Psalms 81

Sing aloud to God, our strength! Make a joyful shout to the God of Jacob! Both hear: loud praise to the covenant God who is strength.

Festival voice is not optional muffling. Sing and shout to Jacob's God—strength celebrated aloud.

Calvin: likely appointed for festival assemblies. They were not to stand deaf and dumb—service is not indolence or empty ceremony but cherishing unity of faith, open profession, progress, joint praise, and steadfastness in the covenant.

Sing aloud; shout for joy. True assembly remembers benefits and stirs thanksgiving.

Raise a song, and bring here the tambourine, the pleasant lyre with the harp. Both see: song and instruments summoned for worship.

Raise what God appointed for joy. Instruments serve the song of strength (v. 1), not spectacle alone.

Calvin: under the law Levites rightly used instruments as rudiments for a people yet tender; now the gospel's clearer light teaches simpler service—imitation of the shadow as if still required is mistaken.

Raise song and sound. Let the appointed means serve faith and praise, not bare noise.

Blow the trumpet at the new moon, at the full moon, on our feast day. Undisputed: calendar feasts marked by trumpet.

Keep the feast days God set. Trumpet calls the congregation to remember deliverance and statute (vv. 4–5).

Calvin: new moon by synecdoche covers high feasts; days of meeting at the tabernacle are days of sacrifice by eminence.

Trumpet at the appointed feast. Sacred time serves covenant memory.

For it is a statute for Israel, an ordinance of the God of Jacob. Feast praise rests on God's statute and rule—not whim.

Obey the statute with gladness. Jacob's God rules the calendar of praise.

Calvin: the ordinance was prescribed to ratify the everlasting covenant. In covenants there is mutual agreement; this statute was given to Israel, and God reserved this honor as his right.

The feast is a statute and an ordinance. Worship bound by God's appointment strengthens covenant fidelity.

He appointed it in Joseph for a covenant, when he went out over the land of Egypt, I heard a language that I had not known. Wesley: Joseph—among Israel; Testimony—witness of glorious deliverance; He—God; Went—captain at the head; Egypt—execute judgments; I—progenitors as one body; A language—Egyptian at first unknown. No dispute here: decree tied to Exodus; foreign tongue recalled.

Remember when God went out over Egypt. The unknown language heightens how strange and gracious the rescue was.

Calvin: testimony/covenant rather than mere ornament; Joseph named for the early body of the people. Sacredness of the covenant is tied to purchase in deliverance. Going forth may apply to God or people; language not understood enhances the blessing of rescue from barbarism.

Decree in Joseph at the going out. Covenant memory is Exodus memory.

I removed his shoulder from the burden. His hands were freed from the basket. Wesley: Pots—vessels for water, straw, lime, or bricks. God speaks—slavery's load and brick-labor ended.

Hear the first-person grace. Shoulders and hands freed are gifts to remember when strange gods beckon (v. 9).

Calvin: God recounts benefits and obligations. The more galling the bondage, the more precious the liberty—stooped under burdens, doomed to brick-labor. Apply upward: he has redeemed us from Satan's tyranny; obligations are stricter still.

Shoulder relieved; hands freed. Redeeming power grounds exclusive worship.

In distress you called in trouble, and I delivered you. I answered you in the secret place of thunder. I tested you at the waters of Meribah. Selah. Wesley: Calledst—at the Red Sea; Secret place—from the dark cloudy pillar, thundering against Egyptians. Both affirm: cry, deliverance, thunder-answer, Meribah test.

Selah over rescue and proving. The God who answered in thunder also tested at the waters—grace and trial together.

Calvin: crying in distress includes prayer with remains of godliness. Secret place of thunder—heard in a secret, wonderful manner with manifest tokens; not that God was seen face to face. Meribah upbraids unworthiness—favor not from their good desert.

Called, delivered, answered, tested. Selah: remember both thunder-help and Meribah failure.

Hear, my people, and I will testify to you, Israel, if you would listen to me! Wesley: Testify—this God did presently after Meribah, even at Sinai. Where they meet: hearing and heeding are the point of the feast.

Assemblies without the voice of God are empty. "If you would listen" is yearning admonition—open the ear.

Calvin: God as teacher in the congregation—festival days not rightly kept unless people listen. He acknowledges as servants those disposed to become learners. "If thou wilt hearken" is abrupt, pathetic—he distrusts this obstinate people.

Hear; if you would listen. Covenant speech seeks learners, not mere feasters.

There shall be no strange god in you, neither shall you worship any foreign god. Both traditions hear: exclusive loyalty—no rivals, no bowing.

