Davids Harp Strung and Tuned, Book 3 · Psalm 81
PSAL. LXXXI. foreign.
IN this Pſalm the Prophet exhorts the people to praiſe God in his Feſtivals, for the benefits he conferr'd on them, and exprobates their diſobedience, and ſhews the events that fell upon it.
The parts are,
1. An exhortation to celebrate in their Feſtivals, Gods name, from verſ. 1. to 4.
2. The reaſons he uſeth to perſwade unto it, viz. the benefits of God conferr'd upon Iſrael, from verſ. 4. to verſ. 12.
3. An exprobation of Iſraels ingratitude, and the conſequent, verſ. 12, 13.
4. The expreſſion of Gods love, and call to amendment, which if they hearken to, he tells them what will follow, from verſ. 14. to the end.
1. The firſt part. He exhorts to rejoice.He firſt exhorts to rejoice and exult. But not in any worldly manner, as may eaſily be collected out of the circumſtances.
1. The Object, God. To God, our ſtrength, to the God of Jacob. Vers. 1
2. That this joy be expreſſed by voice, and inſtruments of Muſick. In God.Sing aloud, make a joyful noiſe, take a Pſalm, bring hither the Timbrel, the pleaſant Harp, with the Pſaltery. Blow up the Trumpet. At his Feſtivals.Signifie your joy alwayes.
3. Eſpecially, that it be in a fit ſeaſon. In the New Moon, in the time appointed, on our Solemn Feaſt-day. For then they were to rejoice before the Lord.
2. And now he expreſſeth the reaſons why this was to be done.
1. Gods command. For this was a Statute for Iſrael, The ſecond part.and a Law of the God of Jacob; this he ordained in Joſeph for a teſtimony.The reaſon. 1. Gods command.
2. The antiquity of it. Ordained preſently upon the time, when he, that is, God went out through the Land of Egypt. In remembrance of their deliverance, they were to rejoice. 2An old Ordinance.Which benefit he amplifies by this circumſtance, that they were delivered from people of a ſtrange language, which is no ſmall benefit, the intelligence of any tongue, being the bond of all ſociety.
And now more particularly he recounts Gods favours to them. For which they had reaſon to rejoice.
1. That he deliver'd them from a baſe ſervitude. 3Their deliverance from a baſe ſervitude.I removed his ſhoulders from the burden, and his hands, that is, the Iſraelites, were delivered from the pots.
2. And he did this for them, when they were in affliction, 4Done upon their cry.and cryed to him. Thou calledſt in trouble, and I delivered thee. The courteſie was ſeaſonable.
3. He did by ſigns and wonders in Egypt, 5In a miraculous manner.ſhew that he had a care of them. Thou calledst upon me in trouble ſecretly, and I anſwered in the ſecret of thunder; by an open ſign I ſhew'd my preſence with thee, and my care in ſecret for thee.
And here he interſerts one particular of Iſraels ingratitude, 6Though God foreſaw their diſobedience.when they tempted God, and murmured for want of water, which God let them want, for a trial of their obedience. I proved thee alſo at the waters of Meribah. Selah. Numb. 20.
And after he proceeds, and reckons up a new, and the greateſt benefit, viz. The giving of the Law. To which he uſeth, in effect, 7That he gave them the Law.the ſame Preface which is extant, Deut. 5.1. before Moſes gave the Law. Hear, O my people, and I will teſtifie unto thee. O Iſrael, if thou wilt hearken to me. If there were that piety in thee, or that love to me, as I expect, Then there ſhall no ſtrange god be in thee: Neither ſhalt thou worſhip any other gods. Which is the ſecond Commandment.To which he perſwades obedience, for three reaſons.
To perſwade to which, he adds three reaſons. The two firſt in the front of the Decalogue.
