23 Therefore he said H559 that he would destroy H8045 them, had not H3884 Moses H4872 his chosen H972 stood H5975 before H6440 him in the breach, H6556 to turn away H7725 his wrath, H2534 lest he should destroy H7843 them.
And I sought H1245 for a man H376 among them, that should make up H1443 the hedge, H1447 and stand H5975 in the gap H6556 before H6440 me for the land, H776 that I should not destroy H7843 it: but I found H4672 none.
But they rebelled H4784 against me, and would H14 not hearken H8085 unto me: they did not every man H376 cast away H7993 the abominations H8251 of their eyes, H5869 neither did they forsake H5800 the idols H1544 of Egypt: H4714 then I said, H559 I will pour out H8210 my fury H2534 upon them, to accomplish H3615 my anger H639 against them in the midst H8432 of the land H776 of Egypt. H4714
Confess G1843 your faults G3900 one to another, G240 and G2532 pray G2172 one G240 for G5228 another, G240 that G3704 ye may be healed. G2390 The effectual fervent G1754 prayer G1162 of a righteous man G1342 availeth G2480 much. G4183
If G1487 ye were G2258 of G1537 the world, G2889 the world G2889 would G302 love G5368 his own: G2398 but G1161 because G3754 ye are G2075 not G3756 of G1537 the world, G2889 but G235 I G1473 have chosen G1586 you G5209 out of G1537 the world, G2889 therefore G5124 G1223 the world G2889 hateth G3404 you. G5209
Ye G5210 have G1586 not G3756 chosen G1586 me, G3165 but G235 I G1473 have chosen G1586 you, G5209 and G2532 ordained G5087 you, G5209 that G2443 ye G5210 should go G5217 and G2532 bring forth G5342 fruit, G2590 and G2532 that your G5216 fruit G2590 should remain: G3306 that G2443 whatsoever G3739 G302 G3748 ye shall ask G154 of the Father G3962 in G1722 my G3450 name, G3686 he may give it G1325 you. G5213
Behold G2400 my G3450 servant, G3816 whom G3739 I have chosen; G140 my G3450 beloved, G27 in G1519 whom G3739 my G3450 soul G5590 is well pleased: G2106 I will put G5087 my G3450 spirit G4151 upon G1909 him, G846 and G2532 he shall shew G518 judgment G2920 to the Gentiles. G1484
But the house H1004 of Israel H3478 rebelled H4784 against me in the wilderness: H4057 they walked H1980 not in my statutes, H2708 and they despised H3988 my judgments, H4941 which if a man H120 do, H6213 he shall even live H2425 in them; and my sabbaths H7676 they greatly H3966 polluted: H2490 then I said, H559 I would pour out H8210 my fury H2534 upon them in the wilderness, H4057 to consume H3615 them. But I wrought H6213 for my name's H8034 sake, that it should not be polluted H2490 before H5869 the heathen, H1471 in whose sight H5869 I brought them out. H3318
Now therefore let me alone, H3240 that my wrath H639 may wax hot H2734 against them, and that I may consume H3615 them: and I will make H6213 of thee a great H1419 nation. H1471 And Moses H4872 besought H2470 H6440 the LORD H3068 his God, H430 and said, H559 LORD, H3068 why doth thy wrath H639 wax hot H2734 against thy people, H5971 which thou hast brought forth H3318 out of the land H776 of Egypt H4714 with great H1419 power, H3581 and with a mighty H2389 hand? H3027 Wherefore should the Egyptians H4714 speak, H559 and say, H559 For mischief H7451 did he bring H3318 them out, to slay H2026 them in the mountains, H2022 and to consume H3615 them from the face H6440 of the earth? H127 Turn H7725 from thy fierce H2740 wrath, H639 and repent H5162 of this evil H7451 against thy people. H5971 Remember H2142 Abraham, H85 Isaac, H3327 and Israel, H3478 thy servants, H5650 to whom thou swarest H7650 by thine own self, and saidst H1696 unto them, I will multiply H7235 your seed H2233 as the stars H3556 of heaven, H8064 and all this land H776 that I have spoken H559 of will I give H5414 unto your seed, H2233 and they shall inherit H5157 it for ever. H5769 And the LORD H3068 repented H5162 of the evil H7451 which he thought H1696 to do H6213 unto his people. H5971
Ye have not gone up H5927 into the gaps, H6556 neither made up H1443 the hedge H1447 for the house H1004 of Israel H3478 to stand H5975 in the battle H4421 in the day H3117 of the LORD. H3068
Run ye to and fro H7751 through the streets H2351 of Jerusalem, H3389 and see H7200 now, and know, H3045 and seek H1245 in the broad places H7339 thereof, if ye can find H4672 a man, H376 if there be H3426 any that executeth H6213 judgment, H4941 that seeketh H1245 the truth; H530 and I will pardon H5545 it.
