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Psalm Eighty-one
Psalm 81
Chapter Contents
God is praised for what he has done for his people. (1-7)
Their obligations to him. (8-16)
Commentary on Psalm 81:1-7
(Read Psalm 81:1-7)
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 our Lord Jesus
Christ
from worse bondage.
Commentary on Psalm 81:8-16
(Read Psalm 81:8-16)
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 their Lord
and Master
must also lose him as their Saviour and their reward.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on Psalms》
Psalm 81
Verse 5
[5] This
he ordained in Joseph for a testimony
when he went out through the land of
Egypt: where I heard a language that I understood not.
Joseph —
Among the people of Israel.
Testimony — For
a witness of that glorious deliverance.
He — God.
Went — As
a captain at the head of his people.
Egypt — To
execute his judgments upon that land.
I — My progenitors
for
all the successive generations of Israel make one body
and are sometimes
spoken of as one person.
A language —
The Egyptian language
which at first was unknown to the Israelites
Genesis 42:13
and probably continued so for
some considerable time
because they were much separated both in place and
conversation from the Egyptians.
Verse 6
[6] I removed his shoulder from the burden: his hands were delivered from the
pots.
Pots —
This word denotes all those vessels wherein they carried water
straw
lime
or
bricks.
Verse 7
[7] Thou
calledst in trouble
and I delivered thee; I answered thee in the secret place
of thunder: I proved thee at the waters of Meribah. /*Selah*/.
Calledst — At
the Red Sea.
Secret place —
From the dark and cloudy pillar
whence I thundered against the Egyptians.
Verse 8
[8]
Hear
O my people
and I will testify unto thee: O Israel
if thou wilt hearken
unto me;
Testify —
This God did presently after he brought them from Meribah
even at Sinai.
Verse 10
[10] I am the LORD thy God
which brought thee out of the land of Egypt: open
thy mouth wide
and I will fill it.
Wide —
Either to pray for mercies
or to receive the mercies which I am ready to give
you.
Verse 15
[15] The
haters of the LORD should have submitted themselves unto him: but their time
should have endured for ever.
Him —
Unto Israel.
Their time —
Their happy time.
Verse 16
[16] He
should have fed them also with the finest of the wheat: and with honey out of
the rock should I have satisfied thee.
Honey —
With all pleasant and precious fruits.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on Psalms》
Exposition
Explanatory Notes and
Quaint Sayings
Hints to the Village
Preacher
TITLE. To the Chief
Musician upon Gittith. Very little is known of the meaning of this title. We
have given the best explanation known to us in connection with Psalm 8 in Vol.
1 of this work. If it be intended to indicate a vintage song
it speaks well
for the piety of the people for whom it was written; it is to be feared that in
few places even in Christian countries would holy hymns be thought suitable to
be sung in connection with the winepress. When the bells upon the horses shall
be holiness unto the Lord
then shall the juice of the grape gush forth to the
accompaniment of sacred song. A Psalm of Asaph. This poet here again dwells
upon the history of his country; his great forte seems to be rehearsing the
past in admonitory psalmody. He is the poet of the history and politics of
Israel. A truly national songster
at once pious and patriotic.
DIVISION. Praise is
called for to celebrate some memorable day
perhaps the passover; whereupon the
deliverance out of Egypt is described
Ps 81:1-7. Then the Lord gently chides
his people for their ingratitude
and pictures their happy estate had they but
been obedient to his commands.
EXPOSITION
Verse
1. Sing
in tune and measure
so that the public praise may
be in harmony; sing with joyful notes
and sounds melodious. Aloud. For the
heartiest praise is due to our good Lord. His acts of love to us speak more
loudly than any of our words of gratitude can do. No dulness should ever
stupefy our psalmody
or half heartedness cause is to limp along. Sing aloud
ye debtors to sovereign grace
your hearts are profoundly grateful: let your
voices express your thankfulness. Unto God our strength. The Lord was the
strength of his people in delivering them out of Egypt with a high hand
and
also in sustaining them in the wilderness
placing them in Canaan
preserving
them from their foes
and giving them victory. To whom do men give honour but
to those upon whom they rely
therefore let us sing aloud unto our God
who is
our strength and our song. Make a joyful noise unto the God of Jacob. The God
of the nation
the God of their father Jacob
was extolled in happy music by
the Israelitish people; let no Christian be silent
or slack in praise
for
this God is our God. It is to be regretted that the niceties of modern singing
frighten our congregations from joining lustily in the hymns. For our part we
delight in full bursts of praise
and had rather discover the ruggedness of a
want of musical training than miss the heartiness of universal congregational
song. The gentility which lisps the tune in well bred whispers
or leaves the
singing altogether to the choir
is very like a mockery of worship. The gods of
Greece and Rome may be worshipped well enough with classical music
but Jehovah
can only be adored with the heart
and that music is the best for his service
which gives the heart most play.
Verse
2. Take a psalm. Select a sacred song
and then raise it with
your hearty voices. And bring hither the timbrel. Beat on your tambourines
ye
damsels
let the sound be loud and inspiriting. "Sound the trumpets
beat
the drums." God is not to be served with misery but with mirthful music
sound ye then the loud timbrel
as of old ye smote it by "Egypt's dark
sea." The pleasant harp with the psaltery. The timbrel for sound
must be
joined by the harp for sweetness
and this by other stringed instruments for
variety. Let the full compass of music be holiness unto the Lord.
