Psalm 106

Praise to God (v1-3)

The Purpose of this Psalm - A CALL to Praise

This Psalm will display God’s faithful, enduring love (v1)

That is seen through his mighty acts (v2)

His faithfulness is so profound that no one can declare the fullness of it, or proclaim all the praise due to Him (v2)

Proclaim God’s mighty acts (Reminiscent of Psalm 40)

How happy (Blessed is the one) who upholds justice, and practice righteousness at all times (v3) ~ Righteousness and Justice are the foundations of his throne ~

Hearkens back to the “Blessed is the one...” at the start of Psalm 1 and Matthew 5 - Jesus first sermon

Linking God’s faithful love, eternal goodness and mighty acts to the blessedness experienced to those who are just and right

Prayer to God (v4-5)

The Prayer of this Psalm

Remember me when you give out blessings to your people

On the basis of your salvation [Come to me…]

Give me your blessings on the basis of salvation vs justice and righteousness?

so that I can be counted among your people

enjoy the prosperity of your chosen ones

rejoice in the joy of your nation

boast about your heritage

Indication - There are YOUR people who enjoy YOUR blessings

These people are HIS nation, HIS heritage, HIS chosen ones

The Psalmist gives us an indication of what MARKS these people -salvation

How does this Prayer to God turn to Praise to God? (v6-46)

How does the Psalmist want to show God’s praiseworthy deeds? How does he want to proclaim God’s salvation?

By recounting the history of Israel for 40 verses

How it starts?

The Psalmist acknowledges the sin of his ancestors, and the sins of his own generation

This is not simply a history of the people of Israel, this is a chronicling of the unfaithfulness of the people of Israel [Title of Psalm 106 in the CSB]

Starting point of seeing God’s praiseworthy, enduring, faithful love of his people is by seeing the failings and sin of his people

How is the sin of the people described? (v6)

Both WE and OUR ANCESTORS have sinned, done wrong and acted wickedly. 2 things stick out

The repentance is communal - WE

The repentance is generational - OUR ANCESTORS

Notes on communal repentance

It challenges us (the church has failed vs. WE have failed)

Right terminology is helpful to identify the powers, strongholds etc at work, but what is the effect of distancing me from a communal repentance?

BUT the Psalmist uses language that INCLUDES him in the unfaithful deeds of God’s people, rather than terminology that DISTANCES him from the unfaithfulness

He would have reason to use language and perspectives that excludes him from the wickedness of Israel

In each of the rebellious acts that the Psalmist refers to, there were those who remained faithful to God, there were those who didn’t follow the people in their sin. This Psalmist would have every reason to say, because I so clearly see all the ways that Israel failed, I can count myself as one of those who would have believed God and obeyed if i lived in the past, but he doesn’t

In FACT, this terminology, WE and OUR ANCESTORS is used multiple times in the bible by some of the most faithful followers of God

Jeremiah 3:25 “Let us lie down in our shame, and let our disgrace cover us. For against Yahweh our God we have sinned, we and our ancestors, from our youth and until this day. and we have not obeyed the voice of Yahweh our God.’”

Daniel 9v8 8 LORD, public shame belongs to us, our kings, our leaders, and our ancestors, because we have sinned against you.

In fact, the ones who are most resistant to owning and identifying with communal and generational failures of God’s people are the Pharisees, who are so self-righteous that when God himself stands before them in the person of Jesus, they fail to recognize him

Matthew 3v7-9 7 When he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? 8 Therefore produce fruit consistent with repentance. 9 And don’t presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you that God is able to raise up children for Abraham from these stones.

Later on - Consider Moses interceding

SALVATION at the Red Sea (v6-12)

Ancestors:

Did not grasp the significance of his wondrous works [NLT - were not impressed with his amazing works] and then FORGOT

Rebelled at the Red Sea

But AFTER he saved them, they believed in his promises and sang his praises (v12)

God:

REDEEMED them and then SAVED them from Egyptians (v7)

Made a sea dry up so they could walk through it [raging waters]

He acted contrary to their actions

v8 - He saved them for his name’s sake, to make his power known

Ezekiel 20:43-44 “And you will remember there your ways, and all of your deeds by which you were made unclean, and you will feel a loathing for yourself for all of your evils that you have done. And you will know that I am Yahweh when I deal with you for the sake of my name and not according to your evil ways or according to your corrupted deeds, house of Israel,” declares the Lord Yahweh.”

