1 Preiset Jehova! denn er ist gut, denn seine Güte währt ewiglich. 2Wer wird aussprechen die Machttaten Gottes, hören lassen all sein Lob? 3Glückselig die das Recht bewahren, der Gerechtigkeit übt zu aller Zeit! 4Gedenke meiner, Jehova, mit der Gunst gegen dein Volk; suche mich heim mit deiner Rettung! 5Daß ich anschaue die Wohlfahrt deiner Auserwählten, mich erfreue an der Freude deiner Nation, mich rühme mit deinem Erbteil. 6Wir haben gesündigt samt unseren Vätern, haben unrecht getan, haben gesetzlos gehandelt. 7Unsere Väter in Ägypten beachteten nicht deine Wundertaten, gedachten nicht der Menge deiner Gütigkeiten und waren widerspenstig am Meere, beim Schilfmeere. 8Aber er rettete sie um seines Namens willen, um kundzutun seine Macht. 9Und er schalt das Schilfmeer, und es ward trocken; und er ließ sie durch die Tiefen gehen wie durch eine Wüste. 10Und er rettete sie aus der Hand des Hassers, und erlöste sie aus der Hand des Feindes. 11Und die Wasser bedeckten ihre Bedränger, nicht einer von ihnen blieb übrig. 12Da glaubten sie seinen Worten, sie sangen sein Lob. 13Schnell vergaßen sie seine Taten, warteten nicht auf seinen Rat; 14Und sie wurden lüstern in der Wüste und versuchten Gott in der Einöde. 15Da gab er ihnen ihr Begehr, aber er sandte Magerkeit in ihre Seelen. 16Und sie wurden eifersüchtig auf Mose im Lager, auf Aaron, den Heiligen Jehovas. 17Die Erde tat sich auf, und verschlang Dathan und bedeckte die Rotte Abirams; 18Und ein Feuer brannte unter ihrer Rotte, eine Flamme verzehrte die Gesetzlosen. 19Sie machten ein Kalb am Horeb und bückten sich vor einem gegossenen Bilde; 20Und sie vertauschten ihre Herrlichkeit gegen das Bild eines Stieres, der Gras frißt. 21Sie vergaßen Gottes, ihres Retters, der Großes getan in Ägypten, 22Wundertaten im Lande Hams, Furchtbares am Schilfmeer. 23Da sprach er, daß er sie vertilgen wollte, wenn nicht Mose, sein Auserwählter, vor ihm in dem Riß gestanden hätte, um seinen Grimm vom Verderben abzuwenden. 24Und sie verschmähten das köstliche Land, glaubten nicht seinem Worte; 25Und sie murrten in ihren Zelten, hörten nicht auf die Stimme Jehovas. 26Da schwur er ihnen, sie niederzuschlagen in der Wüste, 27Und ihren Samen niederzuschlagen unter den Nationen und sie zu zerstreuen in die Länder. 28Und sie hängten sich an Baal-Peor und aßen Schlachtopfer der Toten; 29Und sie erbitterten ihn durch ihre Handlungen, und eine Plage brach unter sie ein. 30Da stand Pinehas auf und übte Gericht, und der Plage ward gewehrt. 31Und es wurde ihm zur Gerechtigkeit gerechnet von Geschlecht zu Geschlecht bis in Ewigkeit. 32Und sie erzürnten ihn an dem Wasser von Meriba, und es erging Mose übel ihretwegen; 33Denn sie reizten seinen Geist, so daß er unbedacht redete mit seinen Lippen. 34Sie vertilgten die Völker nicht, wie doch Jehova ihnen gesagt hatte; 35Und sie vermischten sich mit den Nationen und lernten ihre Werke; 36Und sie dienten ihren Götzen, und sie wurden ihnen zum Fallstrick. 37Und sie opferten ihre Söhne und ihre Töchter den Dämonen. 38Und sie vergossen unschuldiges Blut, das Blut ihrer Söhne und ihrer Töchter, welche sie den Götzen Kanaans opferten; und das Land wurde durch Blut entweiht. 39Und sie verunreinigten sich durch ihre Werke und hurten durch ihre Handlungen. 40Da entbrannte der Zorn Jehovas wider sein Volk, und er verabscheute sein Erbteil; 41Und er gab sie in die Hand der Nationen, und ihre Hasser herrschten über sie; 42Und ihre Feinde bedrückten sie, und sie wurden gebeugt unter ihre Hand. 43Oftmals errettete er sie; sie aber waren widerspenstig in ihren Anschlägen, und sie sanken hin durch ihre Ungerechtigkeit. 44Und er sah an ihre Bedrängnis, wenn er ihr Schreien hörte; 45Und er gedachte ihnen seinen Bund, und es reute ihn nach der Größe seiner Güte. 46Und er ließ sie Erbarmen finden vor allen, die sie gefangen weggeführt hatten. 47Rette uns, Jehova, unser Gott, und sammle uns aus den Nationen, daß wir deinen heiligen Namen preisen, daß wir uns rühmen deines Lobes! 48Gepriesen sei Jehova, der Gott Israels, von Ewigkeit zu Ewigkeit! Und alles Volk sage: Amen! Lobet Jehova!