Verse
3. Blow up the trumpet in the new moon. Announce the sacred
month
the beginning of months
when the Lord brought his people out of the
house of bondage. Clear and shrill let the summons be which calls all Israel to
adore the Redeeming Lord. In the time appointed
on our solemn feast day.
Obedience is to direct our worship
not whim and sentiment: God's appointment
gives a solemnity to rites and times which no ceremonial pomp or hierarchical
ordinance could confer. The Jews not only observed the ordained month
but that
part of the month which had been divinely set apart. The Lord's people in the
olden time welcomed the times appointed for worship; let us feel the same
exultation
and never speak of the Sabbath as though it could be other than
"a delight" and "honourable." Those who plead this passage
will keep such feasts as the Lord appoints
but not those which Rome or
Canterbury may ordain.
Verse
4. For this was a statute for Israel
and a law of the God of
Jacob. It was a precept binding upon all the tribes that a sacred season
should be set apart to commemorate the Lord's mercy; and truly it was but the
Lord's due
he had a right and a claim to such special homage. When it can be
proved that the observance of Christmas
Whitsuntide
and other Popish
festivals was ever instituted by a divine statute
we also will attend to them
but not till then. It is as much our duty to reject the traditions of men
as
to observe the ordinances of the Lord. We ask concerning every rite and rubric
"Is this a law of the God of Jacob?" and if it be not clearly so
it
is of no authority with us
who walk in Christian liberty.
Verse
5. This he ordained in Joseph for a testimony. The nation is
called Joseph
because in Egypt it would probably be known and spoken of as
Joseph's family
and indeed Joseph was the foster father of the people. The
passover
which is probably here alluded to
was to be a standing memorial of
the redemption from Egypt; and everything about it was intended to testify to
all ages
and all peoples
the glory of the Lord in the deliverance of his
chosen nation. When he went out through the land of Egypt. Much of Egypt was
traversed by the tribes in their exodus march
and in every place the feast
which they had kept during the night of Egypt's visitation would be a testimony
for the Lord
who had also himself in the midnight slaughter gone forth through
the land of Egypt. The once afflicted Israelites marched over the land of
bondage as victors who trample down the slain.
Where
I heard a language that I understood not. Surely the connection requires that
we accept these words as the language of the Lord. It would be doing great
violence to language if the "I" here should be referred to one
person
and the "I" in the next verse to another. But how can it be
imagined that the Lord should speak of a language which he understood not
seeing he knows all things
and no form of speech is incomprehensible to him?
The reply is
that the Lord here speaks as the God of Israel identifying
himself with his own chosen nation
and calling that an unknown tongue to
himself which was unknown to them. He had never been adored by psalm or prayer
in the tongue of Egypt; the Hebrew was the speech known in his sacred house
and the Egyptian was outlandish and foreign there. In strictest truth
and not
merely in figure
might the Lord thus speak
since the wicked customs and
idolatrous rites of Egypt were disapproved of by him
and in that sense were
unknown. Of the wicked
Jesus shall say
"I never knew you; "and
probably in the same sense this expression should be understood
for it may be
correctly rendered
"a speech I knew not I am hearing." It was among
the griefs of Israel that their taskmasters spake an unknown tongue
and they
were thus continually reminded that they were strangers in a strange land. The
Lord had pity upon them
and emancipated them
and hence it was their bounden
duty to maintain inviolate the memorial of the divine goodness. It is no small
mercy to be brought out from an ungodly world and separated unto the Lord.
Verse
6. I removed his shoulder from the burden. Israel was the
drudge and slave of Egypt
but God gave him liberty. It was by God alone that
the nation was set free. Other peoples owe their liberties to their own efforts
and courage
but Israel received its Magna Charta as a free gift of divine
power. Truly may the Lord say of everyone of his freed men
I removed his
shoulder from the burden. His hands were delivered from the pots. He was
no longer compelled to carry earth
and mould it
and bake it; the earth basket
was no more imposed upon the people
nor the tale of bricks exacted
for they
came out into the open country where none could exact upon them. How typical
all this is of the believer's deliverance from legal bondage
when
through
faith
the burden of sin glides into the Saviour's sepulchre
and the servile
labours of self righteousness come to an end for ever.
Verse
7. Thou calledst in trouble
and I delivered thee. God heard
his people's cries in Egypt
and at the Red Sea: this ought to have bound them
to him. Since God does not forsake us in our need
we ought never to forsake
him at any time. When our hearts wander from God
our answered prayers cry
"shame" upon us. I answered thee in the secret place of thunder. Out
of the cloud the Lord sent forth tempest upon the foes of his chosen. That
cloud was his secret pavilion
within it he hung up his weapons of war
his
javelins of lightning his trumpet of thunder; forth from that pavilion he came
and overthrew the foe that his own elect might be secure. I proved thee at the
waters of Meribah. They had proved him and found him faithful
he afterwards
proved them in return. Precious things are tested
therefore Israel's loyalty
to her King was put to trial
and
alas
it failed lamentably. The God who was adored
one day for his goodness was reviled the next
when the people for a moment
felt the pangs of hunger and thirst. The story of Israel is only our own
history in another shape. God has heard us
delivered us
liberated us
and too
often our unbelief makes the wretched return of mistrust
murmuring
and
rebellion. Great is our sin; great is the mercy of our God: let us reflect upon
both
and pause a while. Selah. Hurried reading is of little benefit; to sit
down a while and meditate is very profitable.
