Praise Yahweh! Give thanks to Yahweh, for he is good, for his loving kindness endures forever.
Parallel Translations
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Praise Yahweh! Give thanks to Yahweh, for he is good, for his loving kindness endures forever.
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Praise ye the LORD. O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.
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Hallelujah. O give thanks unto the LORD; for He is good; for His mercy endureth for ever.
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Contradictions (1)
Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
Cross-references (15)
Passages linked to Psalms 106:1 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- 1 Thessalonians 5:18 In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus toward you.
- 1 Chronicles 16:34 Oh give thanks to Yahweh, for he is good, for his loving kindness endures forever.
- Psalms 105:1 Give thanks to Yahweh! Call on his name! Make his doings known among the peoples.
- Psalms 136:1 Give thanks to Yahweh, for he is good; for his loving kindness endures forever.
- Psalms 118:1 Give thanks to Yahweh, for he is good, for his loving kindness endures forever.
- Jeremiah 33:11 the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voice of those who say, ‘Give thanks to Yahweh of Armies, for Yahweh is good, for his loving kindness endures forever;’ who bring thanksgiving into Yahweh’s house. For I will cause the captivity of the land to be reversed as at the first,” says Yahweh.
- Psalms 105:45 that they might keep his statutes, and observe his laws. Praise Yah!
- Psalms 107:1 Give thanks to Yahweh, for he is good, for his loving kindness endures forever.
- Ezra 3:11 They sang to one another in praising and giving thanks to Yahweh, “For he is good, for his loving kindness endures forever toward Israel.” All the people shouted with a great shout, when they praised Yahweh, because the foundation of Yahweh’s house had been laid.
- Romans 5:20-21 The law came in that the trespass might abound; but where sin abounded, grace abounded more exceedingly; that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
- Psalms 100:4-5 Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise. Give thanks to him, and bless his name. For Yahweh is good. His loving kindness endures forever, his faithfulness to all generations.
- Psalms 103:17 But Yahweh’s loving kindness is from everlasting to everlasting with those who fear him, his righteousness to children’s children,
- Psalms 119:68 You are good, and do good. Teach me your statutes.
- Matthew 19:17 He said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good but one, that is, God. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.”
- 1 Chronicles 16:41 and with them Heman and Jeduthun, and the rest who were chosen, who were mentioned by name, to give thanks to Yahweh, because his loving kindness endures forever;
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 1. Praise ye Jehovah This exhortation supplies the want…
1. Praise ye Jehovah This exhortation supplies the want of a title; not that the psalm contains nothing else than thanksgiving and praise to God, but that the people, from the experience of past favors, may obtain the assurance of reconciliation; and thus entertain the hope that God, although at present offended, would soon be pacified towards them. In celebrating the praises of God, therefore, he orders them to call to mind such things as would have a tendency to assuage their grief on account of present ills, and to animate their spirits, and prevent them from sinking into despair.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain The Prophet exhorteth the people to praise God for…
The Prophet exhorteth the people to praise God for his benefits past, that thereby their minds may be strengthened against all present troubles and despair.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Psa 106:1 Praise ye the LORD. O give thanks…
Psa 106:1 Praise ye the LORD. O give thanks unto the LORD; for [he is] good: for his mercy [endureth] for ever.
Ver. 1. Praise ye the Lord] Though scattered among the heathen, and in a sorrowful condition, Psa 106:47. In prosperity praise the Lord, saith Austin, and it shall increase upon thee. In adversity praise him, and it shall be better with thee.
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O give thanks unto the Lord, &c.] This verse was, say some, the foot or tenor of the song in many sacred hymns.
For his mercy endureth for ever] Even to those also that have sinned against his goodness.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain He deserves our praises, notwithstanding all our sufferings, which…
He deserves our praises, notwithstanding all our sufferings, which are not to be imputed to him, for he is gracious and merciful, but only to our own sins.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain We are here taught,
We are here taught,
I. To bless God (Psa 106:1, Psa 106:2): Praise you the Lord, that is, 1. Give him thanks for his goodness, the manifestation of it to us, and the many instances of it. He is good and his mercy endures for ever; let us therefore own our obligations to him and make him a return of our best affections and services. 2. Give him the glory of his greatness, his mighty acts, proofs of his almighty power, wherein he has done great things, and such as would be opposed. Who can utter these? Who is worthy to do it? Who is able to do it? They are so many that they cannot be numbered, so mysterious that they cannot be described; when we have said the most we can of the mighty acts of the Lord, the one half is not told; still there is more to be said; it is a subject that cannot be exhausted. We must show forth his praise; we may show forth some of it, but who can show forth all? Not the angels themselves. This will not excuse us in not doing what we can, but should quicken us to do all we can.
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II. To bless the people of God, to call and account them happy (Psa 106:3): Those that keep judgment are blessed, for they are fit to be employed in praising God. God's people are those whose principles are sound - They keep judgment (they adhere to the rules of wisdom and religion, and their practices are agreeable); they do righteousness, are just to God and to all men, and herein they are steady and constant; they do it at all times, in all manner of conversation, at every turn, in every instance, and herein persevering to the end.
III. To bless ourselves in the favour of God, to place our happiness in it, and to seek it, accordingly, with all seriousness, as the psalmist here, Psa 106:4, Psa 106:5. 1. He has an eye to the lovingkindness of God, as the fountain of all happiness: "Remember me, O Lord! to give me that mercy and grace which I stand in need of, with the favour which thou bearest to thy people." As there are a people in the world who are in a peculiar manner God's people, so there is a peculiar favour which God bears to that people, which all gracious souls desire an interest in; and we need desire no more to make us happy. 2. He has an eye to the salvation of God, the great salvation, that of the soul, as the foundation of happiness: O visit me with thy salvation. "Afford me (says Dr. Hammond) that pardon and that grace which I stand in need of, and can hope for from none but thee." Let that salvation be my portion for ever, and the pledges of it my present comfort. 3. He has an eye to the blessedness of the righteous, as that which includes all good (Psa 106:5): "That I may see the good of thy chosen and be as happy as the saints are; and happier I do not desire to be." God's people are here called his chosen, his nation, his inheritance; for he has set them apart for himself, incorporated them under his own government, is served by them and glorified in them. The chosen people of God have a good which is peculiar to them, which is the matter both of their gladness and of their glorying, which is their pleasure, and their praise. God's people have reason to be a cheerful people, and to boast in their God all the day long; and those who have that gladness, that glory, need not envy any of the children of men their pleasure or pride. The gladness of God's nation, and the glory of his inheritance, are enough to satisfy any man; for they have everlasting joy and glory at the end of them.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Praise ye the Lord,.... Or "hallelujah"; which, according to…
Praise ye the Lord,.... Or "hallelujah"; which, according to the Arabic version, is the title of the psalm; and so it stands in the Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, and Ethiopic versions. Several psalms following begin in like manner; it begins as the former ended, and ends as it begins; praise being due to God at all times, and on all occasions.
O give thanks unto the Lord: always, for all things, temporal and spiritual, since not worthy of any: or, confess unto the Lord (h); his great goodness, and your unworthiness; and all your sins and transgressions committed against him, who only can pardon.
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For he is good; essentially, solely and originally; is communicative and diffusive of his goodness; is the author of all good, and of no evil; and is gracious and merciful, and ready to forgive.
For his mercy endureth for ever; notwithstanding the sins of his people; though he may sometimes hide his face from them, and rebuke them in his providence; and though he causes grief by so doing, he still has compassion upon them, his mercy continues towards them; yea, his mercies are new every morning, as to temporal things; and spiritual mercies, the sure mercies of David, redemption, remission of sins, and sanctification, issue in eternal life; the mercy of God is from eternity to eternity: these are reasons why he should be praised, and thanks be given, to him.
(h) "confitemini Domino", V. L. Pagninus, Montanus, &c.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain The foregoing psalm was an history of God's goodness…
The foregoing psalm was an history of God's goodness to Israel; this is an history of their rebellion: against him; probably both were wrote by David at the same time, as we find the first verse and the two last in that psalm, which he delivered to Asaph, 1 Chron. xvi, 35, &c. Herein we have the preface, ver. 1-5. The narrative of all of the sins of Israel, aggravated by the great things God did for them; their provocations at the Red-sea, ver. 6-12. Lusting, ver. 13-15. Mutinying, ver. 16-18. Worshiping the golden calf, ver. 19-23. Murmuring, ver. 24-27. Worshiping Baal- peor, ver. 28-31. Quarreling with Moses, ver, 32, 33. Mixing with the nations of Canaan, ver. 34-39. God rebuked them, yet saved them from ruin, ver. 40-46. The conclusion, ver. 47, 48. It begins and ends with Hallelujah.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain God is praised for his manifold mercies, 1-3.
PSALM CVI
God is praised for his manifold mercies, 1-3.
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The prophet prays for himself, 4, 5.
A recapitulation of the history of the Hebrew people: of God's
mercies toward them, and their rebellions, 6-39.
The judgments and afflictions which their transgressions brought
upon them, 40-42.
God's mercy to them notwithstanding their transgressions, 43-46.
He prays for their restoration, 47, 48.
NOTES ON PSALM CVI
As a part of the preceding Psalm is found in 1Ch 16:7-14, so the first and two last verses of this are found in the same place, (1Ch 16:34-36,) and yet it is supposed by eminent commentators to be a prayer of the captives in Babylon, who acknowledge the mercies of God, confess their own sins, and those of their forefathers, and implore the Lord to gather them from among the heathen, and restore them to their own country. In none of the Versions except the Syriac has it any title, except HALLELUJAH, Praise ye the Lord, the word with which the original commences. The Syriac gives us a sort of table of its contents; or rather shows us the subjects to which it may be applied, and the uses we should make of it. After stating that it has no title, it says, "It calls upon men to observe the Divine precepts, and teaches us that the more the Jews transgressed, the more we should fear. That we should not talk together in the church, nor ever contend with our brethren on any account; and especially when we assist in the celebration of the Divine mysteries and in prayer: and that when we sin we should repent." All this is very good: but it would be difficult to find these subjects in the Psalm, or any thing on which they could be rationally founded. But it shows us that the Scriptures were very easily accommodated to particular uses, not originally intended: and hence arose much of the practice of spiritualizing and allegorizing; which, to say the least of it, has been of no use to the Church of Christ.
Verse 1. Praise ye the Lord] This, which is a sort of title, is wanting in several MSS., and in the Syriac Version.
O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good] Ye who live by his bounty should praise his mercy. God is the good Being, and of all kinds of good he is the Author and Dispenser. That the term God among our Anglo-Saxon ancestors, expressed both the Supreme Being and good or goodness, is evident from the Anglo-Saxon version of this clause: [Anglo-Saxon] "Confess Lord for that God, (or good,) for that on world mildheartness his." Which the old Psalter thus translates and paraphrases: -
Trans. Schifes to Lorde for he is gude; for in worlde the mercy of him.
Par. Schryfes synes, and louyngs to God. for he is gude of kynde, that nane do bot aske his mercy; for it lastes to the worlds ende in wriches whame it comfortes and delyvers: and the blysfulhede that is gyfen thrugh mercy is endles. That is: -
Confess your sins, and give praise to God, for he is good in his nature to all that ask his mercy; for it lasts to the world's end in comforting and delivering the wretched: and the blessedness that is given through mercy is endless.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Psa 106:1-3. Praise ye the Lord, &c. — He…
Psa 106:1-3. Praise ye the Lord, &c. — He deserves our praises, notwithstanding all our sufferings, which are not to be imputed to him, for he is gracious and merciful, but only to our own sins. Who can show forth all his praise? — That is, his praiseworthy actions: “who is sufficient for a work which demands the tongues and harps of angels?” Blessed are they that keep judgment — That observe and practise what is just and right toward God and men; termed, doing righteousness, in the next clause; at all times — Constantly, in adversity, as well as in prosperity. Or, the meaning may be, They are blessed at all times, even in the day of their calamity; and therefore (as his words may imply) our calamities ought not to hinder us from this great and necessary duty of praising God. This verse may be considered as containing an answer to the inquiry made in the preceding, and signifying that they show forth God’s praise in the best manner who keep his judgments, and do righteousness at all times.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Praise ye the Lord - Margin, “Hallelu-jah.” The two…
Praise ye the Lord - Margin, “Hallelu-jah.” The two Hebrew words mean, “praise ye the Lord.” They are the same words with which the previous psalm closes, and are here designed to indicate the general duty illustrated in the psalm.
O give thanks unto the Lord - See the notes at Psa 105:1.
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For he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever - See Psa 100:5, note; Psa 107:1, note; where the language in the Hebrew is the same.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain Psalms 106
Psalms 106
1 Praise ye the Lord.
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O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good:
For his mercy endureth for ever.
2 Who can utter the mighty acts of the Lord?
Who can shew forth all his praise?
3 Blessed are they that keep judgment,
And he that doeth righteousness at all times.
4 Remember me, O Lord, with the favour that thou bearest unto thy people:
O visit me with thy salvation;
5 That I may see the good of thy chosen,
That I may rejoice in the gladness of thy nation,
That I may glory with thine inheritance.
6 We have sinned with our fathers,
We have committed iniquity, we have done wickedly.
7 Our fathers understood not thy wonders in Egypt;
They remembered not the multitude of thy mercies;
But provoked him at the sea, even at the Red sea.
8 Nevertheless he saved them for his name’s sake,
That he might make his mighty power to be known.
9 He rebuked the Red sea also, and it was dried up:
So he led them through the depths, as through the wilderness.
10 And he saved them from the hand of him that hated them,
And redeemed them from the hand of the enemy.
11 And the waters covered their enemies:
There was not one of them left.
12 Then believed they his words;
They sang his praise.
13 They soon forgat his works;
They waited not for his counsel:
14 But lusted exceedingly in the wilderness,
And tempted God in the desert.
15 And he gave them their request;
But sent leanness into their soul.
16 They envied Moses also in the camp,
And Aaron the saint of the Lord.
17 The earth opened and swallowed up Dathan,
And covered the company of Abiram.
18 And a fire was kindled in their company;
The flame burned up the wicked.
19 They made a calf in Horeb,
And worshipped the molten image.
20 Thus they changed their glory
Into the similitude of an ox that eateth grass.
21 They forgat God their saviour,
Which had done great things in Egypt;
22 Wondrous works in the land of Ham,
And terrible things by the Red sea.
23 Therefore he said that he would destroy them,
Had not Moses his chosen
Stood before him in the breach,
To turn away his wrath, lest he should destroy them.
24 Yea, they despised the pleasant land,
They believed not his word:
25 But murmured in their tents,
And hearkened not unto the voice of the Lord.
26 Therefore he lifted up his hand against them,
To overthrow them in the wilderness:
27 To overthrow their seed also among the nations,
And to scatter them in the lands.
28 They joined themselves also unto Baal-peor,
And ate the sacrifices of the dead.
29 Thus they provoked him to anger with their inventions:
And the plague brake in upon them.
30 Then stood up Phinehas, and executed judgment:
And so the plague was stayed.
31 And that was counted unto him for righteousness
Unto all generations for evermore.
32 They angered him also at the waters of strife,
So that it went ill with Moses for their sakes:
33 Because they provoked his spirit,
So that he spake unadvisedly with his lips.
34 They did not destroy the nations,
Concerning whom the Lord commanded them:
35 But were mingled among the heathen,
And learned their works.
36 And they served their idols:
Which were a snare unto them.
37 Yea, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto devils,
38 And shed innocent blood,
Even the blood of their sons and of their daughters,
Whom they sacrificed unto the idols of Canaan:
And the land was polluted with blood.
39 Thus were they defiled with their own works,
And went a whoring with their own inventions.
40 Therefore was the wrath of the Lord kindled against his people,
Insomuch that he abhorred his own inheritance.
41 And he gave them into the hand of the heathen;
And they that hated them ruled over them.
42 Their enemies also oppressed them,
And they were brought into subjection under their hand.
43 Many times did he deliver them;
But they provoked him with their counsel,
And were brought low for their iniquity.
44 Nevertheless he regarded their affliction,
When he heard their cry:
45 And he remembered for them his covenant,
And repented according to the multitude of his mercies.
46 He made them also to be pitied
Of all those that carried them captives.
