psa 95:10). But how, then, doth the prophet say that he retaineth not anger? Well enough; for He never retaineth it one moment longer than we retain the cause of it. So soon as we ever cease sinning against Him, He ceaseth to be angry with us.
III. God may be angry with the whole people. The universality of sin calls for the universality of repentance, or else it will provoke Gods anger to strike us with universal judgments. If the whole people be guilty, the whole people must fall to deprecation. Such was the Ninevites repentance, every man turning from his evil ways.
IV. God may be angry with His own people. Yea, their sins anger Him most of all, because, together with wickedness, there is unkindness. As dearly as He loves them, their sins may provoke Him. Our interest in God is so far from excusing our iniquities, that it aggravates them. The nearer we are to Him, the nearer do our offences torch Him; as a man more takes to heart a discourtesy done by a friend than a great injury by a stranger.
V. God may be angry with His people that prayeth.
1. There may be infirmities enough in our very prayers to make them unacceptable.
2. But such is the mercy of our God, that He will wink at many infirmities in our devotions, and will not reject the prayer of an honest heart because of some weakness in the petitioner. It must be a greater cause than all this that makes God angry at our prayers. In general, it is sin (Joh 9:31; Psa 66:18; Isa 1:15). God will have none of those petitions that are presented to Him with bloody hands.
3. In particular, it is the hypocrisy of sin, or the sin of hypocrisy, that makes God so angry with our prayers. (T. Adams.)
Obstructed prayer
I. In what sense God may be said to be angry with our prayers.
1. When He denies our requests.
2. When He delays His answers.
3. When He bestows blessings under a different form, and in a different manner from what we expected.
II. Some of the causes for this.
1. Our desires may be, and no doubt often are, improper.
2. Desires, not in themselves improper, may be unsuitable to us, such as would not, if granted, become our case or circumstances.
3. Prayers may be ill-timed.
4. They may be polluted and spoiled by sins.
5. They may be incompatible with the plans of infinite wisdom.
III. Improvement.
1. Instead of restraining prayer, this should make us more importunate.
2. Though we should not give over praying, we ought to give over sinning.
3. Acquiesce in all the Divine proceedings.
4. Be thankful that whatever favours God may see fit to withhold or suspend, He bestows far more than we have deserved. (Essex Remembrancer.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Thou art so far from answering our prayers whereby we seek to appease thee, that by thy continuance and increase of our miseries thou seemest to be the more incensed against us by them.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
4. be angry(Compare Margin.)
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
O Lord God of hosts,…. Aben Ezra and Kimchi observe, that the word “Elohe” is here understood, and the words to be read, “O Lord God, the God of hosts”; of the armies above and below, against whom there is no standing, nor any before him when he is angry:
how long wilt thou be angry against the prayer of thy people? which must be put up in a wrong manner, in a very cold and lukewarm way, without faith and love, and with wrath and doubting; or otherwise God is not angry with, nor sets himself against the prayer of his people; nor does he despise, but is highly delighted with it: or how long wilt thou be angry with thy people, and continue the tokens of thy displeasure, though they pray, and keep praying, unto thee? it is in the Hebrew text, “how long wilt thou smoke m at the prayer of thy people?” that is, cause thine anger to smoke at it; in which it is thought there is an allusion to the smoke of the incense, to which prayer is compared; see Ps 141:2, and denotes the acceptance of it with God through the mediation of Christ; but here his displicency at it, not being offered up through him, and by faith in him; such were the prayers of the Pharisees, Mt 6:5.
