Psalm LXXXI

To the chief Musician. Upon Gittith. A Psalm of Asaph

1 SiNO loud unto God our strength: make a joyful noise unto the God of

Jacob.

2 Take a psaltn, and bring hither the timbrel, the pleasant harp with the

psaltery.

24-2 PSALM LXXXI. — THE REDEEMER’S LAMENTATION OVER

3 Blow up the trumpet in the new moon,

In the time appointed, on our solemn feast-day.

4 For this was a statute for Israel, and a law of the God of Jacob.

5 This he ordained in Joseph for a testimony, when he went out through the

land of Egypt:
Where I heard a language that I understood not.

6 I removed his shoulder from the burden;
His hands were delivered from the pots.

7 Thou calledst in trouble, and I delivered thee;
I answered thee in the secret place of thunder;

I proved thee at the waters of Meribah. Selah.

8 Hear, O my people, and I will testify unto thee: O Israel, if thou wilt

hearken unto me!

9 There shall no strange god be in thee: neither shalt thou worship any

strange god.

10 I am the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt: Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it.

11 But my people would not hearken to my voice: and Israel would none

of me.

12 So I gave them up unto their own hearts’ lust: and they walked in their

own counsels.

13 Oh that my people had hearkened unto me, and Israel had walked in

my ways!

14 I should soon have subdued their enemies, and turned my hand against

their adversaries.

15 The haters of the Lord should have submitted themselves unto him: But their time should have endured for ever.

16 He should have fed them also with the finest of the wheat; And with honey out of the rock should I have satisfied thee.

Asaph is the writer of this Psalm. Whether or not it was written (as some suppose) for Hezekiah’s passover, we need not stay to inquire (2 Chron. xxx. 2). It does not affect our view of the mind of God — the heart, the bowels of compassion, displayed in every line, — the breathing of tender love. The Lord is ever well pleased with such a cry as the two preceding Psalms sent up; for his heart is toward his people; and he here tells how he has longed over them, even in their backslidings. It is “on Oittith,” like Psalm viii.

In the first verses (1-3), is it the voice of Israel we hear? Is it not rather the voice of the Church’s Head and Israel’s, identifying himself with us and them? Is it not Messiah, the lawgiver and redeemer of Israel? To understand the speaker throughout to be He, gives beautiful unity and force to the

HIS people’s rejection of grace. 2V.i

whole. It is He, we suppose, who summons them in these lively, inviting strains: —

“Sing loud unto God our strength! Raise the shout of joy unto the God of Jacob! Take music (mQT voice and instrument), and bring the timbrel, The pleasant harp aad the psaltery! Blow the horn in the month (i. e., Abib., Exodus xii. 1.) On tliefull moon, on the day of our feast {i. e., the Passover), For this is a statute for Israel,

A law in reference to (7 for the worship of. — Hengst.) the God of Jacob.” (1-4.)

Then mention is made of “Joseph,” because the Passoverreference calls back to mind the days of Egypt, when Joseph was Israel’s shepherd in Goshen; and it is said that this feast was ordained for a “testimony,” viz., to the Lord’s goodness and sparing mercy.

“When he went out against the land of Egypt;” (to destroy it by

plagues.) “When I heard a language that I knew not;” (not the tongue of Israel,

which is so well known to me, as one knows his friend.)

And having thus identified himself with Israel — the shepherd with the flock — he speaks in his own name of what he wrought for them. He took them from bondage,* at their going forth; and often did he reason with them, as at Sinai, when the thunder’s roar was heard from thick clouds that were the curtains of his pavilion, and from the pillar-cloud —

“Oh! hadsi thou heard my voice alone!
When thunders rolled above thy head,
And lightnings flashed before thine eyes,

When I of thee a trial made.
Where, Meribah, thy waters rise!” (Barclay.)

There is “Selah,” the pause for solemn thought, here. And then the expostulation begins, tender, but earnest and searching (8-12), till, after sa3dng verse 12, “Let them go on in their own coU7isels” as Deut. xxix. 18, He seems to recall his words, giving vent to that burst of impassioned feeling, verse 13 —

* The burden and “the pots,” or clay-basket, are remarkably illustrated (says Tholuck) by the Egyptian sculptures, which still shew Israelites carrying the clay and tlw tiles.

244 PSALM LXXXII. — MESSIAH THE TllUE JUDGE

“Oil, if my people would hearken to me!
Would Israel walk in my ways!”

Revealing the very same Jesus whose words and tears, as he beheld Jerusalem, are reorded in Luke xix. 43. It is the same speaker that continues thus to tell what they have lost by their waywardness —

“/ would soon have subdued their enemies,

“The haters of Jehovah should have suhmitted unto him.’’

And, on the other hand, He (Jehovah) would have fed them luith “kernelled wheat,” — alludingto the rich old covenant promises, Deut. xxxii. 14, xxxiii, 14, All this (says Messiah), Jehovah was ready to do. Yes, these covenant promises, every one, even to the honey from the rock (Deut. xxxii, 13), I would have given thee in all abundance, till thou hadst not a want remaining.*

Thus from beginning to end, in this Psalm, we hear The Redeeraer of Israel’s tender lamentation over his people’s rejection of His grace.