47 Save us, O Lord our God,
And gather us from among the heathen,
To give thanks unto thy holy name,
And to triumph in thy praise.
48 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel
From everlasting to everlasting:
And let all the people say, Amen.
Praise ye the Lord.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
Contents and Composition.—This Psalm, which bears the Hallelujah as an inscription, begins with a doxology. This doxology was not first employed in 1Ma_4:24, but occurs already in Jer_33:11 as being then in common use. Then in Psa_106:2 a question is uttered of such a kind, as to create an expectation that a song of praise to Jehovah would here strike in. But the verses which follow give to the thought another turn. For Psa_106:3 passes over to the praise of the righteous, and Psa_106:4-5, to a prayer for personal favor, in common with favor to the people, and for participation in the happiness and rejoicing which should follow. From this point onwards the Psalm assumes fully the form of a prayer of confession, which unites the universal acknowledgment of sins (Psa_106:6) with a description of the conduct of the fathers, as it was displayed during the journey through the desert (Psa_106:7-32), as related in the Books of Exodus and Numbers, and during their residence in the Holy Land itself (Psa_106:33-46), as related in Jdg_2:11 ff. The closing verse forms a prayer for deliverance from the present captivity.
The Babylonish Exile is rightly assumed as the period of composition. For the liturgical doxology, which marks the close of the fourth Book of the Psalms (Psa_106:48), is with Psa_106:1; Psa_106:47, and the portions of Psalms 96, 105 already mentioned, put in 1Ch_16:36 into the mouth of king David, at the removal of the ark to Jerusalem; and, though treated in the historical manner, it is there placed in such connection with the portions taken from our Psalm, as to justify us in believing, that it was already attached to it in the manner presented to us here. It can the more readily be regarded as having been specially connected with this Psalm, as its peculiar form has unmistakably been preserved by the influence of the latter. Delitzsch adduces three peculiarities of the liturgical prayer, and especially of the prayer of confession (viddui): (1) A fondness for a rhyme-like final sound in like suffixes, (2) an accumulation of synonyms, (3) the unfolding of the course of thought in a continuous line. He considers the oldest types of such liturgical prayers, to be the two forms, employed at the presentation of the first-fruits (Deuteronomy 26) and the dedication-prayer of Solomon (1 Kings 8). The supposition of Ewald that this Psalm was sung by alternate performers, is based only upon the interchange of singular and plural in Psa_106:4; Psa_106:6, which is insufficient for its support. The plural reading, also, in Psa_106:4 f. (Sept., Syr., Aq., Symm., Theod., Vulg., Luther) is supported by only a few unimportant manuscripts.
[Hengstenberg: “According to the common idea, the author of Chronicles is understood to relate that this composition was sung at the erection of the sanctuary on Zion under David. The older expositors hence concluded that those Psalms from which this fragment is made up, were composed by David, or at least in the time of David. In more modern times a proof has been sought of the non-genuineness of Chronicles, or of the arbitrary manner in which the Jews fixed the authors and the dates of the Psalms. But the whole is founded upon a mistake. The description of the service which took place at the bringing-in of the ark of the covenant in 1 Chronicles 16, terminates before the Psalm composition is introduced, so that we do not need to suppose that any use was made of the latter at the celebration. David had already pronounced the blessing, Psa_106:2, and the people had been dismissed with the gifts which, according to 2Ch_6:18-19, terminated the festival. A narrative is next given of the arrangement of the sacred music in the tabernacle. It is recorded next in Psa_106:7 that David, on the same day, caused thanks to be given by Asaph and his brethren, and, on the occasion of the great memorable day of the establishment of the sacred music, there is given, Psa_106:8-16, the essence of those Psalms which at all times were sung, accompanied by their music, as a representation of the whole Psalter. The author of Chronicles naturally formed his composition out of those Psalms, which were sung in his day most frequently and with the greatest relish. In like manner it was natural that he should not bind himself strictly to the text of the borrowed passages, but should introduce slight alterations wherever such seemed suitable. The defence lies in this, that he does not, like the author of the Books of Samuel in 2 Samuel 22, pledge himself to give a faithful transcript of another man’s labor, but has rather published expressly an abstract by himself, and we must expect a priori, that it would be given with that freedom, which is manifested in selecting from Psalms 105 only the beginning, and from our Psalm the beginning and the conclusion.”—J. F. M.]
[In Psa_106:4, E. V. has: with the favor that thou bearest unto thy people. This should probably be replaced by the rendering: “in favor to thy people.” For the connection compare the next verse.—J. F. M.]
Psa_106:5-7. Of thy nation.—גּוֹיֶךָ is parallel to עַמֶּךָ [Psa_106:4] as in Zep_2:9; the singular being employed to designate the people of Israel, whereas the plural always expresses the nations, as contrasted with the people, עַם, united under the dominion of Jehovah. In Psa_106:7 the Sept. have evidently read עֹלִים instead of עַל־יָם, for they translated ἀναβαίνοντες. The word is not a gloss from Psa_106:22 (Clericus, Köster), nor a mutilation of אְֶלֹהִים (Houbigant) or אֶלְיֹוִן (Venema). A local designation is quite in place, and it is not at all surprising that in the name of the sea, which follows immediately, the preposition בְּ is used instead of עַל, in a like signification (comp. Psa_106:19; Psa_106:22; Eze_10:15). The appellation סוּף is not a proper name, that of a city at the northern extremity of the Red Sea (Knobel on Exo_13:18), but is connected with the ancient Egyptian sçbe=reeds, or sippe=sea-weed. The common idea that it signifies: sea of reeds, rests especially upon Exo_2:3; Isa_19:6. The absence of the article is due to the circumstance that this designation had already come into common use, as though it were a proper name.
Psa_106:15. We are not to render: satiety (Sept., Vulg., Syr.) instead of: emaciation, that is, leanness, as consumption (Isa_10:16; Isa_17:4), which God sent into their soul=their life. The former is an inadmissible explanation of רָזוֹן after the fundamental passage, Num_11:20, which states that זָרָא, loathing, came upon them. Luther combines the two ideas: He sent them enough, until they were surfeited. The passage before us, however, specifies the disease which resulted from this, as the punishment decreed by God.
Psa_106:20. Their glory is, as in Jer_2:11, is used of God Himself, and in a twofold relation.—His manifestation of Himself to His people, and His being thus glorified before all nations (Deu_4:6 f.; Deu_10:21). A somewhat different turn is given to the sentence, if Jehovah is here called the Pride of Israel (1Sa_15:29; Hos_5:5; Hos_7:10).
Psa_106:24-27. The pleasant land. So Jer_3:19; Zec_7:14. The lifting up of the hand is here not a gesture of threatening, raising it to strike, but an attitude employed in taking an oath, (Exo_6:8; Deu_32:40, comp. Dan_12:7; Psa_144:8). It was because they despised the land, that God would make them perish in the wilderness. (Num_14:32). Because they murmured in their tents (Deu_1:27), they were, in the persons of their descendants, to be dispersed among the heathen. As Psa_106:26 f. is unmistakably connected with Eze_20:23, the repeated לְהַפִּיל would appear to be a chirographical error (Hitzig, Del.) for לְהָפִיץ. Accordingly, the translation: overthrow (Sept., Syr., Chald.), is preferred by many. But the word may have been repeated intentionally, for in Psa_106:43, מָכַךְ (to sink down, decay) occurs, instead of גָמַק (to dissolve, become corrupt), which is retained in Eze_24:23; Eze_33:10, from the fundamental passage Lev_26:39. Hitzig regards it as an error; Delitzsch as a deliberate alteration.
Psa_106:28 employs, as it seems, after Num_25:3; Num_25:5, a technical word denoting connection with the Moabitish priapus. [For the mode of expression comp. 1Co_6:16, and Kling thereon in the Bibelwerk.—J. F. M.]. It expresses, at all events, a closer intercourse and more complete yielding up, than would be conveyed by the translation: they were initiated (Sept., Jerome), or: they served (Gesenius, after the Ethiopic usage of the kindred word), Nothing is known of any special ceremony in which bands or fillets were worn (J. D. Michaelis). The dead are not gods of the under world (Selden), or departed spirits (Deu_18:11; Isa_8:19), for which sacrifices of the dead were brought (Köster, De Wette); for mention is also made here of eating the offerings, and Num_25:2 calls them, “sacrifices of their gods.” Accordingly, Moabitish gods are meant here also (Hupfeld and others), which are called dead as contrasted with the living God (Wis_13:10 ff.).
Psa_106:30. עמד is not to be understood merely of stepping forth (Num_25:7), but also of coming forward, as mediator, for Phinehas, by intervening with his spear, performed an act of judgment, and that through zeal for God’s justice. By this act of faith (Gen_15:6), that justice was satisfied, and as a Divine acknowledgment of its religious worth, the priesthood was bestowed upon him and his descendants for ever. (Num_25:10 ff.). The signification of judging is established for the Piel פִּלֵּל (1Sa_2:25); the signification of interceding (Chald., Syr., Geier) is that of the Hithpael, that of atoning (Vulg.) or expiating (Sept.) has, in fact, been assigned.
Psa_106:32-33. The unadvised words of Moses allude to His question to the people (Num_20:10), which was shown to be one of impatience and doubt by his twice striking the rock, and was therefore designated by God as unbelief and disobedience (Num_20:12; Num_20:24; Num_27:14), and punished as such. But, because the people had given occasion to this fault, it is said in Psa_106:32 b, in accordance with the complaint of their leader (Deu_1:37; Deu_3:26), that “it went ill with Moses for their sakes.” Yet we are not to translate: they embittered his (Moses’) spirit (Sept., and most), but, according to the historical account and the usage of the phrase (Psa_106:7; Psa_106:43; Psa_78:17; Psa_78:40; Psa_78:56, Isa_63:10), this reference is only to resisting the Spirit of God (Chald., Geier, Hengst., and the recent expositors).
Psa_106:37. The שֵׁדִים are, according to Deu_32:17; Jdg_2:11, not demons (Sept., and others), Bar_4:7, but gods, under the appellation: powers, or: lords.
[In Psa_106:46 render: and has given them favor in the sight of all those that carried them captive. Alexander: “The literal translation of the first clause is, and has given them for mercies or compassions. This remarkable expression is borrowed from 1Ki_8:50, (compare 2Ch_30:9), not only here, but in the history of Daniel and his fellow-captives (Dan_1:9), which makes it not at all improbable, that what is there recorded is among the indications of returning Divine favor, here referred to by the Psalmist.”—J. F. M.].
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. Human understanding and human speech and never measure the greatness of God’s deeds or the depth of His mercy; but the grateful acknowledgment and extolling proclamation of them are not merely an expression, becoming to the people of God, of the relation in which they stand to Him, but are also the ordained means of spreading the glory due to Him, and of strengthening confidence in the eternal efficiency of His grace.
2. The strengthening of this confidence is indispensable, especially as every legitimate claim, which men could be tempted to found upon the covenant relation, is altogether cancelled by sins which are renewed from generation to generation. Accordingly, a new display of mercy is the only means of deliverance. But the seeking after and imploring this mercy presupposes, not only an experience of the need and a desire of its satisfaction, but also a belief of the possibility of the latter, and of the readiness of God to afford the means that are necessary thereto. And it is only as resting upon this ground, that courage will be imparted to appropriate personally, with all the earnestness of a soul-stricken confession of sin, the Divine promises and means of grace.
3. The contemplation of the history of God’s people is specially adapted to awaken both a penitent frame of mind, and a believing seeking after the Divine favor. For that history exhibits, in impressive sketches, ingratitude displayed anew on every occasion, disobedience, fickleness, and partial defection on the one side, and, on the other, brings before the view judgments and acts of deliverance on the part of God, which are not isolated, but form one connected course of leading, for the unfolding of His purposes of mercy and plan of salvation.
4. It was a part of the design of these dealings to impress and develop the truth, that punishment attends upon guilt, and that without expiation there is no forgiveness of sin; that there is, however, a means of delivering the people by substitution, not performed by legal works and practices, not by priestly ceremonies and forms, not by external actions and sacrifices, but by the personal self-devotion of those, who, whether by acting or suffering, by interceding or judging, step into the breach, and, by yielding up their own persons satisfy the actual demands of justice, rescue and purify the people of God, and set them upon the way of salvation.
5. Such a view of history, together with its instructive use, is immediately applicable to purposes of edification. It has, indeed, to do with universal transgressions, judgments, deeds of deliverance, and experiences of mercy; yet it regards them not as general truths, but with historical particularity and in their concrete definiteness. And, accordingly, it does not excite a more general consciousness of guilt, desire for salvation, or feeling of gratitude; it rather evokes, amid the songs of the Church to the praise of God’s glory, a special prayer of confession. And these are the more worthily united, the more such a prayer issues forth, with the vigor of life, from belief in the perpetual efficiency of the Divine mercy, which has been so often attested and assured in history, and the more decidedly if is expressed and animated with the sense of a community of interests, both in confession of sins and in supplications for supplies of grace, which are sought not merely with a view to personal participation, but also with a view to the needs of the united Church.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
It is well for us, that, while confessing our sins, we can confidently offer a prayer for the Divine favor, and can begin and end with praise to God.—All suffering endures its time, but God’s love to eternity.—The history of the Church as a testimony, that grace is mightier than sin.—God remembers His covenant with us according to His mercy and truth; but we often forget His blessings and judgments, even although we remain mindful of the words of His promises and threatenings.—Only those can draw consolation from the proclamation of God’s mercy, who are truly in earnest in the confession of their sins.—Though we can never praise God adequately, yet the greatness of His deeds must not cause us to be silent, but must animate us to praise.—If we are no better than our fathers, the fact should not serve to excuse us, but urge us more earnestly to penitence.—It were good for us, if the judgments of God were not our first reminders that He has not forgotten us.—We must most rightly count those happy who practise righteousness; but we are not to forget that all men are sinners, that we obtain salvation through grace, and that righteousness is the fruit of faith.
Starke: We have always sufficient reason to praise God: but let us, above all, assiduously preserve the memory of His goodness.—A dark cloud, though it may conceal, can never destroy or extinguish the sun; so the clouds of affliction cannot blot out or quench the goodness and mercy of God.—If thou dost but truly humble thyself in prayer before God. He will ever remember thee for good.—There are still many after the fashion of the Israelites of old: they will not recognize God’s wonders as wonders, they do not fittingly regard His goodness. What can be the result but forgetfulness of God, which is the source of many other sins?—A man gives proof of a most depraved heart, when he does not fear to sin in the very place, where he has been delivered from imminent danger.—When God will serve us, nature must give way to Him.—If faith is of the true kind, it will soon make itself seen in good works.—If we would abide faithful in God’s word, and be counselled ever by it, we would not so soon or so lightly forget His gracious benefits.—To demand anything from God in impatience and doubt, and thus, as it were, to force it from Him, is to tempt Him.—If we pray for temporal things without any conditions, and therefore against God’s command, God may indeed hearken to us sometimes, but how often does the fulfilment humble us, and bring us to shame, when we have brought harm upon ourselves by our foolish request:—Almost every man has some moulds in which he casts the molten calves of his worship, until God alone becomes great in his eyes.—Nothing is more unbecoming and disgraceful to a man of understanding, than to set his heart on unworthy objects more worthless than himself.—He is blessed who can regard the great works of God with delight and not be terrified by them.—O believing soul, if thou art filled with dismay that so few stand in the breach, do it thyself; and all the more, the less others do it; if none will pray with thee, thou hast still the best of all fellow-suppliants, and the best Intercessor with the Father in heaven, Jesus Christ Himself.—The devil has still many kinds of enticing food, through which he seduces lusting souls to the service of idols.—A little word can often create a great disquietude in the heart, and yet there are many so thoughtless in the use of their tongues, that they speak not one, nor a few, but indeed numberless idle words. Will they become swords too, that will vex and torment their consciences?—Mistimed leniency is opposed to God, and injures also him who displays it, for it makes him a partaker in the sins of others.—The first step towards sin is the conscious neglect of God’s commands.—Intercourse and association with the wicked are calculated to produce much evil.—How easily intimacies are contracted in these days! But how heavy many a heart becomes thereby! How sorely wounded is many a conscience!—There are many who become only the more wicked, the more gracious and merciful God proves Himself to them.
