The superscription is: To the leader: according to The Gittith. Of Asaph.
Psalm 81: 1 is a hymn calling for the community to celebrate with joy, songs, and music. The call is to 1 Sing aloud to God our strength; shout for joy to the God of Jacob, an indication of the interest in the northern kingdom. The call is to use the tambourine, lyre, harp, and trumpet. The statute, ordinance, and decree went throughout Israel from the God of Jacob. In late Judaism, this call would have come at the beginning of the 14-day Festival of Tabernacles, in Hebrew Sukkoth. See Deuteronomy 16:12-16; Leviticus 23:33-44. The command of God justifies the feast. Since enemies especially threaten the community, the psalmist strengthens the call for celebration. This was an especially joyful feast; it was the third of the major festivals, after Passover (unleavened bread) and Pentecost (weeks), when "all Israel" was to come to Jerusalem to celebrate.
10 I am the Lord your God, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. (Exodus 20:2-3 and Deuteronomy 5:6-7). In covenantal terms, the Lord is their God, and they are his people. God's gracious deliverance of his people precedes their covenantal-stipulated obligations of obedience to his torah. Open your mouth wide and I will fill it. Verses 11-12 recognize that history repeats itself. The fault does not lay with God, for judgment follows disobedience. The infidelity of the wilderness generation becomes a warning to the contemporaries of the poet. 11 “But my people did not listen to my voice; Israel would not submit to me. Israel often did not listen, turning away from the Lord to follow other gods, and suffering the consequences. See the pattern in Judges 2 (v. 17a reads: "[T]hey did not listen even to their judges; for they lusted after other gods and bowed down to them."). The biblical prophets kept thundering out warnings, especially about the idolatry of the people of God (turning away from honoring Yahweh alone as God), immorality and injustice. Then the prophets called them to listen anew to God and change their ways. Biblical wisdom literature also emphasizes listening with the heart: "My child, if you accept my words and treasure up my commandments within you, making your ear attentive to wisdom and inclining your heart to understanding ... then you will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God. For the LORD gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding ... for wisdom will come into your heart ..." (Proverbs 2:1-2, 5-6, 10a). 12 So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts, to follow their own counsels. God's judgment is to let them have their way. The Lord warned Israel through prophets and seers to obey the commands and decrees of the Law, but they were stiff-necked, would not listen, and did not trust the Lord, rejecting the decrees and covenant of the Lord and imitating the nations surrounding them (II Kings 17, especially verses 13-15). The Lord cared and nurtured the vineyard but found only bad grapes, so the Lord will allow the vineyard to be destroyed (Isaiah 5:4-6, 7:23-25). The Lord gave the command to obey, to walk in obedience, and it will go well with them, but they did not listen, following the stubborn inclination of their evil hearts; they did not listen to the prophets and were stiff-necked, and since they did not respond to correction, truth has perished (Jeremiah 7:23-28). The Lord will weep and lament at the desolation of the land, Jerusalem, and the towns of Judah, which the Lord explains as judgment for their forsaking of the Law and following the stubbornness of their hearts (Jeremiah 9:10-16). The Lord command them to obey and the Lord would be their God and they would be the people of the Lord, giving them a land flowing with milk and honey, but they Lord warned them that the promise was conditioned upon their obedience to the covenant, but they would not listen, following the stubbornness of their evil hearts, so the Lord brought the curses of the covenant upon them, for Jerusalem has refused to listen to the words of the Lord and served other gods, Israel and Judah breaking the covenant, so they Lord will bring disaster upon them, to the point that they cry to the Lord for help and the Lord will not listen (Jeremiah 11:4b-12). The Lord brought the people of the Lord out of Egypt with signs and wonders, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm and with great terror, giving them a land flowing with milk and honey, taking possession of the land, but they did not follow the Law, so the Lord brought disaster upon them, and even now the Babylonians are attacking (Jeremiah 32:21-24). The Lord warned them to turn back to the Law but they disobeyed the commands and sinned against the ordinances, even though the Lord promised that those who obey will find life, so they were stubborn, stiff-necked, and refused to listen, although the Lord was patient and warned them by the Spirit and through the prophets, so the Lord gave them to neighboring peoples (Nehemiah 9:29-31). Even with creation, humanity can see the invisible divine qualities, but their futile and foolish hearts kept them from glorifying and thanking God, exchanging the glory of God for worthless idols, so God gave them over to their sinful desires and sexual impurity, degrading their bodies with each other, exchanging the truth for a lie, as god gave them over to a depraved mind, allowing them to do what they ought not do (Romans 1:20-25, 28). God turned away from them, allowing them to worship sun, moon, and stars, for they have worshipped idols they have made, so therefore the Lord sent them into exile (Acts 7:42-43). There is nothing worse for God's people