Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 81:6
I removed his shoulder from the burden: his hands were delivered from the pots.
6. I have removed his shoulder from the burden:
His hands shall go free from the basket.
The term ‘basket’ does not occur in Exodus, but baskets for carrying the burdens of bricks or clay so often referred to in Exodus (Exo 1:11; Exo 2:11; Exo 5:4-5; Exo 6:6-7) are frequently represented in Egyptian paintings.
From the pots (A.V.), i.e. from making the pots (P.B.V.), is an improbable explanation.
The P.B.V. in Psa 81:5, “when he came out of the land of Egypt and had heard a strange language,” is derived through the Vulg. from the LXX. Similarly Jerome; but it is probably only a conjectural rendering of a difficult passage, and does not represent a different text.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
I removed his shoulder from the burden – The burden which the people of Israel were called to hear in Egypt. The reference is undoubtedly to their burdens in making bricks, and conveying them to the place where they were to be used; and perhaps also to the fact that they were required to carry stone in building houses and towns for the Egyptians. Compare Exo 1:11-14; Exo 5:4-17. The meaning is, that he had saved them from these burdens, to wit, by delivering them from their hard bondage. The speaker here evidently is God. In the previous verse it is the people. Such a change of person is not uncommon in the Scriptures.
His hands were delivered from the pots – Margin, as in Hebrew, passed away. That is, they were separated from them, or made free. The word rendered pots usually has that signification. Job 41:20; 1Sa 2:14; 2Ch 35:13; but it may also mean a basket. Jer 24:2; 2Ki 10:7. The latter is probably the meaning here. The allusion is to baskets which might have been used in carrying clay, or conveying the bricks after they were made: perhaps a kind of hamper that was swung over the shoulders, with clay or bricks in each – somewhat like the instrument used now by the Chinese in carrying tea – or like the neck-yoke which is employed in carrying sap where maple sugar is manufactured, or milk on dairy farms. There are many representations on Egyptian sculptures which would illustrate this. The idea is that of a burden, or task, and the allusion is to the deliverance that was accomplished by removing them to another land.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
I delivered him from burdensome slavery. Pots; as this word is taken, 1Sa 2:14; 2Ch 35:13. Or, baskets, as it signifies, 2Ki 10:7 Jer 24:2. In the general, it seems to note all those vessels wherein they carried water, straw, lime, bricks, &c.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
6. God’s language alludes to theburdensome slavery of the Israelites.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
I removed his shoulder from the burden,…. These are the words of God, declaring how he had delivered the Israelites from the oppression and cruelty of the Egyptians; who made their lives bitter in hard bondage, and obliged them to carry heavy loads of bricks upon their shoulders:
his hands were delivered from the pots, or “baskets” c; into which the bricks were put when made, and carried on their shoulders; or from making of pots, as Kimchi, who thinks the Israelites were employed in making pots of clay as well as bricks; see Ps 68:13, the Targum is,
“his hands withdrew themselves from casting clay into the pots:”
the whole is typical of the saints’ deliverance by Christ from the bondage of sin, Satan, and the law.
c “a sporta, a cophino”, Gejerus, Amama, Michaelis.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
It is a gentle but profoundly earnest festival discourse which God the Redeemer addresses to His redeemed people. It begins, as one would expect in a Passover speech, with a reference to the of Egypt (Exo 1:11-14; Exo 5:4; Exo 6:6.), and to the duwd, the task-basket for the transport of the clay and of the bricks (Exo 1:14; Exo 5:7.).
(Note: In the Papyrus Leydensis i. 346 the Israelites are called the “ Aperiu ( ), who dragged along the stones for the great watch-tower of the city of Rameses,” and in the Pap. Leyd. i. 349, according to Lauth, the “ Aperiu, who dragged along the stones for the storehouse of the city of Rameses.”)