He sent H7971 Moses H4872 his servant; H5650 and Aaron H175 whom he had chosen. H977
Furthermore the LORD H3068 spake H559 unto me, saying, H559 I have seen H7200 this people, H5971 and, behold, it is a stiffnecked H6203 H7186 people: H5971 Let me alone, H7503 that I may destroy H8045 them, and blot out H4229 their name H8034 from under heaven: H8064 and I will make H6213 of H854 thee a nation H1471 mightier H6099 and greater H7227 than they.
And he spake H1696 unto Korah H7141 and unto all his company, H5712 saying, H559 Even to morrow H1242 the LORD H3068 will shew H3045 who are his, and who is holy; H6918 and will cause him to come near H7126 unto him: even him whom he hath chosen H977 will he cause to come near H7126 unto him.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Psalms 106
Commentary on Psalms 106 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
PSALM 106
Ps 106:1-48. This Psalm gives a detailed confession of the sins of Israel in all periods of their history, with special reference to the terms of the covenant as intimated (Ps 105:45). It is introduced by praise to God for the wonders of His mercy, and concluded by a supplication for His favor to His afflicted people, and a doxology.
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.
2. His acts exceed our comprehension, as His praise our powers of expression (Ro 11:33). Their unutterable greatness is not to keep us back, but to urge us the more to try to praise Him as best we can (Ps 40:5; 71:15).
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).
4, 5. 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. The speaker, me, I, is not the Psalmist himself, but the people, the present generation (compare Ps 106:6).
visit—(Compare Ps 8:4).
5. see the good—participate in it (Ps 37:13).
thy chosen—namely, Israel, God's elect (Isa 43:20; 45:4). As God seems to have forgotten them, they pray that He would "remember" them with the favor which belongs to His own people, and which once they had enjoyed.
thine inheritance—(De 9:29; 32:9).
6. Compare 1Ki 8:47; 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. The terms denote a rising gradation of sinning (compare Ps 1:1).
with our fathers—we and they together forming one mass of corruption.
7-12. Special confession. Their rebellion at the sea (Ex 14:11) was because they had not remembered nor understood God's miracles on their behalf. That God saved them in their unbelief was of His mere mercy, and for His own glory.
the sea … the Red Sea—the very words in which Moses' song celebrated the scene of Israel's deliverance (Ex 15:4). Israel began to rebel against God at the very moment and scene of its deliverance by God!
8. for his name's sake—(Eze 20:14).
9. rebuked—(Ps 104:7).
as through the wilderness—(Isa 63:11-14).
12. believed … his words—This is said not to praise the Israelites, but God, who constrained even so unbelieving a people momentarily to "believe" while in immediate view of His wonders, a faith which they immediately afterwards lost (Ps 106:13; Ex 14:31; 15:1).
13-15. The faith induced by God's display of power in their behalf was short lived, and their new rebellion and temptation was visited by God with fresh punishment, inflicted by leaving them to the result of their own gratified appetites, and sending on them spiritual poverty (Nu 11:18).
They soon forgat—literally, "They hasted, they forgat" (compare Ex 32:8). "They have turned aside quickly (or, hastily) out of the way." The haste of our desires is such that we can scarcely allow God one day. Unless He immediately answers our call, instantly then arise impatience, and at length despair.
his works—(De 11:3, 4; Da 9:14).
his counsel—They waited not for the development of God's counsel, or plan for their deliverance, at His own time, and in His own way.
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).
15. but sent leanness—rather, "and sent," that is, and thus, even in doing so, the punishment was inflicted at the very time their request was granted. So Ps 78:30, "While their meat was yet in their mouths, the wrath of God came upon them."
soul—the animal soul, which craves for food (Nu 11:6; Ps 107:18). This soul got its wish, and with it and in it its own punishment. The place was therefore called Kibroth-hattaavah, "the graves of lust" [Nu 11:34], because there they buried the people who had lusted. Animal desires when gratified mostly give only a hungry craving for more (Jer 2:13).
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. (De 11:6; Nu 26:10); these were swallowed up by the earth.
