Tehillim 106

1 06 Praise Hashem! O give thanks unto Hashem; for He is tov; for His chesed endureth l’olam.

2 Who can speak of the gevurot (mighty acts) of Hashem? Who can show forth all His tehillah (praise)?

3 Ashrei (happy, blessed) are they who are shomrei mishpat, and he that doeth tzedakah at all times.

4 Remember me, Hashem, with the favor that Thou bearest unto Thy people; O visit me with Thy Yeshuah (salvation);

5 That I may see the good of Bechireicha (Thy chosen ones), that I may rejoice in the simchah of Thy nation, that I may glory with Thine nachalah (the people of Thy inheritance).

6 We have sinned with Avoteinu, we have committed iniquity, we have done wickedly.

7 Avoteinu had no seichal concerning Thy nifla’ot (wonders) in Mitzrayim; they remembered not the multitude of Thy mercies but provoked Him at the yam, even at the Yam Suf.

8 Nevertheless He saved them for the sake of Shmo, that He might make His gevu’rot (mighty power) to be known.

9 He rebuked the Yam Suf also, and it dried up; so He led them through the tehomot, as through the midbar.

10 And He saved them from the yad of him that hated them, and He acted to make the go’el redemption from the yad of the oyev (enemy).

11 And the mayim covered their enemies; there was not echad (one) of them left surviving.

12 Then believed they in His Devarim; they sang His tehillah.

13 Then they hurried, they forgot His ma’asim; they waited not for His etzah (counsel, advice, wisdom);

14 But lusted exceedingly in the midbar, and tempted G-d in the desert.

15 And He gave them their she’elah (request); but sent leanness into their nefesh.

16 They envied Moshe also in the machaneh, and Aharon the kadosh Hashem (Aaron the holy one of Hashem).

17 Eretz opened and swallowed up Datan and covered over the Adat Aviram (the company of Aviram).

18 And an eish was kindled in their edah (assembly); the flame burned up the resha’im.

19 They made an egel (a calf) in Chorev, and worshiped a massekhah (molden image).

20 Thus they exchanged their kavod for a tavnit shor (likeness of an ox) that eateth esev (grass).

21 They forgot G-d their Moshi’a, Who had done gedolot in Mitzrayim;

22 Nifla’ot (wondrous works) in Eretz Cham, and nora’ot (awesome things) by the Yam Suf.

23 Therefore He said that He would destroy them, had not Moshe His bechir (chosen one) stood before Him in the peretz (breach), to turn away His wrath, lest He should destroy them.

24 Then they despised the eretz chemdah (desirable land); they believed not His Devar;

25 But murmured in their ohalim, and paid heed not unto the kol (voice) of Hashem.

26 Therefore [in oath] He lifted up His yad against them, that He would overthrow them in the midbar;

27 To make their zera fall also among the Goyim, and to scatter them among the aratzot (lands).

28 They joined themselves also unto Ba’al-Pe’or, and ate the zivkhei mesim (sacrifices offered to the dead).

29 Thus they provoked Him to anger with their inventions; and the magefah (plague) broke out among them.

30 Then stood up Pinchas, and interposed; and so the magefah (plague) was halted.

31 And that was counted unto him for tzedakah l’dor vador ad olam.

32 They angered Him also at the waters of Merivah, so that it went ill with Moshe on their account;

33 Because they provoked His Ruach [Hakodesh] and he [Moshe] spoke unadvisedly with his sfatayim (lips).

34 They did not destroy the amim (peoples), as Hashem commanded them;

35 But they mingled with the Goyim, and learned their ma’asim (works, customs).

36 And they served their atzabim (idols); which were a mokesh (snare) unto them.

37 And, they sacrificed their banim and their banot unto shedim (demons),

38 And they shed dahm naki (innocent blood), even the dahm of their banim and of their banot, whom they sacrificed unto the atzabei Kena’an (idols of Canaan); and HaAretz was polluted with blood-guilt.