Out of such distress did He free the poor people who cried for deliverance (Exo 2:23-25); He answered them , i.e., not (according to Psa 22:22; Isa 32:2): affording them protection against the storm, but (according to Psa 18:12; Psa 77:17.): out of the thunder-clouds in which He at the same time revealed and veiled Himself, casting down the enemies of Israel with His lightnings, which is intended to refer pre-eminently to the passage through the Red Sea (vid., Psa 77:19); and He proved them ( , with o contracted from o , cf. on Job 35:6) at the waters of Merbah, viz., whether they would trust Him further on after such glorious tokens of His power and loving-kindness. The name “ Waters of Merbah ,” which properly is borne only by Merbath Kadesh , the place of the giving of water in the fortieth year (Num 20:13; Num 27:14; Deu 32:51; Deu 33:8), is here transferred to the place of the giving of water in the first year, which was named Massah u – Merbah (Exo 17:7), as the remembrances of these two miracles, which took place under similar circumstances, in general blend together (vid., on Psa 95:8.). It is not now said that Israel did not act in response to the expectation of God, who had son wondrously verified Himself; the music, as Seal imports, here rises, and makes a long and forcible pause in what is being said. What now follows further, are, as the further progress of Psa 81:12 shows, the words of God addressed to the Israel of the desert, which at the same time with its faithfulness are brought to the remembrance of the Israel of the present. , as in Psa 50:7; Deu 8:19, to bear testimony that concerns him against any one. (according to the sense, o si, as in Psa 95:7, which is in many ways akin to this Psalm) properly opens a searching question which wishes that the thing asked may come about (whether thou wilt indeed give me a willing hearing?!). In Psa 81:10 the key-note of the revelation of the Law from Sinai is struck: the fundamental command which opens the decalogue demanded fidelity to Jahve and forbade idol-worship as the sin of sins. is an idol in opposition to the God of Israel as the true God; and , a strange god in opposition to the true God as the God of Israel. To this one God Israel ought to yield itself all the more undividedly and heartily as it was more manifestly indebted entirely to Him, who in His condescension had chosen it, and in His wonder-working might had redeemed it ( , part. Hiph. with the eh elided, like , Deu 13:6, and , from , Exo 33:3); and how easy this submission ought to have been to it, since He desired nothing in return for the rich abundance of His good gifts, which satisfy and quicken body and soul, but only a wide-opened mouth, i.e., a believing longing, hungering for mercy and eager for salvation (Psa 119:131)!
6 I have removed his shoulder from the burden. Here God begins to recount the benefits which he had bestowed upon the Israelites, and the many ways in which he had laid them under obligations to him. The more galling the bondage was from which they had been delivered, the more desirable and precious was their liberty. When, therefore, it is affirmed that their burdens were so heavy that they stooped under them, and that they were doomed to the labor of making bricks, and to other slavish and toilsome occupations, the comparison of this their first state with their condition afterwards is introduced to illustrate the more strikingly the greatness of the blessing of their deliverance. Let us now apply this to ourselves, and elevate our minds to a higher subject, of which it was an image. As God has not only withdrawn our shoulders from a burden of brick, and not only removed our hands from the kilns, but has also redeemed us from the cruel and miserable tyranny of Satan, and drawn us from the depths of hell, the obligations under which we lie to him are of a much more strict and sacred kind than those under which he had brought his ancient people.
(6) Pots.Deriving from a root to boil, and with allusion to potteries, which, probably, together with the brick-kilns, formed the scene of the forced labour of Israel. The LXX. and Vulg. have slaved in the basket, but the basket, which is represented on Egyptian monuments, is doubtless meant by the burden of the last clause.
