1 Praise ye the LORD. O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.
2 Who can utter the mighty acts of the LORD? who can shew forth all his praise?
3 Blessed are they that keep judgment, and he that doeth righteousness at all times.
4 Remember me, O LORD, with the favour that thou bearest unto thy people: O visit me with thy salvation;
5 That I may see the good of thy chosen, that I may rejoice in the gladness of thy nation, that I may glory with thine inheritance.
6 We have sinned with our fathers, we have committed iniquity, we have done wickedly.
7 Our fathers understood not thy wonders in Egypt; they remembered not the multitude of thy mercies; but provoked him 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 to be known.
9 He rebuked the Red sea also, and it was dried up: so he led them through the depths, as through the wilderness.
10 And he saved them from the hand of him that hated them, and redeemed them from the hand of the enemy.
11 And the waters covered their enemies: there was not one of them left.
12 Then believed they his words; they sang his praise.
13 They soon forgat his works; they waited not for his counsel:
14 But lusted exceedingly in the wilderness, and tempted God in the desert.
15 And he gave them their request; but sent leanness into their soul.
16 They envied Moses also in the camp, and Aaron the saint of the LORD.
17 The earth opened and swallowed up Dathan and covered the company of Abiram.
18 And a fire was kindled in their company; the flame burned up the wicked.
19 They made a calf in Horeb, and worshipped the molten image.
20 Thus they changed their glory into the similitude of an ox that eateth grass.
21 They forgat God their saviour, which had done great things in Egypt;
22 Wondrous works in the land of Ham, and terrible things by the Red sea.
23 Therefore he said that he would destroy them, had not Moses his chosen stood before him in the breach, to turn away his wrath, lest he should destroy them.
24 Yea, they despised the pleasant land, they believed not his word:
25 But murmured in their tents, and hearkened not unto the voice of the LORD.
26 Therefore he lifted up his hand against them, to overthrow them in the wilderness:
27 To overthrow their seed also among the nations, and to scatter them in the lands.
28 They joined themselves also unto Baalpeor, and ate the sacrifices of the dead.
29 Thus they provoked him to anger with their inventions: and the plague brake in upon them.
30 Then stood up Phinehas, and executed judgment: and so the plague was stayed.
31 And that was counted unto him for righteousness unto all generations for evermore.
32 They angered him also at the waters of strife, so that it went ill with Moses for their sakes:
33 Because they provoked his spirit, so that he spake unadvisedly with his lips.
34 They did not destroy the nations, concerning whom the LORD commanded them:
35 But were mingled among the heathen, and learned their works.
36 And they served their idols: which were a snare unto them.
37 Yea, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto devils,
38 And shed innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and of their daughters, whom they sacrificed unto the idols of Canaan: and the land was polluted with blood.
39 Thus were they defiled with their own works, and went a whoring with their own inventions.
40 Therefore was the wrath of the LORD kindled against his people, insomuch that he abhorred his own inheritance.
41 And he gave them into the hand of the heathen; and they that hated them ruled over them.
42 Their enemies also oppressed them, and they were brought into subjection under their hand.
43 Many times did he deliver them; but they provoked him with their counsel, and were brought low for their iniquity.
44 Nevertheless he regarded their affliction, when he heard their cry:
45 And he remembered for them his covenant, and repented according to the multitude of his mercies.
46 He made them also to be pitied of all those that carried them captives.
47 Save us, O LORD our God, and gather us from among the heathen, to give thanks unto thy holy name, and to triumph in thy praise.
48 Blessed be the LORD God of Israel from everlasting to everlasting: and let all the people say, Amen. Praise ye the LORD.
God’s people exhibited a constant pattern of rebellion in the Old Testament, but there was always a remnant among them who cried out for His salvation.
