34They didn’t destroy the peoples, as Yahweh commanded them,
35but mixed themselves with the nations, and learned their works.
36They served their idols, which became a snare to them.
37Yes, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters to demons.
38They shed innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and of their daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan. The land was polluted with blood.
39Thus they were defiled with their works, and prostituted themselves in their deeds.
40Therefore Yahweh burned with anger against his people. He abhorred his inheritance.
41He gave them into the hand of the nations. Those who hated them ruled over them.
42Their enemies also oppressed them. They were brought into subjection under their hand.
34 They didn’t destroy the peoples, as Yahweh commanded them,
35 but mixed themselves with the nations, and learned their works.
36 They served their idols, which became a snare to them.
37 Yes, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters to demons.
38 They shed innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and of their daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan. The land was polluted with blood.
39 Thus they were defiled with their works, and prostituted themselves in their deeds.
40 Therefore Yahweh burned with anger against his people. He abhorred his inheritance.
41 He gave them into the hand of the nations. Those who hated them ruled over them.
42 Their enemies also oppressed them. They were brought into subjection under their hand.
KJVKing James Version
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.
Show all 3 translations
JPSJPS Tanakh (1917)
34 They did not destroy the peoples, as the LORD commanded them;
35 But mingled themselves with the nations, and learned their works;
36 And they served their idols, which became a snare unto them;
37 Yea, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto demons,
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 works, and went astray in their doings.
40 Therefore was the wrath of the LORD kindled against His people, and He abhorred His inheritance.
41 And He gave them into the hand of the nations; and they that hated them ruled over them.
42 Their enemies also oppressed them, and they were subdued under their hand.
Deuteronomy 7:2(v34)and when Yahweh your God delivers them up before you, and you strike them, then you shall utterly destroy them. You shall make no covenant…
Judges 3:5-6(v35)The children of Israel lived among the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. They took…
Deuteronomy 7:16(vv34, 36)You shall consume all the peoples whom Yahweh your God shall deliver to you. Your eye shall not pity them. You shall not serve their gods;…
2 Kings 16:3(v37)But he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, yes, and made his son to pass through the fire, according to the abominations of the…
2 Kings 17:17(v37)They caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire, used divination and enchantments, and sold themselves to do that which…
Show all 98 cross-references
1 Corinthians 15:33(v35)Don’t be deceived! “Evil companionships corrupt good morals.”
Numbers 35:33(v38)“ ‘So you shall not pollute the land where you live; for blood pollutes the land. No atonement can be made for the land, for the blood that…
Deuteronomy 32:17(v37)They sacrificed to demons, not God, to gods that they didn’t know, to new gods that came up recently, which your fathers didn’t dread.
Judges 1:21(v34)The children of Benjamin didn’t drive out the Jebusites who inhabited Jerusalem, but the Jebusites dwell with the children of Benjamin in…
Jeremiah 7:31(v37)They have built the high places of Topheth, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the…
Ezekiel 20:18(v39)I said to their children in the wilderness, ‘Don’t walk in the statutes of your fathers. Don’t observe their ordinances or defile…
1 Corinthians 5:6(v35)Your boasting is not good. Don’t you know that a little yeast leavens the whole lump?
Judges 2:14(vv40–41)Yahweh’s anger burned against Israel, and he delivered them into the hands of raiders who plundered them. He sold them into the hands of…
Deuteronomy 21:9(v38)So you shall put away the innocent blood from among you, when you shall do that which is right in Yahweh’s eyes.
Judges 2:3(v36)Therefore I also said, ‘I will not drive them out from before you; but they shall be in your sides, and their gods will be a snare to you.’…
2 Kings 21:16(v38)Moreover Manasseh shed innocent blood very much, until he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another; in addition to his sin with which…
Isaiah 26:21(v38)For, behold, Yahweh comes out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity. The earth also will disclose her…
Leviticus 17:7(vv37, 39)They shall no more sacrifice their sacrifices to the goat idols, after which they play the prostitute. This shall be a statute forever to…
Judges 1:27-36(vv34–35)Manasseh didn’t drive out the inhabitants of Beth Shean and its towns, nor Taanach and its towns, nor the inhabitants of Dor and its towns,…
Nehemiah 9:27-38(vv40–41)Therefore you delivered them into the hand of their adversaries, who distressed them. In the time of their trouble, when they cried to you,…
Exodus 23:33(v36)They shall not dwell in your land, lest they make you sin against me, for if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you.”
Numbers 15:39(v39)It shall be to you for a fringe, that you may see it, and remember all Yahweh’s commandments, and do them; and that you don’t follow your…
Deuteronomy 9:29(v40)Yet they are your people and your inheritance, which you brought out by your great power and by your outstretched arm.”
Deuteronomy 12:30-31(v37)be careful that you are not ensnared to follow them after they are destroyed from before you, and that you not inquire after their gods,…
Joshua 23:12-13(v34)“But if you do at all go back, and hold fast to the remnant of these nations, even these who remain among you, and make marriages with…
Judges 2:2-3(v35)You shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land. You shall break down their altars.’ But you have not listened to my voice.…
2 Kings 24:4(v38)and also for the innocent blood that he shed; for he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, and Yahweh would not pardon.
Isaiah 1:15(v38)When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you. Yes, when you make many prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of…
Isaiah 24:5(v38)The earth also is polluted under its inhabitants, because they have transgressed the laws, violated the statutes, and broken the…
Jeremiah 2:34(v38)Also the blood of the souls of the innocent poor is found in your skirts. You didn’t find them breaking in, but it is because of all these…
Ezekiel 7:23(v38)“ ‘Make chains; for the land is full of bloody crimes, and the city is full of violence.
Ezekiel 22:3(v38)You shall say, ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “A city that sheds blood within herself, that her time may come, and that makes idols against herself…
Ezekiel 23:37(v37)For they have committed adultery, and blood is in their hands. They have committed adultery with their idols. They have also caused their…
Judges 3:8(vv40–41)Therefore Yahweh’s anger burned against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of Cushan Rishathaim king of Mesopotamia; and the children…
Numbers 33:55-56(v34)“But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then those you let remain of them will be like pricks in your…
Deuteronomy 18:10(v37)There shall not be found with you anyone who makes his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, one who uses divination, one who tells…
Deuteronomy 32:19(v40)Yahweh saw and abhorred, because of the provocation of his sons and his daughters.
Judges 2:12-15(v36)They abandoned Yahweh, the God of their fathers, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods, of the gods of the…
Judges 2:20(v40)Yahweh’s anger burned against Israel; and he said, “Because this nation transgressed my covenant which I commanded their fathers, and has…
Judges 3:12(v41)The children of Israel again did that which was evil in Yahweh’s sight, and Yahweh strengthened Eglon the king of Moab against Israel,…
Judges 4:1-2(v41)The children of Israel again did that which was evil in Yahweh’s sight, when Ehud was dead. Yahweh sold them into the hand of Jabin king of…
1 Samuel 15:22-23(v34)Samuel said, “Has Yahweh as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying Yahweh’s voice? Behold, to obey is better than…
2 Kings 21:6(v37)He made his son to pass through the fire, practiced sorcery, used enchantments, and dealt with those who had familiar spirits, and with…
Psalms 78:58(v36)For they provoked him to anger with their high places, and moved him to jealousy with their engraved images.