1. I am the Lord thy God. A God, thy God, whom elſe ſhouldſt thou worſhip?
2. Which brought thee out of the Land of Egypt. Redeem'd, deliver'd thee from bondage.
3. Open thy mouth wide, and I ſhall fill it. Have no other gods, but me, and I will largely and abundantly ſupply thy wants. This is his promiſe. Ask and have, ſeek and find, but ſeek firſt the Kingdom of God, and its righteouſneſs.The third part. He compla…ns of Iſraels diſobedience.
3. To this he adds the juſt complaint of God, for Iſraels diſobedience. But, notwithſtanding all the evidences of my might, and Arguments of my love, they were a rebellious, and ſtubborn people, which God layes to their charge, verſ. 11. But my people would not hearken to my voice, and Iſrael would none of me. They broke my Covenant, and wilfully ſet me aſide for ſtrange gods.
And this their Rebellion drew on them a heavy, Therefore puniſhed grievouſly, for God left them to themſelves.the ſevereſt puniſhment.
1. So I gave them up unto their own hearts luſt. I let them alone in their obſtinacy.
2. And they walked in their own counſels. They might do what they would, I regarded it not. A heavy judgement for a man to be left to himſelf. Compare with this verſe, 2 Theſ. 2.12. which expounds it.
4. The fourth part.And yet behold the love of God to a wilful, rebellious, and obſtinate people, he wiſhes that it had been otherwiſe, and by his wiſh, affectionately moves them to repentance.Gods love yer, in calling them to repentance.
O that my people had hearkned to me, and Iſrael had walked in my wayes. Conſider how ardently God deſires the good of man, and not his ruine.The reward of which, would be,
And tells them what ſhould enſue upon it. Three very great benefits, and moſt deſired.
1. 1A depreſſion of their enemies.A depreſſion of their enemies. I ſhould ſoon have ſubdued their enemies, and turn'd my hand againſt their adverſaries. The haters of the Lord, ſhould have been found lyars, i. e. ſubmitted and humbled themſelves, though hypocritically and falſly, as all flatterers do. But to that paſs they ſhould have been brought, that they ſhould be glad to diſſemble with, and flatter Gods people.
2. 2Their peace long and laſting.The ſecond benefit is, That their time ſhould have continued for ever, i.e. Their peace, their tranquility, their health, their quiet habitation ſhould have been very long, and not interrupted with War, Sedition, Tumults.
3. The third benefit is, The abundance of all things: Expreſſed by wheat, 3Abundance of all things, to ſatisfaction.and honey.
1. I ſhould have fed them alſo (not with bran mixt with flowre, as poor folks uſe, and is uſual in time of famine) with the fineſt of the wheat.
2. And with honey out of the Rock (in which in Judaea, Bees commonly liv'd) would I have ſatisfied thee. 'Tis a bleſſing to ſay, I have enough.
The Prayer collected out of the eighty firſt Pſalm.
INſinite, Vers. 1 O Lord, are the cauſes that we have, with the greateſt alacrity to praiſe thée. Thou art our ſtrength, thou art the God of Jacob, we will therefore ſing aloud, and make a joyful noyſe unto thee; and becauſe our breath is too ſhort and low to reſound thy praiſes, we will call in the aſſiſtance of muſical inſtruments, the Nary, the Lute, and Pſaltery, and when thoſe Feaſts and Solemn Feſtivals ſhall come, which are ſet forth for to celebrate thy mercies to man-kind, we will blow abroad thy honour with ſhrill ſounding Trumpets. In which we yet ſhall but do our duty, for this was made a Statute for Iſrael, and a Law of the God of Jacob.
Thou wert merciful to thy people Iſrael, when in trouble they called upon thee, thou deliveredſt them, thou broughtſt them to Mount Sinai, and proclaimed thy Law in their eares with the ſound of a Trumpet, when they heard a voice never heard before. Thou eaſeſt his ſhoulder from the burden of carrying earth, tiles, bricks, and ſtraw, and his hands were delivered from making the pots.
