Home

Psalm 81 Commentary

Hear, O Israel, You Shall Have No Other god

The word of God can change your life. Read it daily…FOR HELP CLICKHERE

KEY THOUGHT: There shall be no foreign god among you [Psalm 80:9a NKJV]

Kindly read your Bible before going through the commentary!

Psalm 81 NKJV

An Appeal for Israel’s Repentance

To the Chief Musician. On[a] an instrument of Gath. A Psalm of Asaph.

81 Sing aloud to God our strength;
Make a joyful shout to the God of Jacob.
2 Raise a song and strike the timbrel,
The pleasant harp with the lute.

3 Blow the trumpet at the time of the New Moon,
At the full moon, on our solemn feast day.
4 For this is a statute for Israel,
A law of the God of Jacob.
5 This He established in Joseph as a testimony,
When He went throughout the land of Egypt,
Where I heard a language I did not understand.

6 “I removed his shoulder from the burden;
His hands were freed from the baskets.
7 You called in trouble, and I delivered you;
I answered you in the secret place of thunder;
I tested you at the waters of [b]Meribah. Selah

8 “Hear, O My people, and I will admonish you!
O Israel, if you will listen to Me!
9 There shall be no foreign god among you;
Nor shall you worship any foreign god.
10 I am the Lord your God,
Who brought you out of the land of Egypt;
Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.

11 “But My people would not heed My voice,
And Israel would have none of Me.
12 So I gave them over to [c]their own stubborn heart,
To walk in 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 adversaries.
15 The haters of the Lord would pretend submission to Him,
But their [d]fate would endure forever.
16 He would have fed them also with [e]the finest of wheat;
And with honey from the rock I would have satisfied you.”

Footnotes

a. Psalm 81:1 Heb. Al Gittith
b. Psalm 81:7 Lit. Strife or Contention
c. Psalm 81:12 the dictates of their heart
d. Psalm 81:15 Lit. time
e. Psalm 81:16 Lit. fat of wheat

New King James Version (NKJV)

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Psalm 81 Commentary

You called in trouble, and I delivered you. For this, let Israel sing aloud. This is section one, where we hear the voice of Israel calling out for help.

But the second section is different. We hear the voice of the LORD. But there is no one to listen. Communication has broken down. The LORD laments this sorry state of affairs.

Humans call out for help. The LORD always answers. Impossible love for humans on display! But humans respond dead when the LORD calls.

“There shall be no foreign god among you; nor shall you worship any foreign god.”

This is God’s message. Humans have ignored it. Consequently, the LORD has given us over to our own stubborn hearts. It’s dog-eat-dog out there!

Indeed, humans have turned everything around them into “gods”.

The haters of the LORD would pretend submission to Him. But their fate would endure forever.

This chapter speaks strongly to humanity whenever we have pretended to love the LORD – whenever we have pretended to have heard God’s voice.

It’s a call for self-examination. Pretense won’t help anyone. You can only deceive yourself and those around you in the same sinking boat!

There we have it – the cause. Humanity’s problem is a lack of complete respect for God’s law. “You shall have no foreign god among you; you shall not worship any god other than me.”

The mention of Joseph in verse 3 may be a reference to God’s miraculous working in a life that decides to separate itself to and for the LORD. It’s like the LORD is saying: “Joseph’s life is what the blessing may look like in the real world.”

When the LORD called, Joseph feared the LORD and acted accordingly. The gods of self-gratification lost the battle against Joseph.

It serves as an encouragement that righteousness can be had even under pagan conditions. Holiness is possible, but it comes with a measure of trouble, though always temporary. Let the saint sing about these things!

Loving Scripture….

Leave a comment

24 thoughts on “Home”

  1. It has been exciting learning how God can make things happen to his choosen one, God workout something wonderful and fulfils the promises he made to the father of Joseph.

    God’s words remains true so are his promises and indeed it has been God working out the salvation of man Kind by Grace through Faith alone.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  11. Profound. My life needs a new introduction to God. Not that I have been right, but because God desires to help me… I see an amazing Grace here. Having broken the first commandment, still God looks for me and helps me to build up with him… And live for him. A littles knowledge of the Lord will ignite my passion and desire to serve him. This morning I pledge to seek, live and serve the Lord Jesus Christ and His purposes everyday of my life.
    Beautiful lesson

    Like

    Reply

  12. The Lord reintroduces himself and shows Israel, He is all they need. Some boast in horses and others in chariots but we’ll boast in the Lord. He is able and the only one worthy of our trust. Lord teach me how to always look up to you at all times and not focus on my strength or capabilities. This is my prayer

    Like

    Reply

  14. This far too common today. Just do something that seems like true worship yet it’s intent and actual practice is not even close to the set standard by the Lord. I personally feel challenged of some things we do in our personal lives, the focus of many churches and ministries today. We’ll need to realize the Lord must be worship as he has personally guided. Provides a good start of my reflection today

    Like

    Reply

  15. In those days when there was no King everyone did as they pleased. This is a good reminder to us that we are on own when the King of Kings isn’t leading our lives we’ll be doing what is not right and the results will show clearly how life without Christ looks like. We thank God that even when it looks like he’s not there, he’s behind the scenes working. I have learnt to trust in the Lord always.

    Like

    Reply

  16. Iam seeing this being stressed… There was no King in Israel… So lawlessness is the order of the day. This shows how heartless and wicked man can be with out the right King in his life. He can do anything. May the Lord help us to allow Christ in our lives that every aspect of our lives is changed and we yield ourselves to him alone.

    Like

    Reply

  17. I’m sure as the two daughters in-law stayed in Naomi’s home they learned about the God of Israel and appreciated His works among his people. Ruth’s determination and what she says moves my heart. She’s convinced she must go with Naomi and wants to spend her life with her, this relationship was strong especially between a mother inlaw and a daughter in-law. Yet Ruth stays and how she puts it shows the depth of her heart, I’ll go with with you, your people will be my people, your God will be my God…

    Like

    Reply

  18. Howdy I am so excited I found your blog, I really found you by
    accident, while I was searching on Yahoo for something else, Anyways I am here now and would just like to say thank you for a fantastic post and a all round enjoyable
    blog (I also love the theme/design), I don’t have time to browse it all at the
    minute but I have bookmarked it and also included your RSS feeds, so
    when I have time I will be back to read more, Please do keep up
    the excellent b.

    Like

    Reply

  20. My brother recommended I might like this web site. He was
    totally right. This post truly made my day. You can not imagine simply how
    much time I had spent for this information! Thanks!

    Like

    Reply

  21. Hello There. I found your blog using msn. This is a really well written article.
    I’ll be sure to bookmark it and return to read more of your useful info.

    Thanks for the post. I’ll certainly comeback.

    Like

    Reply

Leave a comment