"To the choirmaster: according to The Gittith. Of Asaph.
Sing aloud to God our strength;
shout for joy to the God of Jacob!
2 Raise a song; sound the tambourine,
the sweet lyre with the harp.
3 Blow the trumpet at the new moon,
at the full moon, on our feast day.
4 For it is a statute for Israel,
a rule of the God of Jacob.
5 He made it a decree in Joseph
when he went out over the land of Egypt.
I hear a language I had not known:
6 “I relieved your shoulder of the burden;
your hands were freed from the basket.
7 In distress you called, and I delivered you;
I answered you in the secret place of thunder;
I tested you at the waters of Meribah. Selah
8 Hear, O my people, while I admonish you!
O Israel, if you would but listen to me!
9 There shall be no strange god among you;
you shall not bow down to a foreign god.
10 I am the Lord your God,
who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.
Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.
11 “But my people did not listen to my voice;
Israel would not submit to me.
12 So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts,
to follow their own counsels.
13 Oh, that my people would listen to me,
that Israel would walk in my ways!
14 I would soon subdue their enemies
and turn my hand against their foes.
15 Those who hate the Lord would cringe towards him,
and their fate would last for ever.
16 But he would feed you with the finest of the wheat,
and with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.”
Psalm 81
The second section of the Psalm (6-16) tells a different story however. There is an introductory consideration here, which makes for an understanding of all that follows. In 5c: the language referred to here is not the 'strange' of the Egyptians, as the AV translation might suggest. The language, which the Psalmist hears, is the voice of God, and what he hears is what God is saying to His people, this being unfolded in the remainder of the Psalm. Here, then, is a wonderful picture: God Himself breaks in to the worship and praise of His people and speaks to them. We could hardly have a better picture or illustration of the meaning of worship. This is what a church service is about and for. And this (6ff) is the kind of thing He says. First of all, (6, 7), He reminds His people of the facts which the feast was designed to commemorate - Israel's deliverance from the bondage of Egypt, and the bounty of His provision for them throughout all their wilderness journeyings. This pattern is very similar to Paul's in Ephesians 2:11ff, 'Wherefore remember...that at that time ye were without Christ...but now...'. To be reminded of this is surely the best incentive to worship, gratitude and praise! Next, the meaning of the wilderness experience is underlined. The purpose of God's goodness to His people is shown to have been to bind them to Himself; and the yearning in his heart is graphically portrayed in 8b, which is best rendered 'Would that thou wouldst hearken unto me'. This is very striking, in the context of the commands of the law given at Sinai, which follow in 9, 10, for it gives us a new insight into the meaning of the law as being not a harsh, legalistic requirement, but the expression of a loving Will. Do we look at God's laws like this?