6. Burden pots The latter word also means baskets, as 2Ki 10:7; Jer 24:2. The allusion is to Exo 1:11-14, and probably to the burden-basket used by slaves, in which the Israelites carried brick and other portables. Baskets of this kind have been found in the sepulchral vaults of Thebes. In looking at the condition of the people, their heavy burdens and the servile burden-baskets first meet the eye, and release from these is the fit opening of this passover-song, as it was the first item in the promise of deliverance. Exo 6:6. Besides the making brick for the “treasure-cities,” (granaries, or store cities, as the word denotes,) “Pithom and Raamses,” and their agricultural and other labours, it is not improbable that the Israelites were detailed also for the mining colonies in the peninsula of Mount Sinai, where, anterior to the exodus, the Egyptians carried on extensive mining operations in iron, copper, and turquoise. The ruins of their slag heaps, smelting furnaces, shafts, hieroglyphics, carved tablets, propping of mining caves, etc., are yet to be seen. (See PALMER’S Desert of the Exodus.) Also, Exo 1:11-14; Exo 2:23; Exo 3:7. Slaves, criminals, and captives taken in war were sent to these mines.
Psa 81:6. His hands were delivered from the pots His hands from the pots through which they had passed: Chandler. See Psa 68:13.
The Reader, will remark, in this place, a change of the person speaking. In the preceding verses the church is speaking, and the members of it are calling upon one another to attend the service of the Lord. But here it is the Lord himself that is introduced as speaking.
Psa 81:6 I removed his shoulder from the burden: his hands were delivered from the pots.
Ver. 6. I removed his shoulder from the burden ] From the woeful slavery of Egyptian tyrants and task masters, Sordidissimo ministerio.
His hands passed away from the pots NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Psa 81:6-10
6I relieved his shoulder of the burden,
His hands were freed from the basket.
7You called in trouble and I rescued you;
I answered you in the hiding place of thunder;
I proved you at the waters of Meribah. Selah.
8Hear, O My people, and I will admonish you;
O Israel, if you would listen to Me!
9Let there be no strange god among you;
Nor shall you worship any foreign god.
10I, the Lord, am your God,
Who brought you up from the land of Egypt;
Open your mouth wide and I will fill it.
Psa 81:6-10 This strophe is a summary of all the gracious acts of YHWH in the exodus and wilderness wandering period. Notice all the first person masculine singular verbs! YHWH is directly addressing His people.
1. I relieved (lit. removed), Psa 81:6 – BDB 693, KB 747, Hiphil perfect
2. I rescued (lit. delivered), Psa 81:7 – BDB 322, KB 321, Piel imperfect with waw
3. I answered, Psa 81:7 – BDB 772, KB 851, Qal imperfect
4. I proved, Psa 81:7 – BDB 103, KB 119, Qal imperfect
5. I will admonish, Psa 81:8 – BDB 729, KB 795, Hiphil cohortative
6. I, the Lord, am your God, Psa 81:10 – covenant language
7. I will fill it, Psa 81:10 – BDB 569, KB 583, Piel imperfect used in a cohortative sense
Also notice
8. I gave them over to, Psa 81:12 – BDB 1018, KB 1511, Piel imperfect with waw (cf. Rom 1:24; Rom 1:26; Rom 1:28)
9. I would quickly subdue, Psa 81:14
10. I would feed you, Psa 81:16 – BDB 37, KB 46, Hiphil imperfect with waw
11. I would satisfy you, Psa 81:16 – BDB 959, KB 1302, Hiphil imperfect
YHWH speaks from Psa 81:6 through 16 by means of a priest or prophet.
Psa 81:6 This verse refers to the forced labor of the Hebrew slaves (i.e., Exo 1:8-14).
Psa 81:7 You called in trouble and I rescued you This is an allusion to YHWH’s dialog with Moses in Exo 3:7-10.
I answered you in the hiding place of thunder This seems to allude to Israel’s Mt. Sinai experience (cf. Exo 19:19; Exo 20:18).
