1 Praise Yahweh! Give thanks to Yahweh, for he is good, for his loving kindness endures forever. 2 Who can utter the mighty acts of Yahweh, or fully declare all his praise? 3 Blessed are those who keep justice. Blessed is one who does what is right at all times. 4 Remember me, Yahweh, with the favor that you show to your people. Visit me with your salvation, 5 that I may see the prosperity of your chosen, that I may rejoice in the gladness of your nation, that I may glory with your inheritance. 6 We have sinned with our fathers. We have committed iniquity. We have done wickedly. 7 Our fathers didn't understand your wonders in Egypt. They didn't remember the multitude of your loving kindnesses, but were rebellious at the sea, even at the Red Sea. 8 Nevertheless he saved them for his name's sake, that he might make his mighty power known. 9 He rebuked the Red Sea also, and it was dried up; so he led them through the depths, as through a desert. 10 He saved them from the hand of him who hated them, and redeemed them from the hand of the enemy. 11 The waters covered their adversaries. There was not one of them left. 12 Then they believed his words. They sang his praise. 13 They soon forgot his works. They didn't wait for his counsel, 14 but gave in to craving in the desert, and tested God in the wasteland. 15 He gave them their request, but sent leanness into their soul. 16 They envied Moses also in the camp, and Aaron, Yahweh's saint. 17 The earth opened and swallowed up Dathan, and covered the company of Abiram. 18 A fire was kindled in their company. The flame burned up the wicked. 19 They made a calf in Horeb, and worshiped a molten image. 20 Thus they exchanged their glory for an image of a bull that eats grass. 21 They forgot God, their Savior, who had done great things in Egypt, 22 Wondrous works in the land of Ham, and awesome things by the Red Sea. 23 Therefore he said that he would destroy them, had Moses, his chosen, not stood before him in the breach, to turn away his wrath, so that he wouldn't destroy them. 24 Yes, they despised the pleasant land. They didn't believe his word, 25 but murmured in their tents, and didn't listen to Yahweh's voice. 26 Therefore he swore to them that he would overthrow them in the wilderness, 27 that he would overthrow their seed among the nations, and scatter them in the lands. 28 They joined themselves also to Baal Peor, and ate the sacrifices of the dead. 29 Thus they provoked him to anger with their deeds. The plague broke in on them. 30 Then Phinehas stood up, and executed judgment, so the plague was stopped. 31 That was credited to him for righteousness, for all generations to come. 32 They angered him also at the waters of Meribah, so that Moses was troubled for their sakes; 33 because they were rebellious against his spirit, he spoke rashly with his lips. 34 They didn't destroy the peoples, as Yahweh commanded them, 35 but mixed themselves with the nations, and learned their works. 36 They served their idols, which became a snare to them. 37 Yes, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters to demons. 38 They shed innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and of their daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan. The land was polluted with blood. 39 Thus were they defiled with their works, and prostituted themselves in their deeds. 40 Therefore Yahweh burned with anger against his people. He abhorred his inheritance. 41 He gave them into the hand of the nations. Those who hated them ruled over them. 42 Their enemies also oppressed them. They were brought into subjection under their hand. 43 Many times he delivered them, but they were rebellious in their counsel, and were brought low in their iniquity. 44 Nevertheless he regarded their distress, when he heard their cry. 45 He remembered for them his covenant, and repented according to the multitude of his loving kindnesses. 46 He made them also to be pitied by all those who carried them captive. 47 Save us, Yahweh, our God, gather us from among the nations, to give thanks to your holy name, to triumph in your praise! 48 Blessed be Yahweh, the God of Israel, from everlasting even to everlasting! Let all the people say, "Amen." Praise Yah! BOOK V
The author of this psalm is unknown, and the occasion on which it was composed cannot now be ascertained. It belongs to the same "class" as Ps. 78; 105; as referring to the ancient history of the Hebrew people, and as deriving lessons of instruction, admonition, gratitude and praise from that history. The cvth Psalm referred to that history particularly as showing the mercy and favor of God to that people, and hence, their obligation to love and serve him; this psalm is occupied mainly with a confession, drawn from a review of that history, that the nation had not been mindful of those mercies, but that they had rebelled against God, and incurred his displeasure. The psalm has a striking resemblance in many respects to the prayer in Daniel. 9; and, like that, is a prayer that God would now interpose and deliver the people as in times that were past. It is possible that the psalm may have been composed in the time of the Babylonian captivity (compare Psalm 106:47), and this is the opinion of Hengstenberg; but it is impossible to demonstrate this with any certainty. It was evidently composed in some period of public calamity, and there is no impropriety in supposing that it may have been then.
The psalm consists essentially of three parts:
I. A brief introduction, setting forth the duty of praising God, and referring to his mercy, and expressing the desire of the author of the psalm that he himself might participate in his mercy, and share the happy lot of the "chosen" of God, Psalm 106:1-5.
II. A reference to the history of the nation, and a confession of their sins in all the periods of their history, and their proneness as a people to disobey God, referring particularly to their history in Egypt, Psalm 106:6-12; in the desert, Ps. 106:13-33; and in the land of Canaan, Psalm 106:34-43.
III. A prayer - founded on the fact that God had often interposed in their behalf - that he would now again interpose, and gather them from among the pagan, that they might again sing his praises, Psalm 106:44-48.