Isaiah 2:6(v35)For you have forsaken your people, the house of Jacob, because they are filled from the east, with those who practice divination like the…
Isaiah 24:5-6(v39)The earth also is polluted under its inhabitants, because they have transgressed the laws, violated the statutes, and broken the…
Isaiah 57:5(v37)you who inflame yourselves among the oaks, under every green tree; who kill the children in the valleys, under the clefts of the rocks?
Isaiah 59:3(v39)For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity. Your lips have spoken lies. Your tongue mutters wickedness.
Jeremiah 32:35(v37)They built the high places of Baal, which are in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through…
Ezekiel 16:20-21(v37)“ ‘ “Moreover you have taken your sons and your daughters, whom you have borne to me, and you have sacrificed these to them to be devoured.…
Ezekiel 20:26(v37)I polluted them in their own gifts, in that they caused all that opens the womb to pass through the fire, that I might make them desolate,…
Ezekiel 20:30-31(v39)“Therefore tell the house of Israel, ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “Do you pollute yourselves in the way of your fathers? Do you play the…
Ezekiel 20:43(v39)There you will remember your ways, and all your deeds in which you have polluted yourselves. Then you will loathe yourselves in your own…
Hosea 9:1(v39)Don’t rejoice, Israel, to jubilation like the nations; for you were unfaithful to your God. You love the wages of a prostitute at every…
Matthew 17:19-20(v34)Then the disciples came to Jesus privately, and said, “Why weren’t we able to cast it out?” He said to them, “Because of your unbelief. For…
1 Corinthians 10:20(v37)But I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons, and not to God, and I don’t desire that you would have…
Revelation 17:1-6(v39)One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and spoke with me, saying, “Come here. I will show you the judgment of the great…
Joshua 15:63(vv34–35)As for the Jebusites, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the children of Judah couldn’t drive them out; but the Jebusites live with the children…
Ezekiel 16:15-63(vv36, 39)“ ‘ “But you trusted in your beauty, and played the prostitute because of your renown, and poured out your prostitution on everyone who…
Exodus 34:15-16(v36)“Don’t make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, lest they play the prostitute after their gods, and sacrifice to their gods, and…
Exodus 34:16(v39)and you take of their daughters to your sons, and their daughters play the prostitute after their gods, and make your sons play the…
Leviticus 20:5-6(v39)then I will set my face against that man and against his family, and will cut him off, and all who play the prostitute after him to play…
Leviticus 20:23(v40)You shall not walk in the customs of the nation which I am casting out before you; for they did all these things, and therefore I abhorred…
Numbers 33:52(v34)then you shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, destroy all their stone idols, destroy all their molten images,…
Deuteronomy 7:23-24(v34)But Yahweh your God will deliver them up before you, and will confuse them with a great confusion, until they are destroyed. He will…
Deuteronomy 20:16-17(v34)But of the cities of these peoples that Yahweh your God gives you for an inheritance, you shall save alive nothing that breathes; but you…
Deuteronomy 28:25(v41)Yahweh will cause you to be struck before your enemies. You will go out one way against them, and will flee seven ways before them. You…
Deuteronomy 28:29(v41)You will grope at noonday, as the blind gropes in darkness, and you shall not prosper in your ways. You will only be oppressed and robbed…
Deuteronomy 28:33(v41)A nation which you don’t know will eat the fruit of your ground and all of your work. You will only be oppressed and crushed always,
Deuteronomy 28:48(v41)therefore you will serve your enemies whom Yahweh sends against you, in hunger, in thirst, in nakedness, and in lack of all things. He will…
Deuteronomy 32:30(v41)How could one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, unless their Rock had sold them, and Yahweh had delivered them up?
Joshua 16:10(v34)They didn’t drive out the Canaanites who lived in Gezer; but the Canaanites dwell in the territory of Ephraim to this day, and have become…
Joshua 17:12-16(v34)Yet the children of Manasseh couldn’t drive out the inhabitants of those cities; but the Canaanites would dwell in that land. When the…
Joshua 23:13(v36)know for a certainty that Yahweh your God will no longer drive these nations from out of your sight; but they shall be a snare and a trap…
Judges 1:19(v34)Yahweh was with Judah, and drove out the inhabitants of the hill country; for he could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley, because…
Judges 2:17(v36)Yet they didn’t listen to their judges; for they prostituted themselves to other gods, and bowed themselves down to them. They quickly…
Judges 2:19(v36)But when the judge was dead, they turned back, and dealt more corruptly than their fathers in following other gods to serve them and to bow…
Judges 3:5-7(v36)The children of Israel lived among the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. They took…
Judges 4:3(v42)The children of Israel cried to Yahweh, for he had nine hundred chariots of iron; and he mightily oppressed the children of Israel for…
Judges 6:1-6(v41)The children of Israel did that which was evil in Yahweh’s sight, so Yahweh delivered them into the hand of Midian seven years. The hand of…
Judges 10:6(v36)The children of Israel again did that which was evil in Yahweh’s sight, and served the Baals, the Ashtaroth, the gods of Syria, the gods of…
Judges 10:7-18(v41)Yahweh’s anger burned against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of the Philistines and into the hand of the children of Ammon. They…
Judges 10:12(v42)The Sidonians also, and the Amalekites, and the Maonites, oppressed you; and you cried to me, and I saved you out of their hand.
1 Samuel 15:3(v34)Now go and strike Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and don’t spare them; but kill both man and woman, infant and nursing…
2 Kings 17:8-11(v36)and walked in the statutes of the nations whom Yahweh cast out from before the children of Israel, and of the kings of Israel, which they…
2 Kings 17:16-17(v36)They abandoned all the commandments of Yahweh their God, and made molten images for themselves, even two calves, and made an Asherah, and…
2 Chronicles 11:15(v37)He himself appointed priests for the high places, for the male goats, and for the calves which he had made.
2 Chronicles 33:2-9(v36)He did that which was evil in Yahweh’s sight, after the abominations of the nations whom Yahweh cast out before the children of Israel. For…
Psalms 74:1(v40)God, why have you rejected us forever? Why does your anger smolder against the sheep of your pasture?
Jeremiah 3:1-2(v39)“They say, ‘If a man puts away his wife, and she goes from him, and becomes another man’s, should he return to her again?’ Wouldn’t that…
Jeremiah 3:6-9(v39)Moreover, Yahweh said to me in the days of Josiah the king, “Have you seen that which backsliding Israel has done? She has gone up on every…
Lamentations 2:7(v40)The Lord has cast off his altar. He has abhorred his sanctuary. He has given the walls of her palaces into the hand of the enemy. They have…
Ezekiel 20:28-32(v36)For when I had brought them into the land which I swore to give to them, then they saw every high hill, and every thick tree, and they…
Ezekiel 23:3-49(v39)They played the prostitute in Egypt. They played the prostitute in their youth. Their breasts were fondled there, and their youthful…
Ezekiel 23:47(v37)The company will stone them with stones, and dispatch them with their swords. They will kill their sons and their daughters, and burn up…
Zechariah 11:8(v40)I cut off the three shepherds in one month; for my soul was weary of them, and their soul also loathed me.