I proved you at the waters of Meribah This refers to the Israelites’ experience recorded in Exo 17:6-7 and Num 20:13. The AB (pp. 265-266) sees this line as though I was provoked by you (cf. Exo 17:7; Num 14:22; Num 20:24; Num 27:14; Deu 33:8; Ps. 93:8-9). Each of these texts states that Israel tested God, not God tested Israel.
Deu 33:8 seems to support the MT of Psa 81:7 c as God testing the Israelites.
Selah See notes at Psa 3:2.
Psa 81:8 Hear This is a Qal imperative! It begins a series of references to Israel’s lack of responding appropriately to YHWH’s revelation (cf. Neh 9:34).
1. if you would listen – Psa 81:8
2. My people did not listen – Psa 81:11
3. Israel did not obey Me – Psa 81:11
4. Oh that My people would listen to Me – Psa 81:13
Derek Kidner, in the Tyndale Commentary series (p. 326), thinks Hear, O My people is an allusion to the Shema prayer of Deu 6:4-6. It may well be!
Psa 81:9 Israel was commanded not to make or go after foreign gods (cf. Exo 20:3; Exo 20:23). The Israelites were attracted to the fertility gods of Canaan. Israel’s uniqueness in the ANE was her monotheism, which allowed for no rivals!
The Jewish Study Bible (p. 1374) asserts that Psa 81:9-10 are an allusion to Exo 20:1-2; Deu 5:6, but in reverse order.
Psa 81:10 This refers to YHWH’s provision of food and water during the wilderness wandering period.
I = I [God].
pots = baskets. Depicted in Egyptian paintings as being used in brickmaking. Not same word as Psa 68:13, though the same things referred to. Compare 2Ki 10:7.
Psa 81:6-16
Psa 81:6-16
THE HOMILY
“I removed his shoulder from the burden:
His hands were freed from the basket.
Thou callest in trouble, and I delivered thee
I answered thee in the secret place of thunder;
I proved thee at the waters of Meribah.
(Selah)
Hear, O my people, and I will testify unto thee:
O Israel, if thou wouldest hearken unto me!
There shall no strange god be in thee;
Neither shall thou worship any foreign god.
I am Jehovah thy God,
Who brought thee up out of the land of Egypt:
Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it.
But my people hearkened not to my voice;
And Israel would none of me.
So I let them go after the stubbornness of their heart,
That they might walk in their own counsels.
Oh that my people would hearken unto me,
That Israel would walk in my ways!
I would soon subdue their enemies,
And turn my hand against their adversaries.
The haters of Jehovah should submit themselves unto him:
But their time should endure forever.
He would feed them also with the finest of the wheat;
And with honey out of the rock would I satisfy thee.”
“I removed his shoulder from the burden … his hands from the basket” (Psa 81:6). This is a reference to the slavery in Egypt from which God had freed his people. `The basket’ here was used by the slaves carrying clay for the making of bricks.
“I answered thee in the secret place of thunder” (Psa 81:7). This seems to be a reference to the `cloud’ which guided Israel in the day-time in the wilderness.
“I proved thee at the waters of Meribah” (Psa 81:7). There were two instances in which God provided water for Israel at Meribah; and these are discussed fully in our commentary on the Pentateuch (Exodus), and in Leviticus and Numbers.
“O Israel, if thou wouldest hearken” (Psa 81:8). There seems to be an emotional factor in such pleading words as these; and they remind us of the words of the Christ: “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem … how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! (Mat 23:37 f).”
“There shall no strange god be in thee; neither shall thou worship any foreign god” (Psa 81:9). From these words it may be inferred that idolatrous, pagan worship was being indulged by God’s people. Otherwise, no warning would have been necessary. This identifies the times of the psalm as prior to the exile, after which Israel did not worship pagan gods.
“Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it” (Psa 81:10). The imagery here is that of a nest of small birds opening their mouths wide at the appearance of the mother bird. There is a deep spiritual lesson in this. “God’s gifts, both spiritual and temporal, are proportioned to our eager longing for them. Christ could do no miracles in one place because of the people’s unbelief (Mar 6:5); and God cannot give lavishly unless we desire eagerly. Tiny birds that never open their mouths are never fed.