Osiander Sometimes a single mischance will make us forget all God’s benefits.—Arndt: Men cannot, without repentance, become partakers of God’s grace, and all God’s wonders are performed that He may bring them to conversion.—God must work long before He excites and maintains faith in us.—How God may be overcome by prayer.—Renschel: God’s favor outweighs all guilt.—Frisch: There is first shown in the example of Israel the constant inconstancy of the human heart; there is then extolled the unwearied mercy and compassion of God, and lastly, David shows the true means of becoming a partaker in such compassion.—Richter: Each individual believer should appropriate specially to himself God’s gracious promises to His whole people. If we do not lay hold upon them, to whom are they to be made good? To unbelievers?—Diedrich: The best kind of confession is this: to give all the glory to God, to take all the guilt to ourselves, and to hope for the best in God’s glorious grace.—Taube: True sorrow, which is from God, not only does not make us incapable of praising God, but bears within itself the seeds of true joy, joy in the Lord.—Faith in God’s mercy is the only anchor of safety for His people.
[Matt. Henry: What is asked in passion is often given in wrath.—Those wretchedly forget themselves who feed their bodies and starve their souls.—Then God gives the good things of this life in love, when, with them, He gives grace to glorify God in the midst of them; for then the soul delights itself in fatness. Isa_55:2.—This is the worst thing in sin, that it makes us loathsome to God, and the nearer any are to God in profession, the more loathsome they are if they rebel against Him.—Bishop Horne: In general, we learn from this part of sacred history, how acceptable to God is a well-timed zeal for His service, as also, how dangerous it is to converse too freely with those of the other sex, especially when they have been educated in a false religion or in no religion at all.—We stand astonished, doubtless, at this horrid, barbarous, and unnatural impiety of offering children by fire to a Moloch: but how little is it considered that children, brought up in the ways of ignorance, error, vanity, folly and vice, are more effectually sacrificed to the great adversary of mankind. Scott Often have we, forgetful of the terrors of Sinai, and even of the scene exhibited on Mount Calvary, and of our marvellous deliverance from the hand of the enemy, been setting up idols in our hearts, and cleaving to some forbidden object, so that, if a greater than Moses had not stood in the breach, to turn away the anger of the Lord, we should have provoked Him to destroy us.—J. F. M.].
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 1. Praise ye the Lord—Hebrew, Hallelujah. The Septuagint and…
1. Praise ye the Lord—Hebrew, Hallelujah. The Septuagint and Vulgate place this word (in Hebrew two words, hallelu jah,) as the title of the psalm, and as such we must here accept it. It is not found in 1Ch_16:34, from which this verse is taken. This is the first of a series of Hallelujah Psalms; so called because they begin with this word, consisting of Psalms 106, 111-113, 117, 135, 146-150.
O give thanks— This was a favourite liturgical form for calling and inciting the people to the praise and worship of Jehovah. See 2Ch_5:13; 2Ch_7:3; Ezra 11:3; Jer_33:11. Used, also, in later Maccabaean times. 1 Mac.
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Psalm 4:24.
For ever—To eternity. Not only is God good in himself, but his outflowing, revealed mercy, is without end.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 1. Praise ye the Lord] Heb. Hallelujah. See on…
1. Praise ye the Lord] Heb. Hallelujah. See on Psa_104:35. Here and elsewhere the initial Hallelujah is omitted in P.B.V., being regarded, as in LXX and Vulg., as a kind of title only.
O give thanks … for ever] A liturgical formula, found in the Psalter only in post-exilic Psalms (Psa_107:1; Psa_118:1; Psa_136:1; cp. Psa_100:5; Ezr_3:10-11; 1Ma_4:24), but in familiar use before the Exile. See Jer_33:11, and note the slight difference in the form, which militates against the view that the words are an interpolation there.
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good] LXX rightly χρηστός, for it is not Jehovah’s essential goodness that is meant, but His kindness and graciousness towards Israel. Cp. Isa_63:7.
for his mercy endureth for ever] Israel’s sin cannot exhaust Jehovah’s lovingkindness.
1–5. The Psalmist prefaces his Psalm of penitence with a call to praise Jehovah for that unfailing goodness which is the ground of Israel’s hope in its present extremity; and with a prayer that he himself may be privileged to see and share in the restoration of Jehovah’s people.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (1) This formula of praise in the Jewish Church…
(1) This formula of praise in the Jewish Church occupied, as a choral refrain, a similar position to the Gloria Patri in Christian worship. The precise date of its first appearance cannot be ascertained. The chronicler includes it in the compilation from different psalms, which he introduces as sung when the Ark was brought to Zion (1Ch_16:34): and represents it not only as chanted by the procession of priests and Levites, but as bursting spontaneously from the lips of the assembled multitudes at the dedication of Solomon’s Temple (2Ch_7:3). He mentions it also in connection with Jehoshaphat’s revival of choral music. And it is probable that he was not guilty of any great anachronism in giving it this early existence; for Jeremiah speaks of it as a refrain as familiar as those customary at weddings (Jer_33:11), and, indeed, foretells its revival as of a practice once common, but long disused. But the fact that it is found in four liturgical hymns, besides Psalms 136, where it becomes a refrain after every verse, as well as its express mention in Ezr_3:11 as used at the dedication of the second Temple, shows that its use became more general after the Captivity; and it was in use in the Maccabæan period (1Ma_4:24).
(1-5) These verses form an introduction to the psalm, and make it evident that while the writer spoke as one of a community, and for the community, he still felt his personal relation to Jehovah.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain This is the first of the strictly "Hallelujah psalmsi.e.…
This is the first of the strictly "Hallelujah psalmsi.e. of the psalms beginning with the phrase "hallelujah which are Ps 106, 111, 112, 113, 135, 146, 147, 148, 149, and 150. Eight of these ten (all but 111, 112) also end with the phrase. Ps 104 Ps 105, and Ps 107, end with it, but do not begin with it. This psalm has a general resemblance to Psalm 78 and 105, but carries the historical sketch to a later period, and makes more pointed allusion to the Babylonish captivity (vers. 41-46). It consists of an introduction (vers. 1-5), comprising praise and prayer; an historical sketch, which is mainly a confession of the sins of the people (vers. 6-46); and a conclusion, in which prayer and praise are again united, as in the introduction.
Praise ye the Lord. (comp. Psa_104:35 Psa_105:45) O give thanks unto the Lord. (so in Psa_105:1) Even in their greatest afflictions, the Israelites were bound to give God thanks. His mercies always exceeded his punishments. For he is good. (see the comment on Psa_100:5) For his mercy eudureth forever. According to Chronicles, this phrase was used at the dedication of David"s tabernacle, (1Ch_16:34, 1Ch_16:41) and again at the dedication of the temple. (2Ch_5:13) It here first occurs in the Psalms.
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Vers. 1-5. The spirit of godliness.
This, under all dispensations, is
I THE SPIRIT OF THANKFULNESS. (Ver. 1) The godly man is he in whose mouth the praise of the Lord is found continually, because the spirit of gratitude is deep in his heart.
II THE SPIRIT OF TRUSTFULNESS. (Ver. 1) "His mercy endureth forever." To what the past has witnessed the future will testify. "Surely goodness and mercy shall follow," etc.. (Ps 23)
III THE SPIRIT OF REVERENCE. (Ver. 2) The godly man stands uncovered, awed, filled with a sense of the nearness and greatness of God, sensible of the wonderful works of his holy and mighty hand. This whole world is the temple of God, and every act of ours should be a sacrifice.
IV THE SPIRIT OF OBEDIENCE. (Ver. 3) The godly man is earnestly desirous of "keeping judgment and doing righteousness," of preserving inward integrity and. bringing forth its fruits; and this because
(1) it is a blessed thing to be right;
(2) filial obedience secures the loving favour of the Divine Father;
(3) it is attended with a variety and continuity of blessings; it brings a large reward.
V THE SPIRIT OF CONSCIOUS DEPENDENCE ON GOD. (Ver. 4) He who is "of God" knows well that it is only as God enlarges and enriches him that he will be blessed indeed; therefore he lifts his heart in daily prayer for God"s "remembrance" and his "salvation." He knows the need of perpetual supplies and of frequent interposition from above.
VI THE SPIRIT OF SACRED, SOCIAL JOY. (Ver. 5) It is not a truly Christian spirit to rest, let our hope and our joy to our own well being. This should continually overflow; it should spread and circulate far and wide. We should enter into the spirit of Moses and of Paul in their magnanimity. (see Exo_32:31, 32 Rom_9:3) Our joy is never so pure, so elevating, so noble, as when we are sharing it with others, and are rejoicing in their blessedness as well as, and as much as in our own.
HOMILIES BY S. CONWAY Vers. 1-48. The "nevertheless" of God"s mercy.
This is actually expressed in ver. 44, but it is the theme of the whole psalm. Note concerning it
I IT IMPLIES PREVIOUS AND TERRIBLE PROVOCATION. And, indeed, there had been such:
1. In sins actually committed. What a catalogue of them the psalm contains! Sin at the very beginning (ver. 7). The former psalm reviewed the history of God"s people as a subject for adoring praise, because of God"s never-failing care. Here, also, a "Hallelujah!" is raised, in view of the same history, because of God"s never-failing forgiveness. And the sins that needed this forgiveness are confessed here the short-lived gratitude (ver. 13); the shameful murmuring (ver. 15); the wicked envy (ver. 16); the disgraceful idolatry (ver. 19); their unbelief (ver. 24); their sacrifices to Baal-peor (ver. 28): their murmuring at Meribah (ver. 32); their disobedience (ver. 34). What a melancholy list it is! And this is not all; for see:
2. The mercies of God despised. (Ver. 13)
3. Their treatment of Moses. (Vers. 16, 23, 32)
4. Their hardened resistance, so that God"s punishments had no power to change their evil will. (cf. Joh_1:5) Yes, there had been provocation indeed.
II IT PROCLAIMS THE INFINITE COMPASSION AND FORBEARANCE OF GOD. Sin is the dark foil on which the brightness of God"s mercy is all the more seen. That is why the angels of God can never render the praises of the redeemed. What a marvel it is that he should have spared Israel! It is equalled only by the marvel of his sparing us.
III WHEN THE SOUL BECOMES CONSCIOUS OF ALL THIS, IT IS OVERWHELMED IN GRATITUDE, LOVE, AND PRAISE. See the opening of this psalm and its close. Thus is God"s mercy the spring and abiding impulse of the new life unto him. See the well known verse"Oh the sweet wonders of that cross On which my Saviour groaned and died Her noblest life my spirit draws From his dear wounds and bleeding side. S.C.
HOMILIES BY R. TUCK Ver. 1. Goodness is graciousness.
"For he is gracious" (Prayer book Version). The term which the Authorized Version and Revised Version render "good," the Prayer book renders "gracious;" and so is suggested what is perfectly true when applied to God, that goodness is graciousness. The goodness of God dwelt on in this psalm is his patience and long suffering gentleness with his most trying and wilful people. Psalm 105 treated Israel chiefly as the passive recipient of Divine favour. Psalm 106 portrays Israel as continually set in opposition to Jehovah; faithful only when afflicted, and succoured only to apostatize again. Eight illustrative instances are given.
I GOODNESS IN THE LIGHT OF MAN"S RELATION TO GOD. In that light goodness is rightness; it is accordance with an authoritative standard. A good man is a good creature who is right with his Creator, a good servant who is obedient to his master, a good son who does the will of his father. This being man"s goodness, and man"s idea of goodness, he tries to transfer it to God, who then becomes the eternally right One. The "Judge of all the earth does right." God is good in the sense of being right, in the sense of willing that which is right, and in the sense of approving those who do the right. "Righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works.
II GOODNESS IN THE LIGHT OF GOD"S RELATIONS WITH MAN. In this psalm with man corporate. But the national relations do but illustrate the personal and individual. Here comes in a difficulty. God, the infinitely right One, dealing with creatures who were right in all purpose and endeavour, would not need to show the special characteristics that are gathered into the word "gracious." God had to deal with a nation that was wayward, wilful, and self-pleasing, with a stiff-necked generation, one that was troublesome as any spoiled child. Goodness in dealing with such a nation must show itself as patience, pitifulness, considerateness, gentleness, or, to sum up in one word, "graciousness." Illustrate it as
(1) goodness that can chastise;
(2) that can limit chastisement;
(3) that can restore, and give fresh opportunity;
(4) that cannot be wearied out;
(5) that gives the fullest influence to all qualifying considerations;
(6) that keeps on hoping for the best, and working for it.
It may also be shown that the gracious goodness of God makes necessary judgments inflicted on some educational and moral forces for the warning and guiding of all. R.T.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Charles H. Spurgeon 1885 · Public Domain This Psalm begins and ends with Hallelujah "Praise ye…
This Psalm begins and ends with Hallelujah "Praise ye the Lord." The space between these two descriptions of praise is filled up with the mournful details of Israel's sin, and the extraordinary patience of God; and truly we do well to bless the Lord both at the beginning and the end of our meditations when sin and grace are the themes. This sacred song is occupied with the historical part of the Old Testament, and is one of many which are thus composed: surely this should be a sufficient rebuke to those who speak slightingly of the historical Scriptures; it in becomes a child of God to think lightly of that which the Holy Spirit so frequently uses for our instruction. What other Scriptures had David beside those very histories which are so depreciated, and yet he esteemed them beyond his necessary food, and made them his songs in the house of his pilgrimage?
Israel's history is here written with the view of showing human sin, even as the preceding psalm was composed to magnify divine goodness. It is, in fact, a national confession, and includes an acknowledgment of the transgressions of Israel in Egypt, in the wilderness, and in Canaan, with devout petitions for forgiveness such as rendered the Psalm suitable for use in all succeeding generations, and especially in times of national captivity. It was probably written by David, at any rate its first and last two verses are to be found in that sacred song which David delivered to Asaph when he brought up the ark of the Lord (1Ch 16:34, 35, 36).
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While we are studying this holy Psalm, let us all along see ourselves in the Lord's ancient people, and bemoan our own provocations of the Most High, at the same time admiring his infinite patience, and adoring him because of it. May the Holy Spirit sanctify it to the promotion of humility and gratitude.
Division. Praise and prayer are blended in the introduction (Ps 106:1-5). Then comes the story of the nation's sins, which continues till the closing prayer and praise of the last two verses. While making confession the Psalmist acknowledges the sins committed in Egypt and at the Red Sea (Ps 106:6-12), the lusting in the wilderness (Ps 106:13-15), the envying of Moses and Aaron (Ps 106:16-18), the worship of the golden calf (Ps 106:19-23) the despising of the promised land (Ps 106:24-27), the iniquity of Baal Peor (Ps 106:28-30), and the waters of Meribah (Ps 106:28-33). Then he owns the failure of Israel when settled in Canaan, and mentions their consequent chastisement (Ps 106:34-44), together with the quick compassion which came to their relief when they were brought low (Ps 106:44-46). The closing prayer and doxology fill up the remaining verses.
Ver. 1. Praise ye the Lord. Hallelujah. Praise ye Jah. This song is for the assembled people, and they are all exhorted to join in praise to Jehovah. It is not meet for a few to praise and the rest to be silent; but all should join. If David were present in churches where quartets and choirs carry on all the singing, he would turn to the congregation and say, "Praise ye the Lord." Our meditation dwells upon human sin; but on all occasions and in all occupations it is seasonable and profitable to praise the Lord.
O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good. To us needy creatures the goodness of God is the first attribute which excites praise, and that praise takes the form of gratitude. We praise the Lord truly when we give him thanks for what we have received from his goodness. Let us never be slow to return unto the Lord our praise; to thank him is the least we can dolet us not neglect it.
For his mercy endureth for ever. Goodness towards sinners assumes the form of mercy, mercy should therefore be a leading note in our song. Since man ceases not to be sinful, it is a great blessing that Jehovah ceases not to be merciful. From age to age the Lord deals graciously with his church, and to every individual in it he is constant and faithful in his grace, even for evermore. In a short space we have here two arguments for praise, "for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever, "and these two arguments are themselves praises. The very best language of adoration is that which adoringly in the plainest words sets forth the simple truth with regard to our great Lord. No rhetorical flourishes or poetical hyperboles are needed, the bare facts are sublime poetry, and the narration of them with reverence is the essence of adoration. This first verse is the text of all that which follows; we are now to see how from generation to generation the mercy of God endured to his chosen people.