We are horrified by the constant rebellion of a wicked, undeserving people and struck in wonder at the steadfast patience of God through it all. As in the case of the wife who has committed adultery a hundred times over and continues to receive her husband’s forgiveness, we wonder why God doesn’t just remove His favor from these people once and for all. We are also taken by sadness because we come to realize that this rebellious people is our people; this wayward church is our church. Then we end the psalm with a cry of faith, hoping that God will have mercy upon us even as He destroys those individuals who are steadfast in their rebellion.
Verses 1–5. As this psalm unfolds, it contrasts the unfaithfulness of the people of God with the faithfulness of the covenant-keeping God. But for now the faithfulness of God sets the tone of the psalm. His everlasting, merciful character is rooted in His goodness and His power. God is good and God is great. How can we praise God and give Him thanks if we do not have a deep sense of these wondrous attributes? It seems this psalm may be contiguous with the previous one, for the psalmist is still reeling from his contemplations concerning the mighty acts of God. “Who can utter the mighty acts of the Lord?” Who is worthy to sing His praises with words and sentiments that fit the occasion?
As the psalmist is about to describe the unfaithfulness of God’s people in the Old Testament, he takes the opportunity to call out for the mercy of God upon himself. Corporate rebellion in the church will bring the faithful remnant to the surface. That’s why this psalm is couched in individualistic language. Perhaps the psalmist feels like an island of faithfulness in a sea of rebellion.
To be part of the covenant body of the church is important. God’s blessings usually flow in the direction of His covenant people, and the psalmist wants to be caught up in that flow (see verse 4). “Remember me, O Lord, with the favor you bear unto your people!” Those who receive the blessings are those who love God and have respect for His commandments (verse 3). They are the ones whom God visits with His salvation (verse 4).
Verses 6–11. Now the psalm turns from the individual perspective (the “me” psalm) to the corporate perspective (the “we” psalm). Together the people of God confess their corporate sins, which are rooted in ancient times (yet seem to return from generation to generation). Sin has a cancerous element to it. Therefore, the psalmist says, “We have sinned with our fathers; we have committed iniquity.”
What more spectacular event could you find anywhere in history than what we find in Israel’s deliverance out of the hand of the great Egyptian empire? The ten plagues, the parting of the Red Sea, and the destruction of Pharaoh’s armies were eye-popping, incomparable acts of God. Yet the people of God forgot about these mighty works within a few weeks after the great deliverance! They witnessed His wonders, but these wonders made no real impression on them.
Verse 8 provides a reason for God’s saving work. He saves so as to be true to Himself and to get Himself the glory. He set out to have a people for Himself, and no earthly power could possibly annul His covenant or stymie His purposes. Yahweh God made a covenant with Abraham, and He will bring it to pass. By His acts of saving power, God humbles men and glorifies Himself. No less in the New Testament do we witness the culmination of all of God’s purposes in redemption. The Apostle adds his own psalm as it were to these sentiments in Ephesians 1 as he cries out, “To the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He has made us accepted in the beloved!” Above all others, certainly the recipients of God’s powerful salvation should find profound reasons here to give God glory!
Verses 12–33. Verse 12 says the children of Israel, after witnessing the Red Sea event, believed for a little while at least and gave God praise. For the most part though, this faith was temporary and fleeting. Like the stony ground hearer in the parable, they “believed for a while,” and, in time of temptation, fell away (Luke 8:15). It wasn’t more than a few weeks later that they forgot His works, and they tempted God in the wilderness. (The entire journey from Egypt to Mount Sinai took about six weeks.) To tempt God is to doubt God’s faithfulness and to question His actions as malicious and unfaithful to His covenant. The psalmist says, “They lusted exceedingly in the wilderness” (verse 14). If God says, “This is what I have for you,” yet you are discontented with those things and desire something besides what He has laid out for you, then you sin against Him. Accept what God has given to you with gratefulness and contentment. This is trusting, by faith, that God is good and that His gifts are good. However, the Israelites did not believe that the deliverance from Egypt and the wilderness—and the provision of the manna and the quail—were the best for them.
