Psalms 81:5

This he ordained in Joseph for a testimony,.... That is, this law concerning the blowing of trumpets on the new moon, and the keeping the solemn feast at the full of the moon, was made to be observed

This he ordained in Joseph for a testimony, when he went out through the land of Egypt: where I heard a language that I understood not. -The deliverance described on which God's claim on Israel and Israel's duty are founded.

This he ordained, to wit, the blowing of trumpets. In Joseph; among the posterity of Joseph, to wit, the people of Israel, as is evident both from the foregoing verse, where they are called Israel, and from the following words in this verse, where they are described by their coming out of Egypt, which was common to all the tribes of Israel, who are sometimes called by the name of Joseph, of which see on . For a testimony; either, 1. For a law, which is oft called a testimony. Or rather, 2. For a witness and memorial of that glorious deliverance mentioned in the following words. For, 1. That this was a statute and law be had expressed, , which it is not likely that he would here repeat, especially in a more dark and doubtful phrase. 2. He seems to declare the end of that law, which was to be a testimony. When he, to wit, God, he who ordained, as was now said, went out, as a captain at the head or on the behalf of his people, through the land of Egypt, to execute his judgments upon that land or people. Or, against, &c., to destroy it. Or, out of it, as both ancient and other interpreters render this particle al, which is elsewhere put for meal, and meal is put for min, from or out of, as is manifest by comparing with . So this text notes the time when this and the other feasts were instituted; which was at or presently after their coming out of Egypt, even at Sinai. Where I; i.e. my progenitors; for all the successive generations of Israel make one body, and are sometimes spoken of as one person; heard a language that I understood not; either, 1. The language of God himself speaking from heaven at Sinai, which was strange and terrible to me. Or rather, 2. The Egyptian language, which at first was very ungrateful and unknown to the Israelites, , and probably continued so for some considerable time, because they were much separated both in place and conversation from the Egyptians, through Joseph’ s pious and prudent design. This exposition is confirmed from , where this very thing is mentioned as an aggravation of their misery; and from other places of Scripture, where this is spoken of as a curse and plague, to be with a people of strange language, as .

Psalms 81:5 This he ordained in Joseph [for] a testimony, when he went out through the land of Egypt: [where] I heard a language [that] I understood not.Ver. 5. This he ordained in Joseph] Put for all Israel, as Psalms 80:1, though the Chaldee understandeth it of Joseph in person, and the next words of his going through the land of Egypt to gather corn in the seven plentiful years, and that at his first coming into Egypt he understood not their language. When I heard a language] Idolatrous language, say some, contrary to the language of Canaan: this God knew not, that is, liked not, Isaiah 19:18; or, rather a strange foreign language, which is no small grievance, Jeremiah 5:15 Ezekiel 2:6 1 Corinthians 14:11, to those especially who understand no otherwise than by blows, as beasts do men.

(5) Joseph.—The prominence given to this name indicates, according to some critics, that the author belonged to the northern kingdom:. but when a poet was wishing to vary his style of speaking of the whole people—the names Israel and Jacob have just been used—the name Joseph would naturally occur, especially with the mention of Egypt, where that patriarch had played such a conspicuous part. Through the land of Egypt.—The Hebrew means either upon, over, or against, but none of these meanings will suit with Israel as the subject of the verb. Hence, the LXX., in disregard of use, give “out of Egypt.” But God is doubtless the subject of the verb, and we may render, over the land of Egypt, in allusion to Exodus 12:23, or against the land of Egypt, in reference to the Divine hostility to Pharaoh. Where I heard . . .—The insertion of the relatival adverb, where, makes this refer to the Egyptian tongue (comp. Psalms 114:1), giving an equivalent for, “when I was in a foreign country.” So apparently the LXX. and Vulg. But the expression, words unknown to me I heard, when followed by an apparent quotation, most naturally introduces that quotation. The poet hears a message, which comes borne to him on the festival music, and this he goes on to deliver.

Verse 5. I heard a language I understood not.] This passage is difficult. Who heard? And what was heard? All the Versions, except the Chaldee, read the pronoun in the third person, instead of the first. "He heard a language that he understood not." And to the Versions Kennicott reforms the text, שפת לא ידעה ישמע sephath lo yadah yisma; "a language which he did not understand he heard." But what was that language? Some say the Egyptian; others, who take Joseph to signify the children of Israel in general, say it was the declaration of God by Moses, that Jehovah was the true God, that he would deliver their shoulder from their burdens, and their hands from the pots - the moulds and furnaces in which they formed and baked their brick.

5. He appointed it in Joseph for a testimony (R.V.): to bear continual witness to His care of Israel. when &c.] Render, When he (i.e. God) went out against (or over) the land of Egypt, to execute judgement upon the Egyptians. See Exodus 11:4. where I heard a language that I understood not] The poet identifies himself with his nation and speaks in the name of Israel of old. It was an aggravation of their misery that they were toiling for masters whose language they could not understand. This meaning however, though Psalms 114:1 offers a parallel, is hardly adequate here. It is possible to render, The speech of one that I know not do I hear, and to regard the line as the words of the poet himself, introducing the divine oracle which follows. He suddenly breaks off, hearing a supernatural voice addressing him. Cp. Job 4:16; and for the introduction of God as the speaker, Psalms 60:6; Psalms 62:11. But it is difficult to see how the poet could speak of God as one whom I know not: the phrase must surely mean more than ‘strange,’ ‘unearthly’: and it is preferable to render, The speech of one that I knew not did I hear. The Psalmist speaks in the person of Israel at the time of the Exodus. This he can do, since Israel of all time is one in virtue of the continuity of its national life. Israel then began to hear Jehovah (such is the proper force of the tense in the original), Whom it had not yet learned to know as the self-revealing God of redemption, speaking to it in the wondrous works of the deliverance from Egypt. See Exodus 3:13; Exodus 6:2 ff., Exodus 6:7. The substance of the words which Israel heard in Egypt is given in the next verse, which contains God’s decree for Israel’s liberation from servitude:

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.

5. Testimony—See on Psalms 19:7. The terms translated “statute,” “law,” “testimony,” in Psalms 81:4-5, indicate the solemnity and obligation of the passover institution, and explain why it is ushered