Psalm 106

Psalms 106:1

“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.”

Psalms 106:1

“Praise, &c.--(See on Ps 104:35), begins and ends the Psalm, intimating the obligations of praise, however we sin and suffer 1Ch 16:34-36 is the source from which the beginning and end of this Psalm are derived.”

Psalms 106:2

“Who shall tell the mighty acts of the Lord? No one is worthy to proclaim the mighty acts of the Father, except the Son. No one can tell the might of the Father, except him who is himself also mighty: the mighty acts of the Mighty One he alone who is in the bosom of the Father, he who is himself mighty, can proclaim and tell. Shall he make all his praises heard? Before our Lord in the Gospel proclaimed the praises of the Father, they had not been heard in the world.”

Psalms 106:3

“Blessed are they who keep judgment, and do justice at all times. David speaks rightly. He too had done judgment, he had done justice: but because he did not do it at all times, therefore he fell. For what does he say? Blessed are they who keep judgment, and do justice at all times. But blessed are they who do it at all times.”

Psalms 106:3

“The blessing is limited to those whose principles and acts are right. How "blessed" Israel would be now, if he had "observed God's statutes" (Ps 105:45). In view of the desert of sins to be confessed, the writer invokes God's covenant mercy to himself and the Church, in whose welfare he rejoices.”

Psalms 106:4

How gracious a thing it is on God's part to make prayers for us! He puts them into our mouths. No one need say, "I cannot pray because I am unable to compose a sentence." Here is a prayer already composed which would be suitable for the lips of anyone here present—high or low, rich or poor, saint or sinner! And it is a yet greater mercy that the God who thus gives us the form of prayer waits to give us the spirit of prayer, "for the Holy Spirit helps our infirmities."

Psalms 106:5

“That I may see the good of thy chosen. His desire for the divine favour was excited by the hope that he might participate in all the good things which flow to the people of God through their election. The Father has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus, according as he has chosen us in him, and in these precious gifts we desire to share through the saving visitation of the Lord. No other good do we wish to see, perceive, and apprehend, but that which is the peculiar treasure of the saints.”

Psalms 106:6

“We have sinned with our fathers. As sons we have followed our fathers: we have done what our fathers also did. 'For he has shut up all under sin, that he might have mercy on all.' We have acted unjustly, we have committed iniquity. Note carefully what he says: We have sinned with our fathers, we have acted unjustly, we have committed iniquity. Did he say, we have acted impiously? It is one thing to be a sinner and unjust, another to be impious.”

Psalms 106:6

“Da 9:5, where the same three verbs occur in the same order and connection, the original of the two later passages being the first one, the prayer of Solomon in dedicating the temple. sinned . . . fathers--like them, and so partaking of their guilt.”

Psalms 106:7

“Our fathers in Egypt did not understand your wonders. They saw, and they did not see: they saw with the eyes of the flesh, and with spiritual eyes they did not see. He did not say, they did not see: but, they did not understand. For just as those men saw the wonders, and did not understand: so also in the Gospel, if anyone indeed sees and hears carnally, but does not understand spiritually, he does not see. Blessed therefore are we who have not seen and yet have believed, more than those who saw and did not believe.”

Psalms 106:8

“Nevertheless he saved them for his name's sake, that he might make his mighty power to be known. When he could find no other reason for his mercy he found it in his own glory, and seized the opportunity to display his power. If Israel does not deserve to be saved, yet Pharaoh's pride needs to be crushed, and therefore Israel shall be delivered. The Lord very jealously guards his own name and honour.”

Psalms 106:10

“And he saved them from the hand of them that hated them. Pharaoh was drowned, and the power of Egypt so crippled that throughout the forty years' wanderings of Israel they were never threatened by their old masters. And redeemed them from the hand of the enemy. This was a redemption by power, and one of the most instructive types of the redemption of the Lord's people from sin and hell by the power which worketh in them.”

