Ps. 81.7-8 ("if only")

 I tested you / at the waters of Meribah.
Hear me / my people / and let me admonish you.
O Israel / if only you would hear me. 

The dividing of the lines in the manner that I have is an interpretation. It argues that the call by God to “hear” was the ‘testing at Meribah’. In other words, this oracle-within-the-oracle, were the words spoken to Israel at Meribah. It is interesting to note, then, that here God construes the encounter at Meribah as one of his testing of Israel; which is fundamentally different than the other recounting (where it is specifically designated as a testing of God by Israel). I am not sure that there is a way to resolve this tension. It may be that we are here being provided a further glimpse into the story that is not afforded by the other recounting. It has been argued that “the testing of God is really a testing by God”, but that doesn’t seem to cohere with the thrust of this psalm, because the focus from this point forward is, I believe, on the content of that testing—the commandment against idolatry. Be that as it may, there is also an indication that this ‘testing’ is the preliminary to covenant creation. In other words, that the ‘testing at Meribah’ were the obligations imposed (against idolatry) and their acceptance of those obligations whereby they became covenanted to God. I like this reading as it relates well to this psalm being recited at the festival of booths, indicating a type of covenant renewal ceremony. Lordship. By (perhaps) changing the focus of the testing to God, what we see here is the lordship of God over the covenant and the commandments. Although he has responded to their call, he is the one who tests; he is the one admonishes. There is a very clear sense here of God’s complete mastery at the precise moment of his revealing of himself to Israel at Meribah. This is the first manner in which he reveals himself to Israel: as the one who tests and the one who commands. And covenant desire. And yet, we must also sense the deep passion in these lines for Israel’s faithfulness. “My people”: this is the first of three references to Israel as ‘my people’. It will, in fact, bookend the oracle, functioning as a reminder that, when they become covenanted to God they become his ‘kin’, his ‘people’. Importantly, directly in between these two references stands the central statement of the psalm: “I am Yhwh, your God”. Combined, these statements form the covenantal marker: “You will be my people, and I will be your God.” This is the yearning of a father for his children. “…if only”. In this short phrase we move further into God’s desire for Israel’s faithful response. It indicates two things. One is God’s tense, almost coiled, readiness to act on Israel’s behalf. We can recall in this vein the “Only ask…” of Psalm 2, when God, speaking to his king-son, says, “Only ask and I will put the nations under your feet.” There is a sense here of an intimate and powerful desire to bless, held by the thinnest of barriers: “…if only you would hear me.” Whatever its other portrayals, the act of faithful response is here likened only to an act of hearing, an act that entails no burden. In contrast to Pharaoh, who weighed down their ‘shoulders and hands’ (vs. 6), Yhwh only asks for an open ear in order to serve him. Finally, we should note how the ‘hear me’ begins and ends this verse: “hear me, my people…if only you would hear me.”  As we will see, this call on Yhwh’s part is to move Israel into the realm of his powerful blessing. It is in hearing him that one moves into the sphere of the covenant, wherein God stands poised and anxious, to move on Israel’s behalf.