Psalm 106A - Remember Wonders (Part 2A)
(Note: Psalm 105 is part 1,
and Psalm 106 is part 2 and is in two parts, 106A and 106B)
Psalm 105 recounted God’s faithfulness to honor his promise to Abraham by bringing His people out of Egypt to the land He had promised. He accomplished the mighty work of the Exodus in a way that clearly demonstrated it was He who was orchestrating this great movement of people.
As Psalm 105 reminded us of the wonders which God worked in bringing His people out of Egypt, so Psalm 106 reminds us that God continued to work in the desert even during the times of national sinfulness. The psalm writer calls out the people of God to confess their sins and the sins of those who have gone before them. In that process, there is hope that readers of each era will similarly recognize their own national and personal sin and confess them to live in the blessing of God as opposed to the cursing of God. Today, we read the words of Psalm 106 and receive the same challenge.
God continued to do wonders even when His people lost their direction and did evil in the wilderness. Just as we do, the people of God began to forget God's work in their lives. They began to turn away from Him. How sad to realize that we do the same thing. We turn away from the Lord, who has worked wonders in our own lives. Why do we do that? Isn’t it frustrating and disappointing that we do? And yet we are often brought back to the Lord as He reminds us of who He is and what He has done. Psalm 105 and 106 should do that same kind of work in our hearts, reminding us of God's faithfulness to accomplish His work in us.
For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. (Philippians 1:6, NASB)
We are confident in the Lord. Even when we fail, He never fails. When we are weak, He is strong. When we deny Him, He remains faithful to us.
It is a trustworthy statement:
For if we died with Him, we will also live with Him;
If we endure, we will also reign with Him;
If we deny Him, He also will deny us;
If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself. (2 Timothy 2: 11-13, NASB)
This prayer of confession for the sins of the people is a prelude to a national blessing request. We would do well to do the same - to recognize our personal and national sin as the psalmist reminds his readers of the sins of their past.
The Psalm divides into seven sections. The psalm writer does not delineate these sections, but this outline seems to represent the organization of this psalm. As he recounts the Sins of the Fathers, that is, the national sins in the history of God and His people from the Exodus to his present, he mentions nine specific instances where the people of God rebelled against God and failed in their covenant connection with God.
The outline of this psalm appears to be:
1 Statements of Praise (v. 1-3)
2 Prayer for Favor (v. 4-5)
3 Confession (v. 6)
4 The Sins of the Fathers (v. 7-43) - 9 episodes
A At the Red Sea (v. 7-12)
B In the Desert (v. 13-15)
C The Sin of Dathan and Abiram (v. 16-18)
D The Golden Calf (v 19-23)
E The Twelve Spies (v. 24-27)
F The Plague at Baal-peor (v. 28-31)
G The Waters of Meribah (2nd time) and Sin of Moses (v. 32-33)
H The Failure to Complete the Mission of Taking the Land (v. 34-39)
I The Oppression of the Surrounding Nations (v. 40-43) [Judges]
5 The Lord Remembered His Covenant (v. 44-46)
6 Prayer for National Salvation (v. 47)
7 Benediction (v. 48)
1 Statements of Praise (v. 1-3)
Praise the Lord!
Oh give thanks to the Lord, for He is good;
For His lovingkindness is everlasting.
Who can speak of the mighty deeds of the Lord,
Or can show forth all His praise?
How blessed are those who keep justice,
Who practice righteousness at all times! (Psalm 106: 1-3, NASB)
“Hallelujah!” is the literal Hebrew word translated “Praise the Lord!”. The verb “hillel”, meaning “he praises”, is in the second-person imperative masculine plural. This form has a similar meaning as an English 2nd person plural command. There is a pronoun “you” attached, along with the pronoun of deity “‘yah," which is a shortened version of the tetragrammaton name of God “yaweh” (יהוה).
Sometimes the phrase it not translated and is simply transliterated yielding “Hallelujah." Sometimes it is translated “Praise the Lord!" where “praise!” is an English imperative (command) implying second person plural “you!”
We are to praise by giving thanks because the Lord is good. His lovingkindness (Heb = “hesed”) is eternal, literally, “to the ages."
The rhetorical question which follows has an obvious answer, which is why the writer does not bother to answer it. No one can tell of all the mighty deeds which the Lord has done. No one has that knowledge. The database is too large. There is simply too much for which to praise God. It is overwhelming to think of his works of creating, sustaining, and maintaining His Kingdom, which is the entire universe. That he does it with love for those whom He has created is overwhelming. He is so worthy of being praised.
Our appropriate response is to be good citizens of the Kingdom, living in a way that magnifies His nature and character. He is just, so we should live justly. He is love, so we should live lovingly. He is righteous, so we should live righteously.
2 Prayer for Favor (v. 4-5)
Remember me, O Lord, in Your favor toward Your people;
Visit me with Your salvation,
That I may see the prosperity of Your chosen ones,
That I may rejoice in the gladness of Your nation,
That I may glory with Your inheritance. (Psalm 106: 4-5, NASB)
Who in their right mind does not want to be blessed by God? God has perfect and infinite knowledge. He has unlimited resources. God never sleeps, never gets tired, never gets bored. He can bless, and He does bless.