17. covered—"closed upon them" (Nu 16:33). (2) Of the Levitical rebels, with Korah at their head (Nu 16:35; 26:10); these had sinned by fire, and were punished by fire, as Aaron's (being high priest) sons had been (Le 10:2; Nu 16:1-35).
19-23. From indirect setting God at naught, they pass to direct.
made—though prohibited in Ex 20:4, 5 to make a likeness, even of the true God.
calf—called so in contempt. They would have made an ox or bull, but their idol turned out but a calf; an imitation of the divine symbols, the cherubim; or of the sacred bull of Egyptian idolatry. 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. Instead of the Lord of heaven, they had as their glory the image of an ox that does nothing but eat grass.
23. he said—namely, to Moses (De 9:13). With God, saying is as certain as doing; but His purpose, while full of wrath against sin, takes into account the mediation of Him of whom Moses was the type (Ex 32:11-14; De 9:18, 19).
Moses his chosen—that is, to be His servant (compare Ps 105:26).
in the breach—as a warrior covers with his body the broken part of a wall or fortress besieged, a perilous place (Eze 13:5; 22:30).
to turn away—or, "prevent"
his wrath—(Nu 25:11; Ps 78:38).
24-27. The sin of refusing to invade Canaan, "the pleasant land" (Jer 3:19; Eze 20:6; Da 8:9), "the land of beauty," was punished by the destruction of that generation (Nu 14:28), and the threat of dispersion (De 4:25; 28:32) afterwards made to their posterity, and fulfilled in the great calamities now bewailed, may have also been then added.
despised—(Nu 14:31).
believed not his word—by which He promised He would give them the land; but rather the word of the faithless spies (compare Ps 78:22).
26. lifted up his hand—or, "swore," the usual form of swearing (compare Nu 14:30, Margin).
27. To overthrow—literally, "To make them fall"; alluding to the words (Nu 14:39).
among … nations … lands—The "wilderness" was not more destructive to the fathers (Ps 106:26) than residence among the heathen ("nations") shall be to the children. Le 26:33, 38 is here, before the Psalmist's mind, the determination against the "seed" when rebellious, being not expressed in Nu 14:31-33, but implied in the determination against the fathers.
28-30. sacrifices of the dead—that is, of lifeless idols, contrasted with "the living God" (Jer 10:3-10; compare Ps 115:4-7; 1Co 12:2). On the words,
joined themselves to Baal-peor—see Nu 25:2, 3, 5.
Baal-peor—that is, the possessor of Peor, the mountain on which Chemosh, the idol of Moab, was worshipped, and at the foot of which Israel at the time lay encamped (Nu 23:28). The name never occurs except in connection with that locality and that circumstance.
29. provoked—excited grief and indignation (Ps 6:7; 78:58).
30. stood—as Aaron "stood between the living and the dead, and the plague was stayed" (Nu 16:48).
executed judgment—literally, "judged," including sentence and act.
31. counted … righteousness—"a just and rewardable action."
for—or, "unto," to the procuring of righteousness, as in Ro 4:2; 10:4. Here it was a particular act, not faith, nor its object Christ; and what was procured was not justifying righteousness, or what was to be rewarded with eternal life; for no one act of man's can be taken for complete obedience. But it was that which God approved and rewarded with a perpetual priesthood to him and his descendants (Nu 25:13; 1Ch 6:4, &c.).
32, 33. (Compare Nu 20:3-12; De 1:37; 3:26).
went ill with—literally, "was bad for"
Moses—His conduct, though under great provocation, was punished by exclusion from Canaan.
34-39. They not only failed to expel the heathen, as God
commanded—(Ex 23:32, 33), literally, "said (they should)," but conformed to their idolatries [Ps 106:36], and thus became spiritual adulterers (Ps 73:27).
37. unto devils—Septuagint, "demons" (compare 1Co 10:20), or "evil spirits."
38. polluted with blood—literally, "blood," or "murder" (Ps 5:6; 26:9).
40-43. Those nations first seduced and then oppressed them (compare Jud 1:34; 2:14; 3:30). Their apostasies ungratefully repaid God's many mercies till He finally abandoned them to punishment (Le 26:39).
44-46. If, as is probable, this Psalm was written at the time of the captivity, the writer now intimates the tokens of God's returning favor.
45. repented—(compare Ps 90:13).
46. made … pitied—(1Ki 8:50; Da 1:9). These tokens encourage the prayer and the promise of praise (Ps 30:4), which is well closed by a doxology.