Romans 9:20(v37)But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed ask him who formed it, “Why did you make me like this?”
Psalms 78:59-62(v40)When God heard this, he was angry, and greatly abhorred Israel, so that he abandoned the tent of Shiloh, the tent which he placed among…
98 distinct cross-references across this passage (106 total citations).
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (18 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
John Calvin1540 · Public DomainOn vv34, 35, 37, 38, 39, 4034. They did not destroy the nations It appears…
34. They did not destroy the nations It appears to me that those persons are mistaken who think that the prophet is here simply giving a relation of the punishment which was inflicted upon the Jews, as if he were imputing to them the entire blame of not exterminating the nations, in consequence of their not deserving the honor of obtaining any more victories over them. But he rather prefers another charge against them, that they had been remiss in driving out the heathen, or more probably that they had not obeyed the Divine command to root them out of the land. Now that the cup of the iniquity of the Amorites was full, it was the purpose of God that they should be exterminated, lest their society might prove injurious to the holy people. For God, having chosen that land for a habitation to himself, intended that it should be holy and purified from all defilement. In refusing, therefore, to execute the vengeance enjoined upon them, the people showed their willingness to associate with the uncircumcised inhabitants of Canaan. In manifesting such indifference about God’s command respecting the driving out these nations, they gave just cause for his anger waxing hot against them. Behold, saith he, I have commanded all these nations to be cut off by the sword; and now, because ye have not obeyed my voice,
“they shall be pricks in your eyes, and thorns in your sides, and shall vex you in the land wherein ye dwell,” Numbers 33:55
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The not destroying all these nations, but permitting some of them to remain, might appear to be an act of mercy; but in thus acting, the people were guilty of neglecting to execute God’s righteous vengeance upon them, and of leaving the land liable to be polluted with their abominations. From these things it ought to be noticed, that there are two extremes in which men are apt to indulge, either in being unnecessarily over rigorous, or in defeating the ends of justice by too great lenity. We must, therefore, adhere strictly to God’s command, if we would desire to shun both extremes. For if the Israelites are condemned for sparing some of these nations wholly, what are we to think of those judges who, from a timid and apathetic attention to the responsible duties of their office, exercise too much lenity to a few persons, thus weakening the restraints of the inlets to vice, to the great detriment of the public weal?
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 translators1599 · Public DomainOn vv37, 39He showeth how monstrous a thing idolatry is, which…
He showeth how monstrous a thing idolatry is, which can win us to things abhorring to nature, whereas God’s word cannot obtain most small things.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp1656 · Public DomainOn vv34–42Psa 106:34 They did not destroy the nations, concerning…
Psa 106:34 They did not destroy the nations, concerning whom the LORD commanded them:
Ver. 34. They did not destroy the nations] For which neglect of theirs pity would be pleaded. But there is a cruel mercy, saith one; there is a pious cruelty, saith another. Cursed is he that doeth the Lord’s work deceitfully, and cursed is he that restraineth his sword from blood when God biddeth him strike. Saul and Ahab felt the dint of this curse, and so did these Israelites, for sparing the Canaanites, whether out of pusillanimity or foolish pity.
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 Poole1685 · Public DomainOn vv34–39Concerning whom, i.e. concerning whose destruction or rather, which…
Concerning whom, i.e. concerning whose destruction or rather, which thing to wit, to destroy those Canaanitish nations; for in the Hebrew there is nothing but asher, which signifies only either whom or which.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry1710 · Public DomainOn v34Here, I. The narrative concludes with an account of…
Here, I. The narrative concludes with an account of Israel's conduct in Canaan, which was of a piece with that in the wilderness, and God's dealings with them, wherein, as all along, both justice and mercy appeared.
1. They were very provoking to God. The miracles and mercies which settled them in Canaan made no more deep and durable impressions upon them than those which fetched them out of Egypt; for by the time they were just settled in Canaan they corrupted themselves, and forsook God. Observe,
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(1.) The steps of their apostasy. [1.] They spared the nations which God had doomed to destruction (Psa 106:34); when they had got the good land God had promised them they had no zeal against the wicked inhabitants whom the Lord commanded them to extirpate, pretending pity; but so merciful is God that no man needs to be in any case more compassionate than he. [2.] When they spared them they promised themselves that, notwithstanding this, they would not join in any dangerous affinity with them. But the way of sin 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, Psa 106:35. That which is rotten will sooner corrupt that which is sound than be cured or made sound by it. [3.] When they mingled with them, and learned some of their works that seemed innocent diversions and entertainments, yet they thought they would never join with them in their worship; but by degrees they learned that too (Psa 106:36): They served their idols in the same manner, and with the same rites, that they served them; and they became a snare to them. That sin drew on many more, and brought the judgments of God upon them, which they themselves could not but be sensible of and yet knew not how to recover themselves. [4.] When they joined with them in some of their idolatrous services, which they thought had least harm in them, they little thought that ever they should be guilty of that barbarous and inhuman piece of idolatry the sacrificing of their living children to their dead gods; but they came to that at last (Psa 106:37, Psa 106:38), in which Satan triumphed over his worshippers, and regaled himself in blood and slaughter: They sacrificed their sons and daughters, pieces of themselves, to devils, and added murder, the most unnatural murder, to their idolatry; one cannot think of it without horror. They shed innocent blood, the most innocent, for it was infant-blood, nay, it was the blood of their sons and their daughters. See the power of the spirit that works in the children of disobedience, and see his malice. 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, Rom 1:28.
(2.) Their sin was, in part, their own punishment; for by it, [1.] They wronged their country: The land was polluted with blood, Psa 106:38. That pleasant land, that holy land, was rendered uncomfortable to themselves, and unfit to receive those kind tokens of God's favour and presence in it which were designed to be its honour. [2.] They wronged their consciences (Psa 106:39): They went a whoring with their own inventions, and so debauched their own minds, and were defiled with their own works, and rendered odious in the eyes of the holy God, and perhaps of their own consciences.
