Which festival is described?
Trumpet at new moon suggests the seventh-month Feast of Trumpets, while full moon can point to Passover or Tabernacles. The language may cover Israel's festival calendar rather than one certain date.
PSALM 81 — OPEN YOUR MOUTH WIDE
Which festival is described? Study Psalm 81 with context, apologetic analysis, and cross-references.
Psalm 813 questions
Source linked
Commentary provenance
Dr. Lucas D. Shallua Commentary · PSALM 81 — OPEN YOUR MOUTH WIDE
The precise difficulties
- Which festival is described?
- Why did God test people he had just rescued?
- Does giving people over remove responsibility?
Verse and question study
Why did God test people he had just rescued?
Testing reveals whether liberated people will trust the Liberator and forms covenant maturity. It is not evidence that grace was absent.
Does giving people over remove responsibility?
No. God judicially confirms their chosen refusal, while their own counsels remain theirs. Romans 1 develops the same relation of human rebellion and divine judgment.
Historical and literary context
This Asaphite psalm is directed to the choirmaster “according to the Gittith,” likely a tune or instrument. Trumpet, new moon, and full moon suggest a festival, often identified as Trumpets and/or Tabernacles, though the exact calendar occasion is debated. The psalm shifts from liturgical summons (vv. 1–5) to a divine oracle (vv. 6–16). “Meribah” recalls Israel testing God for water. English Psalm 81 is Psalm 80 in Greek/Latin numbering.
Apologetic note
The psalm's God does not demand obedience as a captor; he first removes slavery's burden and answers distress. His command protects liberated people from returning to new forms of bondage, and even judgment is spoken with grief-filled desire that they listen.
Chapter cross-references
- Exodus 6:6–7 God removes Egypt's burdens
- Exodus 17:1–7 Israel tests God at Meribah
- Leviticus 23:23–44 Israel's seventh-month festivals
- Numbers 10:10 Trumpets mark appointed feasts and new moons
- Deuteronomy 5:6–10 The Exodus grounds exclusive worship
- Psalm 78:15–25 Water, bread, and unbelief in the wilderness
- Isaiah 48:17–19 God longs that Israel heed his commands
- John 6:32–35 God gives the true bread from heaven
- Romans 1:24–28 God gives persistent rebels over
- 1 Corinthians 10:1–13 Wilderness testing warns the church
- Hebrews 3:7–15 “Today” God's voice must be heard
- Revelation 3:20 Christ calls hearers to open and fellowship
Source and editorial status
Dr. Shallua’s Commentary
This study preserves the hard questions, explanations, context, apologetic note, and references from Dr. Shallua's Commentary.