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<TITLE>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary on the Whole Bible [Psalms LXXXI].</TITLE>
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<center><h1>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary
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on the Whole Bible</h1>
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[<A HREF="MHC00000.HTM">Table of Contents</A>]<BR>
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Matthew Henry<BR><I>Commentary on the Whole Bible</I> (1710)
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<!-- (Begin Body) -->
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<CENTER>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+3><B>P S A L M S</B></FONT>
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<BR>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+2>PSALM LXXXI.</FONT>
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<HR SIZE=1 WIDTH=50>
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</CENTER>
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<FONT SIZE=-1>
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<P>
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This psalm was penned, as is supposed, not upon occasion of any
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particular providence, but for the solemnity of a particular ordinance,
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either that of the new-moon in general or that of the feast of trumpets
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on the new moon of the seventh month,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Le+23:24,Nu+29:1">Lev. xxiii. 24; Num. xxix. 1</A>.
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When David, by the Spirit, introduced the singing of psalms into the
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temple-service this psalm was intended for that day, to excite and
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assist the proper devotions of it. All the psalms are profitable; but,
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if one psalm be more suitable than another to the day and observances
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of it, we should choose that. The two great intentions of our religious
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assemblies, and which we ought to have in our eye in our attendance on
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them, are answered in this psalm, which are, to give glory to God and
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to receive instruction from God, to "behold the beauty of the Lord and
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to enquire in his temple;" accordingly by this psalm we are assisted on
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our solemn feast days,
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I. In praising God for what he is to his people
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+81:1-3">ver. 1-3</A>),
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and has done for them,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+81:4-7">ver. 4-7</A>.
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II. In teaching and admonishing one another concerning the obligations
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we lie under to God
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+81:8-10">ver. 8-10</A>),
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the danger of revolting from him
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+81:11,12">ver. 11, 12</A>),
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and the happiness we should have if we would but keep close to him,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+81:13-16">ver. 13-16</A>.
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This, though spoken primarily of Israel of old, is written for our
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learning, and is therefore to be sung with application.</P>
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</FONT>
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<A NAME="Ps81_1"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ps81_2"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ps81_3"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ps81_4"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ps81_5"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ps81_6"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ps81_7"> </A>
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<A NAME="Sec1"> </A>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
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<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>An Invitation to Praise.</I></FONT></TD>
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<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1> <! -- Date --> </FONT></TD></TR>
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<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
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</TABLE>
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<CENTER>
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<P>To the chief musician upon Gittith. <I>A psalm</I> of Asaph.</P>
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</CENTER>
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<P>
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<FONT SIZE=+1>1 Sing aloud unto God our strength: make a joyful noise
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unto the God of Jacob.
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2 Take a psalm, and bring hither the timbrel, the pleasant harp
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with the psaltery.
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3 Blow up the trumpet in the new moon, in the time appointed,
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on our solemn feast day.
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4 For this <I>was</I> a statute for Israel, <I>and</I> a law of the God
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of Jacob.
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5 This he ordained in Joseph <I>for</I> a testimony, when he went
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out through the land of Egypt: <I>where</I> I heard a language <I>that</I>
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I understood not.
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6 I removed his shoulder from the burden: his hands were
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delivered from the pots.
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7 Thou calledst in trouble, and I delivered thee; I answered
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thee in the secret place of thunder: I proved thee at the waters
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of Meribah. Selah.
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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When the people of God were gathered together in <I>the solemn day, the
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day of the feast of the Lord,</I> they must be told that they had
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business to do, for we do not go to church to sleep nor to be idle; no,
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there is that which the duty of every day requires, work of the day,
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which is to be done in its day. And here,</P>
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<P>
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I. The worshippers of God are excited to their work, and are taught, by
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singing this psalm, to stir up both themselves and one another to it,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+81:1-3"><I>v.</I> 1-3</A>.
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Our errand is, to give unto God the glory due unto his name, and in all
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our religious assemblies we must mind this as our business.