Ver. 1. For he is good; essentially, solely and originally; is communicative and diffusive of his goodness; is the author of all good and no evil; and is gracious and merciful and ready to forgive. John Gill.
Ver. 1. For he is good: for his goodness endureth for ever. Observe here what is a true and perfect confession of the divine goodness. Whenever God so blesses his own people that his goodness is perceived by carnal sense, in bestowing riches, honours, peace, health and things of that kind, then it is easy to acknowledge that God is good, and that acknowledgment can be made by the most carnal men. The case stands otherwise when he visits offenders with the rod of correction and scourges them with the grace of chastisement. Then the flesh hardly bears to confess what by its own sense it does not perceive. It fails to discern the goodness of God unto salvation in the severity of the rod and the scourging, and therefore refuses to acknowledge that goodness in strokes and sufferings. The prophet, however, throughout this Psalm celebrates in many instances the way wherein the sinning people were arrested and smitten. And when he proposed that this Psalm should be sung in the church of God, Israel was under the cross and afflictions. Yet he demands that Israel should acknowledge that the Lord is good, that his mercy endureth for ever, even in the act of smiting the offender. That therefore alone is a true and full confession of the divine goodness which is made not only in prosperity but also in adversity. Musculus.
Ver. 1 There is,
1. The doxology;
2. Invitation;
3. The reason that we should, and why we should, give thanks always;
4. The greatness of the work. But "who can utter the mighty acts of the LORD? who can shew forth all his praise?" That is, it is impossible for any man in the world to do this great duty aright, as he should.
5. The best mode and method of giving thanks. "Blessed are they that keep judgment, and he that doeth righteousness at all times." As if he had said, "This is indeed a vast duty; but yet he makes the best essay towards it that sets himself constantly to serve God and keep his commandments." William Cooper, in the "Morning Exercises".
Ver. 1. The first and two last verses of this psalm form a part of that psalm which David delivered into the hand of Asaph and his brethren, to be sung before the ark of the covenant, after it was brought from the house of Obededom to Mount Zion. See 1Ch 16:34-36. Hence it has been ascribed to the pen of David. Many of the ancients thought, and they are followed by Horsley and Mudge, that it was written during the captivity; resting their opinion chiefly on verse 47; but as that verse occurs in the Psalm of David recorded in 1Ch 16:35, this argument is clearly without force. James Anderson's Note to Calvin in loc.
Ver. 1. Take this verse as the theme of the Psalm, and we shall then see that its exhortation to praise,
1. Is directed to a special people: chosen, redeemed, but sinful, borne with, and forgiven.
2. Is supported by abundant arguments. Man not to be praised, for he sins. God gives in his goodness, and forgives in his mercy, and is therefore to be thanked.
3. Is as applicable now as ever: for our story is a transcript of Israel's.
Psalms 106:2*
Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain Praise ye the Lord.
Psa_106:1-5
Praise ye the Lord.
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The true in praise, religion, and prayer
I. True. Praise and its reasons (verses 1, 2). This call to praise Jehovah is binding on all intelligent and moral creatures, because of--
1. The goodness of His nature.
2. The permanency of His mercy.
3. The immensity of His works.
II. True religion and its blessedness (verse 3). What is true religion? Keeping to the right at all times. If ye love Me, keep My commandments. The only hymn of praise acceptable to the ear of the Infinite is a life of rectitude. Now, this is happiness (Psa_1:1).
III. True prayer and its desires. What is the grand desire of true prayer? All may be summed up in one sentence--identification with the excellent of the earth (verses 4, 5). A desire to be identified with the rich, the powerful, and the distinguished of the earth is common, is of the earth, earthy; but a desire to be vitally associated with the morally excellent of the earth is rare and of heavenly origin. May this be our grand aspiration! (Homilist.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Expositor's Bible 1887 · Public Domain Psalms 106
Psalms 106
THE history of Gods past is a record of continuous mercies, the history of mans, one of as continuous sin. The memory of the former quickened the psalmist into his sunny song of thankfulness in the previous psalm. That of the latter moves him to the confessions in this one. They are complements of each other, and are connected not only as being both retrospective, but by the identity of their beginnings and the difference of their points of view. The parts of the early history dealt with in the one are lightly touched or altogether omitted in the other. The keynote of Psalms 105 is, "Remember His mighty deeds," that of Psalms 106 is, "They forgot His mighty deeds."
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Surely never but in Israel has patriotism chosen a nations sins for the themes of song, or, in celebrating its victories, written but one name, the name of Jehovah, on its trophies. But in the Psalter we have several instances of such hymns of national confession; and, in other books, there are the formulary at the presentation of the first fruits {, Solomons prayer at the dedication of the Temple, {1 Kings 8} Nehemiahs prayer, {Nehemiah 9} and Daniels. {Daniel 9}
An exilic date is implied by the prayer of Psa_106:47, for the gathering of the people from among the nations. The occurrence of Psa_106:1 and Psa_106:47-48 in the compilation in 1 Chronicles 16 shows that this psalm, which marks the close of the Fourth Book, was in existence prior to the date of 1 Chronicles.
No trace of strophical arrangement is discernible. But, after an introduction in some measure like that in Psalms 105, the psalmist plunges into his theme, and draws out the long, sad story of Israels faithlessness. He recounts seven instances during the wilderness sojourn (Psa_106:7-33), and then passes to those occurring in the Land (Psa_106:34-39), with which he connects the alternations of punishment and relenting on Gods part and the obstinacy of transgression on Israels, even down to the moment in which he speaks (Psa_106:40-46). The whole closes with a prayer for restoration to the Land (Psa_106:47); to which is appended the doxology (Psa_106:48), the mark of the end of Book 4, and not a part of the psalm. The psalmist preludes his confession and contemplation of his peoples sins by a glad remembrance of Gods goodness and enduring lovingkindness and by a prayer for himself. Some commentators regard these introductory verses as incongruous with the tone of the psalm, and as mere liturgical commonplace, which has been tacked on without mush heed to fitness. But surely the thought of Gods unspeakable goodness most appropriately precedes the psalmists confession, for nothing so melts a heart in penitence as the remembrance of Gods love, and nothing so heightens the evil of sin as the consideration of the patient goodness which it has long flouted. The blessing pronounced in Psa_106:3 on those who righteousness and keep the law is not less natural, before a psalm which sets forth in melancholy detail the converse truth of the misery that dogs breaking the law.
In Psa_106:4-5 the psalmist interjects a prayer for himself, the abruptness of which strongly reminds us of similar jets of personal supplication in Nehemiah. The determination to make the "I" of the Psalter the nation perversely insists on that personification here, in spite of the clear distinction thrice drawn in Psa_106:5 between the psalmist and his people. The "salvation" in which he desires to share is the deliverance from exile for which he prays in the closing verse of the psalm. There is something very pathetic in this momentary thought of self. It breathes wistful yearning, absolute confidence in the unrealised deliverance, lowly humility which bases its claim with God on that of the nation. Such a prayer stands in the closest relation to the theme of the psalm, which draws out the dark record of national sin, in order to lead to that national repentance which, as all the history shows, is the necessary condition of "the prosperity of Thy chosen ones." Precisely because the hope of restoration is strong, the delineation of sin is unsparing. With Psa_106:6 the theme of the psalm is given forth, in language which recalls Solomons and Daniels similar confessions. {1Ki_8:47; Dan_9:5} The accumulation of synonyms for sin witnesses at once to the gravity and manifoldness of the offences, and to the earnestness and comprehensiveness of the acknowledgment. The remarkable expression "We have sinned with our fathers" is not to be weakened to mean merely that the present generation had sinned like their ancestors, but gives expression to the profound sense of national solidarity, which speaks in many other places of Scripture, and rests on very deep facts in the life of nations and their individual members. The enumeration of ancestral sin begins with the murmurings of the faint-hearted fugitives by the Red Sea. In Psalms 105 the wonders in Egypt were dilated on and the events at the Red Sea unmentioned. Here the signs in Egypt are barely referred to and treated as past at the point where the psalm begins, while the incidents by the Red Sea fill a large space in the song. Clearly, the two psalms supplement each other. The reason given for Israels rebellion in Psalms 106 is its forgetfulness of Gods mighty deeds (Psa_106:7 a, b), while in Psalms 105 the remembrance of these is urgently enjoined. Thus, again, the connection of thought in the pair of psalms is evident. Every man has experiences enough of Gods goodness stored away in the chambers of his memory to cure him of distrust, if he would only look at them. But they lie unnoticed, and so fear has sway over him. No small part of the discipline needed for vigorous hope lies in vigorous exercise of remembrance. The drying up of the Red Sea is here poetically represented, with omission of Moses outstretched rod and the strong east wind, as the immediate consequence of Gods omnipotent rebuke. Psa_106:9 b is from Isa_63:13, and picturesquely describes the march through that terrible gorge of heaped-up waters as being easy and safe, as if it had been across some widestretching plain, with springy turf to tread on The triumphant description of the completeness of the enemies destruction in Psa_106:11 b is Exo_14:28, and "they believed on His words" is in part quoted Exo_14:31, while Miriams song is referred to in Psa_106:12 b.
The next instance of departure is the lusting for food (Psa_106:13-15). Again the evil is traced to forgetfulness of Gods doings, to which in Psa_106:13 b is added impatient disinclination to wait the unfolding of His counsel or plan. These evils cropped up with strange celerity. The memory of benefits was transient, as if they had been written on the blown sands of the desert. "They hasted, they forgot His works." Of how many of us that has to be said! We remember pain and sorrow longer than joy and pleasure. It is always difficult to bridle desires and be still until God discloses His purposes. We are all apt to try to force His hand open, and to impose our wishes on Him, rather than to let His will mould us. So, on forgetfulness and impatience there followed then, as there follow still, eager longings after material good, and a tempting of God. "They lusted a lust is from Num_11:4. "Tempted God" is found in reference to the same incident in the other psalm of historical retrospect. {Psa_78:18} He is "tempted" when unbelief demands proofs of His power, instead of waiting patiently for Him. In Num_11:33, Jehovah is said to have smitten the people "with a very great plague." The psalm specifies more, particularly the nature of the stroke by calling it "wasting sickness," which invaded the life of the sinners. The words are true in a deeper sense, though not so meant. For whoever sets his hot desires in self-willed fashion on material good, and succeeds in securing their gratification, gains with the satiety of his lower sense the loss of a shrivelled spiritual nature. Full-fed flesh makes starved souls. The third instance is the revolt headed by Korah, Dathan, and Abiram against the exclusive Aaronic priesthood (Psa_106:16-18). It was rebellion against God, for He had set apart Aaron as His own, and therefore the unusual title of "the holy one of Jehovah" is here given to the high priest. The expression recalls the fierce protest of the mutineers, addressed to Moses and Aaron, "Ye take too much upon you, seeing all the congregation are holy"; {Num_16:3} and also Moses answer, "Jehovah will show who is holy." Envy often masquerades as the champion of the rights of the community, when it only wishes to grasp these for itself. These aristocratic democrats cared nothing for the prerogatives of the nation, though they talked about them. They wanted to pull down Aaron, not to lift up Israel. Their end is described with stern brevity, in language coloured by the narrative in Numbers, from which the phrases "opened" (i.e., her mouth) and "covered" are drawn. Korah is not mentioned here, in which the psalm follows Numbers 16 and Deu_11:6, whereas Num_26:10 includes Korah in the destruction. The difficulty does not seem to have received any satisfactory solution. But Cheyne is too peremptory when he undertakes to divine the reason for the omission of Korah here and in Deu_11:6, "because he was a Levite and his name was dear to temple poets." Such clairvoyance as to motives is beyond ordinary vision. In Psa_106:18 the fate of the two hundred and fifty "princes of Israel" who took part in the revolt is recorded as in Num_16:35.
The worship of the calf is the fourth instance (Psa_106:19-23) in the narrative of which the psalmist follows Exodus 32, but seems also to have Deu_9:8-12 floating in his mind, as appears from the use of the name "Horeb," which is rare in Exodus and frequent in Deuteronomy. Psa_106:20 is apparently modelled on Jer_2:11 : "My people have changed their glory for that which doth not profit." Compare also Pauls "changed the glory of the incorruptible God for the likeness, " etc. {Rom_1:23} "His glory" is read instead "their glory by Noldeke, Graetz, and Cheyne, following an old Jewish authority. The LXX, in Codd. Alex. and Sin. (second hand), has this reading, and Paul seems to follow it in the passage just quoted. It yields a worthy meaning, but the existing text is quite appropriate. It scarcely means that God was the source of Israels glory or their boast, for the word is not found in that sense. It is much rather the name for the collective attributes of the revealed Godhead, and is here substantially equivalent to "their God," that lustrous Light which, in a special manner, belonged to the people of revelation, on whom its first and brightest beams shone. The strange perverseness which turned away from such a radiance of glory to bow down before an idol is strikingly set forth by the figure of bartering it for an image and that of an ox that ate grass. The one true Substance given away for a shadow! The lofty Being whose light filled space surrendered: and for what? A brute that had to feed, and that on herbage! Men usually make a profit, or think they do, on their barter: but what do they gain by exchanging God for anything? Yet we keep making the same mistake of parting with Substance for shadows. And the reason which moved Israel is still operative. As before, the psalmist traces their mad apostasy to forgetfulness of Gods deeds. The list of these is now increased by the addition of those at the Red Sea. With every step new links were added to the chain that should have bound the recipients of so many mercies to God. Therefore each new act of departure was of a darker hue of guilt, and drew on the apostates severer punishment, which also, rightly understood, was greater mercy.
"He said that He would annihilate them" is quoted from Deu_9:25. Moses intercession for the people is here most vividly represented under the figure of a champion, who rushes into the breach by which the enemy is about to pour into some beleaguered town, and with his own body closes the gap and arrests the assault. {cf. Eze_22:30}
The fifth instance is the refusal to go up to the land, which followed on the report of the spies (Psa_106:24-27). These verses are full of reminiscences of the Pentateuch and other parts of Scripture. "The delightsome, land" (lit. "land of desire) is found in Jer_3:19 and Zec_7:14. "They despised" is from Num_14:31. "They murmured in their tents" is Deu_1:27 (the only other place in which the word for murmuring occurs in this form). Lifting up the hand is used, as here, not in the usual sense of threatening to strike, but in that of swearing, in Exo_6:8, and the oath itself is given in Num_14:28 sqq., while the expression "lifted up My hand" occurs in that context, in reference to Gods original oath to the patriarch. The threat of exile (Psa_106:27) does not occur in Numbers, but is found as the punishment of apostasy Lev_26:33 and Deu_28:64. The verse, however, is found almost exactly in Eze_20:23, with the exception that there "scatter" stands in a instead of make to fall. The difference in the Hebrew is only in the final letter of the words, and the reading in Ezekiel should probably be adopted here. So the LXX and other ancient authorities and many of the moderns.