“My people hearkened not to my voice … Israel would none of me” (Psa 81:11). Israel paid no attention to the Word of God; they did not obey the Lord; they did not wish to have anything at all to do with God.
“So I let them go after the stubbornness of their heart” (Psa 81:12). “So I let them go”! No sadder words were ever spoken of a people. This expression is the equivalent of what God did to the hardened Gentile nations of the pre-Christian era. “God gave them up … God gave them up … God gave them up” (Rom 1:24; Rom 1:26; Rom 1:28). All of the terrible things that later happened to Israel were due to only one thing: “God let them go.”
There is a lesson in this for every man. God’s Spirit will not always strive with sinful men; when it becomes evident that men love evil, God will eventually withdraw his influence and allow them to wallow in it.
“That they might walk in their own counsels” (Psa 81:12). As Alexander Maclaren stated it, “There is no worse fate for a man than to be allowed to do as he chooses. `The ditch’ sooner or later receives the man who follows his own understanding, which he himself has blinded by forbidding it to receive the truth from that One who alone is The Light.
“Oh that my people would hearken unto me” (Psa 81:13). “One’s entire relationship to God is always a matter of listening to Him, and that simply means studying and meditating day by day upon the Word of God as revealed to mankind in the Holy Bible. There is no other way to “hearken unto God.”
These last four verses (Psa 81:13-16) provide a statement of what God “would have done for Israel” if they had only been willing to heed his word and walk in God’s ways. Barnes summarized these as follows.
(1) Their enemies would have been subdued (Psa 81:14); (2) the haters of God would have turned to the Lord (Psa 81:15);
(3) God would have given them abundant prosperity (Psa 81:16).
This being true of the Old Israel, is it any less true of the New? The answer is negative. As Barnes expressed it, “This psalm is of special importance to the church now, reminding God’s people of their obligation derived from the past mercies of God, and showing what would be the consequences if they should be wholly dedicated to the service of God.
“With honey out of the rock would I satisfy thee” (Psa 81:16). “This verse looks back to Deu 32:13-14 `Honey from the rock is not a natural product.’ The parallel from Deuteronomy, where we have, `oil out of the flinty rock,’ shows that we are `not here on the ground of the actual, but of the ideal.’ The expression is hyperbole for incomparable abundance.”
What a glorious thing it would be for all of God’s people to devote themselves without reservation to the love and service of God. Should anyone be afraid that God either could or would fall to provide abundant blessings for his people who might do such a thing? Has not Christ himself said, “Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world”?
E.M. Zerr:
Psa 81:6. This verse is a direct historic statement referring to the work that was done through Moses and Aaron. The pots were baskets or other vessels used in carrying heavy loads of material for the work of their severe labor in making brick, etc.
Psa 81:7. Thou (Israel) calledst in trouble and I (the Lord) delivered thee. This deliverance was done through Moses and Aaron. Secret place of thunder refers to the Lord as the source of thunder and all other wonders. He it was who responded to the cry of Israel. In spite of the merciful help from God the Israelites soon forgot and had to be proved or tested. That was done in the case of shortage of drinking water as recorded in Exodus 17. See comments at Psa 3:2 for Selah.
Psa 81:8. The basis on which God would logically exhort Israel to hear him was the fact that they were his people. He would testify to them, which is from a word the means to repeat something that had been said before.
Psa 81:9. The repetition referred to in the preceding verse was the commandment against idolatry. This was first spoken to them at Sinai (Exodus 19, 20).
Psa 81:10. The children of Israel were indebted to God for their deliverance from Egyptian bondage. Gratitude should have prompted them to hear what their deliverer had to say. The mouth is the inlet for material food and the word was used figuratively to compare the inlet for spiritual food. Open thy mouth wide meant for them to open their hearts to the full reception of the truth.
