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Psalm 81 · a question people ask

"So I let them go after the stubbornness of their hearts" (81:12). Does God give up on his people here?

In the text

The psalm says it plainly: "But my people didn’t listen to my voice. Israel desired none of me. So I let them go after the stubbornness of their hearts, that they might walk in their own counsels" (81:11-12) (tap stubbornness). It doesn't stop there. The next words are "Oh that my people would listen to me, that Israel would walk in my ways!" (81:13), and the LORD still calls them "my people" (81:11, 81:13). Then he says what he would do: "I would soon subdue their enemies, and turn my hand against their adversaries" (81:14), and the psalm's last line is "I will satisfy you with honey out of the rock" (81:16). The psalm sets the letting go and the longing side by side, and doesn't explain further how they fit. These notes don't either.

The verses

“But my people didn’t listen to my voice. Israel desired none of me. So I let them go after the stubbornness of their hearts, that they might walk in their own counsels. Oh that my people would listen to me, that Israel would walk in my ways! I would soon subdue their enemies, and turn my hand against their adversaries.”
Psalm 81:11-14 · World English Bible
“But he would have also fed them with the finest of the wheat. I will satisfy you with honey out of the rock.””
Psalm 81:16 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Psalm 81

Psalm 81: Oh that my people would listen

Psalm 81 begins as a feast-day song and becomes the LORD speaking to his people. One Hebrew verb runs through it five times, hear and listen, and the God who says "I tested you at the waters of Meribah" (81:7) says "Oh that my people would listen to me" (81:13), and ends with "I will satisfy you with honey out of the rock" (81:16).

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions