Turn us again, O God of hosts, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved.
The verse is a prayer addressed to the God of hosts, asking Him to turn His people back to Himself, to cause His face to shine upon them in favor and shining presence, and in that way to save them. Deliverance is taught to come from God alone, given when He restores His people to Himself and shows His favor toward them. Its setting was the temple in Jerusalem when Sennacherib reproached the living God and threatened the city with destruction. Hezekiah took the taunting letter into the temple, spread it before the Lord, and with strong faith pleaded this prayer against Assyria.
It belongs to times of war or oppression by an enemy army, when the chief men of Israel enter the house of prayer and plead for deliverance. Such pleading rests on His promise to show favor and is in harmony with the mind of God expressed in Solomon's benediction at the dedication of the temple, that God would maintain the cause of Israel at all times. It was prayed in behalf of Judah and for the honor of God as Supreme Ruler, with the honor of Jehovah at stake. It sought rescue from the Assyrian hand so that all the people of the earth may know that the Lord is God and there is none else, that the God of the Hebrews still lives and reigns, and that He alone, who dwells between the cherubim and made heaven and earth, is Lord God of all the kingdoms of the earth, in contrast to gods of wood and stone that could not deliver.
The verse is a prayer addressed to the God of hosts, asking Him to turn His people back to Himself, to cause His face to shine upon them in favor and shining presence, and in that way to save them. Deliverance is taught to come from God alone, given when He restores His people to Himself and shows His favor toward them. Its setting was the temple in Jerusalem when Sennacherib reproached the living God and threatened the city with destruction. Hezekiah took the taunting letter into the temple, spread it before the Lord, and with strong faith pleaded this prayer against Assyria.
It belongs to times of war or oppression by an enemy army, when the chief men of Israel enter the house of prayer and plead for deliverance. Such pleading rests on His promise to show favor and is in harmony with the mind of God expressed in Solomon's benediction at the dedication of the temple, that God would maintain the cause of Israel at all times. It was prayed in behalf of Judah and for the honor of God as Supreme Ruler, with the honor of Jehovah at stake. It sought rescue from the Assyrian hand so that all the people of the earth may know that the Lord is God and there is none else, that the God of the Hebrews still lives and reigns, and that He alone, who dwells between the cherubim and made heaven and earth, is Lord God of all the kingdoms of the earth, in contrast to gods of wood and stone that could not deliver.