Thou calledst in trouble - The people of Israel. Exodus 2:23; Exodus 3:9; Exodus 14:10.

And I delivered thee - I brought the people out of Egypt.

I answered thee in the secret place of thunder - That is, in the lonely, retired, solemn place where the thunder rolled; the solitudes where there was no voice but the voice of thunder, and where that seemed to come from the deep recesses of the mountain gorges. The allusion is doubtless to Sinai. Compare Exodus 19:17-19. The meaning is, that he gave a response - a real reply - to their prayer - amid the solemn scenes of Sinai, when he gave them his law; when he recognized them as his people; when he entered into covenant with them.

I proved thee - I tried you; I tested your fidelity.

At the waters of Meribah - Margin, as in Hebrew, strife. This was at Mount Horeb. Exodus 17:5-7. The trial - the proof - consisted in his bringing water from the rock, showing that he was God - that he was their God.

Thou calledst in trouble - They had cried by reason of their burdens, and the cruelty of their task-masters; and God heard that cry, and delivered them. See Exodus 3:7, etc.

In the secret place of thunder - On Mount Sinai; where God was heard, but not seen. They heard a voice, but they saw no shape.

At the waters of Meribah - See this transaction, Exodus 17:1 (note), etc.

Thou calledst in trouble, and I delivered thee,.... That is, when Israel were in trouble in Egypt, as the Targum adds, and they cried unto the Lord in their distress, he heard them, and answered them, and sent them a deliverer, and brought them out of all their troubles, Exodus 3:7.

I answered thee in the secret place of thunder; by bringing the plague of thunder and lightnings upon the Egyptians, when the Israelites were hidden from them; a sense given by some, as Kimchi observes: or rather this was done when the Lord looked out of the pillar of cloud at the Red sea upon the Egyptian host, and troubled them; at which time the voice of his thunder was heard in heaven, Psalm 77:16. Some think this has reference to the thunder at the giving of the law on Mount Sinai; but the sense before given is best:

I proved thee at the waters of Meribah; by withholding water from them to try them, and see whether they would behave patiently, and put their trust and confidence in the Lord, or not; see Exodus 17:4.

Selah. See Gill on Psalm 3:2.

Thou calledst in trouble, and I delivered thee; I {g} answered thee in the secret place of thunder: I proved thee at the waters of Meribah. Selah.

(g) By a strange and wonderful fashion.

81:7 Calledst - At the Red Sea. Secret place - From the dark and cloudy pillar, whence I thundered against the Egyptians.

Meribah: or, Strife

7. secret place-the cloud from which He troubled the Egyptians (Ex 14:24).

proved thee-(Ps 7:10; 17:3)-tested their faith by the miracle.

81:1-7 All the worship we can render to the Lord is beneath his excellences, and our obligations to him, especially in our redemption from sin and wrath. What God had done on Israel's behalf, was kept in remembrance by public solemnities. To make a deliverance appear more gracious, more glorious, it is good to observe all that makes the trouble we are delivered from appear more grievous. We ought never to forget the base and ruinous drudgery to which Satan, our oppressor, brought us. But when, in distress of conscience, we are led to cry for deliverance, the Lord answers our prayers, and sets us at liberty. Convictions of sin, and trials by affliction, prove his regard to his people. If the Jews, on their solemn feast-days, were thus to call to mind their redemption out of Egypt, much more ought we, on the Christian sabbath, to call to mind a more glorious redemption, wrought out for us by our Lord Jesus Christ, from worse bondage.