Ep. 110. Psalm 80-81 | Open Wide Your Mouth

EPISODE 110

OPEN WIDE YOUR MOUTH: PSALM 80-81

The vine imagery is used enough in the Scripture to at least make us pay attention to it. All three major prophets use this language to speak of Israel and the idea of a vineyard, forests, trees, and the garden of Eden. Israel was a vine taken out of Egypt and planted in Canaan. It spread abroad and flourished, but it turned from the Lord and was brought to nothing. Reading through the few texts I've included below from Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel will be helpful. This will give you more insight into how this language is used in the Scripture and how we might better understand it here in Psalm 80.

In the 81st Psalm we see an overwhelming theme of the Old Testament. God offered the people blessing and the people rejected God and would not listen to him. "Open wide your mouth, and I will fill it. But my people did not listen to my voice; Israel did not submit to me. So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts to follow their own counsels." That is a terrifying prospect that those who will not listen to God will eventually be handed over to their own devices. God wanted to feed them "with the finest of the wheat, with honey from the rock," but they would not be satisfied with the Lord. We see in the New Testament that those who refuse to love the truth and be saved, God will hand over to a strong delusion so they will be condemned, seeing that they did not believe the truth but loved wickedness instead. I think we forget that from Exodus 12 through the end of the Old Testament, the people of God are in rebellion with only a handful of years gathered together where they sought God with all their hearts.

ADDITIONAL READING: Numbers 6:22-24; 2 Thessalonians 2:8-12; Isaiah 5:1-10; Jeremiah 2:20-22; Ezekiel 15:1-7