Psalms 106:11

And the waters covered their enemies: there was not one of them left. The Lord does nothing by halves. What he begins he carries through to the end. This, again, made Israel's sin the greater, because they saw the thoroughness of the divine justice, and the perfection of the divine faithfulness. In the covering of their enemies we have a type of the pardon of our sins; they are sunk as in the sea, never to rise again; and, blessed be the Lord, there is "not one of them left."

Psalms 106:12

“Then believed they his words. That is to say, they believed the promise when they saw it fulfilled, but not till then. This is mentioned, not to their credit, but to their shame. Those who do not believe the Lord's word till they see it performed are not believers at all. Who would not believe when the fact stares them in the face? The Egyptians would have done as much as this. They sang his praise. How could they do otherwise?”

Psalms 106:13

“This people soon forgot them (God took notice of this, Exod. xxxii. 8 , They have turned aside quickly): They made haste, they forgot his works (so it is in the margin), which some make to be two separate instances of their sin.”

Psalms 106:14

“Literally, "lusted a lust" (quoted from Nu 11:4, Margin). Previously, there had been impatience as to necessaries of life; here it is lusting (Ps 78:18).”

Psalms 106:15

“And he gave them their request. Prayer may be answered in anger and denied in love. That God gives a man his desire is no proof that he is the object of divine favour, everything depends upon what that desire is. But sent leanness into their soul. Ah, that "but!" It embittered all. The meat was poison to them when it came without a blessing; whatever it might do in fattening the body, it was poor stuff when it made the soul lean.”

Psalms 106:16-18

“All the congregation took part with Dathan, Korah, &c., and their accomplices (Nu 16:41). Aaron the saint--literally, "the holy one," as consecrated priest; not a moral attribute, but one designating his office as holy to the Lord. The rebellion was followed by a double punishment: (1) of the non-Levitical rebels, the Reubenites, Dathan and Abiram, &c.”

Psalms 106:17

“The earth opened and swallowed up Dathan, and covered the company of Abiram. Korah is not mentioned, for mercy was extended to his household, though he himself perished. The earth could no longer bear up under the weight of these rebels and ingrates: God's patience was exhausted when they began to assail his servants, for his children are very dear to him, and he that toucheth them touches the apple of his eye. Moses had opened the sea for their deliverance, and now that they provoke him, the earth opens for their destruction.”

Psalms 106:18

“And a fire was kindled in their company; the flame burned up the wicked. The Levites who were with Korah perished by fire, which was a most fitting death for those who intruded into the priesthood, and so offered strange fire. God has more than one arrow in his quiver, the fire can consume those whom the earthquake spares. These terrible things in righteousness are mentioned here to show the obstinacy of the people in continuing to rebel against the Lord. Terrors were as much lost upon them as mercies had been; they could neither be drawn nor driven.”

Psalms 106:19-23

“The idolatry was more sinful in view of their recent experience of God's power in Egypt and His wonders at Sinai (Ex 32:1-6). Though intending to worship Jehovah under the symbol of the calf, yet as this was incompatible with His nature (De 4:15-17), they in reality gave up Him, and so were given up by Him.”

Psalms 106:21

“They forgat God their saviour. Remembering the calf involved forgetting God. He had commanded them to make no image, and in daring to disobey they forgot his commands. Moreover, it is clear that they must altogether have forgotten the nature and character of Jehovah, or they could never have likened him to a grass eating animal. Some men hope to keep their sins and their God too—the fact being that he who sins is already so far departed from the Lord that he has actually forgotten him. Which had done great things in Egypt.”

Psalms 106:23

“Therefore he said that he would destroy them,.... He said in his word, the Targum adds; he thought within himself he would; he seemed determined in his own mind to destroy them, being provoked at their wretched forgetfulness of him, and their idolatry; he said to Moses, let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them, Exo 32:10. The decree indeed was not gone forth, but there was such an appearance of displeasure as if ruin was determined; and a great number was destroyed, and the whole body was threatened.”