Verse
8. Hear
O my people
and I will testify unto thee. What? Are
the people so insensible as to be deaf to their God? So it would seem
for he
earnestly asks a hearing. Are we not also at times quite as careless and
immovable? O Israel
if thou wilt hearken unto me. There is much in this
"if." How low have they fallen who will not hearken unto God himself!
The deaf adder is not more grovelling. We are not fond of being upbraided
we
had rather avoid sharp and cutting truths; and
though the Lord himself rebuke
us
we fly from his gentle reproofs.
Verse
9. There shall no strange god be in thee. No alien god is to
be tolerated in Israel's tents. Neither shalt thou worship any strange god.
Where false gods are
their worship is sure to follow. Man is so desperate an
idolater that the image is always a strong temptation: while the nests are
there the birds will be eager to return. No other god had done anything for the
Jews
and therefore they had no reason for paying homage to any other. To us
the same argument will apply. We owe all to the God and Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ: the world
the flesh
the devil
none of these have been of any
service to us; they are aliens
foreigners
enemies
and it is not for us to
bow down before them. "Little children keep yourselves from idols
"is our Lord's voice to us
and by the power of his Spirit we would cast
out every false god from our hearts.
Verse
10. I am the Lord thy God
which brought thee out of the land of
Egypt. Thus did Jehovah usually introduce himself to his people. The great
deliverance out of Egypt was that claim upon his people's allegiance which he
most usually pleaded. If ever people were morally bound to their God
certainly
Israel was a thousand times pledged unto Jehovah
by his marvellous deeds on
their behalf in connection with the Exodus. Open thy mouth wide
and I will
fill it. Because he had brought them out of Egypt he could do great things for
them. He had proved his power and his good will; it remained only for his
people to believe in him and ask large things of him. If their expectations
were enlarged to the utmost degree
they could not exceed the bounty of the
Lord. Little birds in the nest open their mouths widely enough
and perhaps the
parent birds fail to fill them
but it will never be so with our God. His
treasures of grace are inexhaustible
"Deep
as our helpless miseries are
And boundless as our sins."
The
Lord began with his chosen nation upon a great scale
doing great wonders for
them
and offering them vast returns for their faith and love
if they would
but be faithful to him. Sad
indeed
was the result of this grand experiment.
Verse
11. But my people would not hearken to my voice. His warnings
were rejected
his promises forgotten
his precepts disregarded. Though the
divine voice proposed nothing but good to them
and that upon an unparalleled
scale of liberality
yet they turned aside. And Israel would none of me. They
would not consent to his proposals
they walked in direct opposition to his
commands
they hankered after the ox god of Egypt
and their hearts were
bewitched by the idols of the nations round about. The same spirit of apostacy
is in all our hearts
and if we have not altogether turned aside from the Lord
it is only grace which has prevented us.
Verse
12. So I gave them up unto their own hearts' lust. No
punishment is more just or more severe than this. If men will not be checked
but madly take the bit between their teeth and refuse obedience
who shall
wonder if the reins are thrown upon their necks
and they are let alone to work
out their own destruction. It were better to be given up to lions than to our
hearts' lusts. And they walked in their own counsels. There was no doubt as to
what course they would take
for man is everywhere wilful and loves his own
way
—that way being at all times in direct opposition to God's way. Men
deserted of restraining grace
sin with deliberation; they consult
and debate
and consider
and then elect evil rather than good
with malice aforethought
and in cool blood. It is a remarkable obduracy of rebellion when men not only
run into sin through passion
but calmly "walk in their own counsels"
of iniquity.
Verse
13. O that my people had hearkened unto me
and Israel had walked
in my ways! The condescending love of God expresses itself in painful
regrets for Israel's sin and punishment. Such were the laments of Jesus over
Jerusalem. Certain doctrinalists find a stumbling stone in such passages
and
set themselves to explain them away
but to men in sympathy with the divine
nature the words and the emotions are plain enough. A God of mercy cannot see
men heaping up sorrow for themselves through their sins without feeling his
compassion excited toward them.
Verse
14. I should soon have subdued their enemies. As he did in
Egypt overthrow Pharaoh
so would he have baffled every enemy. And turned my
hand against their adversaries. He would have smitten them once
and then have
dealt them a return blow with the back of his hand. See what we lose by sin.
Our enemies find the sharpest weapons against us in the armoury of our
transgressions. They could never overthrow us if we did not first overthrow
ourselves. Sin strips a man of his armour
and leaves him naked to his enemies.
Our doubts and fears would long ago have been slain if we had been more
faithful to our God. Ten thousand evils which afflict us now would have been
driven far from us if we had been more jealous of holiness in our walk and
conversation. We ought to consider not only what sin takes from our present stock
but what it prevents our gaining: reflections will soon show us that sin always
costs us dear. If we depart from God
our inward corruptions are sure to make a
rebellion. Satan will assail us
the world will worry us
doubts will annoy us
and all through our own fault. Solomon's departure from God raised up enemies
against him
and it will be so with us
but if our ways please the Lord he will
make even our enemies to be at peace with us.