2. God brought his judgments upon them; and what else could be expected? For his name is Jealous, and he is a jealous God. (1.) He fell out with them for it, Psa 106:40. He was angry with them: The wrath of God, that consuming fire, was kindled against his people; for from them he took it as more insulting and ungrateful than from the heathen that never knew him. Nay, he was sick of them: He abhorred his own inheritance, which once he had taken pleasure in; yet the change was not in him, but in them. 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 are they if they rebel against him, like a dunghill at our door. (2.) Their enemies then fell upon them, and, their defence having departed, made an easy prey of them (Psa 106:41, Psa 106:42): He gave them into the hands of the heathen. Observe here how the punishment answered to the sin: They mingled with the heathen and learned their works; from them they willingly took the infection of sin, and therefore God justly made use of them as the instruments of their correction. 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; and when those that hated them ruled over them, and they were brought into subjection under them, no marvel that they oppressed them and ruled them with rigour; and thus God made them know the difference between his service and the service of the kings of the countries, Ch2 12:8. (3.) When God granted them some relief, yet they went on in their sins, and their troubles also were continued, Psa 106:43. This refers to the days of the Judges, when God often raised up deliverers and wrought deliverances for them, and yet they relapsed to idolatry and provoked God with their counsel, their idolatrous inventions, to deliver them up to some other oppressor, so that at last they were brought very low for their iniquity. Those that by sin disparage themselves, and will not by repentance humble themselves, are justly debased, and humbled, and brought low, by the judgments of God. (4.) At length they cried unto God, and God returned in favour to them, Psa 106:44-46. They were chastened for their sins, but not destroyed, cast down, but not cast off. God appeared for them, [1.] As a God of mercy, who looked upon their grievances, regarded their affliction, beheld when distress was upon them (so some), who looked over their complaints, for he heard their cry with tender compassion (Exo 3:7) and overlooked their provocations; for though he had said, and had reason to say it, that he would destroy them, yet he repented, according to the multitude of his mercies, and reversed the sentence. Though he is not a man that he should repent, so as to change his mind, yet he is a gracious God, who pities us, and changes his way. [2.] As a God of truth, who remembered for them his covenant, and made good every word that he had spoken; and therefore, bad as they were, he would not break with them, because he would not break his own promise. [3.] As a God of power, who has all hearts in his hand, and turns them which way soever he pleases. He made them to be pitied even of those that carried them captives, and hated them, and ruled them with rigour. He not only restrained the remainder of their enemies' wrath, that it should not utterly consume them, but he infused compassion even into their stony hearts, and made them relent, which was more than any art of man could have done with the utmost force of rhetoric. Note, God can change lions into lambs, and, when a man's ways please the Lord, will make even his enemies to pity him and be at peace with him. When God pities men shall. Tranquillus Deus tranquillat omnia - A God at peace with us makes every thing at peace.
II. The psalm concludes with prayer and praise. 1. Prayer for the completing of his people's deliverance. Even when the Lord brought back the captivity of his people still there was occasion to pray, Lord, turn again our captivity (Psa 126:1, Psa 126:4); so here (Psa 106:47), Save us, O Lord our God! and gather us from among the heathen. We may suppose that many who were forced into foreign countries, in the times of the Judges (as Naomi was, Rut 1:1), had not returned in the beginning of David's reign, Saul's time being discouraging, and therefore it was seasonable to pray, Lord, gather the dispersed Israelites from among the heathen, to give thanks to thy holy name, not only that they may have cause to give thanks and hearts to give thanks, that they may have opportunity to do it in the courts of the Lord's house, from which they were now banished, and so may triumph in thy praise, over those that had in scorn challenged them to sing the Lord's song in a strange land. 2. Praise for the beginning and progress of it (Psa 106:48): Blessed be the Lord God of Israel from everlasting to everlasting. He is a blessed God from eternity, and will be so to eternity, and so let him be praised by all his worshippers. Let the priests say this, and then let all the people say, Amen, Hallelujah, in token of their cheerful concurrence in all these prayers, praises, and confessions. According to this rubric, or directory, we find that when this psalm (or at least the closing verses of it) was sung all the people said Amen, and praised the Lord by saying, Hallelujah. By these two comprehensive words it is very proper, in religious assemblies, to testify their joining with their ministers in the prayers and praises which, as their mouth, they offer up to God, according to his will, saying Amen to the prayers and Hallelujah to the praises.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill1763 · Public DomainOn vv34–42They did not destroy the nations,.... Here begins an…
They did not destroy the nations,.... Here begins an account of their sins and provocations, after they were settled in the land of Canaan. They did not destroy the inhabitants of the land, of the seven nations; whose land was given to them as an inheritance, and of which the Canaanites were dispossessed for their sins, and to be destroyed.
Concerning whom the Lord commanded them; that they should destroy them; the command is in Deu 7:1. God's commands are to be obeyed; they are neither to be added to, nor diminished from; his commands are transgressed and violated by sins of omission or commission; the Israelites might plead mercy, but this was no excuse to an express command: the same sin Saul was afterwards guilty of, with respect to one of these nations, Sa1 15:2. Those spiritual Canaanites, the sinful deeds of the body, are to be mortified, and not indulged and spared, Col 3:5.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley1765 · Public DomainOn v37Devils - They did not worship God as they…
Devils - They did not worship God as they pretended, but devils in their idols; for those spirits, which were supposed by the Heathen idolaters to inhabit in their images, were not good spirits, but evil spirits, or devils.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke1810 · Public DomainOn vv36, 37, 39, 40Verse 36. They served their idols] עצביהם atsabbeyhem, their…
Verse 36. They served their idols] עצביהם atsabbeyhem, their labours or griefs-idols, so called because of the pains taken in forming them, the labor in worshipping them, and the grief occasioned by the Divine judgments against the people for their idolatry.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson1811 · Public DomainOn v34Psa 106:34-39. They did not destroy the nations, concerning…
Psa 106:34-39. They did not destroy the nations, concerning whom — Concerning whose destruction, the Lord commanded them — For when the iniquity of the Canaanites was full, it was God’s will to extirpate their race, and Israel was commissioned to execute upon them the vengeance determined. But were mingled among the heathen — In their habitations and negotiations, as also in marriages. And they served their idols — Which idols were an occasion of their falling both into further and greater sins, as it follows, Psa 106:37-38, and into utter ruin. They sacrificed their sons and daughters — Of which heathenish practice, see the notes on Lev 18:21. Unto devils — By which expression he informs them that they did not worship God as they pretended, but devils in their idols; and that those spirits that were supposed by the heathen idolaters to inhabit their images, and which they worshipped in them, were not good spirits, as they imagined, but evil spirits or devils. And shed innocent blood — The blood of their children, who, though depraved before God, yet were innocent as to them, from any crime deserving such barbarous usage from them. Thus were they defiled with their own works — And rendered abominable in the sight of a holy God; and went a whoring with their own inventions — Committed spiritual whoredom, by worshipping those idols which were but human inventions, and that in such an unnatural and bloody manner as they had devised.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes1834 · Public DomainOn vv34–42They did not destroy the nations - The Canaanites,…
They did not destroy the nations - The Canaanites, Hivites, Jebusites, etc.; the nations that inhabited the land of Canaan.
Concerning whom the Lord commanded them - The command on this subject was positive; and it was to destroy them, to spare none of them. Num 33:52; Deu 7:5, Deu 7:16.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Daniel D. Whedon1874 · Public DomainOn vv34, 36, 37, 39, 4134. They did not destroy the nations—This was the…
34. They did not destroy the nations—This was the seventh great sin of the nation, according to the enumeration of the psalm. The command was given as stated Exo_23:32-33, and reiterated in Jos_23:12-13. But early after their settlement in Canaan their faith failed, the wars abated, and many powerful hostile cities and tribes remained. See Jdg_2:3. These were thorns and snares to Israel in all future time.