Psalms 106:23

“Therefore he said that he would destroy them. The threatening of destruction came at last. For the first wilderness sin he chastened them, sending leanness into their soul; for the second he weeded out the offenders, the flame burned up the wicked; for the third he threatened to destroy them; for the fourth he lifted up his hand and almost came to blows (Ps 106:26); for the fifth he actually smote them, "and the plague brake in among them"; and so the punishment increased with their perseverance in sin.”

Psalms 106:24

“The heavenly Canaan is a pleasant land. A promise is left us of entering into it; but there are many that despise it, that neglect and refuse the offer of it, that prefer the wealth and pleasure of this world before it, and grudge the pains and hazards of this life to obtain that.”

Psalms 106:25

“But murmured in their tents. From unbelief to murmuring is a short and natural step; they even fell to weeping when they had the best ground for rejoicing. Murmuring is a great sin and not a mere weakness; it contains within itself unbelief, pride, rebellion, and a whole host of sins. It is a home sin, and is generally practised by complainers "in their tents, "but it is just as evil there as in the streets, and will be quite as grievous to the Lord. And hearkened not unto the voice of the Lord.”

Psalms 106:25

“Those that will not wait for God's counsel shall justly be given up to their own hearts' lusts, to walk in their own counsels. Many of their sins are here mentioned, together with the tokens of God's displeasure which they fell under for those sins.”

Psalms 106:26

“Therefore he lifted up his hand against them,.... A gesture used in swearing, Gen 14:22. So the Targum understands it here, "and he lifted up his hand with an oath, because of them:'' and so it is interpreted by Aben Ezra, Jarchi, Kimchi, and Ben Melech; and agrees with Num 14:28. The same gesture was used by the Heathens in swearing, as by Latinus (s). Or he lifted up his hand, in a way of judgment, to strike the blow; and which, when it lights on man with the indignation of his anger, falls heavy; see Isa 26:”

Psalms 106:26

“Therefore he lifted up his hand against them, to overthrow them in the wilderness. He swore in his wrath that they should not enter into his rest; he commenced his work of judgment upon them, and they began to die. Only let God lift his hand against a man and his day has come; he falls terribly whom Jehovah overthrows. To overthrow their seed also among the nations, and to scatter them in the lands. Foreseeing that their descendants would reproduce their sins, he solemnly declared that he would give them over to captivity and the sword.”

Psalms 106:27

“To overthrow their seed also among the nations - Margin, as in Hebrew, “to make them fall;” to wit, among the surrounding people. The reference here is to the posterity of those who complained and fell in the wilderness. The result of their rebellion and complaining 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.”

Psalms 106:28

“They joined themselves also unto Baalpeor. Ritualism led on to the adoration of false gods. If we choose a false way of worship we shall, ere long, choose to worship a false god. This abomination of the Moabites was an idol in whose worship women gave up their bodies to the most shameless lust. Think of the people of a holy God coming down to this. And ate the sacrifices of the dead.”

Psalms 106:28

“Those that did often partake of the altar of the living God now ate the sacrifices of the dead, of the idols of Moab (that were dead images, or dead men canonized or deified), or sacrifices to the infernal deities on the behalf of their dead friends.”

Psalms 106:29

“Thus they provoked him to anger with their inventions: and the plague brake in upon them. Open licentiousness and avowed idolatry were too gross to be winked at. This time the offences clamoured for judgment, and the judgment came at once. Twenty-four thousand persons fell before a sudden and deadly disease which threatened to run through the whole camp. Their new sins brought on them a disease new to their tribes. When men invent sins God will not be slow to invent punishments.”

Psalms 106:31

“And that was counted unto him for righteousness unto all generations for evermore. Down to the moment when this psalm was penned the house of Phinehas was honoured in Israel. His faith had performed a valorous deed, and his righteousness was testified of the Lord, and honoured by the continuance of his family in the priesthood. He was impelled by motives that what would otherwise have been a deed of blood was justified in the sight of God; nay, more, was made the evidence that Phinehas was righteous.”

