Commentary - Psalm 81:11-16

Bird's-eye view

This section of Psalm 81 marks a sorrowful turn. After the call to joyful worship and the reminder of God's saving acts in the first part of the psalm, the tone shifts to one of divine lament. God, the great Redeemer of Israel, recounts His people's tragic failure. He had offered them everything, Himself included, but they refused Him. The central issue is a failure of hearing that leads to a failure of will. "My people did not listen... Israel was not willing." In response to this stiff-necked rebellion, God enacts a terrible judgment: He gives them over to their own stubborn hearts. This is not passive indifference but an active, judicial abandonment to the consequences of their own sin. Yet, even in this judgment, God's heart for His people is revealed in a poignant cry, "Oh that My people would listen to Me!" He then lays out the glorious alternative, the blessings of obedience that they forfeited: swift victory over their enemies and satisfaction with the richest of provisions. The passage is a powerful display of the connection between covenant faithfulness and national well-being, and the tragic consequences of spurning the goodness of God.

This is the great hinge of the covenant: listen and obey, and you will be blessed beyond measure; refuse and rebel, and you will be handed over to the corrosive power of your own choices. It is a principle that runs from Genesis to Revelation, and it is laid bare here with particular pathos. God does not delight in the judgment, but rather yearns for His people's flourishing. The choice, tragically, was theirs.

Outline

Context In The Psalms

Psalm 81 is a liturgical psalm, likely intended for use at one of Israel's great feasts, perhaps the Feast of Tabernacles. It begins with a rousing call to worship, to blow the trumpet and make a joyful noise to the God of Jacob (vv. 1-3). It then grounds this worship in God's historical act of redemption, recalling the exodus from Egypt as the basis for their covenant relationship (vv. 4-10). God reminds them that He is Yahweh their God, who brought them out of slavery and commanded them to have no other gods. He is the one who promises to fill their open mouths. Our passage, verses 11-16, forms the tragic second half of this covenant recital. The call to worship and the reminder of grace are met with the historical reality of Israel's disobedience. This psalm, therefore, encapsulates the entire covenant drama: God's gracious initiative, His clear commands, man's sinful rebellion, the resulting judgment, and God's continuing, sorrowful appeal for His people to return and receive blessing.

Key Issues

The Ache in God's Voice

One of the most striking things about this passage is the raw emotion in the voice of God. This is not a detached, stoic deity reciting a list of infractions. This is a spurned Father, a rejected Husband. The passage pivots on the heartfelt cry of verse 13: "Oh that My people would listen to Me." The Hebrew here expresses a deep and passionate wish. This is the same divine ache we hear in Deuteronomy 5:29, "Oh that they had such a heart as this always, to fear me and to keep all my commandments, that it might go well with them and with their children forever!" And it is the same sorrow we hear from the lips of the Lord Jesus as He wept over Jerusalem: "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem... How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!" (Matt 23:37).

This reveals something crucial about the character of God. His holiness requires Him to judge sin, and His justice is unwavering. But His heart longs for the repentance and flourishing of His creatures. The judgment of abandonment described in verse 12 is not His preferred course of action. It is the necessary consequence of His people's intractable unwillingness. They insisted on having their own way, and God, in a terrible act of judgment, finally said, "Alright, have it."

Verse by Verse Commentary

11 “But My people did not listen to My voice, And Israel was not willing to obey Me.

Here is the root of the whole tragedy, stated in two parallel clauses. The first problem is auditory: they "did not listen to My voice." God had spoken clearly. He gave them His law at Sinai, He sent them prophets, He testified to them through His mighty acts. But His words went in one ear and out the other. The second problem is volitional: they were "not willing." The Hebrew word here suggests they did not consent, they did not yield to Him. It wasn't that they couldn't obey; they wouldn't. Their ears were closed because their hearts were hard. This is the essence of all sin. It is a refusal to hear and a refusal to will what God wills. They are called "My people," which makes the rejection all the more poignant. This was not a pagan nation that knew no better; this was the covenant people, chosen and redeemed, who turned their back on their Redeemer.

