Psalms 81:4

For this was a statute for Israel, and a law of the God of Jacob. FOR THIS WAS A STATUE FOR ISRAEL AND A LAW OF THE GOD OF JACOB. "This" - i:e., the observance of the "solemn feast day." "A law" - literally, 'a judgment:' so 'a right appertaining to lª- the God of Jacob.' God, by having delivered Israel, has acquired a right to Israel's joyful obedience to the ordinance of the Passover. Israel should pay to God that which is His due, on the ground of the mercies received....

4_For this is a statute to Israel. _To give the more effect to the preceding exhortation, it is here taught that this law or ordinance had been prescribed to God’s ancient people, for the purpose of ratifying the everlasting covenant. And as in covenants there is a mutual agreement between the parties, it is declared that this _statute was given to Israel, _and that God, in contracting, reserved this for himself, as a right to which he was justly entitled....

1-7 All the worship we can render to the Lord is beneath his excellences, and our obligations to him, especially in our redemption from sin and wrath. What God had done on Israel's behalf, was kept in remembrance by public solemnities. To make a deliverance appear more gracious, more glorious, it is good to observe all that makes the trouble we are delivered from appear more grievous. We ought never to forget the base and ruinous drudgery to which Satan, our oppressor, brought us. But when, in distress of conscience, we are led to cry for deliverance, the Lord answers our prayers, and sets us at liberty. Convictions of sin, and trials by affliction, prove his regard to his people. If the Jews, on their solemn feast-days, were thus to call to mind their redemption out of Egypt, much more ought we, on the Christian sabbath, to call to mind a more glorious redemption, wrought out for us by...

Verse Psalms 81:4. _THIS_ WAS _A STATUTE FOR ISRAEL_] See the statute, Numbers 10:10, and Leviticus 23:24....

FOR THIS WAS A STATUTE FOR ISRAEL ... - See Exodus 12:3. That is, it was a law for the whole Jewish people, for all who had the name Israel, for all the descendants of Jacob. The word was is not in the original, as if this had been an old commandment which might now be obsolete, but the idea is one of perpetuity: it is a perpetual law for the Hebrew people. A LAW OF THE GOD OF JACOB - Hebrew, a judgment; or, right. The idea is, that it was what was due to God; what was his right. It was a solemn claim that he should be thus acknowledged. It was not a matter of conventional arrangement, or a matter of convenience to them; nor was it to be observed merely because it was found to be expedient and conducive to the welfare of the nation. It was a matter of right and of claim on the part of God, and was so to be regarded by the

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

FOR THIS WAS A STATUTE FOR ISRAEL,.... It was not a piece of will worship, or device of the children of Israel, but was of divine institution; that the passover should be kept at the time it was; and that the trumpets should be blown on the new moon, or first of Tisri; and that the feast of tabernacles should be kept on the fifteenth of the same month: AND A LAW OF THE GOD OF JACOB; and therefore to be observed by Jacob's posterity: the law for the one is in Exodus 12:18 and for the other is in Leviticus 23:24 and so all the ordinances of Christ, and of the Gospel dispensation, are to be regarded on the same account, because they are the statutes and appointments of God; and the feast of tabernacles is particularly put for them all,...

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, ...