m “fumabis”, Pagninus, Vatablus; “fumaturus es”, Junius Tremellius, Piscator “fumasti”, Montanus, Cocceius, Gejerus, Michaelis, & Ainsworth.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
In the second strophe there issues forth bitter complaint concerning the form of wrath which the present assumes, and, thus confirmed, the petition rises anew. The transferring of the smoking ( ) of God’s nostrils = the hard breathing of anger (Psa 74:1, Deu 29:19), to God Himself is bold, but in keeping with the spirit of the Biblical view of the wrath of God (vid., on Psa 18:9), so that there is no need to avoid the expression by calling in the aid of the Syriac word , to be strong, powerful (why art Thou hard, why dost Thou harden Thyself…). The perfect after has the sense of a present with a retrospective glance, as in Exo 10:3, cf. , to be understood after the analogy of (to kindle = to be angry against any one), for the prayer of the people is not an object of wrath, but only not a means of turning it aside. While the prayer is being presented, God veils Himself in the smoke of wrath, through which it is not able to penetrate. The lxx translators have read , for they render (for which the common reading is ). Bread of tears is, according to Psa 42:4, bread consisting of tears; tears, running down in streams upon the lips of the praying and fasting one, are his meat and his drink. with an accusative signifies to give something to drink, and followed by Beth, to give to drink by means of something, but it is not to be translated: potitandum das eis cum lacrymis trientem (De Dieu, von Ortenberg, and Hitzig). (Talmudic, a third part) is the accusative of more precise definition (Vatablus, Gesenius, Olshausen, and Hupfeld): by thirds (lxx , Symmachus ); for a third of an ephah is certainly a very small measure for the dust of the earth (Isa 40:12), but a large one for tears. The neighbours are the neighbouring nations, to whom Israel is become , an object, a butt of contention. In is expressed the pleasure which the mocking gives them.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
4 O Jehovah, God of Hosts! God having in the Scriptures freely promised, and so often assured us, that the prayers of his people will not be disappointed, it may excite our surprise to find the faithful here alleging before him, that he continues unpacified, although they betake themselves to him. They complain not only that they are not heard, but also that he is angry, when they call upon him; as if he purposely rejected this religious service. Where, then, it may be said, is that promise recorded in Isa 65:24, “Before they call I will answer?” To this I would answer, That as God, by delaying to succor his people, tries their patience, the prophet, speaking according to the judgment of the flesh, represents him as deaf to their prayers. Not that it is proper for those who pray to rest in this opinion, which would throw an insuperable obstacle in their way to the throne of grace. It rather becomes them to strive to cherish, in opposition to it, the judgment of faith; and to penetrate even into heaven, where they may behold a hidden salvation. But still God permits them, the more effectually to disburden their minds, to tell him of the cares, anxieties, griefs, and fears, with which they are distressed. In the mention here made of the smoke of God’s wrath, there appears to be an implicit allusion to the incense which was used in the sacrifices under the law. The smoke of the incense served to purify the air; but the Israelites complain that the heavens were so obscured by a different smoke, that their sighs could not come up to God.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(4) How long wilt thou be angry?Literally, until when hast thou fumed? A pregnant construction combining two clauses. Thou hast been long angry; how long wilt thou continue to be angry? (Comp. Psa. 13:2, Note, and Exo. 10:3.) Others say the preterite here has the sense of a future perfect, which comes to the same thing: How long wilt thou have fumed? (See Mllers Syntax, i. 3, rem. (a), Prof. Robertsons trans.)
Against the prayer.Literally, in, i.e., during the prayer. The smoke of the Divine anger is, perhaps, conceived of as a cloud through which the prayer (often symbolised by an ascending incense) cannot penetrate.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
4. Angry against the prayer of thy people Hebrew, smoke against the “prayer.” So Psa 74:1. An intensive form of representing anger or displeasure. As the judgment was not abated, notwithstanding the “prayer” of his “people,” the “prayer” seemed repulsed by the divine displeasure.
Lam 3:8; Hab 1:2
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Psa 80:4. How long wilt thou be angry? &c. How long dost thou preserve thy wrath during the prayer of thy people? Mudge.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
These are most blessed tokens, and highly expressive of grace in the heart. And the prayer, being again repeated, plainly shows from whence alone the church looked for both the work of true prayer and faith, and the answer.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Psa 80:4 O LORD God of hosts, how long wilt thou be angry against the prayer of thy people?