The sixth instance is" the participation in the abominable Moabitish worship of "Baal-Peor," recorded in Numbers 25. The peculiar phrase "yoked themselves to" is taken from that chapter, and seems to refer to "the mystic, quasi-physical union supposed to exist between a god and his worshippers, and to be kept up by sacrificial meals" (Cheyne). These are called sacrifices of the dead, inasmuch as idols are dead in contrast with the living God. The judicial retribution inflicted according to Divine command by the judges of Israel slaying "everyone his man" is here called a "plague," as in the foundation passage, Num_25:9. The word (lit. "a stroke," i.e., from God) is usually applied to punitive sickness; but God smites when He bids men smite. Both the narrative in Numbers and the psalm bring out vividly the picture of the indignant Phinehas springing to his feet from the midst of the passive crowd. He "rose up," says the former; he "stood up," says the latter. And his deed is described in the psalm in relation to its solemn judicial character, without particularising its details. The psalmist would partially veil both the sin and the horror of its punishment. Phinehas javelin was a minister of Gods justice, and the death of the two culprits satisfied that justice and stayed the plague. The word rendered "did judgment" has that meaning only, and such render ings as mediated or appeased give the effect of the deed and not the description of it contained in the word. "It was reckoned to him for righteousness" as Abrahams faith was {Gen_15:6} It was indeed an act which had its origin "In the faithfulness that had its root in faith, and which, for the sake of this its ultimate ground, gained him the acceptation of a righteous man, inasmuch as it proved him to be such" (Delitzsch, Eng. Trans.). He showed himself a true son of Abraham in the midst of these degenerate descendants, and it was the same impulse of faith which drove his spear, and which filled the patriarchs heart when he gazed into the silent sky and saw in its numberless lights the promise of his seed. Phinehas reward was the permanence of the priesthood in his family. The seventh instance is the rebellion at the waters of Meribah (Strife), in the fortieth year. {Num_20:2-13} The chronological order is here set aside, for the events recorded in Psa_106:28-31 followed those dealt with in Psa_106:32-33. The reason is probably that here Moses himself is hurried into sin, through the peoples faithlessness, and so a climax is reached. The leader, long tried, fell at last, and was shut out from entering the land. That was in some aspects the masterpiece and triumph of the nations sin. "It fared ill with Moses on their account," as in Deu_1:37; Deu_3:26, "Jehovah was angry with me for your sakes." "His Spirit," in Psa_106:33, is best taken as meaning the Spirit of God. The peoples sin is repeatedly specified in the psalm as being rebellion against God. and the absence of a more distinct definition of the person referred to is like the expression in Psa_106:32, where "indignation" is that of God, though His name is not mentioned. Isa_63:10 is a parallel to this clause, as other parts of the same chapter are to other parts of the psalm. The question which has been often raised, as to what was Moses sin, is solved in Psa_106:33 b, which makes his passionate words, wherein he lost his temper and arrogated to himself the power of fetching water from the rock, the head and front of his offending. The psalmist has finished his melancholy catalogue of sins in the wilderness with this picture of the great leader dragged down by the prevailing tone, and he next turns to the sins done in the land.
Two flagrant instances are given-disobedience to the command to exterminate the inhabitants, and the adoption of their bloody worship. The conquest of Canaan was partial; and, as often is the case, the conquerors were conquered and the invaders caught the manners of the invaded. Intermarriage poured a large infusion of alien blood into Israel; and the Canaanitish strain is perceptible today in the fellahin of the Holy Land. The proclivity to idolatry, which was natural in that stage of the worlds history, and was intensified by universal example, became more irresistible, when reinforced by kinship and neighbourhood, and the result foretold was realised-the idols "became a snare". {Jdg_2:1-3} The poet dwells with special abhorrence on the hideous practice of human sacrifices, which exercised so strong and horrible a fascination over the inhabitants of Canaan. The word in Psa_106:37 demons is found only here and in Deu_32:17. The above rendering is that of the LXX. Its literal meaning seems to be "lords." It is thus a synonym for "Baalim." The epithet "Shaddai" exclusively applied to Jehovah may be compared.
In Psa_106:40-46 the whole history of Israel is summed up as alternating periods of sin, punishment, deliverance, recurring in constantly repeated cycles, in which the mystery of human obstinacy is set over against that of Divine long suffering, and one knows not whether to wonder most at the incurable levity which learned nothing from experience, or the inexhaustible long suffering which wearied not in giving wasted gifts. Chastisement and mercies were equally in vain. The outcome of Gods many deliverances was, "they rebelled in their counsel"-i.e., went on their own stiff-necked way, instead of waiting for and following Gods merciful plan, which would have made them secure and blessed. The end of such obstinacy of disobedience can only be, "they were brought low through their iniquity." The psalmist appears to "be quoting Lev_26:39, "they that are left of you shall pine away in their iniquity"; but he intentionally slightly alters the word, substituting one of nearly the same sound, but with the meaning of being brought low instead of fading away. To follow ones own will is to secure humiliation and degradation. Sin weakens the true strength and darkens the true glory, of men.
In Psa_106:44-46 the singer rises from these sad and stern thoughts to recreate his spirit with the contemplation of the patient lovingkindness of God. It persists through all mans sin and Gods anger. The multitude of its manifestations far outnumbers that of our sins. His eye looks on Israels distress with pity, and every sorrow on which He looks He desires to remove. Calamities melt away beneath His gaze, like damp stains in sunlight. His merciful "look" swiftly follows the afflicted mans cry. No voice acknowledges sin and calls for help in vain. The covenant forgotten by men is none the less remembered by Him. The numberless number of His lovingkindnesses, greater than that of all mens sins, secures forgiveness after the most repeated transgressions. The law and measure of His "repenting" lie in the endless depths of His own heart. As the psalmist had sung at the beginning, that lovingkindness endures forever; therefore none of Israels many sins went unchastised, and no chastisement outlasted their repentance. Solomon had prayed that God would "give them compassion before those who carried them captive"; {1Ki_8:50} and thus has it been, as the psalmist joyfully sees. He may have written when the Babylonian captivity was near an end, and such instances as those of Daniel or Nehemiah may have been in his mind. In any case, it is beautifully significant that a psalm, which tells the doleful story of centuries of faithlessness, should end with Gods faithfulness to His promises, His inexhaustible forgiveness, and the multitude of His lovingkindnesses. Such will be the last result of the worlds history no less than of Israels.
The psalm closes with the prayer in Psa_106:47, which shows that it was written in exile. It corresponds in part with the closing words of Psalms 105. Just as there the purpose of Gods mercies to Israel was said to be that they might be thereby moved to keep His statutes, so here the psalmist hopes and vows that the issue of his peoples restoration will be thankfulness to Gods holy name, and triumphant pealing forth from ransomed lips of His high praises.
Psa_106:48 is the concluding doxology of the Fourth Book. Some commentators suppose it an integral part of the psalm, but it is more probably an editorial addition.
William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain “This it the first of a series of Hallelujah…
INTRODUCTION
“This it the first of a series of Hallelujah Psalms: Psalms of which the word Hallelujah is, as it were, the inscription (106, 111–113, 117, 135, 146–150.). As in the last Psalm, so here the history of Israel is recapitulated. In that it was turned into a thanksgiving; in this it forms the burden of a confession. There God’s mighty acts for His people were celebrated with joy; here His people’s Bin is humbly and sorrowfully acknowledged. Nothing is more remarkable in these great historical Psalms than the utter absence of any word or sentiment tending to feed the national vanity. All the glory of Israel’s history is confessed to be due, not to her heroes, her priests, her prophets, but to God; all the failures which are written upon that history, all discomfitures, losses, reverses, the sword, famine, exile, are recognised as the righteous chastisement which the sin of the nation has provoked. This is the strain of such Psalms as the 78th, the 105th, the 106th. This is invariably the tone assumed by all the divinely-instructed teachers of the people, by the prophets in their great sermons, by the poets in their contributions to the national liturgy.
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“From Psa_106:47 it may be fairly inferred that the Psalm is of the date of the Exile, or was written shortly after the return of the first company of exiles.”—Perowne.
Hengstenberg: “The situation is described exactly in Psa_106:46-47;” and “is that towards the end of the captivity.”
The author of the Psalm is not known.
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE BLESSED PEOPLE
(Psa_106:1-5)
“The first five verges,” says Perowne, “seem to stand alone, and to have little or no direct connection with the rest of the Psalm.… The first verse, no doubt, is of the nature of a doxological formula, such as we find in some other of these later Psalms. But the second and third verses have an immediate bearing on what follows. What so fitting to introduce the confession of a nation’s sin and ingratitude as the rehearsal of God’s goodness manifested to it, and the acknowledgment of the blessedness of those who, instead of despising that goodness, as Israel had done, walked in the ways of the Lord, keeping judgment and doing righteousness (Psa_106:3)? Or, again, what more natural than that the sense of the national privilege, the claim of a personal share in that privilege, should spring in the heart and rise to the lips of one who felt most deeply the national sin and ingratitude?”
We regard these verses as presenting to us certain characteristics of the blessed people.
I. They are a worshipping people.
1. They have exalted views of the Divine greatness and glory. “Who can utter the mighty acts of the Lord? Who can show forth all His praise?” The acts of the Lord are so many, so great, so marvellous, and so glorious, that man is unable adequately to celebrate them. “The transcendent greatness of the deeds of God ought not to keep us back from praising Him, but contains in it the strongest motive to praise; the farther off the goal is, the more earnestly must we strive.”—Hengstenberg.
2. They appreciate the Divine benefits. “He is good, His mercy endureth for ever.” The goodness here mentioned is not so much the excellence of His own nature, as His gracious dealings with man. The manifestations of His mercy and generosity were so numerous, so constant, so glorious, that the Poet was moved by admiration, and desired to give God the honour of them.
3. They praise the Divine Being. “Praise ye the Lord. O give thanks unto the Lord.” Worship—the adoration of the Divine excellence, and beneficence, and beauty—is an essential element of the highest blessedness. The true worship of the true God is the heaven of the soul.
II. They are a righteous people. “Blessed are they that keep judgment, and he that doeth righteousness at all times.” For moral beings there can be no blessedness except that which is based upon righteousness of principle and of practice. Conscience will not admit of blessedness on any other condition. The Psalmist speaks of habitual righteousness. If we would be truly blessed, righteousness must be not an occasional but a constant disposition of heart and rule of conduct. The blessed man is one who “doeth righteousness at all times.” Barnes points out that “the Psalm is designed to illustrate by contrast; that is, by showing, in the conduct of the Hebrew people, the consequences of disobedience, and thus implying what would have been, and what always must be, the consequences of the opposite course”
III. They are the Lord’s people. We cannot be truly blessed without a hearty recognition of our true relation to God. When by faith and consecration we are His people, great is our blessedness. Concerning the people of God and their blessedness the Poet indicates—
1. The source of all their blessings. “Remember me, O Lord, with the favour of Thy people.” All our blessings flow from the unmerited and free “favour” of the Lord.
2. The sum of all their blessings. “Oh visit me with Thy salvation.” “Salvation” includes pardon for past sin, “grace to help in time of need,” and eternal and blessed life.
3. The result of all their blessings.
(1.) Gladness to man. “That I may rejoice in the gladness of Thy nation.” The favour of God is joy-inspiring.
(2.) Glory to God. “That I may glory with Thine inheritance.” The people of God glory not in their wisdom, wealth, or power, but in their relation to Him. In Him they make their boast. To Him they ascribe their praise.
CONCLUSION.—
1. God has a people who are in a special manner His.
2. To these people He imparts special blessings.
3. Are we of the number of these people?
THE FAVOUR OF GOD DESIRED
Psa_106:4. “Remember me, O Lord, with the favour of Thy people.”
I. That the Lord has a people, who in a different way from others are His. They are so by adopting love, Rom_9:25; by renewing grace, Eph_2:10; by voluntary consent, 2Co_7:5; by public avowal, Isa_44:5; by inward testimony, 1Jn_5:19, Rom_8:16; by divine appropriation, Zec_13:9, and by open evidence, 2Co_3:2-3.
II. That to these He bears a peculiar and distinguished favour. While others are the recipients of common mercies, they have blessings of a peculiar and pre-eminent description, so that the congratulation given by Moses to the Israelites is applicable to the Lord’s people in every age and place. (Deu_33:29.)
III. That to be remembered of God with this favour is infinitely desirable. And why is this the case? Because it sweetens the comforts of life; because it quickens us in the performance of duty; because it yields relief in scenes of sorrow and suffering; and because it is the ground of all our hope.
IV. That those who would have the Divine favour must pray for it. “God is ready to bestow His favour upon us (1Jn_4:10, Rom_8:32), but application on our part must be made (Eze_36:37); and the reasonableness of the duty leaves without excuse those persons who refuse to comply with it. Let us never despise a favour so freely offered, so greatly needed; a favour which may be obtained on terms so easy.”—W. Sleigh.
THE LORD’S GOODNESS AND MAN’S SIN
(Psa_106:6-12)
In these verses the Psalmist begins the confession of the sin of the Israelites as manifested in their history. Let us notice—
I. Man’s sin notwithstanding the Lord’s goodness. Psa_106:6-8. We have here—-
1. The sins acknowledged.
(1) Thoughtlessness. “Our fathers understood not Thy wonders in Egypt.” Perowne: “Our fathers in Egypt considered not,” &c. The marvellous and glorious deeds of the Lord in their behalf they saw but did not consider, and therefore did not understand them. “They thought the plagues of Egypt were intended for their deliverance, whereas they were intended also for their instruction and conviction, not only to force them out of their Egyptian slavery, but to cure them of their inclination to Egyptian idolatry, by evidencing the sovereign power and dominion of the God of Israel above all gods, and His particular concern for them.”—M. Henry. Want of consideration is a sin frequently charged against Israel, and to which men are painfully prone in our own day. We see the Divine wonders, receive the Divine benefits, but do not reflect on their significance, &c.
(2) Forgetfulness. ‘ ‘They remembered not the multitude of Thy mercies.” Although the wonders in Egypt were so many and great, yet they made so small an impression upon the people on whose behalf they were wrought that they were speedily forgotten by them. “Eaten bread is soon forgotten.”
(3) Rebellion. “But provoked Him at the sea, at the Red Sea. Hengstenberg and Perowne translate: “rebelled at the sea.” (See Exo_14:10-12.) Not withstanding all the mighty works that had been wrought for their deliverance from Egypt, on the first approach of danger they distrusted the Lord, and, like craven-hearted slaves, they murmured against the servant of the Lord. They distrusted the power, mercy, and faithfulness of God. Observe the gradation and connection of their sins. Want of reflection upon the mercy of God leads to forgetfulness of those mercies, and forgetfulness of His mercies leads to distrust, &c Evil is terribly progressive.
2. The aggravation of their sins. Many were the “wonders” wrought on their behalf, yet they failed to consider them. The Lord bestowed upon them a “multitude of mercies;” it is sinful to forget one of His loving-kindnesses; yet they forgot a “multitude” of them. The sin of their rebellion also was aggravated by the place in which they were guilty of it. It was “at the Red Sea,” directly after their emancipation from Egypt, when the wonders of power and grace which God had wrought for them should have been fresh in their minds, and a powerful inspiration to faith.
3. The confession of their sins. “We have sinned with our fathers, we have committed iniquity, we have done wickedly.” Here is
(1) A deep sense of great and manifold transgressions. This is impressively indicated by the three verbs.
(2) A sad successiveness of sin. “We have sinned with our fathers.” The sins of the fathers had been reproduced in the children, generation after generation; so that the nation as a whole was regarded by the Psalmist as guilty before God.
In most of the points which we have touched upon the sins of the Israelites, notwithstanding the goodness of the Lord, represent the sins of the men of our age and country. (Show this, and urge confession).
II. The Lord’s goodness notwithstanding man’s sin. Psa_106:8-12. Though the sins of Israel were so aggravated, yet the Lord continued to manifest His mercy to them.
1. His goodness was displayed in their salvation. The deliverance here referred to was a very remarkable one. It was
(1) A deliverance from extreme danger. They were shut in by the mountains, the sea, and the Egyptians. There seemed to be no way of escape.
(2) A deliverance marvellously effected. A path was opened through the sea, whose waters stood as guardian-walls on either hand of them.
(3) A deliverance effected with the utmost ease. The Poet represents the sea as “dried up” at the “rebuke” of the Lord. Nature is thoroughly loyal to the Divine will.
(4) A deliverance gloriously complete. Israel not only crossed over in safety, but “the waters covered their enemies, there was not one of them left.”
2. His goodness was displayed for His own glory. “He saved them for His Name’s sake, that He might make His mighty power to be known.” Notwithstanding their offences He saved them because of what He is in Himself,—a being of unchanging truth and mercy; and that the glory of His power might be manifested.
3. The display of His goodness awoke them to a transient exercise of faith and praise. “Then believed they His words; they sang His praise.” (See Exo_14:31; Exo_15:1.) For a time distrust gave place to faith, and murmuring to praise. But it was only for a little time; for “both the faith and the song are mentioned, not in praise of their conduct, but only as still further proof that whatever impressions were produced, whether by God’s judgments or His mercies, were but temporary and on the surface. The goodness of Israel was like the dew, early gone.”—Perowne.
CONCLUSION.—This scene from Hebrew history presents to us
(1) Admonition. Let us not sin against that Being who is ever manifesting so much goodness to us.
(2) Encouragement. God does not “deal with us after our sins,” &c.
