Psalm 106/Commentary

Psalm 106

“Not One Lesson Was Learned” “In spite of God’s faithfulness to Israel (Psalm 105) her history was filled with faithlessness and ingratitude. Psalm 106, a confessional psalm, traces some of the Israelite’s rebellious activities and God’s judgments on them. The psalmist then prayed that the Lord would deliver His people from their captivity. A similar confession is found in Nehemiah 9” (Bible Knowledge Comm. p. 870).

“The span of this history overlaps that of Psalm 105, starting at the Exodus and going on to what appears to be the Babylonian exile. But the last two verses are quoted in the account of a much earlier event, David’s procession with the ark to Jerusalem (1 Chronicles 16:35f.). Whether this means that the psalm refers to the captives of earlier wars, or that 1 Chronicles 16 borrowed it to illustrate the kind of rejoicing and praying that accompanied the ark…For all its exposure of man’s ingratitude, this is a psalm of praise, for it is God’s extraordinary longsuffering that emerges as the real theme” (Kidner pp. 377-378).

A God To Praise 106:1 “If Israel’s history is one long litany of sin followed by God’s just chastisement, as it is, why should Israel or anyone else ‘praise the Lord’? The answer is given immediately. It is because God ‘is good’…The people had sinned repeatedly, and God had disciplined them repeatedly. But He did not cast them off, as they deserved” (Boice p. 854). We tend to forget that God’s goodness is demonstrated in the fact that we still exist—after we have sinned.

Our sins deserve immediate judgment, but God is longsuffering (2 Peter 3:9).

The very fact that Israel still exists, after all her unfaithfulness, is proof that God is good (Malachi 1:1-4).

106:2 The answer to this questions appears to be that no one can really recount all the glorious things that God has done. God has blessed us, provided for us, and given more second chances than we can number. Do you feel that God has been far better to you than you have treated Him and that He has delivered you from trouble more times that you can number?

106:3 By implication, if Israel had done this, she would have never gone into exile. Compare with Psalm 1. This verse is one of the many beatitudes in the Psalms. It might glance back to the question of verse 2 and then on to the long list of failures which will dominate the psalm.

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A Personal Plea 106:4-5 “This little prayer beautifully relates the one to the many, refusing to lose the individual in the crowd, yet retreating into no private corner of enjoyment” (Kidner p. 378). “It is interesting that at the very start of this psalm of national confession of sin the writer addresses God on his own behalf, asking God to remember him and save him when He comes to the nation’s aid…He is certain God will deliver the people….but the psalmist wants to be included in that blessing” (Boice p. 855). Do we want to be included in God’s future blessings? Do you pray that you would be part of a congregation that is growing?

A Record Of Failure Sections of Scripture, like the one which follows, stresses to all Christians that the truth needs to be taught diligently and without compromise. Those who have professed to be God’s people have never endured long. The history of Israel is a history of one apostasy after another, and the same thing happened to the church (Acts 20:28ff; 1 Timothy 4:1-4). Sound doctrine must always be stressed (2 Timothy 4:2), and diligence is required to make sure that we are following the Bible in our own generation. What these verses are saying is that history has proven that most people who profess faith in God don’t remain faithful to God. This can happen to us, if we become careless (Hebrews 3:13).

One of the most dangerous attitudes that we can embrace today is the attitude which says, “Let’s stop stressing correct doctrine and let’s agree to disagree”.

106:6 Note the “we” in this verse. The generation that the writer was part of had committed the same sins that we found among the Exodus generation—and so did Christians in the first century! (Hebrews 3-4) “It is one thing to condemn an earlier generation; quite another to see oneself mirrored and involved in it.

Verse 6 makes this crucial admission, binding together the recurrent ‘they’ of 739 with its own ‘we’, turning an indictment into a confession” (Kidner pp. 378379). Every generation will encounter the temptation to place their trust in something or someone other than God. Unbelief is a problem that every generation will face. Are we taking the time to build our own faith?

Rebellion At The Red Sea 106:7-12 Here we see the anatomy of unbelief, it starts in the mind. “Beginning in the mind with reasoning that took no account of God’s revealed acts” (Kidner p. 379). The lesson from the plagues had been lost on this generation, they hadn’t thought deeply about what the plagues were teaching about the power of

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God. Note, unbelief will manifest itself in action, “they rebelled” (Exodus 14:1112). Nevertheless, God saved them to uphold His reputation (Exodus 14:18), although they all deserved to die there. God rebuked the Red Sea and it dried up (Exodus 14:15-22).

