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Psalm 81

God’s Appeal to Stubborn Israel

To the leader: according to The Gittith. Of Asaph.

1

Sing aloud to God our strength;

shout for joy to the God of Jacob.

2

Raise a song, sound the tambourine,

the sweet lyre with the harp.

3

Blow the trumpet at the new moon,

at the full moon, on our festal day.

4

For it is a statute for Israel,

an ordinance of the God of Jacob.

5

He made it a decree in Joseph,

when he went out over the land of Egypt.

 

I hear a voice I had not known:

6

“I relieved your shoulder of the burden;

your hands were freed from the basket.

7

In distress you called, and I rescued you;

I answered you in the secret place of thunder;

I tested you at the waters of Meribah. Selah

8

Hear, O my people, while I admonish you;

O Israel, if you would but listen to me!

9

There shall be no strange god among you;

you shall not bow down to a foreign god.

10

I am the L ord your God,

who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.

Open your mouth wide and I will fill it.

 

11

“But my people did not listen to my voice;

Israel would not submit to me.

12

So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts,

to follow their own counsels.

13

O that my people would listen to me,

that Israel would walk in my ways!

14

Then I would quickly subdue their enemies,

and turn my hand against their foes.

15

Those who hate the L ord would cringe before him,

and their doom would last forever.

16

I would feed you with the finest of the wheat,

and with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.”


9 Let there be no strange god 414414     “Heathen, or foreign god.” — Hammond. in thee. Here there is propounded the leading article of the covenant, and almost the whole sum of it, which is, that God alone must have the pre-eminence. Some may prefer this explanation: O Israel! if thou wilt hearken to me, there is nothing which I more strictly require or demand from thee than that thou shouldst be contented with me alone, and that thou shouldst not seek after strange gods: and of this opinion I am far from disapproving. God by this language undoubtedly confirms the truth which he so frequently inculcates elsewhere in the law and the prophets, that he is so jealous a God as not to allow another to be a partaker of the honor to which he alone is entitled. But at the same time he teaches us that true religious worship begins with obedience. The order which Moses observes is different, Exodus 20:2, 4, and Deuteronomy 5:6, 8. In these passages God sets out with declaring that he is the God of Israel; and then he forbids them to make for themselves any new gods. But here the prohibition is put first, and then the reason of it is subjoined, which is, that the people ought to be abundantly satisfied with the God who had purchased them to be his people. Perhaps also he sets this in the front to prepare the way for his obtaining the throne of their hearts. He would first withdraw the people from superstitions, as these must necessarily be plucked up and cleared away before true religion can take root in our hearts.


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