Jamieson Fausset Brown Bible Commentary 1 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. (Psa. 106:1-48)
Praise, &c.--(See on
Ps 104:35), begins and ends the Psalm, intimating the obligations of praise, however we sin and suffer
1Chr 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 (
Rom 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;
Ps 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 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;
Isa 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-- (
Deut 9:29;
Deut 32:9).
6 Compare
1Kgs 8:47;
Dan 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 Special confession. Their rebellion at the sea (
Exod 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 (
Exod 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-- (
Ezek 20:14).
9 rebuked-- (
Ps 104:7).
as through the wilderness-- (
Isa 63:11-
Isa 63:14).
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;
Exod 14:31;
Exod 15:1).
13 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 (
Num 11:18).
They soon forgat--literally, "They hasted, they forgat" (compare
Exod 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-- (
Deut 11:3-
Deut 11:4;
Dan 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
Num 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 (
Num 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" [
Num 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 All the congregation took part with Dathan, Korah, &c., and their accomplices (
Num 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. (
Deut 11:6;
Num 26:10); these were swallowed up by the earth.
17 covered--"closed upon them" (
Num 16:33). (2) Of the Levitical rebels, with Korah at their head (
Num 16:35;
Num 26:10); these had sinned by fire, and were punished by fire, as Aaron's (being high priest) sons had been (
Lev 10:2; Num. 16:1-35).
19 From indirect setting God at naught, they pass to direct.
made--though prohibited in
Exod 20:4-
Exod 20:5 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 (
Exod 32:1-
Exod 32:6). Though intending to worship Jehovah under the symbol of the calf, yet as this was incompatible with His nature (
Deut 4:15-
Deut 4:17), 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 (
Deut 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 (
Exod 32:11-
Exod 32:14;
Deut 9:18-
Deut 9:19).
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 (
Ezek 13:5;
Ezek 22:30).
to turn away--or, "prevent"
his wrath-- (
Num 25:11;
Ps 78:38).
24 The sin of refusing to invade Canaan, "the pleasant land" (
Jer 3:19;
Ezek 20:6;
Dan 8:9), "the land of beauty," was punished by the destruction of that generation (
Num 14:28), and the threat of dispersion (
Deut 4:25;
Deut 28:32) afterwards made to their posterity, and fulfilled in the great calamities now bewailed, may have also been then added.
despised-- (
Num 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
Num 14:30, Margin).
27 To overthrow--literally, "To make them fall"; alluding to the words (
Num 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.
Lev 26:33,
Lev 26:38 is here, before the Psalmist's mind, the determination against the "seed" when rebellious, being not expressed in
Num 14:31-
Num 14:33, but implied in the determination against the fathers.
28 sacrifices of the dead--that is, of lifeless idols, contrasted with "the living God" (
Jer 10:3-
Jer 10:10; compare
Ps 115:4-
Ps 115:7;
1Cor 12:2). On the words,
joined themselves to Baal-peor--see
Num 25:2-
Num 25:3,
Num 25:5.
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 (
Num 23:28). The name never occurs except in connection with that locality and that circumstance.
29 provoked--excited grief and indignation (
Ps 6:7;
Ps 78:58).
30 stood--as Aaron "stood between the living and the dead, and the plague was stayed" (
Num 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
Rom 4:2;
Rom 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 (
Num 25:13;
1Chr 6:4, &c.).
32 (Compare
Num 20:3-
Num 20:12;
Deut 1:37;
Deut 3:26).
went ill with--literally, "was bad for"
Moses--His conduct, though under great provocation, was punished by exclusion from Canaan.
34 They not only failed to expel the heathen, as God
commanded-- (
Exod 23:32-
Exod 23:33), 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
1Cor 10:20), or "evil spirits."
38 polluted with blood--literally, "blood," or "murder" (
Ps 5:6;
Ps 26:9).
40 Those nations first seduced and then oppressed them (compare
Judg 1:34;
Judg 2:14;
Judg 3:30). Their apostasies ungratefully repaid God's many mercies till He finally abandoned them to punishment (
Lev 26:39).
44 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-- (
1Kgs 8:50;
Dan 1:9). These tokens encourage the prayer and the promise of praise (
Ps 30:4), which is well closed by a doxology.