As we start a new year in the church’s calendar, this coming Sunday we will enter into the season of Advent, and begin our preparations once more for Christmas—the coming of Jesus, Saviour, chosen one, and Lord (Luke 2:11). During Advent, the lectionary offers a selection of biblical passages designed to help us in our preparations, building to the climactic moment of Christmas Day, when we remember that “the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).
These scripture passages include a sequence of psalms which orient us to the saving work of God, experienced by faithful people in Israel through the ages. In the psalms, faithful people over the ages have sung of their trust in God and their joy at what God has been doing. These psalms thus bring us to the point of anticipation that we can sense God’s work in the story of Jesus.
For Advent 1, we hear the psalmist’s prayer, “restore us, O God; let your face shine, that we may be saved” (Ps 80:3, 7, 19). “Surely his salvation is at hand for those who fear him, that his glory may dwell in our land” (Ps 85:9) is the affirmation for Advent 2, while on Advent 3 we join with the psalmist to confirm, “the Lord has done great things for us, and we rejoiced” (Ps 126:3).
Then, on Advent 4, we sing joyfully with the psalmist, “I will sing of your steadfast love, O Lord, forever; with my mouth I will proclaim your faithfulness to all generations” (Ps 89:1), before a rich series of three joyous psalms are offered for our Christmas celebrations: “sing to the Lord a new song” (Ps 96:1), “light dawns for the righteous, and joy for the upright in heart” (Ps 97:11), and “make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth; break forth into joyous song and sing praises” (Ps 98:4).
*****
In the psalm offered for this Sunday, Psalm 80, the writer prays for God to act. However, this is not just a single-sentence prayer; rather, the writer pleads incessantly with God to restore Israel to her former glory. “Restore us” is a repeated request (80:3, 7, 19), along with calls to “give ear” (80:1), “stir up your might” (80:2), “turn again” (80:14), “come to save us” (80:2), and “give us life” (80:18).
This recurring refrain of petitions is accompanied by the request for God to “let your face shine” (80:3, 7, 19); the prayers accumulate in intensity, reflected in the wording that builds throughout the psalm: “restore us, O God” (80:3); “restore us, O God of hosts” (80:7); “turn again, O God of hosts” (80:14); “restore us, O Lord God of hosts” (80:19).
Restore us, O God
This prayer of the psalmist, “restore us, O God”, reflects the same prayer found in a number of psalms. In penitence, a psalm traditionally associated with the repentant David asks God to “restore to me the joy of your salvation, and sustain in me a willing spirit” (Ps 51:12). Another psalm, associated with David after defeat in battle (according to the title included in the Hebrew text) implores God, “you have rejected us, broken our defenses; you have been angry; now restore us!” (Ps 60:1).
A psalm “of the Korahites” pleads, “restore us again, O God of our salvation, and put away your indignation toward us” (Ps 85:4), while the seventh Song of Ascent celebrates “when the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dream”, rejoicing that “our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy” (Ps 126:1–2), offering the prayer “restore our fortunes, O Lord, like the watercourses in the Negeb” (Ps 126:4).
Prophets also sought God’s restoration. In the midst of his incessant despair, Jeremiah yet sees hope: “the days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will restore the fortunes of my people, Israel and Judah, says the Lord, and I will bring them back to the land that I gave to their ancestors and they shall take possession of it” (30:3). It is in this context that Jeremiah indicates that the Lord “will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah … I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts” (31:31, 33).
The final oracle in the book of Amos (9:11–15)—most likely a later exilic addition—envisages a restored and rebuilt Israel after their time of exile, in a land once again productive, and ends with a strong expression of confidence in the people: “I will plant them upon their land, and they shall never again be plucked up out of the land that I have given them, says the Lord” (9:15).
Restoration after exile is also foreseen towards the end of the book of Deuteronomy, when Israel is told that “the Lord your God will restore your fortunes and have compassion on you, gathering you again from all the peoples among whom the Lord your God has scattered you” (Deut 30:3).
In Second Isaiah, the servant is chosen “to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the survivors of Israel” and God says, “I will give you as a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth” (Isa 49:6). Likewise, Ezekiel’s final,sequence of visions includes God’s promise, “I will restore the fortunes of Jacob, and have mercy on the whole house of Israel” (Ezek 39:25). Other prophets similarly look to a time of restoration (Hos 6:11; Joel 3:1; Zeph 2:7; 3:20; Zech 9:12).
So in the book of Nehemiah, the Governor issues the instruction, “Restore to them, this very day, their fields, their vineyards, their olive orchards, and their houses, and the interest on money, grain, wine, and oil that you have been exacting from them”; and the response is, “We will restore everything and demand nothing more from them. We will do as you say” (Neh 5:11–12).
Let your face shine
Another request that the psalmist makes, for God to shine their face upon people (Ps 80:3), is a request that is found in other psalms. “There are many”, says the psalmist, “who say, ‘O that we might see some good! Let the light of your face shine on us, O Lord!’” (Ps 4:6). In Psalm 31, the psalmist sings, “Let your face shine upon your servant; save me in your steadfast love” (Ps 31:16).
In Psalm 67, the psalmist echoes more explicitly the Aaronic Blessing, praying, “May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face to shine upon us—Selah—that your way may be known upon earth, your saving power among all nations” (Ps 67:1–3). This reflects the ancient priestly blessing recorded in Num 6:24–26: “The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace.”