SIN IN ITS ROOT, EXPRESSIONS, AND PUNISHMENTS
(Psa_106:13-23)
We now come to the confession of the transgressions of the Israelites in the wilderness; and in the verses now before us three of their offences are mentioned. As the Homiletic suggestions arising out of these sins and their punishments will be brought out in treating of their history as recorded in Exodus and Numbers, we shall simply deal with the points suggested by the Psalmist.
I. Sin in its root. “They soon forgat His works … They forgat God their Saviour, which had done great things in Egypt; wondrous things in the land of Ham; terrible things by the Red Sea.” (See our remarks on Psa_106:7, and on Psa_78:11-12.) The small impression which the greatest mercies and most marvellous deliverances made upon them is astonishing. Bad as men are, it is not often that favours so extraordinary are forgotten so quickly. “They made haste, they forgat His works.” They, as it were, manifested impatience to rid themselves of the recollection of His glorious deeds wrought for them. Even the mighty miracles in Egypt and at the Red Sea passed away from them as tales that were told. Had they retained in their mind the great things which God had done for them, they would have had in these things such a revelation of His character as would have precluded the committal of their offences against Him. Forgetfulness of deeds of marvellous mercy and power wrought on their behalf, and of Him who wrought them, was the root from which their base rebellion sprang.
II. Sin in its expressions. From the root of forgetfulness of God there sprang up some base and pernicious branches. Here are three heinous sins—
1. Their sin as regards the Divine provision. “They waited not for His counsel; but lusted exceedingly in the wilderness,” &c. “They were not content,” says Perowne, “to exercise a patient dependence upon God, leaving it to Him to fulfil His own purposes in His own way, but would rather rule Him than submit themselves to His rule.” (See Homiletic Commentary on Psa_78:17-18.)
2. Their sin as regards the Divinely-appointed leaders. “They envied Moses also in the camp, and Aaron the saint of the Lord.” (Num_16:1-3.) The reference in this place is rather to the rebellion which resulted from the envy, than to the envy itself. Aaron is denominated “the saint,” or “the holy one of Jehovah,” because of his priestly office. It is an official, not a personal designation. The leaders of the insurrection claimed that the whole congregation was “holy,” that they were all set apart and consecrated, and were therefore on an equality with Moses and Aaron. Rebellion against the Divinely-appointed leaders was equivalent to rebellion against Him who appointed them.
3. Their sin as regards the Divine Person. “They made a calf in Horeb, and worshipped the molten image. Thus they changed their glory into the similitude of an ox that eateth grass.” (Exodus 32) “They made—contrary to the prohibition in Exo_20:4-5—a calf, intended to represent an ox (comp. Psa_106:20). They would gladly have made an ox, but they were not able to get this length, so contemptible was the whole undertaking. The name ‘calf’ is everywhere used in contempt; the worshippers without doubt called it a bull; according to Philo they made ‘a golden bull.’ ”—Hengstenberg. “Their glory” was the Lord God, and they changed Him for the likeness “of an ox that eateth grass.” (Comp. Rom_1:23.) The intention of the people was to worship God under the symbol of the calf, but as this symbolising was utterly incompatible with the nature of Jehovah, and opposed to His express command, it was regarded by God as bartering Him for the image, the renunciation of Jehovah for the model of a calf. Miserable and terribly sinful absurdity to exchange the Lord of heaven and earth for a calf-like model of a grass-eating ox! The sin which began in forgetfulness of God ended in idolatry. The development of evil is from bad to worse, and is sometimes fearfully rapid.
II. Sin in its punishments. We have here—
1. Punishment corresponding with sin. (On the punishment of those who lusted for flesh in the wilderness see Homiletic Commentary on Psa_78:30-31). “He gave them their request, but sent leanness into their soul.” The “soul” here means the animal soul, the physical life. The Lord gratified their sinful desire, and in so doing and by the same means punished their sin; for they ate until there came on a wasting sickness which led to alarming mortality. But although the “soul” is here used with its physical meaning, “the figurative sense is equally true, and equally pertinent. The very heart and spirit of a man, when bent only or supremely on the satisfaction of its earthly desires and appetites, is always dried up and withered. It becomes a lean, shrunk, miserable thing, always craving more food, yet drawing thence no nourishment, ‘magnas inter opes inops.’ ”—Perowne.
“Heaven is most just, and of our pleasant vices
Makes instruments to scourge us.”
—Shakespeare.
In the rebellion against Moses and Aaron we note a correspondence between the sin and its punishment. In the rebellion against Moses, who was the ruler in all affairs of state, “Dathan and Abiram, as princes of the tribe of Reuben, Jacob’s eldest son, would claim to be chief magistrates, by the so-much-admired right of primogeniture.” And for rebelling against “the civil authority they were punished by the earth, which opened and swallowed them up, as not fit to go upon God’s ground, because they would not submit to God’s government.”—M. Henry. In the rebellion against Aaron, which took place among the Levites and was headed by Korah, “a fire was kindled in their company, a flame burnt up the wicked.” “These had sinned by fire and were punished by fire like the sons of Aaron” (Lev_10:2). (Comp. Num_16:1-35.)
2. Punishment averted by intercession. When the people made and worshipped the golden calf, God “said that He would destroy them, had not Moses His chosen stood before Him in the breach, to turn away His wrath, lest He should destroy them.” Moses is here compared to a brave soldier who, when a breach has been made in the walls of the fortress which he is defending, plants himself in the breach, and so keeps back the invaders. (Comp. Exo_32:11-14.) God would have destroyed the people, if Moses had not interposed and interceded for them. See here—
1. The power of prayer.
2. The greatness of the Divine mercy.
3. An illustration of the intercession of Christ for our race.
FORGETFULNESS OF THE DIVINE WORKS
(Psa_106:13.—“But they soon forgot His works.”)
I. That the works of God are supremely worthy of an attentive review, and a thankful remembrance.
1. What did they forget? His works. Review all their variety—the creation, the appointment of a salvation, the work of redemption, the works of Providence; they are to be considered in their peculiar aspect, whether prosperous or adverse. Review their multitude; they are to be considered in their meaning. Providence is our daily preacher.
2. What sort of recollection should it be? Not a mere notional recollection—a recollection accompanied with suitable emotions—astonishment, gratitude, love, and heartfelt consideration. It must be a devotional and practical recollection.
3. Why are these works to be remembered? Because they are God’s works; because they are all-important; because the least of them is the purchase of infinite price.
II. That there is in human nature a strange tendency to forget the works of God.
This is no calumny on human nature. It is the express statement of Scripture, and is confirmed by daily experience. It arises from—
1. The injury the memory has sustained by the Fall: it retains what is impure, but not what is holy.
2. The bias of our mind is directed to earthly things.
3. The secret disinclination to contemplate a subject in which God is intimately concerned.
III. The sinfulness and danger of thus forgetting the works of God.
1. It arises out of a sinful state of mind, and it is culpable forgetfulness.
2. It is an actual transgression of God’s Word. (Deu_4:9; 1Ch_16:12.)
3. It involves in it the commission of other sins—inconsideration and ingratitude.
4. They who forget their mercies forfeit them.
5. God has denounced fearful judgments on such. (Psa_9:17.)
IV. What are the best means of preserving in our minds a grateful sense of the Divine goodness?
1. Seek that you be renewed and sanctified.
2. Attention will much assist in the recollection of mercies. (Pro_4:20.)
3. Meditation cannot be done in a crowd; then seek solitude.
4. Order and arrangement are like cells in which our mercies may be deposited and called out in order.
5. Strive to maintain lively affections towards God; for what we love we do not easily forget.
LESSONS:
1. How mistaken are those who suppose that forgetfulness is not a sin!
2. Here a wide field is opened for the exercise of repentance.
3. Reprove those who have a good memory for their calamities and a bad one for their mercies.
4. Address those who will not recollect. God will not forget.—George Clayton.—From “The Homiletic Quarterly.”
THE GRANTING OF SELFISH DESIRES AN INJURY TO THE SOUL
(Psa_106:15)
The history of the event referred to is given in Numbers 11.
I. Many things which are good in themselves may not be good for us individually. Material wealth is good; but upon attaining it some men have become spiritually bankrupt. (Luk_12:15-21.) Popularity may be a good thing; but, having gained it, many a man has lost his integrity, independence, heroism. How this view of things corrects the prevalent notion of success in life! “Success in life,” says the world, “is getting on in business, making money quickly, living well” (by which is meant eating and drinking luxuriously), “mixing in good society.” How shallow, false, ruinous! These things may not only consist with spiritual poverty, imbecility, and ruin, but very frequently lead to them.
II. Many things may be good for us at one time and under certain circumstances which may not be good for us at another time and under other circumstances. The flesh which the Israelites desired would have been good for them when they arrived in Canaan; but in the wilderness, where they should have been satisfied with the Divinely-provided manna, it proved a terrible curse.
III. The most fervent prayers are not always most acceptable. The motive and the character of the fervour must be taken into consideration. Fervent prayers are sometimes only the passionate cries of selfish hearts—the determined pursuit of an object of selfish desire.
IV. God may grant the passionate desire of a selfish heart with terrible results. He may give the fancied good which is so eagerly demanded, and it may prove to be a direful injury. It was so in the case before us. Instances are numerous in which unsubmissive requests have been granted with most painful results.
V. God may refuse to grant the request of even a good man, and the refusal may be a blessing. It was in love that the Lord refused the repeated request of St. Paul for the removal of the “thorn in the flesh.” That torturing thorn was the means of preventing the spiritual pride which might otherwise have effected his overthrow. (1Co_12:7-9.)
“We, ignorant of ourselves,
Beg often our own harms, which the wise powers
Deny us for our good; so find we profit By losing of our prayers.”—Shakespeare.
VI. The wisest, holiest, most acceptable prayer is for conformity with the will of God. “Not my will, but Thine be done,” expresses the true spirit of acceptable prayer.
“Covet earnestly the best gifts.” Seek those things which are pure blessings for all persons, at all times and under all circumstances.
A SAD PICTURE OF HUMAN PERVERSITY
(Psa_106:24-27)
The sinful perversity of the Israelites appears here in several mournful aspects.
I. Despising the choicest inheritance. “They despised the pleasant land.” Margin: “A land of desire.” Perowne: “They rejected the desirable land.” (Deu_8:7-9; Deu_11:9.) The Israelites frequently manifested a desire to return to Egypt. The good land before them had few attractions for them. God calls men to holiness, communion with Himself, heaven. All who do not heartily respond to His call despise the most glorious inheritance.
II. Disbelieving the best authenticated word. “They believed not His word.” They had proved the reliableness of the word of God; yet they did not believe it as regards the land which He had promised to them. They preferred to accept the testimony of the unbelieving and cowardly spies. (Num_14:1-6; Num_14:10.) We have here—
1. Unbelief dishonouring God.
2. Unbelief excluding man from his inheritance. Man’s unbelief has kept him out of many “a good land.”
III. Murmuring against the arrangements of the wisest and kindest of beings. They “murmured in their tents.” This they did repeatedly. (Num_14:2-3; Num_14:27.) “They complained of Moses, of their food, of the hardships of their journey, of God. They did this when ‘in their tents;’ when they had a comfortable home; when safe; when provided for; when under the direct Divine protection and care. So men often complain; perhaps oftener when they have many comforts than when they have few.”—Barnes.
IV. Disobeying the commands of the most sovereign authority. “They hearkened not unto the voice of the Lord.” Unbelief of God’s word speedily leads to refusal to listen to His voice and disregard of His commands. They disobeyed their Creator, Sustainer, Sovereign, and generous Benefactor—not only the greatest, but the best being. His will is supremely binding. Yet they disobeyed it.
V. Receiving deserved punishment. “Therefore He lifted up His hand against them, to overthrow them in the wilderness.” The lifting up of the hand is the gesture of swearing. “Ye shall not come into the land which I lifted up My hand to make you dwell therein” (Num_14:30). “I lifted up My hand also to them in the wilderness,” &c. (Eze_20:23). “I sware in My wrath, They shall not enter into My rest.” It is fitting that they who despise their inheritance shall not enter upon it.
VI. Entailing misery upon their posterity. “He lifted up His hand to overthrow their seed also among the nations, and to scatter them in the lands.” “The result of their rebellion and murmuring would not terminate with them. It would extend to their posterity, and the rebellion of the fathers would be remembered in distant generations. The overthrow of the nation, and its captivity in Babylon, was thus one of the remote consequences of their rebellion in the wilderness.”—Barnes.
CONCLUSION.
1. Shun sin; for by committing it you may hand down to your descendants a heritage of woe.
2. “Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief,” &c. (Heb_3:12; Heb_4:1; Heb_4:11).
PASSAGES FROM THE HISTORY OF A REBELLIOUS PEOPLE
(Psa_106:28-33)
The heart grows weary and sad as we follow this narrative with its abounding unbelief, ingratitude, meanness, and rebellion. The picture which the Poet draws of Israel is painfully sombre, yet it is true. In no portion of it has he inserted too much shadow. We have in these verses—
I. An incorrigibly rebellious people.
1. Here is idolatry. “They joined themselves also unto Baal-Peor, and ate the sacrifices of the dead.” “Baal was the name of an idol; Peor was the name of a mountain in Moab where the idol was worshipped.” “The sacrifices of the dead” are the sacrifices offered to idols, in contradistinction from the living God (Num_25:1-3).
2. Here is adultery. The worship of Baal-Peor was connected with licentious rites. Fuerst: “Baal of the shame uncovering, in whose honour virgins yielded up their innocence.” (Num_25:1-6.)
3. Here is rebellious murmuring. “They angered Him also at the Waters of Strife” (Num_20:1-5; Num_20:13). Here in the fortieth year of their wandering they are still an unbelieving, complaining, rebellious people.
II. A brave man acting as minister of justice in a critical time. “Then stood up Phinehas and executed judgment, and so the plague was stayed” (Num_25:5-8).
1. Here is a brave act of justice. Moses had commanded the judges of Israel to stay the idolaters; but they seemed to have been deficient in the strength and courage necessary to enable them to obey the command; they only stand and weep. At this critical moment, with zeal and courage and energy, Phinehas rose up and slew two of the offenders of the first rank.
2. A brave act of justice staying the Divine vengeance. “And the so plague was stayed.” This act of justice was propitiatory; it appeased and turned away the wrath of God. “National justice prevents national judgments.”
3. A brave act of justice recognised and rewarded by God. “And that was counted unto him for righteousness unto all generations for evermore” (Num_25:10-13). Perowne says: “It was looked upon as a righteous act, and rewarded accordingly.… This verse has given occasion to whole disquisitions on the subject of justification, with which it really has nothing to do, though at least the language is in perfect accordance with that of St. James (Jas_2:20-26). The reward of this righteousness was the perpetual continuance of the priesthood in the family.” Hereafter the position of Phinehas and his posterity was one of marked distinction and honour.
III. A holy man sinning and suffering by reason of the sin of others. “It went ill with Moses for their sakes; because they provoked his spirit, so that he spake unadvisedly with his lips.” Through the sin of the people Moses lost his self-control, was betrayed into the utterance of unbecoming and rash words, and to undue assumption of power; and in consequence was not permitted to enter the promised land. (Num_20:7-12.)
1. Their provocation of Moses agravated the guilt of the rebellious people.
2. Their provocation does not exonerate Moses from guilt. Provocation is not compulsion.
3. God punishes sin even in the best of men, in whom it is a great exception.
IV. The great God contending against human sin.
1. By the plague, because of the idolatry and licentiousness of the people. “The plague brake in upon them.” “Those that died in the plague were twenty and four thousand.”
2. By the exclusion of Moses from the promised land. God is the determined antagonist of moral evil. The arrangements of the material universe, the workings of Providence, and the grand aim of redemption, are all utterly hostile to sin. The voice of God to man concerning sin in all history is, “Oh, do not this abominable thing which I hate!” From the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ He utters this entreaty in a manner that ought to arrest the attention and secure the compliance of all men. Let us listen to His voice, and heartily strive to comply with His entreaty.
SIN IN ITS PROGRESS, POLLUTION, AND PUNISHMENT
(Psa_106:34-43)
In these verses we have—
I. Sin in its progress. Here is—
1. Disobedience. “They did not destroy the nations concerning whom the Lord commanded them.” (For the command and its reasons see Homiletic Commentary on Exo_23:27-33; Exo_34:11-16; Num_33:50-56.) Though the command was express, solemn, and repeatedly proclaimed, yet they did not obey it by driving out or destroying the Canaanites.
