Bible Commentaries

This psalm was penned, as is supposed, not upon occasion of any particular providence, but for the solemnity of a particular ordinance, either that of the new-moon in general or that of the feast of trumpets on the new moon of the seventh month, Le 23:24, Nu 29:1. When David, by the Spirit, introduced the singing of psalms into the temple-service this psalm was intended for that day, to excite and assist the proper devotions of it. All the psalms are profitable; but, if one psalm be more suitable than another to the day and observances of it, we should choose that. The two great intentions of our religious assemblies, and which we ought to have in our eye in our attendance on them, are answered in this psalm, which are, to give glory to God and to receive instruction from God, to "behold the beauty of the Lord and to enquire in his temple;" accordingly by this psalm we are assisted on our solemn feast days, I. In praising God for what he is to his people (Ps 81:1-3), and has done for them, Ps 81:4-7. II. In teaching and admonishing one another concerning the obligations we lie under to God (Ps 81:8-10), the danger of revolting from him (Ps 81:11,12), and the happiness we should have if we would but keep close to him, Ps 81:13-16. This, though spoken primarily of Israel of old, is written for our learning, and is therefore to be sung with application.

This psalm purports also to be a psalm of Asaph. See Introduction to Psalm 73. In the absence of any evidence to the contrary, it may be assumed to have been composed by or for the Asaph who was the contemporary of David, and who was, appointed by him to preside over the music of the sanctuary. Venema, indeed, supposes that the psalm was composed in the time of Josiah, at the observance of the great Passover celebrated by him 2 Chronicles 35; but there is no positive evidence of this, though there is nothing in the psalm that is inconsistent with such a supposition. On the phrase in the title, upon Gittith, see the notes at the title to Psalm 8:1-9.

The occasion on which the psalm was composed seems to have been a festal occasion, and the circumstances in the psalm will probably best accord with the supposition that it was the Feast of the Passover. Rosenmuller has indeed endeavored to show (see his notes at Psalm 81:4) that it was composed on occasion of the Feast of Trumpets (Leviticus 23:24, following); but there is nothing in the psalm which would necessarily restrict it to that, and, as we shall see, all the circumstances in the psalm harmonize with the supposition that it was at the Feast of the Passover, the principal and the most important festival of the Hebrews. It is well remarked by DeWette (Introduction to the psalm), that as the Hebrews were required to make known to their children the design of the ordinance of the Passover (see Exodus 12:26-27), nothing would be more natural than that the sacred poets should take occasion from the return of that festival to enforce the truths pertaining to it in songs composed for the celebration. Such seems to have been the design of this psalm - reminding the people of the goodness of God in the past, and recalling them from their sins by a remembrance of his mercies, and by a view of what would be the consequences of fully obeying his law.

It would seem from the psalm not improbable that it was composed in a time of national declension in religion, and when there was a tendency to idolatry, and that the object of the author was to rouse the nation from that state, and to endeavor by a reference to the past to bring them back to a more entire devotedness to God.

The contents of the psalm are as follows:

I. The duty of praise, particularly on such occasions as that on which the psalm was composed; a duty enjoined even in Egypt, in the time of Joseph, when God delivered his people out of that strange land, Psalm 81:1-7.

II. The main command which was then ordained to be the guide of the people - the fixed law of the nation - the fundamental idea in their polity - that there was to be no strange god among them, but that they were to worship the true God, and him alone, Psalm 81:8-10.

III. The fact that the nation had refused to hear; that there had been such a proneness to worship other gods, and to fall into the habits of idolaters, that God had given them up to their own desires, and suffered them to walk in their own ways, Psalm 81:11-12.

IV. A statement of what God would have done for them if they had been obedient; of what would have been the effect on their national prosperity if they had hearkened to the commands of God; and consequently of what would still be the result if the people should be obedient, and submit themselves wholly to the law of God, Psalm 81:13-16. Particularly:

(1) Their enemies would have been subdued, Psalm 81:14.

(2) those who hated the Lord would have yielded themselves to him, Psalm 81:15.