The following verses provide multiple instances of unfaithfulness on the part of God’s people. They resisted God’s appointed leaders, Moses and Aaron, by again challenging His wisdom in appointing these men. They rejected His law—the first and second commandments—by assembling the golden calf. In doing so, they reduced themselves to blind, pagan worship. Those who worship calves are nothing better than cows that graze out in the fields! Those who cannot worship an invisible God will worship stupid, visible things like cows or fallible human beings!
Verse 21 encapsulates the real issue with these people. They forgot their Savior. What a sad state of affairs! Practically everybody in the world is aware of the terrible effects of sin, which include tyranny, slavery, abuse, disease, and death. What could possibly save men from all of these tragic consequences? The answer should be obvious. A human being can save someone from drowning on occasion, but only God can save us from the deepest metaphysical needs of all! Only God can unwind the iron chains of tyranny imposed on His people. There is none other who can provide us this salvation. So when a people forgets God is their Savior, either they forget that they have to be saved from anything (which is doubtful), or they doubt God’s capacity to save. Verse 24 further clarifies. They would not believe God’s Word or His promises. One must believe in God’s capacity to save in order to be saved. There is no essential difference between Acts 16:31 and Psalm 106:24. In order to be saved, one must believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. One must believe in the promises of God and the works of God to be saved, and that includes the works of the Son of God when He walked the earth and died on the cross for our sins.
Because they did not believe in the promises of God, they did not take the Promised Land. The situation is no different for us. If we are to be saved, if we are to live the Christian life and fight the good fight, of course we must believe in the promises of God. How can we ever get to the Promised Land if we do not believe in the power of God to take us there?
Not all of these people were faithless and rebellious. Two examples of faithfulness are mentioned. First, Moses served as the faithful leader of God’s people, appealing for mercy upon these people along the way. Yet, the unfaithful majority were successful at drawing Moses into their rebel ways when he responded in anger against them and broke God’s command in the process (verses 32–33). Second is Phinehas, a man with a ferocious commitment to God, who stemmed the tide of rebellion in the Baal-peor affair. This remarkable act of faith would bless many generations to come.
Verses 34–39. When God’s people choose to rebel against Him, there is no telling the depths to which they will go with their wickedness. Rather than destroying the wicked Canaanites, they synthesized with their wicked ways, including such atrocities as idolatry, infanticide, and human sacrifice. There really is no neutrality when it comes to our relationship with the world. Either we will oppose it or we will amalgamate into it. Whomever is a friend of the world will be an enemy of God (James 4:4). When the children of Israel made friends with the Canaanites, they became an enemy of God.
Verses 40–46. What a tragic story! Here are the people who enjoyed great privilege, but still chose to harden their hearts against God. It is hard to imagine a father who abhors his own children, but this is the analogy used in verse 40 to describe God’s relationship with His people. Even the best of husbands eventually leaves a whorish wife, and God eventually abandons His idolatrous people to the hand of their enemies. Yet the story does not end there. When they began to cry out to God in their affliction, He delivered them. Upon the slightest movement towards repentance on their part, He turned back to them like a husband to a wayward wife as soon as she made a small effort towards returning to her husband. This demonstrates two things: the soft heart God has for His people, and the commitment He has to His covenant.
In both the Old and New Testaments, God speaks to His people as a group. He relates to them as a group. Each local church in the New Testament makes up a tiny Israel, and ºChrist relates to each one of them as a candlestick, noted in Revelation 2 and 3. Here again, He demands repentance of His people as a church body (Rev. 2:5, 2:16, 2:21, 3:3, 3:20), with a warning that He may have to remove their candlestick. Paul commends the repentance of the Corinthian church in 2 Corinthians 7:8–11. Of the 10 million local churches, parishes, and dioceses around the world, there are some that have provoked the wrath of the Lamb against them by their wayward pastors and defective confessions. But there are also those who humble themselves and daily seek the Lord for His mercy on them, and their candlesticks are still intact.