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 Colleges1878 · Public DomainOn vv34–4134. They did not destroy the peoples,
34. They did not destroy the peoples,
As Jehovah had commanded them.
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For the command so often repeated see Exo_23:32-33; Exo_34:12 ff.; Deu_7:2 ff.: and for the neglect of it, Jdg_1:21; Jdg_1:27; Jdg_1:29 ff., Jdg_2:1 ff.
34–39. The continued disobedience of Israel even after the Entry into Canaan. Neglecting the command to exterminate the Canaanites they became infected by their abominations.
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 Readers1878 · Public DomainOn vv34, 37, 38, 40(34-39) The national sin after the settlement in Canaan.
(34-39) The national sin after the settlement in Canaan.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary1880 · Public DomainOn vv34–42They did not destroy the nations, concerning whom the…
They did not destroy the nations, concerning whom the Lord commanded them. This is reckoned as another sin. Israel, once comfortably settled in Palestine, with sufficient room for its numbers, did not carry out the Divine command to "destroy," or "cast out," the Canaanitish nations, but was content to share the land with them. "The children of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites who inhabited Jerusalem"; (Jud_1:21) "neither did Manasseh drive out the inhabitants of Bethshean and her towns, nor Taanach and her towns; nor the inhabitants of Dor and her towns"; (Jud 1:27) "neither did Ephraim drive out the Canaanites that dwelt in Gezer"; (Jud 1:29) nor "Zebulon the inhabitants of Kitten, nor the inhabitants of Nahalol"; (Jud 1:30) "neither did Asher drive out the inhabitants of Accho"; (Jud 1:31) nor "Naphtali the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh and Bethanath"; (Jud 1:33) nor Dan the Amorites, who "would dwell in Mount Heros in Aijalon, and in Shaalbim". (Jud 1:35) It was not compassion that restrained them, but love of ease, idleness, one of the seven deadly sins; and the results were those described in the next verse.
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. Spurgeon1885 · Public DomainOn vv34, 35, 36, 37, 39, 40, 42Ver. 34. They did not destroy the nations, concerning…
Ver. 34. They did not destroy the nations, concerning whom the LORD commanded them. They were commissioned to act as executioners upon races condemned for their unnatural crimes, and through sloth, cowardice, or Sinful complacency they sheathed the sword too soon, very much to their own danger and disquietude. It is a great evil with professors that they are not zealous for the total destruction of all sin within and without. We make alliances of peace where we ought to proclaim war to the knife; we plead our constitutional temperament, our previous habits, the necessity of our circumstances, or some other evil excuse as an apology for being content with a very partial sanctification, if indeed it be sanctification at all. We are slow also to rebuke sin in others, and are ready to spare respectable sins, which like Agag walk with mincing steps. The measure of our destruction of sin is not to be our inclination, or the habit of others, but the Lord's command. We have no warrant for dealing leniently with any sin, be it what it may.
Ver. 34-38. The miracles and mercies which settled them in Canaan made no more deep and durable impressions upon them than those that fetched them out of Egypt; for by that time they were well warm in Canaan, they corrupted themselves, and forsook God. Observe the steps of their apostasy.
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1. They spared the nations which God had doomed to destruction (Ps 106:34). When they had got the good land God had promised them, they had no zeal against the wicked inhabitants, whom the Lord commanded them to extirpate, pretending pity; but so merciful is God, that no man needs to be in any case more compassionate than he.
2. When they spared them, they promised themselves, that for all this, they would not join in any dangerous affinity with them; but the way of sin 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 (Ps 106:35). That which is rotten will sooner corrupt that which is sound, than be cured or made sound by it.
3. When they mingled with them, and learned some of their works that seemed innocent diversions and entertainments, yet they thought they would never join with them in their worship; but by degrees they learned that too (Ps 106:36). They served their idols in the same manner, and with the same rites that they served them; and they became a snare unto them, that sin drew on many more, and brought the judgments of God upon them, which they themselves could not but be sensible of, and yet knew not how to recover themselves.
4. When they joined with them in some of their idolatrous services, which they thought had least harm in them, they little thought that ever they should be guilty of that barbarous and inhuman piece of idolatry, the sacrificing of their living children to their dead gods: but they came to that at last (Ps 106:37-38) in which Satan triumphed over his worshippers, and regaled himself in blood and slaughter. They sacrificed their sons and daughters, pieces of themselves to devils; and added murder, the most unnatural murder, to their idolatry; one cannot think of it without horror; they "shed innocent blood", the most innocent, for it was infant blood, nay, it was the "blood of their sons and their daughters." See the power of the spirit that works in the children of disobedience, and see his malice. The beginning of idolatry and superstition, like that of strife, is as the letting forth of water, and there is no villainy which they that venture upon it can be sure they shall stop short of, for God justly "gives them up to a reprobate mind" (Ro 1:28). Matthew Henry.
Ver. 34-42.
1. What Israel did not do. They began well, but did not complete the conquest of their foes: Ps 106:34.
2. What they did do: Ps 106:35-39.
(a) They became friendly with them.
(b) They adopted their habits: "learned their works."
(c) They embraced their religion: "served their idols."
(d) They imitated their cruelties; Ps 106:37-38.
(e) They did worse than the heathen (Ps 106:39),
they added wicked inventions of their own.
3. What God did to them: Ps 106:40-42. He gave them into the hands of their enemies, and suffered them to be severely oppressed by them. We must either conquer all our foes or be conquered by them. Bring your shield from the battle or be brought home upon it.
G.R.
Psalms 106:35*
Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
The Biblical Illustrator1887 · Public DomainOn v40Therefore was the wrath of the Lord kindled.
Psa_106:40-46
Therefore was the wrath of the Lord kindled.
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Four solemn thoughts concerning God
I. Gods abhorrence of mens sins (verse 40). Gods wrath or anger is not a malign passion, but a benevolent principle, antagonism to wrong. Do not blame the sun or the moon because of the shadows they throw upon the earth; rather blame the objects that obstruct their rays. Gods wrath is only the rays of His love obstructed by sin. Remove the obstruction, and all is genial and beaming.
II. Gods dominion over mens minds (verses 41, 42). As the billows of the ocean in furious battle serve the grand cause of nature as well as the placid river in its majestic flow, so does the rage of wicked spirits serve the Almighty plans as truly as the loyal services of the good. His purposes must stand.