Point To Note: It is ironic that one of the miracles which religious scholars tend to discount is the one that was given to one of the most skeptical generations that existed!

The unbelievers of today refuse to believe the miracle given to a generation of unbelievers! Some claim that God really didn’t dry up the Red Sea, but some sort of natural event moved some of the water aside in a very shallow swamp.

But notice the word “deeps” in this verse. What God lead the people through, was deep! Compare with Exodus 15:5. As it is recorded in Exodus, all the Egyptians drowned.

106:12 As a result, Israel praised God and sang His praises (Exodus 15), but this was very short-lived. “It was an emotional response to rescue rather than a deep commitment to Yahweh. We learn that it is one thing to praise God for His benefits. It is quite another thing to praise God as God. Today, do we praise God for who He is, or merely for what He does for us?” (Williams p. 268).

Complaining In The Wilderness 106:13-15 Here we find discontent a description of Israel’s many demands for a more comfortable pilgrimage, this example is from Numbers 11. Verse 15 is very revealing: “He gave them their request, but sent a wasting disease among them”. “This classic statement of God’s accommodation to man’s self-will, and of the unhappy sequel, refers initially to the disenchantment and disaster of Numbers 11:18-20,33. But it reveals a pattern….The prodigal son illustrates it; still more, the history of Lot” (Kidner p. 379).

Points To Note: 1.

We have all seen the person who became a Christian because of some crisis, and then “soon” forgot what God had really done for them (13).

The Israelites were very quick to forget God’s blessings (Exodus 15:24; 16:3). 2. “How about us? We have been given much and have been preserved from much by God. Yet are we not also frequently sinfully discontented with our lives?” (Boice pp. 856-857). 3. “He gave them what they wanted; but their craving ended in sickness, and their impatience rushed them to a premature death” (Gaebelein p. 676). 4.

Be thankful that there are times in your life that God doesn’t give you something for which you are selfishly craving. How many people have been destroyed because they got exactly what they wanted?

Korah’s Rebellion

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106:16-18 Korah, Dathan, Abiram and 250 leading men of Israel challenged the special status of Moses and Aaron (Numbers 16:1ff). And God doesn’t leave us to wonder as to what the motive was. These men were envious. “They argued in favor of the sanctity (priesthood) of all believers, but their argument was grounded in bitterness and jealousy. “The self-righteous attacks on Moses’ spiritual and temporal leadership in Numbers 16:3,13 are unmasked in the simple words, “men…were jealous”. Such directness is as characteristic of Scripture as are the elaborate self-justifications of men” (Kidner p. 379).

Compare with Matthew 27:18. We need to be careful that today we aren’t trying to undermine the authority of God’s shepherds in our generation. Those who argue that elders have no authority—are typically unqualified people who want to assume the authority that elders do have. Also, beware, most false teachers will try to present their case with very noble sounding motives.

The Golden Calf 106:19-22 Compare 106:20 with Romans 1:23. Neither he or this psalm, nor again the recorded wrath of God and Moses (Exodus 32:10,19), leaves any room for the view that the idol was a mere focus for worship of the true God. It was an exchange. And yet, most people try to justify idolatry on the basis that it “helps” them worship God, i.e., this image is only an aid. When we start serving something other than God—we have forgotten all the great things that God has done for us, and only God can deliver us. “We too are idolaters when we put anything but God in God’s place” (Boice p. 857).

106:23 But Moses stood in the gap! (Ezekiel 22:30f). “The metaphor ‘stood in the breach’ derives from military language, signifying the bravery of a soldier who stands in the breach of the wall, willing to give his life in warding off the enemy” (Gaebelein p. 677). The people of God often forget those who had stood in the breach in their generation, such individuals as elders, preachers, teachers, etc…, who faced ridicule, gossip, disrespect, and loss of friendships in order to teach God’s truth in the face of apostasy, and who sacrificed their own comfort so that a remnant could be saved. God appreciates people who make such sacrifices.

The Refusal To Enter The Promised Land 106:24-27 At Kadesh Barnea the people rebelled again. “This was the moment of truth, when the challenge to march into Canaan was flatly refused (‘Let us go back to Egypt’), and the only dissentients were threatened with stoning (Numbers 14:4,10)” (Kidner p. 380). This rebellion is recorded in Numbers chapters 13-14. As a result, God swore that they would all die in the wilderness.