Psa 81:11. Would none of me was a brief way of saying that Israel would not receive any of the Lord’s instructions regarding their conduct of life.
Psa 81:12. God never used physical force to get a man to live right as far as his personal life was concerned. The only means he ever used was teaching, and if he would not accept t to regulate his life thereby he was eft to himself. After that the full responsibility for the results would )e at the feet of the disobedient peron.
Psa 81:13-14. God never asks man to do more than the human part. Had the Israelites done what they could against the heathen nations, God would have completed the work by driving the enemy entirely out of the land.
Psa 81:15. Submitted is translated “yielded feigned obedience” in the margin of some Bibles and the lexicon of Strong agrees with it. The heathen would pretend to be convinced by the terror of God’s dealing with them, but their time (of feeling the wrath of God) would go on unendingly regardless of their hypocritical submission.
Psa 81:16. There is a “switch” made in the pronouns; them now refers to the Israelites. Had they hearkened to the words of God he would have given them the best of blessings. Rock is from TSUB and according to the Standard Bible Dictionary the word is “used for that which is hard, barren, and unfruitful.” The phrase honey out of the rock means that God is able to produce the choicest food from even a barren source. Such wonderful care would the Lord have taken of his people had they been faithful and proved themselves worthy of such attention from Him.
I removed: Exo 1:14, Exo 6:6, Isa 9:4, Isa 10:27, Mat 11:29
were delivered: Heb. passed away
from the pots: Or rather, as dood also signifies (see 2Ki 10:7; Jer 24:2, the basket, so LXX, and Symmachus, , and Vulgate and Jerome, cophino; and Diodati, le sue mani si non dipartite dalle corbe, “his hands were removed from the baskets,” i.e., says he in a note, de portar la terra da far mattoni, “from carrying earth to make bricks,” Exo 1:14. Psa 68:13
Reciprocal: Gen 49:15 – bowed Exo 1:11 – burdens Exo 2:23 – cry Exo 6:7 – from under Lev 26:13 – General 1Ch 4:23 – General
Psa 81:6-7. I removed his shoulder That is, the shoulder of my people; from the burden I delivered them from the burdensome slavery of Egypt. His hands were delivered from the pots Hebrew, , his hands passed from the pots, or, as Chandler renders it, his hands from the pots, through which they had passed. Thus God reminds Israel of their redemption, by his mercy and power, from the burdens and drudgery imposed on them in Egypt. And from this verse to the end of the Psalm, it is evident God is the speaker. Thou calledst in trouble At the Red sea, Exo 14:10-12; and I delivered thee In an unexpected and extraordinary way, and disappointed the designs of thy enemies. I answered thee in the secret place of thunder From the dark and cloudy pillar, whence I thundered and fought against the Egyptians: see Exo 13:21; and Exo 14:19; Exo 14:24. Some refer this to the thunder at Sinai; but at that time they were not in trouble, but in a safe and glorious condition. Be assured, reader, that God is as ready, at all times, to hear the prayers and relieve the distresses of his people, as he was when the Israelites cried unto him in Egypt, and in the wilderness, and received answers from the cloudy pillar. Believe this, and apply to him in thy troubles.
81:6 I removed his shoulder from the burden: his hands were delivered from the {f} pots.
(f) If they were never able to give sufficient thanks to God, for this deliverance from corporal bondage, how much more are we indebted to him for our spiritual deliverance from the tyranny of Satan and sin?
2. A report of God’s communication 81:6-16
God had told His people that He was freeing them from their bondage as slaves in Egypt. They had cried out to Him in their distress, and He answered them from heaven.
"To judge by this model, it is good to recall God’s answers with some sharpness of detail." [Note: Kidner, Psalms 73-150, p. 294.]
Then He tested them at the waters of Meribah to see if they would trust Him (Exo 17:1-7), and in order to train them to do so.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)