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NOTES for Psa 81

Printable version
1 Sing aloud unto God our strength: make a joyful noise unto the God of Jacob.
2 Take a psalm, and bring hither the timbrel, the pleasant harp with the psaltery.
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.
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The feasts are said to be established as a law and an ordinance, which may raise a question: during the feasts people are called to rejoice, but can joy be founded on an ordinance?

Yet this is not at all the kind of ordinance that people establish. Human ordinances regulating the order of earthly communities are indeed not intended to become a source of joy. But the feasts established for God’s people make it possible to encounter the message of salvation.

The Old Testament ages still continue and the proclamation of the Good News still lies ahead, but sharing in what comes from God already gives rise to a joyful response in human hearts.

Other notes

 
For Psa 81:1-8
1 Sing aloud unto God our strength: make a joyful noise unto the God of Jacob.
2 Take a psalm, and bring hither the timbrel, the pleasant harp with the psaltery.
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;
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Traditional commentary explains that the judges are called gods here, showing that they judge in the Name of...  Read more

Traditional commentary explains that the judges are called gods here, showing that they judge in the Name of God. If so, God will call them to account for unjust judgment. In the Gospel, however, this passage is opened more broadly, and those “to whom the word of God came” are called gods (John 10:35).

It is difficult to understand these words, but still harder to accept that the Lord truly wants to see us not merely above our present level, but far higher than we are capable of imagining! Yet here is the paradox: with all our pride, we are unable even to approach the height at which the Lord places our dignity. By exalting ourselves, we merely fall on the distant approaches to it; puffed up, we burst. By humbling ourselves, on the contrary, we receive the possibility of growth and of humbly accepting the greatness granted by the Lord.

Even then, however, we must remember that those whom the Lord has raised high will inevitably fall if they do not stand firm in truth and, becoming proud, decide to regard His gifts as the fruits of their own merit and achievements.

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