Verse
15. The haters of the Lord should have submitted themselves unto
him. Though the submission would have been false and flattering
yet the
enemies of Israel would have been so humiliated that they would have hastened
to make terms with the favoured tribes. Our enemies become abashed and cowardly
when we
with resolution
walk carefully with the Lord. It is in God's power to
keep the fiercest in check
and he will do so if we have a filial fear
a pious
awe of him. But their time should have endured for ever. The people would have
been firmly established
and their prosperity would have been stable. Nothing
confirms a state or a church like holiness. If we be firm in obedience we shall
be firm in happiness. Righteousness establishes
sin ruins.
Verse
16. He should have fed them also with the finest of the wheat.
Famine would have been an unknown word
they would have been fed on the best of
the best food
and have had abundance of it as their every day diet. And with
honey out of the rock should I have satisfied thee. Luxuries as well as
necessaries would be forthcoming
the very rocks of the land would yield
abundant and sweet supplies; the bees would store the clefts of the rocks with
luscious honey
and so turn the most sterile part of the land to good account.
The Lord can do great things for an obedient people. When his people walk in
the light of his countenance
and maintain unsullied holiness
the joy and
consolation which he yields them are beyond conception. To them the joys of
heaven have begun even upon earth. They can sing in the ways of the Lord. The spring
of the eternal summer has commenced with them; they are already blest
and they
look for brighter things. This shows us by contrast how sad a thing it is for a
child of God to sell himself into captivity to sin
and bring his soul into a
state of famine by following after another god. O Lord
for ever bind us to
thyself alone
and keep us faithful unto the end.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
TITLE. It is
remarkable that as Psalm 80 treats of the church of God under the figure of a
vine
so the present is entitled
"upon Gittith
"literally
upon the winepress. Whether the expression was meant to refer to a musical
instrument
or to some direction as to the tune
is uncertain. In our Saviour's
adoption of the figure of a vineyard to represent his church
he speaks of a
winepress dug in it
Mt 21:33. The idea refers itself to the final result in
some sense
in a way of salvation of souls
as the same figure of a winepress
is used in Revelation 16 of the final destruction of the ungodly. W. Wilson.
Verse
2. Timbrel. The toph
English version tabret
timbrel
LXX.
tumpanon
once qalthrion. It was what would now be called a
tambourine
being played by the hand; and was specially used by women. It is
thrice mentioned in the Ps 81:2 Ps 149:3 150:4. Joseph Francis Thrupp.
Verse
2. The Psaltery. It is probably impossible to be sure as to
what is intended by a psaltery. The Genevan version translates it viol
and the ancient viol was a six stringed guitar. In the Prayer book version
the
Hebrew word is rendered lute
which instrument resembled the guitar
but
was superior in tone. The Greek word "psalterion" denotes a stringed
instrument played with the fingers. Cassidorus says that the psaltery was
triangular in shape
and that it was played with a bow. Aben Ezra evidently
considered it to be a kind of pipe
but the mass of authorities make it a
stringed instrument. It was long in use
for we read of it in David's time as
made of fir wood (2Sa 6:55)
and in Solomon's reign
of algum trees (2Ch 9:11)
and it was still in use in the days of Nebuchadnezzar.
Verse
3. Blow up the trumpet
etc. The Jews say this blowing of
trumpets was in commemoration of Isaac's deliverance
a ram being sacrificed
for him
and therefore they sounded with trumpets made of ram's horns: or in
remembrance of the trumpet blown at the giving of the law; though it rather was
an emblem of the gospel and ministry of it
by which sinners are aroused
awakened and quickened
and souls are charmed and allured
and filled with
spiritual joy and gladness. John Gill.
Verse
3. The trumpet. The sound of the trumpet is very commonly employed
in Scripture as an image of the voice or word of God. The voice of God
and the
voice of the trumpet on Mount Sinai
were heard together (Ex 19:5
18-19)
first
the trumpet sound as the symbol
then the reality. So also John heard the voice
of the Lord as that of a trumpet (Re 1:10 4:1)
and the sound of the trumpet is
once and again spoken of as the harbinger of the Son of Man
when coming in
power and great glory
to utter the almighty word which shall quicken the dead
to life
and make all things new (Mt 24:31 1Co 15:52; 1Th 4:16). The sound of
the trumpet
then
was a symbol of the majestic
omnipotent voice or word of
God; but of course only in those things in which it was employed in respect to
what God had to say to men. It might be used also as from man to God
or by the
people
as from one to another. In this case
it would be a call to a greater
than usual degree of alacrity and excitement in regard to the work and service
of God. And such probably was the more peculiar design of the blowing of
trumpets at the festivals generally
and especially at the festival of trumpets
on the first day of the second month. Joseph Francis Thrupp.
Verse
3. "In the new moon
"etc. The feast of the new
moon was always proclaimed by sound of trumpet. For want of astronomical
knowledge
the poor Jews were put to sad shifts to know the real time of the
new moon. They generally sent persons to the top of some hill or mountain about
the time which
according to their supputations
the new moon should appear.
The first who saw it was to give immediate notice to the Sanhedrim; they
closely examined the reporter as to his credibility
and whether his
information agreed with their calculations. If all was found satisfactory
the
president proclaimed the new moon by shouting out
wdqm mikkodesh!
"It is consecrated." This word was repeated twice aloud by the
people; and was then proclaimed everywhere by blowing of horns
or what
is called the sound of trumpets. Among the Hindus some feasts are
announced by the sound of the conch
or sacred shell. Adam Clarke.