12 So I released them over to the stubbornness of their heart, That they would walk in their own devices.

This is one of the most fearsome verses in all of Scripture. The "so" indicates that what follows is the direct judicial consequence of the sin in verse 11. God "released them" or "gave them over." This is the language the apostle Paul picks up in Romans 1, where God gives sinful humanity over to their lusts, their dishonorable passions, and a debased mind. This is not God simply taking His hands off the wheel. It is an active judgment. He is sentencing them to be ruled by the very sin they have chosen. He gave them over to the "stubbornness of their heart," which means He let their own intractable pride and rebellion become their master. The result is that they would "walk in their own devices," or their own counsels. They wanted to be their own god, their own guide, their own lawgiver. God's judgment was to give them exactly what they wanted. And there is no greater hell than to be left entirely to your own sinful devices, to be locked in the echo chamber of your own fallen reason.

13 Oh that My people would listen to Me, That Israel would walk in My ways!

As we noted, this is the sorrowful heart of the passage. After describing the terrible judgment, God expresses His deep longing for a different reality. This is not a contradiction. God is not sovereignly ordaining their sin and then lamenting that they sinned. Rather, this is the revealed will of God, His expressed desire for the good of His people. He takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked. He genuinely desires that they listen and walk in His ways. Why? Not because He needs their obedience to feel complete, but because His ways are the paths of life, peace, and blessing. He is like a loving father watching his son run headlong toward a cliff, crying out for him to turn back. The path of obedience is the path of flourishing, and God's heart is for His people to flourish.

14 I would quickly subdue their enemies And I would turn My hand against their adversaries.

Now God begins to spell out the blessings they forfeited. The first is military and political security. Had they walked in His ways, He would have made short work of their enemies. The word "quickly" implies with ease and swiftness. God would "turn His hand" against their foes. The same hand that delivered them from Egypt would have been their constant defender. Israel's history was one of constant struggle with surrounding nations, struggles that were a direct result of their covenant unfaithfulness. When they obeyed, as in the early days of Joshua or the reforms of Hezekiah, God fought for them. When they disobeyed, He used those very enemies as instruments of His chastisement. Security is not found in treaties or armies, but in covenant faithfulness to Yahweh.

15 Those who hate Yahweh would cower before Him, And their time of punishment would be forever.

This verse continues the theme of victory. The enemies of Israel are identified for what they truly are: "those who hate Yahweh." Their opposition to Israel was ultimately opposition to Israel's God. Had Israel been faithful, these haters of God would have been forced into feigned submission; they would "cower" or cringe. Their opposition would be broken. "And their time" likely refers to the time of judgment or punishment upon these enemies, which would be lasting, "forever." A faithful Israel would have been a triumphant Israel, a clear demonstration of Yahweh's power and glory in the world. Their unfaithfulness, however, brought reproach upon the name of God among the nations.

16 But I would feed you with the finest of the wheat, And with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.”

From military security, God turns to economic prosperity. The blessing is not just the absence of enemies, but the presence of abundance. He would feed them with the "finest of the wheat," literally the "fat of the wheat," meaning the best, most nourishing part. And He would satisfy them with "honey from the rock." This is a beautiful image of supernatural provision, reminiscent of the water from the rock in the wilderness. It speaks of sweetness and delight found in the most unlikely of places. God's desire for His people is not bare subsistence; it is satisfaction. He wants to fill them to overflowing with good things. This is the life they traded for the bitter fruit of their own counsels. They chose the leeks and onions of Egypt over the fat of the wheat and honey from the rock.

Application

This passage confronts us with the stark reality of our choices. The Christian life is a life of listening and obeying. When we refuse to listen to God's voice, whether in His Word or through the preaching of it, we are setting ourselves on a dangerous path. The temptation is always to trust in our "own devices," to lean on our own understanding. We think we know better. And when we persist in this, we risk provoking God to give us over to the very thing we desire. When a man is given over to his lust, his career, his bitterness, or his self-righteousness, that is a terrifying judgment from God.

The good news of the gospel is that while we, like Israel, were unwilling, Christ was willing. He listened to the Father's voice perfectly, even to the point of death on a cross. He walked in God's ways without deviation. And because of His perfect obedience, all the covenant blessings that Israel forfeited are now made available to us who are in Him. He is the one who subdues our ultimate enemy, Satan, and turns His hand against sin and death. He is the one who feeds us with the finest wheat, the Bread of Life, and satisfies us with the honey of His sweet fellowship.

Therefore, our response should be one of gratitude and renewed commitment. We must hear the ache in God's voice and let it break our hearts for our own stubbornness. We must confess our unwillingness and ask Him to give us a willing heart. And we must joyfully embrace the path of obedience, not as a way to earn His favor, but as the God-designed way to experience the victory and satisfaction that Christ has already won for us.