So the psalmist asks the Lord to remember them and to visit them with His salvation.
Specifically, the request is to see the prosperity of His chosen ones, the people of the Kingdom. From the author's perspective as a resident of Israel hundreds of years before Christ, the prayer is for the nation's blessing. We don’t know the date of writing of this psalm. The psalm describes historical events, and yet, does not go into the United Monarchy under Saul, David, and Solomon. Nor is the time following the Civil War discussed in which the Kingdom divided into two nations, Israel in the north and Judah in the south. Therefore, it is likely that the writer of this psalm composed it during or before David's time. But whatever the time, it was included in the Book of Psalms before the time of Christ. During the United Monarchy, the Divided Monarchy, the times of subjugation to the Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Medes and Persians, the Greeks, and the Romans, the nation always needed preserving and blessing.
Following the revolts in 70 AD, the temple was completely taken apart, with no block remaining on the temple mount. Israel was not a nation from the last stand of the Jews at Masada in the 133 AD revolt, until becoming a nation again until 1948. During occupations by the Muslims, the times of the Crusades, the domination by the Ottoman Empire, and the British rule following World War One, others continuously ruled Israel. But since 1948, Israel has been a self-ruling and independent nation.
The prayer expressed in Psalm 106, applies to us today. As we read, we pray for blessing for the nation of Israel. We also pray for all the Kingdom people of the world, which is the church. We pray for prosperity, which is a gift of God for all who know Him. We do not expect wealth, as the false Prosperity Gospel teachers insist. But we do have a reasonable expectation of blessing for those living in faith for His provision. For some, that blessing may bring wealth. For others, it brings contentment with circumstances, even if meager.
At the beginning of 2020, a pandemic swept the earth - coronavirus 2019, called COVID-19. As nations began instituting “stay home” and “lockdown” policies, a spirit of discouragement began to creep into many people’s hearts and minds. Would we ever return to “normal”? What would the “new normal” look like, and how would it be different from the “old normal”?
People worldwide are praying for the Lord to intervene and end the plague of the virus. Similarly, we pray the same way that the psalmist prays for the blessing of God during a time of national threat.
3 Confession (v. 6)
We have sinned like our fathers,
We have committed iniquity, we have behaved wickedly. (Psalm 106:6)
So the request for a blessing for the nation is followed by a confession. “We have sinned like our fathers.” The writer will detail the sins of the fathers, but before he does, he acknowledges his sin and the sins of his current generation.
We would do well to do the same thing. Before looking at the sins of our fathers, we should see our sinfulness. Before praying for a blessing for our nation today, we should see our national sinfulness. Before pointing the finger of blame on those who have come before us, we should point at ourselves.
Confession begins with each of us bowing before the Lord to acknowledge our wrongdoing - our thoughts, and our actions. When Jesus gave the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapters 5-7, He set the standard for being blessed. He challenged his listeners to be the light of the world. Then he spoke about the Law, saying,
“Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill.” (Matthew 5:17)
In fulfilling that Law, he taught about murder, the sixth of the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 6, and adultery, the seventh of the Ten Commandments. In both cases, the accompanying thoughts of anger, ridicule, and lust needed to be forgiven.
The good news of the gospel is that forgiveness is available. How many times must I forgive my brother? Seven times? No, seventy times seven. Why? Because this is how God forgives us.
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1: 9, NASB)
But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them. (Ephesians 2: 4-10, NASB)
It is because God forgives that we should ask for forgiveness. When we confess our sins to the Lord, we agree with Him that what we have done and even what we have thought are not pleasing to Him, and are contrary to His will. No one likes to do this - it is embarrassing. We feel humiliation and shame before the Lord. And if we have wronged someone else and the Lord lays it on our heart to ask forgiveness of that person, we not only feel those things from God, but also from that person.
And yet, restored relationships require forgiveness. We ask the Lord for forgiveness, and He forgives. When we ask others to forgive us … well, they may forgive, or they may not. We have no control over how they will respond. Perhaps it will take time for them to process their hurt and anger. We might hope for forgiveness, but we may encounter outbursts of rage. Often the person we have offended will need time to work through their feelings and their sinful responses before they are ready to deal with us. And yet, God calls upon us to do our part. If we have offended, hurt, or sinned against another, God may want us to confess our sin to that person as the prerequisite for receiving their forgiveness.
As the psalm writer begins to reflect on the sins of the fathers to bring a national confession of sin such that God might bring national blessing, the call starts with confession. “We have sinned like our fathers," meaning we are no different. We admit that we act in the same way that they did, and as the author presents their examples of sinfulness, we acknowledge that we are guilty of the same kinds of things.
4 The Sins of the Fathers (v. 7-43) - 9 episodes
The order of events listed here are not chronological, and there is nothing in the text to suggest why the writer presents these sins in this particular order. But for whatever reason, the episodes of the sins of the fathers are mentioned below.