III. Gods regard for mens penitence (verses 43, 44; 2Ch_15:4).
IV. Gods forbearance with mens wickedness (verses 45, 46). (Homilist.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0On vv37, 40, 42They shed innocent blood, the blood of their sons…
They shed innocent blood, the blood of their sons and of their daughters
The phrase "shedding blood" is a descriptive euphemism used for "killing." AT: "They shed innocent blood when they killed their sons and daughters" (See: Euphemism)
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They were defiled by their deeds
This can be stated in active form. AT: "Their deeds defiled them" (See: Active or Passive)
in their actions they were like prostitutes
Here David compares their unfaithfulness to Yahweh to the unfaithfulness of a prostitute. AT: "they were as unfaithful to Yahweh as prostitutes" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
Tyndale Open Study Notes2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0On vv34, 37, 39, 40106:34 Israel continued to disobey the word of the…
106:34 Israel continued to disobey the word of the Lord while living in the Promised Land. Rather than destroying the nations, Israel accepted them and their ways (see Judg 2:1-3, 11-15; 3:5-6).
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv34, 35, 37, 38, 39, 40 34. They did not destroy the nations It appears…
34. They did not destroy the nations It appears to me that those persons are mistaken who think that the prophet is here simply giving a relation of the punishment which was inflicted upon the Jews, as if he were imputing to them the entire blame of not exterminating the nations, in consequence of their not deserving the honor of obtaining any more victories over them. But he rather prefers another charge against them, that they had been remiss in driving out the heathen, or more probably that they had not obeyed the Divine command to root them out of the land. Now that the cup of the iniquity of the Amorites was full, it was the purpose of God that they should be exterminated, lest their society might prove injurious to the holy people. For God, having chosen that land for a habitation to himself, intended that it should be holy and purified from all defilement. In refusing, therefore, to execute the vengeance enjoined upon them, the people showed their willingness to associate with the uncircumcised inhabitants of Canaan. In manifesting such indifference about God’s command respecting the driving out these nations, they gave just cause for his anger waxing hot against them. Behold, saith he, I have commanded all these nations to be cut off by the sword; and now, because ye have not obeyed my voice,
“they shall be pricks in your eyes, and thorns in your sides, and shall vex you in the land wherein ye dwell,” Numbers 33:55
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The not destroying all these nations, but permitting some of them to remain, might appear to be an act of mercy; but in thus acting, the people were guilty of neglecting to execute God’s righteous vengeance upon them, and of leaving the land liable to be polluted with their abominations. From these things it ought to be noticed, that there are two extremes in which men are apt to indulge, either in being unnecessarily over rigorous, or in defeating the ends of justice by too great lenity. We must, therefore, adhere strictly to God’s command, if we would desire to shun both extremes. For if the Israelites are condemned for sparing some of these nations wholly, what are we to think of those judges who, from a timid and apathetic attention to the responsible duties of their office, exercise too much lenity to a few persons, thus weakening the restraints of the inlets to vice, to the great detriment of the public weal?
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 On vv37, 39 He showeth how monstrous a thing idolatry is, which…
He showeth how monstrous a thing idolatry is, which can win us to things abhorring to nature, whereas God’s word cannot obtain most small things.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv34–42 Psa 106:34 They did not destroy the nations, concerning…
Psa 106:34 They did not destroy the nations, concerning whom the LORD commanded them:
Ver. 34. They did not destroy the nations] For which neglect of theirs pity would be pleaded. But there is a cruel mercy, saith one; there is a pious cruelty, saith another. Cursed is he that doeth the Lord’s work deceitfully, and cursed is he that restraineth his sword from blood when God biddeth him strike. Saul and Ahab felt the dint of this curse, and so did these Israelites, for sparing the Canaanites, whether out of pusillanimity or foolish pity.
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 On vv34–39 Concerning whom, i.e. concerning whose destruction or rather, which…
Concerning whom, i.e. concerning whose destruction or rather, which thing to wit, to destroy those Canaanitish nations; for in the Hebrew there is nothing but asher, which signifies only either whom or which.
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 On v34 Here, I. The narrative concludes with an account of…
Here, I. The narrative concludes with an account of Israel's conduct in Canaan, which was of a piece with that in the wilderness, and God's dealings with them, wherein, as all along, both justice and mercy appeared.
1. They were very provoking to God. The miracles and mercies which settled them in Canaan made no more deep and durable impressions upon them than those which fetched them out of Egypt; for by the time they were just settled in Canaan they corrupted themselves, and forsook God. Observe,
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(1.) The steps of their apostasy. [1.] They spared the nations which God had doomed to destruction (Psa 106:34); when they had got the good land God had promised them they had no zeal against the wicked inhabitants whom the Lord commanded them to extirpate, pretending pity; but so merciful is God that no man needs to be in any case more compassionate than he. [2.] When they spared them they promised themselves that, notwithstanding this, they would not join in any dangerous affinity with them. But the way of sin 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, Psa 106:35. That which is rotten will sooner corrupt that which is sound than be cured or made sound by it. [3.] When they mingled with them, and learned some of their works that seemed innocent diversions and entertainments, yet they thought they would never join with them in their worship; but by degrees they learned that too (Psa 106:36): They served their idols in the same manner, and with the same rites, that they served them; and they became a snare to them. That sin drew on many more, and brought the judgments of God upon them, which they themselves could not but be sensible of and yet knew not how to recover themselves. [4.] When they joined with them in some of their idolatrous services, which they thought had least harm in them, they little thought that ever they should be guilty of that barbarous and inhuman piece of idolatry the sacrificing of their living children to their dead gods; but they came to that at last (Psa 106:37, Psa 106:38), in which Satan triumphed over his worshippers, and regaled himself in blood and slaughter: They sacrificed their sons and daughters, pieces of themselves, to devils, and added murder, the most unnatural murder, to their idolatry; one cannot think of it without horror. They shed innocent blood, the most innocent, for it was infant-blood, nay, it was the blood of their sons and their daughters. See the power of the spirit that works in the children of disobedience, and see his malice. 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, Rom 1:28.
(2.) Their sin was, in part, their own punishment; for by it, [1.] They wronged their country: The land was polluted with blood, Psa 106:38. That pleasant land, that holy land, was rendered uncomfortable to themselves, and unfit to receive those kind tokens of God's favour and presence in it which were designed to be its honour. [2.] They wronged their consciences (Psa 106:39): They went a whoring with their own inventions, and so debauched their own minds, and were defiled with their own works, and rendered odious in the eyes of the holy God, and perhaps of their own consciences.
