Psalms 81:14

Oh that my people had hearkened unto me, and Israel had walked in my ways! -God still yearns over them, in spite of their perversity and its penal consequence, waiting to be gracious. Verse 13. OH THAT MY PEOPLE HAD HEARKENED UNTO ME, AND ISRAEL HAD WALKED IN MY WAYS! - or rather, 'Oh that my people would hearken unto me, and Israel would walk in my ways as they do not!' [So luw (H3863) means; akin to the negative, lo' (H3808)] (Isaiah 48:18). "My ways" in contrast to "their own counsels," fatal to themselves (Psalms 81:12). Verse 14. I should soon have subdued their enemies, and turne...

14._I would soon have brought their enemies low. _Here the Israelites are taught, that all the calamities which had befallen them were to be imputed to their own sins; for their enemies did not fight against them with any other strength than that with which they were supplied from above. God had promised that under his leading the chosen people would prove victorious over all their enemies; and now to take away all ground for charging him with violating his word, he affirms that he would not have failed to enable them to do this had he not been prevented by their sins. He doubtless intends tacitly to remind them that the victories which they had formerly achieved were not owing to their own military valor, but to Him under whose conduct they had been placed. Now, he tells them that he was not only kept back by their sins from putting forth his power to defend them, but that he was also c...

8-16 We cannot look for too little from the creature, nor too much from the Creator. We may have enough from God, if we pray for it in faith. All the wickedness of the world is owing to man's wilfulness. People are not religious, because they will not be so. God is not the Author of their sin, he leaves them to the lusts of their own hearts, and the counsels of their own heads; if they do not well, the blame must be upon themselves. The Lord is unwilling that any should perish. What enemies sinners are to themselves! It is sin that makes our troubles long, and our salvation slow. Upon the same conditions of faith and obedience, do Christians hold those spiritual and eternal good things, which the pleasant fields and fertile hills of Canaan showed forth. Christ is the Bread of life; he is the Rock of salvation, and his promises are as honey to pious minds. But those who reject him as thei...

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....

I SHOULD SOON HAVE SUBDUED THEIR ENEMIES - This is one of the consequences which, it is said, would have followed if they had been obedient to the laws of God. The phrase rendered soon means literally like a little; that is, as we might say, in a little, to wit, in a little time. The word rendered subdued means to bow down; to be curved or bent; and the idea is, that he would have caused them to bow down, to wit, by submission before them. Compare Deuteronomy 32:29. AND TURNED MY HAND AGAINST THEIR ADVERSARIES - Against those who oppressed and wronged them. The act of turning the hand against one is significant of putting him away - repelling him - disowning him - as when we would thrust one away from us with aversion....

EXPOSITION PROFESSOR CHEYNE regards this psalm as composed of "two distinct lyrical passages," accidentally thrown together (compare his theory of Psalms 19:1, Psalms 24:1, Psalms 36:1, Psalms 55:1, Psalms 77:1, etc.); and certainly there is more reason for this than can be adduced for his other separations. It is difficult to trace any connection between the joyous opening strophe (Psalms 81:1) and the sad and chastened

I SHOULD SOON HAVE SUBDUED THEIR ENEMIES,.... The Canaanites, and others: this he would have done in a very little time, or at once, and that easily, and without any trouble; he would quickly have humbled them, and brought them on their knees, as the word g signifies, to terms of peace; for when a man's ways please the Lord, he makes his enemies to be at peace with him, Proverbs 16:7 so those that hearken to the voice of Christ, and walk in his ways, he subdues their iniquities, and will bruise Satan under their feet shortly, and make them more than conquerors: through himself, over the world; the men and things of it he has overcome: AND TURNED MY HAND AGAINST THEIR ADVERSARIES; that troubled, distressed, and oppressed them; and it is a righteous thing with God to render tribulation to them that trouble his people; he turns his chastising hand off of them, which sometim

We have here an exhortation to praise God; and this is always in season. Perhaps we need more stirring up to praise than to prayer, yet it ought to be as natural for us to praise God as it is for the birds to sing. Thus the Psalm begins, Psalms 81:1. _Sing aloud unto God our strength:_ Yes, the strength which the Lord gives you should be spent in praising him. «Sing aloud.» Throw your whole soul into it. If the Lord makes you strong, then give your strength back to him in sacred song: «Sing aloud unto God our strength.» Psalms 81:1. _Make a joyful noise unto the God of Jacob._ Other gods, such as Moloch, and Ashtaroth, are worshipped with mournful cries and sorrowful lamentations, but the God of Jacob, the God that heareth prayer, the God of salvation, the Go

Psalms 81 Hope Revived: His Gracious Return to Israel _ 1. The blowing of the trumpet (Psalms 81:1)_ 2. His loving call to His people (Psalms 81:6) 3. Gracious results promised (Psalms 81:13) Hope has revived and singing is commanded. What interests us most is the call to blow the trumpet in the new moon. The blowing of the trumpet, in the feast of trumpets (Leviticus 23:1), marks the beginning of Israel's New Year. Dispensationally it stands for the regathering of Israel and is followed by the day of atonement, that f

LXXXI. This Ps. is probably composite. A. PSALMS 81:1. A FESTAL HYMN, specially adapted for the old New Year's Day or Feast of Trumpets (p. 104), which was held on the new moon of Tishri, the seventh month, and for the Feast of Tabernacles (pp. 103f.) at the full moon of the same month. The old New Year in the autumn, when the cycle of agricultural work was complete, is to be distinguished from the Babylonian New Year in the spring month of Nisan (see p, 118, Leviticus 23:24 ff. and Numbers 29). Possibly Psalms 81 A is a mere fragment. B is different in tone and subject. It relates (Psalms 81:5) God's care for His people in Egypt and the wilderness, ...