Psalms 106

Ps 106 The Israelite community in exile confessed the Lord’s goodness and justice and their own historic sinfulness. From the humble state of exile, they pleaded for redemption and restoration, asking to be gathered back from all the places the Lord had scattered them in his wrath. The psalm does not end in despair but with the memory of the Lord’s former mercy and the hope that his mercy will be renewed (106:44-48). Israel failed, but the Lord is constant. • Verses 1, 47-48 (along with Pss 96; 105:1-15) are included in David’s song of praise recorded in 1 Chr 16:1-43.106:1 Praise the Lord! This refrain (Hebrew haleluyah) characterizes four small subgroups in the psalms: 104–106, 111–113, 115–117, 146–150.

106:2-3 Wise people who practice justice and righteousness receive encouragement to proclaim the Lord’s great acts.

106:4-5 The poet prays individually for the Lord’s favor before leading the community confession that follows.

106:6-13 The community joins together to confess their sins and their ancestors’ many acts of unbelief.106:6 The story of Israel’s redemption encompasses their sinful response from the days of the ancestors to the present (106:43). The themes of sin and divine wrath both open and close Book Four (90:1-9; 106:6, 23, 43).

106:9 Red Sea: See Exod 14:15-31.

106:13 They wouldn’t wait: God’s impatient people did not trust him to work according to his will (e.g., see Exod 15:24; 16:2-3; 17:1-3; Num 14:26-45; 21:4-9).

106:15 he sent a plague: See Exod 32:35; Num 11:33.

106:16-18 The people became jealous because they presumed to have the same privileges as God’s appointed priests (see Num 16:1-35). • the earth opened up: See Num 16:28-33.

106:19-23 they bowed before an image: The people forgot their Savior and committed the sin of idolatry (see Exod 32:1-6).

106:22 The land of Ham here means Egypt (106:21).

106:24-25 The people disobeyed God’s command when they refused to enter the pleasant land (the Promised Land; see Jer 3:19). • they wouldn’t believe his promise: See Num 13:25–14:12.

106:26-27 God’s judgment when Israel refused to obey was death and exile (Num 14:26-30). The occasion for these severe judgments seems to have been disobeying God’s word (Ps 106:24-25) and provoking the Lord’s wrath (106:28-46).

106:28-39 Israel’s idolatry outside of the land came with them into the land. Their nature did not change; they continued to provoke the Lord to anger by their actions.106:28 the worship of Baal at Peor: See Num 25:3; Deut 4:3.

106:30-33 Phinehas, who executed a flagrantly apostate Israelite man (Num 25:3-8), is an even better model of a righteous man than Moses, who failed at Meribah (Num 20:11-13).

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).

106:37 Pagan gods were demons (see Deut 32:17).

106:39 Idolatry, like adultery, defiles God’s people (see Lev 18:24; Hos 5:3).

106:40-46 The psalmist returns to the Babylonian exile (106:26-27). The Lord judged Israel severely, but he also restrained his wrath, remembering the covenant he had made with Abraham.106:40 God abhorred Israel’s sin, as he does all sin.

106:43-44 When Israel was finally destroyed, the destruction was not complete. The Lord pitied them, so he left a remnant.

106:45 He remembered . . . and relented: Unlike Israel, the Lord is faithful to his covenant (105:8).

106:46 As harsh as the Exile was, the Lord still protected his people (see 2 Kgs 25:27-29).

106:47 Gather us back: The community prays for restoration from exile (see 102:19-22; 107:3; see also Isa 11:12; 40:11; 43:5; 54:7; 56:8; 66:18).

106:48 This doxology concludes Book Four (cp. 41:13; 89:52). • from everlasting to everlasting! The reference to God’s eternal nature links to the opening of Book Four (90:1-2). • Let all the people say, “Amen!”: The Hebrew word ’amen means “It is true.” The godly accept the Lord’s will in exile and his promise to be their God.