In this three-line prayer, the second line includes the phrase, “the LORD make his face to shine upon you”. The simple parallelism in this blessing indicates that for God to “make his face shine” (v.25) is equivalent to blessing (v.24) and lifting up his countenance (v.26). The second verb in each phrase is, likewise, in parallel: the psalmist asks God to keep (v.24), be gracious (v.25), and grant peace (v.26). These words offer a prayer seeking God’s gracious presence for the people of Israel.
The face of God was a matter of some significance in the ancestral story of Jacob, who becomes Israel. Estranged for decades from his twin, Esau, when they meet up again, Jacob has just spent the night wrestling with a man (Gen 32:22–32). Jacob’s hip is struck, and he walks with a limp; yet he describes the place where this happened as Peniel, “the face of God”, and characterises the encounter as a time when “I have seen God face to face, and yet my life is preserved” (32:30). To see God face-to-face was a rare and intense experience. Jacob was, indeed, blessed.
In the seventeenth section of the longest of all psalms, Psalm 119, a prayer asking for God to help the psalmist keep the Law culminates with the request for God’s face to shine: “Turn to me and be gracious to me, as is your custom toward those who love your name. Keep my steps steady according to your promise, and never let iniquity have dominion over me. Redeem me from human oppression, that I may keep your precepts. Make your face shine upon your servant, and teach me your statutes.” (Ps 119:132–135).
Come to save us
The plea of the psalmist for God to “save” them (v.2) is another persistent refrain throughout the psalms—both “save me” (Ps 6:4; 7:1; 22:21; 31:2, 16; 44:6; 54:1; 57:3; 59:2; 69:1; 71:2, 3; 109:26, 116:4; 119:94, 146; 142:6; 143:9) and “save us” (Ps 28:9; 31:2; 80:2; 106:47; 118:25).
The plea for saving is a request also found in prayers attributed to Samuel (1 Sam 7:8), David (2 Sam 22:2–4; 1 Chron 16:35), Hezekiah (2 Ki 19:18; Isa 37:20), Isaiah (Isa 25:9), and Jeremiah (Jer 17:14)—a prayer to which Jeremiah says that the Lord has said, “I will surely save you, and you shall not fall by the sword; but you shall have your life as a prize of war, because you have trusted in me” (Jer 39:18).
This request is grounded in the assurance that “God is my shield, who saves the upright in heart” (Ps 7:10); “the Lord is near to the brokenhearted, and saves the crushed in spirit” (Ps 34:18); God “fulfils the desire of all who fear him; he also hears their cry, and saves them” (Ps 145:19).
There are many indications in the narratives included in the Hebrew Scriptures that point to the saving purposes of God. The Chronicler reports that when David places the ark of God into the tent on Mount Zion, he instructs the Levites to sing, “save us, O God of our salvation, and gather and rescue us from among the nations” (1 Chron 16:35).
The prophet Isaiah affirms that “the Lord will save me” (Isa 38:20) and the prophet Habakkuk reflects that the Lord God “came forth to save your people, to save your anointed” (Hab 3:13). Later, when King Sennacherib of Assyria besieges Jerusalem and presses King Hezekiah of Judah to surrender, he addresses “all the people of Judah that were in Jerusalem”, ironically asking them, “Is not Hezekiah misleading you … when he tells you, ‘The Lord our God will save us?'” (2 Chron 32:9–11).
Subsequently, the prophet Jeremiah assures his fellow exiles that “the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel” promises, “I am going to fulfill my words against this city for evil and not for good … but I will save you on that day” (Jer 39:16–17). It is no wonder that God is addressed as Saviour by kings (David, 2 Sam 22:3) and prophets (Isa 43:3, 11; 45:15, 21; 49:26; 60:16; 63:8; Jer 14:8; Hos 13:4), in psalms (Ps 17:7; 106:21) and in later wisdom literature (Judith 9:11; Wisdom of Solomon 16:7; Sirach 51:1).
In the longest psalm, Psalm 119, as the psalmist cries out, “let your steadfast love come to me, O Lord”, they equate that love precisely with “your salvation according to your promise” (v.41). Unsurprisingly, the psalmist places their trust in Torah as the means for attaining that salvation: “my [whole being] languishes for your salvation, I hope in your word” (v.81).
Indeed, this waiting requires persistence; “my eyes fail from watching for your salvation, and for the fulfillment of your righteous promise” (v.123). By contrast, “salvation is far from the wicked, for they do not seek your statutes” (v.155). This salvation is intimately bound up with keeping Torah (vv.94, 146, 166, 174); “I do not forget [Torah]” is a persistent affirmation (vv.16, 61, 109, 141, 153, and in the final verse, 176).
Of course , God as Saviour is an important Hebraic way of understanding the divine, that then has implications and influence as the New Testament documents are written, centuries later. “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1 Tim 1:15) is a classic Christian formulation, valued as central to Christian theology over the centuries.
In the Gospels, Jesus declares, “the Son of Man came to seek out and save the lost” (Luke 19:10). Paul identifies Jesus as Saviour (Phil 3:20), proclaims good news “through which also you are being saved” (1 Cor 15:2), and celebrates that “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Rom 10:13, quoting Joel 2:32). So the psalmist (in Psalm 80) is sounding a foundational claim, made throughout scripture: O God, “come and save us”.
From this repeated refrain in this psalm, we can appreciate that it is an appropriate word for us to hear and reflect on, as we start a new year in the church’s calendar, enter into the season of Advent, and begin our preparations once more for Christmas—when in the coming of Jesus, Saviour, chosen one, and Lord, we celebrate that the face of God has shone upon us, that God will restore us, that God has come to save us.
An Informed Faith 