These are sweet views of God's former dealings with his people; and a reference to Israel's history will mark out the several periods here spoken of. But, Reader! do not you and I also see our own history, and Jesus interposing for our salvation? read more
Reader! let us for a moment drop Israel's history, to which these verses refer, to look into our own. We know how the Lord delivered Israel upon the several occasions here described; but may not you and I conceive, without violence to the words, that Jesus speaks to us in the same gracious language? Oh! precious Lord! let there be no strange god in our hearts! Forbid that we ever set up the idol there. But do thou open our mouth, open our hearts, and fill us with thyself, that we may live to... read more
Reader! what saith thy heart to these charges? What saith thy experience to this awful giving up? Oh! Lord! do thou still keep, still preserve, and abide in thy love, for thou hatest putting away. Reader! do not overlook, in the midst of the solemn things of this verse, that the Lord still calls Israel his people. Precious thought! They are his by creation, his by redemption, his by new creation, and the conquests of his Spirit, in Christ Jesus. Pray read that blessed scripture, Isaiah 43:1 ,... read more
So Jesus wept over Jerusalem! And had Israel then, or upon the occasion which this Psalm records, hearkened unto the Lord, the temporal prosperity of Israel would have continued. For, I beg the Reader to observe, that in both instances it is of temporal prosperity the Lord evidently speaks. Here it is of feeding them with fine wheat, and honey out of the rock; and there, in Christ's days, it is of preserving Jerusalem from being visited by the destruction of the sword. Luke 19:41-44 . read more
REFLECTIONS READER! let every renewed call, which we behold in the old dispensation, to excite the people to praise, remind us of our higher privileges, and become an additional incentive to the most animated love and praise to our God in Christ. Were the Old Testament saints perpetually reminded of the distinguishing love of God to his people; and was it the voice of trumpets by which the Holy Ghost caused it to be proclaimed in his church, Blessed are the people who know the joyful sound?... read more
Men. Hebrew Adam, or "like a man" (Montanus; Haydock) of the meanest rank. --- Princes. Among men, (Calmet) or like Lucifer, the first of the rebel angels. (Eusebius) (St. Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho) --- Most tyrants come to a miserable end. (Menochius) --- At death, judges themselves are brought to the bar, and their case is then more terrible, as the mighty in guilt shall suffer more, Wisdom vi. (Worthington) --- They are forced to taste od death; while Jesus Christ was master of... read more
Nations. Those whom thou hast appointed judges, prevaricate, Genesis xviii. 25. (Calmet) --- Come, therefore, thyself, Lord Jesus, (Apocalypse xxii. 20.) to whom all nations were promised for an inheritance. (Berthier) (Psalm ii. 7.) --- His appearance at the last day is described in the 49th psalm; and most of the Fathers here discover a clear prediction of the conversion of the Gentiles. (Calmet) read more
PSALM LXXXI. (DEUS STETIT.) An exhortation to judges and men in power. read more
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... read more
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James Gray's Concise Bible Commentary - Psalms 81:1-16
The first psalm in this lesson suggests Psalms 74:0 on which we did not dwell, but both of which depict the desolations of Judah by the Babylonians (compare Jeremiah 52:12-14 ). On this supposition their date would be that of the captivity, and their author a later Asaph than the Asaph mentioned in David’s time. Psalms 80:0 Has captivity features also. Some would say it relates to the ten tribes, as the preceding psalm does to Judah. The next several psalms are much alike in this respect and... read more