Albert Barnes Commentary Psalms 81

Sing aloud unto God our strength - The strength and support of the nation; He from whom the nation has derived all its power. The word rendered "sing aloud" means to rejoice, and then, to make or cause to rejoice. It would be appropriate for a high festal occasion, where music constituted an important part of the public service. And it would be a proper word to employ in reference to any of the great feasts of the Hebrews.

Make a joyful noise - A noise indicating joy, as distinguished from a noise of mourning or lamentation.

Unto the God of Jacob - Not here particularly the God of the patriarch himself, but of the people who bore his name—his descendants.

Take a psalm - literally, “Lift up a psalm; perhaps, as we should say, “Raise the tune.” Or, it may mean, Take an ode, a hymn, a psalm, composed for the occasion, and accompany it with the instruments of music which are specified.

And bring here the timbrel - For the purpose of praise. On the meaning of this word rendered “timbrel” - תף tôph - see the notes at (Isaiah 5:12).

The pleasant harp - On the word here rendered “harp” - כנור kinnôr - see also the notes at (Isaiah 5:12). The word translated “pleasant” - נעים nâ‛ı̂ym - means properly pleasant, agreeable, sweet, (Psalms 133:1; Psalms 147:1). It is connected here with the word harp, as meaning that that instrument was distinguished particularly for a sweet or pleasant sound.

With the psaltery - On the meaning of the word used here - נבל nebel - see the notes at (Isaiah 5:12). These were the common instruments of music among the Hebrews. They were employed alike on sacred occasions, and in scenes of revelry. See (Isaiah 5:12).

Blow up the trumpet – The word translated "blow" means to make a clangor or noise as on a trumpet. The trumpet was, like the timbrel, the harp, and the psaltery, a common instrument of music and was used on all their festive occasions. It was at first made of horn and then was made similar in shape to a horn. (Leviticus 25:9; Job 39:25).

In the new moon – On the festival held at the time of the new moon. There was a high festival on the appearance of the new moon in the month of Tisri, or October, which was the beginning of their civil year, and it is not improbable that the return of each new moon was celebrated with special services. (See the notes at Isaiah 1:13; compare to 2 Kings 4:23; Amos 8:5; 1 Chronicles 23:31; 2 Chronicles 2:4). It is not certain, however, that the word used here means "new moon." Professor Alexander translates it "in the month"; that is, in the month, preeminently, in which the Passover was celebrated.

The word used – חדשׁ (chôdesh) – indeed commonly means the new moon, the day of the new moon, or the first day of the lunar month (Numbers 29:6; 1 Samuel 20:5, 18, 24). However, it also means a month, that is, a lunar month beginning at the new moon (Genesis 8:5; Exodus 13:4; and elsewhere).

The corresponding or parallel word, which is translated in our version as "in the time appointed," means "full moon," as we shall see. The probability is, as Professor Alexander suggests, that the month is mentioned in general at the beginning of the verse, and the particular time of the month – the full moon – in the other part. Thus, the language is applicable to the Passover.

On the other supposition – the supposition that the new moon and the full moon are both mentioned – there would be manifest confusion as to the time.

In the time appointed – The word used here – כסה (keseh) – properly means the full moon, the time of the full moon. In Syriac, the word means either “the first day of the full moon” or “the whole time of the full moon” (Isa Bar Ali, as quoted by Gesenius, Lexicon). Thus, the word means not, as in our translation, "in the time appointed," but "at the full moon," and would refer to the time of the Passover, which was celebrated on the fourteenth day of the lunar month, that is, when the moon was at the full (Exodus 12:6).

On our solemn feast day – In Hebrew, "In the day of our feast." The word "solemn" is not necessarily in the original, though the day was one of great solemnity. The Passover is doubtless referred to.

For this was a statute for Israel... - . That is, it was a law for the whole Jewish people, for all who had the name Israel, for all the descendants of Jacob. The word "was" is not in the original, as if this had been an old commandment that might now be obsolete; but the idea is one of perpetuity: it is a perpetual law for the Hebrew people.

A law of the God of Jacob - Hebrew, a judgment, or right. The idea is that it was what was due to God, what was His right. It was a solemn claim that He should be thus acknowledged. It was not a matter of conventional arrangement or convenience to them, nor was it to be observed merely because it was found to be expedient and conducive to the welfare of the nation. It was a matter of right and of claim on the part of God, and was so to be regarded by the nation.

The same is true now of the Sabbath and of all the appointments God has made for maintaining religion in the world. All these arrangements are indeed expedient and proper; they contribute to the public welfare and to the happiness of humanity, but there is a higher reason for their observance than this.

It is that God demands their observance, that He claims as His own the time so appropriated. Thus He claims the Sabbath, the entire Sabbath, as His own; He requires that it shall be employed in His service, that it shall be regarded as His day, that it shall be made instrumental in maintaining the knowledge of Himself in the world, and in promoting His glory (Exodus 20:10). People, therefore, rob God when they take this time for needless secular purposes or devote it to other ends and uses. Nor can this be sinless. The highest guilt a person can commit is to rob their Maker of what belongs to Him and of what He claims.

This he ordained in Joseph for a testimony – literally, he placed this; that is, he appointed it. The word Joseph here stands for the whole Hebrew people, as in (Psalms 80:1). See the notes at that verse. The meaning is, that the ordinance for observing this festival – the Passover – was to be traced back to the time when they were in Egypt. The obligation to observe it was thus enhanced by the very antiquity of the observance, and by the fact that it was one of the direct appointments of God in that strange and foreign land.

When he went out through the land of Egypt – Margin, against. Or rather, In his going out of the land of Egypt. Literally, In going upon the land of Egypt. The allusion is, undoubtedly, to the time when the Hebrews went out of the land of Egypt – to the Exodus; and the exact idea is, that, in doing this, they passed over a considerable portion of the land of Egypt; or, that they passed over the land. The idea in the margin, of its being against the land of Egypt, is not necessarily in the original.

Where I heard a language that I understood not – literally, “The lip, that is, the language, of one that I did not know, I heard.” This refers, undoubtedly, not to God, but to the people. The author of this psalm identifies himself here with the people – the whole nation – and speaks as if he were one of them, and as if he now recollected the circumstances at the time – the strange language – the foreign customs – the oppressions and burdens borne by the people. Throwing himself back, as it were, to that time (compare the notes at 1 Thessalonians 4:17) – he seems to himself to be in the midst of a people speaking a strange tongue – a language unintelligible to him – the language of a foreign nation. The Jews, in all their long captivity in Egypt – a period of four hundred years (see the notes at Acts 7:6) – preserved their own language apparently uncorrupted. So far as appears, they spoke the same language, without change, when they came out of Egypt, that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had used.

The Egyptian was entirely a foreign language to them, and had no affinity with the Hebrew.