{"id":6629,"date":"2022-03-25T13:40:02","date_gmt":"2022-03-25T19:40:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/?p=6629"},"modified":"2022-03-25T13:40:02","modified_gmt":"2022-03-25T19:40:02","slug":"psalm-81","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/?p=6629","title":{"rendered":"Psalm 81"},"content":{"rendered":"

To the Chief Musician. On an instrument of Gath. A Psalm of Asaph.<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

1 <\/span>Sing aloud to God our strength;<\/span><\/span><\/em>
\nMake a joyful shout to the God of Jacob.<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

2 <\/sup>Raise a song and strike the timbrel,<\/span><\/em>
\nThe pleasant harp with the lute.<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

3\u00a0<\/sup>Blow the trumpet at the time of the New Moon,<\/span><\/em>
\nAt the full moon, on our solemn feast day.<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

4 <\/sup>For this is a statute for Israel,<\/span><\/em>
\nA law of the God of Jacob.<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

5 <\/sup>This He established in Joseph as a testimony,<\/span><\/em>
\nWhen He went throughout the land of Egypt,<\/span><\/em>
\nWhere I heard a language I did not understand.<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

6\u00a0<\/sup>\u201cI removed his shoulder from the burden;<\/span><\/em>
\nHis hands were freed from the baskets.<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

7 <\/sup>You called in trouble, and I delivered you;<\/span><\/em>
\nI answered you in the secret place of thunder;<\/span><\/em>
\nI tested you at the waters of Meribah. Selah<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

8\u00a0<\/sup>\u201cHear, O My people, and I will admonish you!<\/span><\/em>
\nO Israel, if you will listen to Me!<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

9 <\/sup>There shall be no foreign god among you;<\/span><\/em>
\nNor shall you worship any foreign god.<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

10 <\/sup>I am the Lord<\/span> your God,<\/span><\/em>
\nWho brought you out of the land of Egypt;<\/span><\/em>
\nOpen your mouth wide, and I will fill it.<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

11\u00a0<\/sup>\u201cBut My people would not heed My voice,<\/span><\/em>
\nAnd Israel would have none of Me.<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

12 <\/sup>So I gave them over to their own stubborn heart,<\/span><\/em>
\nTo walk in their own counsels.<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n
\n

13\u00a0<\/sup>\u201cOh, that My people would listen to Me,<\/span><\/em>
\nThat Israel would walk in My ways!<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

14 <\/sup>I would soon subdue their enemies,<\/span><\/em>
\nAnd turn My hand against their adversaries.<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

15 <\/sup>The haters of the Lord<\/span> would pretend submission to Him,<\/span><\/em>
\nBut their fate would endure forever.<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

16 <\/sup>He would have fed them also with the finest of wheat;<\/span><\/em>
\nAnd with honey from the rock I would have satisfied you.\u201d<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

According to ancient Jewish tradition\u2014based (rightly so) on the wording in v.3\u2014this psalm is recited on the Feast of Trumpet Blowing (Leviticus 23:24-25; Numbers 29:1), otherwise known in rabbinic-talmudic tradition as the feast of the New Year (Rosh ha-Shana). Biblically, however, this feast had nothing to do with the New Year, but was celebrated on the first day of the seventh<\/em> month. That this psalm is, nonetheless, closely tied to this festival is evident from (1) first and foremost, the exhortation in v.3 to “blow the trumpet at the new moon (i.e., the first day of the lunar month) … on our feast day”\u2014 and the Feast of Trumpet Blowing is the only biblical feast to be celebrated on the first day of any month; (2) the reference in v.4 to the blowing of the trumpet being “a statute” and “ordinance”\u2014which terminology attaches specifically to the Mosaic Law, in which the only legislated trumpet blowing is that performed on the aforementioned feast day; and (3) the parallel theme of (spiritual) renewal (through repentance and corporate worship) of both the psalm and\u2014at least as originally intended\u2014the Feast of Trumpet Blowing (the trumpeting being “a reminder” of the justification as well as the obligation attending God’s rest. \u2014 Wechsler, page 200.<\/span><\/h3>\n

__________<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Verses 1-4 \u2014 As a supplement to\u2014and reinforcement of\u2014the individual obligation to continually “renew” (i.e., maintain the health of) one’s walk in righteousness, God also commanded the regular communal observance of a feast day (v.3) focusing on the same obligation. \u2014 Wechsler, page 201<\/span><\/h3>\n

a statute for Israel (v.4) \u2014 decreed by God in the Law<\/h3>\n

Verses 5-7 \u2014 As an impetus to spiritual renewal God reminds His people of His past solicitude for them in their nascent days as a people\u2014how He went throughout the land of Egypt (v.5, alluding to His judgment of the Egyptians via the tenth plague in Exodus 11:4) and relieved their shoulder of the burden of slavery, freeing their hands from the basket (i.e., of straw that they would gather for making bricks; cf. Exodus 5:7). He did all this, moreover, even though the people did not deserve it\u2014as evinced by the fact that God proved them (i.e., refined them through chastisement). \u2014 Wechsler, page 201.<\/span><\/h3>\n

__________<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

I heard a language I did not understand (v.5) \u2014 This does not mean that the Good Shepherd did not understand the Egyptian language, but that He did not acknowledge as his sheep the Egyptians. The Hebrew verb here should be translated “acknowledged.” … He makes the statement in order to emphasize the separateness of Israel as His flock. They knew His voice and He knew theirs; but He stood in no such relationship to the Egyptians, nor they to Him. \u2014 Williams, page 363<\/span><\/h3>\n

answered (v.7) \u2014could also be translated “covered”<\/h3>\n

place of thunder (v.7) \u2014 Sinai<\/h3>\n

the waters of Meribah<\/span> \u2014 Exodus 17:5-7<\/h3>\n

Verses 8-16 \u2014 The only appropriate response to the manifold evidence of God’s gracious solicitude\u2014displayed in His defense, provision, and chastisement of Israel\u2014is the renewal of one’s walk with and devotion to the Lord, as achieved through repentance (v.8, 13) and one’s consequently “purified” worship, walking in God’s way instead of in one’s own (vs. 12-13).\u2014 Wechsler, pages 201-202.<\/span><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To the Chief Musician. On an instrument of Gath. A Psalm of Asaph. 1 Sing aloud to God our strength; Make a joyful shout to the God of Jacob. 2 Raise a song and strike the timbrel, The pleasant harp … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6629","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-psalms"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6629","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6629"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6629\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6632,"href":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6629\/revisions\/6632"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6629"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6629"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6629"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}