2. God brought his judgments upon them; and what else could be expected? For his name is Jealous, and he is a jealous God. (1.) He fell out with them for it, Psa 106:40. He was angry with them: The wrath of God, that consuming fire, was kindled against his people; for from them he took it as more insulting and ungrateful than from the heathen that never knew him. Nay, he was sick of them: He abhorred his own inheritance, which once he had taken pleasure in; yet the change was not in him, but in them. 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 are they if they rebel against him, like a dunghill at our door. (2.) Their enemies then fell upon them, and, their defence having departed, made an easy prey of them (Psa 106:41, Psa 106:42): He gave them into the hands of the heathen. Observe here how the punishment answered to the sin: They mingled with the heathen and learned their works; from them they willingly took the infection of sin, and therefore God justly made use of them as the instruments of their correction. 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; and when those that hated them ruled over them, and they were brought into subjection under them, no marvel that they oppressed them and ruled them with rigour; and thus God made them know the difference between his service and the service of the kings of the countries, Ch2 12:8. (3.) When God granted them some relief, yet they went on in their sins, and their troubles also were continued, Psa 106:43. This refers to the days of the Judges, when God often raised up deliverers and wrought deliverances for them, and yet they relapsed to idolatry and provoked God with their counsel, their idolatrous inventions, to deliver them up to some other oppressor, so that at last they were brought very low for their iniquity. Those that by sin disparage themselves, and will not by repentance humble themselves, are justly debased, and humbled, and brought low, by the judgments of God. (4.) At length they cried unto God, and God returned in favour to them, Psa 106:44-46. They were chastened for their sins, but not destroyed, cast down, but not cast off. God appeared for them, [1.] As a God of mercy, who looked upon their grievances, regarded their affliction, beheld when distress was upon them (so some), who looked over their complaints, for he heard their cry with tender compassion (Exo 3:7) and overlooked their provocations; for though he had said, and had reason to say it, that he would destroy them, yet he repented, according to the multitude of his mercies, and reversed the sentence. Though he is not a man that he should repent, so as to change his mind, yet he is a gracious God, who pities us, and changes his way. [2.] As a God of truth, who remembered for them his covenant, and made good every word that he had spoken; and therefore, bad as they were, he would not break with them, because he would not break his own promise. [3.] As a God of power, who has all hearts in his hand, and turns them which way soever he pleases. He made them to be pitied even of those that carried them captives, and hated them, and ruled them with rigour. He not only restrained the remainder of their enemies' wrath, that it should not utterly consume them, but he infused compassion even into their stony hearts, and made them relent, which was more than any art of man could have done with the utmost force of rhetoric. Note, God can change lions into lambs, and, when a man's ways please the Lord, will make even his enemies to pity him and be at peace with him. When God pities men shall. Tranquillus Deus tranquillat omnia - A God at peace with us makes every thing at peace.
II. The psalm concludes with prayer and praise. 1. Prayer for the completing of his people's deliverance. Even when the Lord brought back the captivity of his people still there was occasion to pray, Lord, turn again our captivity (Psa 126:1, Psa 126:4); so here (Psa 106:47), Save us, O Lord our God! and gather us from among the heathen. We may suppose that many who were forced into foreign countries, in the times of the Judges (as Naomi was, Rut 1:1), had not returned in the beginning of David's reign, Saul's time being discouraging, and therefore it was seasonable to pray, Lord, gather the dispersed Israelites from among the heathen, to give thanks to thy holy name, not only that they may have cause to give thanks and hearts to give thanks, that they may have opportunity to do it in the courts of the Lord's house, from which they were now banished, and so may triumph in thy praise, over those that had in scorn challenged them to sing the Lord's song in a strange land. 2. Praise for the beginning and progress of it (Psa 106:48): Blessed be the Lord God of Israel from everlasting to everlasting. He is a blessed God from eternity, and will be so to eternity, and so let him be praised by all his worshippers. Let the priests say this, and then let all the people say, Amen, Hallelujah, in token of their cheerful concurrence in all these prayers, praises, and confessions. According to this rubric, or directory, we find that when this psalm (or at least the closing verses of it) was sung all the people said Amen, and praised the Lord by saying, Hallelujah. By these two comprehensive words it is very proper, in religious assemblies, to testify their joining with their ministers in the prayers and praises which, as their mouth, they offer up to God, according to his will, saying Amen to the prayers and Hallelujah to the praises.
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 On vv34–42 They did not destroy the nations,.... Here begins an…
They did not destroy the nations,.... Here begins an account of their sins and provocations, after they were settled in the land of Canaan. They did not destroy the inhabitants of the land, of the seven nations; whose land was given to them as an inheritance, and of which the Canaanites were dispossessed for their sins, and to be destroyed.
Concerning whom the Lord commanded them; that they should destroy them; the command is in Deu 7:1. God's commands are to be obeyed; they are neither to be added to, nor diminished from; his commands are transgressed and violated by sins of omission or commission; the Israelites might plead mercy, but this was no excuse to an express command: the same sin Saul was afterwards guilty of, with respect to one of these nations, Sa1 15:2. Those spiritual Canaanites, the sinful deeds of the body, are to be mortified, and not indulged and spared, Col 3:5.
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 On v37 Devils - They did not worship God as they…
Devils - They did not worship God as they pretended, but devils in their idols; for those spirits, which were supposed by the Heathen idolaters to inhabit in their images, were not good spirits, but evil spirits, or devils.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv36, 37, 39, 40 Verse 36. They served their idols] עצביהם atsabbeyhem, their…
Verse 36. They served their idols] עצביהם atsabbeyhem, their labours or griefs-idols, so called because of the pains taken in forming them, the labor in worshipping them, and the grief occasioned by the Divine judgments against the people for their idolatry.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On v34 Psa 106:34-39. They did not destroy the nations, concerning…
Psa 106:34-39. They did not destroy the nations, concerning whom — Concerning whose destruction, the Lord commanded them — For when the iniquity of the Canaanites was full, it was God’s will to extirpate their race, and Israel was commissioned to execute upon them the vengeance determined. But were mingled among the heathen — In their habitations and negotiations, as also in marriages. And they served their idols — Which idols were an occasion of their falling both into further and greater sins, as it follows, Psa 106:37-38, and into utter ruin. They sacrificed their sons and daughters — Of which heathenish practice, see the notes on Lev 18:21. Unto devils — By which expression he informs them that they did not worship God as they pretended, but devils in their idols; and that those spirits that were supposed by the heathen idolaters to inhabit their images, and which they worshipped in them, were not good spirits, as they imagined, but evil spirits or devils. And shed innocent blood — The blood of their children, who, though depraved before God, yet were innocent as to them, from any crime deserving such barbarous usage from them. Thus were they defiled with their own works — And rendered abominable in the sight of a holy God; and went a whoring with their own inventions — Committed spiritual whoredom, by worshipping those idols which were but human inventions, and that in such an unnatural and bloody manner as they had devised.
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 On vv34–42 They did not destroy the nations - The Canaanites,…
They did not destroy the nations - The Canaanites, Hivites, Jebusites, etc.; the nations that inhabited the land of Canaan.
Concerning whom the Lord commanded them - The command on this subject was positive; and it was to destroy them, to spare none of them. Num 33:52; Deu 7:5, Deu 7:16.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv34, 36, 37, 39, 41 34. They did not destroy the nations—This was the…
34. They did not destroy the nations—This was the seventh great sin of the nation, according to the enumeration of the psalm. The command was given as stated Exo_23:32-33, and reiterated in Jos_23:12-13. But early after their settlement in Canaan their faith failed, the wars abated, and many powerful hostile cities and tribes remained. See Jdg_2:3. These were thorns and snares to Israel in all future time.
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 On vv34–41 34. They did not destroy the peoples,
34. They did not destroy the peoples,
As Jehovah had commanded them.
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For the command so often repeated see Exo_23:32-33; Exo_34:12 ff.; Deu_7:2 ff.: and for the neglect of it, Jdg_1:21; Jdg_1:27; Jdg_1:29 ff., Jdg_2:1 ff.
