Commentaries and Other Bible Study Helps - Prayer Tents - Prayer Tents

81:4-7 God's Work to Care for Israel in the Past. The second section recounts the way in which the God of Jacob worked on behalf of his people to deliver them from slavery in Egypt, where their shoulder bore a burden and their hands carried the basket in which they hauled bricks and clay (cf. Ex. 6:6). Israel called and God delivered (cf. Ex. 2:23-25), bringing them through the desert. The psalm probably mentions Meribah (Ex. 17:7, where the people tested the Lord) because it is on the journey to Sinai and because it is also an example of the way Israel kept putting God to the test with their lack of trust.