Psalm 81 (80):3Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Thus, O people of God, assembly of the faithful, accept the psalm and offer the drum: embrace the spiritual while surrendering the material. Likewise, we urged you during the feast of the blessed martyr—to accept the spiritual and relinquish the earthly. Those constructed for this temporal existence are required to receive either living or deceased bodies, but only for the duration of passing time. After the judgment of God, will we elevate these structures to the heavens? Without them, however, we cannot currently fulfill what pertains to eternal possession. Therefore, if you desire the pursuit of spiritual treasures, let your stewardship of earthly goods also be righteous. Accept the psalm and offer the drum: take our voices and return our hands. A melodious psalter with a harp. I recall that we once highlighted for your generosity the distinction between the psalter and the psaltery. The proclamation of God’s Word is indeed heavenly. If we yearn for what is divine, let us not hesitate in our temporal obligations; for psalteries bring joy, but through psalteries. The same principle is reiterated when we say, ‘Accept the psalm, and offer the drum’: here, the psalm replaces the psalm, and the psaltery stands in for the drum. Yet, we are called to respond to the proclamation of God’s Word through our physical actions.

Origen's insight reveals that while the psalm offers one thing, it demands three: it provides a psalm but calls for a drum, a psalter, and a psaltery. This underscores that God's grace bestows teaching while asking for complete sanctification — in spirit, soul, and body — allowing us to worship God through the mortification of the flesh as if we were playing a drum. This harmony of spirit and soul, or in Pauline terms, mind, resembles the psalmist with the psaltery, enabling me to proclaim: I will sing with my spirit; I will also sing with my understanding.

Theodoret observes that to this day, it is customary for some to compose songs while others perform them accompanied by organs or trumpets or drums. David crafted psalms for others to sing, following the sounds of instruments; hence he instructs, ‘Take a psalm, which is a song, and present yourselves as instruments, offering from what you have not received — the use of instruments. Athanasius notes that this illustrates the structured unity and harmony between soul and body, so that God's people may be complete, dedicating their souls and bodies to the Lord rather than to the world. The psalter is enriched by psalms. The psalmist equates the mind with the psaltery and the body, as seen in Psalm 32, where it is stated to acknowledge the Lord with the psaltery and to sing to Him on the ten-stringed instrument. Therefore, David calls us to act with mind and body in ways that are pleasing to God, for the common command to give applies to both the psalter and the psaltery, representing not mere physical expressions, but mental engagement. The term 'pleasant' further indicates that the mental psalter—or mind—is particularly delightful to God.

One who possesses the truth becomes even more complete by embracing the image, while one who holds the image gains greatly by receiving the truth that it represents. Thus, the prophet refers to ‘sweet-sounding psalter with psaltery,’ indicating a harmonious connection between the new and the old. Similarly, Solomon notes in the Song of Songs, ‘the new with the old, which my mother gave me, “this I have saved for thee.”’ Why did the prophet compare the covenants to the psalter and the psaltery? Because these instruments are akin in nature yet differ in string arrangement; the psalter strings are tied at the top, while those of the psaltery are secured at the bottom. In this way, both the old and the new covenants share the same purpose of godliness, but the mandates of the earlier one are diminished due to the limitations of its lawgiver, whereas those of the latter are elevated, aspiring towards the heights associated with the disciples of Christ.

He instructs them to embrace the psalm and sound the timbrel, encouraging them to make melody with their instruments. These musical tools served a purpose under the law, preparing a simple people for deeper truths through these elementary practices. Now that the shadow of the law has dissipated, they are no longer necessary, for the proclamation of the Gospel offers a far superior form of worship than that of ancient Hebrews or modern traditions. The phrase, “Psalms red with psaltery,” implies a joyful melody, contrasting sharply with the harsh sounds of the timbrel. The term for the new month, through a figure of synecdoche, also encompasses other festivals that the Jews were commanded to observe, not just at the start of each month, but on occasions of prayer in the tabernacle, as proclaimed, "Sound the trumpet at the new moon and on each appointed feast day."

The Divine Prophet, inspired by the Holy Spirit, calls upon the nations to believe in our Lord Jesus Christ, cautioning Christians against adopting the wicked ways of the ancient Jews, so that they do not fall out of grace with God. Furthermore, it serves as an encouragement regarding how the feasts should be observed. The term "tochilas" refers to the Holy Churches, which overflow with the wine of God's grace.