Psalms 80:13

13 A boar (out) of the wood destroyed it; and a singular wild beast devoured it.

Psalms 80:13 Meaning and Commentary

Psalms 80:13

The boar out of the wood doth waste it
As Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, who carried the ten tribes captive; the title of this psalm in the Septuagint version is, a psalm for the Assyrian. Vitringa, on ( Isaiah 24:2 ) interprets this of Antiochus Epiphanes, to whose times he thinks the psalm refers; but the Jews ^F18 of the fourth beast in ( Daniel 7:7 ) , which designs the Roman empire: the wild boar is alluded to, which lives in woods and forests ^F19, and wastes, fields, and vineyards:

and the wild beast of the field doth devour it;
as Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, who carried the two tribes captive, and who for a while lived among and lived as the beasts of the field; both these, in their turns, wasted and devoured the people of Israel; see ( Jeremiah 50:17 ) . Jarchi interprets this of Esau or Edom, that is, Rome; and says the whole of the paragraph respects the Roman captivity; that is, their present one; but rather the words describe the persecutors of the Christian church in general, comparable to wild boars and wild beasts for their fierceness and cruelty; and perhaps, in particular, Rome Pagan may be pointed at by the one, and Rome Papal by the other; though the latter is signified by two beasts, one that rose out of the sea, and the other out of the earth; which have made dreadful havoc of the church of Christ, his vine, and have shed the blood of the saints in great abundance; see ( Revelation 12:3 Revelation 12:4 ) ( Revelation 13:1 Revelation 13:2 Revelation 13:7 Revelation 13:11 Revelation 13:12 ) , unless we should rather by the one understand the pope, and by the other the Turk, as the Jews interpret them of Esau and of Ishmael.

---

FOOTNOTES:

F18 Gloss. in T. Bab. Pesachim, fol. 118. 2.
F19 Homer. Odyss. xix. v. 439.

Psalms 80:13 In-Context

11 It stretched forth his scions till to the sea, and the generations thereof till to the flood. (It stretched out its branches unto the Mediterranean Sea, and as far as the Euphrates River.)

12 Why hast thou destroyed the wall thereof; and all men that go forth by the way, gather away the grapes thereof? (But why hast thou destroyed the wall around it? so that now all those who go forth by the way, can gather up, or take away, all of its grapes?)

13 A boar (out) of the wood destroyed it; and a singular wild beast devoured it.

14 God of virtues, be thou turned (again to us); behold from heaven, and see, and visit this vine. (God of hosts, turn thou again to us; look down from heaven, and see us in dire straits, and help us/and care for this vine.)

15 And make thou it perfect, which thy right hand planted; and behold thou on the son of man, which thou hast confirmed to thee. (And make thou perfect what thy right hand hath planted; yea, look thou upon the son of man, whom thou hast made strong for thyself/yea, look thou upon the branch, that thou hast made strong for thyself.)