Psalm 80:8
Thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt: thou hast cast out the heathen, and planted it.
Thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt,.... The house of Israel, who are like unto a vine, as the Targum paraphrases it; and to a vine or vineyard are they often compared; see Isaiah 5:1 Jeremiah 2:21. These were in Egypt awhile, where they were grievously oppressed and trampled upon; and yet the more they were afflicted, the more they grew and multiplied; and from hence the Lord brought them in due time, with a mighty hand and outstretched arm;
he caused them to go out; the word {o} used fitly expresses their journeyings from thence, and through the wilderness; they were a type of the church of Christ, and special people of God, who also are frequently compared to vines and vineyards; see Song of Solomon 2:13 the vine tree is fruitful, and bears fruit in clusters but its wood is very useless and unprofitable, Ezekiel 15:2 and it is a tree very weak, and cannot rise and support itself, it must be propped up; so believers in Christ, though fruitful through the grace of God, yet are unprofitable to him, and very weak in themselves, and are upheld by the right hand of his righteousness, on whom they lean and stay themselves; and these, in their natural state, are in worse than Egyptian bondage, darkness, and idolatry, out of which they are brought, in the effectual calling, into Gospel liberty, marvellous light, and the true worship and service of God; and out of the antichristian Egypt will all the Lord's people be brought one day; see Revelation 11:8.
Thou hast cast out the Heathen; the Targum adds, out of the land of Israel, that is, Canaan; it designs the expulsion of the seven nations from thence, to make way for the Israelites, Deuteronomy 7:1 and was an emblem of the ejection of Satan out of the Gentile world, and out of the souls of men, through the ministry of the word; and of sin, and the lusts of it, when the King of glory enters in, so as that they shall not any more have dominion; though as the Canaanites were left in the land to be pricks and thorns in the eyes and sides of the Israelites, so indwelling sin remains in God's people to the distress of their souls, and the trial of their graces. The Papists are sometimes called the Heathens and Gentiles; and there will be a time when they shall be cast out, and be no more in the land, Psalms 10:16,
and planted it; the vine, the Israelites, in the land of Canaan; see
Exodus 15:17. So saints are planted not only in Christ, the true vine, of which they are branches; but in a Gospel church state, where they flourish and become fruitful and pleasant plants, plants of renown; and being of the Lord's planting, he is glorified by them, and they shall never be rooted up, nor wither, but prosper and thrive; see Psalms 1:3.
{o} eyot "fecisti proficisci", Paginus, Montanus, Vatablus