A At the Red Sea (v. 7-12)
Our fathers in Egypt did not understand Your wonders;
They did not remember Your abundant kindnesses,
But rebelled by the sea, at the Red Sea.
Nevertheless He saved them for the sake of His name,
That He might make His power known.
Thus He rebuked the Red Sea and it dried up,
And He led them through the deeps, as through the wilderness.
So He saved them from the hand of the one who hated them,
And redeemed them from the hand of the enemy.
The waters covered their adversaries;
Not one of them was left.
Then they believed His words;
They sang His praise. (Psalm 106: 7-12, NASB)
The fathers in Egypt did not understand the wonders of God. What was the life of the Jewish community in Egypt at the time? The story of Moses is indicative of the difficulty of the times for the people of God. At the beginning of the story, there is mass genocide, as the Israelite babies were thrown into the Nile river and killed. Moses lived because although his parents did as commanded, they just happened to put a little boat underneath him before they released him into the river. His sister Miriam followed the boat down the river and saw that the daughter of Pharaoh rescued him, and the mother of Moses even became the wet nurse of her son. The times were desperate for the Jews. As Moses matured into manhood, he became aware of the slavery of his people and their unfair and unjust treatment. His murder of the slavemaster led to his flight into the desert. Their own culture certainly influenced those descendants of Abraham living in Egypt. The gods of Egypt were known and revered, even though the God of Abraham was also acknowledged. Those who came out of slavery in Egypt at the Exodus were slaves, not highly educated professionals. When they got to the edge of the Red Sea, they rebelled. Yet God still provided a miraculous way through the waters and even crushed their enemies as He did.
Once safely on the other side, they were led in praise by Moses and Miriam and her team of musicians to sing the songs of deliverance, as recorded in Exodus 15.
B In the Desert (v. 13-15)
They quickly forgot His works;
They did not wait for His counsel,
But craved intensely in the wilderness,
And tempted God in the desert.
So He gave them their request,
But sent a wasting disease among them. (Psalm 106: 13-15, NASB)
There is no specific reference in this section to indicate which particular event is in the mind of the writer, but in the Pentateuch history written by Moses, the next time a plague hits is in Numbers 11. They had received the Law, built the tabernacle, had its initiation ceremony, and had begun to set off across the desert. They began to grumble and complain that they had no meat, only manna. Eldad and Medad's insurrection led to the Lord bringing quail but caused the quail to bring a plague because of the people's greed.
C The Sin of Dathan and Abiram (v. 16-18)
When they became envious of Moses in the camp,
And of Aaron, the holy one of the Lord,
The earth opened and swallowed up Dathan,
And engulfed the company of Abiram.
And a fire blazed up in their company;
The flame consumed the wicked. (Psalm 106: 16-18)
Numbers 16 records the rebellion of Korah and Dathan and Abiram following the sin of aligning with the ten spies who recommended not entering the land (see “E”, below).
The rebellion of Korah was a formal challenge to the leadership of Moses and Aaron. Moses responded with his challenge for the Lord to indicate through the representative censers His choice for leadership.
When Dathan and Abiram would not participate in that challenge, and refused to leave their tents, Moses brought the leaders to those tents. He proclaimed for everyone to back away because the Lord was going to open the ground and consume them.
As he finished speaking all these words, the ground that was under them split open; and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, and their households, and all the men who belonged to Korah with their possessions. So they and all that belonged to them went down alive to Sheol; and the earth closed over them, and they perished from the midst of the assembly. All Israel who were around them fled at their outcry, for they said, “The earth may swallow us up!” Fire also came forth from the Lord and consumed the two hundred and fifty men who were offering the incense. (Numbers 16: 31-35, NASB)
D The Golden Calf (v 19-23)
They made a calf in Horeb
And worshiped a molten image.
Thus they exchanged their glory
For the image of an ox that eats grass.
They forgot God their Savior,
Who had done great things in Egypt,
Wonders in the land of Ham
And awesome things by the Red Sea.
Therefore He said that He would destroy them,
Had not Moses His chosen one stood in the breach before Him,
To turn away His wrath from destroying them. (Psalm 106: 19-23)
The episode of the Golden Calf happens in Exodus 32. Moses had already received the law. God first spoke the Ten Commandments to the people in Exodus 20, then Moses went up on the mountain and received the Law, detailed in chapters 21-31. God alerted Moses to the sins of the people in making a golden calf, offering sacrifices to it, worshiping it, and told Moses that He would destroy them all. Moses presented an argument to the Lord regarding how the Egyptians would respond, and so “the Lord changed His mind." When Moses returned to the camp, he smashed the tablets written by the hand of God and brought justice for the consequences of the evil choices which the people had made.
The events around Mount Sinai occurred early in the exodus experience of the people of God. After they rejected God’s plan following the spies' report, they would wander for 40 years in the wilderness. We need to be aware of the golden calf temptations in our lives and see the times and places where we reject the counsel of God and choose to go our ways. We also need to remember how God has redirected us back to Him, and never forget those works so that we never repeat the mistakes we have made in the past.
Psalm 106 continues with the story of the twelve spies in the next section.