than the reality of being bereft of God's presence or favor. Verses 13-14 affirm that God has not abandoned the people. Behind the judgment are the promises of God, the desire by God to save Israel from sin. Thus, even after all their obstinate waywardness, the good news is that God still did not give up on the people of God. Obedience would mean victory over foes. 13 O that my people would listen to me, that Israel would walk in my ways! 14 Then I would quickly subdue their enemies, and turn my hand against their foes. Verses 15-16 show that deliverance depends upon the people of God, even as it gives a promise of deliverance from God. Obedience will lead to agricultural bounty. God invites them to reap the benefits of divine adequacy and generosity. If they trust wholeheartedly, they will receive the best. 15 Those who hate the Lord would cringe before him, and their doom would last forever. 16 I would feed you with the finest of the wheat, and with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.” Wild honeybees make hives in rock crevices, hollow trees, and other areas that are appropriate for their colony. Humans have long noted the health effects of honey. One can document the nutritional and medicinal qualities of honey in Vedic, Greek, Roman, Christian, Islamic and other texts. Physicians of ancient times, such as Aristotle (384–322 B.C.), Aristoxenus (320 B.C.), Hippocrates, Porphyry, Cornelius Celsus (early first-century A.D.) and Dioscorides (c. 50 A.D.), and Arab physicians have referred to the healing qualities of honey. Though people have made scientific arguments for use of honey in modern times, the dominant view still considers its use part of alternative medicine. Honey contains powerful antioxidants with antiseptic and antibacterial properties. ... It was a gourmet medicine during the Second Balkan War in 1913, healing the wounds of soldiers. Soldiers consumed honey from several species of sting-less bees to cure flu, to cure cataract, glaucoma, and cough. In modern times, its use as a healing agent is equally popular. In 2007, in the Manchester Evening News in England, noted the use of "manuka honey" in a large hospital in New Zealand to control methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and other bacterial infections; many scientific studies in recent years support its antibacterial property to kill or inhibit. God's provision from unexpected places, namely rocks, appears elsewhere in Scripture. During Israel's wilderness sojourn, God provided water from the rock for them: Exodus 17:6; Numbers 20:8-13; Deuteronomy 8:12-16. Unfortunately, these experiences were also associated with the people's distrust and disobedience (see the Meribah references, including Psalm 81:7). The apostle Paul metaphorically refers to Christ as the rock in I Corinthians 10:1-7; verse 4b-c words it: "For they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ." See the appeals of Psalm 19:7-14 for an intriguing combination of a call to follow God's ways, along with references to honey and rock. Also, see Isaiah 55:1-11's entreaties. Will Israel listen anew? Will we? God is eagerly awaiting our response!
The question this psalm raises for us as readers today is how we listen to God. Briefly, we give precedence to the Word of God, meditating upon these words in a way that allows us to hear God speak to us. Of course, we are now with God in such a remote and spotty way that our experiences of God are at best like the experience one gets of a place approaching it at night in a fast train. Even the saints see only an occasional light go whipping by, hearing only a sound or two over the clatter of the rails.[1]
Methodist Bishop Gerald Kennedy told the story of a trip he took to Australia on a speaking tour. His schedule was packed, and he needed every spare minute to go over his notes for each day's presentation. One morning, as he bent over his notes, the hotel cleaner knocked on the door to clean his room. Not wanting to lose a minute, Bishop Kennedy took the desk chair out into the hall and continued his work. Just then, the sound of a violin started up, coming from one of the rooms down the hall. It broke his concentration. In annoyance, he picked up the chair and stepped back into the room. "Did you hear Mr. Menuhin?" asked the maid. "Who?" asked the bishop. "Yehudi Menuhin. He is your neighbor down the hall. He's getting ready for a big concert." Kennedy realized he had been grumbling to himself about having to listen to a world-famous violinist, one he would have paid a great deal of money to hear in a concert. Chastened, he set down his notebook and carried the chair back out into the hall, where he spent the next few minutes listening to the artist rehearse. He said it was a wonderful concert — once he realized who was playing!
Moments of great calm,
Kneeling before an altar
Of wood in a stone church
In summer, waiting for the God
To speak; the air a staircase
For silence; the sun’s light
Ringing me, as though I acted
A great rôle. And the audiences
Still; all that close throng
Of spirits waiting, as I,
For the message.
Prompt me, God;
But not yet. When I speak,
Though it be you who speak
Through me, something is lost.
The meaning is in the waiting.[2]
[1] This side of Paradise, people are with God in such a remote and spotty way that their experience of Eternal Life is at best like the experience you get of a place approaching it at night in a fast train. Even the saints see only an occasional light go whipping by, hear only a sound or two over the clatter of the rails. --Frederick Buechner, Wishful Thinking (HarperOne, 1993), 22.
[2] Kneeling, By R. S. Thomas
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