Are there any promises which God has given to us that we refuse to believe?

“Often we also miss the good God has for us, simply because we will not believe His promises and act upon them” (Boice p. 858). Note, “They did not believe His word”. Failure to accept what the Bible says, is unbelief in God Himself.

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106:27 This happened to the descendants of this generation. The final consequences for unbelief would be removal from the land (Leviticus 26:33; Deut. 4:27; 28:64).

The Sin of Baal Peor 106:28-31 This incident is recorded in Numbers 25, when the men of Israel indulged in sexual immorality with Moabite women, who had invited them to the sacrifice of their gods. This time, instead of Moses interceding, Phinehas, the grandson of Aaron the priest, killed two of the most blatant offenders and was rewarded by God. 106:31 Note, mental assent or faith only wasn’t reckoned to Phinehas for righteousness, rather, it was an obedient faith. That is, he was pronounced righteous for his zeal for God down through the generations.

The Waters Of Meribah 106:32-31 At Meribah, Moses lost patience with them, and as a result, he also lost the privilege of entering the land of promise (Numbers 20:12). For this sin, though it may seem minor to man (or outright justified), Moses was kept from entering the Promised Land. What a horrible consequence! These people were so rebellious that they caused a man who loved God to forfeit his inheritance. They had become a stumbling-block to the godly (Matthew 18:3ff).

“This is the incident of Numbers 20:1-13, when Moses struck the rock in anger.

The balance of blame is restored here, for it was Moses who bore the brunt of it at the time, paying the price of leadership; but God has no illusions” (Kidner p.

381).

Point To Note: Let us be very careful today that we are supporting and helping the elders (Hebrews 13:17). Congregations and members who give such men a difficult time, or who would cause such a man to become discouraged and resign—will answer for that in the judgment.

The Failure To Destroy The Canaanites 106:34-39 Instead of obeying the Lord’s command to exterminate the Canaanites (Deut. 7:1-2,5,16, 25-26), Israel tolerated the Canaanites, then intermarried with them, then worshipped their gods and followed their practices, including such things as child-sacrifice.

Points To Note:

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1.

Morals and sound doctrine are inseparable. When you compromise God’s truth you will become lax in your our own morality (Romans 1:18-32). 2.

If you want to know what a congregation will become like if it stops practicing church discipline (Matthew 18:15-17), and stops opposing false doctrine and false teachers, and stops stressing the importance of obeying exactly what God has said---these verses are a good picture of the future of that congregation.

106:39 “Thus they became unclean in their practices”: Sin will always defile the sinner. You cannot sin and remain unaffected by it and there isn’t a sin which can be made safe. When you sin you are chipping away at our own morality, integrity, honesty, kindness, unselfishness, and conscience.

Point To Note: Child sacrifice isn’t merely a thing of the past. “We do (practice it ourselves) if we desire worldly success for our children to the point of thrusting them into a pagan environment today or by encouraging them to live like the world, accommodating its morality, just to get ahead” (Boice p. 858). We are also sacrificing our children, if we encourage them to place other things ahead of God.

Enough is Enough 106:40-43 People who think that the God described in the Bible is harsh or cruel, need to read the whole story! Israel had started treating God with disrespect around 1446 B.C., and God didn’t remove them from their land until 586 B.C. God had been more than patient. God had gone the extra mile(s) with one ungrateful generation after another. Remember, during the period of the Judges God allowed them to be oppressed, then He would deliver them, then they would become unfaithful again, etc….The Old Testament is filled with one account after another where God delivers Israel---and yet Israel quickly returns to idolatry and unfaithfulness.

106:44-46 Many times, God delivered them. “Thus the Lord constantly brought judgment on His disobedient people, but He also constantly responded to their cries” (Bible Knowledge Comm. p. 871). Even to the point where He enabled those captured to be treated with kindness by their foreign masters. See 2 Kings 25:27-30; Ezra 1:1ff.

Final Prayer 106:47-48 The psalmist returns to the prayer of verses 4-5. Apparently, when this psalm was written the nation was still in captivity, but the writer knows that God will deliver the nation (because God has always shown mercy to the humble

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and repentant), and also because God promised such a deliverance. God will save those who plead for salvation and who are prepared to praise Him, even though at this time they might be suffering. People who will praise God, come what may. Even when God allows us to suffer, even when He must chastise us, even when He must correct or rebuke us—He still is to be praised. What some people view was a big negative, this writer views as evidence of God’s love, care and faithfulness.

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