God is praised for his manifold mercies, Psalm 106:1-3. The prophet prays for himself, Psalm 106:4, Psalm 106:5. A recapitulation of the history of the Hebrew people: of God's mercies toward them, and their rebellions, vv. 6-39. The judgments and affictions which their transgressions brought upon them, Psalm 106:40-42. God's mercy to them notwithstanding their transgressions, Psalm 106:43-46. He prays for their restoration, Psalm 106:47, Psalm 106:48.
As a part of the preceding Psalm is found in 1-Chronicles 16, so the first and two last verses of this are found in the same place, (1-Chronicles 16:34-36), and yet it is supposed by eminent commentators to be a prayer of the captives in Babylon, who acknowledge the mercies of God, confess their own sins, and those of their forefathers, and implore the Lord to gather them from among the heathen, and restore them to their own country. In none of the Versions except the Syriac has it any title, except Hallelujah, Praise ye the Lord, the word with which the original commences. The Syriac gives us a sort of table of its contents; or rather shows us the subjects to which it may be applied, and the uses we should make of it. After stating that it has no title, it says, "It calls upon men to observe the Divine precepts, and teaches us that the more the Jews transgressed, the more we should fear. That we should not talk together in the church, nor ever contend with our brethren on any account; and especially when we assist in the celebration of the Divine mysteries and in prayer: and that when we sin we should repent." All this is very good: but it would be difficult to find these subjects in the Psalm, or any thing on which they could be rationally founded. But it shows us that the Scriptures were very easily accommodated to particular uses, not originally intended: and hence arose much of the practice of spiritualizing and allegorizing; which, to say the least of it, has been of no use to the Church of Christ.
INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 106
This psalm is without the name of its author, as the Syriac interpreter observes. Aben Ezra, on Psalm 106:47, says, that one of the wise men of Egypt (perhaps Maimonides) was of opinion that it was written in the time of the judges, when there was no king in Israel; and another, he says, thought it was written in Babylon: but he was of opinion it was wrote under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, or by a prophetic spirit, concerning their present captivity; and so Kimchi. The petition in Psalm 106:47, "gather us from among the Heathen", has led most interpreters to conclude that it was written either in the Babylonish captivity, or, as some, in the times of Antiochus: but by comparing it with 1-Chronicles 16:7, it appears that it was written by David, at the time of the bringing up of the ark to Zion; since the first and two last verses of it are there expressly mentioned, in the psalm he gave Asaph to sing on that occasion, Psalm 106:34, who therein might have respect to the Israelites that had been taken captive by some of their neighbours, as the Philistines, and still retained; though there is no difficulty in supposing that David, under a prophetic spirit, foresaw future captivities, and represents those that were in them. As the preceding psalm treats of the mercies and favours God bestowed upon Israel, this of their sins and provocations amidst those blessings, and of the goodness of God unto them; that notwithstanding he did not destroy them from being a people; for which they had reason to be thankful.
(Psalm 106:1-5) The happiness of God's people.
(Psalm 106:6-12) Israel's sins.
(v. 13-33) Their provocations.
(Psalm 106:34-46) Their rebellions in Canaan.
(Psalm 106:47, Psalm 106:48) Prayer for more complete deliverance.
Israel's Unfaithfulness from Egypt Onwards, and God's Faithfulness Down to the Present Time
With this anonymous Psalm begins the series of the strictly Hallelujah-Psalm, i.e., those Psalm which have הללו־יה for their arsis-like beginning and for their inscription (Ps 106, 111-113, Psalm 117:1-2, 135, 146-150). The chronicler in his cento, 1-Chronicles 16:8., and in fact in 1-Chronicles 16:34-36, puts the first and last verses of this Psalm (Psalm 106:1, Psalm 106:47), together with the Beracha (Psalm 106:48) which closes the Fourth Book of the Psalm, into the mouth of David, from which it is to be inferred that this Psalm is no more Maccabaean than Psalm 96:1-13 and Ps 105 (which see), and that the Psalter was divided into five books which were marked off by the doxologies even in the time of the chronicler. The Beracha, Psalm 106:48, appears even at that period to have been read as an integral part of the Psalm, according to liturgical usage. The Hallelujah Psalm 106, like the Hodu Ps 105 and the Asaph Ps 78, recapitulates the history of the olden times of the Israelitish nation. But the purpose and mode of the recapitulation differ in each of these three Psalm. In Ps 78 it is didactic; in Ps 105 hymnic; and here in Psalm 106 penitential. It is a penitential Psalm, or Psalm of confession, a ודּוּי (from התודּה to confess, Leviticus 16:21). The oldest types of such liturgical prayers are the two formularies at the offering of the first-fruits, Deut. 26, and Solomon's prayer at the dedication of the Temple, 1 Kings 8. And to this kind of tephilla, the Vidduj, belong, beyond the range of the Psalter, the prayer of Daniel, Daniel 9:1 (vid., the way in which it is introduced in Daniel 9:4), and the prayer (Nehemiah 9:5-38) which eight Levites uttered in the name of the people at the celebration of the fast-day on the twenty-fourth of Tishri. It is true Psalm 106 is distinguished from these prayers of confession in the prose style as being a Psalm; but it has three points in common with them and with the liturgical tephilla in general, viz., (1) the fondness for inflexional rhyming, i.e., for rhyming terminations of the same suffixes; (2) the heaping up of synonyms; and (3) the unfolding of the thoughts in a continuous line. These three peculiarities are found not only in the liturgical border, Psalm 106:1-6, Psalm 106:47, but also in the middle historical portion, which forms the bulk of the Psalm. The law of parallelism, is, it is true, still observed; but apart from these distichic wave-like ridges of the thoughts, it is all one direct, straight-line flow without technical division.
*More commentary available by clicking individual verses.