Psalms 81

Ver. 1. — thou that dwellest &c.] Thou that sittest enthroned above the ark of the covenant, shew us some illustrious token of thy presence. Travell.

Psalms 81:2

2. Before Ephraim &c.] God is entreated to go forth in his strength and his salvation, before the tribes of Israel, as formerly in the wilderness. Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh, are particularly mentioned, perhaps, because, according to the established order, those three tribes immediately followed the ark and cherubim, the symbols of the Divine presence. See Numb. ii. 18. 24. Bp. Horne.

Psalms 81:3

3. Turn us again.] Restore us to our former happiness. Bp. Patrick.

Psalms 81:5

5. Thou feedest &c.] That is, we are in continual sorrow and distress, and have no degree of comfort or refreshment but our lamentations. Dr. Hammond.

Psalms 81:6

6. Thou makest us &c.] The meaning is, Our neighbours contend among themselves, who shall make the greatest prey of us, and we are become the scorn and derision of our enemies. Travell, Bp. Patrick.

Psalms 81:8

8. Thou hast brought a vine &c.] The Psalmist, describing the people of Israel as a vine, has continued the metaphor, and happily drawn it out through a variety of additional circumstances. Among the many beauties of this allegory, not the least graceful is that modesty, with which he enters upon and concludes his subject, making an easy and gradual transition from plain to figurative language, and no less delicately

Psalms 81:11

11. She sent out &c.] Signifying, that Israel extended its dominion from the Mediterranean sea to the river Euphrates. Dr. Wells.

12. The boar! By this figure, the Psalmist means to represent the fierce and unrelenting persecutor of the people of Israel. Bp. Horne.

Psalms 81:15

15. And the vineyard] “Even the plant.” Abp. Secker.

— the branch] The family of David. Bp. Horne. The people of Israel. Rosenmuller.

17. — the man of thy right hand! That is, the people of Israel. Rosenmuller. Our prince. Mudge. The Messiah. Bp. Horne.

Let not the Christian church imagine, that the sufferings complained of in this Psalm relate only to her elder sister. Greater mercies and more excellent gifts should excite in her greater thankfulness, and call forth more excellent virtues; otherwise they will serve only to enhance her account, and multiply her sorrows. If she sin, and fall after the same example of unbelief, she must not think to be distinguished in her punishment, unless by the severity of it. Bp. Horne.

Psalm LXXXI. Throughout this Psalm appears an exquisite union of sublimity and sweetness. It is an ode composed for the feast of trumpets, (Levit. xxiii. 24,) in the first new moon of the civil year. The object and end of this poem appears to be an exhortation to obedience from the consideration of the paternal