Ps. 80.14 (two barriers and the face)

O God Sabaoth / please turn again
look down / from heaven / and see. 

We have already looked at the other reference in the psalm to God as “Sabaoth” (of hosts). There, we saw how the employing of the term “Lord of Hosts” was intended to draw a distinction between the heavenly hosts that God is lord over and who dwell in his presence and his host of ‘holy ones’ on earth whose prayers could not penetrate the fumes of his wrath. The purpose of drawing this distinction was to unite the two realms of heaven and earth and, therefore, the two worshipping hosts. In reality, it was to provide deliverance to those on earth. Something similar is at work in this verse as well, not surprisingly. 

The barriers. It is interesting to note how there are two barriers in this psalm: the one as to the ‘fumes’ of God’s wrath that prevents his hearing of prayers and the other the ‘wall’ that surrounds Israel and protects here. What is key to see about these is that when the heavenly barrier is present the earthly barrier is removed—meaning, when God’s wrath bars prayers from entering his presence, his protective barrier around his people dissipates. This captures well the relational, covenantal dynamic at the heart of this psalm—everything that establishes Israel is utterly dependent upon the gracious face of Yhwh. As such, any change in God’s face creates not simply a sense of abandonment but the opposite reaction. What I mean is that, for the psalmist, if God can’t hear prayers he is not simply deaf or aloof but actually against his people (by construction one wall he tears down another). They devolve into the absurd (the images of their experience cut off from God are grotesque, frightening and utterly self-imploding; vs. 5). Conversely, if he hears prayers, he is actively for his people (by permitting the transfer of prayers he constructs a protective wall around them). They expand beyond themselves at an unpredictably remarkable rate (here, the images are of complete prodigality and enter into the festive; vs. 8-11). Israel is more like a lover in relation to God that a type of ‘contract partner’. If God turns from her she is not ‘left to her devices’; she begins to die. If God is for her, she is not merely alive but growing at a super-abundant rate. She has no ‘place in herself’, no ‘nature’ apart from God. In both her being heard and her being ignored she is ‘outside herself’, utterly vulnerable to God. She dwells either in blessing or in curse, but never in a type of no-man’s land. 

The wall and the face. These observations are confirmed by the additional image of the ‘face’. The ‘barriers’ that have been established (either between heaven and earth or between the Vine and chaos) are directly related to the position of God’s face. If he is ‘turned’ toward them, the barrier is raised and they dwell within prosperity. If it is contained in heaven (only shining on the heavenly hosts and not the holy ones), then the barrier between heaven and earth is erected and the earthly barrier torn down. The importance of this is that the source of these barriers is rooted in the intimacy of the ‘face’ of God, that most personal expression. It is not, in other words, rooted in a ‘command’ or some other type of abstraction. Rather, it is on the unmediated and entirely intimate and personal face of God. 

The turning. It is with this in mind that we should hear the call to God to “turn”. God’s face is, in a sense, contained in heaven. And, as such, his holy ones on earth are suffering; the Vine is wilting. We must sense here the import of the verbs: turn…look…see. God’s face is the presencing of his power; his face is active. It is life-giving. The ‘light’ or ‘shine’ of his face is and creates the prodigal power of the Vine—that power that enables her to grow infinitely beyond her capacities such that she can not only provide ‘shade to mountains’ but can expand to the limits of the very promises of God. We might even put it this way: the radiance of God’s face is the sun feeding the Vine so that she can expand to the horizon of God’s will for her. She both begins, lives and grows within that radiance, being bathed by and in the radiance of God’s face. 

From heaven. This is the ‘heaven-power’ of God’s face as the barrier between earth and heaven is removed; earth is released into her designed nuptuality with heaven. We must understand that heaven has, in a sense, been ‘shut closed’ due to God’s fuming wrath. It has withdrawn into itself. As the source of earth’s blessing, this causes it to devolve into chaos. It becomes like an Adam looking for his Eve. (It is in this context that we should hear that, upon Jesus being baptized, that the ‘heavens are opened’ and the father speaks; it is his baptism that begins the reuniting of the heavenly and earthly realms…).