2. Evil associations. They “were mingled among the heathen and learned their works.” By intermarriage and commerce they became mixed up among the Canaanites, and conformed to their evil customs and practices. Had they not first been guilty of disobedience, they could not have been guilty of entering into these prohibited and evil associations.
3. Idolatry. “They served their idols, which were a snare unto them” (Jdg_2:11-13). God had warned them that, if they did not drive out the Canaanites, they would be snared by them and drawn into their idolatrous customs. And this result very speedily appeared.
4. Offering human sacrifices. “Yea, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto devils, and shed innocent blood,” &c. Hengstenberg: “And offered their sons and their daughters to the lords.” Perowne: “And they sacrificed their sons and their daughters to false gods.” Heb. שֵׁדִים = lords; it is here used to designate the gods of the Canaanites. God had strictly prohibited the offering of these sacrifices (Deu_12:29-32; Deu_18:10). Yet they offered them, thus adding to their idolatry the most unnatural and horrible murder. Now, mark their progress in evil. “The way of sin,” says Matthew Henry, “is down hill; omissions make way for commissions; when they neglect to destroy the heathen, the next news we hear is, ‘They were mingled among the heathen, made leagues with them, and contracted an intimacy with them, so that they learned their works.’ … The beginning of idolatry and superstition, like that of strife, is as the letting forth of water, and there is no villany which those that venture upon it can be sure they shall stop short of, for God justly gives them up to a reprobate mind.” Avoid the first step in evil courses.
These sins are still flourishing in different forms. The professed people of God are still guilty of disobedience in many things, and of conformity to the world in many customs that are questionable, and in some which are unmistakably evil; they are often found bowing at the shrines of mammon and fashion, and still they sacrifice their sons and daughters to idols. “Among us such sacrifices take place by careless bringing up of children, when parents encourage them, for example, in pride and other sins, offer them to the god of the world, carefully inculcate the maxims of the world, and fill them with love of vanity and show.”—Berleb.
II. Sin in its pollution. “The land was polluted with blood. Thus were they defiled with their own works, and went a whoring after their own inventions.” The very soil itself is here represented as polluted and accursed by reason of the sin of the people. The religious practices which they had adopted became a source of terrible contamination and corruption to their nature. Their very worship was spiritual whoredom. This corrupting tendency of sin is one of its most fearful characteristics. It effects a terrible deterioration in man’s moral and religious nature.
III. Sin in its punishment. Psa_106:40-43.
1. Their punishment was long delayed. “Many times did He deliver them.” The reference is to the deliverances effected on their behalf during the time of the judges, and afterwards during the time of the kings. Jdg_2:11-19 furnishes a clear exposition of Psa_106:43. The Lord was loath to leave them in the hands of their enemies, or to send them into captivity. He is “slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy. He hath not dealt with us after our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.”
2. Their punishment was an expression of Divine anger. “Therefore was the wrath of the Lord kindled against His people, insomuch that He abhorred His own inheritance.” God’s anger burns against sin and against the workers of iniquity. God pities the sinner as a man, and seeks to save him, but as a worker of iniquity He abhors him. Sin persisted in renders the people of God an offence and abomination unto Him. Nothing shows the enormity of sin more than this, that it renders those who were once well-pleasing in His sight loathsome unto Him.
3. Their punishment corresponded with their sin. “He gave them into the hand of the heathen,” &c. (Psa_106:41-42). This punishment the Lord had threatened them with if they failed to drive out the Canaanites. (Num_33:55-56.) And it came to pass according to His word. Their punishment grew out of their sin, and was its natural result. In opposition to the will of God, they intermingled with the heathen and adopted their worst customs; and, after long forbearance and many deliverances, God at length abandoned them to the heathen, who led them into captivity, and tyrannically lorded it over them. They had forsaken the Lord, and given their hearts to heathen customs, and after “long patience” the Lord forsook them, leaving them to the heathens, whose ways they so much admired. “Sinners often see themselves ruined by those by whom they have suffered themselves to be debauched. Satan, who is a tempter, will be a tormentor. The heathen ‘hated them.’ Apostates lose all the love on God’s side, and get none on Satan’s.” Thus a man’s punishment is not a something tacked on to his sin, but ever grows out of his sin. The wicked man collects the fuel for his own hell-fire.
CONCLUSION. The chief Lessons of our subject are:—
(1) Do not enter upon an evil course.
(2) If any one find himself already in the way of evil, let him retrace his steps at once. “Let the wicked forsake his way,” &c.
(3) The surest means of guarding against evil courses is to walk diligently in the way prescribed by God. He will give us wisdom and strength so to do, if we ask Him.
STAGES FROM MISERY TO EXULTATION
(Psa_106:44-47)
The Poet now presents to us another aspect of the dealings of the Lord with His people. He visited them in anger, because of their ungodly counsels and iniquitous practices. But He never forgets His loving-kindness and His truth concerning them. Soon as their sufferings led them to cry unto Him, He sent them relief. The Psalmist indicates the stages from misery to exultation.
I. Misery leading to a cry for mercy.
“He heard their cry.” In their prosperity they had forgotten the Lord, had forsaken Him for idols. In their misery they cried to Him for relief. This is common. Sometimes the cry is the utterance of mere selfishness. In this case, when the suffering is removed, men pursue their old course of ingratitude and rebellion. Sometimes the cry is the utterance of penitence. In this case the sin which caused the suffering is felt more keenly than any outward affliction. Reformation of life is the result. In the former case the cry is worthless and mean; in the latter it indicates that suffering has led to gracious results.
II. A cry for mercy securing the Divine regard. “He regarded their affliction when He heard their cry.”
1. God heard their cry. The cry of distress, the sigh of unutterable sorrow, the whispered longing of the heart, the reverent prayer of devout worship, all are heard by God. This is a fact fraught with consolation, inspiration, and strength.
2. God graciously regarded their cry. “He remembered for them His covenant, and repented according to the multitude of His mercies.” Perowne: “And pitied them according to the greatness of His loving-kindness.” “God’s repentance is not a change of His will, but of His work. Repentance with man is the changing of his will; repentance with God is the willing of a change. Mutatio rei, non Dei; effectus, non affectus; facti, non consilii.” In answer to their cry the Lord turned to them in mercy. Man may forget Him, but He never forgets His covenant. Great is the sin of man; but the mercy of God is incomparably greater. The reason of His loving-kindness to the Jews, and to all men, is to be found in the perfections of His own nature.
III. The Divine regard securing relief from trouble. “He made them also to be pitied of all those that carried them captive.” Notice here—
1. The power of God over all men. He made the hearts of the oppressors of His people to relent towards them, so that they treated them with kindness. “The king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water: He turneth it whithersoever He will.” Even so can He turn the hearts of all men.
2. The kindness of God to His people. He influenced the hearts of their oppressors in their favour. He employs His power to promote the interests of His Church.
IV. Relief from trouble awakening prayer for complete salvation. “Save us, O Lord our God, and gather us from among the heathen,” &c. “The grace of God, already shown to His people,” says Perowne, “leads to the prayer of this verse—a supplication for which the whole Psalm has prepared the way. The language would seem to indicate that the Psalm was written in exile, though the same prayer might also have been uttered by one of those who returned in the first caravan, on behalf of his brethren who were still dispersed.”
1. The beginning of the work of Divine grace is an encouragement to expect and pray for full salvation.
2. The Divine praise should ever be regarded as the grand end of salvation. The glory of redemption is due wholly and solely to God in Christ.
DOXOLOGY
(Psa_106:48)
This Doxology marks the close of the fourth book of the Psalms. For its Homiletic suggestions see a Sketch on the Doxology to the first book, Psa_41:13; on that to the second book, Psa_72:18-20; and on that to the third book, Psa_89:52.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Sermon Bible 1900 · Public Domain It is an awful circumstance, and yet it is…
Psa 106:15
It is an awful circumstance, and yet it is true, that our mercies may be our curses; that our desire may prove our ruin. The man, you will say, who has obtained the object of his desire, whether through prayer or toil, ought to be happy. He sows, and reaps abundantly; he casts his nets into the sea, and brings them up full of fish; all his bargains end in gain: he might have in his possession the philosopher’s stone, which turns all it touches into gold. But there is a dark set-off against all this. When you come to look down through the man’s circumstances into himself, you find what the psalmist here terms leanness; and by leanness he means waste, emaciation, loss of strength and beauty. What is this leanness? How shall we discover its presence in ourselves or others?
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I. By its trust in outward things. You hardly need to be told that one of the dangers which always beset us is that of placing our confidence in things that are in our sight and within the reach of our hand. And the more these things multiply around us, the greater our danger becomes. Grace is needed by every man, but great grace is needed by the man who gets his request. The eclipsing power of success is fearful.
II. Another symptom of spiritual leanness, and one of the results of having our request, is self-pleasing. We do not live in a heroic age. Like men under the influence of a Southern climate, our stamina is becoming deteriorated. We covet rest rather than labour, enjoyment rather than self-sacrifice for our own real good or that of others. It is no calumny to say that pleasure is the god of our times, and that men are shrinking more and more from everything which involves self-oblivion and self-sacrifice. But this spirit defeats itself. Pleasure sought for its own sake is difficult to find, more difficult still to retain, and becomes more coy and unattainable the more the pursuit of it becomes the aim and the business of life.
III. Loss of sympathy with all that helps to build up the spiritual life. There is no life save that of God Himself which possesses a self-perpetuating power; and though the life which is begotten in us by faith is the highest on earth, even that is not immortal if it be denied the food which has been provided for it. Our text speaks to us as with the voice of a trumpet, and rings out the great and impressive truth that we cannot be too guarded in our petitions or in our desires for merely temporal things. Beyond necessaries all else should be sought in very humble and willing subordination to the will of God. For who of us knows what beyond these is good for us?
E. Mellor, In the Footsteps of Heroes, p. 106.
The principle of the text applies:—
I. To the man who starts life with an idea that to be rich is the highest result of labour.
II. To all who would escape from painful duty in order that they may indulge love of ease and quiet.
III. To men who make all their arrangements with a view to the comfort of their physical tastes exclusively.
IV. The judgment of God falls on the highest nature; it falls on the soul. The man on whom God’s disapprobation rests withers at his very root. His mental power declines; his moral nature shrivels; he goes down in the volume and quality of his being.
V. The great lesson from this text is to say from the heart, with trembling yet earnest love, "Not our will, but Thine, be done." The school in which this great lesson can be learned is called the Cross.
Parker, City Temple, 1870, p. 147.
Psa 106:19
I. The mixture of infirmity and strength, of earnest aim and second motive, among the people of God, is, and must ever be, a matter of anxious question; and it is for that, among many other things, that the people of God cry out for the great Resurrection, and look with love to His appearing. The very grace and virtue with which a man strives is paled by vice directly its contradictory, and the very point which seems to be a man’s strong point becomes his weak one. In a general view Aaron appears before us as the first high-priest, the elaborator with Moses of the great ceremonial of the early Church. Yet Aaron could worship an idol; and with the mind which had been inspired to celebrate the sacred worship, and with the hand which had been aiding in its construction, he could devise and work the golden calf.
II. The conflicts of Aaron with Moses are very remarkable. There is a mixture of respect and jealousy in the conduct of the high-priest which excites our surprise. We find Aaron and Miriam conspiring against the authority of Moses, and that from a manifest feeling of jealousy. With a heaven-sent commission to respect the elevated position of Moses, Aaron nevertheless in the most singular way opposed the authority and assailed the office of the lawgiver.
III. These contradictions are not uncommon among the people of God; but the singular circumstance is that it is not simply the inconsistency which we are struck with, but the actual contradiction given to the leading virtue by the contrary vice appearing in the same character. There is more than one way of accounting for this. (1) The presence of a leading tendency to good throws many men off their guard with respect to some virtue; and unfenced on the side of the correlative vice, they the more easily fall. (2) The fact of official position and responsibility is the real cause of our high expectations and estimate of the character. (3) When the mind is steadily and almost exclusively directed to one great object, there is always a tendency to err on the side of neglect of duty in respect of that very object. Few objects of human contemplation or study will bear such close investigation as to appear the more true and certain by deeper investigation. We live on a surface. The ripple reflects light and brilliance, and the belt of waters below moves in a dull and sullen mass. A deeper insight disappoints. So it is that the man whose vocation is clear and definite will err in indefiniteness in that very vocation, and inconsistency will constantly run in a parallel line with the fulfilment of the daily vocation.
E. Monro, Practical Sermons, vol. i., p. 519.
Psa 106:24
I. Without the promised land, what was the life of Moses? What was the life of the people? In reading the Scripture account, the general impression is of a very weary, hard-worked life for Moses; much disappointment, vexation, and trouble; hard work and little thanks for it. And it is true. His martyrdom when he lost his throne, his forty years of daily self-abasement in the wilderness, did end for him in this fierce, patient penalty of leading a mean people on the way to greatness, with all the present pain and nothing to compensate for the pain, saving only the feeling within of stronger life day by day for himself, clearer sight of God, a calmer heart, a greater self-mastery, with the sweetness of such liberty in his soul; and, next, the certainty of working with God, which made all the labour, all the suffering, the joy of the champion for the King he loved; and, lastly, the promised land, the blessing of Abraham coming true, the sweet conviction of victory and peace.
II. The promised land first and the Messiah, the King, who was to reign over them in the promised land—these two thoughts were the daily joy and hope of every Israelite who was not a traitor. And the bitter accusation of treason brought against them by the psalmist was, "Yea, they thought scorn of that pleasant land." The Israelite in the wilderness looked on the promised land with exactly the same present feeling that a man now looks forward to success in his profession. There was to be no change whatever in them, only change in their circumstances. We shall never live life truly till we have got our going home into the same practical, true groove that they had.
E. Thring, Uppingham Sermons, vol. ii., p. 424.
References: Psa 106:24.—H. J. Wilmot-Buxton, Waterside Mission Sermons, 2nd series, p. 193. Psa 106:44, Psa 106:45.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxxii., No. 1886.
Psa 106:48
I. "Amen" is a word of which all the associations are, or ought to be, interesting. (1) With this word did our Lord Jesus Christ Himself introduce most of His most impressive revelations. By this term, expressing certainty, faithfulness, unchangeable truth, He embodied in daily utterance that which on one occasion at least He expanded into a doctrine—"Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen"—with a positiveness of intuition and insight belonging to Him, and to Him only, who is at once He that came down from heaven and the Son of man who is in heaven. (2) In this word does St. Paul gather up the whole sum of the revelations of Christ and say, "All the promises of God in Him are Yea, and in Him Amen." (3) By this same word does the beloved disciple St. John actually designate the very person of his Master: "These things saith the Amen," etc.
II. The force and significance of the word must vary: (1) with the place in which it occurs in our services; (2) according to the mind of the worshipper by whom it is used.
III. The conditions of joining rightly in this particular part of our service are the same with those which we know to be the conditions of public worship in general. You must be desirous of meeting God. You must be desirous of finding God. You must come with that desire and stay with that desire.
C. J. Vaughan, Memorials of Harrow Sundays, p. 150.
References: Psa 106:48.—J. Percival, Some Helps for School Life, p. 177. Psa 107:4-7.—Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. xx., p. 86.
The Sermon Bible, ed. William Robertson Nicoll (1888–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
F. W. Grant 1903 · Public Domain God’s discipline of the people for their evil.
God’s discipline of the people for their evil.
The last psalm of the book, as already said, gives us the history of the people from another side, -their ways with God, which entailed upon them the long discipline which is even yet upon them. This discipline, with all its sorrow, is of course still His love; and shows Him Master over the evil, and in grace towards them. This psalm is their confession of their sin, and their final appeal to this grace of His, for the salvation now at hand. It begins and closes with the heart-utterance of His praise.
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1. The first section praises Him as the source of all good, in a loving-kindness which endures forever. His deeds are past expression; and all of them are His praise. Happy, then; are they who keep judgment and do righteousness at all times: these are His people, the heirs of His favor, with whom the psalmist desires to be remembered; and visited by His salvation to that end. This is Israel, His chosen nation and inheritance, whose prosperity as promised by His word is before the eye of faith.