Thou haſt been to us no leſs merciful than to them, when in our afflictions and troubles we have called upon thee, thou haſt come down and delivered us, thou haſt freed us from our Aegyptian darkneſs of ignorance, thou haſt louſed us from the ſlavery of the devil, and from the drudgery and ſervice of ſin which laid a heavy burden upon our conſciences, and inſtead of thy Law proclaimed with ſo much terrour in Mount Sinai, thou haſt ſpoken to us from heaven by thy only begotten Son, and ſounded in our ears the glad-tidings of the Goſpel.
And now, Lord, what doeſt thou require at our hands for all theſe favours? even the ſelf-ſame that thou requiredſt of Iſrael. For thus thou then ſpakeſt to them, and thus thou ſpeakeſt to us. Hear, O my people, Vers. 8 and I will teſtifie unto thee; O Iſrael, if thou wilt hearken unto me, there ſhall be no ſtrange god in thee, neither ſhalt thou worſhip any other god: I am the Lord thy God, that brought thee out of the Land of Aegypt. But my people would not hearken to my voice, and Iſrael would none of me.
And wo be ſo us miſerable wretches, our ears have béen dull of hearing, and we have not hearkned to thy command; though we have not ſet up ſtrange gods, yet we have worſhipped our own imaginations, and adored our own inventions. We have forgotten, that thou brought'ſt us out of our more than Aegyptian darkneſs of ignorance and ſin, and fill'd our mouths with all good things. In a word, we have not hearkned to thy voice, we have ſet thée by for the vanities of our own hearts, and would none of thée. In juſtice therefore thou haſt given us up to our hearts luſts, and we have walked in our own counſels, and becauſe we would not receive the love of the truth, that we might be ſaved, for this cauſe hath God ſent us a ſtrong deluſion, that we ſhould be lieve a lye, and take pleaſure in unrighteouſneſs.
But, O Lord, though Iſrael hath tranſgreſſed, yet let not Judah ſin; in Sodom thou hadſt a Lot, in Ur of the Chaldees an Abraham, in the Land of Uz a Job, though the four hundred Prophets have followed Baal, yet there is one Micajah left, nay, ſeven thouſand vnées that have not vowed to the Idol, theſe will hearken unto thee, theſe will walk in thy wayes. Lord here their prayers, hearken unto their groans for the remnant that are left. And thou who wouldſt have ſpared that ſinful City at the requeſt of Abraham, could ten righteous men have been found in it, return in mercy to the thouſands of Iſrael, which day and night cry unto thee to ſpare thy people.
O Lord, for their fakes, rather for thine own ſake, ſpéedily ſubdue and bring under our enemies, and turn thy hand againſt our adverſaries. let all thoſe who by their works, and practical Atheiſm, ſéem to hate thee, bow like lerbants before thy people, and at leaſt ſhew and ſein a voluntary ſubjection, not daring to carry themſelves proudly and ſtubbornly before thy ſervants, nor to manifeſt their ſecret rancour. But let the time of thoſe, who in ſincerity of heart, in truth, and in ſpirit worſhip thée, endure for ever, let their peace be ſecure, their tranquility long, their proſperity perpetual, their habitation quiet, and their health confirm'd.
When they ſhall open their mouths wide in prayer, fulfil their requeſts, whatſoever they ſhall ask in thy name, according to thy promiſe, give it. Becauſe they firſt ſeek the glory and proſperity of thy Kingdom, and the righteouſneſs thereof, let all other things be added unto them. Supply them with the dew of heaven, and the fatneſs of the earth; when other Prodigals féed upon huſks, then feed them with the fineſt of the wheat. Let the Rocks yield them honey, the Mountains Braſs and Iron, let their paſtures de clothed with flocks, Vers. 1 and their valleys to codered over with corn, that they ſhout for ioy, and ſing, that they take a Pſalm; and bring forth the Tabret, the merry Harp with the Lute, and on thy great and appointed Solemnities, ſing aloud to the God of their ſtrength, and make a cheerful noyſe to the God of Jacob. Grant this, O Lord, for Jeſus Chriſts ſake, our only Lord and Saviour. Amen.