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1. In doing this we must eye God as <I>our strength,</I> and as <I>the
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God of Jacob,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+81:1"><I>v.</I> 1</A>.
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He is the strength of Israel, as a people; for he is a God in covenant
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with them, who will powerfully protect, support, and deliver them, who
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fights their battles and makes them do valiantly and victoriously. He
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is the strength of every Israelite; by his grace we are enabled to go
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through all our services, sufferings, and conflicts; and to him, as our
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strength, we must pray, and we must sing praise to him as the God of
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all the wrestling seed of Jacob, with whom we have a spiritual
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communion.
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2. We must do this by all the expressions of holy joy and triumph. It
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was then to be done by musical instruments, the <I>timbrel, harp, and
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psaltery;</I> and by blowing <I>the trumpet,</I> some think in
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remembrance of the sound of the trumpet on Mount Sinai, which waxed
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louder and louder. It was then and is now to be done by singing psalms,
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singing <I>aloud,</I> and making <I>a joyful noise.</I> The
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pleasantness of the harp and the awfulness of the trumpet intimate to
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us that God is to be worshipped with cheerfulness and joy with
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reverence and godly fear. Singing aloud and making a noise intimate
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that we must be warm and affectionate in praising God, that we must
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with a hearty good-will show forth his praise, as those that are not
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ashamed to own our dependence on him and obligations to him, and that
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we should join many together in this work; the more the better; it is
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the more like heaven.
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3. This must be done in the time appointed. No time is amiss for
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praising God (<I>Seven times a day will I praise thee;</I> nay, <I>at
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midnight will I rise and give thanks unto thee</I>); but some are times
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appointed, not for God to meet us (he is always ready), but for us to
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meet one another, that we may join together in praising Do. The solemn
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feast-day must be a day of praise; when we are receiving the gifts of
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God's bounty, and rejoicing in them, then it is proper to sing his
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praises.</P>
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<P>
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II. They are here directed in their work.
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1. They must look up to the divine institution which it is the
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observation of. In all religious worship we must have an eye to the
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command
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+81:4"><I>v.</I> 4</A>):
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<I>This was a statute for Israel,</I> for the keeping up of a face of
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religion among them; it was <I>a law of the God of Jacob,</I> which all
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the seed of Jacob are bound by, and must be subject to. Note, Praising
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God is not only a good thing, which we do well to do, but it is our
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indispensable duty, which we are obliged to do; it is at our peril if
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we neglect it; and in all religious exercises we must have an eye to
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the institution as our warrant and rule: "This I do because God has
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commanded me; and therefore I hope he will accept me;" then it is done
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in faith.
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2. They must look back upon those operations of divine Providence
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which it is the memorial of. This solemn service was <I>ordained for a
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testimony</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+81:5"><I>v.</I> 5</A>),
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a standing traditional evidence, for the attesting of the matters of
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fact. It was a testimony to Israel, that they might know and remember
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what God had done for their fathers, and would be a testimony against
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them if they should be ignorant of them and forget them.
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(1.) The psalmist, in the people's name, puts himself in mind of the
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general work of God on Israel's behalf, which was kept in remembrance
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by this and other solemnities,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+81:5"><I>v.</I> 5</A>.
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When God went out against the land of Egypt, to lay it waste, that he
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might force Pharaoh to let Israel go, then he ordained solemn
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feast-days to be observed by a statute for ever in their generations,
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as a memorial of it, particularly the passover, which perhaps is meant
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by the <I>solemn feast-day</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+81:3"><I>v.</I> 3</A>);
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that was appointed just then when God went out through the land of
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Egypt to destroy the first-born, and passed over the houses of the
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Israelites,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ex+12:23,24">Exod. xii. 23, 24</A>.
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By it that work of wonder was to be kept in perpetual remembrance, that
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all ages might in it behold the goodness and severity of God. The
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psalmist, speaking for his people, takes notice of this aggravating
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circumstance of their slavery in Egypt that there they heard a language
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that they understood not; there they were strangers in a strange land.
