I’ve noted that Asaph was a singer-songwriter in the court of King David. Later he performed at King Solomon’s coronation and then stayed on as a court musician. He was their Willie Nelson.
Like our Red Headed Stranger, Asaph was a poet and a wise man. He was even a prophet like Willie, though his books weren’t The Tao of Asaph, or Roll Me Up and Mummify Me When I Die.
The more I read about Asaph, the more I wonder if he was the brains behind the wisdom books in the Old Testament. Tonight’s psalm is the eighth of twelve that he gets actual credit for writing.
Just as Matthew, Mark, Luke and John probably didn’t pen their eponymous gospels, I seriously doubt that kings David and Solomon wrote Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Songs.
But back to this 80th Psalm by old Asaph, it’s structured like a pop song — verse, chorus, verse, chorus, verse, bridge, verse, chorus. Its superscription pairs it with a tune known as “The Lilies.”
As with any good hymn or pop song, you get the gist of it from the repeated chorus: “Restore us, O God; / Cause Your face to shine, / And we shall be saved!” Also, lilies represent a divine oath.