Verse
3. In the time appointed. The word rendered the time appointed
signifies the hidden or covered period; that is
the time when
the moon is concealed or covered with darkness. This day was a joyful festival
returning every month; but the first day of the seventh moon was most solemn of
the whole; being not only the first of the moon
but of the civil year. This
was called the feast of trumpets
as it was celebrated by the blowing of
trumpets from sunrising to sun setting; according to the command
"It
shall be a day of the blowing of trumpets to you." This joy was a memorial
of the joy of creation
and the joy of giving the law; it also preindicated the
blowing of the gospel trumpet
after the dark
the covered period of the death
of Christ
when the form of the church changed
and the year of the
"redeemed" began; and finally
it prefigured the last day
when the trumpet
of God shall sound
and the dead shall be raised. Alexander Pirie.
Verse
5. I heard a language that I understood not. The language
that he then heard—the religious worship of idolaters
—vows offered up "to
birds and fourfooted beasts
and creeping things
"Ro 1:23
and strength
and mercy sought from every object in nature
except himself
—was a
language unknown to him—"he knew it not." William Hill Tucker.
Verse
6. Pots
or burden baskets. Compare Ex 6:6-7.
Rosellini gives a drawing of these baskets from a picture discovered in a tomb
at Thebes. "Of the labourers
"says he
"some are employed in
transporting the clay in vessels
some in intermingling it with straw; others
are taking the bricks out of the form
and placing them in rows; still others
with a piece of wood upon their backs
and ropes on each side
carry away the
bricks already burned or dried. Their dissimilarity to the Egyptians appears at
the first view: their complexion
physiognomy and beard permit us not to be
mistaken in supposing them to be Hebrews." Frederic Fysh.
Verse
6. Pots. The bricklayer's baskets; hanging one at each end of
a yoke laid across the shoulders. William Kay.
Verse
7. To answer in the secret place of thunder
refers us to the
pillar of cloud and fire
the habitation of the awful Majesty of God
whence
God glanced with angry eyes upon the Egyptians
filled them with consternation
and overthrew them. Venema.
Verse
10. Open thy mouth wide
and I will fill it. Surely this
teaches us
that the greater and more valuable the blessings are which we
implore from the divine beneficence
the more sure shall we be to receive them
in answer to prayer...But
though men are to be blamed
that they so seldom
acknowledge God in any thing
yet they are still more to be blamed
that they seek
not from him the chief good. Men may
however
possibly cry to God for inferior
things
and apply in vain. Even good men may ask for temporal blessings
and
not receive them; because the things we suppose good
may not be good
or not good for us
or not good for us at present. But none shall
seek God for the best of blessings in vain. If we ask enough
we shall
have it. While the worldling drinks in happiness
if it will bear the name
with the mouth of an insect
the Christian imbibes bliss with the mouth of an
angel. His pleasures are the same in kind
with the pleasure of the infinitely
happy God. John Ryland.
Verse
10. Open thy mouth wide
and I will fill it. You may easily
over expect the creature
but you cannot over expect God: "Open thy mouth
wide
and I will fill it; "widen and dilate the desires and expectations
of your souls
and God is able to fill every chink to the vastest capacity.
This honours God
when we greaten our expectations upon him
it is a
sanctifying of God in our hearts. Thomas Case (1598-1682)
in "Morning
Exercises."
Verse
10. Open thy mouth wide. This implies
1.
Warmth and fervency in prayer. To open the mouth is in effect to open the
heart
that it may be both engaged and enlarged... We may be said to open our
mouths wide when our affections are quick and lively
and there is a
correspondence between the feelings of the heart and the request of the lips;
or when we really pray
and not merely seem to do so. This is strongly and
beautifully expressed in Ps 119:131: I opened my mouth
and panted: for I
longed for thy commandments.
2.
It implies a holy fluency and copiousness of expression
so as to order our
cause before him
and fill our mouths with arguments. When the good man gets
near to God
he has much business to transact with him
many complaints to
make
and many blessings to implore; and
as such seasons do not frequently
occur
he's the more careful to improve them. He then pours out his whole soul
and is at no loss for words; for when the heart is full
the tongue overflows.
Sorrow and distress will even make those eloquent who are naturally slow of
speech.
3.
Enlarged hope and expectation. We may be too irreverent in our approaches to
God
and too peremptory in our application; but if the matter and manner of our
prayer be right
we cannot be too confident in our expectations from him...
Open thy mouth wide then
O Christian; stretch out thy desires to the
uttermost
grasp heaven and earth in thy boundless wishes
and believe there is
enough in God to afford the full satisfaction. Not only come
but come with
boldness to the throne of grace: it is erected for sinners
even the chief of
sinners. Come to it then
and wait at it
till you obtain mercy and find grace
to help in time of need. Those who expect most from God are likely to receive
the most. The desire of the righteous
let it be ever so extensive
shall be
granted. Benjamin Beddome.
Verse
10. I will fill it. Consider the import of the promise: Open
thy mouth wide
and I will fill it. "Ask
and ye shall receive; seek
and ye shall find." Particularly
1.
If we open our mouths to God in prayer
he will fill them more and more with
suitable petitions and arguments. When we attempt to open the mouth
God will
open it still wider. Thus he dealt with Abraham when he interceded for Sodom;
the longer he prayed
the more submissive and yet the more importunate he
became. By praying we increase our ability to pray
and find a greater facility
in the duty. "To him that hath shall be given
and he shall have more abundantly."
2.