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The Egyptians and the Hebrews understood not one another's language;
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for Joseph spoke to his brethren by an interpreter
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+42:23">Gen. xlii. 23</A>),
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and the Egyptians are said to be to the house of Jacob <I>a people of a
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strange language,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+114:1">Ps. cxiv. 1</A>.
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To make a deliverance appear the more gracious, the more glorious, it
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is good to observe every thing that makes the trouble we are delivered
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from appear the more grievous.
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(2.) The psalmist, in God's name, puts the people in mind of some of
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the particulars of their deliverance. Here he changes the person,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+81:6"><I>v.</I> 6</A>.
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God speaks by him, saying, <I>I removed the shoulder from the
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burden.</I> Let him remember this on the feast-day,
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[1.] That God had brought them out of the house of bondage, had removed
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their shoulder from the burden of oppression under which they were
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ready to sink, <I>had delivered their hands from the pots,</I> or
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panniers, or baskets, in which they carried clay or bricks. Deliverance
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out of slavery is a very sensible mercy and one which ought to be had
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in everlasting remembrance. But this was not all.
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[2.] God had delivered them at the Red Sea; then they called in
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trouble, and he rescued them and disappointed the designs of their
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enemies against them,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ex+14:10">Exod. xiv. 10</A>.
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Then he answered them with a real answer, out of <I>the secret place of
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thunder;</I> that is, out of the pillar of fire, through which God
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looked upon the host of the Egyptians and troubled it,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ex+14:24,25">Exod. xiv. 24, 25</A>.
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Or it may be meant of the giving of the law at Mount Sinai, which was
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the secret place, for it was death to gaze
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ex+19:21">Exod. xix. 21</A>),
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and it was in thunder that God then spoke. Even the terrors of Sinai
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were favours to Israel,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+4:33">Deut. iv. 33</A>.
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[3.] God had borne their manners in the wilderness: "<I>I proved thee
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at the waters of Meribah;</I> thou didst there show thy temper, what an
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unbelieving murmuring people thou wast, and yet I continued my favour
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to thee." <I>Selah--Mark that;</I> compare God's goodness and man's
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badness, and they will serve as foils to each other. Now if they, on
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their solemn feast-days, were thus to call to mind their redemption out
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of Egypt, much more ought we, on the Christian sabbath, to call to mind
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a more glorious redemption wrought out for us by Jesus Christ from
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worse than Egyptian bondage, and the many gracious answers he has given
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to us, notwithstanding our manifold provocations.</P>
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<A NAME="Ps81_8"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ps81_9"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ps81_10"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ps81_11"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ps81_12"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ps81_13"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ps81_14"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ps81_15"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ps81_16"> </A>
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<A NAME="Sec2"> </A>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
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<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Expostulation with Israel.</I></FONT></TD>
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<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1> <! -- Date --> </FONT></TD></TR>
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<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
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</TABLE>
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<P>
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<FONT SIZE=+1>8 Hear, O my people, and I will testify unto thee: O Israel, if
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thou wilt hearken unto me;
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9 There shall no strange god be in thee; neither shalt thou
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worship any strange god.
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10 I <I>am</I> the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> thy God, which brought thee out of the land
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of Egypt: open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it.
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11 But my people would not hearken to my voice; and Israel
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would none of me.
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12 So I gave them up unto their own hearts' lust: <I>and</I> they
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walked in their own counsels.
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13 Oh that my people had hearkened unto me, <I>and</I> Israel had
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walked in my ways!
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14 I should soon have subdued their enemies, and turned my hand
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against their adversaries.
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15 The haters of the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> should have submitted themselves unto
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him: but their time should have endured for ever.
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16 He should have fed them also with the finest of the wheat:
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and with honey out of the rock should I have satisfied thee.
