Today’s reading is Psalm 81.
“Open your mouth wide,” God says in Psalm 81:10, “and I will fill it.”
Carrying on the message from the last two days, Yahweh will care for His people. No other god has done that. No other god will do that. Yahweh, the Lord will fill the mouths of His people.
But…with what?
Surprisingly, in the Old Testament, the concept of people having their mouths filled rarely means eating food. In Psalm 78:30, the plague came on the grumbling and complaining Jews while the quail was still in their mouths. A handful of proverbs speak of food in the mouth (Proverbs 16:26; 19:24; 20:17; 26:15). However, the great majority of OT passages talking about having the mouth filled refer to speech, words, teaching, songs, praise, etc. In Exodus 4:15, Moses would put words in Aaron’s mouth. In Numbers 23:5, 12, God put words in Balaam’s mouth. In Deuteronomy 18:18, God would put words in the mouths of the prophets. The words that filled people’s mouths were not always good. In Psalm 22:13 and 35:21, the mouths were full of mockery and reviling. However, in Deuteronomy 31:19, God wanted Moses to write a song (Deuteronomy 32) that would fill the mouths of the Israelites. And in Psalm 40:3, God put a new song of praise in the mouth of the psalmist.
Our psalmist may be explaining, consistent with the rest of the OT, when Israel cast down the other gods and only followed Yahweh, He would fill their mouths with praise, with thanksgiving, with instruction, with glorious things that are the natural response to being blessed.
On the other hand, this statement may be an exception as a parallel to the last verse in the psalm. God ends the psalm saying, if they would just listen to Him, “He would feed you with the finest of the wheat, and with honey from the rock I would satisfy you” (81:16). This makes a nice symmetry. God may be driving home the one point that if Israel listened to Him, He would provide their food. This certainly fits the context of praise on a feast day (vs. 3), especially if, as seems to be the case, it is one of the seventh month feasts (see Leviticus 23 and Numbers 29) happening at the time of harvest.
Adding one more layer, this would be even more potent if the mention of the trumpet/shofar being blown calls to mind Leviticus 25:9 and the blowing of the shofar on the Day of Atonement during the Year of Jubilee. On that year, they quit working their fields for two years. One planting would provide for three years (Leviticus 25:18-22). What a time to be reminded that when they are faithful to the Lord, He will provide.
Psalm 63:5 may help us see both of the above possibilities at the same time. In that verse, we learn when the Israelite earnestly sought God, he could say, “My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food, and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips” (ESV). Granted, the food in this verse is spiritual. But we see the connection. When blessed by God’s provision, our mouths are full of praise.
Whichever view we take on God filling our mouths, the end result is the same. When we serve God, He will provide. As Jesus said, “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (Matthew 6:33, ESV).
Praise the Lord!
Tomorrow’s reading is Psalm 81.
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How does Psalm 81 prompt or improve your trust of God?
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