2. But as the psalmist looks he realizes what has so long kept this favored people out of their destined blessing; and he owns with them their sins, present and past, their fathers’ and their own; going back to the history of the wilderness, as a complete sample of all their history since. Fresh from the manifold mercies of their wondrous deliverance, they were rebellious in their unbelief of His power and grace, from the Red Sea itself, where they would have gone back into that hard Egyptian servitude in sheer distrust of Him who yet saved them for His Name’s sake, to make His power known. He led them through the depths of the sea, as if it were the dry ground of the wilderness. He redeemed them with His right hand from the enemy; and their enemies were swept away before the returning waters: not one of them was left. Then they believed His word, and sang His praise.
3. (a) But they soon forgot all this; and the third section shows how in the wilderness itself, their manners forced the blessed God their Saviour to sanctify Himself in judgment upon them. Slipping away from Him once more, their hearts lusted for their own will; and tempted the Mighty One in doubt of His ability to save. His very answer, which displayed His might for them, brought but leanness into their souls. So it is with the soul away from God: the satisfaction of the thirst, as with salt water, but increases it.
(b) The open rebellion follows the veiled one. They envy their God-given leaders, and throw off the authority of Moses and the priestly office of Aaron; Jehovah’s sanctified one. The more open rebellion calls forth the severer judgment: the earth swallows up Dathan and Abiram; and the fire of God consumes those who insolently venture in their own right to draw near to Him.
(c) Next, not in historical, but in moral order, their image-worship in Horeb assaults God Himself, whose glory they profane to the mere likeness of a beast -an ox that eateth grass! forgetting all His wondrous deeds in that very Egypt, where He had prostrated the false gods to which now they equaled Him. Here Moses, intercession alone had saved them from the penalty of that covenant which in their self-righteousness they had made with Him.
(d) Now comes the failure for which all that generation perished in the wilderness, mere wanderers in a desert-land. And with this punishment the psalmist connects the after-wanderings of the nation; after Canaan had been possessed; but when they had no more faith to retain the possession than now to acquire it.
(e) Next we have their joining themselves to Baal-peor, and Phinehas, atonement by judgment (see Num 25:1-18 notes) to the government of God; an act which God marks for all succeeding time, with His emphatic approval. Let us note it as very needful to keep in mind, in days so lax as these as to divine holiness. Phinehas is no less a priest in the intercessory place, when he uses the sword of judgment.
(f) Lastly, the sin of the people affects even the leader himself; and Moses fails to enter the land of promise. The intercessor for others finds himself no availing intercession. The discipline of God takes account of all alike. Moses, swan-like, sings his song and dies. But the song abides and is still a song, to be sung yet upon the sea of glass, with the song of the Lamb (Rev 15:2-3).
4. The wilderness-history is over, and we have now the story of the failure in the land. It is in principle ever the same, taking its shape only according to the command which tests them, -here the cleansing of the inheritance of the Lord from all that which had defiled it. The nations of Canaan were under the ban for their iniquity and Jehovah had entrusted the execution of this to their hands. Instead of this they left them in it and mingled themselves with them; with the sure result which had been predicted, that they learned their works. Their gods became a snare to them, and the unnatural deeds connected with their demon-worship became the shame and pollution of Israel. The innocent blood of their sons and daughters stained their altars and defiled their lands. Their deeds corrupted them ever more deeply.
5. Jehovah’s ways with them were in necessary recompense. His anger was kindled against them, and He abhorred the inheritance they had polluted. Thus they were given over to their enemies and bowed down under their hand. Frequently as they were delivered, so frequently did they afresh provoke Him with their evil, and were again brought low.
But in their distress He could not but show His pity still; and His covenant of promise was a necessary limit to their chastisement. Amid all their wanderings and in their captivity He still caused mercy to be shown them by those who were His instruments to chasten them.
6. Looking back, then; over this history of constant failure, they could yet trace the love throughout, that had acted towards them. He could not openly display it as He would; but the one cause of this was unrepented evil. Now then in their confession of their sin He could return; and if He could, He would. They cry to Him for this: that He would save and gather them from the nations, that they might give thanks unto His holy Name, and triumph in His praise!
7. And the praise bursts forth. Jehovah is claimed confidently as Israel’s God, and from everlasting to everlasting He is to be praised. Let all the people say, Amen! Hallelujah!
F. W. Grant, The Numerical Bible (4th ed., 1903) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. R. Dummelow 1909 · Public Domain As Psalms 105 gives thanks for God's goodness, so…
As Psalms 105 gives thanks for God's goodness, so Psalms 106 confesses Israel's sin and acknowledges God's mercy, both being illustrated in an historical retrospect from the deliverance from Egypt down to the return from captivity: cp. Psalms 78; Ezekiel 20.
1. See on Psa_100:5.
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7. Provoked him] RV 'were rebellious.' So in Psa_106:33, Psa_106:43.
8. For his name's sake] see Eze_20:14.
26. Lifted up his hand] sware. To overthrow] RV 'that he would overthrow.' So in Psa_106:27.
28. See Num_25:2; Hos_9:10. The dead] the lifeless heathen gods.
29. Inventions] RV 'doings.' So in Psa_106:39.
32. Strife] RV 'Meribah': see Psa_95:8.
34. Nations] RV 'peoples.' Concerning whom] RV 'as.'
35. Were mingled] RV 'mingled themselves.' Heathen] RV 'nations.' So in Psa_106:41, Psa_106:47.
37. Devils] RV 'demons': see Deu_32:17.
46. Implies the return from captivity.
48. This doxology concludes Book 4 of the Psalter, but appears at the same time to have been an original part of Psalms 106. Let all the people say, etc.] A direction to guide the people in worship. 1Ch_16:36 shows how it was carried out.
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain God’s Blessings in Spite of Israel’s Unfaithfulness.
God’s Blessings in Spite of Israel’s Unfaithfulness.
This psalm, whose author is not known, gives a detailed confession of the sins of Israel, as contrasted with the wonders of God’s mercy, the conclusion being a supplication for God’s favor.
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v. 1. Praise ye the Lord, for the attitude of praise should characterize the believers at all times. O give thanks unto the Lord; for He is good, He has revealed himself to men in the beauty of His goodness; for His mercy endureth forever, the hand of His merciful kindness is always extended in a loving appeal to all men.
v. 2. Who can utter, fully declare, sufficiently describe, the mighty acts of the Lord, as He manifested them in the power of His mercy, for the salvation of men? Who can show forth all His praise, the glory of His essence as He revealed Himself in history?
v. 3. Blessed are they that keep judgment, observing the demands of right and justice, and He that doeth righteousness at all times, in accordance with the holy will of the Lord.
v. 4. Remember me, O Lord, the psalmist here seeking the application of God’s blessings to Himself, with the favor, the unmerited affection and good pleasure, that Thou bearest unto Thy people: O visit with Thy salvation, letting the inspired singer have the assurance that he also is included in the saving grace of the Lord,
v. 5. that I may see the good of Thy chosen, taking part in the blessings which God had promised to Israel, the nation of His choice, that I may rejoice in the gladness of Thy nation, that I may glory with Thine inheritance, boasting of the favor of the Lord as shown in His many miracles in their behalf. Note that four different names are given to Israel in these two verses, all of them denoting the close fellowship which the Lord intended between Himself and them. But now follows the recital of Israel’s trespasses.
v. 6. We have sinned with our fathers, the present generation following their fathers in wickedness, we have committed iniquity, we have done wickedly, all of them forming one mass of corruption and the terms denoting a rising gradation of sinning. Note the emphatic "we," which is essential for a full and free confession of sins.
v. 7. Our fathers understood not Thy wonders in Egypt, they did not realize the Lord’s purpose or the fullness of His divine favor; they remembered not the multitude of Thy mercies, but provoked Him, rather, they showed themselves rebellious, at the sea, even at the Red Sea, all the miracles of the Lord for their deliverance having been forgotten in this short space of time.
v. 8. Nevertheless He saved them, in spite of their ungrateful behavior He delivered them, for His name’s sake, without any merit or worthiness on their part, solely with the intention of keeping His glory untarnished, that He might make His mighty power to be known, and thus be exalted in the eyes of men everywhere.
v. 9. He rebuked the Red Sea also, which apparently obstructed their way to liberty, and it was dried up; so He led them through the depths, the bed of the sea, as through the wilderness, ordinary plain country.
v. 10. And He saved them from the hand of him that hated them, Pharaoh of the exodus, and redeemed them from the hand of the enemy.
v. 11. And the waters covered their enemies; there was not one of them left, Exo 14:21-31.
v. 12. Then believed they His words, for God constrained even such a hard-hearted people to turn to Him in momentary faith; they sang His praise, Exo 15:1-21. But the reaction came almost immediately.
v. 13. They soon forgat His works, literally, "they made haste, they forgot," their flare of faith lasting barely three days; they waited not for His counsel, the plan which He had for their care,
v. 14. but lusted exceedingly in the wilderness, demanding to be given their desire, and tempted God in the desert, trying Him out, wearing down His patience with their constant grumbling. Cf 1Co 10:6.
v. 15. And He gave them their request, sending them water, manna, quails, Exo 15:22-24; Exodus 16; Exo 17:2; Numbers 11, but sent leanness into their soul, by consuming them with a very great plague, Num 11:33-35.
v. 16. They envied Moses also in the camp and Aaron, the saint of the Lord, Num 16:1, the rebels desiring the places of authority for themselves.
v. 17. The earth opened and swallowed up Dathan and covered the company of Abiram, Numbers 16, 23-35.
v. 18. And a fire was kindled in their company; the flame burned up the wicked. After this reference to the rebellion of Korah the psalmist returns to the early days of the wilderness journey.
v. 19. They made a calf in Horeb, while Moses was on the mount with God, and worshiped the molten image, Exo 32:4.
v. 20. Thus they changed their glory, Jehovah, the true God Himself, as He had manifested and proved Himself before the people, into the similitude of an ox that eateth grass.
v. 21. They forgat God, their Savior, who had delivered them by such a signal deliverance, which had done great things in Egypt, in the ten plagues upon Pharaoh and his people;
v. 22. wondrous works in the land of Ham, Egypt being called so because the descendants of Ham had settled there, and terrible things, which caused Him to be feared, by the Red Sea.
v. 23. Therefore He said that He would destroy them, Exo 32:10; Num 14:12, had not Moses, His chosen, stood before Him in the breach to turn away His wrath, lest He should destroy them, for in one case the plague had already made great headway, Num 16:44-50.
v. 24. Yea, they despised the pleasant land, when they rebelled after the report of the spies had been received, Numbers 13, 14, they believed not His word, Heb 3:18,
v. 25. but murmured in their tents, Num 14:1-4, and hearkened not unto the voice of the Lord.
v. 26. Therefore He lifted up His hand against them to overthrow them in the wilderness,
v. 27. to overthrow their seed also among the nations, dispersing them with the effect of destroying their national identity, and to scatter them in the lands, a fate which Moses then averted, but which later struck the northern-tribes. Cf Deu 9:23-26. Another occasion is now cited.
v. 28. They joined themselves also unto Baal-peor, Numbers 25, in the immoral worship introduced by the Moabites, and ate the sacrifices of the dead, so called because the idols are dead, lifeless nothingnesses, as they are sometimes designated.
v. 29. Thus they provoked Him to anger with their inventions, with their idolatrous and immoral doings; and the plague brake in upon them, Num 25:8-9.
v. 30. Then stood up Phinehas, the grandson of Aaron, and executed judgment, by summarily putting to death two flagrant malefactors; and so the plague was stayed.
v. 31. And that was counted unto him for righteousness unto all generations forevermore, Num 25:11-13; for his deed was an act of faith and received the reward of faith. Still another event is here listed.
v. 32. They angered Him also at the waters of strife, at Meribah and Massa, Num 20:3-13, so that it went ill with Moses for their sakes, his disgust causing him to give way to doubt, at least for a moment,
v. 33. because they provoked His Spirit, resisting and grieving the Spirit of the Lord, Psa 78:17, so that he, Moses, spake unadvisedly with his lips, thereby forfeiting his right to enter the Promised Land, Deu 1:37; Deu 3:26. Israel’s disobedience continued even after they had taken possession of Canaan.
v. 34. They did not destroy the nations, concerning whom the Lord commanded them, Deu 7:2-16; Exo 23:32-33,
v. 35. but were mingled among the heathen, permitting them to live in their midst and in many cases intermarrying with them, and learned their works. Cf Judges 1, 2.
v. 36. And they served their idols, the many cases of wholesale idolatry during the time of the judges and later being included here; which were a snare unto them, Exo 23:33.
v. 37. Yea, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto devils, by letting them pass through the fire of Hinnom or actually offering them to Moloch, the abomination of the Moabites, Lev 17:7,
v. 38. and shed innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and of their daughters, whom they sacrificed unto the idols of Canaan; and the land was polluted with blood, Num 35:33-34.
v. 39. Thus were they defiled with their own works, through the spiritual adultery of their idolatrous practices, and went a whoring with their own inventions, with the doings dictated by their rejection of the true God.
v. 40. Therefore was the wrath of the Lord kindled against His people, whom He had chosen for His own, insomuch that He abhorred His own inheritance, looking upon them with aversion and loathing.
v. 41. And He gave them into the hand of the heathen, as stated throughout the Book of Judges and later; and they that hated them ruled over them.
v. 42. Their enemies also oppressed them, not only by exacting tribute, but also by sending marauding parties into Canaan whenever it suited their fancy, and the were brought into subjection under their hand, in the great humiliation of being servants to the despised heathen.
v. 43. Many times did He deliver them; but they provoked Him with their counsel, being self-willed and rebellious, and were brought low for their iniquity, the same circle of apostasy, servitude, deliverance, and relapse being found time and again during the four hundred years following the conquest of Canaan.
v. 44. Nevertheless He regarded their allocation when He heard their cry, the reference here probably being to the time of Samuel and the century following;
v. 45. and He remembered for them His covenant, Lev 26:41-42, and repented, turning to them in sympathy, according to the multitude of His mercies, out of free grace and mercy, and not because of any merit or worthiness in them.
v. 46. He made them also to be pitied of all those that carried them captives, as in the case of Jehoiachin, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther. In firm reliance upon this mercy of Jehovah the psalmist concludes with an appeal and a doxology.
v. 47. Save us, O Lord, our God, and gather us from among the heathen, these words apparently pointing to the exile as the probable time when this psalm was written, to give thanks unto Thy holy name and to triumph in Thy praise, their boast being not of themselves, but of the wonderful attributes and works of Jehovah.
v. 48. Blessed be the Lord God of Israel from everlasting to everlasting, throughout all eternity, and let all the people, especially all believers, all members of the Church of God, say, Amen, in joyful, believing assent. Praise ye the Lord! This hallelujah will be the chief content of the hymns in heaven, the song of the saved. while eternal ages run.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 General Information:
General Information:
Parallelism is common in Hebrew poetry. (See: Poetry and Parallelism)
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for his covenant faithfulness endures forever
The abstract noun "faithfulness" can be translated with an adjective. AT: "for he remains faithful to his covenant forever" (See: Abstract Nouns)
Who can recount the mighty acts of Yahweh ... deeds?
The author asks this question to praise God and does not expect an answer. AT: "No one can recount the mighty acts of Yahweh ... deeds." (See: Rhetorical Question)
praiseworthy deeds
"deeds that are worthy of praise"
translationWords
praise
Yahweh
good
covenant faithfulness
endure
eternity
might
preach
works
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 Ps 106 The Israelite community in exile confessed the…
Ps 106 The Israelite community in exile confessed the Lord’s goodness and justice and their own historic sinfulness. From the humble state of exile, they pleaded for redemption and restoration, asking to be gathered back from all the places the Lord had scattered them in his wrath. The psalm does not end in despair but with the memory of the Lord’s former mercy and the hope that his mercy will be renewed (106:44-48). Israel failed, but the Lord is constant. • Verses 1, 47-48 (along with Pss 96; 105:1-15) are included in David’s song of praise recorded in 1 Chr 16:1-43.
106:1 Praise the Lord! This refrain (Hebrew haleluyah) characterizes four small subgroups in the psalms: 104–106, 111–113, 115–117, 146–150.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.