Read Psalm
105-106 & Romans
15:1-20
To discover:
As you read consider how
God’s commitment to his covenant is displayed.
To ponder:
Psalm 105 begins
with the familiar call to thank, praise and rejoice in God, telling of his acts
to the nations. Yet it also urges the worshipper to call on his name, look to
him and seek his strength. It will provide much about God’s acts to give us
confidence in doing this. To “glory in his holy name” seems to be about
rejoicing in his glory because of what it means for those who seek him
(105v1-4).
The psalm continues with a second
call - to “remember” his wonders, miracles and judgements. These are the
“wonderful acts” he has done for Israel ,
who are described as “descendents of Abraham” because the Abrahamic covenant is
the theme (105v5-7). So we are told God remembers the covenant he made with
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give them Canaan as their
inheritance. It is for a thousand generations in the sense that God would
ensure it is fulfilled despite the failings of the people (105v8-11). And so he
protected Abraham and his household as they wandered, and particularly when his
deception in Egypt
made him subject to the Pharoah’s anger (Ps 105v12-15, Gen 20v1-7). God then
brought Joseph to Egypt ,
proving that his “word” comes true. The description of Joseph as ruler over
Pharoah’s household and teaching his princes and elders wisdom is a picture of
God’s intent for Israel as eventually ruling the nations and teaching them
God’s ways (105v16-22, Is 2v1-5). Joseph was God’s means of bringing Israel
(that is Jacob and his family) to Egypt ,
where he made them fruitful (see Gen 1v26-28) but turned the Egyptians against
them. Here, God is seen as the orchestrator of all events. God’s miraculous
signs in the plagues are then recounted, with stress that they came because Egypt
rebelled against his word (ie. to let his people go) – a warning perhaps to Israel
(105v26-36). And so God redeemed Israel ,
providing wealth from the Egyptians, covering them with the cloud at the Red
Sea to protect them from the pursuing army, leading them by the
pillar of fire at night, and supplying them with quail, bread and water
(105v37-41). The reversal of Israel ’s
fortunes is seen in her being “glad” when leaving Egypt ,
with the Egyptians being in dread of them. The note that none of the tribes
faltered may again be noted as an example to the tribes in the psalmists day.
Bracketing this history with verse 8, verse 42 tells us all this was because
God “remembered” his promise to Abraham, and so not only brought his people out
with rejoicing, but gave them the land that others had toiled for as their
inheritance.
The final note is that this was all
so that Israel
might keep God’s precepts (105v45) – a note that the people were redeemed in
order to be holy and display God’s holiness to the world. The goal of the psalm
is therefore not only to move Israelites to praise and call on God, but remind
them of this destiny, which has been hinted at throughout (105v21-22, 28, 37).
In this, they were to be a scale model of the greater Israel ,
comprising all with faith in Christ, who would fill and then inherit the earth.
So the psalm urges us to the same.
From the positive of Psalm 105 to
the negative of Psalm 106, which recounts how Israel
failed to obey God’s precepts. It begins (106v1-5) calling people to thanks and
praise, whilst noting that now can adequately do so. The psalmist then affirms
the blessedness of those who do right, readying us for contemplating how Israel
failed to do so. He then asks God to remember him when saving his people so
that he may prosper and rejoice with his the nation (the chosen ones and
inheritance). Originally, this was a call for God to bring his people out of
exile (106v47), but looks to our final salvation.
The psalm is essentially a
confession of the sins of Israel ,
asserting that they have acted just as their fathers had (106v6), and so have
received in exile only what they deserve. Their fathers’ sin is recounted
(106v7-43): Despite the miracles they had witnessed in Egypt ,
they rebelled by the Red Sea by assuming they would die.
Yet God saved them and they came to believe his promises and sing his praise
(106v7-12). But it didn’t last. In the desert they tested God by complaining
about a lack of food rather than waiting for his wisdom, and so were punished
with disease. They grew envious of Moses and Aaron, and earthquake and fire
consumed those who rebelled. They forgot God (their Glory) and worshipped the
calf, and would have been destroyed but for Moses interceding on their behalf.
They showed a lack of faith in God’s promise by grumbling that they wouldn’t be
able to take the land, and so he swore that generation would die in the desert.
The note about their descendents being scattered amongst the nations refers to
Moses’ speech on the edge of the land forty years later (Deut 28v64-68), in
anticipation of such sin continuing. And it did. During those forty years Israel
committed idolatry with Baal (Num 25), and were punished with plague, which was
ended when Phinehas killed one of the perpetrators, displaying faith that was
credited as righteousness and brought privilege to his descendents. At Meribah
they complained over a lack of water again, and even Moses sinned by honouring
himself rather than God with its provision. Even when finally inheriting the
land, the people did not obey God by destroying the peoples there, but took on
their ways and gods, even sacrificing their children, defiling themselves and
desecrating the land. They were therefore repeatedly conquered by their
enemies, and continued in sin even though God delivered them many times.
106v44-46 note that these deliverances were for the sake of God’s covenant
love. So the psalmist ends praying (no doubt, on the same grounds) that God
would do the same, gathering them from the nations to which they are scattered
so that they may thank and praise him. 106v48 then ends this section of psalms
as with previous sections.
The point throughout is of God’s
gracious commitment to his covenant despite the sinfulness of his people and
the wrath they rightly endure. It should give us certain confidence that all
his promises will be fulfilled at the return of Christ, despite the evident
unfaithfulness of many within the church.
Praying
it home:
Praise God for his
patience and faithfulness. Pray that you would obey him through faith and be a
testimony to the nations.
Thinking
further:
None
today.
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