34–39. The continued disobedience of Israel even after the Entry into Canaan. Neglecting the command to exterminate the Canaanites they became infected by their abominations.
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 On vv34, 37, 38, 40 (34-39) The national sin after the settlement in Canaan.
(34-39) The national sin after the settlement in Canaan.
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 On vv34–42 They did not destroy the nations, concerning whom the…
They did not destroy the nations, concerning whom the Lord commanded them. This is reckoned as another sin. Israel, once comfortably settled in Palestine, with sufficient room for its numbers, did not carry out the Divine command to "destroy," or "cast out," the Canaanitish nations, but was content to share the land with them. "The children of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites who inhabited Jerusalem"; (Jud_1:21) "neither did Manasseh drive out the inhabitants of Bethshean and her towns, nor Taanach and her towns; nor the inhabitants of Dor and her towns"; (Jud 1:27) "neither did Ephraim drive out the Canaanites that dwelt in Gezer"; (Jud 1:29) nor "Zebulon the inhabitants of Kitten, nor the inhabitants of Nahalol"; (Jud 1:30) "neither did Asher drive out the inhabitants of Accho"; (Jud 1:31) nor "Naphtali the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh and Bethanath"; (Jud 1:33) nor Dan the Amorites, who "would dwell in Mount Heros in Aijalon, and in Shaalbim". (Jud 1:35) It was not compassion that restrained them, but love of ease, idleness, one of the seven deadly sins; and the results were those described in the next verse.
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 On vv34, 35, 36, 37, 39, 40, 42 Ver. 34. They did not destroy the nations, concerning…
Ver. 34. They did not destroy the nations, concerning whom the LORD commanded them. They were commissioned to act as executioners upon races condemned for their unnatural crimes, and through sloth, cowardice, or Sinful complacency they sheathed the sword too soon, very much to their own danger and disquietude. It is a great evil with professors that they are not zealous for the total destruction of all sin within and without. We make alliances of peace where we ought to proclaim war to the knife; we plead our constitutional temperament, our previous habits, the necessity of our circumstances, or some other evil excuse as an apology for being content with a very partial sanctification, if indeed it be sanctification at all. We are slow also to rebuke sin in others, and are ready to spare respectable sins, which like Agag walk with mincing steps. The measure of our destruction of sin is not to be our inclination, or the habit of others, but the Lord's command. We have no warrant for dealing leniently with any sin, be it what it may.
Ver. 34-38. The miracles and mercies which settled them in Canaan made no more deep and durable impressions upon them than those that fetched them out of Egypt; for by that time they were well warm in Canaan, they corrupted themselves, and forsook God. Observe the steps of their apostasy.
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1. They spared the nations which God had doomed to destruction (Ps 106:34). When they had got the good land God had promised them, they had no zeal against the wicked inhabitants, whom the Lord commanded them to extirpate, pretending pity; but so merciful is God, that no man needs to be in any case more compassionate than he.
2. When they spared them, they promised themselves, that for all this, they would not join in any dangerous affinity with them; but the way of sin 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 (Ps 106:35). That which is rotten will sooner corrupt that which is sound, than be cured or made sound by it.
3. When they mingled with them, and learned some of their works that seemed innocent diversions and entertainments, yet they thought they would never join with them in their worship; but by degrees they learned that too (Ps 106:36). They served their idols in the same manner, and with the same rites that they served them; and they became a snare unto them, that sin drew on many more, and brought the judgments of God upon them, which they themselves could not but be sensible of, and yet knew not how to recover themselves.
4. When they joined with them in some of their idolatrous services, which they thought had least harm in them, they little thought that ever they should be guilty of that barbarous and inhuman piece of idolatry, the sacrificing of their living children to their dead gods: but they came to that at last (Ps 106:37-38) in which Satan triumphed over his worshippers, and regaled himself in blood and slaughter. They sacrificed their sons and daughters, pieces of themselves to devils; and added murder, the most unnatural murder, to their idolatry; one cannot think of it without horror; they "shed innocent blood", the most innocent, for it was infant blood, nay, it was the "blood of their sons and their daughters." See the power of the spirit that works in the children of disobedience, and see his malice. The beginning of idolatry and superstition, like that of strife, is as the letting forth of water, and there is no villainy which they that venture upon it can be sure they shall stop short of, for God justly "gives them up to a reprobate mind" (Ro 1:28). Matthew Henry.
Ver. 34-42.
1. What Israel did not do. They began well, but did not complete the conquest of their foes: Ps 106:34.
2. What they did do: Ps 106:35-39.
(a) They became friendly with them.
(b) They adopted their habits: "learned their works."
(c) They embraced their religion: "served their idols."
(d) They imitated their cruelties; Ps 106:37-38.
(e) They did worse than the heathen (Ps 106:39),
they added wicked inventions of their own.
3. What God did to them: Ps 106:40-42. He gave them into the hands of their enemies, and suffered them to be severely oppressed by them. We must either conquer all our foes or be conquered by them. Bring your shield from the battle or be brought home upon it.
G.R.
Psalms 106:35*
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 On v40 Therefore was the wrath of the Lord kindled.
Psa_106:40-46
Therefore was the wrath of the Lord kindled.
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Four solemn thoughts concerning God
I. Gods abhorrence of mens sins (verse 40). Gods wrath or anger is not a malign passion, but a benevolent principle, antagonism to wrong. Do not blame the sun or the moon because of the shadows they throw upon the earth; rather blame the objects that obstruct their rays. Gods wrath is only the rays of His love obstructed by sin. Remove the obstruction, and all is genial and beaming.
II. Gods dominion over mens minds (verses 41, 42). As the billows of the ocean in furious battle serve the grand cause of nature as well as the placid river in its majestic flow, so does the rage of wicked spirits serve the Almighty plans as truly as the loyal services of the good. His purposes must stand.
III. Gods regard for mens penitence (verses 43, 44; 2Ch_15:4).
IV. Gods forbearance with mens wickedness (verses 45, 46). (Homilist.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv37, 40, 42 They shed innocent blood, the blood of their sons…
They shed innocent blood, the blood of their sons and of their daughters
The phrase "shedding blood" is a descriptive euphemism used for "killing." AT: "They shed innocent blood when they killed their sons and daughters" (See: Euphemism)
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They were defiled by their deeds
This can be stated in active form. AT: "Their deeds defiled them" (See: Active or Passive)
in their actions they were like prostitutes
Here David compares their unfaithfulness to Yahweh to the unfaithfulness of a prostitute. AT: "they were as unfaithful to Yahweh as prostitutes" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
translationWords
sacrifice
demon
innocent
blood
Canaan
desecrate
defile
prostitute
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 On vv34, 37, 39, 40 106:34 Israel continued to disobey the word of the…
106:34 Israel continued to disobey the word of the Lord while living in the Promised Land. Rather than destroying the nations, Israel accepted them and their ways (see Judg 2:1-3, 11-15; 3:5-6).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.