O LORD God of Hosts, how long will Your anger smolder against the prayers of Your people?
PSALM 80 This is a sorrowful prayer, in which the faithful beseech God that he would be graciously pleased to succor his afflicted Church. To excite him the more readily to grant them relief in their distressing circumstances, they compare these circumstances with the condition of the Church in her beginnings, when the Divine favor was conspicuously manifested towards her. To the chief musician upon Sosannim Eduth.
Commenting on Psalm 80:1-19
"O Lord God of Hosts, how long wilt thou be angry against the prayer of thy people?" How long shall the smoke of thy wrath drown the smoking incense of our prayers? Prayer would fain enter thy holy place, but thy wrath battles with it, and prevents its entrance.
The psalmist here, in the name of the church, applies to God by prayer, with reference to the present afflicted state of Israel. I. He entreats God's favour for them (Psa 80:1, Psa 80:2); that is all in all to the sanctuary when it is desolate, and is to be sought in the first place. Observe, 1.
Commenting on Psalm 80:1-7