I. (81:1–3) Sing Aloud to God. The call to worship is a jubilant one, urging the worshipers to “sing aloud,” “shout for joy,” “raise a song,” and employ the various musical instruments: “tambourine,” “lyre,” “harp,” and “trumpet.” All of these suggest an exuberant occasion, perhaps a special festival. The “new moon” and “full moon” are the beginning and middle of months in ancient Israel; this may show (cf. Section Overview) that the psalm was intended for the “feast day” of Trumpets (Lev. 23:23–25) and then Booths (Lev. 23:33–36), the beginning and middle of the seventh month. The rest of the psalm is quite somber in tone, and the exuberance of these verses reminds worshipers that even hearing some hard words from the Lord is a privilege, worthy of song and celebration.

II. (81:4–5b) A Statute for Israel. The sense that the psalm belongs to a particular festival grows stronger if we suppose that “statute,” “rule,” and “decree” refer to a divine designation of the date (cf. Ps. 122:4). As the rest of the psalm will make clear, the purpose of this occasion is to recall the great deeds God has done for his people so that the worshipers will renew their commitment to the Lord.

The third line of 81:5 begins a stretch of verses containing the voice of God as “I” and therefore belongs to the next section.

III.A. (81:5c–12) Narration: God’s Good Deeds, the People’s Refusal. The middle line of verse 5 mentioned God’s going out over Egypt, and this subsection takes up the story from there, recounting selected events from the story in Exodus. Calling Egyptian “a language I had not known” (v. 5) is perhaps proverbial, God speaking as if he shared Israel’s experience (114:1; cf. Deut. 28:49; recall that Joseph and his brothers used an interpreter, Gen. 42:23).547 Israel’s life in Egypt was one of servitude, of “burdens” carried by “baskets,” from which God rescued them (Ps. 81:6; cf. Ex. 1:11, 14; 5:4; 6:6–7)—the idea being that Israel was to work hard in its own land, not as slaves but as people whose labor was their own.

Psalm 81:7 (“called . . . answered”) may restate the exodus but more likely evokes the episodes afterward, in which Israel lacked water and food but God provided (Ex. 15:22–25; 16:1–8; 17:1–7). The final event is when God “tested” his people “at the waters of Meribah”; Scripture records two water incidents at places called Meribah (“Contention”), but only one of them also speaks of “testing” (Ex. 17:7, rather than Num. 20:10–13). There the place name is also “Massah” (“testing”), and the people “tested” God! That is, the song retells the story of familiar events but places them in a different light: in Exodus Moses and the people “cried out” to the Lord, probably with frustration, while here they “called” (in prayer) and God “answered.” And while the people “tested” God (improperly), God also “tested” them “to know what was in [their] heart,” with the goal “to do [them] good in the end” (Deut. 8:2, 16).

The faithful who know the story will recognize that the psalm tells it by emphasizing God’s attentive care but also that the Exodus story is quite clear about the people’s failure in true faith.548 Hence the admonition to “hear” (Ps. 81:8) and the wish “If you would but listen!” fit very well. Members of the contemporary congregation are being given the chance to “hear”/“listen,” just as the earlier generations had been—with the opportunity to get it right this time (cf. 78:5–8).

Psalm 81:9 continues the sequence in Exodus, alluding to the Ten Commandments, especially the first (“no other gods before me,” i.e., in my company; Ex. 20:3) and second (do not “bow down” to an image, whether of the true God or of a “foreign god”; Ex. 20:4–6)—requirements the prophets consistently charge Israel with not having kept.

Psalm 81:10–12 round off this subsection with a reference to God’s generosity as shown in the exodus and in his provision for them in the wilderness (“Open your mouth wide”; v. 10). Israel did not earn its special relationship to God; he gave it to them as a gift, which they were to embrace—this is why the Ten Commandments begin by reciting God’s gracious initiative. The Lord wants his people to “listen to” him (vv. 8, 11, 13), to receive the covenant as an expression of his grace, believe in him, and live as he directs. But, sadly, this is what they too often refused to do (v. 11), and as a consequence God “gave them over to their stubborn hearts” (v. 12)—that is, to the devastation of the land that ought to have led the people to repentance (cf. Deut. 29:19). The Hebrew term “gave them over” is properly rendered here, and it may also serve as an ironic echo of the exodus story, since it is the same verb Moses speaks to Pharaoh: “Let my people go” (Hb. shallah; Ex. 5:1). How sad, the assembly would reflect, that God ensured they be “let go,” only for the people to provoke God to “give them over” to their own stubbornness.

III.B. (81:13–17) If Only They Would Listen This Time! This subsection draws the lesson from this review of sacred history: “Oh, that my people would listen to me” (Ps. 81:13). That is, God’s wish is that they would listen this time, in contrast to the many times they did not (cf. v. 8). Were they to “listen” this time, to receive the covenant as an expression of his grace, believe in him, and live as he directs (“walk in my ways”; v. 13), God would “subdue their enemies” (those Gentiles who would oppress them), while “those who hate the Lord” (the same Gentile enemies) “would cringe toward” God (cf. 18:44) in submission (which would be to their benefit; cf. 2:10–12). The land of Israel would also then enjoy fruitfulness, yielding the “finest . . . wheat” (Deut. 32:14) and “honey from the rock,” apparently an image of abundant wild honey (Deut. 32:13).

The point of this subsection is to ensure that each generation of Israel takes to heart that, in spite of the sad fact that their ancestors might not have listened, God has not given up on them but offers the new generation a fresh opportunity to listen and to receive his benefits.