Psalms 106:32

“They angered him also at the waters of strife,.... Or, "at the waters of Meribah" (z); that is, Meribahkadesh, as it is called in Deu 32:51 to distinguish it from Meribahrephidim, where also were waters of strife or contradiction; at which the people murmured and strove with the Lord, and greatly displeased him, Exo 17:”

Psalms 106:33

“Because they provoked his spirit;.... Though he was a very meek man, meeker than any upon the face of the earth, Num 12:2, yet, being greatly provoked, let fall some passionate and undue expressions: and this was not only his sin, but the fault of those also that provoked him, and with this view it is mentioned. The Targum is, "for they rebelled against his Holy Spirit;'' the Holy Spirit of God, as in Isa 63:”

Psalms 106:33

“Because they provoked his spirit, so that he spake unadvisedly with his lips. Which seems a small sin compared with that of others, but then it was the sin of Moses, the Lord's chosen servant, who had seen and known so much of the Lord, and therefore it could not be passed by. He did not speak blasphemously, or falsely, but only hastily and without care; but this is a serious fault in a lawgiver, and especially in one who speaks for God. This passage is to our mind one of the most terrible in the Bible.”

Psalms 106:34

“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,”

Psalms 106:35

“But were mingled among the Heathen,.... Not only dwelt among them, but made covenants and contracts, carried on trade and commerce, and intermarried with them, contrary to the express law of God, Deu 7:2. Nor should saints have communion with wicked men, especially in things sinful and superstitious, 2Co 6:14. And learned their works; not their civil works and actions, their trades and business, but their idolatrous works; of which a detail is given in the following verses: "evil communications corrupt good manners", 1Co 15:33.”

Psalms 106:35

“But were mingled among the heathen, and learned their works. It was not the wilderness which caused Israel's sins; they were just as disobedient when settled in the land of promise. They found evil company, and delighted in it. Those whom they should have destroyed they made their friends. Having enough faults of their own, they were yet ready to go to school to the filthy Canaanites, and educate themselves still more in the arts of iniquity. It was certain that they could learn no good from men whom the Lord had condemned to utter destruction.”

Psalms 106:36

“And they served their idols: which were a snare unto them. They were fascinated by the charms of idolatry, though it brings misery upon its votaries. A man cannot serve sin without being ensnared by it. It is like birdlime, and to touch it is to be taken by it. Samson laid his head in the Philistine woman's lap, but ere long he woke up shorn of his strength. Dalliance with sin is fatal to spiritual liberty.”

Psalms 106:37

“Yea, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto devils. Who have their name here given them from a word that signifies to waste and destroy, they being the destroyers of mankind. So the Targum renders it by מזיקיא, which signifies spirits noxious and hurtful; but R. Elias Levita, in his Tishbi, p. 233, says it is a mistake to derive it from the root which signifies to waste and destroy; for then he says the "daleth" should have a "dagesh"; but does not tell us from whence it is derived.”

Psalms 106:37

“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.”

Psalms 106:38

The first plague was of blood, by which idolaters were struck, because the Psalm says of them: "They poured out innocent blood, the blood of their sons and of their daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan."

Psalms 106:38

“And shed innocent blood ... - The blood of those who had committed no crime; who did not “deserve” the treatment which they received. That is, they were sacrificed “as” innocent persons, and “because” it was believed that they “were” innocent: the pure for the impure; the holy for the unholy. It was on the general principle that a sacrifice for sin must be itself pure, or it could not be offered in the place of the guilty; that an offering made for one who had violated law must be by one who had “not” violated it.”

Psalms 106:39

“Thus were they defiled with their own works, and went a whoring with their own inventions. Not only the land but the inhabitants of it were polluted. They broke the marriage bond between them and the Lord, and fell into spiritual adultery. The language is strong, but the offence could not be fitly described in less forcible words.”

Psalms 106:40

“Therefore was the wrath of the Lord kindled against his people, in so much that he abhorred his own inheritance. Not that even then he broke his covenant or utterly cast off his offending people, but he felt the deepest indignation, and even looked upon them with abhorrence. The feeling described is like to that of a husband who still loves his guilty wife, and yet when he thinks of her lewdness feels his whole nature rising in righteous anger at her, so that the very sight of her afflicts his soul.”

