5 He gave it to Joseph as a witness, when he went out over the land of Egypt; then the words of a strange tongue were sounding in my ears.
When Israel came out of Egypt, the children of Jacob from a people whose language was strange to them;
See, I will send you a nation from far away, O people of Israel, says the Lord; a strong nation and an old nation, a nation whose language is strange to you, so that you may not get the sense of their words.
In the law it is said, By men of other tongues and by strange lips will my words come to this people; and not even so will they give ear to me, says the Lord. For this reason tongues are for a sign, not to those who have faith, but to those who have not: but the prophet's word is for those who have faith, and not for the rest who have not.
With your arm you have made your people free, the sons of Jacob and Joseph. (Selah.)
No, but with broken talk, and with a strange tongue, he will give his word to this people:
Drinking wine in basins, rubbing themselves with the best oils; but they have no grief for the destruction of Joseph.
For on that night I will go through the land of Egypt, sending death on every first male child, of man and of beast, and judging all the gods of Egypt: I am the Lord.
<To the chief music-maker; put to Shoshannim-eduth. Of Asaph. A Psalm.> Give ear, O Keeper of Israel, guiding Joseph like a flock; you who have your seat on the winged ones, let your glory be seen. Before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh, let your strength be awake from sleep, and come as our salvation.
These are the rules and the laws and the decisions which Moses gave to the children of Israel after they came out of Egypt;
And when your son says to you in time to come, What is the reason for this? say to him, By the strength of his hand the Lord took us out of Egypt, out of the prison-house: And when Pharaoh made his heart hard and would not let us go, the Lord sent death on all the first sons in Egypt, of man and of beast: and so every first male who comes to birth is offered to the Lord; but for all the first of my sons I give a price. And this will be for a sign on your hand and for a mark on your brow: for by the strength of his hand the Lord took us out of Egypt.
And you will say to your son in that day, It is because of what the Lord did for me when I came out of Egypt. And this will be for a sign to you on your hand and for a mark on your brow, so that the law of the Lord may be in your mouth: for with a strong hand the Lord took you out of Egypt.
And in the middle of the night the Lord sent death on every first male child in the land of Egypt, from the child of Pharaoh on his seat of power to the child of the prisoner in the prison; and the first births of all the cattle.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Psalms 81
Commentary on Psalms 81 Matthew Henry Commentary
Psalm 81
This psalm was penned, as is supposed, not upon occasion of any particular providence, but for the solemnity of a particular ordinance, either that of the new-moon in general or that of the feast of trumpets on the new moon of the seventh month, Lev. 23:24; Num. 29:1. When David, by the Spirit, introduced the singing of psalms into the temple-service this psalm was intended for that day, to excite and assist the proper devotions of it. All the psalms are profitable; but, if one psalm be more suitable than another to the day and observances of it, we should choose that. The two great intentions of our religious assemblies, and which we ought to have in our eye in our attendance on them, are answered in this psalm, which are, to give glory to God and to receive instruction from God, to "behold the beauty of the Lord and to enquire in his temple;' accordingly by this psalm we are assisted on our solemn feast days,
This, though spoken primarily of Israel of old, is written for our learning, and is therefore to be sung with application.
To the chief musician upon Gittith. A psalm of Asaph.
Psa 81:1-7
When the people of God were gathered together in the solemn day, the day of the feast of the Lord, they must be told that they had business to do, for we do not go to church to sleep nor to be idle; no, there is that which the duty of every day requires, work of the day, which is to be done in its day. And here,
Psa 81:8-16
God, by the psalmist, here speaks to Israel, and in them to us, on whom the ends of the world are come.