39 Thus they made themselves tameh with their own ma’asim, and went awhoring with their own inventions.

40 Therefore was the wrath of Hashem kindled against His people, insomuch that He abhorred His own nachalah.

41 And He gave them into the yad Goyim; and they that hated them ruled over them.

42 Their oyevim also oppressed them, and they were brought into subjection under their yad.

43 Many times did He deliver them; but they provoked Him with their etzah (counsel), and so perished in their avon (iniquity).

44 Nevertheless He regarded their affliction, when He heard their rinnah (cry of grief);

45 And He remembered for their sake His Brit, and relented according to the multitude of His chasadim (lovingkindnesses).

46 He made them also to be pitied with rachamim by all those that carried them away as captives.

47 Hoshieini (save us), Hashem Eloheinu, and gather us from among the Goyim, to give thanks unto Thy Shem Kadosh, and to glory in Thy tehillah (praise).

48 Baruch Hashem Elohei Yisroel min haOlam v’ad haOlam; and let kol HaAm say, Omein. Praise Hashem!

Tehillim 106 Commentary

Chapter 106

The happiness of God's people. (1-5) Israel's sins. (6-12) Their provocations. (13-33) Their rebellions in Canaan. (34-46) Prayer for more complete deliverance. (47,48)

Verses 1-5 None of our sins or sufferings should prevent our ascribing glory and praise to the Lord. The more unworthy we are, the more is his kindness to be admired. And those who depend on the Redeemer's righteousness will endeavour to copy his example, and by word and deed to show forth his praise. God's people have reason to be cheerful people; and need not envy the children of men their pleasure or pride.

Verses 6-12 Here begins a confession of sin; for we must acknowledge that the Lord has done right, and we have done wickedly. We are encouraged to hope that though justly corrected, yet we shall not be utterly forsaken. God's afflicted people own themselves guilty before him. God is distrusted because his favours are not remembered. If he did not save us for his own name's sake, and to the praise of his power and grace, we should all perish.

Verses 13-33 Those that will not wait for God's counsel, shall justly be given up to their own hearts' lusts, to walk in their own counsels. An undue desire, even for lawful things, becomes sinful. God showed his displeasure for this. He filled them with uneasiness of mind, terror of conscience, and self-reproach. Many that fare deliciously every day, and whose bodies are healthful, have leanness in their souls: no love to God, no thankfulness, no appetite for the Bread of life, and then the soul must be lean. Those wretchedly forget themselves, that feast their bodies and starve their souls. Even the true believer will see abundant cause to say, It is of the Lord's mercies that I am not consumed. Often have we set up idols in our hearts, cleaved to some forbidden object; so that if a greater than Moses had not stood to turn away the anger of the Lord, we should have been destroyed. If God dealt severely with Moses for unadvised words, what do those deserve who speak many proud and wicked words? It is just in God to remove those relations that are blessings to us, when we are peevish and provoking to them, and grieve their spirits.

Verses 34-48 The conduct of the Israelites in Canaan, and God's dealings with them, show that the way of sin is down-hill; omissions make way for commissions: when they neglected to destroy the heathen, they learned their works. One sin led to many more, and brought the judgments of God on them. Their sin was, in part, their own punishment. Sinners often see themselves ruined by those who led them into evil. Satan, who is a tempter, will be a tormentor. At length, God showed pity to his people for his covenant's sake. The unchangeableness of God's merciful nature and love to his people, makes him change the course of justice into mercy; and no other change is meant by God's repentance. Our case is awful when the outward church is considered. When nations professing Christianity, are so guilty as we are, no wonder if the Lord brings them low for their sins. Unless there is general and deep repentance, there can be no prospect but of increasing calamities. The psalm concludes with prayer for completing the deliverance of God's people, and praise for the beginning and progress of it. May all the people of the earth, ere long, add their Amen.

Chapter Summary

INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 106

This psalm is without the name of its author, as the Syriac interpreter observes. Aben Ezra, on Ps 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 Ps 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 1Ch 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, Ps 106:34-36, 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.