Psalms 106:40

“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.”

Psalms 106:41

“And he gave them into the hand of the Heathen,.... In the times of the judges; as into the hands of the Mesopotamians, Moabites, Canaanites, Midianites, and Philistines, to whom they became tributaries; see the book of Judges. And they that hated them ruled over them; as it was threatened and foretold they should, in case they did not observe the law of God, Lev 26:17.”

Psalms 106:41-42

“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.”

Psalms 106:42

“Their enemies also oppressed them. This was according to their nature; an Israelite always fares ill at the hands of the heathen. Leniency to Canaan turned out to be cruelty to themselves. And they were brought into subjection under their hand. They were bowed down by laborious bondage, and made to lie low under tyranny. In their God they had found a kind master, but in those with whom they had perversely sought fellowship they found despots of the most barbarous sort. He who leaves his God leaves happiness for misery.”

Psalms 106:43

“Many times did he deliver them,.... By means of the judges, Othniel, Ehud, Barak, Gideon, Jephthah, Samson, and others.”

Psalms 106:44

“Nevertheless he regarded their affliction,.... Or "looked on them in distress" (d); he saw their affliction, and had compassion on them; he was so far from abhorring and despising the affliction of the afflicted, that he pitied them and sympathized with them; in all their afflictions he was afflicted; he looked upon them with an eye of pity and concern, and helped them out of their troubles.”

Psalms 106:44-45

“THIS Psalm deserves to be read very carefully. It mentions many of the afflictions of God's ancient people, but it clearly sets forth that their afflictions were the distinct result of their rebellions and sins. It is not so with all the afflictions of God's people. It is written, "As many as I love I rebuke and chasten." And again, "Every branch in me that bears fruit, He purges it, that it may bring forth more fruit." Yet it is often so to this day that the servants of God smart because of disobedience.”

Psalms 106:45

“And he remembered for them his covenant. The covenant is the sure foundation of mercy, and when the whole fabric of outward grace manifested in the saints lies in ruins this is the fundamental basis of love which is never moved, and upon it the Lord proceeds to build again a new structure of grace. Covenant mercy is sure as the throne of God. And repented according to the multitude of his mercies. He did not carry out the destruction which he had commenced.”

Psalms 106:46

“He made them also to be pitied of all those that carried them captives. Having the hearts of all men in his hands he produced compassion even in heathen bosoms. Even as he found Joseph friends in Egypt, so did he raise up sympathizers for his captive servants. In our very worst condition our God has ways and means for allaying the severity of our sorrows: he can find us helpers among those who have been our oppressors, and he will do so if we be indeed his people.”

Psalms 106:47

“This is the closing prayer, arranged by prophecy for those who would in future time be captives, and suitable for all who before David's days had been driven from home by the tyranny of the various scatterings by famine and distress which had happened in the iron age of the judges. Save us, O Lord our God. The mention of the covenant encouraged the afflicted to call the Lord their God, and this enabled them with greater boldness to entreat him to interpose on their behalf and rescue them. And gather us from among the Heathen.”

Psalms 106:47-48

“It may be of use to us to sing this psalm, that, being put in mind by it of our sins, the sins of our land, and the sins of our fathers, we may be humbled before God and yet not despair of mercy, which even rebellious Israel often found with God. Praise for Divine Goodness. O give thanks unto the L ORD ; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.”

Psalms 106:48

“Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,.... God is to be blessed as the Father of mercies; as the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ; and as the covenant God and Father of his people in him, of the true Israel of God: which is done by celebrating his blessedness in himself; by ascribing to him all blessedness enjoyed, as the author of it; and by giving him honour, glory, and blessing for it.”

Psalms 106:48

“Blessed be the Lord God of Israel from everlasting to everlasting. Has not his mercy endured for ever, and should not his praise be of like duration? Jehovah, the God of Israel, has blessed his people, should they not also bless him? And let all the people say, Amen. They have all seen spared by his grace, let them all join in the adoration with loud unanimous voice. What a thunder of praise would thus be caused!”