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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God, by the psalmist, here speaks to Israel, and in them to us, on whom
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the ends of the world are come.</P>
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<P>
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I. He demands their diligent and serious attention to what he was about
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to say
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+81:8"><I>v.</I> 8</A>):
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"<I>Hear, O my people!</I> and who should hear me if my people will
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not? I have heard and answered thee; now wilt thou hear me? Hear what
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is said with the greatest solemnity and the most unquestionable
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certainty, for it is what <I>I will testify unto thee.</I> Do not only
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give me the hearing, but <I>hearken unto me,</I> that is, be advised by
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me, be ruled by me." Nothing could be more reasonably nor more justly
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expected, and yet God puts an <I>if</I> upon it: "<I>If thou wilt
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hearken unto me.</I> It is thy interest to do so, and yet it is
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questionable whether thou wilt or no; for thy neck is an iron
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sinew."</P>
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<P>
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II. He puts them in mind of their obligation to him as the Lord their
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God and Redeemer
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+81:10"><I>v.</I> 10</A>):
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<I>I am the Lord thy God, who brought thee out of the land of
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Egypt;</I> this is the preface to the ten commandments, and a powerful
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reason for the keeping of them, showing that we are bound to it in
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duty, interest, and gratitude, all which bonds we break asunder if we
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be disobedient.</P>
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<P>
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III. He gives them an abstract both of the precepts and of the promises
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which he gave them, as the Lord and their God, upon their coming out of
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Egypt.
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1. The great command was that they should have no other gods before him
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+81:9"><I>v.</I> 9</A>):
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<I>There shall no strange god be in thee,</I> none besides thy own God.
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Other gods might well be called strange gods, for it was very strange
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that ever any people who had the true and living God for their God
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should hanker after any other. God is jealous in this matter, for he
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will not suffer his glory to be given to another; and therefore in this
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matter they must be circumspect,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ex+23:13">Exod. xxiii. 13</A>.
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2. The great promise was that God himself, as a God all-sufficient,
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would be nigh unto them in all that which they called upon him for
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+4:7">Deut. iv. 7</A>),
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that, if they would adhere to him as their powerful protector and
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ruler, they should always find him their bountiful benefactor: "<I>Open
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thy mouth wide and I will fill it,</I> as the young ravens that cry
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open their mouths wide and the old ones fill them." See here,
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(1.) What is our duty--to raise our expectations from God and enlarge
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our desires towards him. We cannot look for too little from the
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creature nor too much from the Creator. We are not straitened in him;
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why therefore should we be straitened in our own bosoms?
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(2.) What is God's promise. I will fill thy mouth with good things,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+103:5">Ps. ciii. 5</A>.
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There is <I>enough in God to fill our treasures</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+8:21">Prov. viii. 21</A>),
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to <I>replenish every hungry soul</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+31:25">Jer. xxxi. 25</A>),
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to supply all our wants, to answer all our desires, and to make us
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completely happy. The pleasures of sense will surfeit and never satisfy
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+55:2">Isa. lv. 2</A>);
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divine pleasures will satisfy and never surfeit. And we may have enough
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from God if we pray for it in faith. <I>Ask, and it shall be given
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you.</I> He <I>gives liberally, and upbraids not.</I> God assured his
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people Israel that it would be their own fault if he did not do as
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great and kind things for them as he had done for their fathers.
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Nothing should be thought too good, too much, to give them, if they
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would but keep close to God. He <I>would moreover have given them such
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and such things,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Sa+12:8">2 Sam. xii. 8</A>.</P>
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<P>
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IV. He charges them with a high contempt of his authority as their
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lawgiver and his grace and favour as their benefactor,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+81:11"><I>v.</I> 11</A>.
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He had done much for them, and designed to do more; but all in vain:
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"<I>My people would not hearken to my voice,</I> but turned a deaf ear
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to all I said." Two things he complains of:--
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1. Their disobedience to his commands. They did hear his voice, so as
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never any people did; but they would not hearken to it, they would not
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be ruled by it, neither by the law nor by the reason of it.