Clear the heart of fabricated gods before true worship roots. Festival joy includes this prohibition.

Calvin: leading article of the covenant—God alone must have pre-eminence. True religious worship begins with obedience. Prohibition first prepares the heart; then the reason follows in v. 10.

No strange god; no bowing to the foreign. Jealous love claims the whole people.

I am the LORD your God, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it. Wesley: Wide—either to pray for mercies, or to receive the mercies I am ready to give. Exodus Lord offers full supply to the opened mouth.

Open wide in asking and receiving. Penury often traces to a mouth kept shut or too narrow for ready mercy.

Calvin: three arguments—I am Jehovah; deliverance from Egypt proving power and veracity; offer for the future—open wide, I will fill. Spare blessing often because our mouth is too narrow; empty because shut. He requires worship but sets no value on bare syllables of deity—hope and praise must not be transferred elsewhere.

LORD who brought up; open wide; I will fill. Unbelief contracts what grace would flood.

But my people didn’t listen to my voice. Israel desired none of me. Common reading: refusal to hear and yield—despite "my people."

The tragedy is named without excuse. Listening and submitting were offered; they would none of him.

Calvin: he complains they despised friendly invitation from the beginning—always stupid and hardened. "Would none of me" is avowed, deliberate contempt; minds bewitched.

Did not listen; would not submit. Honor of "my people" aggravates the shame of refusal.

So I let them go after the stubbornness of their hearts, that they might walk in their own counsels. Both confess: judicial consequence—handed to stubbornness and self-counsel after refused hearing.

Warning tone—persist in not listening, and God may give you what you insist on. Flee that sentence; keep hearing while the voice still admonishes (v. 8).

Calvin: gave them up to thoughts/hardness of their own heart; they walk in own counsels. Just punishment when he deprives of wholesome doctrine and gives over to a reprobate mind. Most dreadful plague—left to own guidance, dragged by Satan. No more deadly than God holding his peace. Renounce carnal dictates; follow the Spirit. External call alone insufficient—he effectually draws those he calls; yet the complaint of folly when we disobey remains fitting.

Gave over to stubborn hearts. Dread the silence of abandoned counsel; seek the bridle of the Word.

Oh, that my people would listen to me, that Israel would walk in my ways! Yearning for listening people and obedient walk.

The "oh that" is holy desire for Israel's good. Hearing is defined by walking in his ways—not bare assent.

Calvin: "O if" as wish and paternal lament—not bare condition—God as father grieving over children who refuse their best interests, using human pathos to express love's greatness. To hear God is to submit to his authority, not hypocritically bend the ear. He wills the salvation of those addressed by the inviting word; secret electing difference remains, yet the complaint of our folly is just.

Oh that they would listen and walk. Take the yearning as call to obey; do not speculate past the spoken invitation.

I would soon subdue their enemies, and turn my hand against their adversaries. Prompt victory tied to listening and walking (v. 13).

Calamity is not proof God cannot save—refusal blocked the soon subduing. Hear, and the hand turns against foes.

Calvin: Israelites taught that calamities were from their sins; enemies fought only with strength from above. He would not have failed to make them victorious had sins not prevented—and perverseness even compelled him to rush against them while enemies sat quiet.

Soon subdue; hand against foes. Obedience would have unlocked swift help.

The haters of the LORD would cringe before him, and their punishment would last forever. Wesley: Him—unto Israel; Their time—their happy time. Either reading: haters subdued; lasting happy time for the people.

Hate of the LORD meets forced cringing if Israel listens. Pray for the happy time that endurance in his ways would secure.

Calvin: haters of Jehovah would have lied/submitted—peace with the reprobate only as God restrains their rage. It was Israel's fault enemies prevailed; humble obedience would have kept foes under. Their time everlasting refers to promises of durable prosperity.

Haters cringe; time endure. Covenant blessing delayed by rebellion, not by weak promise.

But he would have also fed them with the finest of the wheat. I will satisfy you with honey out of the rock I would satisfy you. Wesley: Honey—with all pleasant and precious fruits. Shared close: finest wheat and rock-honey satisfaction for a listening people.

Open mouth (v. 10) meets wheat and honey when the ear opens too. Satisfaction is God's offer still held out in the wistful close.

Calvin: fat of corn and honey from the rock—grace continuing in unbroken course had perverseness not interrupted it. Honey in rock hollows was authentic under blessing; hunger in the promised land meant blessing withheld for iniquity.

The feast God wanted to give waits on the hearing he still seeks.