God will fill the mouth with abundant thanksgivings. Many of David's psalms
begin with prayer
and end with the most animated praises. No mercies so
dispose to thankfulness as those which are received in answer to prayer; for
according to the degree of desire will be the sweetness of fruition...
3.
We shall be filled with those blessings we pray for
if they are calculated to
promote our real good and the glory of God. Do we desire fresh communications
of grace
and manifestations of divine love; a renewed sense of pardoning
mercy
and an application of the blood of Christ? Do we want holiness
peace
and assurance? Do we want to hear from God
to see him
and be like him? The
promise is
My God shall supply all your need according to his riches in
glory by Christ Jesus
Php 4:19. You shall have what you desire
and be
satisfied: it shall be enough
and you shall think it so. "The Lord will
give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk
uprightly." Benjamin Beddome.
Verse
10. The custom is said still to exist in Persia that when the king
wishes to do a visitor
an ambassador for instance
especial honour
he desires
him to open his mouth wide; and the king then crams it as full of sweetmeats as
it will hold; and sometimes even with jewels. Curious as this custom is
it is
doubtless referred to in Ps 81:10: Open thy mouth wide
and I will fill it;
not with baubles of jewels
but with far richer treasure. John Gadsby.
Verse
11. My people would not hearken to my voice; and Israel would none
of me. Know
sinner
that if at last thou missest heaven
which
God
forbid! the Lord can wash his hands over your head
and clear himself of your
blood: thy damnation will be laid at thine own door: it will then appear there
was no cheat in the promise
no sophistry in the gospel
but thou didst
voluntarily put eternal life from thee
whatever thy lying lips uttered to the
contrary: My people would have none of me. So that
when the jury shall
sit on thy murdered soul
to inquire how thou camest to thy miserable end
thou
wilt be found guilty of thy own damnation. No one loseth God
but he that is
willing to part with him. William Gurnall.
Verse
11. And Israel would none of me. It is added
and Israel
would none of me
more closely
was not borne to me by a natural bent.
For this is the original force of the word hka
as it still survives in Job 9
where it is used of the ships borne outward by a favourable wind and tide. Venema.
Verse
11. Israel would none of me. That is
would not be content
alone with me
would not take quiet contentment in me (as the Hebrew
word signifies); the Lord was not good enough for them
but their hearts went
out from him to other things. Thomas Sheppard
1605-1649.
Verse
12. So I gave them up. The word give up suggests the
idea of a divorce
whereby a husband sends away a capricious wife
and
commands her to live by herself...Transferred to God
it teaches us nothing
else than that God withdraws his protecting and guiding hand from
the people
and leaves them to themselves; so that he ceases to chasten and
defend them
but
on the other hand
suffers them to become hardened and to
perish. Venema.
Verse
12. So I gave them up unto their own hearts' lusts
etc. A man
may be given up to Satan for the destruction of the flesh
that the soul may be
saved
but to be given up to sin is a thousand times worse
because that is the
fruit of divine anger
in order to the damnation of the soul; here God wounds
like an enemy and like a cruel one
and we may boldly say
God never punished
any man or woman with this spiritual judgment in kindness and love. John
Shower (1657-1715)
in "The Day of Grace."
Verse
12. I gave them up unto their own hearts' lusts. O dreadful
word! The same will the Spirit do upon our rejecting or resisting of his
leading. He may long strive
but he will "not always strive
" Ge
6:3. If the person led shall once begin to struggle with him that leads him
and shall refuse to follow his guidance
what is then to be done
but to leave
him to himself? Continued
rooted
allowed resistance to the Spirit
makes him
so to cast off a person as to lead him no more... Let it be your great and
constant care and endeavour to get the Spirit's leading continued to you. You
have it; pray keep it. Can it be well with a Christian
when this is suspended
or withdrawn from him? How does he wander and bewilder himself
when the Spirit
does not guide him! How backward is he to good
when the Spirit does not bend
and incline him thereunto! How unable to go
when the Spirit does not uphold
him! What vile lusts and passions rule him
when the Spirit does not put forth
his holy and gracious government over him! O
it is of infinite concern to all
that belong to God
to preserve and secure to themselves the Spirit's leading!
Take a good man without this
and he is like a ship without a pilot
a blind
man without a guide
a poor child that has none to sustain it
the rude
multitude that have none to keep them in any order. What a sad difference is
there in the same person
as to what he is when the Spirit leads him
and as to what he is when the Spirit leaves him!
OBJECTION.—"But
does the Spirit at any time do this to God's people? Does he ever suspend and
withdraw his guidance from persons who once lived under it?"
ANSWER.—Yes;
too often. It is what he usually does
when his leadings are not followed. This
is a thing that grieves him; and when he is grieved he departs
withholds
and
recalls his former gracious influences
though not totally and finally; yet for
a time and in such a degree. As a guide
that is to conduct the traveller; if
this traveller shall refuse to follow him
or shall give unkind usage to him
what does the guide then do? Why
he receded
and leaves him to shift for
himself. It is thus in the case in hand: if we comply with the Spirit
in his
motions
and use him tenderly
he will hold on in his leading of us; but if
otherwise
he will concern himself no more about us. O
take heed how you carry
yourself towards him: not only upon ingenuousness
it is base to be unkind to
our Guide
(Hast thou not procured this unto thyself
in that thou hast
forsaken the Lord thy God
when he led thee by the way? Jer 2:17
)but also
upon the account of self love: for "as we behave ourselves to him
so he
will behave himself to us:" "Ita nos tractat
ut a nobis
tractatur." Thomas Jacombe (1622-1687)
in "Morning Exercises."