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2. Their dislike of his covenant-relation to them: <I>They would none
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of me. They acquiesced not in my word</I> (so the Chaldee); God was
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willing to be to them a God, but they were not willing to be to him a
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people; they did not like his terms. "I would have gathered them, but
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they would not." They had none of him; and why had they not? It was not
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because they might not; they were fairly invited into covenant with
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God. It was not because they could not; for the word was nigh them,
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even in their mouth and in their heart. But it was purely because they
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would not. God calls them hi people, for they were bought by him, bound
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to him, his by a thousand ties, and yet even they had not hearkened,
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had not obeyed. "Israel, the seed of Jacob my friend, set me at nought,
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and <I>would</I> have <I>none of me.</I>" Note, All the wickedness of
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the wicked world is owing to the wilfulness of the wicked will. The
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reason why people are not religious is because they will not be so.</P>
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<P>
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V. He justifies himself with this in the spiritual judgments he had
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brought upon them
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+81:12"><I>v.</I> 12</A>):
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<I>So I gave them up unto their own hearts' lusts,</I> which would be
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more dangerous enemies and more mischievous oppressors to them than any
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of the neighbouring nations ever were. God withdrew his Spirit from
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them, took off the bridle of restraining grace, left them to
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themselves, and justly; they will do as they will, and therefore let
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them do as they will. <I>Ephraim is joined to idols; let him alone.</I>
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It is a righteous thing with God to give those up to their own hearts'
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lusts that indulge them, and give up themselves to be led by them; for
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why should his Spirit always strive? His grace is his own, and he is
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debtor to no man, and yet, as he never gave his grace to any that could
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say they deserved it, so he never took it away from any but such as had
|
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first forfeited it: <I>They would none of me, so I gave them up;</I>
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let them take their course. And see what follows: <I>They walked in
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their own counsels,</I> in the way of their heart and in the sight of
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their eye, both in their worships and in their conversations. "I left
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them to do as they would, and then they did all that was ill;" they
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walked in their own counsels, and not according to the counsels of God
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and his advice. God therefore was not the author of their sin; he left
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them to the lusts of their own hearts and the counsels of their own
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heads; if they do not well, the blame must lie upon their own hearts
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and the blood upon their own heads.</P>
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<P>
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VI. He testifies his good-will to them in wishing they had done well
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for themselves. He saw how sad their case was, and how sure their ruin,
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when they were delivered up to their own lusts; that is worse than
|
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being given up to Satan, which may be in order to reformation
|
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Ti+1:20">1 Tim. i. 20</A>)
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and to salvation
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Co+5:5">1 Cor. v. 5</A>);
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but to be delivered up to their own hearts' lusts is to be sealed under
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|
condemnation. <I>He that is filthy, let him be filthy still.</I> What
|
|
fatal precipices will not these hurry a man to! Now here God looks
|
|
upon them with pity, and shows that it was with reluctance that he thus
|
|
abandoned them to their folly and fate. <I>How shall I give thee up,
|
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Ephraim?</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+11:8,9">Hos. xi. 8, 9</A>.
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So here, <I>O that my people had hearkened!</I> See
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+48:18">Isa. xlviii. 18</A>.
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Thus Christ lamented the obstinacy of Jerusalem. <I>If thou hadst
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known,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Lu+19:42">Luke xix. 42</A>.
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The expressions here are very affecting
|
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|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+81:13-16"><I>v.</I> 13-16</A>),
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designed to show how unwilling God is that any should perish and
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desirous that all should come to repentance (he delights not in the
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ruin of sinful persons or nations), and also what enemies sinners are
|
|
to themselves and what an aggravation it will be of their misery that
|
|
they might have been happy upon such easy terms. Observe here,</P>
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<P>
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1. The great mercy God had in store for his people, and which he would
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|
have wrought for them if they had been obedient.