Maybe use toward the end once you show that the Psalmist is in exile?

v13 - 23 Cycles of sin and judgement

SECOND KEY THEME OF THEIR SIN - FORGETFULNESS

Cycle 1 - v14-15

Part of the reason why they are taking time to remember their history

The ancestors SOON forget his works (v13), became impatient and tested God

v15, God provided for their needs, but sent a judgment of a plague

Cycle 2 in v16-17

Sin - Envious of Moses and Aaron, God’s appointed leaders

Judgement - The earth opened up and swallowed Dathan and Abiram, fire consumes the wicked among them

Cylce 3 v19-22 - intensification of the sin and the judgement

Sin - they make and then worship a golden calf

Same word - forgetfulness used in v21 - they forget God their savior who did great things in Egypt

How does this forgetfulness manifest itself? The EXCHANGE/SUBSTITUTE their glory, God, for the image of a grass-eating ox

*what are ways that we forget God by exchanging his glory for other, worthless things*?

Cycle 1& 2 - Israelites do not respond to judgement with repentance, but with more sin

So now, God’s judgement WOULD have been to destroy the whole community, but then Moses, his chosen one, intercedes for them

v23 - He stands in the breach between God and the people to bring them together

Parallels to Jesus

Return to the point of identifying with communal sin allows us to be even more passionate in our intercession - Lord, save your church

Communal repentance does NOT mean throw your hands up and sit down, it means stand up and intervene

Cycle 4 - Rejecting the Promised land

Sin

v24 - They refuse to enter the promised land because they don’t believe God’s promises of protection

Again, they forget how he protected them in Egypt and at the Red Sea

They grumble in their tents (how often do we grumble to God) and do not listen to the Lord

Judgement

v26-27 - They would not enter the promised land, all the grown adults would die, and their descendants would be scattered among the nations

Cycle 5 - Parallel narrative of Idolatry to the golden calf

Sin - Align themselves with the false God Baal and offer sacrifices to Baal

Judgement - Plague breaks out through the camp

Intercession - Phinehas stands up and intervenes - intervening is considered righteousness

Cycle 6 - Sin increases, hope diminishes

Even the chosen one, Moses is not able to maintain his righteousness in their rebellion

anger God AND Moses

Sin

They descend further and further into sin

v34 they do not destroy the nations in the promised land

v35 They adopted the ways of the nations and adopted their ways

v36 They serve their idols

v37-38 They shed innocent blood, in fact they sacrifice their sons and daughters to demons

The Psalm opens with the blessedness of the ones who uphold righteousness and justice at all times

And then shows us how the current and previous generations have done ANYTHING but that

v3 - Blessed is the one who upholds justice, who practices righteousness at all times - Maybe for later on?

Judgement

v41&42 - God hands them over to their enemies, they are carried off into exile

The abundance of God’s faithfulness is most clearly seen in the abundance of their unfaithfulness

v43 - Even though they continued to rebel, he continued to rescue them

v44 - When they cried, he took note of their distress and remembered his covenant and relented according to the abundance of his faithful love

v36 - Even when they were in exile, God causes them to be pitied before their captors

v47, is a parallel verse to v4&5

v4 says remember me, Lord when you show favor, so that I may enjoy prosperity of your chosen ones and rejoice in the joy of your nation and boast about your heritage

Come to me with your salvation

v47 Save us, Lord our God so that we may give thanks to your name and rejoice in your praise

And we learn, at the end of the Psalm, when and where the Psalmist is writing from:

“Gather us from the nations” - He is writing from exile

So even when he experiences the pity from his captors, he remembers God’s faithfulness and calls on him to save them

So v3 speaks about the blessedness of the one who is righteous and upholds justice - From this Psalm that is NOT the Psalmist or the Israelites

No, righteousness and justice are the foundations of God’s throne, he is the blessed one

But as in v4&5 there is joy to be had by God’s people, because he does show favor by coming to us in salvation - as he did in the person of Jesus

And allows his blessedness to be our blessedness, that we may find prosperity, joy and boasting