Verse
12. I gave them up...and they walked in their own counsels.
That was to give them up to a spirit of division
to a spirit of discontent
to
a spirit of envy
and jealousy
to a spirit of ambition
of self seeking and
emulation
and so to a spirit of distraction and confusion
and so to ruin and
destruction. Such
and no better
is the issue
when God gives a people up to
their own counsels; then they soon become a very chaos
and run themselves into
a ruinous heap. As good have no counsel from man
as none but man's. Joseph
Caryl.
Verse
12. God calls upon Israel to hear and obey him
they will not: But
my people would not hearken to my voice; and Israel would none of me. What
was the result of their refusal? So I gave them up unto their own hearts
lust: and they walked in their own counsels. God doth not testify his anger
for their contempt of him be sending plague
or flames
or wild beasts among
them. He doth not say
Well
since they thus slight my authority
I will be
avenged on them to purpose; I will give them up to the sword
or famine
or
racking diseases
or greedy devouring lions
which would have been sad and
grievous; but he executes on them a far more sad and grievous judgment
when he
saith
So I gave them up unto their own hearts' lust: and they walked in
their own counsels. God's leaving one soul to one lust
(One's soul to
one's lust?) is far worse than leaving him to all the lions in the world. Alas!
it will tear the soul worse than a lion can do the body
and rend it in pieces
when there is none to deliver it. God's giving them up to their own wills
that
they walked in their own counsels
is in effect a giving them up to eternal
wrath and woe. George Swinnock.
Verse
12. God moves everything on his ordinary providence according to
their particular natures
God moves everything ordinarily according to the
nature he finds it in. Had we stood in innocency
we had been moved according
to that originally righteous nature; but since our fall we are moved according
to that nature introduced into us with the expulsion of the other. Our first
corruption was our own act
not God's work; we owe our creation to God
our
corruption to ourselves. Now since God will govern his creature
I do not see
how it can be otherwise
than according to the present nature of the creature
unless God be pleased to alter that nature. God forces no man against his
nature; he doth not force the will in conversion
but graciously and powerfully
inclines it. He doth never force nor incline the will to sin
but leaves it to
the corrupt habits it hath settled in itself: So I gave them up unto their
own hearts' lust: and they walked in their own counsels; counsels of their
own framing
not of God's. He moves the will
which is sponte mala
according to its own nature and counsels. As a man flings several things out of
his hand
which are of several figures
some spherical
tetragons
cylinders
conics
some round and some square
though the motion be from the agent
yet
the variety of their motions is from their own figure and frame; and if any
will hold his hand upon a ball in its motion
regularly it will move according
to its nature and figure; and a man by casting a bowl out of his hand
is the
cause of the motion
but the bad bias is the cause of its irregular motion. The
power of action is from God
but the viciousness of that action from our own
nature. As when a clock or watch hath some fault in any of the wheels
the man that
winds it up
or putting his hand upon the wheels moves them
he is the cause of
the motion
but it is the flaw in it
a deficiency of something
is the cause
of its erroneous motion; that error was not from the person that made it
or
the person that winds it up
and sets it on going
but from some other cause;
yet till it be mended it will not go otherwise
so long as it is set upon
motion. Our motion is from God
—Ac 17:28
In him we move
—but not the
disorder of that motion. It is the fulness of a man's stomach at sea is the
cause of his sickness
and not the pilot's government of the ship. God doth not
infuse the lust
to excite it
though he doth present the object about which
the lust is exercised. God delivered up Christ to the Jews
he presented him to
them
but never commanded them to crucify him
nor infused that malice into
them
nor quickened it; but he
seeing such a frame
withdrew his restraining
grace
and left them to the conduct of their own vitiated wills. All the
corruption in the world ariseth from lust in us
not from the objects which God
in his providence presents to us: 2Pe 1:4
The corruption that is in the
world through lust. Stephen Charnock.
Verse
13. Oh that my people had hearkened unto me
etc. God
sometimes doth not mind his children when they cry
that they may hereby take
occasion to remember how oft he hath cried and they have not minded him. Doth
not the Lord cry out to his people of duty and they do not hear him? Doth he
not complain here of this neglect
not only as a dishonour
but as a grief unto
him? No marvel then if God let his people cry out of misery
and doth not hear
them. The Lord shuts his ear that we might consider how we have shut our ears;
yea
he shuts his ears that he may open ours. We are moved to hear and answer
the call and command of God
though we find that he doth not hear nor answer
our call and cry. If the Lord should always be swift to hear us
how slow
should we be in hearing him
and while we have our desires
forget most of our
duties. Abraham Wright.
Verse
13. Oh that my people had hearkened
etc. God speaks as if he
were comforted when he is but heard
or as if we comforted him when we hear
him. God beseecheth us
and speaks entreaties to us
that his counsels and
commands may be heard: Oh that my people had hearkened unto me. The Lord
tells them indeed it would have proved their consolation (Ps 81:14): I
should soon have subdued their enemies
and turned my hand against their
adversaries. Yet while he speaks so pathetically
he seems to include his
own consolation in it as well as theirs. Oh that my people had hearkened
unto me: it would have been good for them
and it would have given high
content to myself. Joseph Caryl.