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(1.) He would have given them victory over their enemies and would soon
|
|
have completed the reduction of them. They should not only have kept
|
|
their ground, but have gained their point, against the remaining
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|
Canaanites, and their encroaching vexatious neighbours
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+81:14"><I>v.</I> 14</A>):
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<I>I should have subdued their enemies;</I> and it is God only that is
|
|
to be depended on for the subduing of our enemies. Not would had have
|
|
put them to the expense and fatigue of a tedious war: he would
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|
<I>soon</I> have done it; for he would have <I>turned his hand against
|
|
their adversaries,</I> and then they would not have been able to stand
|
|
before them. It intimates how easily he would have done it and without
|
|
any difficulty. With the turn of a hand, nay, <I>with the breath of his
|
|
mouth, shall he slay the wicked,</I>
|
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|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+11:4">Isa. xi. 4</A>.
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If he but turn his hand, the <I>haters of the Lord will submit
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|
themselves to him</I>
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|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+81:15"><I>v.</I> 15</A>);
|
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|
|
and, though they are not brought to love him, yet they shall be made to
|
|
fear him and to confess that he is too hard for them and that it is in
|
|
vain to contend with him. God is honoured, and so is his Israel, by the
|
|
submission of those that have been in rebellion against them, though it
|
|
be but a forced and feigned submission.
|
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|
|
(2.) He would have confirmed and perpetuated their posterity, and
|
|
established it upon sure and lasting foundations. In spite of all the
|
|
attempts of their enemies against them, <I>their time should have
|
|
endured for ever,</I> and they should never have been disturbed in the
|
|
possession of the good land God had given them, much less evicted and
|
|
turned out of possession.
|
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|
|
(3.) He would have given them great plenty of all good things
|
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|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+81:16"><I>v.</I> 16</A>):
|
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|
|
<I>He should have fed them with the finest of the wheat,</I> with the
|
|
best grain and the best of the kind. Wheat was the staple commodity of
|
|
Canaan, and they exported a great deal of it,
|
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|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+27:17">Ezek. xxvii. 17</A>.
|
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|
|
He would not only have provided for them the best sort of bread, but
|
|
<I>with honey out of the rock would he have satisfied them.</I> Besides
|
|
the precious products of the fruitful soil, that there might not be a
|
|
barren spot in all their land, even the clefts of the rock should serve
|
|
for bee-hives and in them they should find honey in abundance. See
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+32:13,14">Deut. xxxii. 13, 14</A>.
|
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|
|
In short, God designed to make them every way easy and happy.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. The duty God required from them as the condition of all this mercy.
|
|
He expected no more than that they should <I>hearken to him,</I> as a
|
|
scholar to his teacher, to receive his instructions--as a servant to his
|
|
master, to receive his commands; and that they should <I>walk in his
|
|
ways,</I> those ways of the Lord which are right and pleasant, that
|
|
they should observe the institutions of his ordinances and attend the
|
|
intimations of his providence. There was nothing unreasonable in
|
|
this.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
3. Observe how the reason of the withholding of the mercy is laid in
|
|
their neglect of the duty: If they had <I>hearkened to me, I would soon
|
|
have subdued their enemies.</I> National sin or disobedience is the
|
|
great and only thing that retards and obstructs national deliverance.
|
|
<I>When I would have healed Israel,</I> and set every thing to-rights
|
|
among them, then <I>the iniquity of Ephraim was discovered,</I> and so
|
|
a stop was put to the cure,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+7:1">Hos. vii. 1</A>.
|
|
|
|
We are apt to say, "If such a method had been taken, such an instrument
|
|
employed, we should soon have subdued our enemies:" but we mistake; if
|
|
we had hearkened to God, and kept to our duty, the thing would have
|
|
been done, but it is sin that makes our troubles long and salvation
|
|
slow. And this is that which God himself complains of, and wishes it
|
|
had been otherwise. Note, <I>Therefore</I> God would have us do our
|
|
duty to him, that we may be qualified to receive favour from him. He
|
|
delights in our serving him, not because he is the better for it, but
|
|
because we shall be.</P>
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