PSALM LXXXI _An exhortation to the people to praise God for his_ _benefits_, 1-7; _and to attend to what he had prescribed_, 8-10; _their disobedience lamented_, 11; _the miseries brought on themselves by their transgressions_, 12-16. NOTES ON PSALM LXXXI The _title_ is the same as to Psalm... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 81:2. _TAKE A PSALM_] זמרה _zimrah_. I rather think that this was the name of a _musical instrument_. _BRING HITHER THE TIMBREL_] תף _toph_; some kind of _drum_ or _tom tom_. _THE PLEASANT HARP_] כנור _kinnor_. Probably a _sistrum_, or something like it. A STRINGED instrument. _WITH... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 81:3. _BLOW UP THE TRUMPET_] שופר _shophar_, a species of _horn._ Certainly a _wind_ instrument, as the two last were _stringed_ instruments. Perhaps some chanted a _psalm_ in _recitativo_, while all these _instruments_ were used as _accompaniments_. In a _representative_ system of reli... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 81:4. _THIS_ WAS _A STATUTE FOR ISRAEL_] See the statute, Numbers 10:10, and Leviticus 23:24.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 81:5. _I HEARD A LANGUAGE I UNDERSTOOD NOT._] This passage is difficult. Who heard? And _what_ was heard? All the _Versions_, except the _Chaldee_, read the pronoun in the _third_ person, instead of the _first_. "He heard a language that _he_ understood not." And to the Versions _Kennic... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 81:7. _THOU CALLEDST IN TROUBLE_] They had _cried_ by reason of their burdens, and the cruelty of their task-masters; and God heard that cry, and delivered them. See Exodus 3:7, c. _IN THE SECRET PLACE OF THUNDER_] On Mount Sinai where God was _heard_, but not _seen_. They heard a _voi... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 81:8. _HEAR, O MY PEOPLE_] These are nearly the same words with those spoken at the giving of the law, Exodus 20:2.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 81:10. _OPEN THY MOUTH WIDE_] Let thy desires be ever so extensive, I will gratify them if thou wilt be faithful to me. Thou shalt lack no manner of thing that is good.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 81:11. _ISRAEL WOULD NONE OF ME._] לא אבה לי _lo abah li_, They willed me not, they would not have me for their God.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 81:12. _UNTO THEIR OWN HEARTS' LUST_] To the _obstinate_ _wickedness_ of their heart. _IN THEIR OWN COUNSELS._] God withdrew his restraining grace, which they had abused; and then they fulfilled the inventions of their wicked hearts.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 81:13. _O THAT MY PEOPLE HAD HEARKENED UNTO ME, - ISRAEL HAD_ _WALKED IN MY WAYS_] Nothing can be more plaintive than the original; _sense_ and _sound_ are surprisingly united. I scruple not to say to him who understands the Hebrew, however learned, he has never found in any poet, Greek... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 81:14. _I SHOULD SOON HAVE SUBDUED_] If God's promise appeared to fail in behalf of his people, it was because they rejected his counsel, and walked in their own. While they were faithful, they prospered; and not one jot or tittle of God's word failed to them.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 81:15. _THEIR TIME SHOULD HAVE ENDURED FOR EVER._] That is, Their _prosperity_ should have known no end.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 81:16. _WITH THE FINEST OF THE WHEAT_] מחלב חטה _mecheleb_ _chittah_; literally, _with the fat of wheat_, as in the _margin_. _HONEY OUT OF THE ROCK_] _And he fed thaim of the grese of whete:_ _And of the hony stane he thaim filled_. Old _Psalter_. Thus paraphrased: "He fed thaim with... [ Continue Reading ]