(3) God would have given them abundant prosperity; he would have fed them with the finest of the wheat, and would have satisfied them with honey out of the rock, Psalm 81:16.

The psalm is of special importance to the church now, as reminding it of its obligation from the past mercies of God, and as showing what would be the consequences if it should be wholly devoted to the service of God.

An exhortation to the people to praise God for his benefits, Psalm 81:1-7; and to attend to what he had prescribed, Psalm 81:8-10; their disobedience lamented, Psalm 81:11; the miseries brought on themselves by their transgressions, Psalm 81:12-16.

The title is the same as to Psalm 8:1-9 (note), which see. There are various opinions concerning the occasion and time of this Psalm: but it is pretty generally agreed that it was either written for or used at the celebration of the Feast of Trumpets, (see on Leviticus 23:24 (note)), which was held on the first day of the month Tisrl, which was the beginning of the Jewish year; and on that day it is still used in the Jewish worship. According to Jewish tradition, credited by many learned Christians, the world was created in Tisri, which answers to our September. The Psalm may have been used in celebrating the Feast of Trumpets on the first day of Tisri, the Feast of Tabernacles on the fifteenth of the same month, the creation of the world, the Feasts of the New Moons, and the deliverance of the Israelites from Egypt; to all which circumstances it appears to refer.

INTRODUCTION TO Psalm 81

To the chief Musician upon Gittith, A Psalm of Asaph. Of "gittith", See Gill on Psalm 8:1. The Targum renders it,

"upon the harp which came from Gath;''

and so Jarchi says it was a musical instrument that came from Gath. The Septuagint, and the versions which follow that, render it, "for the winepresses". This psalm, according to Kimchi, is said concerning the going out of the children of Israel from Egypt; and was composed in order to be sung at their new moons and solemn feasts, which were typical of Gospel things in Gospel times; see Colossians 2:16 and so the Syriac version,

"a psalm of Asaph, when David by him prepared himself for the solemnities.''.

LXXXI.

This is plainly a festival song, but by no means one of that jubilant class of festival songs that conclude the Psalter. The poet is in the truest sense a prophet, and, while calling on all the nation to join in the music of the feast, he tries to convince them of the sad lapse in religion from the ideal which the appointed feasts were intended to support. By a poetic turn of high order, he represents himself as catching suddenly, amid the blare of trumpets and clash of drums, the accents of a strange, unknown voice. He listens. It is God Himself speaking and recalling, by a few brief incisive touches, the history of the ancient deliverance from Egypt. The servitude, the storm passage of the Red Sea, the miraculous supply of water, with the revelation it made of the faithlessness of the people; the covenant at Sinai, the Decalogue, by its opening commandment—are all glanced at; and then comes the sad sequel, the stubbornness and perversity of the nation for which all had been done.

But the psalm does not end with sadness. After the rebuke comes the promise of rich and abundant blessing, upon the condition of future obedience.

The particular festival for which the psalm was composed, or which it celebrates, has been matter of controversy. The arguments in favour of the Feast of Tabernacles will be found stated in the Note to Psalm 81:3. But the mode of treatment would equally well suit any of the great Israelite feasts. They were at once memorials of God’s goodness and witnesses of the ingratitude and perverseness which, with these significant records continually before them, the nation so sadly displayed. After the prologue the poem falls into two nearly equal strophes.

Title.—See Titles, Psalms 4, Psalm 8:1.