Ver. 4. O Lord God of hosts ] Iehova bellipotens Deus. God hath his upper and nether forces, as his horse and foot, ready pressed, say the Rabbis.
How long wilt thou be angry
Against the prayer of thy people
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Psa 80:4-7
4O Lord God of hosts,
How long will You be angry with the prayer of Your people?
5You have fed them with the bread of tears,
And You have made them to drink tears in large measure.
6You make us an object of contention to our neighbors,
And our enemies laugh among themselves.
7O God of hosts, restore us
And cause Your face to shine upon us, and we will be saved.
Psa 80:4-7 This strophe is a plea for God to intervene on behalf of His people.
1. how long will You be angry – the question of God’s action or inaction is recurrent (cf. Psa 74:10; Psa 90:13; Psa 94:3; Pro 1:22)
2. You have fed them with the bread of tears (powerful imagery, cf. Psa 42:3; Psa 102:9)
3. You have made them to drink tears in large measure (lit. third part, BDB 1026 I, only here and Isa 40:12)
4. You make us an object of contention to our neighbors (cf. Psa 44:13; Psa 79:4; Eze 5:14; Eze 22:4; Dan 9:16)
5. You have made it so our enemies laugh among themselves (at us). The TEV and NJB follow the LXX, our enemies mock us.
These consequences of Israel/Judah’s covenant disobedience and idolatry are exactly the opposite of what God wanted them to do in relation to their Gentile neighbors of the ANE. They were meant to be a light (cf. Eze 36:22-23) but became a joke (cf. Psa 79:10; Psa 115:2).
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
O LORD God of hosts. Hebrew. Jehovah.Elohim Zebaioth. See note on 1Sa 1:3. Not common in the Psalms, but occurring in Psa 59:6 and Psa 84:8.
How long . . . ? Figure of speech Erotesis. App-6.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
how long: Psa 85:5, Isa 58:2, Isa 58:3, Isa 58:6-9, Lam 3:44, Mat 15:22-28, Luk 18:1-8
be angry: Heb. smoke, Psa 74:1, Deu 29:20
Reciprocal: Deu 28:20 – vexation Job 7:20 – I have sinned Job 30:20 – I cry Psa 13:1 – How Psa 22:2 – but Psa 55:1 – hide Psa 79:5 – How long Psa 94:3 – Lord Son 5:6 – I sought Isa 64:12 – General Jer 14:17 – let mine Lam 3:8 – General
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Psa 80:4-6. How long wilt thou be angry, &c. Thou art so far from answering our prayers, whereby we seek thy favour, that, by thy continuing and increasing our miseries, thou seemest to be more incensed against us by them. But the words may be rendered, How long dost thou preserve thy wrath during the prayer of thy people? Thou feedest them with the bread of tears With tears instead of bread, which they either want, or cannot eat because their grief hath taken away their appetites: or they eat their meat from day to day in tears. Thou makest us a strife unto our neighbours Who used, and ought, to live peaceably and kindly with us. Thou makest us the object or matter of their strife and contention. He means, either, 1st, They strive one with another who shall do us the most mischief, or who shall take our spoils to themselves: or, 2d, They are perpetually quarrelling with us, and seeking occasions against us. Our enemies laugh among themselves Insult over us, and take pleasure in our calamities.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
80:4 O LORD God of hosts, how long wilt thou be {d} angry against the prayer of thy people?
(d) The faithful fear God’s anger, when they perceive that their prayers are not heard immediately.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
2. A lament due to divine discipline 80:4-7
The title "Lord of hosts" suggests God’s ability to deliver His people whenever He chooses to do so. The Lord’s silence in response to the people’s cries for deliverance implied that He was angry with them. As a shepherd, God had fed His people, but He had given them tears to eat and to drink rather than nourishing food. Their condition led their neighbor nations to mock them. This pericope also closes with the refrain (cf. Psa 80:3; Psa 80:19).