Verses 47–48. Some are concerned about the plight of God’s people, and others are not. Those who are concerned about the demise of the faith and the weakness of the church cry out to God for His salvation. They are concerned about synthesis with the ideas and practices of the heathen. They are concerned not just for their own spiritual vitality but for the health of the body, the church. These are not “lone wolf” Christians who are only concerned about themselves and their families. They know that without the survival of a church body, there will be no individual faith fifty years hence for their children and grandchildren. They have a vested interest in the vitality of the corporate body. It is hard to separate the health of the individual from the health of the corporate body. When God refused to spare the natural branches in the vine tree and purged them, a great many Jews were consigned to blindness and rebellion for many generations (Rom. 11:21). Will a similar curse fall upon the Western “Christian” world for another thousand years or two? All we can do now is cry out with the Psalmist for God’s salvation. Only God can save us from spiritual lethargy, compromise, blindness, and the tidal wave of apostasy sweeping over the West.
Whatever happens to us and our descendants, it is still our highest aim to see God praised by a multitude of people. Our salvation is not primarily for us. What we want is a people to give thanks to His holy name and triumph in His praise! Thus, it is fitting to end the psalm in a hymn of praise. And let all the people say, “Amen!”
1. If you were an eyewitness of this large group of people traveling from Egypt to Sinai in 1800 B.C., would you have seen the hand of an invisible God working along the way? Or would you have provided some other explanation for the Red Sea parting and the manna falling from the sky? Would you have fallen on your face and worshiped this invisible God, or would you have struggled to provide a “scientific” explanation for what was happening? Faithless minds continue to disbelieve the God of the Exodus.
2. The faith is dying quickly in post-Christian Europe. Pollsters tell us that 50% of Americans call themselves Christians, which is down from 70% in 1970, and this trend is accelerating. Western Christianity is struggling against apostasy and synthesis with the world as Israel did for so long in the Old Testament. Even the tiniest efforts toward reformation are quickly swept aside by a hundred compromising variants. Yet it is still a worthy struggle, a critical struggle that could yield either great blessing or great devastation to millions of people in generations to come. It is times like these that call for the faith of Phinehas. One man here or there could make a significant difference should he understand the nature of compromise, the core issues in the conflict, and at least one basic solution to stem the flow of apostasy. While we wouldn’t necessarily recommend thrusting a spear into a fornicating couple, the faith and the forthright action of the man who did so in Numbers 25 are to be emulated. It is good for us to struggle mightily against the trends towards apostasy in our day. If God blessed Phinehas for generations, what mighty acts of faith might we engage that would yield tremendous generational consequences for our grandchildren and great-grandchildren to come?
Is there anything more depressing than to see God’s people descending into rank apostasy, child sacrifice, infanticide, and idolatry? To think that billions of people over thousands of years will harden their hearts against God and wander in darkness generates hopelessness and despair. But the psalmist is fighting for a remnant, and this is what good preaching does in the midst of wholesale apostasy. This is what the faithful few are doing in the Christian West in our present century.
Moreover, if we are going to take the time to review the gross apostasy of God’s people, it should only be for the purpose of strengthening our commitment to faithfulness. What we really want to do is to bless the Lord God of Israel from everlasting to everlasting for His faithful covenant mercies. God’s people may be unfaithful to the covenant, but God will ever be faithful to the covenant He made with His people, and that is what really matters to us.
1. What aspect of God’s character is contrasted with the unfaithfulness of God’s people in this psalm?
2. Recount the many instances of the rebellion of God’s people related in this psalm.
3. What does it mean when the psalmist says that the Israelites lusted exceedingly in the wilderness?
4. Who was Phinehas and what did he do to stem God’s judgment on Israel? How did God reward him?
5. What can the remnant do in the face of serious wide-spread apostasy?
6. Give several examples of Didactic Psalms.
1. How do we view the apostasy of the church in our day? Does this apostasy affect our family in any way, either now or in coming generations?
2. Are we satisfied with God’s goodness to us, or do we lust after other things? What happens when we feel our hearts pulling away from God? Do we justify our apostasy the same way Israel did in the Old Testament?