The beginning of each month was marked by the blowing of the silver trumpets (Numbers 10:10); but the first day of the month Ethânîm or Tisri (Sept.–Oct.), the seventh month of the ecclesiastical year and the first of the civil year, was kept as a solemn festival and was called ‘the Day of trumpet-blowing’ or ‘the Feast of trumpets’ (Numbers 29:1; Leviticus 23:24). Upon the fifteenth day of the same month, at the full moon, the Feast of Tabernacles began (Leviticus 23:39). To this double celebration Psalm 81:3 plainly alludes; and we find that from ancient times this Psalm has been the New Year’s Day Psalm of the Jewish Church, and that by an apparently unanimous Jewish tradition it is connected with the Feast of Tabernacles. It is unreasonable to disregard the evidence of practice and tradition, and maintain that the Psalm was intended for the Passover, on the ground of the reference to the Exodus in Psalm 81:5. In point of fact its contents are more appropriate to the Feast of Tabernacles than to the Passover. The Feast of Tabernacles was the most joyous of all the feasts, and the opening verses are a call to a jubilant celebration. The Feast of Tabernacles was the time appointed for the septennial recitation of the Law (Deuteronomy 31:10); and the leading thoughts of the Psalm are that allegiance of Israel to Jehovah alone which was the fundamental principle of the Law; Jehovah’s deliverance of Israel from Egypt, which was the ground upon which that claim rested; and Israel’s failure in its duty and consequent loss of promised blessing.

The Psalm falls into three divisions:

i. A call to celebrate the festival with shout and song and blowing of trumpets, for it is a divine ordinance for Israel (Psalm 81:1-5).

ii. Throwing himself back in imagination to the time of the Exodus, the Psalmist hears the voice of God proclaiming the decree for Israel’s liberation, and the fundamental principle of the covenant made at Sinai, the absolute allegiance of Israel to Jehovah as their God (Psalm 81:6-10).

iii. But Israel would not obey, and Jehovah was forced to leave them to experience the consequences of their obstinate self-will. Yet even now, if they would obey His commands, He would subdue their enemies, and satisfy them with the promised blessings of plenty (Psalm 81:11-16).

Some commentators regard the Psalm as a combination of two fragments, Psalm 81:1-5 a, b, Psalm 81:5 c – Psalm 81:16, on the ground of the want of connexion between Psalm 81:5 b and Psalm 81:5 c, the dissimilarity in style between the two parts, and the unsuitability of the latter part for a festival hymn. But these arguments are not convincing. If the transition in Psalm 81:5 is somewhat abrupt, it is not more so than is frequently the case; that the Psalmist should pass from a summons to the celebration of the festival to a consideration of its religious significance is perfectly natural; and a review of Jehovah’s relation to Israel is surely not unsuitable for a festival hymn, in view alike of the general commemorative purpose of the festival, and of the particular fact that it was the occasion for the septennial recitation of the Law, which was based upon that relation. That rejoicing should be tempered by warning is fully in accord with the prophetic spirit of the Asaphic Psalms. Comp. also Psalms 95.

There is nothing in the Psalm by which its date can be fixed with certainty. It contains several allusions to Deuteronomy 32, , Psalm 81:11-12 may be a reminiscence of Jeremiah 7:24. The summons to the festival implies that the Temple was standing, and from Psalm 81:14-15 it may be inferred that the nation was threatened or oppressed by foreign enemies. Perhaps it may belong to the later years of the kingdom, and if so, probably to the reign of Josiah.

It is the special Psalm for Thursday as well as for New Year’s Day according to the ancient Jewish usage. See Introd. p. xxvii. Presumably the title in the LXX once contained a reference to this usage, as the Old Latin Version has Quinta Sabbati; but it has disappeared from all but one or two MSS of the LXX.

On the title, For the chief Musician; set to the Gittith (R.V.), see Introd. p. xxv.

Ps 81:1-16.

Gittith--(See on

Ps 8:1,

title). A festal Psalm, probably for the passover (compare

Mt 26:30),

in which, after an exhortation to praise God, He is introduced, reminding Israel of their obligations, chiding their neglect, and depicting the happy results of obedience.

1. our strength--

(Ps 38:7).

Sing aloud unto God our strength - The strength and support of the nation; he from whom the nation has derived all its power. The word rendered sing aloud means to rejoice; and then, to make or cause to rejoice. It would be appropriate to a high festal occasion, where music constituted an important part of the public service. And it would be a proper word to employ in reference to any of the great feasts of the Hebrews.

Make a joyful noise - A noise indicating joy, as distinguished from a noise of mourning or lamentation.

Unto the God of Jacob - Not here particularly the God of the patriarch himself, but of the people who bore his name - his descendants.