Verse
13. Oh that my people had hearkened unto me
etc. There is to us
a deep mysteriousness in all this; but the desire of God for our salvation and
right moral state
is here most obviously manifested: and let us proceed on
that which is obvious
not on that which is obscure. Thomas Chalmers.
Verse
13. Walked in my ways. None are found in the ways of
God
but those who have hearkened to his words. W. Wilson.
Verse
14. Turned my hand. God expresseth the utter overthrow of the
enemies of his people
but by the turning of a hand: if God do but turn
his hand
they are all gone presently
soon subdued. If he do but touch the
might
the pomp
the greatness
the riches and the power of all those in the
world that are opposers of his church
presently they fall to the ground: a
touch from the hand of God will end our wars. Joseph Caryl.
Verse
16. Honey out of the rock. The rock spiritually and mystically
designs Christ
the Rock of salvation
1Co 10:4; the honey out of the
rock
the fulness of grace in him
and the blessings of it
the sure mercies of
David
and the precious promises of the everlasting covenant; and the gospel
which is sweeter than the honey or the honeycomb
and with these such are
filled and satisfied who hearken to Christ and walk in his ways; for
as the
whole of what is here said shows what Israel lost by disobedience
it clearly
suggests what such enjoy who hear and obey. John Gill.
Verse
16. Honey out of the rock. God extracts honey out of the
rock—the sweetest springs and pleasures from the hardness of afflictions; from
mount Calvary and the cross
the blessings that give greatest delight; whereas
the world makes from the fountains of pleasure stones and rocks of torment. Thomas
Le Blanc.
Verse
16. Honey out of the rock. Most travellers who have visited
Palestine in summer have had their attention directed to the abundance of
honey
which the bees of the land have stored up in the hollows of trees and in
crevices of the rock. In localities where the bare rocks of the desert alone
break the sameness of the scene
and all around is suggestive of desolation and
death
the traveller has God's care of his chosen people vividly brought to
mind
as he sees the honey which the bees had treasured up beyond his reach
trickling in shining drops down the face of the rock. John Duns.
Verse
16. When once a people or a person are accepted of God
he spares no
cost
nor thinks anything too costly for them. He would have fed them also
with the finest of the wheat: and with honey out of the rock should I have
satisfied thee. I would not have fed thee with wheat only
that's good; but
with the finest wheat
that's the best. We put in the margin
with the fat
of wheat; they should not have had the bran
but the flour
and the finest
of the flour; they should have had not only honey
but honey out of the rock
which
as naturalists observe
is the best and purest honey. Surely God cannot
think anything of this world too good for his people
who hath not thought the
next world too good for them; certainly God cannot think any of these outward
enjoyments too good for his people
who hath not thought his Son too good for
his people; that's the apostle's argument
Ro 8:32: He that spared not his
own Son
but delivered him up for us all
how shall he not with him also freely
give us all things? even the best of outward good things
when he seeth it
good for us. Joseph Caryl.
HINTS TO THE
VILLAGE PREACHER
Verse
1. Congregational singing should be general
hearty
joyful. The
reasons for this
and the benefits of it.
Verses
1-3.
1.
Praise should be sincere. It can come from the people of God only.
2.
It should be constant: they should praise God at all times.
3.
It should be special. There should be seasons of special praise.
(a)
Appointed by God
as Sabbaths and solemn feasts.
(b)
Demanded by providence on occasion of special
deliverances
and special mercies.
4.
It should be public: "sing aloud:" "bring hither
"etc. G.
R.
Verse
4. The rule of ordinances and worship; pleas for going beyond it;
instances in various churches; the sin and danger of such will worship.
Verse
5. What there is in the language of the world which is
unintelligible to the sons of God.
Verse
6. The emancipation of believers. Law work is burdensome
servile
never completed
unrewarded
more and more irksome. Only the Lord can deliver
us from this slavish toil
and he does it by grace and by power. We do well to
remember the time of our liberation
exhibit gratitude for it
and live
consistently with it.
Verse
7.
1.
Answered prayers
—bonds of gratitude.
2.
Former testing times
—warning memories.
3.
The present a time for new answers as it is also for fresh tests.
Verse
7. Waters of Meribah. The various test points of the
believer's life.
Verses
8-10.
1.
A compassionate Father
calling to his child: O my people
and I will
testify unto thee: O Israel
if thou wilt hearken unto me.
2.
A jealous sovereign
laying down his law: There shall no strange god be in
thee.
3.
An all sufficient Friend
challenging confidence: I am the Lord thy God:
open thy mouth wide
and I will fill it. Richard Cecil. 1748-1810.
Verses
8
11
13. The command
the disobedience
the regret.
Verses
11
12.
1.
The sin of Israel. They would not hearken. The mouth is opened in attentive
hearing: open thy mouth wide; but my people
etc. Their sin was greatly
aggravated
1.
By what God had done for them.
2. By the gods they had preferred to him.
2. The punishment.
1.
Its greatness: I gave them up
etc.
2. Its justice: They would none of me. G. R.
Verses
8
11
13. The command
the disobedience
the regret.
Verse
13. The excellent estate of an obedient believer.
1.
Enemies subdued.
2. Enjoyments perpetuated.
3. Abundance possessed.
Verses
13-14. The sin and loss of the backslider.
Verse
14. Spiritual enemies best combatted by an obedient life.
Verse
16.
1.
Spiritual dainties.
2. By whom provided.
3. To whom given.
4. With what result—"satisfied."
── C.H. Spurgeon《The Treasury of David》